ENGLISH EXTRACTS.

Wellington Independent, Volume XVIII, Issue 1889, 2 July 1863, Page 4

ENGLISH EXTRACTS.

jP The Princess Louis of Hesse (the Princess Alice of England) gave birth to a daughter at Windsor Castle on the morning of April 5. The Queen was with her daughter constantly during the night The last bulletin, published on April 13, stated that her royal highness had bad a most favourable recovery, and that the infant princess continued well. As a train was approaching the Melksham Railway Station, the driver saw a man sitting on the metals. The whistle was sounded, but he did not get out of the way, and the whole train passed over him. When it was brought to a stand-still, the guard was astonished to see t he man scampering off unhurt. An attempt to hold a Sunday meeting in Hyde-park in favor of the Poles was defeated by the police, who arrived in great numbers and prevented the delivery of speeches announced to be delivered by placards all over London. The archbishops and bishops have, with one or two exceptions, expressed their thorough dissent from the doctrines advocated by Dr. Colenso, Bishop of Natal, in his book on the Pentateuch ; and have, moreover, prohibited him from preaching in their dioceses. Dr. Colenso has replied to his clerical opponents en masse, by writing a letter to the papers, which, after taking up the arguments adduced on either side of the question, concludes in these terms: — " In short, I may be right or wrong in my theology ; that is a question which I must leave to be settled by time and investigation. But, meanwhile, I stand npon my rights as an Englishman, and I protest against a course of conduct which is as illegal as it is contrary to the first principles of the Reformation." It appears that there is no legal provision to meet the difficulty raised in Dr. Colenso's case.

The trustees of the British Museum have unanimously elected the Right Hon. B. Dislaeli, M.P., to supply the vacancy occasioned in their number by the recent and lamented death of the Marquis of Lansdowne. A change of fashion in the matter of wearing the hair, says a writer iB the Spectator, is possible. It appears that the Princess Alexandra actnally entered London with two long locks curling about her neck, ai)d the fashion has already found numerous devotees.

A Son of Lobd Bybon. — A man named William Byron was taken before the Nottingham bench of magistrates under the following circumstances : — " About 1 1 o'clock at night a cabman drove to the police station with the prisoner, and said that the latter had engaged him to drive him to Newstead-abbey, the seat of the late Lord Byron. Prisoner said he was Lord Byron, and had come to demand his rights. When they arrived at Newstead he was refused admittance, and the man had to drive him back to Nottingham. He then said he had no money to pay his cab fare. Prisoner persisted in sayiag he was Lord Byron's son — his only son, and that the poet was yet alive, and fighting for his country. On being remanded prisoner said, " Ob, I can tell you all about it now, and about his lordship, I could show you an order upon a bank, to be paid either here or at his lordship's residence in London." The prisoner was removed that inquiry might be made into bis state of mind. Captain M'Mullin, of the schooner Laurel, reports a case of piracy on the Wicklow coast. When his vessel was off Eagle Island, she was hoarded by 64 men in 13 boats, who declared that their families and themselves were starving and who, after eating some raw maize, carried off about 20 tons of cornt He offered the men money, but they refused to take it saying they did not want money, but provisions. The Alabama, and Flobida. — A correspondent of a London contemporary writes: — ''As many accounts of the armaments of these two remarkable men-of-war in the service of the Confederate States of America have appeared in the public prints, and not one that I have seen correct, perhaps your readers may not be disinclined to know the exact armament of both ships. The Alabama carries a heavier armament for weight of metal than any ship in the British navy. On her upper deck she carries two rifled pivot guns, weighing seven tons each ; they are of 7 in. calibre, and throw shots weighing 130 lb. On her lower deck she carlies six guns, of 6 in. calibre, throwing 901 b shots. The whole of these tremendous engines are rifled, and constructed by Captain Blakely. When a Federal war steamer attacked the Alabama, the Yankee ship was destroyed by one shell meeting with sufficient resistance to burst within her. The Florida is not nearly as large as the Alabama. The Florida carries but two guns, both on a pivot. They are of seven tons in weight, of 6 in. calibre, and throw shots weighing 1331 b. These guns are also constiucted by Captain Blakely. A Pbeoious Mabbiage. — At the Guildhall police-court London, on the 18tb, William Langford Jenkins, a smart military-looking young fellow, who keeps a tavern in Whitecrossstreet, was summoned for an assault upon his wife. Mrs Caroline Jenkins, an elderly lady, complained that her husband had shamefully j ill-treated and neglected her, and that when she went to ask him for a maintenance he assaulted her and cut her lip. — Alderman Humphery. How old is your husband ''—Complainant : He is abuat 40 years of age. Defendant ; No sir, lam only 34. Alderman Humpbery : And I suppose you are over 60?— Complainant (reluctantly): Nearly, sir. - Alderman Huuiphery: How came you at your age to marry such a young feUow ?— Complaiuant ; Well, sir, I should not have had him bat his mother pressed the match, as I bad £600. I gave him £300, and JS3OO was settled on me, and I am receiving the interest. Alderman Humphery : How long have you been married ? — Complainant : Twelve months last January, sir. I had only known him three months when J married him. (Laughter). I married in

great haste, and am now repenting at liesure. Alderman Humpbery: Of course. What could you expect ? You wanted & husband. I suppose? — Complainant: So does every woman. (Great laughter.) His mother had three busbands. (Renewed laughter.) Alderman Hum phory (to defendant) : Have you ever been married before, Mr Jenkins?— Defendant: I was, but I was legally divorced three years ago, Alderman Humphery : What age was your first wife when you married her?— Defendant: Sixteen, sir. Alderman Humphery: And your second sixty. (Laughter.) What did you marry the old lady for ? — Defendant : The fact is sir, I could not help it. (Roars of laughter.) —I had just returned from India in bad health, and they kept me in a state of semi-inebriation the whole time until I was married. Complainant :It is not true, sir. He was only a soldier, and I took compassion on him, and paid £20 to buy him out of the array. — Alderman Humpbery (to defendant): Your wife has been very foolish, and you are a very bad man, for you first marry a giil of sixteen, then get divorced from her, and now after marrying a woman old enough to be your mother, and getting her money you want to get rid of her Complainant: Is there not some gratitude re quired of him, sir, for all I have done for him ? (Laughter.)— Alderman Humphery : Certainly, my good woman, but I cannot supply him with it. (Great laughter.) I should recommend him to make you a proper allowance ; but, in the meantime, I shall order him to enter into his owtf recognizance in £20 to keep the peace towards you for six months.- This appeared to satisfy the old lady, and she withdrew to an adjoining room, exclaiming, « I love him ; I do indeed ; I love him still," to the great amusement of a crowded court. )

An enoinloUs whale has been calt ashore, at, Dilnkirk in a violent gale. It measures over 100 feet in length. Its death struggle orj thesands listed two hours. \ , The Petebhoff.—- The English steamer Peterhoff) a prize to the Vanderbilt, has arrived at this port. She was sent to Key West for adjudication, and thence here* as her cargo would bring more at this port whe^n sold than at Key West. She is an iron steamer, of about lOOd tons burden, brig rigged, and of a modern build. From the time of her loading in London Admiral Wilkes has had his , eye on her, and from all we can learn was pretty well assured that he would capture in her a lawful prize. It appears that the would be blockade runner was not caught in the act of attempting to run it, nor was she even on the ground ie ir a blockading ffeet: but it was known that she bad a rebel mail on board intended far Richmond, and that at one time a rebel colonel was on board as a passenger, but just previous to her quitting her last port the bearer of dispatches left, but, allowed the mail and despatch bag to remain on board, with instructions to forward it to its destination. Among her passengers were several chemists with a full stock of medicines and drugs ; but these very much valued articles are said to be marked for Matamoras. Upon the whole the case is a very complicated one, and many suppose the vessel will be cleared. But yet it must be that Admiral Wilkes has good grounds for sending her in as a prize, or he would not have seized her. For the present commnnication with the vessel is interdicted, and but little can be found out in relation to the case. — New York Herald.

Commodore Wilkes of Trent notoriety, has again committed an act which may cause us, and the government whose officer be is, no little trouble. He bas seized the British steamer Peterhoff within sight of the British port of St. Thomas, and carried her off as a prize. The vessel left Falmouth in January last with a cargo, not contraband of war, for Matamoras in Mexico, and arrived in due course at St. Thomas's, into which port she put for the purpose of coaling. In those waters she was boarded by an officer from the Federal cruiser Alabama, who examined her papers and passed them, declining to endorse them with the notification of his search, but allowing the vessel to proceed. During her stay, however, at St. Thomas's, Admiral Wilkes entered the harbor in his flagship, and is alleged to have declared at once that the Peterhofi should have been seized. What is certain is that as soon as she put to sea again on her voyage Wilkes signalled the Vanderbilt, one of his squadron, which, in pursuance of his orders, followed the Peterhoff, overhauled her, and, after some little dallying, carried her off as a prize to Key West — a port of Florida in the possession of the Federals. Now, as no exception could be taken either to the cargo or destination of the Peterhoff, as the trade between this country and Mexico is a perfectly lawful trade, and as the Peterhoff had not so much as a package of contraband on board, it will be difficult to imagine what grounds even Admiral Wilkes could this time allege in defence of such proceedings. The matter bas been brought under the notice of Earl Bussell and Mr. Adams, the American minister.