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Wellington Independent, Volume XVIII, Issue 1973, 22 October 1863, Page 3

The Religion of Native New Zealanders. — The Bishop of New Zealand, in a letter to the Bishop of Adelaide, dated Auckland, July 21, referring tn the horrors of the war, says — " our natire work is a remnant; of two senses — a remnant of a decaying people, and a remnant of a decaying faith. The works of which you hear are not the works of heathens : they are the works of baptized men, whose love has grown cold from causes common to all churches of neophytes, from Laodicea downwards. Such ehristiaa knowledge as remains to them, does harm rather than good, because it exalts them in their own eyes. They can condemn the soldiers for breaking the Lord's Day, and justify the slaughter of children by reference to Maori usage. The more faithful men, as usually happens, are too timid, or too few to make any effectual opposition. We are now pulling against the ebb ; and, for aught I know, may soon be left aground. Two missionaries have already been sent awaj from their districts, for refusing to encourage the Maori King. We take comfort in the belief that the will of God was never otherwise seen, than in pouring out for his servants a mingled cup of success and failure — of rejoicing and disappointment." The Capture of the Confederate iron* cr,AD Steamer Atalanta. — The capture in Warsaw Sound of the Confederate iron-clad Atalanta, alias Fingal, by Captain Rogers, of the Weebawken, is a splendid affair, and the most important naval capture of the war. She was the finest vessel the Confederates ever bad, and far more formidable than tbe Merrimac, and the result proves the efficacy of 15 inch guns. 4,She was armed with six guns, one 7-inch pi rot gun fore and aft, two 6-inch guns on each broadside, these were all of tbe Brooks pattern, which did such execution ou the Federal iron -elads during the attack on Charleston They are rifled, and throw long steel pointed missiles. The Atalanta was formerly the British steamer Fingal, was built on the Clyde, and run the blockade successfully; she is 300 feet long, 40 feet beam ; her gun deck covering is 200 feet long, 40 broad, and at the top 100 long by 17 broad, and six feet high ; her armour is 12 inches thick, the first on the outside are wrought iron bars, six inches wide and two inches thick, running perpendicularly along her side ; across these bars horizontally run bars of like material and pattern ; within this layer are two thicknesses of livs oak, the whole being backed with four inches of Georgia pine. The vessel cost nearly one million dollars. The Atalanta came down with the intention of capturing our iron clads — the Weehawken and the Nahant. She was first discovered approaching in the greyof the morning,when theWeehawken slipped her cable and stood down the Sound, butsoon turned towards her gigantic opponent, followed hy the Nahant. The Atalauta fired three of her heavy rifled guns before theWeehawken opened upon her with her 15 inch gun, throwing a solid shot of 440 lbs., the first of which tirtually decided the action, for the terrible missile tote through her thick iron-plating as if it were stubble, and prostrated forty of her crew, some by splinters, but the most part by tbe mere concussion, without being struck ; the next shot struck one of the iron port stoppers, knocking it into fragments, and wounding seventeen of her crew; the third shot smashed the top of her pilot house, wounding two of the pilots, and stunning tbe men at the wheel. Every shot struck her, the precisions of fire being admirable. After the fifth gun she hauled down her flag and run up a white one. The whole thing was over in fifteen minutes, and never were men so surprised at the result as were her officers. Their plan was, after capturing the Nahant and Weehawken to join the ironclads in Charleston^harbor, and raise the blockade of all the Southern ports; and so confident {were they of victory that two steamers, filled with spectators came down to witness the fight, and tow the prizes back to Savannah. — Aha Califronia. The Sunken Treasure of the Golden Gate. — Of the fifteen hundred thousand dollars in treasure which went down on the ill-fated steamer Golden Gate, a few miles above Manzanillo, seven hundred thousand dollars have been recovered. The same skill, industry, and perseverence exhibited in the saving of this money, will be exerted in the recovery of the remaiuder'iniried in the sands of ocean. Mr William Irelan, under whose management and superintendence most of tbe specie was rescued from destruction, is about starting off another expedition to secure the still missing boxes. To-night, or curly to-morrow, tbe Osprey a schooner of some seventy tons burthern, will leave for (he scene of the wreck. She is at present lying at Third-street whavf. She is provided with an engine and huge boiler, and otherwise fitted oiu for the expedition. This vessel is only a pioneer, however, of auother larger craft, which leaves a month hence for the wreck. The Osprey is iu tended to ruu into the surf, and up to the wreck, and with her apparatus to free it, if possible, from sand. She is to keep " watch and ward" until the arrival of her consort, the main craft of the expedition. The Osprey will be under command of Captain Joseph Thompson, who has with him half a dozen hands. The other vessel, named the Giuletta, lies in the stream of Third-street wharf. She is to be cammanded by Captain Irelan himself, aud goes hence admirably equipped for such an expedition. Irelan's ex« perience in those waters has, of course, been of great service to him, and he will, profiting by it, supply all deficiencies in the way of apparatus, machinery, &c, before again leaving port. He will carry down a full crew of competent and efficient men, divers, mechanics, &c. t probably to the number of twenty. This enterprise is sanctioned by the European, New York, and Boston Boards of Underwriters, and its success— judging by what has already been done ia tue way of recovering treasure from the sea depths in tbe locality of the disaster — caa scarcely be considered problematical