14 AUGUST 1858, Page 4

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$f 111111.—The ceremonies at Cherbourg terminated on Sunday, and full accounts of the last did not arrive until the middle of the week. Nothing indeed, but telegraphic despatches met the eye of an inquisitive public until Monday. They are now almost historical, but a brief out- line, including some of the salient points, may not prove unacceptable to our readers. The Emperor and Empress arrived at the Cherbourg station, lying at the base of the precipice crowned by fort La Roule, on the 4th, and busi- ness commenced at once. The station was decorated in the height of French fashion ; and occupied by a crowd, prominent among whom were the clergy, headed by the Bishop of Coutance, all in full robes, and the magistracy. There was of course the invariable setting of soldiers. The Emperor and Empress occupied a dais and thereon he received the deri- cal and legal dignitaries. 'Then the bishop prayed, and his clergy re- sponded; and going up to two engines bedecked with flowers, the bishop sprinkled them with holy water and pronounced the betediction. The Emperor and Empress drove to the Marine Prefecture to dine, and in the midst of dinner the guns announced that the Queen of England was ia the roadstead. Whereupon the Emperor and Empress visited her Majesty on board her yacht, and stayed an hour. The next morning Queen Victoria, the Prince Consort, and their at- tendants, landed at the Military Port where the Emperor and Empress received them. As they did so the guns of the ships thundered forth a tremendous salute, the second performance of the kind, but not the last or loudest. In fact, the most striking thing in the whole of the cere- monies was these stunning salutes. The rest of the doings on the 5th were an inspection of the Military Port and Fort la Rode abreakfast at the Prefecture, and in the evening a grand. dinner on beak la Bretagae. By this time the harbour was crowded with yae.lits and steamers, and as the sun shone brightly, the whole scene wax extremely gay aria am- mated—the "pleasure navy of England astonishing the Frenchmen.

As the Imperial and Royal party were rowed to in Bretagne, another of those ear-splitting salutes was fired. "The English manned yards, and the French did their best to follow the example. There is no mistake about the question that whatever else tla French navy can do they cannot man yards. Their men, as usual, never

a pted going above the topsail yards, and the way they stood on those they did reach was not calculated to impress the spectator with the idea that he rod anything worth seeing by their not going higher. The English ages, on the contrary, crowdedout in perfect lines on all the yards, even to the topgallant, while, to the amazement of the whole French fleet and own, the strapping fellows stood high above all on the masthead trucks of the Renown, waving their caps in one hand and a Union Jack in another with as much sangfroid as if they stood upon the breakwater itself." It was at this dinner that those two speeches were delivered which the telegraph reported last week. They were both spoken in French, and our readers may be glad to have the exact words as reported in the ifonitear. The Emperor said- " Je bole a is Saute de Sit Majeste la Reke d'Angletcrre, a cello du Prince gni ',adage son tame, et a la famine Royale. Ell portent cc toast en leur presence a bord du vaisseau de l'Amiral Francais, dans le port de Cher- bourg, je suis heureux do montrer lea sentiments qui nous animent envers sus; en &et lea faits parlent d'eux-inemes, et ils prouvent que les passions hostiles, aides par quelques incidents malhcureux, n'cnt pa alterer ni l'amiti6 qui cajole entre lea deux.Couronnes, ni le desk des deux peuples de rester en pais. Aussi ai-je lc ferme espoir quo si l'on voulait reveiller lea rancunes et lea passions d'une autre époque, ells viendraient echouer decant le bon sees public, memo les vagues se beisent devant la dig,ue qui protege en cc moment centre la violence de is mer lea eseadres des deux Empires." To this the Prince Consort replied— - • "Sire—La Rehm desire que j'exprime a votre Majeste combien elk oat sensible a la nouvelle preuve d'amitie que 'ous venez de lui donuer, en lui portant un toast, et en prononsimt des paroles qui lui resterout clii:res jamais. "Voice Majeste connait lea sentiments d'amitie qu'elle volts portc, a vous Sire, et a l'Imperatrice, et je n'ai pas besoin de woes le rappeler.

" Vous saves egalement que la bonne entente entre nos deux pays eat l'objet constant de sea desirs, comets ii l'est des vetres. "La Brine cat done doublement heureuse d'atvoir l'occasion, par sit presence en cc moment, de s'allier a woes, Sire, en techant de resserrer cutout que possible lea liens d'amitiii entre les deux peoples. "Cettc amitie eat la base de leur prospente mutuelle, et la benediction du Ciel no tel maul:teem past "La Reim porte la sante de l'Empereur et de l'Imperatrice."

After this dinner, not only the ships, but the town and the forts were illuminated. A light appeared on the muzzle of every ship gun. The "town shone like a sea of fire." Rockets of brilliant and varied colours, flow incessantly into the air, once five thousand at a flight. The Royal and Imperial arms were represented in coloured fires.

But "the most grand of all the effects" in the eves of the Times re- porter, " was produced by lighting up the central fart with if fire. The deep red scented to glow and gather round the fort as If the whole place, with its harbours and ramparts, from base to summit, was red-hot, throwing a terrific glare upon the spars and hulls of the ships of war, and spreading the reflection over the water, tipping the waves with a blood-red hue, and flickering above the ripple as if the very sea had caught the cols- flagration and was on fire. Before this great mass of colour all other illu- minations faded into nothing, the lights in the ships were lost, and even the glow of the town paled down before it. Twice was this great effect re- peated, the display at the fort, terminating with a prodigious flight of 'bombs and rockets, which alone, if on dits are correct, cost no less a sum than 25,000 francs."

When the Emperor and Queen retired, there was another prodigious elute.

The next morning, the Queen, having received a farewell visit from her hosts, steamed out of the harbour, agnin amid a roar of guns. On the 7th August, the Emperor and Empress went to open the Great Basin or Napoleon Dock. The sight presented was pretty enough, but the principal thing was a failure. The water was to have been admitted in a grand volume on a new principle ; but the principle would not work, and instead of roaring inwards in a torrent the waters entered quite in a commonplace manner.

The last ceremonial took place on Sunday. This was the inaugura- tion of an equestrian statue of Napoleon. It was the best spectacle of all. The weather was brilliant ; the quay crowded ; the small craft in the harbour hardly diminished; there were plenty of uniforms and bayonets. After going to church the Emperor and Empress appeared and took their station on a dais under a pavilion. Under the statue, which points towards the West where sat the Emperor, a body of veterans were drawn up. They were not in uniform but carried wreaths of immortelles. When the statue was uncovered the veterans advanced, waving their evergreens and crying, with great spirit, " Vive l'Empereur !" Then the Prefect presented an address and the Emperor replied, but it is remarked that he spoke, not to the Prefect, but to the old soldiers. He said- " Gentlemen,—In thanking you on my arrival at Cherbourg for your cordial address, I told you that it seemed to be my destiny to see accom- plished by peace the ggeut designs which the Emperor conceived during war. And in fact; not only the gigantic works which he conceived are now being aceomplished, but in the moral order of things the principles which he sought to make prevail by arms are now triumphing by the simple effect of reason. For example, one of the questions for which he strug,gled more energetically than for anything else, the freedom of the seas, which secures the rights of neutrals, is now settled by common accord, so true is it that posterity ever takes upon itself to 'realize the ideas of a great man. But while doing justice to the Emperor, we must not forget on this spot the persevering efforts of the governments which preceded and followed him. The first idea of the creation of the port of Cherbourg goes back, as you are aware, to the monarch who created all our strong places, Louis XIV., seconded by the genius of Vauban ; Louis XVI. actively continued his works. The head of my family gave them a decisive impulsion, and every succeeding government has felt it a duty to go on. I thank the town of Cherbourg for having erected a statue to the Emperor in this place, in which he took so great an interest. You have desired to pay a compliment to one who, notwithstanding continental wars, never lost sight of the importance of the navy. However, there is no reason why public opinion should take alarm because we are now inaugurating the military port and the statue of the great captain. The more powerful a na- tion is, the more it is respected ; the stronger a government is, the more moderate are its counsels and the more of justice is there in its resolves. Then, a government does not risk the tranquillity of its country to gratify a vain pride or to acquire an ephemeral popularity. A. government which is supported the will of the masses is not the slave of any party, and only makes war when forced to do Sc. in defence of the national honour or for the great interests of peoples. Let us, therefore, continue in peace to deve- lop the various resources of France ; let us invite foreigners to look at our works as friends and not as rivals ; let us show them that a nation in which

unity, confidence, and union prevail can resist the passion of an hour, and that, mistress of herself, she obeys only honour and reason."

Thus ended the fetes at Cherbourg. The same day the Emperor steamed off for Brest, where he arrived on Monday.

Some extracts from the Times correspondence will afford a little filling in to the outline given above— A French salute.—"Any one who has seen and knows anything of the French fleet, knows that they always pride themselves upon the style and imposing effect of their saluting fire, and this salute in particular had been closely rehearsed beforehand. Yet the actual performance as much sur- passed expectation as it defied description. As the Royal yacht turned rouud between the marine forts which mark the western entrance, Admiral. Hameliu, in the Bretagne, 120, fired a single gun. There was a moment's pause, and then the salute began, not in a close, irregular, dropping can- nonade, which so distinguishes a similar honour from the English navy, but, gun after gun, running along each tier like a train of fire, till the very frame of the listener seemed shaken as if even the air smote him in its re- verberation. Hardly had this great cannonade commenced when all the- ugly forts which dominate every part of the harbour, threatening with a thousand ominous fearful-looking embrasures each ship that passes, took up the same song, only firing their massive guns in volleys of eight at once, and as fast as they could be reloaded and discharged. It is but rarely such a cannonade is ever heard, and seldom, if ever, that it has been given for a purely peaceful welcome. But, at all events, it showed in an instant the great extent and number of the fortifications that cover every spot of want- age around the town. All towards sea was a mere mass of tire and smoke, Cut that one looked for, though this was far from being all. The ring of fire scented not only to embrace the town, but extend far into the country, up. among little ravines where none ever dreamt that guns lay lurking, on the top of picturesque eminences where one only fancied villas and rural cot- tages could exist ; amid thick clumps of trees and theking yellow corn- fields came the saute dreadful uproar, till it seemed as it' ell Frames even from her hills and mountain tops, was doing honour to the advent of the- Queen of England."

Fort la .Roule.—" This work, if one may judge by its external aspect—for, ike all the rest of the strong places at Cherbourg, the admission of visitors is strictly guarded against—seents to be one of no ordinary importance and extent. It is situated on the summit of a steep scarped rock, something, like Fort Regent at Jersey, only much more extended, and so completely over- looking with its guns each stone of the town and doeks that cite sees at a glance the purpose of its construction. Cherbourg protects the Emperor against all the world, and La Roule protects the Emperor against Cherbourg. Not a dog could bark or a eat mew in Cherbourg against its Imperial master while a saunter was left in Fort Roule. The ascent to the fort is by a very steep road cut in the solid rock, and winding in zigzags up its rugged sur- face. It was with no slight difficulty that the horses attached to the car- riages teenaged to 'set them up to the summit, and they seemed utterly blown and exhausted with the effort. The Emperor conducted her Majesty into the fort, the Prince Consort led the Empress; and tile whole party re- mained some time on the new ramparts, inspecting the magnificent prospect which lay beneath them. It was one, indeed, which might well command their admiration, for the view is, of its kind, probably the finest in the' world. All Cherbourg—not the Cherbourg of a iprovincial towns- people, but the Cherbourg of the Emperor—with its mmense extent of docks, basins, and harbours, and, above all, its triple row of fortifi- cations and rock-built batteries, sprouling in all directions, lay far beneath, like a gigantic plan. Almost every street in the town could be dis- tinctly traced ; the shape and place each other fort was built to dominate could be seen at a glance, while in the roadstead lay the combined fleets dressed from truck to water's edge in colours, and surrounded by a host of tiny yachts, furling their white sails like birds settling down upon the water, or skimming about inside the harbour in All directions. Nor was the view inland of a less striking or less varied character. Far and near hills and' valleys which were seen over, with their Crowds of ancient-looking French- villages, fine old churches and square ivy-grown towers peeping out from among the trees, or lying snugly at the hollow of some charming valley half hidden in the cool shade. The only drawback in the picturesque effect of the scenery was the perpetual forts. Seemly a nook, however quiet, which was not surmounted with the scarped eartliwerké indicating butteries, while no hamlet seemed so poor or so insig,nificont as not to be worth dominating- with a hundred cannons. It was cannons, capnons, cannons, wherever you turned."

Thelefench War ships.—" They lay just inside the breakwater in one long line from west to east, commeueing with the St. Louis, of 80 guns' and 150 horse-power ; the Alexander, 90 guns and 800 horse-power (neither of which were manned); Austerlitz, 84 guns and 500 horse-power Ulm, 82 guns 650 horse-power ; Donauwerth, 80 guns and 450 horse- power ; Napoleon 90 guns and 900 horse-power ; Eylau, 90 guns and 900' horse-power; • Bretagne, 130 guns aud 1900 horse-power ; the Arcole, 90- guns and 900 horse-power; • and the Isly, a fine though rather ugly fri- gate of 34 guns and 630 horse-power. With the exception of the Napo- leon, Arcole, Eylau, and Bretagne, all are both old and ugly vessels, originally built for sailing ships, but which, at great expense, have been altered into screws. Now they will neither sail nor steam, and in efficiency can only be classed with the vessels which underwent the same process of altering at the heeds of our own Board of Admiralty—the Ajax, La Hogue, Blenheim, &e. The four vessels which are new have been in commission almost since they were launched. The Napoleon is the best of them all, though it showed but poorly by the side of our own renowned Renown. It was the opinion of the French officers themselves that that line-of-battle ship was the finest of its class in existence, while they spoke, with truth, of the Enryalus no being the very beau ideal and perfection of what a 511 gun frigate should be."

A large crop of on tilts have sprung from the gathering at Cherbourg. Thus, it is rumoured that the Emperor has accepted an Invitation from. the Queen to pay her a visit at Osborne towards the end of the summers During his stay at Cherbourg, the Emperor gave orders that the bar- racks and land fortifications should be completed with all speed. If an extraordinary credit should be necessary; the Corps Legislatif will be asked for one. The Emperor has given orders for two grand pictures for - the Gallery of Versailles, one representing his interview with Queen Victoria, and the other the immersion of the new basin at Cherbourg.

The Emperor has definitively decided on the construction of a com- mercial port at Brest, and on the cleansing of the port and roads of L'Orient, for which operation use will be made of tht apparatus that served for the same purpose at Toulon, and which belongs to the De- partment of Marine. Then we are told that "the Emperor attaches so much importance to the visit of Queen Victoria to Cherbourg that he has ordered a pyramid of granite to be erected at the head of the new dock, to perpetuate the remembrance of that remarkable event."

At Brest, the Emperor and his subjects performed the ceremonies usual on these occasions. The town was decorated, the streets were full

of people, the artillery very noisy, the weather magnificent. On Thurs- day, the Imperial pair started for Quimper. "An immense crowd followed the Imperial cortege with enthusiastic shouts. All the officers of the fleet and of the garrison assembled to salute their Majesties' de- parture. A thousand Bretons on horseback and in their national costume are accompanying the Imperial cortege. The weather is superb."

6Mi ti Er la II11.—The Canton of Neufchatel is again greatly agitated. It may be remembered that after the resignation by the King of Prussia of his claims to it, a constituent assembly was charged to draw up a draft of a constitution. The draft was conceived in the most radical spirit, but, contrary to expectation, was rejected by the popular assemblies. The constituent assembly revised the draft, but the people have just again rejected it by 6532 votes to 5925. At Lode and La Chaux-de- Fonds, the centre of Radicalism, great commotion prevails, and it is thought the Government will be forced to intervene to prevent disturb- ances.

611E18 .—Queen Isabella is honouring her subjects in the Asturias and Gallicia with a protracted visit. She passed through Valladolid, Leon, Oviedo, to Gijon, there to take sea-bathing. In all the towns her "re- ception was flattering in the extreme." At one place as it was too dark for the people to see the Prince of the Asturias, that tiny personage was exhibited from a balcony by candle-light. An enthusiastic letter-writer fervently hopes that her "reception, and the disposition of the people to forget the past, will convince her at last that it is only on them she can rely, and that a liberal and enlightened policy, carried out by any Minis- ter, is the surest safeguard to her throne and dynasty, and the best way to permanently establish her government."

it1111.—Reports of projected improvements in the Government of Lombardy continue to arrive, but we are told to receive them with cau- tion.

"It is said that the Archduke will have the nomination of all magistrates up to the rank of Government-Councillor; and that, subject to certain rules, he will have the control of public instruction. Serious reforms iu the two universities are talked of ; the organization of mathematical stu- dies is' it is said, to be completely changed, and Milan is to be put in this respect on a level with the great German universities. Reforms are also to take place in the primary schools. Good professors are to be sought, and, if they are not to be found at home, they will be brought from abroad."

The police department is to be reformed and the police are to wear uniforms. The censorship is to be completely revised, and liberty is to be a fact as well as a theory. It is rather singular that General Giulay, who will shortly take the supreme command of the army, should have been wounded by a ball at a review.

The concluding scene in the Court at Salerno between the prisoners and their judges was made the more striking by a dialogue that ensued. It is thus reported- " On the morning of the 27th, the sixteen prisoners who had received a commutation of punishment, were sent for to hear the decree read in pre- sence of the Grand Cond. Accompanied by a company of rifles and gen- darmes, bound two and two together, they were taken to the courts, and remained so bound, a fact which was contrary to law. The President im- mediately sent for Nicotera, who was unbound and led into the private Council Chamber, accompanied by three gendarmes and an officer.

"On his arrival the President addressed him as follows—' Signor Nice- tera, I think you must be pleased with the justice and impartiality with which you have been tried, and grateful for the sovereign clemency, at which we all rejoice.' Nicotera replied that they had not acted as judges, , but 'as vile hirelings of the Government, confirming whatever has been ordered to you from Naples. To give a semblance of mercy, the King has compelled you to condemn seven to death, when strict legality would have obliged you to condemn only myself.' The President interrupted him by saying that seven had been con- demned to death, to render the chances of mercy the greater. 'Yes,' re- plied Nicotera, you were compelled to sign sentences of death for seven, in order that the world might be deceived by a hypocritical clemency ; but the time is not far distant when you will answer for it before the tribunal of the people, and tremble and turn pale before them, as you did when you signed the sentence, from the reproofs of your own consciences. We were not frightened when the axe hung over our heads, and we despise alike the Ergastolo and our chains. We have fulfilled a sacred duty, and listened to the cry of humanity and justice. We therefore can support with intrepidity all those sufferings which tyranny well knows how to inflict, in the firm hope of the triumph of that liberty to which we now arc sacrificed.'

' Signor Barone,' said the President, I am old, with one foot in the grave. I know not what to reply, nor do I wish to enter into any discussion fruit- less both for yourself and me. It is my duty, as President, to exhort you to be grateful to the King, who has commuted your punishment, and I had called you, therefore, to beg you that if you will not yourself cry Viva il Re," after the reading of the decree, you will at least persuade your com- panions to do so.' Nicotera, who was greatly agitated, replied : Signor President, I address you now as Dominico Delia, not as President, for in such a character you are a hireling and a slave of the Government. To Do- minic° Delia, then, I say, that I cannot and ought not to comply with your insinuations, and that I would never degrade myself so far as to ask my companions to do so. Like me they have faced every kind of brutality, and death itself; and they would have in the same manner confronted the scaf- fold as they will bear their chains and the Ergastolo. I repeat, we cannot do as you insinuate. Were we to cry, Viva il !' the echo would be `Death to liberty !' Reserve for yourself such infamy, and leave to us the dignity of silence.' At these words the President, not knowing what next to say, ordered Nicotera to be taken out, and to be bound to his companions. In another quarter of an hour the judges assembled, and the prisoners were brought in bound."

This was a violation of the law, small, but showing that in small matters the law is defied. The prisoners were publicly ironed. Their chains weigh thirty-five pounds each. The right foot of one was chained to the left of another, thus linking them in every act for the rest of their lives.

g fit It111.—A telegraphic despatch from Marseilles states that "the late collisions in Bosnia, in Turkish Croatia, and in Montenegro, have caused a sort of panic in Constantinople. The Mussulmans and the Christians were living in mutual fear of one another. The Sultan, to show his own confidence, had gone in the fleet on an excursion to Smyrna and the Archipelago. A plot, having for its object the massacre of the Christians, had been discovered at Smyrna. The Governor had made a Seizure of arms, and sent the guilty persons to Constantinople." [These Marseilles telegrams must be received with reserve.] A despatch from Trieste reports from Trebigne, that on the 28th July band of Montenegrins, 1000 strong, assailed Kolaschin, and killed neatiya 100 inhabitants, who confiding in the armistice, were unarmed. We Montenegrins burnt many houses, and carried away twenty Turkish women and some children into captivity. The Turkish Government has announced that a pension of 120 francs would be allowed to the heirs of the Page family, and 'that 1,000,000 piastres had been granted to the other victims.

i EL.—The Calcutta mail to July 4, arrived in Londonyesterd The papers do not bring one additional item of military news, but rss$ the intelligence contained in the preceding arrival from Bombay. We are told, however, that the periodical rains had set in, and somewhat diminished the extreme heat. " To the agriculturist they have been an inestimable blessing, for the country was labouring under a heavy drought. The accounts from all the districts in Lower Bengal are satis- factory, and there is every prospect of an abundant crop."

i 88 .—Advices from China to the 22d June, arrived by the Cal- cutta mail. The latest date from the Peiho was to the 9th June. At that time the allied fleet had moved up to Tientsin. The gun-boats met with no kind of opposition. Lord Elgin and Baron Gros landed under a flag of truce on the 29th May, and took up their quarters in a temple provided by the Chinese authorities. Count Putiatin and Mr. Iteed went up together in the Russian steamer America. The Chinese were very Polite. Provisions were abundantly supplied—" good beef, mut- ton, pears, apples, apricots, radishes, yams, and plenty of ice." The Chinese tracked the boats of the expedition up the river where it was shallow. The grain junks had been allowed to leave but not to enter the river.

It is stated that " Tan, the Governor-General of the province of Chloe has been nominally degraded, but retained in power ; he is superseded ill his post as Commissioner to negotiate with the foreign Ministers by Kwei- liang and Ilwa-sha-na, two men of high position. The former is younger brother of Iliang, just retired from the arduous post of Governor-General at Suchen, and is the third member of the Cabinet at Pekin, besides holding other posts. He filled the station of Provincial Treasurer at Canton about 1836, and has long been conversant with the policy of his country. His coadjutor is a Mongolian, and now President of the Board of Civil Office, and has been known more at the capital than in the provinces. Both these Commissioners are over seventy years of age, and announce that they have been invested with full powers to treat ; consequently the English and French Plenipotentiaries will now have a valid reason for meeting them."

The China .3fail gives an interesting description of the country and its people. "The river Peiho, between Taku and Tien-sin, runs through a fiat coun- try, so level that one can see only a short distance beyond the banks ; the soil is alluvial, rid stones or rocks of any sort occur along the shores, and the houses furnish proof of the small supply of timber. They are made of mud or sun-dried brick, and are generally of one story ; the mud is strengthened by wattles of reed or millet stalks, and then plastered on the outside. They are wretched and dirty hovels, but the absence of stone and timber, rather than the abject poverty of the people, accounts for their miserable appearance, as they must employ what comes to hand. "The trap from Taku to Tien-sin will remind the traveller who has been to Thebes of the towns and scenery of the Nile, and the similarity is in- creased by the numerous creaking well-sweeps here, with which the people irrigate their fields. The distance is about sixty miles, and great numbers of grain junks line the sides of the river, showing the importance of that trade to the support of the capital. Over 300 of them passed out of the mouth of the river within the week succeeding the capture of the forts. "Tien-sin contains upwards of 300,000 people, most of them living on the southern bank of the Peiho, and east of the entrance of the Grand Canal. The walls are neither very high nor strong, and the suburbs form a very large part of the city. The Grand Canal here has little appearance of an artificial channel, and the tides rise and fail as they do in the river. Owing to the diversion of a great part of its supply of water, by reason of the fall- ing of the Yellow River, few boats now come to Tien-sin, and this famous work seems to be of little utility to the capital. Perhaps the difficulties of its water level could be removed by modern engineering skill properly ap- plied, but the immediate effect may be to incline the Chinese Government to admit foreigners to the port, and allow them to bring the supplies of gram to the capital. The river allows vessels of 10 feet draught to come up at almost any tide, after they have crossed the bar. "Few shops have resumed their business, which was suspended on the arrival of the steamers ten days ago ; and the people have begun to remove into the country with their families to a great extent, taking with them their valuables and treasure. The authorities have been paralyzed since the forts were taken, and took no means of defending the city, if indeed they were not utterly, helpless ; most of their quota of troops was at Taku, where others were collecting before the forts were taken."

From Hongkong we have the usual supply of gossip about the state of affairs in the Canton River, and the South of China. The Friend of China says-

" In the south of China the news of actual hostilities in the north ap- peared to be the long desired signal to societies banded for annoyance of the barbarian to proceed to active operations. We have received the details of the capture and decapitation of several Europeans, the murder of Sepoys and police on duty, and attempts at incendiarism. No person feels safe, and one of two things must shortly be performed ; either we must intrench the foreign quarter at Honan in such a manner that foreigners may sleep of nights, or vacate the place altogether. What the allies could mean by de- claring Canton open to trade, and yet neglect to make provision for the safety of traders, it is impossible to divine. It is generally understood, however, that the fault rests with General Van Straubenzee and Mr. Parkes, rather than with the Ambassadors and naval commanders, neither the General nor the Commissioner having sufficient mind to realize what is actually and tacitly required of them. So much for making a mere soldier— though a gallant soldier—the directing head of a province, and a mete interpreter—a conceited and self-willed youth—a commissioner."

RILittt i$ ta tfl.—The Kangaroo arrived at Liverpool, on Thursday, with advices from New 'York to the 29th July.

The President had gone to Bedford Springs. Before quitting Washington, he appointed John Nugent, editor of the San Francisco Herald, agent to proceed to Frazer's River, to make proper representa- tions to citizens of the United States, with a view of preventing colh- sions or outbreaks in that quarter.

Mr. William Walker, the filibuster of Nicaragua, has forwarded to the Mobile _Register a statement which, whether true or not, is a curiosity. The Washington Union had, he says, misreported a speech of his at New Orleans, and in correction he supplies the substance of what- he said.

In the month of October last I was in New Orleans preparing to return . About the middle of the month General Henningsen arrived

to Nic=gton, and soon after we met he informed me that he had im- portant news to communicate. He then proceeded to state that while ia ifoohington he had held several conversations with the Secretary of War • that in the course of one of the interviews the Secretary had informed hini of the determination on the part of the President to arrest the expedition to iftearagaa, adding at the same time, that the acquisition of Cuba during his *nistration was an object dear to the heart of Mr. Buchanan. "The Secretary further proceeded to say, according to General Henning- area report, that if we would turn our attention to Mexico and enter into the service of Comonfort we should have the support of the United States' Go- vernment; that while in the Mexican service we might by some act, such as tearing down the flag of Spain, bring about a war between Mexico and Spain, and Cuba might then be seized by the former Power. The Secretary, ac- cording to the report I received, informed General Ilenningsen that means would not be lacking for such an enterprise; and when pressed by the General to state how the means could be had, he replied, 'r have gone the length of my tether ; before I can say more it will be necessary for me to see a person above me.'

"In the next interview the Secretary informed the General that he was not authorized to go further, but that he might rely implicitly on the means being provided if the enterprise was undertaken. 'When General Henning- sen made this communication to me I was shocked at its nature, and re- marked that the Government could hardly be in earnest. He said that he had been authorized to place before me the character of the conversations held with the Secretary of War, and to communicate them also to a friend of the Nicaraguan cause residing at New Orleans." He says that he has been driven to speak of these matters "by the course the Government pursued towards him" in frustrating his designs upon Nicaragua.

ganata.—Letters from Canada to the 30th of July report the fall of the Canadian Ministry. There had been a serious debate raised by Mr. Lyon Mackenzie, in the House of Assembly, on the question of the union of the two provinces. He proposed that the House should affirm that the union had produced great discontent. Several amendments were proposed, and the debate was adjourned. One of the amendments was to the effect that it would be wiser to strengthen rather than weaken the ties that bind the two provinces together. This was negatived on the 28th by a majority of thirty-three. No decision was taken on the main question, but the House proceeded to discuss the "seat of government question." After some debate a motion was carried by a majority of 14, declaring that Ottawa ought not to be the seat of Government. This led to the resignation of the Ministry. Mr. Macdonald explained the next day, that as the House had decided that the prerogative of her Majesty had been unwisely exercised in selecting Ottawa for a capital, and as the Ministers could neither commit a breach of the law nor go against an un- mistakeable majority of the House, the Government had no other course to pursue but to resign. Their resignations were accepted, and Mr. Brown of Toronto had been "sent for."

tustralia.—According to the latest advices from Australia, the gold production of the colony of Victoria up to the 12th of June had been al- most exactly equal to that up to the corresponding period of the year 1857—namely, 4,060,0001., or at the rate of about 8,500,000/. per an- num. In consequence of a protracted scarcity of water a falling off would have taken place but for the greatly improved results of quartz crushing. The great event in the colony was the discovery at Ballarat of a nugget of pure gold weighing no less than 2217 ounces. "This wonderful nugget,' says the Ballarat Times, "is about twenty inches long by six or seven broad, and nearly as much deep. It had a nar- row escape of being two nuggets instead of one, for at a point one-third from the end its continuity is only maintained by a narrow neck, which is BO slight that the men were afraid to handle their prize much, lest they might break it in two. In shape it has a grotesque resemblance to a skele- ton horse's head and shoulders the narrow part we have mentioned repre- aenting the neck ; or it looks shoulders, a continent with a peninsula attached to it by a narrow isthmus. It bears upon its sides the marks of several hard blows from the pick. The fortunate owners are the Red Hill Mining Com- pany, owners of the engine claim on Bakery Hill, beside the Imperial Hotel. They are a party of twenty-two, all working partners. They have been long together, and were among the first to introduce steam-propelled machinery upon this gold-field." The labour-market, long unsettled, now gives a fairer promise of re- muneration and employment to emigrants. This has arisen from the flourishing state of the revenue, the projected investment of capital in railways, the preparations for a more extensive application of machinery to gold mining, and the extension of agricultural operations. The Victorian Parliament was prorogued on the 4th June. The Reform Bill, which had passed the Assembly, was thrown out in the Council. In his speech at the prorogation, Governor Barkly said apropos of this measure- " The bill for altering the electoral districts of the country and for in- creasing the number of members of the Assembly, passed by the house into which it was introduced, and the constitution of which it exclusively affect- ed, has not secured the concurrence of the Legislative Council. I have no desire to interfere with the deliberations of either House of Parliament on the subject. It must, however, be obvious to you that in the present state of the constitution representation is very unequally distributed whilst the present Legislative Assembly is too limited in point of numbers for the proper conduct of the legislative business of the country; it will therefore be the duty of my responsible advisers, immediately upon the reassembling of Parliament, again to introduce the bill in question for your considera- tion." With regard to public works, he said that " precautions have been taken to secure ample means for the purpose of carrying on the great works you have authorized, without interruption or delay., and to effect this with as little disturbance as possible to the ordinary relations of commerce. The importance of these measures cannot be over estimated; they will receive the unremitting attention of myself and my advisers during the recess, and the fullest information as to their progress will be from time to time com- municated to parliament. The line of electric telegraph has been completed from Melbourne to Adelaide, and would have been opened to the public but for an accident to a portion of the line on the Adelaide side the exact parti- culars of which have not yet reached this Government. The line to Sydney

is nearly completed, and both will be opened to the public in a few weeks. Negotiations have also been brought to a successful issue for the telegraphic connexion of Victoria with Tasmania, but from the difficulties in the way of determining the most safe line of deposit for the submarine cable, some time must necessarily elapse before the work itself can be brought to a successful termination. No labour will be spared by my advisers in carrying forward those great public improvements so essential to our material and social pro- lava."