The Sun.
London, England, 1854-01-09 00:00:00

THE STRIKES IN THE NORTH.

PRESTON, SATURDAY.—Since my last despatch, depu-
tations of spinners and self-actor minders have waited
upon the heads of the firms by which they were formerly
employed. The deputations consisted of four persons
each, except in the case of the largest firm in the town,
when eight persons constituted the deputation. Almost
every master in the town was seen personally, and at
every place the hands were received with the utmost
courtesy. As might have been expected, when it is
considered that all the employers with whom communi-
cation was held are members of the association, the
answer in most cases was that no steps could be taken
towards a settlement of the dispute without a previous
conference with that body. In, some instances the mas-
ters declared their inability to pay an advance upon the
wages of March last. Many condemn the operatives'
union, and some few expressed their opinion that com-
binations of either masters or men were objectionable.
The week's returns show that the number of unem-
ployed hands relieved from the Trades Union fund was
15.721 ; last weeks 15,720 • increase, 1. The amount
distributed in relief this we& was 3,7051. 16s. 3d. ; lest
week, 2,9441. Bs. 3d. ; increase, 761/. Bs. 3d.
A meeting of the master manufacturers of Manches-
ter was held on Thursday, to consider the propriety of
joining the other associations of the district in aiding
the Preston millowner, by subscribing five per cent.
upon the wages paid in every mill which is at work, in
order to defray the current expenses of those who are
fighting the battle of the whole trade. The resolutions
passed at a meeting on Tuesday last onwthaissosouabjoehnetohoasvlye
already been made public. The course taken at that
was generally approved,
et of those and it was
resolutions.that the Manchestert b
e object Association should join the
agreedotherslleeting
in carrying out the
3

m
GLASGOW, JAN. 6.--The dispute between the masters
and the workmen in Glasgow city still continues,andnine hundred young persons, male and female, indepen-
dent of adults, are consequently out of employment.
A placard has also been issued to the people of Scot-
land, by the operative spinners' committee, in the name
of the operative cotton spinners of Scotland, announcing
their determination to resist the design of the seven em-
ployers by every legitimate means, and appealing for
pecuniary assistance.
The North British Daily Mail of Friday, says that
during the preceding three days the committee bad re-
ceived, as subscriptions from the general public, on be-
half of the piecers thrown out of employment, the sum
of 361. 18s. 10d.

Lord John Russell's' statement was, in fact, that the
first movement towards Lord Palmerston's dismissal
came, in fact, from the Queen ; that about the 13th or
14th of December the Queen had addressed a communi-
cation to Lord John Russell adverting to a dispatch of
Lord Normanby's, in which expressions of Lord Pal-
merston's to Count Walewski had been referred to, ex-
pressing surprise at Lord Palmerston's acting without
the Queen's sanction, and desiring Lord John Russell
to ascertain the truth. Upon this Lord John Russell
further stated that he felt it his duty to advise the Queen
to dismiss Lord Palmerston, as having been deficient in
proper respect for the Sovereign.
The very statement was in itself perfectly sufficient
to show that all was not told. Lord Palmerston, in his
reply, triumphantly pointed out that in his conversa-
tion with Count Walewski he had not said one word
more than had been said by other members of the Ca-
binet, including Lord John Russell himself. The in-
ference appeared irresistible, that the assigned cause of
his dismissal was not the real one, and in this position
both Lord John Russell and Lord Palmerston seemed
content to leave the affair.

But among the most singular of all the singular facts
connected with the transaction was this—that neither
Lord Palmerston nor yet Lord John Russell stated to
the house hat ho had sought the permission of the
Queen to -disclose the facts connected with Lord Pal-
merston's dismissal.

We pray our readers' special attention to this. It was,
we venture to say, the first occasion since the revolution
on which a British Minister has been removed from office
wichout seeking and obtaining the permission of the
Sovereign to state to Parliament every fact connected
with his dismissal. Without that permission Lord Pal-
merston's lips were sealed. His speech told us nothing,
because it could not tell us anything. But even Lord
John Russell did not say that he had sought the per-
mission of the Queen to state all the facts. He could
not have done so without advising the Queen equally to
release Lord Palmerston from Ins obligation of secrecy.
Be this as it may, this occasion was the first since the
revolution upon which a British Minister was dis-
missed from office without a statement to Par-
liament, that the Sovereign had consented to an
unreserved disclosure of every fact connected with
that dismissal. No such statement was made. That
dismissal is to this hour a matter lying under the veil of
secrecy. That Lord Palmerston submitted to this—
that the House of Commons tolerated it, is but one of
many proofs that the Government of England, as to its
foreign politics is no longer a parliamentary one.
But Lord John Russell's statement disclosed some im-
portant facts. In the first place, the noble lord dis-
tinctly stated that the first move towards Lord Palmer-
ston's dismissal came from the Court. A letter from
the Queen, sent by special messenger to Lord John, at
Woburn, was the origin of that dismissal. This letter
was followed by a correspondence with Lord Palmerston.
All this Lord John Russell stated, but, contrary to
every precedent—in violation of every principle of our
parliamentary constitution, Lord John Russell neither
read to the house the letter of the Queen, nor his own
correspondence with Lord Palmerston.

Who is there that doss not now see that this was the
play of Hamlet with the part of Hamlet omitted by par-
ticular desire ?

This was not all. The same speech also disclosed the
fact, that for a year and a half previous, Lord Palmer-
ston had been conducting the Foreign.office under pecu-
liar restrictions imposed by the Court. Lord John.
Russell read to the house a sentence from a letter of the
Queen's, addressed to him in the year 1850—no more
certain date was given. In the sentence which he read
her Majesty desired that all foreign despatches should be
laid before her, with full time for her to be acquainted
with their contents. Lord John Russell was desired to
read the letter to Lord Palmerston. He did not read
the entire letter to the House of Commons, although he
read the sentences we have stated. Neither did he tell
the house that which, in truth, gave its significancy to
this direction—that there was a third key for the dispatch
box which_conveyed the papers from the Minister to the
Queen.
We have, even on the meagre statement of Lord John
Russell, quite enough to show us that the whole truth
was not revealed. No permission is sought from the
Queen to make an unreserved disclosure of the facts.
Correspondence is adverted to, but is not read. Ex-
tracts given from letters, of which every word would be
important, while the rest of the letter is suppressed.
We have again, the Foreign Minister for a year and a
half plainly watched and treated with suspicion by the
Court, and we have a representation made, for which
Lord John Russell never ought to be forgiven, that
these ungracious acts to Lord Palmerston emanated
directly from the Sovereign without the suggestion of
any of her Ministers. The inference is irresistible, that
there was "a shadow behind the Throne greater than
the Throne," and that the foreign policy of England was
virtually directed, not by the Queen's Ministers, but by
an irresponsible power acting in the Sovereign's name.
But evidence, unhappily, was not wanting that the
dismissal of Lord Palmerston, by whatever agency
brought about, was planned abroad. It had been deter-
mined on beforehand, and. announced to the Austrian
Government. Lord Palmerston was dismissed from
office on the 22d December. Before that dismissal was
known in London, on the 23d of December, a letter
from Vienna announced it as certain to occur. The
words of that letter are too remarkable not to be
quoted :

" Rumours are current here of negotiations said to
have been engaged in by high personages in England
with our Court without the knowledge of Lord Palmer-
ston. Their object is said to be a rapprochement be-
tween the two Courts, and the retirement of the noble
lord from office is announced as certain to happen soon.
The first index of this rapprochement has been the
admission of Lord 'Westmoreland to an audience, and
his invitation to dinner by the Emperor."
Is it possible to believe that this Vienna rumour was
a mere coincidence ? Even Lord Aberdeen will not tell
us that the courtiers of Austria are gifted with the
faculty of second sight. Conspirators have been con-
victed in our courts of justice upon evidence far less
cogent than that which connectsthe prophecies of Vienna
with their accomplishment on the banks of the Thames.
It is with pain that we advert to these matters, but
after all it is infinitely better that the people of England
should know the whole truth— that they should under-
stand all that we have been struggling for, when we have
asserted the great principle that the foreign policy of
England ought never to be withdrawn from parlia-
mentary control.
To this history of Lord Palmerston's dismissal it is
still to be added, that after the seals of the Foreign
Office were taken from him, Lord John Russell
pressed on him to accept the office of Lord Lieutenant
of Ireland ! and, finally, offered him any place, except
that of Foreign Secretary, which he might choose. Lord
Palmerston then had a sense of what was due to his own
dignity and to constitutional Government, and declining
to make a compromise with his enemies he submitted to
a dismissal, of which it is plain the true history has never
been discovered.

If explanations are asked as to the recent resignation
of Lord Palmerston, and the terms upon which he con-
sented to return, we can only hope that the present
House of Commons will not be as lightly satisfied—or,
in plain English, as easily bamboozled, as the least.

SUSPECTED SUICIDE OF A FEMALE.—Yesterday, a
respectable married woman, of the name of Elizabeth
Ann Baker, in the prime of life, residing in Kenton-
street, Brunswick-square, was found dead in her apart-
ment, under the following circumstances :—lt appears
that the unfortunate woman not having made her ap-
pearance since last Thursday, the landlord ordered the
room door to be forced open, which was done, when they
were horrified at finding the deceased lying on the
greund, quite dead, with a tea-cup on the shelf, supposed
to contain poison. The last time the deceased was seen
she appeared cheerful, and there was nothing in her
manner to lead to the supposition, but from what has
been allowed to transpire great fears are entertained.
DETERMIED CASE OF SUICIDE.—On Saturday morn-
ing, at about seven o'clock, a master tailor, of the name
of Samuel Botte, residing at 2, Crown court, Pall-mall,
committed suicide under the following circumstances :--
It appeared that the unfortunate deceased, who is 67
years of age, retired to bed with his wife on Friday night,
in good health and cheerful spirits, and on Saturday
morning, at the hour above mentioned, he arose, leaving
his wife in bed, and retired into an adjoining room.
Shortly afterwaids his wife was alarmed by hearing
something dripping on the floor, and on getting out of
bed, and proceeding into the next room, she was horri-
fied at beholding her unfortunate husband sitting in an
arm-chair with a razor in his hand and his throat cut
from ear to ear, and the- blood flowing in torrents all
over the room. Dr. Miller, of Kieg-street, St. James's,
speedily arrived, and pronounced life to be extinct.

OCT.
SYDNEY, U B.—The last European news
almost superseded the topics which are the general
staple of loCal discussion. The " constitution "•
agitation is suspended till December ; the, session
of the Council' is rapidly drawing to, a close, and
only two or three questions have excited more than
a passing notice. One of these is the settlement,
at last, of 'the new Goldfields • Regulation Act,
which came into operation en the Ist of October,
the decision of the committee of the Council having
been precipitated by the policy of the Government
of Victoria on the same subject. A period having
been fixed for the abolition of the license fee of
30s. a-month on the Victoria goldfields, it was evi-
dently impossible to continue to levy it on the
fields of New South Wales, which have been already
alinost deserted for the more brilliant prospects
held out in the south. Before the diggers' agita-
tion frightened Mr. Latrobe from the extreme of
obstinate resistance to that of conceding more than
was demanded, the Government of New South
Wales, it is understood, was prepared to reduce
the amount of the fee to 20s. a-month. Against a
fee of 30s. in Victoria, this would have been levied
easily enough, but when it was announced that
the impost was to be abolished altogether in the
sister province the committee had to reconsider the
matter. Finally, a monthly fee of 10s. has; been
recommended as the amount to be paid for the license
to dig gold in the province •of New South Wales. It
would have been better to abolish the tax altogether
and settle the question at once ; by next session
more legislation and another bill will be required,
for the 10s. will ha've at last to be given up. _ If
the object of ; tll9. cinvernuient,is -t9 discover and
bring out the . resources of the New South
Wales gold district, it must not subject the
workers on it to a. tax from which their rivals
of the south are free, especially as the
fields of Victoria have, whether justly or not
cannot be decided with certainty, the reputation of
superior richness. By the present bill some un-
popular provisions of the former act are repealed.
There is no longer any distinction to be made be-
tween British subjects and aliens, and no fee is to
be exacted from persons residing on the goldfields,
but not working as miners—such as clergymen and
ministers, persons in the public service, schoolmas-
ters, and domestic servants. The Commissioners
are also empowered to grant exemptions from the
tax in cases of sickness, and " prospecting" or ex-
ploring unworked sections of land may be carried
on without payment of the fee.
The question. of the amount of the Government
gratuity to Mr. Hargraves for first discovering the
gold of Australia has also been decided, and rather
more favourable to that gentleman than at first ap-
peared probable. The long discussion and minute
sifting of evidence have had the good effect of direct-
ing.attention to the matter, and, as far as the opinion
of so apathetic a community can be ascertained; it
is on the side of Mr. Hargraves. Few and slight
as the public acknowledgments of his services to the
colony have been, they have at least induced the
Government to deal more generously than it was
at first inclined to do. Encouraged by the general
feeling, the Governor-General has " reviewed the
recommendation of the Gold Committee," and.
doubled the grant it had recommended ; instead
of 5,0001., Mr. Hargraves is to have 10,000/. as his
reward, and it is neatly all the advantage he has de-
rived by the marvellous social revolution to which,
as far as effect can be traced to cause, he certainly
gave the first direct impulse. The real history of the
discovery of the precious metal in the Australian co-
lony, could it be written, would bea curious one; but
unfortunately, nothing but a few ill-authenticated
stories of an earlier period of the settlement-..-golden
legends they may be called—have been preserved,
and they are fast becoming traditions. It seems
certain that the existence of gold in the interior
was known years ago to certain persons ; and to
one of the first discoverers the secret brought no
blessing. A convict was flogged for attempting
to sell a piece of what he called native gold, in
which the authorities saw nothing but fraud and a
battered guinea. The man was afterwards banged,
and the great secret had trembled on the verge of
disoovery in vain. In after years mysterious per-
sons are described as having appeared in Sydney
with quantities of a heavy metal that was bought
secretly by a Jew ; and an inexplicable recovery of
the agent of the transactions from a state of bank-
ruptcy to a flourishing business is still remembered,
and now ascribed to dealings in gold. Others are
recollected who, when drunk, would talk wildly of
gold and where it was to be got—far in the interior.
It was all put down to the madness or imbecility
of intoxication—laughed at and forgotten ; now these
sayings are recollected with a conviction that there
was, perhaps, something true in them. But the
" old hands" died off, and, from whatever cause
gold remained still undiscovered. It was not till
a comparatively late period, when these vague
rumours of the existence of the metal in the coun-
try had almost passed into oblivion, that geologists,
supported by scientific induction, stated the pro-
bability of the mountains of Australia being auri-
ferous. Sir R. Murchison pointed out the simi-
larity of the Blue Mountain chain of Australia to
that of the Ural in 1844: it was considered a mere
speculation, and, as to any practical effect, might
as well have been written of the mountains in the
moon. Count Streletzki had long before gone a step
further, and iu 1835 actually found specimens of gold-
bearing quartz ; he suggested to the local Govern-
ment the policy of instituting a systematic exa-
mination of the country, but, so far from finding
the idea encouraged, Sir G. Gipps begged him. to
keep the discovery secret, from apprehensions of
the consequences, among the convict population.
Again the secret had struggled upward to the light,
and this time the offered gift was purposely rejected.
Another similar discovery is said to have been made
by the Rev. W. B. Clarke in. 1844, and in the same
manner was made a State secret, the feeling in
official quarters down to the last moment being
that the shinin= mischief was something " better
hid." The great merit of- Mr: Hargraves consists,
first, in doing.. perfectly what science and accident
had several times been on the point of accomplish-
ing, and then boldly publishing the fact to the
people of the colony, putting it out of the power of
the Government to affect the result, or to do any-
thing indeed but follow the movement, and receive
the. enormous increase of revenue it has poured into
its coffers. It was fairly driven into its present
prosperity by the "pressure from without," and
may claim the very official merit of having stood in
the way and hindered the fortunate event as long
as possible. And the Government was not alone
in believing it possible that the existence of gold
could be concealed ; the Colonial Secretary, in the
late discussion on the grant to Mr. Hargraves,
stated that in 1848 a Mr. Smith placed in his
hands " a three-ounce nugget," claiming a re-
ward for finding it. As one nugget does not make
a mine, and the Treasury in those days could not
afford large sums for mere Cabinet specimens of
minerals, Mr. Thomson very properly refused the
demand, stating that, Mr. Smith must prove the
" commercial valu© ' of his discovery. Mr.
Smith sulked, " refused to point out the spot"
where he obtained the precious lump, and sank
again among the average Smiths of the world,
,
narrom the"place ly missing in history that " fate
and metaphysical aid appeared to have reserved
for Mr. Hargraves. Otherwise it is difficult
to account for so many Persons having been unable
to use the same knowledge with any effect. They
either went to the Government and were implored
to keep it secret, or published it in scientific books
which the world did not notice ; or offered to sell
it, and, being refused their price, kept it concealed
on their own account. Certain it is all failed, and
left the chance to Mr. Hargraves, who, returning
from California with some practical experience, got
a party together, ic prospected" with success, and,
departing altogether trom the previous policy of
making the existenCe of gold in the soil a mystery,
called a public meeting .at Bathurst, made both fact
and process public, and was believed. Then began
the prodigious movement which, to use the happy
phrase of Mr. Wentworth, "precipitated the colony
into a nation." The consequences of the discovery
came so rapidly on the old settlers, and the great
" shepherd kings" of the
flock proprietors— the
country—that they were terrified by the probability
of losing their command of the labour market, and
they have not yet quite recovered their alarm,
though time has proved it to have been very exag-
gerated. The gold fields have furnished a supply
of labour nearly adequate to the necessities of the
shearing seasons, from the number of unsuccessful
diggers and those whom the toil and exposure of
mining did not suit •
, and now all apprehensions of
a " want of hands" for the.pastoral districts may be
laid aside. Making. every allowance for the fright
the chiefs among the great lessees of the land of the
colony have suffered, still they show something like
ingratitude in opposing, as they have done in the
Council, the vote of public money to Mr. Har-
graves. They have prated largely by the change ;
they have now good and increasing markets for
their mutton as well as wool, and year by year pro-
bably fewer sheep Will have to be consigned to the
melting-pot, formerly the squatter's salvation.

This, too they cannot deny, but demur to the grant
of a public reward to the founder of the mining in-
terest, which has suddenly shot up into a formid-
able rival of their own influence, because they al-
lege that the " moral deterioration of the colony
has been immense." The morality of a desert is
certainly perfect, and the influx of population de-
stroys that perfection. There is more crime now
on and around the goldfields than when the kanga-
roos and the squatters sheep alone wandered over
them ; but it is better for the colony and the world
that they should be peopled than remain a wilder-
ness ; and; considering that the men who cry out
about d.emoralisation must have seen the worst
period of the convict system, when society was
kept together by the gibbet and the lash, the pre-
sent state of things cannot be very alarming. They
also complain of a demoralisation less positive—of
a greedy thirst for gain that has inflamed the whole
community. In this respect the colony is not much
worse than any other place where there is a chance
of making money; and report lies even more than
usual if some of those who thus paint an imagi-
nary period of colonial innocence have not been as
keen in the pursuit of -wealth as the sharpest agent
or broker -of this viler epoch. It is evident that
the-influx of a new population has, improved the
colony rather than injured it. The " convict" ele-
ment, which once had a great and direct influence
in society, is overpowered and swamped, and there
is an active spirit-in the European immigrants that
will by and by begin to tell in many branches of
enterprise. They have already shaken up the
"old hands" to some extent ; for instance, the river
Murray is now being navigated by a small steamer
from its mouth upwards, for the first time ; it had
by the last accounts reached the junction of the
Darling. Great results are expected from the ex-
pedition ; it will be of immense advantage to the
woolgrowers to be able to send their produce down
to the sea by water, instead of the long and expen-
sive route by land, requiring, from the upper por-
tion of the Murray to Adelaide, a period of several
weeks.

On the 30th of September a public dinner was
given to the eight members of the Legislative
Council who formed the minority against the second
reading of the Constitution Bill. Much of the
battle was fought over again on the occasion ; but
the banquet was another indication of the current
of public feeling on the question, as it assembled
many of the leading merchants, magistrates, and
professional men of Sydney. Since the vote of the
Council on the 2d of September, public meetings
have been held in several places in the interior, at
all of which petitions or protests against the mea-
sure have been agreed to.
Since that date, too, the Government has shown
a disposition to resent the political opposition
offQred it in the Council by using its administrative
power against one of the leaders. Mr. C. Cowper,
the chairman of the Sydney Railway Company, has
been displaced in virtue of a clause in the act by
which a loan of 150,0001. was advanced by the
Treasury to the company in October last, giving
the Executive the power of nominating' six direc-
tors out of those elected by the company, by whom
the chairman was in future to be chosen. In case
of the votes being equally divided, the Governor-
General was to declare which of the candidates
should be president. The power has been exer-
cised, and Mr. Cowper is ousted, the Auditor-
General being nominated in his place. There has
been a long correspondence on the subject, and one
very angry personal debate in the Council arising
out of the transaction, but the details have only a
local interest. As ir. Cowper has successfully
managed the affairs of the company for some
years, and brought the works to their present point
' of progress, he would be the choice of the share-
holders, wile have, indeed, remonstrated with the
Government against the course adopted, but in
vain. It is not alleged that any possible advantage
will be'gained by the Government, and the chances
are that the interests of the. company will suffer
from the change. As the whole political organisa-
tion of the Council is about 1113 be changed, it was
scarcely worth while at the eleventh hour to show
so much irritation towards an opponent, or even
appear to punish an elected member for votes and
speeches, as if he was bound to subserviency like a
nominee. The future " responsible" Government
must have more philosophy on such points. Mr.
Cowper has,also felt bound to resign his seat as a
director of the company, since his being in the ma-
nagement is so strongly objected to by the Govern-
ment that commands the funds. In doing so ,he
has given the following statement of the present
position of the company, in which many beyond
the colony may be interested :
" In retiring from the management of the first Sydney
railway company, after an arduous struggle of five years
in its behalf, I enjoy the proud satisfaction of feeling
that its success is now secured. 85,0001. of the capital
has been paid into the Treasury, and the shares aro now
at 25 per cent. premium. The progress made in ar-
ranging the compensation to proprietors in and near
Sydey is great. An engineer of standing and of ex-
perience in this branch of his profession has been in-
troduced to the colony under engagement with the
company, and that gentleman has ben accompanied by
a contractor of skill and great energy. Several hun-
dred railway labourers and mechanics have been also en-
gaged in England, some of whom have arrived and are now
employed on the works, and the remainder are on their
passage to the colony ; and advices have just been re-
ceived from Mr. Flower, of London, acknowledging the
order for rails for the permanent way, locomotives, and
other rolling stock, and of the first remittance of 10,0001
towards the cost of their purchase. As regards the con-
struction of a double. line between Sydney and Para-
matta, the arrangements were therefore all but complete
before my connexion with the board terminated_ And,
upon such an occasion, I may be pardoned for adding
that but for my unceasing exertions none of these Ml-
portant results would have been obtained for the
colony."

The Sydney Chamber of Commerce has joined
that of Melbourne in an attempt to obtain some-
thing like a regular postal communication with
En,,uland. and America. At present the system is a
perfect disgrace to our Government. There are
actually only six mails from these colonies to Eng-.
land that can be relied on in the year, the steamers
of the *Peninsular and Oriental Company that arrive
and depart once every other month to join the
overland mail from India. All the rest are mere
chances, and the " special contract for the voyage,"
just tried by the home authorities, is a bungle of
more than the usual magnitude. The Stratford, an
" old.sugar-cask," as the angry colonists'call her,
failed in getting ont, and the plan on which she is
sent makes no provision for sending a mail home.
We have still to trust to the irregular means ofpri-
vate vessels, that may or may not sail on the day
appointed. For a whole fortnight, sometimes, is the
announcement gravely stuck up at the Post-office
that a mail for. England will close "this evening at 6
o'clock," by some one unhappy ship that possibly has
only half a cargo on board, and no crew, and appears
as little able to get out of port as the Flying Dutch-
man is to get in. But the consequences to the great
trading interests of the colony are lamentable. It
is a fact that " during the three months ending the
sth of duly last there was but one regular mail
despatched to England, and none to America ;" and
there were during the same time 550 ships, an
aggregate of 159,000 tons, entered inwards in the
port of Melboure alone. The steamers of private
companies that have since arrived and sailed have
not supplied what is wanted. They cannot be
relied on for regularity, and on one occasion two
sailed for England together. The memorial of the
merchants of Melbourne complains that " the most
careful and legitimate operations of commerce are
thus converted into hazardous speculations." There
is no confidence whatever in the plan under which
the Stratford was selected, and the only solitary
hope of the colonists is that the Panama route will
be tried and found practicable as soon as possible.
The steam communication with America is even
more imperfect than that with England, a fact
that contrasts unfavourably with the flaming an-
nouncements in the American journals of what
Yankee enterprise was to accomplish. Whether
from New York or San Francisco, the American
ocean steamers have signally failed in the speed of
their voyages, and when they arrived, did not sup-
port the reputation of the Transatlantic shipbuilders
for elegance of model. I would be hardly possible
to name an English steamer that was not superior
in all the qualities of a sea-going vessel to the
Monumental City, the West Wind, and others.
The fatal wreck of the former steamer
on her
voyage from Melbourne to Sydney, caused by the
most scandalous neglect and carelessness, has also
proved that they are not better commanded than
they are built ; the trickery of many of the cap-
tains of American passenger-slips to this colony
has, besides, helped to. reduce the general reputa-
tation of the American mercantile marine in this
part of the world.
The Walter Hood which sails to-morrow for
England, carries a large mail for Europe, and
newly 26,000 ounces of gold.
One' of the last acts of the Council is the suspen-
pension of the corporation of Sydney for seven
yeats ; this judgment has fallen on it for its many
misdeeds, or rather its indolence and inability to
do hnything. The Government had, by the request
1 of the citizens: taken thetlrainag© and water-

! supply of the city into its own hands, and, nothing
being left for the corporation to manage, a bill has
charitably extinguished it. The Government, how-
ever, was reluctant to deal the blow, and the coup
de grace was left to an independent member, the
Colonial Secretary assisting to pass the act, though
he would not originate it. The mayor and town-
council are superseded by paid commissioners and
an official staff. The suspended functionaries at-
tempted to resist, and called a public meeting to
remonstrate in the name of " self-government ;"
the result was their own condemnation ; not 30
citizens responded to the appeal, and, the proceed-
ings being adjourned till the next day, no one ap-
peared at all. The only chance of a revival of
a civic and corporate spirit is, that the commis-
sioners may in their turn become unpopular, and
a better class of the inhabitants be induced to take
an interest in their own affairs again.
There has been some discussion about the de-
fenceless state of the harbour of Sydney, but nothing,
definite has resulted from it. The report of a cora-
mitte directed to inquire into the subject was re-
jected by the Council, the suggestions being con-
sidered impracticable. The question is now in the
hands of the Government, which is under a kind
of pledge " to do something."
The principal intelligence from the goldfields is,
that all agitation among the miners has ceased, as it
well might, seeing that they have gained from the
Government more than they asked for. The ac-
counts of their success vary as much or even more
that ever ; and at Bendigo it appears that sickness
and disease are very prevalent, but there is not
much of special interest beyond the following items.
A correspondent of the Banner say :
" A line of holes from the foot of Prince Regent's.
Gully, leading towards Boninyong, are being sunk, some
of them being 120 feet deep, and no signs of bottoming.
A party digging near where the great nugget was found
are taking down a hole 12 feet square, and allege as a
reason that, when making a smaller ail, they came
upon a mass of quartz and gold too large to be brought
up, and that they were obliged to take .down a hole of
that size."

A correspondent of the Geelong Advertiser writes
from Mount Alexander

" Some heavy pieces have been gathered ; one of 170
ounces in Long Gully, another of 120 ounces in Tin Pot
Gully, and one of 1950 z. ldwt. was taken in Robinson
Crusoe Gully."
" The shipments of gold here by the Victoria amounted
to nearly 182,000 ounces. The Roxburgh Castle will
also carry home a large quantity—upwards of 70,000
ounces.

"The Forest Creek escort arrived in Melbourne on
the 26th with 26,808 ounces ; the 111‘Ivor, with 2,257 ;
the _Ballarat Escort arrived on the 24th with 12,162
ounces, of which 7,977 ounces were left at Geelong."
A correspondent of the Goulburn Herald writes
as follows :

"The Diggings at Major's Creek.—The returns from
Major's Creek this week are not generally so favourable
as I have lately to report. In most cases I certainly
heard dissatisfaction. It is very true that some will always
grumble, but I believe that not very much gold has
been brought to light during the last few days. Some
told us their week's work gave them about oz.
a man value about 3Gs, and these became perfectly elo-
quent about their hard fate. To allow each of these men
the odd 16s. to clear his expenses is a pretty fair average
which leaves each man 1/. as his week's wages. There
have been times when even this would not have been
despised, but that was in the 'old-fashioned times, before
the golden age' had been dreamt of. It is possible,
too, that even now, in the slow-and-go-easy country—
Old England—this rate of remuneration would be highly
prized, and regarded as a rich return ; but in young
`go-a-head' Australia it is perfectly contemptible ! Let
me do the diggers here the justice to say that they, for
the most part, seem to be working hard ; and to set
about gold digging in a proper manner does certainly
require pretty constant and pretty severe exertion. All
they get they well earn, and if I have Indulged in a little
bandinage, it is only to show how strangely our notions
of value and profit have of late altered. Others were
doing pretty well. Three men told us that their
week's work amounted to about 11 oz., and that last
month's gold was sold for 725. per oz. Others, after
some very hard work,' had taken soz. in the day, and
other 'parties averaged their returns at 2oz. or 3oz.

The following is from the!Bathurst Free Press of
Oct. 1 :

"The Interior.—By recent arrivals from. the Lachlan
and the Macquarie, we understand that the country
looks like a meadow, both places having been visited by
a moderate supply of moisture. The shearing in the
former district appears to proceed without any un-
usual difficulties on account of the labour which
the intercourse between the Western and the
Ovens diggings throws in that direction. But
the Macquarie, - which shares not these advan-
tages, presents, a melancholy spectacle of the ravages
and destruction ,of property caused by the prevail-
ing scarcity of labour. We heard from a gentleman,
whose veracity we have no rea,on to question; that
upon 60 miles' frontage of the river, carrying from
16,000 to 20,000 head of cattle, there is only one soli-
tary white-faced stockman, and that cattle-stealing is
carried upon a scale altogether unprecedented. He cited
an instance in which. one person, who a few years back
was the owner of a few straggling cattle, was selling
draughts of fat bullocks, and whose dishonest traffic,
which the absence of all protection enabled him and his
accomplices to conduct with the most perfect impunity,
was fast making him a wealthy man. An establishment
numbering 10,000 head of cattle wanted a superinten-
dent, and was without stockmen ; while fat bullocks,
by the hundred, roamed over the plains, for the time
being utterly valueless to their owners. These are
among the shadows which darken the foreground of the
brilliant picture produced by the gold discovery."
The following is the Sydney gold circular of the
Bth of October :

" Notwithstanding the immediate departure of the
Walter Hood, there has been an evident disinclination
to purchase gold at last• week's quotations, and prices
have consequently receded, particularly Port Philip
samples, which continue to be looked at with suspicion ;
recent rates have been ruling too high here and on the
diggings, and persons must be prepared to submit to a
decline, the margin now left for exporters offering but
little inducement for them to act.

" The quantity down by escort this week shows the
work is going on steadily, and holds forth good pro-
spects'for the summer. At the Ovens great things are
expected, though at present almost at a standstill on
account of the water ; the diggers now in Sydney from
that district are very sanguine, and generally intend
making their way back about Christmas, at which time
the fine weather may be said fairly to set in.
"By the Asa Packer advices have arrived of new dig-
gings at Smythe's Creek, half-way between Mount
Boninyong and Mount Emu, in the Ballarat district;
this has been partially worked before, but the present
yield surpasses anything done at that time—as much as
4Goz. taken out in three days—and report speaks very
highly of the locality.
"The prices realised to-day were—for New South
Wales, 31. 14s. to 3/. 15s. ; Port Phillip and Ovens,
3/. 16s. to 3/. 17s.

" The quantities brought in by the different escorts
were as follows :—Goulburn, 440 z. 10dwt. 2gr. ; Braid-
wood, 2870 z. lldwt. 2gr. ; :Bathurst, 1240 z. 17dwt. ;
Sofala, 4340 z. 17dwt. 3gr. ; Tambaroora, 3220 z. sdwt. ;
Meroo, 2940 z. 7dwt. ; Mudgee, 1320 z. 9dwt. Total,
1,6120 z. 16dwt. 152,T."