The Sun.
London, England, 1851-05-23 00:00:00

GERMANY.

TRANSPORTATION TO VAN DIEMEN'S
LAND.
The following is a copy of a petition to Parliament on
this subject:—
The humble petition of the undersigned merchants, trad-
ing with the British colony of Van Diemen's Land,
and others connected with the said colony,
Respectfully sheweth—
That the colony of Van Diemen's Land having, in the
year 1840, been made the sole receptacle of convicts
sentenced to transportation, a most fearful state of things
was engendered in the said colony, to the great dismay
of the colonists, and the scandal of the nation at large;
and that it was accordingly determined, during the ad-
ministration of the lute Sir Robert Peel, to establish a
new
settlement in Northern Australia for the reception
of offenders.
That the administration which followed Sir Robert
Peel's resolved to arrest the formation of the settlement
of Noth Australia,aniedmteon,s suspendf
d theo transportation of
convicts to Van D
years; and
afterwards, apparently on profound
reflection,raoohe they de-
termined to abolish transportationaltogether
sreootondVaarn
Diemen's Land, and to adopt a sy steui
punishment, of which the distinguishing features were
the punishment of offenders in penitentiaries in this
country, and their subsequent wide dispersion through
various colonies of the empire.
That her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for
the Colonies accordingly advised the Lieutenant-
Governor of Van Diemen's Land, on the sth of February,
1847, that it was not intended to.revive transportation
to that colony at the expiration of the two years for
which it had been decided that it should be discontinued;
and that the Lieutenant-Governor announced this in-
struction to the Legislative Council of the colony in the
following words :.....,
ib t. take the earliest opportunity of bringing before
You the decision of her Majesty's Government, that
transportation to, Van Diemen's Land shall not be re-
sumed at the
has already expiration of the two years for which it
Her majegYt been decided that it is to be discontinued.
nation, nay! a Government, in coming to this determi-
wishes
of a acted in accordance -with the expressed
large proportion of the free inhabitants of
the colony."
And. farthoefrmAoure, that the said Lieutenant-Governor,
on the 20th
1847, in a dispatch to the Secre-
tary of State, w„,td4ti:
her the revival of trans Majesty's Government against
in these words:— portation to the colony in any form,
"As her, Majesty's G„
Ce_seernment have decided that
transortation is to
,k and as that decision
has been publicly male
I do not consider that trwn in the colony,
or desirable, to carry out tThehesupci
;eenings of
would be possible,
tions contained
in my dispatch, No. 83.
portion
of the community are so fun osted in the o -
a large
been raised to the eon . P
position which has
attempt now to revive the s vict system
here,.that any
ystem in an form, would be looked. upon by them us a br'e h 37
faith, and would cause, I have no doubt, feeling(77of
tility which would be very embarrassing to then
0
Govrn:
meat."
That, in the year 1848, her Majesty's Government
notwithstanding to, continue
nrnent,
transportation of convicts to Van Di
notwithstanding its promises, resolved
Diemen
the
men s Land; and
that the great body of transported offenders have been
sent to the said colony ever since.
That, between the year 1840 and the present time,
petitioners have heard and believe that no less than
'30,000 convicts have been sent to, Van Diemen's Land;
ts)hAt upwards of 12;000 free people have,
t een drivea forth in consequence,
from the colony, to seek homes and
employment els,;:where; and that, by the census of the
colony, taken in 1848, it would apar
that three-fourths
of the adult population were, or had been, convicts—a
were, or
proportion which, ' •
That the c_.oll.,it is believed, has since increased.
01 its are in a state of the utmost
discon-
tent at this revival a transportation, in the face of
pledges of her As ;
Majesty re as solemnly an-
-flounced by her Majes,;,ss
representative That bishop
And clergy, the minister:el)
_of various denominations,
:members of the Legislatura
tants, and guardians; on IQ
1-3;halafgiostfrates., merchants, pa-
ths respectable free people generally,
stations, have over d over, in various
of all ranks and
Majesty the Queen, albs Lords S - petitions to her
pirual and Tempered,
or your Honourable House, pra3 o
es. elsef against the in-
credible wrongs done to them by the continued
portatinn of criminals to Van Diemen's Lam+,
and that the pledges of her Majesty's Government' cud
at
length be honourably fulfilled.-
That, finally, the.women of the colony have lately ad_
alressed her most gracious Majesty the Queen, appf,ali,„
k., hey sympathies as a mother as well as the &over eign ''
of a great empire.
That, nsvertheless, her Majesty's Government still
persist in sending large numbers of convicts to the said
colony.

'phut, unhappily, a feeling of hostility to the free colo-
nists seems to be arising in the minds of some of the
Convict classes in the said coleiky; who, falsely, no doubt,
ntorprcting certain statements of her
i
Majesty's Govern-
ment, appear to regard the • colony as theirs, and the
free colonists as intruders.

Thar,, with the discontent of the colonists on the one
.hanl at what, in the language of their governor, they
'west inevitably regard as a breach of faith, and the
exosporution of the convict classes on the other, your
potiooners entertain the moss serious apprehensions that

- -
There was a dangerous flood at Vienna on the 13th,
which destroyed all the bridges but one.
Eight hundred copies of the supplement to the
Allgemeine Zeitung have been seized by the police in
Munich, and confiscated. The authorities acted on
instructions sent from Stuttgard by telegraph, and
were waiting for the packages, of whose contents
they were quite aware before they arrived. It is ,
stated that the zeal of the police has on this occasion,
for the first time, been rebuked by a high personage,
without whose knowledge the seizure was made, and
who was thereby deprived of his usual morning paper.
The cause of the confiscation is not given.
In Wiesbaden the police are also busy, but as re-
formers of the bad manners that have been introduced
since the revolution. A custom has grown up of
wearing the hat in the pit of the theatre in the pauses
between the acts, especially by the visitors from
mayence, who are losing much of their German
formality in trifles. On two occasions the offenders
have been officially called to order, and warned of the
breach of decorum.
The Treasury of Baden has brought a formal ac-
tion against the widow of B6bning, one of the leaders
of the insurrection, executed in 1849, to recover a
sum of several millions of gulden, with a minimum
of one million, as the amount of the damage sustained
by the Treasury of the Duchy during the revolt.
That the widow can pay any part of it is out of the
question.
The Deutsche Allgemeine Zeituno• has the follow-
ing paragraph, probably one of the last that will ap-
pear, on the Dresden Conferences :
" After their formal close they will be forgotten as a
total failure, and the re-organization of Germany will
immediately be discussed at Warsaw by the Monarchs
in person, and the Presidents of their respective Ca-
binets. All the agitation, labour, and exchange of notes
has only led to the recognition of the old Constitution
and the old Diet as the basis and body of the political
system. The reforms, improvements, and innovations
lie still veiled in the deepest obscurity of the future, and
will first become visible in the second half of the present
month. Perhaps conditions may be made in Warsaw
that may favour one State at the cost of another; now
is the right moment for Prussia to beware, lest under
the appearance of an increase of power over the small
States it is not itself placed in the rank of secondary
powers."

SERVIA..
A misunderstanding is said to have arisen between
the Porte and the Servian
Government, The Porte
asserts that the insurrection in Turkish Croatia has
been aided and abetted by Servia.

SHIP LAUNCH AT ST. PETER'S. A beautiful first-class vessel, intended for the Indian
passenger trade, was launched on Thursday last from
the building yard of Messrs. T. and W. Smith, at St.
Peter's quay, near this town. The day was most pro-
pitious, and a vast crowd assembled to witness the in-
teresting proceedings. Although not so large as some of
her predecessors, yet for beauty of model and warlike
appearance, she surpasses them all; she is frigate-
built, being bored for 32 guns, with her timber and
fastenings all adapted fur warlike service, should it be
required to change her peaceful occupation. Her di-
mensions are—Extreme length, 197 feet 4 inches ; gun
deck, 171 feet ; breadth, 38 feet 4 inches. The Hot-
spur, for such is the name this excellent and splendid
vessel now bears, forms the thirteenth in the list
of the splendid vessels built by, and under the
ownership of the same firm, in the order under-men-
tioned :—Kestrel, 450 tons; Ostrich, 500 tons ; Pekin,
600 tons ; Colombo, 700 tons ; Duko of Argyle, 800
toes; Plantagenet, 850 tons; Bueephalus, 1,050 tons;
Ellenborough, 1,100 tons; Glorisna, 1,000 tons; Tudor,
1,150 tons; LErlhorough, 1,400 tuns; Blenheim, 1,500
tons; Hotvur, 1,142 tons. Tie two first of these, with
other small but well-known Isidiamen, which have
ceased to be th 3 property of Afessrs. Smith, were built
at North Shields. The remainder,
the of which the Hotspur
WWI the last, were built at St. Peter's. The keel of
Hotspur was laid down in July, 1848, immediately
after thri launch of the Blenheim, and care has been
taken that in the seasoning of the timber, the run of
her hues, and her interior fittings should entitle her to
the claim of being one of the best specimens of naval ar-
chitecture that has:been constructed in the dockyards of
the Tyne. Before the vessel left the stocks the public were
afforded an opportunity of inspecting her, and hundreds
availed themselves of the privilege so kindly and con-
siderately granted by the .Messrs. Smith. About half-
past four o'clock, the tide being then at its highest, the
shipwrignts began to drive the wedges, so as to ease the
blocks, which were then speedily removed. The last
remainit,Y, support having been knocked away, the
noble vessel rested rot, a moment on its slippery way
to undergo the christening ceremony, which was
admirably performed by the lady of Captain Joseph
Toynbee, the commander, breaking the brandy bottle
across the bows, and then she glided away majes-
tically into the aqueous element, amidst the firing
of cannon, and the cheers of an
,immense concourse of
spectators. A platform was erected in the dockyard for
a select company of ladies and gentlemen, who after the
ceremony partook of refreshments provided for the oc-
casion; and throughout the afternoon, which was re-
markably fine, Messrs. Hawks and Crawshay's band
played a number of popular airs. It is intended to rig
the Hotspur with all possible dispatch, so that she may
in July next depart from Gravesend on her first voyage
to India.—Newcastle Journal.

LONDON,