GREAT BRITAIN.
The news of the month from England, as from all parts of Europe, is unusually destitute of interest and importance. The new Ministers resist every endeavor to elicit from them any definite information as to the policy they intend to pursue. In the House of Commons repeated attempts have been made to procure some declaration of the intentions of Government upon the financial policy of the country, but without effect. Ministers avow their readiness to go to the people, but upon what issues they do not distinctly state. The Earl of Derby denies that there is any more necessity for settling the corn question now than there has been hitherto, but declares his readiness to meet it whenever it shall come up. Lord Brougham has introduced a bill to shorten the time within which Parliament may meet after a dissolution, fixing it at not less than thirty-five nor more than fifty days. The general expectation is that the dissolution will take place in July or August. Preparations, meantime, are made in various parts of the kingdom, for new elections, and no inconsiderable share of the public attention is absorbed in the various movements which these respective events involve. The new Ministers, who resigned their seats in Parliament upon taking office, have all been re-elected without opposition by their previous constituencies, except Lord Naas, who has been succeeded in the county of Kildare by a stanch supporter of Free Trade. This result might seem like an indication of popularity on the part of the new Cabinet, but for the fact that eight of its members have been re-elected by constituencies numbering in the aggregate only 4,804 electors, which is only a fifth of the number represented by Lord John Russell, and an eighth of that represented by Mr. Cobden. In the House of Lords, on the 12th, Lord Lyndhurst protested warmly against the agitation which was carried on to force an early dissolution of Parliament, as injurious to the country; and he took occasion to pledge the new Ministry to carry out nearly all the measures of law reform of which the late administration had given notice. His assurances on this subject were pronounced satisfactory by Lord Brougham. On the 15th, Lord Beaumont asked Lord Derby to declare distinctly whether it was, or was not, the intention of the Government to recommend an alteration of the present policy in regard to the importation of corn, at the opening of the new Parliament. In reply, Lord Derby denied that there was any greater necessity for the solution of the free-trade question now than before the accession to power of the present Government. He thought that the appeal to the people should be made as speedily as was consistent with the great interests of the country, but said that "neither taunts, nor calumnies, nor mortifications would induce him to recommend a dissolution one moment sooner than he thought it expedient." He denounced the operations of the anti-corn-law league, and complained warmly of the attempts which recently had been made by Lord John Russell to organize an opposition to his government, and thus force a dissolution. He denied the right of Parliament to put, and declined to answer categorical questions as to the precise future course of the Government; but he would say that he would never attempt, by a mere majority of votes, to force upon the country a measure distasteful to the great body of the people. Similar questions in the House of Commons have been met by similar answers from the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and other members of the Government. Mr. Disraeli announced the intention of Government to advise a dissolution so soon as measures deemed necessary for the security of the country should be passed. In a debate upon the Army Estimates, Lord John Russell contended very earnestly that it was unconstitutional and entirely unprecedented for a Government, which was notoriously in a minority in the House of Commons, to set up a claim to administer the affairs of the country for a period of many months, without any declaration of its policy, and without bringing forward any of the measures it had advocated while in opposition, and without an immediate appeal to the country. Subsequently Lord John said that the declarations of Lord Derby concerning the intended dissolution were so far satisfactory, that he should make no further opposition to immediate action upon necessary measures. —— On the 5th of April, during an incidental discussion on the Austrian dispatches concerning political refugees in England, the Earl of Malmsbury declared that Great Britain would continue to be an asylum for all exiles who wished to avail themselves of it. In the Commons, a proposition to establish voting by ballot was rejected—there being in its favor 89 votes, and against it 244. On the 6th, in reply to inquiries, the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced that Sir C. Hotham would immediately proceed to Rio Janeiro on a mission, in connection with a French ambassador, to place the commercial relations of France and England with the countries on the River Plate, on a more satisfactory footing.—Parliament adjourned over the Easter holidays until April 19th.
The usual Mansion House banquet, given on Easter Monday, was signalized by a speech from Lord Derby, in which he urged the great importance of the confidence of the country to any Ministry which hoped to administer its affairs with success. Mr. F. Peel, on the 12th, addressed a large meeting of the electors of Bury, in Lancashire, and took occasion to insist very strongly on the necessity of resisting to the utmost every attempt to restore high duties upon articles which, enter largely into the consumption of the masses of the people. Considerable importance has been attached to a declaration made by Sir R. Inglis, the new Solicitor-General for Scotland, who said, in a recent address to his constituents, that he was not prepared to vote for any measure calculated to promote mere class interests, at the expense of the general welfare of the country; and that while he was "very sensible of the great pressure under which agriculture was suffering, he was satisfied that the evil might be greatly lessened, if not removed, without the necessity of reimposing a tax on the people's food." —— A most painful sensation has been produced by the wreck of the steam troop-ship Birkenhead, on her way to the Cape of Good Hope, on the night of the 26th of February, attended by an immense loss of life. In order to save distance, the captain had run very close in to shore; and at a few minutes past midnight, while running eight and a half knots an hour, off Point Danger, the steamer struck a sunken rock, which penetrated her bottom just aft the foremast, and in less than half an hour the steamer had thoroughly gone to pieces. Out of 638 persons on board, only 184 survived. The rush of water into the ship was so sudden that most of the men were drowned in their hammocks. The rest of the men were called upon deck, and marshaled under their proper officers. The cutter was launched with the women and children. The large boat in the centre of the ship could not be got at. Very soon after, the ship broke in two in the middle, and two or three hundred persons struggling upon drift wood in the water were all that remained. They were then a mile or two from the shore—the water between was full of sea-weed and sharks, and but few reached the land. Nine officers and 349 men perished. The good order and discipline maintained on board after the wreck are spoken of in the highest terms of admiration. Just as the vessel was going down, the commander called out for all that could swim to jump overboard and make for the boats. Two or three of the officers urged them not to do so, as it would inevitably swamp the boats, in which were the women and children: it is added that only three made the attempt. —— Strenuous efforts are still made to prevent the Crystal Palace from being removed, but with slight prospects of success. On the 3d of April it was thrown open for a grand promenade, and was visited by over 80,000 people. A public meeting was subsequently held to urge upon Parliament the propriety of taking steps to preserve it. —— The penny subscription for a monument to Sir Robert Peel has been closed, and is found to have yielded over £1737, which has been placed in the hands of trustees. —— A good deal of interest has been excited by the report that on the 20th of April, 1851, the captain, mate, and others on board the ship Renovation, on her way from Shields to Quebec, saw two vessels imbedded in a large iceberg, about thirty miles from Cape Race, the southern point of Newfoundland. The captain of the ship has not been heard from in regard to it; but two or three persons distinctly testify to having heard him relate the facts; while the mate, a sailor who was at the helm, and a passenger on board, concur in saying that they saw the ships. Mr. Simpson, the mate, examined them with a glass, and describes them as having been three-masted ships, with their masts struck and yards down, and all made snug. They were near each other—one upright, and the other with a slight inclination. The captain was sick at the time, and no pains were taken to examine the ships more closely. The Admiralty has pursued its inquiries into the accuracy of the statement, under the supposition that the vessels seen may have been the ships of Sir John Franklin; but no reliable conclusion can as yet be formed upon the subject. —— A new and well-appointed searching Expedition, under Captain Belcher, set out for the Arctic Seas on the 15th of April.
Very remarkable accounts reach England of the abundance of gold in Australia. According to a careful return, compiled from reliable sources, it is stated that from the 29th of September, the date of the discovery of the gold field, to the 17th of December, there had been taken out gold valued at £730,242. The papers report that the field seems to be unlimited—the indications of gold extending over scores of miles, and each new deposit apparently surpassing all others in richness.