Queen's fort, with ammunition to work them. The
new government has also received from the special
commissioner, gratis, all the government buildings and
office-furniture in the different towns of the Sovereignty.

Advices from Australia have been received by the
clipper Marco Polo, which left Melbourne on the 19th
February. The value of land at Geelong and Melbourne
was increasing every day. At Geelong a half-acre of
land, situate near the theatre, and having frontages to
Malop and Little Malop-streets, fetched £5,500, being at
the enormous rate of £11,000 per acre. Two very large
nuggets had been found at the Ballarat diggings within
a few days; one weighed 207 ounces, and the other 685
ounces. New gold-diggings have been discovered at
Tamboora and Major's Creek. Both places are near to
Sydney. The Sydney Empire, speaking of the Major's
Creek diggings, says—"The new diggings are turning
out well. Upwards of 500 licenses have been issued this
month. To-day three and a-half ounces were taken out
in one prospect; but this of course was out of a pocket.
Nevertheless, all the diggers are working in good
spirits. They labour under the disadvantage of a scarcity
of water for washing, and in parts the sinking is very
deep." The Melbourne Argus contains the following
relative to new gold discoveries:—"It having been
reported that gold had been obtained on Mr. Logan's
run, at the Black Springs, near the Karkulto mine,
Mr. Haime and three others went up there on the 14th
inst., and returned on the 20th. They sank five holes,
and found the precious metal in one at the depth of
nine feet. Another of the holes they took down to the
depth of 15 feet, but their search proved unsuccessful.
Mr. Haime describes the country as very similar to the
strata at Bendigo, being a mixture of slate with a blue
clay bottom."

NARRATIVE OF FOREIGN EVENTS.

THE intelligence from Turkey relates to the operations
of the combined fleets in the Black Sea, and the
movements of the hostile troops. In consequence of
a British flag of truce having been fired upon by the
batteries at Odessa, and the Prussian commandant
having refused satisfaction, it was resolved to bombard
the place, with a view to destroy the forts and shipping.
This was done on the 21st of April. The attack began
about half-past six in the morning; and the attacking
force was ordered to go in-shore as much as possible, to
avoid firing upon the town or merchant-shipping in the
Quarantine Mole. The first attack was made by the
Sampson and Tiger, English steamers, and the Vauban
and Descartes, French. The main body of the fleet lay
three miles off, spectators. The Sampson led the way,
and the order of attack was this: each steamer, when
within about 2000 yards, delivered her fire, then wheeled
about in a circle of about half a mile in diameter; and
thus, says an eye-witness, "they kept wheeling and
twisting about like so many waltzers, without ever
touching or getting into scrapes." The guns of the
mole returned the fire; and after an hour and a half,
the Vauban steamed off, on fire from red-hot balls, but
returned to her post when it was quenched. Soon
afterwards, the second division of steam-frigates—the
English Terrible, Retribution, and Furious, and the
French Mogador—entered the action, and rained a
pitiless sleet of shells upon the mole and the shipping.
Towards noon the fire of the enemy became slow; at
one o'clock the Tongue battery blew up; and the ships
went in still nearer, to effect the destruction of the
Russian shipping. A field battery was brought down
to the beach to fire upon the gun-boats cooperating with
the fleet; but a few balls and rockets put them to flight,
and fired a village near which they were posted. In
the midst of the fight, the battery on the Quarantine
Mole became troublesome, and the Arethusa was sent
in to quiet it: she stood in, hove to, delivered her fire;
filled, tacked, and again delivered her broadside, doing
much damage. During the fire, she deliberately reefed
her topsails. The Terrible stood further in than the
other ships, and towards the close they were all crowded
into a small space; but not a false movement was to be
observed. Towards five o'clock, the destruction of the
mole, the shipping, the barracks, and stores was
complete; and signal was made to the steamers to rejoin
the fleet. All this had been accomplished with a
loss in the English ships of one man killed and ten
wounded, and in the French of two killed and two
wounded. The Russian loss must have been very
severe. The fire in the port lasted forty-eight hours.

A gallant adventure, of which Captain Tatham of the
Fury, of six guns, is the hero, is recorded. Creeping
up to Sebastopol, on the 11th April, he spied two
merchant-vessels departing; boarded and captured one,
and took her in tow. Two brigs followed by two
frigates, 48 guns, instantly sailed out of the harbour, in
chase, and a steamer began to get up steam. The
frigates rapidly nearing, the Fury cast off her prize,
started some tons of water, and flew to windward. As
the frigates neared, the Fury fired at the foremost; and
it was seen that the shot fell a little short of the bows.
The Russian fired four guns, and hoisted three ensigns
one after the other; the Fury replying to the defiance
with shell. Finally, as the steamer was coming up,
the Fury steamed away with her prisoners.

On the 12th inst, the Tiger, an English steam frigate,
having run aground near Odessa, was attacked by
artillery sent from the city, and destroyed after a gallant
resistance, and her surviving crew made prisoners and
carried into Odessa. The particulars are not yet
ascertained, but it is said that Captain Giffard, her
commander, had a leg shot off, that a midshipman was
killed, having lost both his legs, and that many of the
crew were killed and wounded. By the latest accounts
the two fleets were cruising off Sebastopol.

The French and British military commanders have
arrived at Constantinople. The British infantry are
divided into four divisions, each of two brigades:—1st
Division, his Royal Highness the Duke of Cambridge,
K.G. 1st Brigade, the Grenadier, Coldstream, and
Scots Fusilier Guards, Brigadier Bentinck. 2nd Brigade,
Brigadier Sir C. Campbell, 42nd, 79th, and 93rd
Regiments.—2nd Division, Sir De Lacy Evans, K.C.B.
1st Brigade, Brigadier Pennefather, 30th, 55th, and
95th Regiments. 2nd Brigade, Brigadier Adams, 41st,
47th, and 49th Regiments.—3rd Division, Sir R.
England, K.C.B. 1st Brigade, Sir J. Campbell, Bart.,
1st, 4th, and 78th Regiments. 2nd Brigade, Brigadier
W. Eyre, C.B., 28th, 44th, and 50th Regiments.—Light
Division, Sir G. Brown, K.C.B., K.H., 1st Brigade,
Brigadier D. Airey, 7th, 23rd, and 33rd Regiments.
2nd Brigade, G. Buller, C.B., 19th, 77th, and 88th
Regiments. The 2nd battalion of the Rifle Brigade
will act as a Regiment (under the 2nd Brigade of the
Light Division) as may be ordered.—Accounts from
Scutari announce the health of the troops there to be
excellent. The barracks appointed for the contingent
are spacious and airy, though filthy and overrun with
vermin. The Guards, in consequence of their state,
preferred camping out. The Rifle Brigade, and the
93rd Regiment of Highlanders, had arrived at Scutari
from Gallipoli.

According to the latest accounts from Constantinople,
of the 15th inst., the allied troops were in motion,
in order to co-operate with Omer Pacha, and form his
reserve. It seems full time, for the position of the
Turkish general is said to be serious. The Russians
were advancing from the Dobrudscha; they had cut off
communication between Silistria and Varna, and also
between Varna and Schumla.

There have been disputes at Constantinople between
the French and British ambassadors, General Baraguay
d'Hilliers and Lord Stratford, in consequence of which,
it is said, the former has been recalled to command the
camp at Boulogne. There are serious dissensions
among the Turkish ministers.

Accounts from the Baltic state that the British fleet,