COLONIES AND DEPENDENCIES.

The Overland Mail has brought accounts from Bombay
to the 14th of January. The principal article of intelligence
is the assassination of Captain Latter, the Deputy
Commissioner at Prome. It took place on the night of
the 8th December. Some Burmese, disguised as women,
were permitted to pass the sentry. They entered the
captain's quarters and stabbed him in his sleep; making
so little noise that they escaped without detection; and
it was only on the next morning that the body was
found pierced by three wounds. Captain Latter was a
gallant soldier and able political agent. He led the
storming party at Rangoon; he played a conspicuous
part at Bassein; he had frequently pursued, attacked,
and destroyed the dacoits; and his loss will be greatly
felt. Several attempts of convicts—Sikhs, among others
—to escape from confinement, are mentioned as resulting
in much bloodshed. Large bodies of Burmese still
hung about the principal stations, and the utmost
vigilance was imperative.

The intelligence from Australia is to the 30th of
November. Four additional steamers are to be placed
on the river Murray during the next twelve months;
and the lands on its banks were to be forthwith
surveyed and thrown open for public sale. Labour was
less scarce, and there was less disposition to leave the
colony. The yield of gold has been somewhat less than
usual, in consequence of the new system of mining,
called "deep sinking," adopted by the most experienced
diggers. The plan of "surfacing," so long followed with
great success, is now left to "new chums," who are
looked upon as poor or unenterprising fellows. But
it is justly remarked, that surfacing is steady industry,
and deep-sinking a kind of gambling, sometimes yielding
large sums, often little or nothing. Instances are
not wanting of diggers who deserted a deep hole
having taken nothing, while persons succeeding them
and diving down a few feet further have alighted upon
large prizes. Disease and disorder still prevail at the
gold-fields.

PROGRESS OP EMIGRATION AND COLONIZATION.

A deputation, representing a committee of merchants
anxious to Promote the Exploration of Australia, and
including among others, Mr. Moffat, M.P., Mr.
Gregson, M.P., Mr. John Gladstone, M.P Mr. Lindsay,
and Sir James Duke, waited on the Duke of
Newcastle, on the 4th inst., to tender their advice and
co-operation. Mr. Lindsay was the spokesman. He
said the merchants of London thought the object of the
expedition so important, that they had agreed to raise
£1,500 in aid of the £3,500 offered by the government.
They were influenced in a great measure to support
the proposed expedition from the high opinion they
had formed of M. Haug. They ventured to suggest
also that a survey of the coast should be included
in the objects of the expedition. The Duke of
Newcastle said, he was sorry that, owing to an accident,
he had not seen Captain Stokes, the officer fixed on
as fittest to command the expedition. With reference
to the expense, he thought the sum first named
would not be sufficient to carry on the expedition in
a manner worthy of a great national undertaking. No
doubt, the Treasury would have advanced the sum
specified, £3500, and M. Haug would have been placed
in command; but it occurred to the Duke of Newcastle
that it would be more satisfactory if the government
took the responsibility on itself. The Geographical
Society readily entered into his views. He had seen
M. Haug, and had no wish to deprive him of his fair
share in the undertaking. He had told M. Haug why
he should not be able to place the matter entirely under
his direction. "I did not (said the Duke) rest that so
much on the fact of his being a foreigner, but on the
feeling which would naturally exist in the public mind
that there are many eminent men who have already
distinguished themselves by explorations in Australia,
and who are practically well acquainted with the
conducting of undertakings of this nature; and I
said it would be desirable that one of them should
be placed at the head of such an expedition, and
not a gentleman who, however eminent his talents
and unwearying his energies, had never been in
the country, and would on that account have himself
much to learn. He quite entered into that view: and
I told him I should certainly feel it due to him, when I
placed the matter in the hands of another gentleman—
alluding to Captain Stokes—to say that I wished him to
form part of the expedition, and to be placed in such a
position upon it as would fairly meet his expectations,
and as his merits might entitle him to occupy. I should
hope there would be no personal feeling of jealousy in
the matter, because you will see that it would be destructive
of an undertaking of this kind. I have, however,
nothing to lead me to suppose that there would be any such
feeling." The Colonial Minister declined the pecuniary
assistance tendered, but said he should be obliged to the
deputation for their aid and advice. In reply to further
questions, he said he thought a coast survey would
hamper the expedition into the interior. But before
anything be done, it would be necessary to have a
matured plan. He believed the Australian colonies
would support an expedition of the kind in a prompt
and liberal spirit.

NARRATIVE OF FOREIGN EVENTS.

The intelligence from the Seat of War between Russia
and Turkey during this month has not been important;
but military operations of great magnitude are expected
speedily to take place. The French Emperor has made
a last attempt to induce the Czar to listen to reasonable
terms of accommodation. A letter from him to the
Czar, dated the 29th of January, has been extensively
circulated in France by order of the government—
posted as a placard, profusely distributed through the
provinces, and read to the troops in their barracks. In
this letter, the Emperor, after taking a review of the
progress of the dispute, concludes thus:—"Such, Sire,
is the manner in which events have followed each other
and been connected together; and it is clear that having
arrived at this point, they must promptly lead either to
a definite understanding, or to a decisive rupture. Your
Majesty has given so many proofs of your solicitude for
the repose of Europe, and contributed so powerfully by
your beneficent influences to put down the spirit of
disorder, that I cannot entertain any doubt of the
resolution which you will come to in the alternative
presented to your choice. If your Majesty desires as
ardently as I do a pacific conclusion, what is more
simple than at once to declare that an armistice shall be
signed forthwith, that matters shall resume their diplomatic
course, that all hostility shall cease, and that all
the belligerent forces shall be withdrawn from the
places where motives of war have called them? In
that case, the Russian troops would quit the
Principalities and our squadrons the Black Sea. As your
Majesty prefers to treat directly with Turkey, you
would name an ambassador to negotiate with a