GLANCES AT EUROPE:

 IN A

 Series of Letters

 FROM

 GREAT BRITAIN, FRANCE, ITALY, SWITZERLAND, &c. 

 DURING

 THE SUMMER OF 1851. 

 INCLUDING NOTICES OF THE

 GREAT EXHIBITION, OR WORLD'S FAIR. 

 BY HORACE GREELEY. 

 NEW YORK: DEWITT & DAVENPORT, PUBLISHERS. 1851. 

 ENTERED, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1851, by

 DEWITT & DAVENPORT, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Southern District of New York. 

 _R. Craighead, Printer and Stereotyper, _ _112 Fulton Street. _

NO APOLOGY. 

If there be any reader impelled to dip into notes of foreign travelmainly by a solicitude to perfect his knowledge of the manners andhabits of good society, to which end he is anxious to learn how my LordShuffleton waltzes, what wine Baron Hob-and-nob patronizes, which tintspredominate in Lady Highflyer's dress, and what is the probable color ofthe Duchess of Doublehose's garters, he will only waste his time bylooking through this volume. Even if the species of literature headmires had not already been overdone, I have neither taste nor capacityfor increasing it. It was my fortune sometimes while in Europe to "sitat good men's feasts, " but I brought nothing away from them for thepublic, not even the names of my entertainers and their notable guests. If I had felt at liberty to sketch what struck me as the personalcharacteristics of some gentlemen of note or rank whom I met, especiallyin England, I do not doubt that the popular interest in those letterswould have been materially heightened. I did not, however, deem myselfauthorized to do this. In a few instances, where individuals challengedobservation and criticism by consenting to address public gatherings, Ihave spoken of the matter and manner of their speeches and indicated theimpressions they made on me. Beyond this I did not feel authorized togo, even in the case of public men speaking to the public throughreports for the daily press; while those whom I only met privately or inthe discharge of kindred duties, as Jurors at the Exhibition, I have notfelt at liberty to bring before the public at all. Having thus explainedwhat will seem to many a lack of piquancy, in the following pages, implying a privation of social opportunities, I drop the subject. 

No one can realize more fully than the writer the utter absence ofliterary merit in these Letters. He does not deprecate nor seek todisarm criticism; he only asks that his sketches be taken for what theyprofess and strive to be, and for nothing else. That they aresuperficial, their title proclaims; that they were hurriedly written, with no thought of style nor of enduring interest, all whom they arelikely to interest or to reach must already know. A journalist travelingin foreign lands, especially those which have been once the homes of hishabitual readers or at least of their ancestors, cannot well refrainfrom writing of what he sees and hears; his observations have a value inthe eyes of those readers which will be utterly unrecognized by thecolder public outside of the sympathizing circle. For the habitualreaders of The Tribune especially were these Letters written, and theiroriginal purpose has already been accomplished. Here they would haverested, but for the unsolicited offer of the publishers to reproducethem in a book at their own cost and risk, and on terms ensuring a fairshare of any proceeds of their sale to the writer. Such offers frompublishers to authors who have no established reputation as book-makersare rarely made and even more rarely refused. Therefore, Sir Critic!whose dog-eared manuscript has circulated from one publisher's drawer toanother until its initial pages are scarcely readable, while the ampleresidue retain all their pristine freshness of hue, you are welcome toyour revenge! Your novel may be tedious beyond endurance; your epic apreposterous waste of once valuable foolscap; but your slashing reviewis sure to be widely read and enjoyed. 

My aim in writing these Letters was to give a clear and vividdaguerreotype of the districts I traversed and the incidents which cameunder my observation. To this end I endeavored to sec, so far aspracticable, through my own eyes rather than those of others. To thisend, I generally shunned guide-books, even those of the "indispensable"Murray, and relied mainly for routes and distances on the shillinghand-book of Bradshaw. That I have been misled into many inaccuraciesand some gross blunders as to noted edifices, works of art, &c. , isquite probable; but that I have truthfully though hastily indicated thetopography, rural aspects, agricultural adaptations and more obvioussocial characteristics of the countries I traversed, I am neverthelessconfident. I made a point of penning my impressions of each day'sjourney within the succeeding twenty-four hours if practicable, for Ifound that even a day's postponement impaired the distinctness of myrecollections of the ever-varying panorama of hill and dale, moor andmountain, with long, level or undulating stretches of intermingledwoods, grain, grass, &c. , &c. I trust the picture I have attempted togive of out-door life in Western Europe, the workers in its fields andthe clusters in its streets, will be recognized by competent judges assubstantially correct. 

The opinions expressed with respect to national characteristics oraptitude will of course appear crude and rash to those who regard themas based exclusively on the few days' personal observation in which theymay seem to have originated. To those who regard them as grounded insome knowledge of history and of the present political and socialcondition of those nations, corrected and modified indeed by thepersonal observation aforesaid, their crudity and audacity will besomewhat less astounding. No one will doubt that other travelers inEurope have been far better qualified to observe and to judge than Iwas, yet I see and think, and am not forbidden to speak. We know alreadyhow Europe appears in the eyes of the learned and wise; but if someNepaulese Embassador or vagrant Camanche were to publish his "firstimpressions" of Great Britain or Italy, should we utterly refuse to openit because Baird or Thackeray could give us more accurate information onthat identical theme? Would not the Camanche's criticisms possess somevalue _as_ his, quite apart from their intrinsic worth or worthlessness?Might they not afford some insight into Indian modes of thought, if noneinto European modes of life?

I deeply regret that the general impression made on me by the Italianswas such that my estimate of their character and capabilities gaveoffence to their brethren now settled in this country. Their feeling isa natural, creditable one; I will not reply to their strictures, yet Imust let what I wrote in Italy of the Italians stand unmodified. I shallbe most happy indeed to confess my mistake whenever it shall have beenproved such, but I cannot as yet perceive it. And to those who, notunreasonably, dilate on the rashness of such judgment on the part of onewho was only some few weeks in Italy, and did not even understand itspeople's language, I beg leave to commend a perusal of "Casa GuidiWindows, " by Elizabeth Barrett Browning. I had not seen it when I wrote, and the coincidence of its estimate of the Italians with mine is ofcourse utterly unpremeditated. Mrs. Browning speaks Italian and knowsthe Italians; she lived among them throughout the late eventful years;she sympathizes with their sufferings and prays for their deliverance, but without shutting her eyes to the faults and grave defects ofcharacter which impede that deliverance if they do not render itdoubtful. To those who will read her brief but noble poem, I need say nomore; on those who refuse to read it, words from me would be wasted. Believing that among the most imminent perils of the Republican cause inEurope is the danger of a premature, sanguinary, fruitless insurrectionin Italy, I have done what I could to prevent any such catastrophe. WhenLiberty shall have been re-vindicated in France and shall thereupon havetriumphed in Germany, the reign of despotism will speedily terminate inItaly; until that time, I do not see how it can wisely be even resisted. 

A word of explanation as to the "World's Fair" must close this too longintroduction. The letters in this volume which refer to the greatExhibition of Industry were mainly written when the persistent andunsparing disparagement of the British Press had created a generalimpression that the American Exposition was a mortifying failure, andwhen even some of the Americans in Europe, taking their cue from thatPress, were declaring themselves "ashamed of their country" because ofsuch failure. Of course, these letters were written to correct the thenprevalent errors. More recently, the tide has completely turned, untilthe danger now imminent is that of extravagant if not groundlessexultation, so that this Fair would be treated somewhat differently if Iwere now to write about it. The truth lies midway between the extremesalready indicated. Our share in the Exhibition was creditable to us as anation not yet a century old, situated three to five thousand miles fromLondon; it embraced many articles of great practical value thoughuncouth in form and utterly unattractive to the mere sight-seer; othernations will profit by it and we shall lose no credit; but it fell farshort of what it might have been, and did not fairly exhibit theprogress and present condition of the Useful Arts in this country. Wecan and must do better next time, and that without calling on theFederal Treasury to pay a dollar of the expense. 

Friends in Europe! I may never again meet the greater number of you onearth; allow me thus informally to tender you my hearty thanks for manywell remembered acts of unsought kindness and unexpected hospitality. That your future years may be many and prosperous, and your embarkationon the Great Voyage which succeeds the journey of life may be serene andhopeful, is the fervent prayer of

 Yours, sincerely, H. G. 

 _New-York, October 1st, 1851. _

 CONTENTS. 

 _Page_

 I. Crossing the Atlantic, 9

 II. Opening of the Fair, 19

 III. The Great Exhibition, 29

 IV. England--Hampton Court, 38

 V. The Future of Labor--Day-Break, 47

 VI. British Progress, 53

 VII. London--New-York, 62

 VIII. The Exhibition, 69

 IX. Sights in London, 77

 X. Political Economy, as Studied at the World's Exhibition, 87

 XI. Royal Sunshine, 96

 XII. The Flax-Cotton Revolution, 107

 XIII. Leaving the Exhibition, 113

 XIV. London to Paris, 120

 XV. The Future of France, 127

 XVI. Paris, Social and Moral, 134

 XVII. Paris, Political and Social, 141

 XVIII. The Palaces of France, 149

 XIX. France, Central and Eastern, 157

 XX. Lyons to Turin, 164

 XXI. Sardinia--Italy--Freedom, 174

 XXII. Pisa--The Leaning Tower (Letter Missing), 184

 XXIII. First Day in the Papal States, 186

 XXIV. The Eternal City, 191

 XXV. St. Peter's, 201

 XXVI. The Romans of To-day, 208

 XXVII. Central Italy--Florence, 214

 XXVIII. Eastern Italy--The Po, 222

 XXIX. Venice, 231

 XXX. Lombardy, 238

 XXXI. Switzerland, 248

 XXXII. Lucerne to Basle, 256

 XXXIII. Germany, 261

 XXXIV. Belgium, 268

 XXXV. Paris to London, 273

 XXXVI. Universal Peace Congress, 279

 XXXVII. America at the World's Fair, 286

 XXXVIII. England, Central and Northern, 293

 XXXIX. Scotland, 303

 XL. Ireland--Ulster, 308

 XLI. West of Ireland--Atlantic Mails, 312

 XLII. Ireland--South, 320

 XLIII. Prospects of Ireland, 328

 XLIV. The English, 340

GLANCES AT EUROPE. 

I. 

CROSSING THE ATLANTIC. 

 LIVERPOOL (Eng. ), April 28th, 1851. 

The leaden skies, the chilly rain, the general out-door aspect andprospect of discomfort prevailing in New York when our good steamshipBALTIC cast loose from her dock at noon on the 16th inst. , were notparticularly calculated to inspire and exhilarate the goodly number whowere then bidding adieu, for months at least, to home, country, andfriends. The most sanguine of the inexperienced, however, appealed forsolace to the wind, which they, so long as the City completely shelteredus on the east, insisted was blowing from "a point _West_ ofNorth"--whence they very logically deduced that the north-east storm, now some thirty-six to forty-eight hours old, had spent its force, andwould soon give place to a serene and lucid atmosphere. I believe theBarometer at no time countenanced this augury, which a brief experiencesufficed most signally to confute. Before we had passed Coney Island, itwas abundantly certain that our freshening breeze hailed directly fromLabrador and the icebergs beyond, and had no idea of changing itsquarters. By the time we were fairly outside of Sandy Hook, we werestruggling with as uncomfortable and damaging a cross-sea as had everenlarged _my_ slender nautical experience; and in the course of the nexthour the high resolves, the valorous defiances, of the scores who hadembarked in the settled determination that they _would not_ be sea-sick, had been exchanged for pallid faces and heaving bosoms. Of our twohundred passengers, possibly one-half were able to face the dinner-tableat 4 P. M. ; less than one-fourth mustered to supper at 7; while a sternbut scanty remnant--perhaps twenty in all--answered the summons tobreakfast next morning. 

I was not in any one of these categories. So long as I was able, Iwalked the deck, and sought to occupy my eyes, my limbs, my brain, withsomething else than the sea and its perturbations. The attempt, however, proved a signal failure. By the time we were five miles off the Hook, Iwas a decided case; another hour laid me prostrate, though I refused toleave the deck; at six o'clock a friend, finding me recumbent andhopeless in the smokers' room, persuaded and helped me to go below. There I unbooted and swayed into my berth, which endured me, perforce, for the next twenty-four hours. I then summoned strength to crawl ondeck, because, while I remained below, my sufferings were barely lessthan while walking above, and my recovery hopeless. 

I shall not harrow up the souls nor the stomachs of landsmen, as yetreveling in blissful ignorance of its tortures, with any description ofsea-sickness. They will know all in ample season; or if not, so much thebetter. But naked honesty requires a correction of the prevalent errorthat this malady is necessarily transient and easily overcome. Thousandswho imagine they have been sea-sick on some River or Lake steamboat, oreven during a brief sleigh-ride, are annually putting to sea with aslittle necessity or urgency as suffices to send them on a jaunt toNiagara or the White Mountains. They suppose they may very probably be"qualmish" for a few hours, but that (they fancy) will but highten thegeneral enjoyment of the voyage. Now it is quite true that any greensea-goer _may_ be sick for a few hours only; he may even not be sick atall. But the _probability_ is very far from this, especially when thevoyage is undertaken in any other than one of the four sunniest, blandest months in the year. Of every hundred who cross the Atlantic forthe first time, I am confident that two-thirds endure more than they haddone in all the five years preceding--more than they would do during twomonths' hard labor as convicts in a State Prison. Of _our_ two hundred, I think fifty did not see a healthy or really happy hour during thepassage; while as many more were sufferers for at least half the time. The other hundred were mainly Ocean's old acquaintances, and on thataccount treated more kindly; but many of these had some trying hours. 

Utter indifference to life and all its belongings is one of thecharacteristics of a genuine case of sea-sickness No. 1. I enjoyed someopportunities of observing this during our voyage. For instance: Oneevening I was standing by a sick gentleman who had dragged himself orbeen carried on deck and laid down on a water-proof mattress whichraised him two or three inches from the floor. Suddenly a great wavebroke square over the bow of the ship and rushed aft in a river througheither gangway--the two streams reuniting beyond the purser's anddoctor's offices, just where the sick man lay. Any live man would havejumped to his feet as suddenly as if a rattlesnake were whizzing in hisblanket; but the sufferer never moved, and the languid coolness of eyewherewith he regarded the rushing flood which made an island of him wasmost expressive. Happily, the wave had nearly spent its force and wasnow so rapidly diffused that his refuge was not quite overflowed. 

Of course, those who have voyaged and not suffered will pronounce mygeneral picture grossly exaggerated; wherein they will be faithful totheir own experience, as I am to mine. I write for the benefit of theuninitiated, to warn them, not against braving the ocean when they mustor ought, but against resorting to it for pastime. Voyaging cannot beenjoyment to most of them; it must be suffering. The sonorous rhymestersin praise of "A Life on the Ocean Wave, " "The Sea! the Sea! the OpenSea!" &c. Were probably never out of sight of land in a gale in theirlives. If they were ever "half seas over, " the liquid which buoyed themup was not brine, but wine, which is quite another affair. And, as theyare continually luring people out of soundings who might far better haveremained on terra firma, I lift up my voice in warning against them. "Ahome on the raging deep, " is _not_ a scene of enjoyment, even to thesailor, who suffers only from hardship and exposure; no other laborer'swages are so dearly earned as his, and his season of enjoyment is notthe voyage but the stay in port. He is compelled to work hardest justwhen other out-door laborers deem working at all out of the question. Tohim Night and Day are alike in their duties as in their exemptions;while the more furious and blinding the tempest, the greater must be hisexertions, perils and privations. In fair weather his hours of rest areequal to his hours of labor; in bad weather he may have _no_ hours ofrest whatever. Should he find such, he flings himself into his bunk fora few hours in his wet clothes, and turns out smoking like a coal-pit atthe next summons to duty, to be drenched afresh in the cold affusions ofsea and sky--and so on. An old sea-captain assured me that his crew weresometimes in wet clothing throughout an Atlantic voyage. 

Our weather was certainly bad, though not the worst. We started on ourcourse, after leaving Sandy-Hook, in the teeth of a North-Easter, and itclung to us like a brother. It varied to East North-East, EastSouth-East, South East, and occasionally condescended to blow a littlefrom nearly North or nearly South, but we had not six hours of Westerlyor semi-Westerly wind throughout the passage. There may have been twodays in all, though I think not, in which some of the principal sailscould be made to draw; but they were necessarily set so sharply atangles with the ship as to do little good. Usually, one or two trysailswere all the canvass displayed, and they rather served to steady theship than to aid her progress; while for days together, stripped to hernaked spars, she was compelled to push her bowsprit into the wind's veryeye by the force of her engines alone. And that wind, though nohurricane, had a will of its own; while the waves, rolled perpetuallyagainst her bow by so long a succession of easterly winds, were adecided impediment to our progress. I doubt whether there is anothersteamship which could have made the passage safely and without extraeffort in less time than the Baltic did. 

Our weather was not all bad, though we had no thoroughly fair day--noday entirely free from rain--none in which the decks were drythroughout. In fact, the spray often kept them thoroughly drenched, especially aft, when there was no rain at all. During four or five ofthe twelve days we had some hour or more of semi-sunshine either atmorning, midday or toward night. The only gales of much account werethose of our first night off Long Island and our last before seeing land(Saturday), when on coming into soundings off the coast of Ireland, wehad a very decided blow and (the ship having become very light by theconsumption of most of her coal) the worst kind of a sea. It gave me mysickest hour, though not my worst day. 

Our dreariest days were Wednesday and Thursday, 23d and 24th, when wewere a little more than half way across. With the wind precisely aheadand very strong, the skies black and lowering, a pretty constant rain, and a driving, blinding spray which drenched every thing above thedecks, themselves ankle-deep in water, I cannot well imagine how twohundred fellow-passengers, driven down and kept down in the cabins andstate-rooms of a steamship, could well be treated to a more dismalprospect. I thought the philosophy even of the card-players (who were byfar the most industrious and least miserable class among us) was triedby it. 

Spacious as the Baltic is, two hundred passengers with fifty or sixtyattendants, confined for days together to her cabins, fill her quitefull enough. For those who are thoroughly well, there are society, reading, eating, play and other pastimes; but for the sick and helpless, who can neither read nor play, whom even conversation fatigues, and towhom the under-deck smell, especially in connection with food, isintensely revolting, I can imagine no heavier hours short of absolutetorture. Having endured these, I had nothing beyond them to dread, andit was rather a satisfaction, on reaching the Irish coast, to be greetedwith a succession of hail-squalls--to work up the Channel against a wetNorth-Easter, and be landed in Liverpool (after a tedious detention forlack of water on the bar at the mouth of the Mersey) under sullen skiesand in a dripping rain. I wanted to see the thing out, and would havetaken amiss any deceitful smiles of Fortune after I had learned todispense with her favors. 

There yet remains the grateful duty of speaking of the mitigations ofour trials. And in the first place, the Baltic herself is unquestionablyone of the safest and most commodious sea-boats in the world. She isprobably not the fastest, especially with a strong head wind and sea, because of her great bulk and the area of resistance she presents bothabove and below the water-line; but for strength and excellence ofconstruction, steadiness of movement, and perfection of accommodations, she can have no superior. Her wheels never missed a revolution from thetime she discharged her New-York pilot till the time she stopped them totake on board his Liverpool counterpart, off Holyhead: and her sailingqualities, tested under the most unfavorable auspices, are alsoadmirable. She needs but good weather to make the run in ten days fromdock to dock; she would have done it this time had the winds been thereverse of what they were or as the Asia had them before her. The luckcannot always be against her. 

Praise of commanders and officers of steamships has become so commonthat it has lost all emphasis, all force. I presume this is for the mostpart deserved; for it is not likely that the great responsibility ofsailing these ships would be entrusted to any other than the veryfittest hands; and this is a matter wherein mistakes may by care beavoided. The qualities of a seaman, a commander, do not lie dormant; theocean tries and proves its men; while in this service the wholetraveling public are the observers and judges. But such a voyage as wehave just made tries the temper as well as the capacity, it calls intoexercise every faculty, and lays bare defects if such there be. To sweepgaily on before a fresh, fair breeze, is comparatively easy, but fewlandsmen can realize the patient assiduity and nautical skill requiredto extract propelling power from winds determined to be dead ahead. Hownicely the sails must be set at the sharpest angle with the course ofthe vessel, and sometimes that course itself varied a point or two tomake them draw at all; how often they must be shifted, or reefed, orfurled; how much labor and skill must be put in requisition to secure avery slight addition to the speed of the ship--all this I am not seamanenough to describe, though I can admire. And during the entire voyage, with its many vicissitudes, I did not hear one harsh or profane wordfrom an officer, one sulky or uncivil response from a subordinate. Andthe perfection of Capt. Comstock's commandership in my eyes was that, though always on the alert and giving direction to every movement, hedid not need to command half so much nor to make himself anything likeso conspicuous as an ordinary man would. I willingly believe that someshare of the merit of this is due to the admirable qualities of hisassistants, especially Lieuts. Duncan and Hunter, of the U. S. Navy. 

In the way of food and attendance, nothing desirable was wanting butHealth and Appetite. Four meals per day were regularly provided--at 8, 12, 4 and 7 o'clock respectively--which would favorably compare withthose proffered at any but the very best Hotels; and some of thedinners--that of the last Sunday especially--would have done credit tothe Astor or Irving. Of course I state this with the reservation thatthe best water and the best milk that can be had at sea are to meunpalatable, and that, even when I can eat under a deck, it is a penanceto do so. But these drawbacks are Ocean's fault, or mine; not theBaltic's. Many of the passengers ate their four meals regularly, afterthe first day out, with abundant relish; and one young New-Yorker addeda _fifth_, by taking a supper at ten each night with a capital appetite, after doing full justice to the four regular meals. If he could onlypatent his digestion and warrant it, he might turn his back onmerchandise evermore. 

The attendance on the sick was the best feature of all. Aside from theconstant and kind assiduities of Dr. Crary, the ship's physician, thepatience and watchfulness with which the sick were nursed and tended, their wants sought out, their wishes anticipated, were remarkable. Manyhad three meals per day served to them separately in their berths or ondeck, and even at unseasonable hours, and often had special delicaciesprovided for them, without a demur or sulky look. As there was no extracharge for this, it certainly surpassed any preconception on my part ofsteamship amenity. I trust the ever-moving attendants received somethingmore than their wages for their arduous labors: they certainly deservedit. 

The notable incidents of our passage were very few. An iceberg was seento the northward one morning about sunrise, by those who were on deck atthat hour; but it kept at a respectful distance, and we thought theexample worthy of our imitation. I understand that the rising sun's rayson its surface produced a fine effect. A single school of whalesexhibited their flukes for our edification--so I heard. Several vesselswere seen the first morning out, while we were in the Gulf Stream: oneor two from day to day, and of course a number as we neared the entranceof the Channel on this side; but there were days wherein we saw no sailbut our own; and I think we traversed nearly a thousand miles at onetime on this great highway of nations, without seeing one. Such factsgive some idea of the ocean's immensity, but I think few can realize, save by experiment, the weary length of way from New-York to Liverpool, nor the quantity of blue water which separates the two points. Friendswho went to California by Cape-Horn and were sea-sick, I proffer you myheart felt sympathies!--It was some consolation to me, even when mostill and impatient, to reflect that the gales, so adverse to us, weremost propitious to the many emigrant-freighted packets which at thisseason are conveying thousands to our country's shores, and whose cloudsof canvas occasionally loomed upon us in the distance. What were our"light afflictions" compared with those of the multitudes crowded into_their_ stifling steerages, so devoid of conveniences and comforts!Speed on, O favored coursers of the deep, bearing swiftly thosesuffering exiles to the land of Hope and Freedom!

We had a law trial by way of variety last Saturday--Capt. Comstockhaving been duly indicted and arraigned for _Humbug_, in permitting usto be so long beset by all manner of easterly winds with never a pufffrom the westward. Hon. Ashbel Smith, from Texas, officiated as ChiefJustice; a Jury of six ladies and six gentlemen were empaneled; James T. Brady conducted the prosecution with much wit and spirit; while Æolus, Neptune, Capt. Cuttle, Jack Bunsby, &c. Testified for the prosecution, and Fairweather, Westwind, Brother Jonathan and Mr. Steady gave evidencefor the defence. The fun was rather heavy, but the audience was verygood natured, and whatever the witnesses lacked in wit, they made upin extravagance of costume, so that two hours were whiled away quiteendurably. The Jury not only acquitted the Captain without leaving theirseats, but subjected the prosecutors to heavy damages (in wine) asmalicious defamers. The verdict was received with unanimous and heartyapproval. 

But I must stop and begin again. Suffice it, that, though we ought tohave landed here inside of twelve days from New York, the difference intime (Liverpool using that of Greenwich for Railroad convenience) beingall but five hours--yet the long prevalence of Easterly winds had solowered the waters of the Mersey by driving those of the Channelwesterly into the Atlantic, that the pilot declined the responsibilityof taking our ship over the Bar till high water, which was nearly seveno'clock. We then ran up opposite the City, but there was no dock-roomfor the Baltic, and passengers and light baggage were ferried ashore ina "steam-tug" which we in New York should deem unworthy to convey marketgarbage. At last, after infinite delay and vexation, caused in good partby the necessity of a custom-house scrutiny even of carpet-bags, becausemen _will_ smuggle cigars ashore here, even in their pockets, we werelanded about 9 o'clock, and to-morrow I set my watch by an English sun. There is promise of brighter skies. I shall hasten up to London towitness the opening of the World's Fair; and so, "My Native Land, GoodNight!"

II. 

OPENING OF THE FAIR. 

 LONDON, Thursday, May 1, 1851. 

Our Human Life is either comic or tragic, according to the point of viewfrom which we regard it. The observer will be impelled to laugh or toweep over it, as he shall fix his attention on men's follies or theirsufferings. So of the Great Exhibition, and more especially its RoyalInauguration, which I have just returned from witnessing. There can beno serious doubt that the Fair has good points; I think it is a goodthing for London first, for England next, and will ultimately benefitmankind. And yet, it would not be difficult so to depict it (and truly), that its contrivers and managers would never think of deeming thepicture complimentary. 

But let us have the better side first by all means. The show iscertainly a great one, greater in extent, in variety, and in theexcellence of a large share of its contents, than the world has hithertoseen. The Crystal Palace, which covers and protects all, is better thanany one thing it contains, it is really a fairy wonder, and is a work ofinestimable value as a suggestion for future architecture. It is notmerely better adapted to its purpose than any other edifice ever yetbuilt could be, but it combines remarkable cheapness with vast andvaried utility. Depend on it, stone and timber will have to stand backfor iron and glass hereafter, to an extent not yet conceivable. Thetriumph of Paxton is perfect, and heralds a revolution. 

The day has been very favorable--fair, bland and dry. It is now 4 P. M. And there has been no rain since daylight, but a mere sprinkle at noonunregarded by us insiders--the longest exemption from "falling weather"I have known since I left New York, and I believe the daily showers orsqualls in this city reach still further back. True, even this day wouldbe deemed a dull one in New York, but there was a very fair imitation ofsunshine this morning, and we enjoy rather more than American moonlightstill, though the sky is partially clouded. [How can they have had theconscience to tax _such_ light as they get up in this country?] Ofcourse the turn out has been immense; I estimate the number inside ofthe building at thirty thousand, and I presume ten times as many wentout of their way to gaze at the Procession, though that was not much. OurNew York Fire Department could beat it; so could our Odd-Fellows. --Thenthe most perfect order was preserved throughout; everything was done inseason and without botching; no accident occurred to mar the festivity, and the general feeling was one of hearty satisfaction. If it were a newthing to see a Queen, Court and aristocracy engaged in doing marked honorto Industry, they certainly performed gracefully the parts allotted them, and with none of the awkwardness or blundering which novel situations areexpected to excuse. But was the play well cast?

The Sovereign in a monarchy is of course always in order: to be honoredfor doing his whole duty; to be honored more signally if he does morethan his duty. Prince Albert's sphere as the Sovereign's consort is verylimited, and he shows rare sense and prudence in never evincing a desireto overstep it. I think few men live who could hold his neutral andhampered position and retain so entirely the sincere respect and esteemof the British Nation. His labors in promoting this Exhibition beganearly and have been arduous, persistent and effective. Any Inaugurationof the Fair in which he did not prominently figure would have done himinjustice. The Queen appears to be personally popular in a more directand positive sense. I cannot remember that any one act of her publiclife has ever been condemned by the public sentiment of the Country. Almost every body here appears to esteem it a condescension for her toopen the Exhibition as though it were a Parliament, and with far more ofpersonal exertion and heartiness on her part. And while I must regardher vocation as one rather behind the intelligence of this age andlikely to go out of fashion at no distant day, yet I am sure that changewill not come through _her_ fault. I was glad to see her in the pageantto-day, and hope she enjoyed it while ministering to the enjoyment ofothers. 

But let us reverse the glass for a moment. The ludicrous, the dissonant, the incongruous, are not excluded from the Exhibition: they cannot beexcluded from any complete picture of its Opening. The Queen, we willsay, was here by Right Divine, by right of Womanhood, by UniversalSuffrage--any how you please. The ceremonial could not have spared her. But in inaugurating the first grand cosmopolitan Olympiad of Industry, ought not Industry to have had some representation, some vitalrecognition, in her share of the pageant? If the Queen had come in stateto the Horse-Guards to review the _élite_ of her military forces, no onewould doubt that "the Duke" should figure in the foreground, with abrilliant staff of Generals and Colonels surrounding him. So, if shewere proceeding to open Parliament her fitting attendants would beMinisters and Councillors of State. But what have her "Gentleman Usherof Sword and State, " "Lords in Waiting, " "Master of the Horse, " "EarlMarshal, " "Groom of the Stole, " "Master of the Buckhounds, " and suchuncouth fossils, to do with a grand Exhibition of the fruits ofIndustry? What, in their official capacity, have these and theirs everhad to do with Industry unless to burden it, or with its Products butto consume or destroy them? The "Mistress of the Robes" would be inplace if she ever fashioned any robes, even for the Queen; so would the"Ladies of the Bedchamber" if they did anything with beds except tosleep in them. As the fact is, their presence only served to strengthenthe presumption that not merely their offices but that of Royalty itselfis an anachronism, and all should have deceased with the era to whichthey properly belonged. It was well indeed that Paxton should have aproud place in the procession; but he held it in no representativecapacity; he was there not in behalf of Architecture but of the CrystalPalace. To have rendered the pageant expressive, congruous, and really atribute to Industry, the posts of honor next the Queen's person shouldhave been confided on this occasion to the children of Watt, ofArkwright and their compeers (Napoleon's _real_ conquerors;) whileinstead of Grandees and Foreign Embassadors, the heirs of Fitch, ofFulton, of Jacquard, of Whitney, of Daguerre, &c. , with the discoverers, inventors, architects and engineers to whom the world is primarilyindebted for Canals, Railroads, Steamships, Electric Telegraphs, &c. , &c. , should have been specially invited to swell the Royal cortege. Topass over all these, and summon instead the descendants of some dozenlucky Norman robbers, none of whom ever contemplated the personal doingof any real work as even a remote possibility, and any of whom wouldfeel insulted by a report that his father or grandfather invented theSteam Engine or Spinning Jenny, is not the fittest way to honorIndustry. The Queen's Horticulturists, Gardeners, Carpenters, Upholsterers, Milliners, &c. , would have been far more in place in theprocession than her "gold stick, " "silver stick, " and kindredabsurdities. 

And yet, empty and blundering as the conception of this pageant may seemand is, there is nevertheless marrow and hope in it. "The world _does_move, " O Galileo! carrying onward even those who forced you to deny thetruth you had demonstrated! We may well say that these gentlemen inribbons and stars cannot truly honor Labor while they would deem itsperformance by their own sons a degradation; but the grandfathers ofthese Dukes and Barons would have deemed themselves as much dishonoredby uniting in this Royal ovation to gingham weavers and boiler-makers asthese men would by being compelled to weave the cloth and forge the ironthemselves. Patience, impetuous souls! the better day dawns, though themorning air is chilly. We shall be able to elect something else thanGenerals to the Presidency before this century is out, and the Right ofevery man to live by Labor--consequently, to a place where he _may_live, on the sole condition that he is willing to labor--stands high onthe general orders, and must soon be up for National and universaldiscussion. The Earls and Dukes of a not distant day will train theirsons in schools of Agriculture, Architecture, Chemistry, Mineralogy, &c. , inspiring each to win fame and rank for himself by signal andbrilliant usefulness, instead of resting upon and wearing out the famewon by some ancestor on the battle-field of the old barbarian time. EvenTo-Day's hollow pageant is an augury of this. It is Browning, I think, who says, "All men become good creatures, _but so slow_. "

Let us, taking heart from the reflection that we live in the age of theLocomotive and the Telegraph, cheerfully press onward!

We will consider the Fair opened. 

I shall venture no especial criticisms as yet--first because theExhibition is not ready for it; next because I am in the samepredicament. A few general observations must close this letter. 

Immense as the quantity of goods offered for exhibition is, it is notequal to the enormous capacity of the building, to which Castle Gardenis but a dog-kennel. [I do hope we may have a Crystal Palace of likeproportions in New-York within two years; it would be of inestimableworth as a study to our young architects, builders and artisans. If suchan edifice were constructed in some fit locality to be leased out inportions, under proper regulations, for stores, I believe it would payhandsomely. Each store might be separated from those next it bypartitions of iron and glass; the fronts might be made of movable platesof glass or left entirely open; the entire building being opened ateight in the morning, closed at eight at night, and carefully watched atall times. ] True, many things are yet to be received, and some alreadyin the building remain in the boxes; still, I think there will be somenakedness, even a week hence. The opportunity for seeing every thing, judging every thing, is all the better for this, and indeed isunexampled. 

The display from different countries is very unequal, even in proportion:Old England is of course here in her might; France has a vast collection, especially of articles appealing to taste or fancy; but Germany and therest of the Continent have less than I expected to see; and the show fromthe United States disappoints many by its alleged meagerness. I do notview it in the same light, nor regret, with a New-York merchant whom Imet in the Fair to-day, that Congress did not appropriate $100, 000 tosecure a full and commanding exhibition of American products at thisFair. I do not see how any tangible and adequate benefit to the Nationwould have resulted from such a dubious disposition of National funds. In the first place, our great Agricultural staples--at least, all suchas find markets abroad--are already accessible and well known here. Bales of Cotton, casks of Hams or other Meats, barrels of Flour orResin, hogsheads of Tobacco, &c. , might have been heaped up here as highas St. Paul's steeple--to what end? Europeans already know that weproduce these staples in abundance and perfection, and when they want themthey buy of us. I doubt whether cumbering the Fair with them would haveeither promoted the National interest or exalted the National reputation. It would have served rather to deepen the impression, already too generalboth at home and abroad, that we are a rude, clumsy people, inhabiting abroad, fertile domain, affording great incitements to the most slovenlydescription of Agriculture, and that it is our policy to stick to that, and let alone the nicer processes of Art, which require dexterity anddelicacy of workmanship. We must outgrow this error. 

Our Manufacturers are in many departments grossly deficient, in othersinferior to the best rival productions of Europe. In Silks and Linens, we have nothing now to show; I trust the case will be bravely alteredwithin a few years. In broad cloths, we are behind and going behind, butin Satinets, Flannels, (woolen) Shawls, De Laines, Ginghams, Drills andmost plain Cottons, we are producing as effectively as our rivals, andin many departments gaining upon them. But few of these are goods whichmake much show in a Fair; three cases of Parisian gewgaws will outshinein an exhibition a million dollars' worth of admirable and cheapMuslins, Drills, Flannels, &c. And beside, our Manufacturers, who findthemselves met at every turn, and often supplanted at their own doors byshowy fabrics from abroad, are shy of calling attention in Europe to thefew articles which, by the help of valuable American inventions, theyare able to make and sell at a profit. I know this consideration haskept some goods and more machinery at home which would otherwise havebeen here. The manufacturers are here or are coming, to see whatknowledge or skill they can pick up, but they are not so ready to tellall they know. They think the odds in favor of those who work againstthem backed by the cheap Labor and abundant Capital of Europe, arequite sufficient already. 

Still, there are some Yankee Notions that I wish had been sent over. Ithink our Cut Nails, our Pins, our Wood Screws, &c. Should have beenrepresented. India Rubber is abundant here, but I have seen no GuttaPercha, and our New-York Company (Hudson Manufacturing) might have put anew wrinkle on John Bull's forehead by sending over an assorted case oftheir fabrics. The Brass and kindred fabrics of Waterbury (Conn. ) oughtnot to have come up missing, and a set of samples of the "Flint EnameledWare" of Vermont, I should have been proud of for Vermont's sake. Alight Jersey wagon, a Yankee ox-cart, and two or three sets of AmericanFarming Implements, would have been exactly in play here. Our Scythes, Cradles, Hoes, Rakes, Axes, Sowing, Reaping, Threshing and Winnowingmachines, &c. , &c. , are a long distance ahead of the British--so thebest judges say; and where their machines are good they cost too muchever to come into general use. There is a pretty good set of YankeePloughs here, and they are likely to do good. I believe ConnecticutClocks and Maine (North Wayne) Axes are also well represented. Buteither Rochester, Syracuse, or Albany could have beaten the whole showin Farming Tools generally. 

Yet there are many good things in the American department. InDaguerreotypes, it seems to be conceded that we beat the world, whenexcellence and cheapness are both considered--at all events, England isno where in comparison--and our Daguerreotypists make a great showhere. --New Jersey Zinc, Lake Superior Copper, Adirondack Iron and Steel, are well represented either by ores or fabrics, and I believe CaliforniaGold is to be. --But I am speaking on the strength of a very hastyexamination. I shall continue in attendance from day to day and hope toglean from the show some ideas that may be found or made useful. 

P. S. --The Official Catalogue of the Fair is just issued. It has beengot up in great haste, and must necessarily be imperfect, but it extendsto 320 double-column octavo pages on brevier type (not countingadvertisements) and is sold for a shilling--(24 cents). Some conceptionof the extent of the Fair may be obtained from the following hastysummary of a portion of the contents, showing the number of Exhibitorsin certain departments, as classified in the Official Catalogue, viz:

 GREAT BRITAIN. 

 Coal, Slate, Grindstone, Limestone, Granite, &c. (outside the building), 44

 Mining and Mineral Products (inside), 366

 Chemical and Pharmaceutical Products, 103

 Substances used as Food, 133

 Vegetable and Animal Substances used in Manufactures, 94

 Machines for Direct Use, including Carriages, Railway and Marine Mechanism, 339

 Manufacturing Machines and Tools, 225

 Civil Engineering and Building Contrivances, 177

 Naval Architecture, Guns, Weapons, &c. 260

 Agricultural and Horticultural Machines and Implements, 287

 Philosophical, Musical, Horological and Surgical Instruments, 535 ---- Total, so far, 2563

The foregoing occupy but 55 of the 300 pages devoted expressly to theCatalogue, so that the whole number of Exhibitors cannot be less thanTen Thousand, and is probably nearer Fifteen Thousand; and as twoarticles from each would be a low estimate, I think the number ofdistinct articles already on exhibition cannot fall below ThirtyThousand, counting all of any class which may be entered by a singleexhibitor as one article. Great Britain fills 136 pages of theCatalogue; her Colonies and Foreign possessions 48 more; Austria 16;Belgium 8, China 2, Denmark 1, Egypt 2½, France and Algiers 35, Prussiaand the Zoll Verein States 19; Bavaria 2, Saxony 5, Wirtemburg 2, Hesse, Nassau and Luxemburg 3, Greece 1, Hamburgh 1, Holland 2, Portugal 3½;Madeira 1, Papal State ½, Russia 5, Sardinia 1½, Spain 5, Sweden andNorway 1, Switzerland 5, Tunis 2½, Tuscany 2, United States 8½. So theUnited States stands fifth on the list of contributing Countries, ranking next after Great Britain herself, France, Austria, and PrussianGermany, and far ahead of Holland and Switzerland, which have long beenheld up as triumphant examples of Industrial progress and thrift underFree Trade; and these, with all the countries which show more than wedo, are close at hand, while our country is on the average more than4, 000 miles off. --I am confirmed in my view that the cavils at themeagerness of our contribution are not well grounded. 

III. 

THE GREAT EXHIBITION. 

 LONDON, Thursday, May 6th, 1851. 

"The World's Fair, " as we Americans have been accustomed to call it, hasnow been open five days, but is not yet in complete order, nor anythinglike it. The sound of the saw and the hammer salutes the visiter fromevery side, and I think not less than five hundred carpenters and otherartisans are busy in the building to-day. The week will probably closebefore the fixtures will have all been put up and the articles dulyarranged for exhibition. As yet, a great many remain in theirtransportation boxes, while others are covered with canvas, though manymore have been put in order within the last two days. Through the greatcenter aisle very little remains unaccomplished; but on the sides, inthe galleries, and in the department of British Machinery, there is yetwork to do which another week will hardly see concluded. Meantime, thethrong of visiters is immense, though the unexampled extent of thePeople's Palace prevents any crush or inconvenience. I think therecannot have been less than Ten Thousand visiters in the building to-day. 

Of course, any attempt to specify, or to set forth the merits or defectsof particular articles, must here be futile. Such a universe ofmaterials, inventions and fabrics defies that mode of treatment. But Iwill endeavor to give some general idea of the Exhibition. 

If you enter the building at the East, you are in the midst of theAmerican contributions, to which a great space has been allotted, whichthey meagerly fill. Passing westward down the aisle, our next neighboris Russia, who had not an eighth of our space allotted to her, and hasfilled that little far less thoroughly and creditably than we have. Itis said that the greater part of the Russian articles intended for theFair are yet ice-bound in the Baltic. France, Austria, Switzerland, Prussia and other German States succeed her; the French contributionsbeing equal (I think) in value, if not in extent and variety, to thoseof all the rest of the Continent. Bohemia has sent some admirableGlassware; Austria a suit of apartments thoroughly and sumptuouslyfurnished, which wins much regard and some admiration. There is ofcourse a great array of tasteful design and exquisite workmanship fromFrance, though I do not just now call to mind any article of transcendentmerit. 

The main aisle is very wide, forming a broad promenade on each side witha collection of Sculpture, Statuary, Casts, &c. &c. Between them. Foremost among these is Powers's Greek Slave, never seen to betteradvantage; and I should say there are from fifty to a hundred otherworks of Art--mainly in Marble or Bronze. --Some of them have greatmerit. Having passed down this avenue several hundred Feet, you reachthe Transept, where the great diamond "Koh-i-Noor" (Mountain of Light)with other royal contributions, have place. Here, in the exact center ofthe Exhibition, is a beautiful Fountain (nearly all glass but thewater, ) which has rarely been excelled in design or effect. The fluid isprojected to a height of some thirty feet, falling thence into asuccession of regularly enlarging glass basins, and finally reaching instreams and spray the reservoir below. A hundred feet or more on eitherside stand two stately, graceful trees, entirely included in thebuilding, whose roof of glass rises clear above them, seeming a nearersky. These trees (elms, I believe) are fuller and fresher in leaf thanthose outside, having been shielded from the chilling air and warmed bythe genial roof. Nature's contribution to the Great Exhibition iscertainly a very admirable one, and fairly entitles her to a first-classMedal. 

The other half of the main aisle is externally a duplicate of thatalready described, but is somewhat differently filled. This is theBritish end of the Exhibition, containing far more in quantity than allthe rest put together. The finest and costliest fabrics are ranged oneither side of this end of the grand aisle. 

The show of Colonial products is not vast but comprehensive, giving avivid idea of the wide extent and various climates of Britain'sdependencies. Corn, Wheat, &c. , from the Canadas; Sugar and Coffee fromthe West Indies; fine Wood from Australia; Rice, Cotton, &c. , fromIndia; with the diversified products of Asia, Africa and America, fillthis department. Manufactured textile fabrics from Sydney, from India, and from Upper Canada, are here very near each other; while Minerals, Woods, &c. , from every land and every clime are nearly in contact. Iapprehend John Bull, whatever else he may learn, will not be taughtmeekness by this Exhibition. 

The Mineral department of the British display is situated on the southside. I think it can hardly be less than five hundred feet long by overone hundred wide, and it is doubtless the most complete ever thus setbefore the public. Here are shown every variety and condition of Coal, and of Iron, Copper, Lead, Tin, &c. Of Gold there is little, and ofSilver, Zinc, Quicksilver, &c. , not a great deal. But not only are theOres of the metals first named varied and abundant, with Native Copper, Silver, &c. , but the metals are also shown in every stage of theirprogress, from the rude elements just wrenched from the earth to themost refined and perfect bars or ingots. This department will richlyreward the study of the mineralogists, present and future. 

Directly opposite, on the North side of the British half of the mainavenue, is the British exhibition of Machinery, occupying even morespace than the Minerals. I never saw one-fourth as much Machinerytogether before; I do not expect ever to see so much again. Almost everything that a Briton has ever invented, improved or patented in the wayof Machinery is here brought together. The great Cylinder Press on which_The Times_ is printed (not the individual, but the kind) may here beseen in operation; the cylinders revolve horizontally as ours dovertically; and though something is gained in security by the Britishpress, more must be lost in speed. Hoe's last has not yet been equaledon this island. But in Spinning, Weaving, and the subsidiary arts thereare some things here, to me novelties, which our manufacturers mustborrow or surpass; though I doubt whether spinning, on the whole, iseffected with less labor in Great Britain than in the United States. There are many recent improvements here, but I observe none of absorbinginterest. However, I have much yet to see and more to comprehend in thisdepartment. I saw one loom weaving Lace of a width which seemed at leastthree yards; a Pump that would throw very nearly water enough to run agrist-mill, &c. &c. I think the American genius is quicker, morewide-awake, more fertile than the British; I think that if ourmanufactures were as extensive and firmly established as the British, weshould invent and improve machinery much faster than they do; but I donot wish to deny that this is quite a considerable country. 

 Wednesday, May 7--4 P. M. 

I have just returned from another and my seventh daily visit to theGreat Exhibition. I believe I have thus far been among the mostindustrious visitors, and yet I have not yet even glanced at one-halfthe articles exhibited, while I have _only_ glanced at most of those Ihave seen. Of course, I am in no condition to pronounce judgments, andany opinion I may express must be taken subject to future revisal andmodification. 

I know well that so large and diversified a show of Machinery could notbe made up in the United States as is here presented in behalf ofBritish Invention; yet I think a strictly American Fair might be got upwhich would evince more originality of creation or design. If I am wrongin this, I shall cheerfully say so when convinced of it. Many of thesemachines are very good of their kind without involving any novelprinciple or important adaptation. With regard to Flax-Dressing, forexample, I find less here than I had hoped to see; and though what Ihave seen appears to do its work well and with commendable economy ofmaterial, I think there are more efficient and rapid Flax-Dressers inthe United States than are contained in this Exhibition. I have not yetexamined the machinery for Spinning and Weaving the dressed Flax fiber, but am glad to see that it is in operation. The report that theexperiments in Flax-Cotton have "failed" does not in the leastdiscourage me. Who ever heard of a great economical discovery orinvention that had not been repeatedly pronounced a failure before itultimately and indubitably succeeded?

I found one promising invention in the British department to-day, viz:Henley's Magnetic Telegraph, or rather, the generator of its power. Themagnet, I was assured, _did not require nor consume any substancewhatever_, but generated its electricity spontaneously, and in equalmeasure in all varieties of weather, so that the wildest storm oflightning, hail, snow or rain makes no difference in the working of theTelegraph. If such be the fact, the invention is one of great merit andvalue, and must be speedily adopted in our country, where the liabilityof Telegraphs to be interrupted by storms is a crying evil. I trust itis now near its end. 

Switzerland has a very fine show of Fabrics in the Fair--I think more inproportion to her numbers than any other Foreign Nation. Of Silks shedisplays a great amount, and they are mainly of excellent quality. Sheshows Shawls, Ginghams, Woolens, &c. , beside, as well as Watches andJewelry; but her Silk is her best point. The Chinese, Australian, Egyptian and Mexican contributions are quite interesting, but theysuggest little or nothing, unless it be the stolidity of theircontrivers. 

I see that _Punch_ this week reiterates _The Times's_ slurs at themeagerness and poverty of the American contribution. This is meanlyinvidious and undeserved. The inventors, artisans and other producers ofour Country who did not see fit to incur the heavy expense of sendingtheir most valuable products to a fair held three to five thousand milesaway are unaffected by this studied disparagement, and those who _have_sent certainly do not deserve it. They are in no manner responsible forthe setting apart for American contributions of more space than theyfill; they have rather deserved consideration and kind treatment on thepart of the London Press. Beside, the value of their contributions isnot at all gauged by the space they fill nor by the impression they makeon the wondering gaze; articles of great merit and utility often makingno figure at all compared with a case of figured silks or mantelornaments which answer no purpose here but the owner's. And when it isconsidered that the manufacturers of France, Germany and Switzerland, aswell as England, are here displaying their wares and fabrics before theeyes of thousands and tens of thousands of their customers--that theircases in the Crystal Palace are in fact so many gigantic advertisements, read and admired by myriads of merchants and other buyers from all partsof the world, the unfairness of the comparison instituted by the LondonPress becomes apparent. Our exhibitors can derive no such advantage fromthe Fair--certainly not to any such extent. The "Bay State Mills, " forexample, has a good display of Shawls here, hardly surpassed, consideringquality and price, by any other; yet nobody but Americans will thereby betempted to give them orders; while a British, Scotch, French or Swissshawl-manufacturer exhibiting just such a case, is morally certain ofgaining customers thereby in all parts of the world. But enough on thishead. 

I may add that many Americans have been deterred from sending by animpression that nothing would be admitted that was not sent out in theSt. Lawrence, or at all events unless received early in April. Butarticles are still acceptable, at least in our department; and I ventureto say that any invention, model, machine or fabric of decided meritwhich may reach our Commissioner free of charge before the end of Junewill have a place assigned it, although it will probably be too late tohave a chance for the prizes. 

These are to be mainly Medals of the finest Bronze, to cost $25, $12and $5 respectively. Probably about one thousand of the first class, two thousand of the second and five thousand of the third will bedistributed. But they are not to be given for different grades ofexcellence in the same field of exertion, but for radically diversemerits. The first class will be mainly if not wholly given forInventions, Discoveries or Original Designs of rare excellence; thesecond class for novel applications or combinations of principlesalready known so as to produce articles of signal utility, cheapness orbeauty; the third class will be given for decided excellence of qualityor workmanship without regard to originality. By this course, it ishoped that personal heart-burnings and invidious rivalries amongexhibitors may to a great extent be avoided. 

I cannot close without a word of acknowledgment to our Embassador, Hon. Abbott Lawrence, for the interest he has taken and the labor he hascheerfully performed in order that our Country should be creditablyrepresented in this Exhibition. For many months, the entire burthen ofcorrespondence, &c. , fell on his shoulders; and I doubt whether the Fairwill have cost him less than five thousand dollars when it closes. Thathe has exerted himself in every way in behalf of his countrymenattending the Exhibition is no more than all who knew him anticipated;and his convenient location, his wide acquaintance and marked popularityhere have enabled him to do a great deal. Every American voice is loudin his praise. 

I walked through a good part of the galleries of the Crystal Palace thismorning, with attention divided between the costly and dazzling waresand fabrics around me and the grand panorama below. Ten thousand men andwomen were moving from case to case, from one theme of admiration toanother, in that magnificent temple of Art, so vast in its proportionsthat these thousands no where crowded or jostled each other; and as manymore might have gazed and enjoyed in like manner without incommodingthese in the least. And these added thousands will come, when thePalace, which is still a laboratory or workshop, shall have become whatit aims to be, and when the charge for daily admission shall have beenstill farther reduced from five shillings (sterling) to one. Then willthe artisans, the cultivators, the laborers, not of London only, but toa considerable extent of Great Britain, flock hither by tens ofthousands to gaze on this marvellous achievement of Human Genius, Skill, Taste, and Industry, and be strengthened in heart and hope by itscontemplation. And as they observe and rejoice over these trophies ofLabor's might and beneficence, shall they not also perceive foreshadowedhere that fairer, grander, gladder Future for them and theirs, whereofthis show is a prelude and a prediction--wherein Labor shall build, replenish and adorn mansions as stately, as graceful, as commodious asthis, not for others' delight and wonder, but for its own use andenjoyment--for the life-long homes of the builders, their wives andtheir children, who shall find within its walls not Subsistence merely, but Education, Refinement, Mental Culture, Employment and seasonablePastime as well? Such is the vista which this edifice with its contentsopens and brightens before me. Heaven hasten the day when it shall be nolonger a prospect but a benignant and sure realization!

IV. 

ENGLAND--HAMPTON COURT. 

 LONDON, Tuesday, May 6, 1851. 

I have seen little yet of England, and do not choose to deal ingeneralities with regard to it until my ignorance has lost something ofits density. Liverpool impressed me unfavorably, but I scarcely saw it. The working class seemed exceedingly ill dressed, stolid, abject andhopeless. Extortion and beggary appeared very prevalent. I must lookover that city again if I have time. 

We came up to London by the "Trent Valley Railroad, " through Crewe, Rugby, Tamworth, &c. , avoiding all the great towns and traversing (I amtold) one of the finest Agricultural districts of England. The distanceis two hundred miles. The Railroads we traveled in no place cross a roador street on its own level, but are invariably carried under or overeach highway, no matter at what cost; the face of the country isgenerally level; hills are visible at intervals, but nothing fairlyentitled to the designation of mountain. I was assured that very littleof the land I saw could be bought for $300, while much of it is held at$500 or more per acre. Of course it is good land, well cultivated, andvery productive. Vegetation was probably more advanced here than inWestchester Co. N. Y. , or Morris Co. N. J. , though not in every respect. I estimated that two-thirds of the land I saw was in Grass, one-sixth inWheat, and the residue devoted to Gardens, Trees, Oats or Barley, &c. There are few or no forests, properly so called, but many copses, fringes and clumps of wood and shrubbery, which agreeably diversify theprospect as we are whirled rapidly along. Still, nearly all the woodedgrounds I saw looked meager and scanty, as though trees grew lessluxuriantly here than with us, or (more probably) the best are cut outand sold as fast as they arrive at maturity. Friends at home! I chargeyou to spare, preserve and cherish some portion of your primitiveforests; for when these are cut away I apprehend they will not easily bereplaced. A second growth of trees is better than none; but it cannotrival the unconscious magnificence and stately grace of the Red Man'slost hunting grounds, at least for many generations. Traversing thiscomparatively treeless region carried my thoughts back to the gloriousmagnificence and beauty of the still unscathed forests of WesternNew-York, Ohio, and a good part of Michigan, which I had long agorejoiced in, but which I never before prized so highly. Some portions ofthese fast falling monuments of other days ought to be rescued by publicforecast from the pioneer's, the woodman's merciless axe, and preservedfor the admiration and enjoyment of future ages. Rochester, Buffalo, Erie, Cleveland, Toledo, Detroit, &c. , should each purchase forpreservation a tract of one to five hundred acres of the best forestland still accessible (say within ten miles of their respectivecenters), and gradually convert it into walks, drives, arbors, &c. , forthe recreation and solace of their citizens through all succeeding time. Should a portion be needed for cemetery or other utilitarian purposes, it may be set off when wanted; and ultimately a railroad will afford thepoor the means of going thither and returning at a small expense. Ifsomething of this sort is ever to be done, it cannot be done too soon;for the forests are annually disappearing and the price of wood near ourcities and business towns rapidly rising. 

I meant to have remarked ere this the scarcity of Fruit throughout thisregion. I think there are fewer fruit-trees in sight on the two hundredmiles of railway between Liverpool and London, than on the forty milesof Harlem Railroad directly north of White Plains. I presume fromvarious indications that the Apple and Peach do not thrive here; and Ijudge that the English make less account of Fruit than we do, though weuse it too sparingly and fitfully. If their climate is unfavorable toits abundant and perfect production, they have more excuse than we fortheir neglect of one of Heaven's choicest bounties. 

The approach to London from the West by the Trent Valley Railroad isunlike anything else in my experience. Usually, your proximity to agreat city is indicated by a succession of villages and hamlets whichmay be designated as more or less shabby miniatures of the metropolisthey surround. The City maybe radiant with palaces, but its satellitesare sure to be made up in good part of rookeries and hovels. But we werestill passing through a highly cultivated and not over-peopled ruraldistrict, when lo! there gleamed on our sight an array of stately, graceful mansions, the seeming abodes of Art, Taste and Abundance; wedoubted that this could be London; but in the course of a few momentssome two or three miles of it rose upon the vision, and we could doubtno longer. Soon our road, which had avoided the costly contact as longas possible, took a shear to the right, and charged boldly upon thisgrand array of masonry, and in an instant we were passing under someblocks of stately edifices and between others like them. Some mile ortwo of this brought us to the "Euston-square Station, " where ourRailroad terminates, and we were in London. Of course, this is not "theCity, " specially so called, or ancient London, but a modern andwell-built addition, distinguished as Camden-town. We were about threemiles from the Bank, Post-Office, St. Paul's Church, &c. , situated inthe heart of the City proper, though nearer the East end of it. 

I shall not attempt to speak directly of London. The subject is toovast, and my knowledge of it too raw and scanty. I choose rather to givesome account of an excursion I have made to the royal palace at HamptonCourt, situated fifteen miles West of the City, where the Thames, whichruns through the grounds adjacent, has shrunk to the size of the Mohawkat Schenectady, and I think even less. A very small steamboat sometimesruns up as high as this point, but not regularly, and for all practicalpurposes the navigation terminates at Richmond, four or five milesbelow. 

Leaving the City by Temple Bar, you pass through the Strand, CharingCross, the Haymarket, Pall Mall and part of Regent-street intoPiccadilly, where you take an omnibus at "the White Horse Cellar" (Igive these names because they will be familiar to many if not mostAmerican readers), and proceed down Piccadilly, passing St. James's Parkon the left, Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens on the right, and so byKensington Road to a fine suspension bridge over the Thames; you cross, and have passed westerly out of London. You traverse some two miles ofvery rich gardens, meadows, &c. , and thence through the village ofBarnes, composed mainly of some two or three hundred of the oldest, shabbiest tumble-down apologies for human habitations that I ever saw soclose together. Thence you proceed through a rich, thoroughly cultivatedgarden district, containing several fine country seats, to Richmond, asmart, showy village ten miles above London, and a popular resort forholiday pleasure-seekers from the great city, whether by steamboat, railway, omnibus or private conveyance. Here is a fleet of rowboats keptfor hire, while "the Star and Garter" inn has a wide reputation fordinners, and the scene from its second-story bow window is pronouncedone of the finest in the kingdom. It certainly does not compare withthat from the Catskill Mountain House and many others in our State, butit is a good thing in another way--a lovely blending of wood, water andsky, with gardens, edifices and other pleasing evidences of man'shandiwork. Pope's residence at Twickenham, and Walpole's Strawberry Hillare near Richmond. 

Proceeding, we drove through a portion of Bushy Park, the royalresidence of the late Queen Dowager Adelaide, widow of William IV. , whohere manages, having house, grounds, &c. Thrown in, to support existenceon an allowance of only $500, 000 a year. The Park is a noble one, abouthalf covered with ancient, stately trees, among which large herds oftame, portly deer are seen quietly feeding. A mile or two furtherbrought us to the grounds and palace of Hampton Court, the end and aimof our journey. 

This palace was built by the famous Cardinal Wolsey, so long the proud, powerful, avaricious and corrupt favorite of Henry VIII. Wolseycommenced it in 1515. Being larger and more splendid than any royalpalace then in being, its erection was played upon by rival courtiers toexcite the King to envy and jealousy of his Premier--whereupon Wolseygave it outright to the monarch, who gave him the manor of Richmond inrequital. Wolsey's disgrace, downfall and death soon followed; but Ileave their portrayal to Hume and Shakspeare. This palace became afavorite residence of Henry VIII. Edward VI. Was born here; Queen Maryspent her honeymoon here, after her marriage with Philip of Spain;Queen Elizabeth held many great festivals here; James I. Lived and QueenAnne his wife died here; Charles I. Retired here first from the Plague, and afterwards to escape the just resentment of London in the time ofthe Great Rebellion. After his capture, he was imprisoned here. Cromwellsaw one daughter married and another die during his residence in thispalace. William III. , Queen Anne, George I. And George II. Occasionallyresided here; but it has not been a regal residence since the death ofthe latter. Yet the grounds are still admirably kept; the shrubbery, park, fish-pond, &c. Are quite attractive; while a famous grape-vine, 83years old, bears some 1, 100 pounds per annum of the choicest "BlackHamburghs, " which are reserved for the royal table, and (being underglass) are said to keep fresh and sweet on the vine till February. Afine avenue of trees leads down to the Thames, and the grounds are gaywith the flowers of the season. The Park is very large, and the locationone of the healthiest in the kingdom. 

Hampton Court Palace, though surrounded by guards and otherappurtenances of Royalty, is only inhabited by decayed servants of theCourt, impoverished and broken-down scions of the Aristocracy, &c. Towhom the royal generosity proffers a subsistence within its walls. Isuppose about two-thirds of it are thus occupied, while the residue isthrown open at certain hours to the public. I spent two hours inwandering through this portion, consisting of thirty-four rooms, mainlyattractive by reason of the Paintings and other works of Art displayedon their walls. As a whole, the collection is by no means good, the besthaving been gradually abstracted to adorn those Palaces which Royaltystill condescends to inhabit, while worse and worst are removed fromthose and deposited here; yet it was interesting to me to gaze atundoubted originals by Raphael, Titian, Poussin, Rembrandt, Teniers, Albert Durer, Leonardo da Vinci, Tintoretto, Kneller, Lely, &c. , thoughnot their master-pieces. The whole number of pictures, &c. Hereexhibited is something over One Thousand, probably five-sixthsPortraits. Some of these have a strong Historical interest apart fromtheir artistic merit. Loyola, Queen Elizabeth, Anne Boleyn, AdmiralBenbow, William III. , Mary Queen of Scots, Mary de Medicis, Louis XIV. , are a few among scores of this character. The Cartoons of Raphael andsome beautifully, richly stained glass windows are also to be seen. Thebed-rooms of William III. , Queen Anne, and I think other sovereigns, retain the beds as they were left; but little other furniture remains, the mirrors excepted. I think Americans who have a day to spare inLondon may spend it agreeably in visiting this Palace, especially asBritish Royal Residences and galleries are reputed not very accessibleto common people. At this one, every reasonable facility is afforded, and no gratuities are solicited or expected by those in attendance. Ishould prefer a day for such a jaunt on which there are fewer squalls ofhail, snow and rain than we encountered--which in May can hardly bedeemed unreasonable--but if no better can be found, take such as maycome and make the best of it. This Palace is a good deal larger on theground than our Capitol--larger than the Astor House, but, being lesslofty, contains (I should judge) fewer rooms than that capaciousstructure. It is built mainly of brick, and if it has greatArchitectural merits I fail to discern them. 

COUNSEL TO THE SEA-GOING. 

 LONDON, Tuesday, May 6th, 1851. 

I desire to address a few words of advice to persons about to cross theAtlantic or any other ocean for the first time. I think those who followmy counsel will have reason to thank me. 

I. Begin by providing yourself with a pair of stout, well-made thickboots--the coarser and firmer the better. Have them large enough toadmit two pair of thick, warm stockings, yet sit easily on the feet. Putthem on before you leave home, and never take them off during the voyageexcept when you turn in to sleep. 

II. Take a good supply of flannels and old woolen clothes, andespecially an overcoat that has seen service and is not afraid of seeingmore. Should you come on board as if just out of a band-box, you willforget all your dandyism before your first turn of sea-sickness is over, and will go ashore with your clothes spoiled by the salt spray and yourown careless lounging in all manner of places and positions. Put onnothing during the voyage that would sell for five dollars. 

III. Endure your first day of sea-sickness in your berth; after that, ifyou cannot go on deck whenever the day is fair, get yourself carriedthere. You may be sick still--the chance is two to one that you will be;but if you are to recover at all while on the heaving surge this is theway. 

IV. Move about as much as possible; think as little as you can of yoursickness; but interest yourself in whatever (except vomiting) may begoing forward--the run of the ship, the management of her sails, &c. &c. Keep clear of all sedentary games, as a general rule; they may help youto kill a few hours, but will increase your headache afterwards. Talkmore than you read; and determine to walk smartly at least two hoursevery fair day, and one hour any how. 

V. As to eating, you are safe against excess so long as you are sick;and if you have bad weather and a rough sea, that will be pretty nearlyall the way. I couldn't advise you, though ever so well, to eat theregular four times per day; though my young friend who constantly took_five_ hearty meals seemed to thrive on that regimen. In the matter ofdrink, if you can stick to water, do so; I could not, nor could I findany palatable substitute. Try Congress Water, Seidlitz, any thing tokeep clear of Wines and Spirits. If there were some portable, healthfuland palatable acid beverage devoid of Alcohol, it would be a blessedthing at sea. 

VI. Finally, rise early if you can; be cheerful, obliging, anddetermined to see the sunny side of everything whereof a sunny side canbe discovered or imagined; and bear ever in mind that each day iswearing off a good portion of the distance which withholds you from yourdestination. The best point of a voyage by steam is its brevity;wherefore, I pray you, Mr. Darius Davidson, to hurry up that new steameror screamer that is to cross the Atlantic in a week. I shall want to begetting home next August or September. 

VII. Don't bother yourself to procure British money at any such rate as$4. 90 for sovereigns, which was ruling when I came away. Bring Americancoin rather than pay over $4. 86. You can easily obtain British gold herein exchange for American, and I have heard of no higher rate than $4. 87. 

VIII. Whatever may be wise at other seasons, never think of stopping ata London hotel this summer unless you happen to own the Bank of England. If you know any one here who takes boarders or lets rooms at reasonablerates, go directly to him; if not, drive at once to the house of Mr. John Chapman, American Bookseller, 142 Strand, and he will either findyou rooms or direct you to some one else who will. 

IX. If the day of your embarkation be fair, take a long, earnest gaze atthe sun, so that you will know him again when you return. They havesomething they call the sun over here which they show occasionally, butit looks more like a boiled turnip than it does like its Americannamesake. Yet they cheer us with the assurance that there _will be_ realsunshine here by-and-by. So mote it be!

V. 

THE FUTURE OF LABOR--DAY-BREAK. 

 LONDON, Friday, May 9, 1851. 

I have spent the forenoon of to-day in examining a portion of the ModelLodging-Houses, Bathing and Washing establishments and Cooperative LaborAssociations already in operation in this Great Metropolis. My companionswere Mr. Vansittart Neale, a gentleman who has usefully devoted much timeand effort to the Elevation of Labor, and M. Cordonnaye, the actuary orchosen director of an Association of Cabinet-Makers in Paris, who areexhibitors of their own products in the Great Exposition, which explainstheir chief's presence in London. We were in no case expected, and enjoyedthe fairest opportunity to see everything as it really is. The beds werein some of the lodging-houses unmade, but we were everywhere cheerfullyand promptly shown through the rooms, and our inquiries frankly andclearly responded to. I propose to give a brief and candid account ofwhat we saw and heard. 

Our first visit was paid to the original or primitive ModelLodging-House, situated in Charles-st. In the heart of St. Giles's. Theneighborhood is not inviting, but has been worse than it is; thebuilding (having been fitted up when no man with a dollar to spare hadany faith in the project) is an old-fashioned dwelling-house, not veryconsiderably modified. This attempt to put the new wine into old bottleshas had the usual result. True, the sleeping-rooms are somewhatventilated, but not sufficiently so; the beds are quite too abundant, and no screen divides those in the same room from each other. Yet theselodgings are a decided improvement on those provided for the same classfor the same price in private lodging-houses. The charge is 4_d. _ (eightcents) per night, and I believe 2_s. _ (50 cents) per week, for which isgiven water, towels, room and fire for washing and cooking, and a smallcupboard or safe wherein to keep provisions. Eighty-two beds are made upin this house, and the keeper assured us that she seldom had a spare onethrough the night. I could not in conscience praise her beds forcleanliness, but it is now near the close of the week and her lodgers donot come to her out of band-boxes. --Only men are lodged here. Theconcern pays handsomely. 

We next visited a Working Association of Piano Forte Makers, not farfrom Drury Lane. These men were not long since working for an employeron the old plan, when he failed, threw them all out of employment, anddeprived a portion of them of the savings of past years of frugalindustry, which they had permitted to lie in his hands. Thus leftdestitute, they formed a Working Association, designated their ownchiefs, settled their rules of partnership; and here stepped in severalable "Promoters" of the cause of Industrial Organization of Labor, andlent them at five per cent. The amount of capital required to buy outthe old concern--viz: $3, 500. They have since (about six weeks) beenhard at work, having an arrangement for the sale at a low rate of allthe Pianos they can make. The associates are fifteen in number, allworking "by the piece, " except the foreman and business man, who receive$12 each per week; the others earn from $8 to $11 each weekly. I seenothing likely to defeat and destroy this enterprise, unless it shouldlose the market for its products. 

We went thence to a second Model Lodging House, situated near TottenhamCourt Road. This was founded subsequently to that already described, itsbuilding was constructed expressly for it, and each lodger has aseparate apartment, though its division walls do not reach the ceilingoverhead. Half the lodgers have each a separate window, which they canopen and close at pleasure, in addition to the general provision forventilation. In addition to the wash-room, kitchen, dining-tables, &c. , provided in the older concern, there is a small but good library, alarge conversation room, and warm baths on demand for a penny each. Thecharge is _2s. 4d. _ (58 cents) per week; the number of beds is 104, andthey are always full, with numerous applications ahead at all times forthe first vacant bed. Not a single case of Cholera occurred here in1849, though dead bodies were taken out of the neighboring alley(Church-lane) six or eight in a day. So much for the blasphemy ofterming the Cholera, with like scourges, the work of an "inscrutableProvidence. " The like exemption from Cholera was enjoyed by the two orthree other Model Lodging-Houses then in London. Their comparativecleanliness, and the coolness in summer caused by the great thickness oftheir walls, conduce greatly to this freedom from contagion. 

The third and last of the Model Lodging-Houses we visited was even moreinteresting, in that it was designed and constructed expressly to beoccupied by Families, of which it accommodates forty-eight, and hasnever a vacant room. The building is of course a large one, verysubstantially constructed on three sides of an open court paved withasphaltum and used for drying clothes and as a children's play-ground. All the suits of apartments on each floor are connected by a corridorrunning around the inside (or back) of the building, and the severalsuits consist of two rooms or three with entry, closets, &c. , accordingto the needs of the applicant. That which we more particularly examinedconsisted of three apartments (two of them bed-rooms) with theappendages already indicated. Here lived a workman with his wife and sixyoung children from two to twelve years of age. Their rent is 6s. ($1. 50per week, or $78 per annum); and I am confident that equalaccommodations in the old way cannot be obtained in an equally centraland commodious portion of London or New York for double the money. Suitsof two rooms only, for smaller families, cost but $1 to $1. 25 per week, according to size and eligibility. The concern is provided with aBath-Room, Wash-Room, Oven, &c. , for the use of which no extra charge ismade. The building is very substantial and well constructed, isfire-proof, and cost about $40, 000. The ground for it was leased of theDuke of Bedford for 99 years at $250 per annum. The money to constructit was mostly raised by subscription--the Queen leading off with $1, 500;which the Queen Dowager and two Royal Duchesses doubled; then camesundry Dukes, Earls, and other notables with $500 each, followed by along list of smaller and smaller subscriptions. But this money was givento the "Society for Bettering the Condition of the Laboring Classes, " toenable them to try an experiment; and that experiment has triumphantlysucceeded. All those I have described, as well as one for single womenonly near Hatton Garden, and one for families and for aged women nearBagnigge Wells, which I have not yet found time to visit, are constantlyand thoroughly filled, and hundreds are eager for admittance who cannotbe accommodated; the inmates are comparatively cleanly, healthy andcomfortable; and _the plan pays_. This is the great point. It is veryeasy to build edifices by subscription in which as many as they willaccommodate may have very satisfactory lodgings; but even in England, where Public Charity is most munificent, it is impossible to build suchdwellings for _all_ from the contributions of Philanthropy; and toprovide for a hundredth part, while the residue are left as they were, is of very dubious utility. The comfort of the few will increase thediscontent and wretchedness of the many. But only demonstrate thatbuilding capacious, commodious and every way eligible dwellings for thePoor is a safe and fair investment, and that their rents may beessentially reduced thereby while their comfort is promoted, and a verygreat step has been made in the world's progress--one which will not bereceded from. 

I saw in the house last described a newly invented Brick (new at leastto me) which struck me favorably. It is so molded as to be hollow in thecentre, whereby the transmission of moisture through a wall composed ofthis brick is prevented, and the dampness often complained of in brickhouses precluded. The brick is larger than those usually made, and oneside is wedge-shaped. 

We went from the house above described to the first constructed Bathingand Washing establishment, George-st. Euston-square. In the Washingdepartment there are tubs, &c. , for one hundred and twenty washers, andthey are never out of use while the concern is open--that is from 9A. M. To 7 P. M. There is in a separate Drying Room an apparatus forfreeing the washed clothes from water (instead of Wringing) by whirlingthem very rapidly in a machine, whereby the water is thrown out of themby centrifugal force or attraction. Thence the clothes, somewhat damp, areplaced in hot-air closets and speedily dried; after which they pass intothe Ironing-room and are finished. The charge here is 4 cents for twohours in the Washing-room and 2 cents for two hours in the Ironing-room, which is calculated to be time enough for doing the washing of an averagefamily. Everything but soap is supplied. The building is not capaciousenough for the number seeking to use it, and is to be speedily enlarged. I believe that the charges are too small, as I understand that the concernmerely supports itself without paying any interest on the capital whichcreated it. 

The Female part of the Bathing establishment is in this part of thebuilding, but that for men is entered from another street. Each has Hotand Vapor Baths of the first class for 12 cents; second class of theseor first-class cold baths for 8 cents; and so down to cold water bathsfor 2 cents or hot ditto for 4 cents each. I think these, notwithstanding their cheapness, are not very extensively--at least notregularly--patronized. The first class are well fitted up and containeverything that need be desired; the others are more naked, but wellworth their cost. Cold and tepid Plunge Baths are proffered at 6 and 12cents respectively. 

I must break off here abruptly, for the mail threatens to close. 

VI. 

BRITISH PROGRESS. 

 LONDON, Thursday, May 15, 1851. 

Apart from the Great Exhibition, this is a season of intellectualactivity in London. Parliament is (languidly) in session; theAristocracy are in town; the Queen is lavishly dispensing themagnificent hospitalities of Royalty to those of the privileged castewho are invited to share them; and the several Religious andPhilanthropic Societies, whether of the City or the Kingdom, aregenerally holding their Anniversaries, keeping Exeter Hall in blastalmost night and day. I propose to give a first hasty glance atintellectual and general progress in Great Britain, leaving the subjectto be more fully and thoroughly treated after I shall have made myselfmore conversant with the facts in the case. 

A spirit of active and generous philanthropy is widely prevalent in thiscountry. While the British pay more in taxes for the support of Priestsand Paupers than any other people on earth, they at the same time givemore for Religious and Philanthropic purposes. Their munificence is notalways well guided; but on the whole very much is accomplished by it inthe way of diffusing Christianity and diminishing Human Misery. But Iwill speak more specifically. 

The _Religious Anniversaries_ have mainly been held, but few or none ofthem are reported--indeed, they are scarcely alluded to--in the Dailypress, whose vaunted superiority over American journals in the matterof Reporting amounts practically to this--that the debates in Parliamentare here reported _verbatim_, and again presented in a condensed formunder the Editorial head of each paper, while scarcely anything else(beside Court doings) is reported at all. I am sure this is consistentneither with reason nor with the public taste--that if the Parliamentarydebates were condensed one-half, and the space so saved devoted toreports of the most interesting Public Meetings, Lectures, &c. , afterthe New-York fashion, the popular interest in the daily papers wouldbecome wider and deeper, and their usefulness as aids to GeneralEducation would be largely increased. To a great majority of the readingclass, even here, political discussions--and especially of questions sotrite and so unimportant as those which mainly engross the attention ofParliament--are of quite subordinate interest; and I think less than onereader in four ever peruses any more of these debates than is given inthe Editorial synopsis, leaving the _verbatim_ report a sheer waste ofcostly print and paper. --I believe, however, that in the aggregate, thecollections of the last year for Religious purposes have just aboutequaled the average of the preceding two or three years; some Societieshaving received less, others more. I think the public interest incomprehensive Religious and Philanthropic efforts does not diminish. 

For _Popular Education_, there is much doing in this Country, but in adisjointed, expensive, inefficient manner. Instead of one all-pervading, straight-forward, State-directed system, there are three or four inoperation, necessarily conflicting with and damaging each other. And yeta vast majority really desire the Education of All, and are willing topay for it. John Bull is good at paying taxes, wherein he has had largeexperience; and if he grumbles a little now and then at their amount asoppressive, it is only because he takes pleasure in grumbling, and thisseems to afford him a good excuse for it. He would not be deprived ofit if he could: witness the discussions of the Income Tax, which everybody denounces while no one justifies it abstractly; and yet it isalways upheld, and I presume always will be. If the question could nowbe put to a direct vote, even of the tax-payers alone--"Shall or shallnot a system of Common School Education for the United Kingdoms bemaintained by a National Tax?"--I believe Free Schools would betriumphant. Even if such a system were matured, put in operation, and tobe sustained by Voluntary Contributions alone or left to perish, Ishould not despair of the result. 

But there is a lion in the path, in the shape of the Priesthood of theEstablished Church, who insist that the children shall be indoctrinatedin the dogmas of their creed, or there shall be no State system ofCommon Schools; and, behind these, stand the Roman Catholic Clergy, whovirtually make a similar demand with regard to the children ofCatholics. The unreasonableness, as well as the ruinous effects of thesedemands, is already palpable on our side of the Atlantic. If, when ourCity was meditating the Croton Water Works, the Episcopal and CatholicPriesthood had each insisted that those works should be consecrated bytheir own Hierarchy and by none other, or, in default of this, we shouldhave no water-works at all, the case would be substantially parallel tothis. Or if there were in some city a hundred children, whose parentswere of diverse creeds, all blind with cataract, whom it was practicableto cure altogether, but not separately, and these rival Priesthoods wererespectively to insist--"They shall be taught our Creed and Catechism, and no other, while the operation is going on, or there shall be nooperation and no cure, " that case would not be materially diverse fromthis. In vain does the advocate of Light say to them, "Pray, let us givethe children the inestimable blessing of sight, and then _you_ may teachyour creed and catechism to all whom you can persuade to learn them, "they will have the closed eyes opened according to Loyola or to Laud, ornot opened at all! Do they not provoke us to say that their insisting onan impossible, a suicidal condition, is but a cloak, a blind, a fetch, and that their real object is to keep the multitude in darkness? I amthankful that we have few clergymen in America who manifest a spiritakin to that which to this day deprives half the children of theseKingdoms of any considerable school education whatever. 

I think nothing unsusceptible of mathematical demonstration, can beclearer than the imperative necessity of Universal Education, as amatter simply of Public Economy. In these densely peopled islands, whereservice is cheap, and where many persons qualified to teach aremaintaining a precarious struggle for subsistence, a system of GeneralEducation need not cost half so much as in the United States, whilewealth is so concentrated that taxes bear less hardly here, inproportion to their amount, than with us. Every dollar judiciously spenton the education of poor children, would be more than saved in thediminution of the annual cost of pauperism and crime, while theintellectual and industrial capacity of the people would be vastlyincreased by it. I do not see how even Clerical bigotry, formidable asit deplorably is, can long resist this consideration among a people sothrifty and saving, as are in the main the wielders of political powerin this country. 

_Political Reforms_ move slowly here. Mr. Hume's motion for HouseholdSuffrage, Vote by Ballot, Triennial Parliaments, &c. Was denied aconsideration, night before last, by the concerted absence from theHouse of nearly all the members--only twenty-one appearing when forty(out of over six hundred) are required to constitute a quorum. So thesubject lost its place as a set motion, and probably will not come upagain this Session. The Ministry opposed its consideration now, promising themselves to bring forward a measure for the Extension ofthe Franchise _next Session_, when it is very unlikely that they will bein a position to bring forward anything. It seems to me that the currentsets strongly against their continuance in office, and that, between thehearty Reformers on one side and the out-spoken Conservatives on theother, they must soon surrender their semblance of power. Still, theyare skillful in playing off one extreme against another, and may thusendure or be endured a year longer; but the probability is against this. To my mind, it seems clear that their retirement is essential to theprosecution of Liberal Reforms. So long as they remain in power, theywill do, in the way of the People's Enfranchisement, as near nought aspossible. 

 (----"Nothing could live Twixt that and silence. ")

Their successors, the avowed Conservatives, will of course do nothing;but they cannot hold power long in the Britain of to-day; and whoevershall succeed them must come in on a popular tide and on the strength ofpledges to specific and comprehensive Reforms which cannot well beevaded. Slow work, say you? Well, there is no quicker practicable. Whenthe Tories shall have been in once more and gone out again, there willbe another great forward movement like the Reform Bill, and I think nottill then, unless the Continent shall meantime be convulsed by thethroes of a general Revolution. 

I should like to see a chance for the defeat of that most absurd of allPolitical stupidities, the _Ecclesiastical Titles Assumption Bill_, butI do not. Persecution for Faith's sake is most abhorrent, yet sincerityand zeal may render it respectable; but this bill has not one redeemingfeature. While it insults the Catholics, it is perfectly certain toincrease their numbers and power; and it will do this without inflictingon them the least substantial injury. Cardinal Wiseman will be thelocal head of the Catholic Church in England, whether he is legallyforbidden to be styled "Archbishop of Westminster" or not, and so of theIrish Catholic prelates. The obstacles which the ministerial billattempts to throw in the way of bequests to the Catholic Bishops assuch, will be easily evaded; these Bishops will exercise every functionof the Episcopate whether this Bill shall pass or fail: and their moralpower will be greatly increased by its passage. But the Ministry, whichhas found the general support of the Catholics, and especially of theIrish Catholic Members, very opportune at certain critical junctures, will henceforth miss that support--in fact, it has already beentransformed into a most virulent and deadly hostility. Rural England washostile to the ministry before, on account of the depressing effect ofFree Trade on the agricultural interest; and now Ireland is turnedagainst them by their own act--an act which belies the professions ofToleration in matters of Faith which have given them a great hold of thesympathies of the best men in the country throughout the last halfcentury. I do not see how they can ride out the storm which they by thisbill have aroused. 

The cause of _Temperance_--of Total Abstinence from all that canintoxicate--is here about twenty years behind its present position inthe United States. I think there are not more absolute drunkards herethan in our American cities, but the habit of drinking for drink's sakeis all but universal. The Aristocracy drink almost to a man; so do theMiddle Class; so do the Clergy; so alas! do the Women! There is less ofArdent Spirits imbibed than with us; but Wines are much cheaper and invery general use among the well-off; while the consumption of Ale, Beer, Porter, &c. (mainly by the Poor) is enormous. Only think of £5, 000, 000or _Twenty-Five Millions of Dollars_, paid into the Treasury in a singleyear by the People of these Islands as Malt-Tax alone, while the otheringredients used in the manufacture of Malt Liquors probably swell theaggregate to Thirty Millions of Dollars. If we suppose this to be alittle more than one-third of the ultimate cost of these Liquors to theconsumers, that cost cannot be less than _One Hundred Millions ofDollars per annum!_--a sum amply sufficient, if rightly expended, tobanish Pauperism and Destitution for ever from the British Isles. Andyet the poor trudge wearily on, loaded to the earth with exactions andburdens of every kind, yet stupifying their brains, emptying theirpockets and ruining their constitutions with these poisonous, brutalizing liquors! I see no hope for them short of a System of PopularEducation which shall raise them mentally above their present lowcondition, followed by a few years of systematic, energetic, omnipresentTemperance Agitation. A slow work this, but is there any quicker thatwill be effective? The Repeal of the Taxes on Knowledge would greatlycontribute to the Education of the Poor, but that Reform has yet to bestruggled for. 

Of _Social Reform_ in England, the most satisfactory agency at presentis the Society for improving the Dwellings of the Poor. This Society hasthe patronage of the Queen, is presided over (I believe) by her husband, and is liberally patronized by the better portion of the Aristocracy andthe higher order of the Clergy. These, aided by wealthy or philanthropiccitizens, have contributed generously, and have done a good work, eventhough they should stop where they are. The work would not, could notstop with them. They have already proved that good, substantial, cleanly, wholesome, tight-roofed, well ventilated dwellings for the Poorare absolutely cheaper than any other, so that Shylock himself mightinvest his fortune in the construction of such with the moral certaintyof receiving a large income therefrom, while at the same time rescuingthe needy from wretchedness, disease, brutalization and vice. Shall notNew-York, and all her sister cities, profit by the lesson?

Of the correlative doings of the organized Promoters of Working Men'sAssociations, Coöperative Stores, &c. , I would not be justified inspeaking so confidently, at least until I shall have observed moreclosely. My present impression is that they are both far less mature intheir operations, and that, as they demand of the Laboring Class moreconfidence in themselves and each other, than, unhappily, prevails asyet, they are destined to years of struggle and chequered fortunesbefore they will have achieved even the measure of success which theModel Lodging and the Bathing and Washing Houses have already achieved. Still, I have not yet visited the strongest and most hopeful of theWorking Men's Associations. 

I spent last evening with the friends of ROBERT OWEN, who celebrated his80th birthday by a dinner at the Cranbourne Hotel. Among those presentwere Thornton Hunt, son of Leigh Hunt, and one of the Editors of "TheLeader;" Gen. Houg, an exile from Germany from Freedom's sake; Mr. Fleming, Editor of the Chartist "Northern Star;" Mons. D'Arusmont and hisdaughter, who is the daughter also of Frances Wright. Mr. Owen was ofcourse present, and spoke quite at length in reiteration and enforcementof the leading ideas wherewith he has so long endeavored to impress theworld respecting the absolute omnipotence of circumstances in shaping theHuman Character, the impossibility of believing or disbelieving save asone must, &c. &c. Mr. Owen has scarcely looked younger or heartier at anytime these ten years; he did not seem a shade older than when I lastbefore met him, at least three years ago. And not many young men are morebuoyant in spirit, more sanguine as to the immediate future, more genialin temper, more unconquerable in resolution, than he is. I cannot see manythings as he does; it seems to me that he is stone blind on the side ofFaith in the Invisible, and exaggerates the truths he perceives until theyalmost become falsehoods; but I love his sunny, benevolent nature, I admirehis unwearied exertions for what he deems the good of Humanity; and, believing with the great Apostle to the Gentiles, that "Now abide Faith, Hope, Charity: these three; but the greatest of these is Charity, " Iconsider him practically a better Christian than half those who, professing to be such, believe more and do less. I trust his life may belong spared, and his sun beam cloudless and rosy to the last. 

VII. 

LONDON--NEW-YORK. 

 LONDON, Monday, May 15, 1851. 

I have now been fifteen days in this magnificent Babel, but so muchengrossed with the Exhibition that I have seen far less of the town thanI otherwise should. Of the City proper (in the center) I know a little;and I have made my way thence out into the open country on the North andon the West respectively, but toward the South lies a wilderness ofbuildings which I have not yet explored; while Eastward the metropolitandistricts stretch further than I have ever been. The south side of HydePark and the main line of communication thence with the City proper isthe only part of London with which I can claim any real acquaintance. Yet, on the strength of what little I _do_ know, I propose to saysomething of London as it strikes a stranger; and in so doing I shallgenerally refer to New-York as a standard of comparison, so as to rendermy remarks more lucid to a great portion of their readers. 

The _Buildings_ here are generally superior to those of our City--moresubstantial, of better materials, and more tasteful. There are, I think, as miserable rookeries here as anywhere; but they are exceptions; whilemost of the houses are built solidly, faithfully, and with a thicknessof walls which would be considered sheer waste in our City. Among thematerials most extensively used is a fine white marble[A] of apeculiarly soft, creamy appearance, which looks admirably untilblackened by smoke and time. Regent-street and several of thearistocratic quarters west of it are in good part built of this marble;but one of the finest, freshest specimens of it is St. George'sHospital, Piccadilly, which to my eye is among the most tastefuledifices in London. If (as I apprehend) St. Paul's Church, SomersetHouse, and the similarly smoke-stained dwellings around Finsbury Ovalwere built of this same marble, then the murky skies of London have muchto answer for. 

Throughout the Western and Northern sections of the Metropolis, thedwellings are far less crowded than is usual in the corresponding orup-town portion of New-York, are more diverse in plan, color and finish, and better provided with court-yards, shrubbery, &c. In the matter ofBuilding generally, I think our City would profit by a study of London, especially if our lot-owners, builders, &c. , would be satisfied withLondon rates of interest on their respective investments. I think fourper cent. Is considered a tolerable and five a satisfactory interest onmoney securely invested in houses in London. 

By the way: the apostles of Sanitary Reform here are anticipating verygreat benefits from the use of the Hollow Brick just coming intofashion. I am assured by a leading member of the Sanitary Commissionthat the hollow brick cost much less than the solid ones, and are aperfect protection against the dampness so generally experienced inbrick houses, and often so prejudicial to health. That there is a greatsaving in the cost of their transportation is easily seen; and, as theyare usually made much larger than the solid brick, they can be laid upmuch faster. I think Dr. Southwood Smith assured me that the saving inthe first cost of the brickwork of a house is _one-third_; if that is amistake, the error is one of misapprehension on my part. The hollowbrick is a far less perfect conductor of heat and cold than the solidone; consequently, a house built of the former is much cooler in Summerand warmer in Winter. It is confidently and reasonably hoped here thatvery signal improvements, in the dwellings especially of the Poor, areto be secured by means of this invention. Prince Albert has caused twoModel Cottages of this material to be erected at his cost in Hyde Parknear the Great Exhibition in order to attract general attention to thesubject. 

The _Streets_ of London are generally better paved, cleaner and betterlighted than those of New-York. Instead of our round or cobble stone, the material mainly used for paving here is a hard flint rock, split anddressed into uniform pieces about the size of two bricks united by theiredges, so as to form a surface of some eight inches square with athickness of two inches. This of course wears much more evenly and lastslonger than cobble-stone pavements. I do not know that we could easilyprocure an equally serviceable material, even if we were willing to payfor it. One reason of the greater cleanness of the streets here is themore universal prevalence of sewerage; another is the positive value ofstreet-offal here for fertilizing purposes. And as Gas is supplied hereto citizens at 4s. 6d. ($1. 10) per thousand feet, while the good peopleof New-York must bend to the necessity of paying $3. 50, or more thanthrice as much for the like quantity, certainly of no better quality, itis but reasonable to infer that the Londoners can afford to light theirstreets better than the New-Yorkers. 

But there are other aspects in which _our_ streets have a decidedsuperiority. There are half a dozen streets and places here having thesame name, and only distinguished by appending the name of a neighboringstreet, as "St. James-place, St. James-st. , " to distinguish it fromseveral other St. James-places, and so on. This subjects strangers togreat loss of time and vexation of spirit. I have not yet delivered halfthe letters of introduction which were given me at home to friends ofthe writers in this city, and can't guess when I shall do it. Then thenumbering of the streets is absurdly vicious--generally 1, 2, 3, 4, &c. , up one side and down the other side, so that 320 will be opposite 140, and 412 opposite 1, and so throughout. Of course, if any street sonumbered is extended beyond its original limit, the result isinextricable confusion. But the Londoners seem not to have caught theidea of numbering by lots at all, but to have numbered only the housesthat actually existed when the numbering was undertaken; so that, if astreet happened to be numbered when only half built up, every houseerected afterward serves to render confusion worse confounded. On thisaccount I spent an hour and a half a few evenings since in fruitlessendeavors to find William and Mary Howitt, though I knew they lived atNo. 28 Upper Avenue Road, which is less than half a mile long. I foundNos. 27, 29, 30, and 31, and finally found 28 also, but in another partof the street, with a No. 5 near it on one side and No. 16 ditto on theother--and this in a street quite recently opened. I think New-York hasnothing equal to this in perplexing absurdity. 

The _Police_ here is more omnipresent and seems more efficient thanours. I think the use of a common and conspicuous uniform has a goodeffect. No one can here pretend that he defied or resisted a policemanin ignorance of his official character. The London police appears to bequite numerous, is admirably organized, and seems to be perfectly docileto its superiors. Always to obey and never to ask the reason of acommand, is the rule here; it certainly has its advantages, but is notwell suited to the genius of our people. 

The _Hotels_ of London are decidedly inferior to those of New-York. I donot mean by this that every comfort and reasonable luxury may not beobtained in the London inns for money enough, but simply that the samestyle of living costs more in this city than in ours. I think $5 per daywould be a fair estimate for the cost of living (servants' feesincluded) as well in a London hotel as you may live in a first-classNew-York hotel for half that sum. One main cause of this disparity isthe smallness of the inns here. A majority of them cannot accommodatemore than twenty to forty guests comfortably; I think there are not fourin the entire Metropolis that could find room for one hundred each. Ofcourse, the expense of management, supervision, attendance, &c. , insmall establishments is proportionably much greater than in large ones, and the English habit of eating fitfully _solus_ instead of at a commonhour and table increases the inevitable cost. Considering the Nationalhabits, it might be hazardous to erect and open such a hotel as theAstor, Irving or New-York in this city; but if it were once well done, and the experiment fairly maintained for three years, it could not failto work a revolution. _Wines_ (I understand) cost not more than half asmuch here, in the average, as they do in New-York. 

In _Cabs_ and other Carriages for Hire, London is ahead of New-York. Thenumber here is immense; they are of many varieties, some of them bettercalculated for fine weather than any of ours; while the legal rates offare are more moderate and not so outrageously exceeded. While theaverage New-York demand is fully double the legal fare, the Londoncabman seldom asks more than fifty per cent. Above what the law allowshim; and this (by Americans, at least) is considered quite reasonableand cheerfully paid. If our New-York Jehus could only be made to realizethat they keep their carriages empty by their exorbitant charges, andreally double-lock their pockets against the quarters that citizenswould gladly pour into them, I think a reform might be hoped for. 

The _Omnibuses_ of London are very numerous and well governed, but Iprefer those of New-York. The charges are higher here, though stillreasonable; but the genius of this people is not so well adapted to theOmnibus system as ours is. For example: an Omnibus (the last for thenight) was coming down from the North toward Charing Cross the otherevening, when a lady asked to be taken up. The stage was full; the lawforbids the taking of more than twelve passengers inside; a remonstrancewas instantly raised by one or more of the passengers against takingher; and she was left to plod her weary way as she could. I think thatcould not have happened in New-York. In another instance, a stage-fullof passengers started eastward from Hyde Park, one of the women having abasket of unwashed clothes on her knee. It was certainly inconvenient, and not absolutely inoffensive; but the hints, the complaints, theslurs, the sneers, with which the poor woman was annoyed and torturedthroughout--from persons certainly well-dressed and whom I shouldotherwise have considered well-bred--were a complete surprise to me. Invain did the poor woman explain that she was not permitted to deposither basket on the roof of the stage, as it was raining; the growls andwitticisms at her expense continued, and women were foremost in thisrudeness. I doubt that a woman was ever exposed to the like in New-York, unless she was suspected of having Ethiopian blood in her veins. 

The _Parks_, _Squares_ and _Public Gardens_ of London beat us clean outof sight. The Battery is very good, but it is not Hyde Park; Hoboken_was_ delightful; Kensington Gardens _are_ and ever will remain so. OurCity ought to have made provision, twenty years ago, for a series ofParks and Gardens extending quite across the island somewhere betweenThirtieth and Fiftieth streets. It is now too late for that; but allthat can be should be done immediately to secure breathing-space andgrounds for healthful recreation to the Millions who will ultimatelyinhabit New-York. True, the Bay, the North and East Rivers, will alwaysserve as lungs to our City, but these of themselves will not suffice. Where is or where is to be the Public Garden of New York? where theattractive walks, and pleasure-grounds of the crowded denizens of theEastern Wards? These must be provided, and the work cannot be commencedtoo soon. 

FOOTNOTES:

[A] It seems that this plain marble is but an _imitation_--a stone orbrick wall covered with a composition, which gives it a smooth andcreamy appearance. 

VIII. 

THE EXHIBITION. 

 LONDON, Wednesday, May 21, 1851. 

"All the world"--that is to say, some scores of thousands who wouldotherwise be in London--are off to-day to the Epsom Races, this beingthe "Derby Day, " a great holiday here. Our Juries at the Fair generallyrespect it, and I suppose I ought to have gone, since the opportunityafforded for seeing out-door "life" in England may not occur to meagain. As, however, I have very much to do at home, and do not care onebutton which of twenty or thirty colts can run fastest, I stay away; andthe murky, leaden English skies conspire to justify my choice. Iunderstand the regulations at these races are superior and ensureperfect order; but Gambling, Intoxication and Licentiousness--to saynothing of Swindling and Robbery--always did regard a horse-race withsignal favor and delight, and probably always will. Other things beingequal, I prefer that their delight and mine should not exactly coincide. 

I am away from the Exhibition to-day for the second time since itopened; yet I understand that, in spite of the immense number gone toEpsom (perhaps in consequence of the general presumption that few wouldbe left to attend), the throng is as great as ever. Yesterday there wereso many in the edifice that the Juries which kept together often foundthemselves impeded by the eddying tide of Humanity; and yet there havebeen no admissions paid for with so little as one dollar each. NextMonday the charge comes down to _one_ shilling (24 cents), and it isalready evident that extraordinary measures must be taken to preservethe Exhibition from choking up. I presume it will be decreed that nomore than Forty, Fifty or at most Sixty Thousand single admissions shallbe sold in one day, and that each apartment, lane or avenue in thebuilding shall be entered from one prescribed end only and vacated fromthe other. The necessity for some such regulation is obviouslyimperative. 

The immense pecuniary success of the Exhibition is of course assured. Ipresume the Commissioners will be able to pay all fair charges uponthem, and very nearly, if not quite, clear the Crystal Palace from theproceeds, over $15, 000 having been taken yesterday, and an average ofmore than $10, 000 per day since the commencement. If we estimate thereceipts of May inclusive at $400, 000 only, and those of June and July, at $150, 000 each, the total proceeds will, on the 1st of August, havereached $700, 000--a larger sum than was ever before realized in a likeperiod by any Exhibition whatever. But then no other was ever comparableto this in extent, variety or magnificence. For example: a single Londonhouse has _One Million Dollars'_ worth of the most superb Plate andJewelry in the Exhibition, in a by no means unfavorable position; yet Ihad spent the better portion of five days there, roaming and gazing atwill, before I saw this lot. There are three Diamonds exhibited whichare worth, according to the standard method of computing the value ofDiamonds, at least Thirty millions of Dollars, and probably could besold in a week for Twenty Millions; I have seen but one of them as yet, and that stands so conspicuously in the center of the Exhibition thatfew who enter can help seeing it. And there are several miles of casesand lots of costly wares and fabrics exposed here, a good share of whichare quite as attractive as the great Diamonds, and intrinsically farmore valuable. Is there cause for wonder, then, that the Exhibition isdaily thronged by tens of thousands, even at the present high prices?

Yet very much of this immediate and indisputable success is due to thepersonal influence and example of the Queen. Had she not seen fit toopen the display in person, and with unusual and imposing formalities, there would have been no considerable attendance on that occasion; andnothing less than her repeated and almost daily visits since, reachingthe building a little past nine in the morning (sometimes after beingengrossed with one of her State Balls or other festivities till longafter midnight), could have secured so general and constant anattendance of the Aristocratic and Fashionable classes. No American whohas not been in Europe can conceive the extent of Royal influence inthis direction. What the Queen does every one who aspires to Socialconsideration makes haste to imitate if possible. This personaldeference is often carried to an extent quite inconsistent with hercomfort and freedom, as I have observed in the Crystal Palace; where, though I have never crowded near enough to recognize her, I have oftenseen a throng blockading the approaches to the apartment or avenue inwhich she and her cortege were examining the articles exhibited, andthere (being kept back from a nearer approach by the Police) they havestood gaping and staring till she left, often for half an hour. This maybe intense loyalty, but it is dubious civility. Even on Saturdaymornings, when none but the Royal visiters are admitted till noon, andonly Jurors, Police and those Exhibitors whose wares or fabrics shepurposes that day to inspect are allowed to be present, I have notedsimilar though smaller crowds facing the Police at the points of nearestapproach to her. At such times, her desire to be left to herself isclearly proclaimed, and this gazing by the half hour amounts to positiverudeness. 

I remarked the other evening to Charles Lane that, while I did not doubtthe sincerity of the Queen's interest in the articles exhibited, Ithought there was some purpose in these continual and protractedvisits--that, for England's sake and that of her husband, whose personalstake in the undertaking was so great, she had resolved that it shouldnot fail if she could help it--and she knew how to help it. Laneassentingly but more happily observed: "Yes: though she seems to bestanding on _this_ side of the counter, she is perhaps really standingon _the other_. "--As I regard such Exhibitions as among the very bestpursuits to which Royalty can addict itself, I should not give utteranceto this presumption if I did not esteem it creditable to Victoria bothas a Briton and a Queen. And it is very plain that her conduct in thepremises is daily, among her subjects, diffusing and deepening herpopularity. 

DINNER AT RICHMOND. 

The London Commissioners gave a great Dinner at Richmond, yesterday, tothe foreign Commissioners in attendance on the Exhibition: LordAshburton presiding, flanked by Foreign Ministers and Nobles. The feastwas of course superb; the speaking generally fair; the Music abundantand faultless. Good songs were capitally given by eminent vocalists, well sustained by instruments, between the several toasts with theirresponses--a fashion which I suggest for adoption in our own country, especially with the condition that the Speeches be shortened to givetime for the Songs. At this dinner, no Speech exceeded fifteen minutesin duration but that of Baron Dupin, which may have consumed half anhour, but in every other respect was admirable. The Englishmen who spokewere Lords Ashburton and Granville, Messrs. Crace and Paxton; of theForeigners, Messrs. Dupin (France), Van de Weyer (Belgian Chargé), VonViebhan (Prussian), and myself. Lord Ashburton spoke with great goodsense and good feeling, but without fluency. Lord Granville's remarkswere admirable in matter but also defective in manner. Barons Van deWeyer and Dupin were very happy. The contrast in felicity of expressionbetween the British and the Continental speakers was very striking, though the latter had no advantage in other respects. 

I went there at the pressing request of Lord Ashburton, who had desiredthat an American should propose the health of Mr. Paxton, the designerof the Crystal Palace, and Mr. Riddle, our Commissioner, had designatedme for the service; so I spoke about five minutes, and my remarks weremost kindly received by the entire company; yet _The Times_ of to-day, in its report of the festival, suppresses not merely what I said, butthe sentiment I offered and even my name, merely stating that "Mr. Paxton was then toasted and replied as follows. " The _Daily News_ doeslikewise, only it says Mr. Paxton's health was proposed by a Mr. _Wedding_ (a Prussian who sat near me). I state these facts to exposethe falsehood of the boast lately made by _The Times_ in itschampionship of dear newspapers like the British against cheap ones likethe American that "In this country fidelity in newspaper reporting is areligion, and its dictates are never disregarded, " &c. The pains takento suppress not merely what I said but its substance, and even my name, while inserting Mr. Paxton's response, refutes the Pharisaic assumptionof The Times so happily that I could not let it pass. --Nay, I am willingto brave the imputation of egotism by appending a faithful transcript ofwhat I _did_ say on that occasion, that the reader may guess _why_ TheTimes deemed its suppression advisable:

After Baron Dupin had concluded, HORACE GREELEY, being next called upon by the chair, arose and said:

 "In my own land, my lords and gentlemen, where Nature is still so rugged and unconquered, where Population is yet so scanty and the demands for human exertion are so various and urgent, it is but natural that we should render marked honor to Labor, and especially to those who by invention or discovery contribute to shorten the processes and increase the efficiency of Industry. It is but natural, therefore, that this grand conception of a comparison of the state of Industry in all Nations, by means of a World's Exhibition, should there have been received and canvassed with a lively and general interest--an interest which is not measured by the extent of our contributions. Ours is still one of the youngest of Nations, with few large accumulations of the fruits of manufacturing activity or artistic skill, and these so generally needed for use that we were not likely to send them three thousand miles away, merely for show. It is none the less certain that the progress of this great Exhibition from its original conception to that perfect realization which we here commemorate, has been watched and discussed not more earnestly throughout the saloons of Europe, than by the smith's forge and the mechanic's bench in America. Especially the hopes and fears alternately predominant on this side with respect to the edifice required for this Exhibition--the doubts as to the practicability of erecting one sufficiently capacious and commodious to contain and display the contributions of the whole world--the apprehension that it could not be rendered impervious to water--the confident assertions that it could not be completed in season for opening the Exhibition on the first of May as promised--all found an echo on our shores; and now the tidings that all these doubts have been dispelled, these difficulties removed, will have been hailed there with unmingled satisfaction. 

 "I trust, gentlemen, that among the ultimate fruits of this Exhibition we are to reckon a wider and deeper appreciation of the worth of Labor, and especially of those 'Captains of Industry' by whose conceptions and achievements our Race is so rapidly borne onward in its progress to a loftier and more benignant destiny. We shall not be likely to appreciate less fully the merits of the wise Statesman, by whose measures a People's thrift and happiness are promoted--of the brave Soldier who joyfully pours out his blood in defense of the rights or in vindication of the honor of his Country--of the Sacred Teacher by whose precepts and example our steps are guided in the pathway to heaven--if we render fit honor also to those 'Captains of Industry' whose tearless victories redden no river and whose conquering march is unmarked by the tears of the widow and the cries of the orphan. I give you, therefore, "_The Health of Joseph Paxton, Esq. _, _Designer of the Crystal Palace_--Honor to him whose genius does honor to Industry and to Man!"

If the reader shall discern in the above (which is as nearly literal asmay be--I having only recollection to depend on) the _reason_ why _TheTimes_ saw fit to suppress not merely the remarks, but the words of thetoast and the name of the proposer, I shall be satisfied; though I thinkthe exposure of that journal's argument for dear newspapers aspreferable to cheap ones, on the ground that the former always gave fairand accurate reports of public meetings while the latter never did, isworth the space I have given to this matter. I am very sure that if myremarks had been deemed discreditable to myself or my country, theywould have been fully reported in _The Times_. 

EXHIBITION ITEMS. 

The Queen and Prince Albert spent an hour in the American department afew mornings since, and appeared to regard the articles there displayedwith deep interest. Prince Albert (who is esteemed here not merely a manof sterling good sense, but thoroughly versed in mechanics andmanufactures) expressed much surprise at the variety of ourcontributions and the utility and excellence of many of them. I mentionthis because there are some Americans here who declare themselves_ashamed of their country_ because of the meagerness of its share in theExhibition. I do not suppose their country will deem it worth while toreturn the compliment; but I should have been far more ashamed of theprodigality and want of sense evinced in sending an indiscriminateprofusion of American products here than I am of the actual state of thecase. It is true, as I have already stated, that we are deficient insome things which might have been sent here with advantage to thecontributors and with credit to the country; but for Americans to sendhere articles of luxury and fashion to be exhibited in competition withall the choicest wares and fabrics of Europe, which must have beatenthem if only by the force of mere quantity alone, would have evinced awant of sense and consideration which I trust is not our Nationalcharacteristic. If I ever _do_ feel ashamed in the American department, it is on observing a pair of very well shaped and exquisitely finishedoars, labeled, "A Present for the Prince of Wales, " or something of thesort. Spare me the necessity of blushing for what we _have_ there, and Iam safe enough from shame on account of our deficiencies. 

Mr. A. C. Hobbs, of the lock-making concern of Day & Newell, hasimproved his leisure here in picking a six-tumbler Bank Lock of Mr. Chubb, the great English locksmith, and he now gives notice that he canpick _any_ of Chubb's locks, or any other based on similar principles, as he is willing to demonstrate in any fair trial. I trust he will havea chance. 

The Queen quits the Exhibition for a time this week, and retires to herhouse on the Isle of Wight, where she will spend some days in privatewith her family. I presume the Aristocracy will generally follow herexample, so far as the Exhibition is concerned, leaving it to the poorerclass, to whom five shillings is a consideration. Absurd speculationsare rife as to what "the mob" will do in such a building--whether theywill evacuate it quietly and promptly at night--whether there will notbe a rush made at the diamonds and other precious stones by bands ofthieves secretly confederated for plunder, &c. &c. I do not rememberthat like apprehensions were ever entertained in our country; but faithin Man abstractly is weak here, while faith in the Police, theHorse-Guards and the Gallows, is strong. --There are always two hundredsoldiers and three hundred policemen in the building while it is open tothe public; and in case of any attempt at robbery, every outlet would(by means of the Telegraph) be closed and guarded within a few seconds, while hundreds if not thousands of soldiers are at all times withincall. But they will not be needed. 

IX. 

SIGHTS IN LONDON. 

 LONDON, Friday, May 23, 1851. 

I have been much occupied, through the last fortnight, and shall be forsome ten days more, with the Great Exhibition, in fulfillment of theduties of a Juror therein. The number of Americans here (not exhibitors)who can and will devote the time required for this service is so smallthat none can well be excused; and the fairness evinced by the RoyalCommissioners in offering to place as many foreigners (named by theCommissioners of their respective countries) as Britons on the severalJuries well deserves to be met in a corresponding spirit. I did not, therefore, feel at liberty to decline the post of Juror, to which I hadbeen assigned before my arrival, though it involves much labor and care, and will keep me here somewhat longer than I had intended to stay. Onthe other hand, it has opened to me sources of information andfacilities for observation which I could not, in a brief visit to a landof strangers, have otherwise hoped to enjoy. I spend each secular day atthe Exhibition--generally from 10 to 3 o'clock--and have my evenings forother pursuits and thoughts. I propose here to jot down a few of thenotes on London I have made since the sailing of the last steamship. 

WESTMINSTER ABBEY. 

I attended Divine worship in this celebrated edifice last Sundaymorning. Situated near the Houses of Parliament, the Royal Palaces ofBuckingham and St. James, and in the most aristocratic quarter of thecity, its external appearance is less imposing than I had expected, andwhat I saw of its interior did not particularly impress me. Loftyceilings, stained windows, and a barbaric profusion of carving, groiningand all manner of costly contrivances for absorbing money and labor, made on me the impression of waste rather than taste, seeming to giveform and substance to the orator's simile of "the contortions of thesibyl without her inspiration. " A better acquaintance with the edifice, or with the principles of architecture, might serve to correct thishasty judgment; but surely Westminster Abbey ought to afford a place ofworship equal in capacity, fitness and convenience to a modern churchedifice costing $50, 000, and surely it does not. I think there is no oneof the ten best churches in New York which is not superior to the Abbeyfor this purpose. 

I supposed myself acquainted with all the approved renderings of theEpiscopal morning service, but when the clergyman who officiated at theAbbey began to twang out "Dearly beloved brethren, " &c. , in a nasal, drawling semi-chant, I was taken completely aback. It sounded as thoughsome graceless Friar Tuck had wormed himself into the desk and wasendeavoring, under the pretense of reading the service, to caricature asbroadly as possible the alleged peculiarity of Methodistic pulpitenunciation superimposed upon the regular Yankee drawl. As the serviceproceeded, I became more accustomed and more reconciled to this mode ofutterance, but never enough so to like it, nor even the responses, whichwere given in the same way, but much better. After I came away, I wasinformed that this semi-chant is termed _intoning_, and is said to be arevival of an ancient method of rendering the church service. If such bethe fact, I can only say that in my poor judgment that revival was anunwise and unfortunate one. 

The Service was very long--more than two hours--the Music excellent--thecongregation large--the Sermon, so far as I could judge, had nothing badin it. Yet there was an Eleventh-Century air about the whole whichstrengthened my conviction that the Anglican Church will very soon bepotentially summoned to take her stand distinctly on the side either ofRomanism or of Protestantism, and that the summons will shake not theChurch only but the Realm to its centre. 

RAGGED SCHOOLS

In the evening I attended the Ragged School situated in Carter's-fieldLane, near the Cattle-Market in Smithfield [where John Rogers was burnedat the stake by Catholics, as Catholics had been burned by Protestantsbefore him. The honest, candid history of Persecution for Faith's sake, has never yet been written; whenever it shall be, it must cause manyears to tingle]. 

It was something past 7 o'clock when we reached the rough old building, in a filthy, poverty-stricken quarter, which has been rudely fitted upfor the Ragged School--one of the first, I believe, that was attempted. I should say there were about four hundred pupils on its benches, withabout forty teachers; the pupils were at least two-thirds males fromfive to twenty years old, with a dozen or more adults. The girls were ahundred or so, mainly from three to ten years of age; but in a separateand upper apartment ascending out of the main room, there were someforty adult women, with teachers exclusively of their own sex. Theteachers were of various grades of capacity; but, as all teach withoutpay and under circumstances which forbid the idea of any other thanphilanthropic or religious attractiveness in the duty, they are alldeserving of praise. The teaching is confined, I believe, to rudimentalinstruction in reading and spelling, and to historic, theologic andmoral lessons from the Bible. As the doors are open, and every one whosees fit comes in, stays so long as he or she pleases, and then goesout, there is much confusion and bustle at times, but on the whole asatisfactory degree of order is preserved, and considerable, though veryunequal, progress made by the pupils. 

But such faces! such garments! such daguerreotypes of the superlative ofhuman wretchedness and degradation! These pupils were gathered fromamong the outcasts of London--those who have no family ties, no homes, no education, no religious training, but were born to wander about thedocks, picking up a chance job now and then, but acquiring no skill, nosettled vocation, often compelled to steal or starve, and finallytrained to regard the sheltered, well fed, and respected majority astheir natural oppressors and their natural prey. Of this large class ofvagrants, amounting in this city to thousands, Theft and (for thefemales) Harlotry, whenever the cost of a loaf of bread or a night'slodging could be procured by either, were as matter-of-course resortsfor a livelihood as privateering, campaigning, distilling or (tillrecently) slave-trading was to many respected and well-to-do championsof order and Conservatism throughout Christendom. And the outcasts haveten times the excuse for their moral blindness and their social misdeedsthat their well-fed competitors in iniquity ever had. They have simplyregarded the world as their oyster and tried to open its hard shells asthey best could, not indicating thereby a special love of oysters but acraving appetite for food of some kind. It was oyster or nothing withthem. And in the course of life thus forced upon them, the males whosurvived the period of infancy may have averaged twenty-five years ofwretched, debased, brutal existence, while the females, of more delicateframe and subjected to additional evils, have usually died much younger. But the gallows, the charity hospitals, the prisons, the work-houses(refuges denied to the healthy and the unconvicted), with the unfencedkennels and hiding-places of the destitute during inclement weather, generally saw the earthly end of them all by the time that men in bettercircumstances have usually attained their prime. And all this has beengoing on unresisted and almost unnoticed for countless generations, inthe very shadows of hundreds of church steeples, and in a city whichpays millions of dollars annually for the support of Gospelministrations. 

The chief impression made on me by the spectacle here presented was oneof intense sadness and self-reproach. I deeply realised that I hadhitherto said too little, done too little, dared too little, sacrificedtoo little, to awaken attention to the infernal wrongs and abuses whichare inherent in the very structure and constitution, the nature andessence, of civilised Society as it now exists throughout Christendom. Of what avail are alms-giving, and individual benevolence, and even theoffices of Religion, in the presence of evil so gigantic and so inwovenwith the very framework of Society? There have been here in all recenttimes charitable men, good men, enough to have saved Sodom, but notenough to save Society from the condemnation of driving this outcastrace before it like sheep to the slaughter, as its members pressed on inpursuit of their several schemes of pleasure, riches or ambition, looking up to God for His approbation on their benevolence as theytossed a penny to some miserable beggar after they had stolen the earthfrom under his feet. How long shall this endure?

The School was dismissed, and every one requested to leave who did notchoose to attend the prayer-meeting. No effort was made to induce any tostay--the contrary rather. I was surprised to see that three-fourths (Ithink) staid; though this was partly explained afterwards by the factthat by staying they had hopes of a night's lodging here and noneelsewhere. That prayer-meeting was the most impressive and salutaryreligious service I have attended for many years. Four or five prayerswere made by different teachers in succession--all chaste, appropriate, excellent, fervent, affecting. A Hymn was sung before and after each bythe congregation--and well sung. Brief and cogent addresses were made bythe superintendent and (I believe) an American visitor. Then the Schoolwas dismissed, and the pupils who had tickets permitting them to sleepin the dormitory below filed off in regular order to their severalberths. The residue left the premises. We visiters were next permittedto go down and see those who staid--of course only the ladies beingallowed to look into the apartment of the women. O the sadness of thatsight! There in the men's room were perhaps a hundred men and boys, sitting up in their rags in little compartments of naked boards, eachabout half-way between a bread-tray and a hog-trough, which, plantedclose to each other, were to be their resting-places for the night, asthey had been for several previous nights. And this is a very recent andvery blessed addition to the School, made by the munificence of somenoble woman, who gave $500 expressly to fit up some kind of asleeping-room, so that those who had attended the School should not_all_ be turned out (as a part still necessarily are) to wander or lieall night in the always cold, damp streets. There are not many hogs inAmerica who are not better lodged than these poor human brethren andsisters, who now united, at the suggestion of the superintendent, in ahymn of praise to God for all His mercies. Doubtless, many did so withan eye to the shelter and hope of food (for each one who is permitted tostay here has a bath and six ounces of bread allowed him in themorning); yet when I contrasted this with the more formal and statelyworship I had attended at Westminster Abbey in the morning, thepreponderance was decidedly not in favor of the latter. 

It seemed to me a profanation--an insult heaped on injury--anunjustifiable prying into the saddest secrets of the great prison-houseof human woe--for us visiters to be standing here; and, though Iapologised for it with a sovereign, which grain of sand will, I am sure, be wisely applied to the mitigation of this mountain of misery, I wasyet in haste to be gone. Yet I leaned over the rail and made someinquiry of a ragged and forlorn youth of nineteen or twenty who sat nextus in his trough, waiting for our departure before he lay down to suchrest as that place could afford him. He replied that he had no parentsnor friends who could help him--had never been taught any trade--alwaysdid any work he could get--sometimes earned six-pence to a shilling perday by odd jobs, but could get no work lately--had no money, ofcourse--and had eaten nothing that day but the six ounces of bread givenhim on rising here in the morning--and had only the like six ounces inprospect between him and starvation. That hundreds so situated shouldunite with seeming fervor in praise to God shames the more polisheddevotion of the favored and comfortable; and if these famishing, hopeless outcasts were to pilfer every day of their lives (as most ofthem did, and perhaps some of them still do), I should pity even morethan I blamed them. 

The next night gave me a clearer idea of

BRITISH ANTI-SLAVERY. 

The Annual meeting of the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society washeld on Monday evening, in Freemasons' Hall--a very fine one. There wereabout One Thousand persons present--perhaps less, certainly not more. Ithink JOSEPH STURGE, Esq. , was Chairman, but I did not arrive till afterthe organization, and did not learn the officers' names. At all events, Mr. Sturge had presented the great practical question to the Meeting--"Whatcan we Britons do to hasten the overthrow of Slavery?"--and Rev. H. H. GARNETT (colored) of our State was speaking upon it when I entered. Henamed me commendingly to the audience, and the Chairman thereupon invitedme to exchange my back seat for one on the platform, which I took. Mr. Garnett proceeded to commend the course of British action against Slaverywhich is popular here, and had already been shadowed forth in the setresolves afterward read to the meeting. The British were told that theycould most effectually war against Slavery by refusing the courtesies ofsocial intercourse to slaveholders--by refusing to hear or recognisepro-slavery clergymen--by refusing to consume the products of Slave Labor, &c. Another colored American--a Rev. Mr. CRUMMILL, if I have his nameright, --followed in the same vein, but urged more especially the duty ofaiding the Free Colored population of the United-States to educate andintellectually develop their children. Mr. S. M. PETO, M. P. Followed inconfirmation of the views already expressed by Mr. Garnett, insisting thathe could not as a Christian treat the slaveholder otherwise than as atyrant and robber. And then a very witty negro from Boston (Rev. Mr. Heuston, I understood his name), spoke quite at length in unmeasuredglorification of Great Britain, as the land of _true_ freedom andequality, where simple Manhood is respected without regard to Color, andwhere alone he had ever been treated by all as a man and a brother. 

By this time I was very ready to accept the Chairman's invitation to saya few words. For, while all that the speakers had uttered with regard toSlavery was true enough, it was most manifest that, whatever effect thecourse of action they urged might have in America, it could have noother than a baneful influence on the cause of Political Reform in thiscountry. True, it did not always say in so many words that the Socialand Political institutions of Great Britain are perfect, but it neverintimated the contrary, while it generally implied and often distinctlyaffirmed this. The effect, therefore, of such inculcations, is not onlyto stimulate and aggravate the Phariseeism to which all men arenaturally addicted, but actually to impede and arrest the progress ofReform in this Country by implying that nothing here needs reforming. And as this doctrine of "Stand by thyself for I am holier than thou, "was of course received with general applause by a British audience, thevices of speaker and hearer reäcted on each other; and, judging from thespecimens I had that evening, I must regard American, and especiallyAfric-American lecturers against Slavery in this country as among themost effective upholders of all the enormous Political abuses and wrongswhich are here so prevalent. 

When the stand was accorded me, therefore, I proceeded, not by any meansto apologize for American Slavery, not to suggest the natural obstaclesto its extinction, but to point out, as freely as the audience wouldbear, some modes of effective hostility to it in addition to thosealready commended. Premising the fact that Slavery in America nowjustifies itself mainly on the grounds that the class who live by rudemanual toil always are and must be degraded and ill-requited--that thereis more debasement and wretchedness on their part in the Free States andin Great Britain itself than there is in the Slave States--and that, moreover, Free laborers will not work in tropical climates, so thatthese must be cultivated by slaves or not at all--I suggested andbriefly urged on British Abolitionists the following course of action:

1. Energetic and systematic exertions to increase the reward of Laborand the comfort and consideration of the depressed Laboring Class hereat home; and to diffuse and cherish respect for Man as Man, withoutregard to class, color or vocation. 

2. Determined efforts for the eradication of those Social evils andmiseries _here_ which are appealed to and relied on by slaveholders andtheir champions everywhere as justifying the continuance of Slavery; And

3. The colonization of our Slave States by thousands of intelligent, moral, industrious Free Laborers, who will silently and practicallydispel the wide-spread delusion which affirms that the Southern Statesmust be cultivated and their great staples produced by Slave Labor ornot at all. 

I think I did not speak more than fifteen minutes, and I was heardpatiently to the end, but my remarks were received with no such"thunders of applause" as had been accorded to the more politic effortsof the colored gentlemen. There was in fact repeatedly evinced aprevalent apprehension that I _would_ say something which it would beincumbent on the audience to resent; but I did not. And I have a fainthope that some of the remarks thus called forth will be remembered andreflected on. I am sure there is great need of it, and thatdenunciations of Slavery addressed by London to Charleston and Mobilewill be far more effective after the extreme of destitution and miseryuncovered by the Ragged Schools shall have been banished forever fromthis island--nay, after the great body of those who here denounceSlavery so unsparingly shall have earnestly, unselfishly, thoroughly_tried_ so to banish it. 

X. 

POLITICAL ECONOMY, AS STUDIED AT THE WORLD'S EXHIBITION. 

 LONDON, Tuesday, May 27, 1851. 

To say, as some do, that the English hate the Americans, is to do theformer injustice. Even if we leave out of the account the Britishmillions who subsist by rude manual toil, and who certainly regard ourcountry, so far as they think of it at all, with an emotion verydifferent from hatred, there is evinced by the more fortunate classes avery general though not unqualified admiration of the rapidity of ourprogress, the vastness of our resources, and the extraordinary physicalenergy developed in our brief, impetuous career. Dense as is theignorance which widely prevails in Europe with regard to Americanhistory and geography, it is still very generally understood that wewere, only seventy years since, but Three Millions of widely scatteredColonists, doubtfully contending, on a narrow belt of partially clearedsea-coast, with the mother country on one side and the savages on theother, for a Political existence; and that now we are a nation ofTwenty-three Millions, stretching from the Atlantic to the Pacific andfrom the cane-producing Tropic to the shores of Lake Superior where snowlies half the year--from Nantucket and the Chesapeake to the affluentsof Hudson's Bay and the spacious harbors and sheltered roadsteads ofNootka Sound. And this vast extent of country, the Briton remarks withpride, we have not merely overrun, as the Spanish so rapidly traversedSouth America, but have really appropriated and in good degreeassimilated, so that the far shores of the Pacific, which have but forthree or four years felt the tread of the Anglo-American, are now dottedwith energetic and thriving marts of Commerce, into whose lap gold minesare pouring their lavish treasures, while a profusion of steamers, shipsand smaller watercraft link them closely with each other, with theAtlantic States and the Old World, while their numerous daily journalsare aiding to diffuse the English language through the isles of theimmense Pacific, and their "merchant princes" are coolly discussing theadvantages of establishing a direct communication by lines of steamshipswith China and opening the wealth of Japan to the commerce of thecivilized world. All this is marked with something of wonder but more ofpride by the ruling classes in Great Britain--the pride of a fatherwhose son has beaten him and run away, but who nevertheless hears withinterest and gratification that the unfilial reprobate is conqueringfame and fortune, and who with beaming eye observes to a neighbor, "Awild boy that of mine, sir, but blood will tell!" If the United Stateswere attacked by any power or alliance strong enough to threaten theirsubjugation, the sympathy felt for them in these islands would beintense and all but universal. 

And yet there is another side of the picture, which in fairness mustalso be presented. The favored classes in Great Britain, while theyheartily admire the American energy and its fruits, do and mustnevertheless _dread the contagion of our example_; and this dread mustincrease and be diffused as the rapidly increasing power, population andwealth of our country commend it more and more to the attention of theworld. While we were some sixty days distant, and heard of mainly inconnection with Indian fights or massacres, fatal steamboat explosionsor insolvent banks, this contagion was not imminent and did notseriously alarm; but, now that New-York is but ten days from London, andNew-Orleans (by Telegraph) scarcely more, the case is bravely altered, and it becomes daily more and more palpable that the United States andGreat Britain cannot both remain as they are. If we in America can havea succession of capable and reputable Chief Magistrates for £5, 000 ayear, of Chief Justices for £1, 000, and of Cabinets at a gross cost ofless than £10, 000, it is manifest that John Bull, who, loyal as he is, has a strong instinct of thrift and a pride in getting the worth of hismoney, will not long be content to pay a hundred times as much for hisChief Executive and ten times as much for his Judiciary and Ministry aswe do. It is a question, therefore, of the deepest practical interest tothe British Nation whether the Americans do really enjoy the advantagesof peace, order and security for the rights of person and propertythrough instrumentalities so cheap, and so dependent on moral forceonly, as those devised and established by Washington and hiscompatriots. If we have these with a Civil List of less than £1, 000, 000sterling, an Army of less than Ten Thousand men, and a Navy (why won'tit die and get decently buried?) of a dozen or two active vessels, whyshould John tax and sweat himself as he does to maintain a Politicalestablishment which costs him over $150, 000, 000 a year beside theinterest on his enormous National Debt? If we, without any Churchendowed by law, have as ample and widely diffused provision for Divineworship and Religious instruction as he has, why should he pay tithes toendow Lord Bishops with incomes of £10, 000 to £80, 000 per annum?--Theseand similar questions are beginning to be widely pondered here: theyrefuse to be longer drowned by the blare of trumpets and the resonantmelody of "God save the Queen!" I know nobody who objects to that lastquoted sentiment, but there are many here, and the number is increasing, who think there is an urgent and practical need of salvation also forthe People--salvation from heavy exactions, unjust burthens and gallingdistinctions. And, as the interest of the Many in the reform of abusesand the removal of impositions becomes daily more obvious and palpable, so does the instinctive grasp of the Few to keep what they have and getwhat they can become likewise more muscular and positive. And thisinstinct absolutely demands a perversion or suppression of the truthwith regard to America--with regard especially to the prevalence oforder, justice and tranquillity within her borders. And not this only:it is important to this class that it be made to appear that, whileRepublican institutions may possibly answer for a time in a rude andsemi-barbarous community of scattered grain-growers and herdsmen, theyare utterly incompatible with a dense population, with generalrefinement, the upbuilding of Manufactures and the prevalence of thearts of civilized life. 

Here, then, is the cue to the cry so early and generally raised, sooften and invidiously renewed by the London daily press, of surprise atthe meagerness of our country's share in the Great Exhibition. Had anyother young nation of Twenty Millions, located three to five thousandmiles off, sent a collection so large and so creditable to itsindustrial proficiency and inventive power, it would have been warmlycommended by these same journals; but it is deemed desirable to make animpression on the public mind of Europe adverse to American skill andattainment in the Arts, and hence these representations and sneers. 

Yet, gentlemen! what would you have? For years you have been devotingyour energies to the task of convincing our people that they should becontent to grow Food and Cotton and send them hither in exchange forWares and Fabrics, especially those of the finer and costlier varieties. You have written reams of essays intended to prove that this course ofIndustry and Trade is dictated by Nature, by Providence, by Publicgood; and that only narrow and short-sighted selfishness would seek tooverrule it. Well: here are American samples of all the staples you sayour Country _ought_ to produce and be content with, in undeniableabundance and excellence--Cotton, Wool, Wheat, Flour, Indian Corn, Hams, Beef, &c. , &c. , yet these you run over with a glance of cool contempt, and say we have nothing in the Exhibition! Is this kind or politictreatment of the supporters of your policy in the States? If a seemingapproximation to your Utopia should subject them to such compliments, what may they expect from its perfect consummation? Let all our Statesbecome as purely Agricultural as the Carolinas or the lower valley ofthe Mississippi, and what would then be your estimation of us? If ahalf-way obedience to your counsels exposes us to such disparagement, what might we fairly expect from a thorough submission?

The vital truth, everywhere demonstrable, is nowhere so palpable ashere--that a diversification of Industrial pursuits is essential notonly to the prosperity and thrift, but also to the education andintellectual activity of a People. A community which witnesses from yearto year the processes of Agricultural labor only, lacks a stimulus tomental cultivation of inestimable value. If Europe were to say toAmerica, "Sit still, and we will send you from year to year all theWares and Fabrics you need for nothing, on the simple condition that youwill not attempt to produce any yourselves, " it would be most unwise andsuicidal to accept the offer. For we need not more the Wares and Fabricsthan the skill which fashions and the taste which beautifies them. Weneed that multiform capacity and facility of hand and brain which onlyexperience in the Arts can bestow and diffuse. The National Industry isthe People's University; to confine it to a few and those the ruderbranches is to stunt and stagnate the popular mind--is to arrest themarch of improvement in Agriculture itself. Hence, nearly or quite allthe modern improvements in Cultivation have been made in immediateproximity to a dense Manufacturing population; hence Belgium is now agarden, while Ireland (except the manufacturing North) is to a greatextent stagnant and decaying. Other causes doubtless conspire, as inEngland contrasted with Italy and Spain, to produce these results, butthey do not unsettle the general truth that Industry advances through asymmetric and many-sided development or does not advance at all. 

We have yet much to learn in the Arts, but the first lesson of all is awell-founded confidence in our own artisans, our own capacities, with apatriotic resolution to encourage the former and develop the latter. Andthis confidence is abundantly justified even by what is exhibited here. While our show of products is much less than it might and less even thanit should have been, those who have really studied it draw thence hopeand courage. No other nation exhibits within a similar compass so greata diversity of excellence--no other exhibits so large a proportion ofinventions and valuable improvements. Even in the vast apartment devotedto British Machinery, the number and importance of the Americaninventions exhibited (some of them adapted to new uses or improved uponin this country; others merely incorporated with British improvements), is very striking. I doubt whether England during the last half centuryhas borrowed so many inventions from all the world beside--I am sure shehas not from all except France--as she has from the United States. Andyet we are blessed with the presence of sundry Americans here who, without having examined our contributions, without knowing anything moreabout them than they have gleaned from _The Times_ and _Punch_, aided bya hurried walk through the department, are busily proclaiming that thisshow makes them ashamed of their country!

Here is the great source of our weakness--a want of proper pride in anddevotion to our own Industrial interests. Every sort of patriotism isabundant in America but that which is most essential--that which aids todevelop and strengthen the Nation's productive energies. No other peoplebuy Foreign fabrics extensively in preference to the equally cheap andmore substantial products of their own looms, yet ours do it habitually. I had testimony after testimony from American merchants on the voyageover, as well as before and since, that foreign fabrics habitually sellin our markets for ten to twenty per cent. More than is asked forequally good American products, while thousands of pieces of the latterare readily sold on the strength of fabricated Foreign marks at priceswhich they would not command to customers who would not buy them, iftheir origin were known. This is certainly disgraceful to theseller--what is it to the buyer? The mercantile interest naturally leanstoward the more distant production--the margin for profit is largerwhere an article is brought across an ocean, while the cost of a homemade article is so notorious that there is little chance of putting on alarge profit. Give American producers the prices now readily paidthroughout our country for Foreign fabrics and they will grow rich bymanufacturing articles in no respect inferior to the former. But withonly a share of the American market, and this mainly for the coarsestand cheapest goods, while the purchasers of the more costly andfanciful, on which the larger profits are made, must have "Fabrique deParis" or some such label affixed to render them current, ourmanufacturers have no fair chance. While fools could be found to buy"Cashmere Shawls, " costing fifty to a hundred dollars, for five hundredto a thousand, under the absurd delusion that they came from EasternAsia, the fabrication and the profits were European; let an Americanbegin to make just such Shawls and the secret is out, so the price sinksat once to the neighborhood of the cost of production. So with DeLaines, Counterpanes, Brussels Carpetings and fabrics generally; and yetAmericans will talk as though the encouragement given by protectiveDuties to home Manufacturers were given at the expense of our consumers. Vainly are they challenged from day to day to name one single articlewhereof the production has been transplanted from Europe to Americathrough Protection, which has not thereby been materially cheapened tothe American consumer; it suits them better to assume that the duty is atax on the consumer than to examine the case and admit the truth. Butdelusion cannot be eternal. 

That our Country would at some future day work its way gradually out ofits present semi-Colonial dependence on European tastes, Europeanfashions, European fabrication, even though all Legislativeencouragement were withheld, I firmly believe. The genius, the activity, the energy, the enterprise of our people conspire to assure it. So thethief, the burglar, the forger, are certain to suffer for their misdeedsthough all the penalties of human laws were repealed, and yet I considerstate prisons and houses of correction salutary if not indispensable. Itis difficult for even an ingenious and inventive race to makeimprovements in an art or process which has no existence among them. Whitney's Cotton-Gin presupposed the growth of Cotton; Fulton'ssteamboat the existence of internal commerce and navigation; withoutLowell, Bigelow might have invented a new trap for muskrats but notlooms for weaving Carpets, Ginghams, Coach-Lace, &c. I deeply feel thatour Country owes to mankind the duty of so sustaining her ManufacturingIndustry that further and more signal triumphs of her inventive geniusmay yet be evolved and realised, not merely in the domain of Fabrics butin that of Wares and Metals also, and especially in that of the chiefmetal, Iron. Had Iron enjoyed for twenty years such a measure ofProtection among us as Plain Cottons obtained from 1816 through Mr. Calhoun's minimum of six cents per square yard, we should, in allprobability, have been producing Iron by this time as cheaply as drillsand sheetings--that is, as cheaply (quality considered) as any nation onthe globe--as cheaply as we produce School-Books, Newspapers, and nearlyevery article whereof the American maker is shielded by circumstancesfrom Foreign competition. Had the Tariff of 1842 but stood unalteredtill this time, who believes that even the greenest and silliestAmerican could have fancied himself blushing for the meagerness of hiscountry's share in the Great Exhibition?

XI. 

ROYAL SUNSHINE. 

 LONDON, Thursday, May 29, 1851. 

I have now been four weeks in this metropolis, and, though confinedthroughout nearly every day to the Crystal Palace, I have enjoyed largeand various opportunities for studying the English People. I have madeacquaintances in all ranks, from dukes to beggars--all ranks, I shouldsay, but that which is esteemed the highest. I have of course seen theRoyal family repeatedly at the Exhibition, which is open at all hours toJurors, and the Queen times her visits so as to be there mainly while itis closed to the public. But I have barely seen her party, as I passedit with a double row of gazers interposed, all eager to catch thesunlight of Majesty, appearing to care little how much she might beannoyed or they abased by their unseemly gaping. I hope no Americanscontributed to swell these groups, but after what I have seen here I amby no means sure of it. 

A young countrywoman who has not yet been long enough in Europe toforget what it cost our forefathers to be rid of all this, but who hadin her own case adequate reasons for desiring a presentation at Court, gave me some days since a graphic account of the ceremonial, which Iwish I had committed to paper while it was freshly remembered. It is ofcourse understood that every one presented to her Majesty must appear infull dress--that of gentlemen (not Military) being a Court suit alikecostly, fantastic and utterly useless elsewhere, while ladies areexpected to appear in rich --> _British_ silk (Free Tradenotwithstanding) with a train three yards long (perhaps it is only threefeet), with plumes, &c. Thus equipped, they proceed to the Palace, whereat the appointed hour the Queen makes her appearance, with her family byher side and backed by a double row of maids of honor, attendants, &c. Each palpitating aspirant to the honor of presentation awaits his or herturn standing, and may thus wait two hours. The Foreign Embassadors haveprecedence in presenting; others follow; in due season your name iscalled out; you pass before the Royal presence, make your bow orcourtesy, receive the faint suggestion of a response, and pass along andaway to make room for the next customer. Unless you belong essentiallyto the Diplomatic circle (being presented by an Embassador will notanswer), you are not allowed to remain and see those behind you take theplunge, but must hasten forthwith from the presence. And, as ordinaryHumanity has but one aspect in which it is fit to be gazed on by Royaleyes, you must contrive to quit the presence with your face constantlyturned toward it. Now this need not be difficult for those in masculineattire, but to the wearers of the rich Spitalfields silks and trainsaforesaid, even though the trains be but three feet long instead ofthree yards, the evolution must require no moderate share of femininetact and dexterity. It is consoling to hear that all manage toaccomplish it, by dint of severe training through the week preceding theevent; though some are so frightened when the awful moment arrives thattheir ghastly visages and tottering frames evince how narrowly theyescape swooning. The fact that it is over in a moment serves materiallyto mitigate the torture!

"What ridiculous formalities!--What absurd requirements!" exclaimsBrother Jonathan. No, sir! You are judging without knowledge or withoutconsideration. These and kindred formalities, considered apart, may beludicrous, but, regarded as portions of a system, they are essential. Ina country where everything gravitates so intensely toward the Throne, there must be impediments to presentation at Court, if the Sovereign isto enjoy any leisure, peace, comfort, or even time for the most pressingpublic duties. There is and should be no absolute barrier to thepresentation of any well-bred, well-behaved person, whether subject orforeigner; and, if it were as easy as visiting the Exhibition, the Queenwould be required to hold a drawing-room every day, and devote the wholeof it to unmeaning and useless introductions. As the matter is actuallymanaged, those who have any good reason for it undergo the ceremony, with many who have none; while the great majority are content with theknowledge that they _might be_ admitted to the august presence if theychose to incur the bother and expense. Those who cherish a moth-likereverence for Royalty indulge it at their own cost and to the advantageof Trade; weavers, costumers and shop-keepers are very glad to pocketthe money which the presentee must disburse; and even those ladies whohave the _entrée_, and so attend half a dozen drawing-rooms per annum, are expected to appear at each in a new dress--thus the interests of theshop are never lost sight of. These Court formalities, Brother J. , are_not_ absurd--very far from it. They are rational, politic, beneficent, indispensable. Whether it is wise or unwise for _your_ young folks tosubject themselves to the inevitable expense and vexation for the sakeof standing a few feet nearer a Queen, is another affair altogether. When I contrast these presentations with the freedom and ease (exceptwhen there is a jam) of our Presidential receptions--when I rememberthat any whole dress is good enough for the White House, and any honestman or woman (with some not so honest) may go up on a levee night and beintroduced to the President and his lady, saunter through the rooms, converse with friends and pass in review half the notables of theNation--I deeply realize the superiority of Republicanism to Royalty, but without seeking to put the new wine into old bottles. The formsappropriate to our simpler institutions would be utterly unsuitablehere--nay, they would be found impossible. 

The Queen left London last week for her private residence on the Isle ofWight, I supposed for weeks; but she was back in the Exhibition early onTuesday morning, and has since been holding a Drawing-Room, givingDinners, a Concert, &c. With her accustomed activity. She seems resolvedto make the Exhibition Summer an agreeable one for the Foreigners inattendance, many of whom are included in her invitations. As the"shilling days" opened meagerly on Monday, to the disappointment(perhaps because) of the general apprehension of a crush, and as thenumbers thronging thither have rapidly increased ever since, the Queen'srenewed countenance receives a good share of the credit, and hercondescension in coming on a "shilling day" is duly commended. It isalready plain enough that the attendance consequent on the cheapadmission is destined to be enormous. To-day over Fifty Thousand paidtheir shilling each, over six thousand per hour--to say nothing of thethousands who came in on season tickets, or as exhibitors, jurors, &c. The money taken at the doors to-day must have exceeded $12, 000, thoughno "excursion trains" have yet come in from the Country. These willbegin to pour in next week, by which time it is to be hoped that theJuries will have completed their examinations if not their awards; forthey will have scanty elbow-room afterward except at early hours in themorning. I presume there will be Fifty Thousand admissions paid forduring each of the four "shilling days, " of next week. Fridayshenceforth the admission is to be 2s. 6d. (60 cents), and Saturdays 5s. ($1. 20), and many believe the Palace will be as crowded on these as onother days. I doubt. 

THE LITERARY GUILD. 

"The Guild of Literature and Art" will have already been heard of inAmerica. It is an undertaking of several fortunate authors and theirfriends to make some provision for their unsuccessful brethren--forthose who had the bad luck to be born before their time, as well asthose who would apparently have done better by declining to be born atall. The world overflows with writers who would fain transmute theirthoughts into bread, and lacking the opportunity, have a slim chance forany bread at all, even the coarsest. No other class has less worldlywisdom, less practical thrift; no other suffers more keenly from "theslings and arrows of outrageous fortune, " than unlucky authors. Ifanything can be done to mitigate the severity of their fate, andespecially if their more favored brethren can do it, there ought to bebut one opinion as to its propriety. 

And yet I fear the issue of this project. The world is scourged bylegions of drones and adventurers who have taken to Literature as inanother age they would have taken to the highway--to procure an easylivelihood. They write because they are too lazy to work, or becausethey would scorn to live on the meager product of manual toil. OfGenius, they have mainly the eccentricities--that is to say, a strongaddiction to late hours, hot suppers and a profusion of gin and water, though they are not particular about the water. What Authorship needsabove all things is purification from this Falstaff's regiment, whoshould be taught some branch of honest industry and obliged to earntheir living by it. So far, therefore, am I from regretting that everyone who wishes cannot rush into print, and joining in the generalexecration of publishers for their insensibility to unacknowledgedmerit, that I wish no man could have his book printed until he hadearned the cost thereof by _bona fide_ labor, and that no one couldlive by Authorship until after he had practically demonstrated both hisability and willingness to earn his living in a different way. I greatlyfear the proposed "Guild, " even under the wisest regulations, will do asmuch harm as good, by aggravating the prevalent tendency towardAuthorship among thousands who never asked whether the world is likelyto profit by their lucubrations, but only whether _they_ may hope toprofit by them. If the "Guild" should tend to increase the number ofaspirants to the honors and rewards of Authorship, it will incite moremisery than it is likely to overcome. 

However, this is an attempt to mend the fortunes of unlucky BritishAuthors; and as we Americans habitually steal the productions of BritishAuthorship, and deliberately refuse them that protection to which allproducers are justly entitled, I feel myself fairly indebted to theclass, by the amount of my reading of their works to which Copyright inAmerica is denied. I meant to have attended the first dramaticentertainment given at Devonshire House in aid of this enterprise, but Idid not apply for a ticket (price £5) till too late; so I took care tobe in season for next time--that is, Tuesday evening of this week. 

The play (as before) was "Not so Bad as We Seem, or Many Sides to aCharacter, " written expressly in aid of the "Guild" by Bulwer, andperformed at the town mansion of the Duke of Devonshire, one of the mostwealthy and popular of the British nobility. On the former evening theQueen and Royal Family attended, with some scores of the Nobility; thistime there was a sprinkling of Duchesses, &c. , but Commoners largelypreponderated, and the hour of commencing was changed from 9 to 7½P. M. The apartment devoted to the performance is a very fineone, and the whole mansion, though common-place enough in its exterior, is fitted up with a wealth of carving, gilding, sculpture, &c. , whichcan hardly be imagined. The scenes were painted expressly in aid of the"Guild, " and admirably done. The Duke's private band played before andbetween the acts, and nothing had been spared on his part to render theentertainment a pleasant one. Every seat was filled, and, at $10 eachand no expenses out, a handsome sum must have been realized in aid ofthe benevolent enterprise. 

The male performers, as is well understood, are all Literary amateurs;the ladies alone being actresses by profession. Charles Dickens had theprincipal character--that of a profligate though sound-hearted youngLord--and he played it very fairly. But stateliness sits ill upon him, and incomparably his best scene was one wherein he appears in disguiseas a bookseller tempting the virtue of a poverty-stricken author. Douglas Jerrold was for the nonce a young Mr. Softhead, and seemed quiteat home in the character. It was better played than Dickens's. Theresidue were indifferently good--or rather, indifferently bad--and onthe whole the performance was indebted for its main interest to thepersonal character of the performers. I was not sorry when it wasconcluded. 

After a brief interval for refreshments, liberally proffered, a comicafterpiece, "Mr. Nightingale's Diary, " was given with far greaterspirit. Dickens personated the principal character--or rather, the fouror five principal characters--for the life of the piece is sustained byhis appearance successively as a lawyer, a servant, a vigorous andactive gentleman relieved of his distempers by water-cure, a feebleinvalid, &c. , &c. It is long since I saw much acting of any account, butthis seemed to me perfect; and I am sure the raw material of a capitalcomedian was put to a better use when Charles Dickens took toauthorship. The other characters were fairly presented, and the playheartily enjoyed throughout. 

The curtain fell about half an hour past midnight amidst tumultuous andprotracted applause. The company then mainly repaired to the supperroom, where a tempting display of luxuries and dainties was provided forthem by the munificence of their noble host. I did not venture topartake at that hour, but those who did would be quite unlikely torepent of it--till morning. Thence they were gradually moving off toanother superb apartment, where the violins were beginning to give noteof coming melody, to which flying feet were eager to respond; but Ithought one o'clock in the morning quite late enough for retiring, andso came away before the first set was made up. I do not doubt thedancing was maintained with spirit till broad daylight. 

THE FISHMONGERS' DINNER. 

A sumptuous entertainment was given on Wednesday (last) evening by the"Ancient and Honorable Company of Fishmongers"--this being their regularannual festival. The Fishmongers' is among the oldest and wealthiest ofthe Guilds of London, having acquired, by bequest or otherwise, realestate which has been largely enhanced in value by the city's extension. Originally an association of actual fishmongers for mutual service aswell as the cultivation of good fellowship, it has been graduallytransformed by Time's changes until now no single dealer in fish (Iunderstood) stands enrolled among its living members, and no fish isseen within the precincts of its stately Hall save on feast-days likethis. Still, as its rents are ample, its privileges valuable, itscharities bounteous, its dinners superlative, its cellars stored withancient wines, and its leaning decided toward modern ideas, its roll ofmembers is well filled. Most of them are city men extensively engaged inbusiness, two or three of the City's Members of Parliament being amongthem. There were perhaps a dozen Members present, including LordPalmerston, Foreign Secretary of State, and Joseph Hume, theworld-known Economist. The chair was filled by "Sir John Easthope, PrimeWarden. " The chairmen of the several Juries at the Exhibition were amongthe guests. 

Having recently described the Dinner to the Foreign Commissioners atRichmond, I can dispatch this more summarily, only noting what struck meas novel. Suffice it that the company, three hundred strong, was dulyseated, grace said, the dinner served, and more than two hours devotedto its consumption. It was now ten o'clock, and Lord Palmerston, who wasexpected to speak and reputed to be rarely gifted with fluency, wasobliged to leave for the Queen's Concert. Up to this time, no man hadbeen plied with more than a dozen kinds of wine, each (I presume) verygood, but altogether (I should suppose) calculated to remind the drinkerof his head on rising in the morning. The cloth was now removed andafter-grace sung by a choir, for even _with_ two prayers this sort ofomnivorous feasting at night is not quite healthy. I trust there is nopresumption involved in the invocation of a blessing on suchindulgences, yet I could imagine that an omission of one of the prayersmight be excused if half the dinner were omitted also. 

But the eatables were removed, silence restored, and three enormousflagons, apparently of pure gold, placed on the table near its head. Theherald or toast-master now loudly made proclamation: "My Lord ViscountEbrington, my Lord de Mauley, Baron Charles Dupin (&c. &c. , reciting thenames and titles of all the guests), the honorable Prime Warden, thejunior Wardens and members of the ancient and honorable Company ofFishmongers bid you welcome to their hospitable board, and in tokenthereof beg leave to drink your healths"--whereupon the Prime-Wardenrose, bowing courteously to his right-hand neighbor (who rose also), andproceeded to drink his health, wiping with his napkin the rim of theflagon, and passing it to the neighbor aforesaid, who in turn bowed anddrank to _his_ next neighbor and passed the wine in like manner, and sothe flagons made the circuit of the tables. Then the festive board wasre-covered with decanters, and the intellectual enjoyments of theevening commenced, the vinous not being intermitted. 

The toasts were, "The Queen, " "Prince Albert and the Royal Family, " "TheForeign Commissioners to the World's Exhibition, " "The RoyalCommissioners, " "The Army and Navy, " "The House of Lords, " "The House ofCommons, " "The Health of the Prime Warden, " "Civil and ReligiousLiberty, " "The Ministry, " "The Bank of England, " &c. The responsivespeeches were made by Baron Dupin for the Foreign Commissioners, EarlGranville for the Royal ditto, Lord de Mauley for the Peers, ViscountEbrington for the Commons, Gen. Sir Hugh de Lacy Evans for the Army, Solicitor General Wood (in the absence of Lord Palmerston) for theMinistry, the Deputy-Governor in behalf of the Governor of the Bank ofEngland, Dr. Lushington in response to Civil and Religious Liberty, andso on. When Baron Dupin rose to respond for the Foreign Commissioners, they all rose and stood while he spoke, and so in turn with the RoyalCommissioners, Members of the House of Commons, &c. Earl Granville's wasthe most amusing, Dr. Lushington's the most valuable speech of theevening. It briefly glanced at past struggles in modern times for theextension of Freedom in England, and hinted at similar struggles tocome, pointing especially to Law Reform. Dr. L. Is a very earnestspeaker, and has won a high rank at the Bar and in public confidence. 

I was more interested, however, in the remarks of Mr. Sergeant Talfourd, author of "Ion, " and of Sir James Brooke, "Rajah of Sarawak" (Borneo, E. I. ), who spoke at a late hour in reply to a personal allusion. I do notmean that Mr. Talfourd's remarks especially impressed me, for they didnot, but I was glad of this opportunity of hearing him. The Rajah is ayounger and more vivacious man than I had fancied him, rather ornate inmanner, and spoke (unlike an Englishman) with more fluency than force, in self-vindication against the current charge of needless cruelty inthe destruction of a nest of pirates in the vicinity of his Orientaldominions. From reading, I had formed the opinion that he is doing agood work for Civilization and Humanity in Borneo, but this speech didnot strengthen my conviction. 

Farther details would only be tedious. Enough that the Fishmongers'Dinner ended at midnight, when all quietly and steadily departed. In"the good old days, " I presume a considerable proportion both of hostsand guests would by this time have been under the table. Let us rejoiceover whatever improvement has been made in social habits and manners, and labor to extend it. 

XII. 

THE FLAX-COTTON REVOLUTION. 

 LONDON, Wednesday, June 4, 1851. 

Although I have not yet found time for a careful and thoroughexamination of the machinery and processes recently invented or adoptedin Europe for the manufacture of cheap fabrics from Flax, I have seenenough to assure me of their value and importance. I have beendisappointed only with regard to machinery for Flax-Dressing, whichseems, on a casual inspection, to be far less efficient than the best onour side of the Atlantic, especially that patented of late in Missouriand Kentucky. That in operation in the British Machinery department ofthe Exhibition does its work faultlessly, except that it turns out theproduct too slowly. I roughly estimate that our Western machines are atleast twice as efficient. 

M. CLAUSSEN is here, and has kindly explained to me his processes andshown me their products. He is no inventor of Flax-dressing Machinery atall, and claims nothing in that line. In dressing, he adopts and uses thebest machines he can find, and I think is destined to receive importantaid from American inventions. What he claims is mainly the discovery of acheap chemical solvent of the Flax fiber, whereby its coarseness andharshness are removed and the fineness and softness of Cotton induced intheir stead. This he has accomplished. Some of his Flax-Cotton is scarcelydistinguishable from the Sea Island staple, while to other samples he hasgiven the character of Wool very nearly. I can imagine no reason why thisCotton should not be spun and woven as easily as any other. The staple maybe rendered of any desired length, though the usual average is about twoinches. It is as white as any Cotton, being made so by an easy and cheapbleaching process. M. Claussen's process in lieu of Rotting requires butthree hours for its completion. It takes the Flax as it came from thefield, only somewhat dryer and with the seed beaten off, and renders itthoroughly fit for breaking. The plant is allowed to ripen before it isharvested, so that the seed is all saved, while the tediousness and injuryto the fiber, not to speak of the unwholesomeness, of the old-fashionedRotting processes are entirely obviated. Where warmth is desirable in thefabrics contemplated, the staple is made to resemble Wool quite closely. Specimens dyed red, blue, yellow, &c. , are exhibited, to show how readilyand satisfactorily the Flax-Cotton takes any color that may be desired. Beside these lie rolls of Flannels, Feltings, and almost every variety ofplain textures, fabricated wholly or in good part from Flax as preparedfor Spinning under M. Claussen's patent, proving the adaptation of thisfiber to almost every use now subserved by either Cotton or Wool. Themixtures of Cotton and Flax, Flax-Cotton and Wool, are excellent andserviceable fabrics. 

The main question still remains to be considered--will it _pay_? Flaxmay be grown almost anywhere--two or three crops a year of it in someclimates--a crop of it equal to three times the present annual productof Cotton, Flax and Wool all combined could easily be produced even nextyear. But unless cheaper fabrics, all things considered, can be producedfrom Flax-Cotton than from the Mississippi staple, this fact is oflittle worth. On this vital point I must of course rely on testimony, and M. Claussen's is as follows:

He says the Flax-straw, or the ripe, dry plant as it comes from thefield, with the seed taken off, may be grown even here for $10 per tun, but he will concede its cost for the present to be $15 per tun, delivered, as it is necessary that liberal inducements shall be givenfor its extensive cultivation. Six tuns of the straw or flax in thebundle will yield one tun of dressed and clean fiber, the cost ofdressing which by his methods, so as to make it Flax Cotton, is $35 pertun. (Our superior Western machinery ought considerably to reduce this. )The total cost of the Flax-Cotton, therefore, will be $125 per tun orsix cents per pound, while Flax-straw as it comes from the field isworth $15 per tun; should this come down to $10 per tun, the cost of thefiber will be reduced to $95 per tun, or less than five cents per pound. At that rate, good "field-hands" must be rather slow of sale forCotton-planting at $1, 000 each, or even $700. 

Is there any doubt that Flax-straw may be profitably grown in the UnitedStates for $15 or even $10 per tun? Consider that Flax has beenextensively grown for years, even in our own State, for the seed only, the straw being thrown out to rot and being a positive nuisance to thegrower. Now the seed is morally certain to command, for two or threeyears at least, a higher price than hitherto, because of the increasedgrowth and extended use of the fiber. Let no farmer who has Flax growingbe tempted to sell the seed by contract or otherwise for the present;let none be given over to the tender mercies of oil-mills. We shall needall that is grown this year for sowing next Spring, and it is morallycertain to bear a high price even this Fall. The sagacious shouldcaution their less watchful neighbors on this point. I shall bedisappointed if a bushel of Flax-seed be not worth two bushels of Wheatin most parts of our Country next May. 

Our ensuing Agricultural Fairs, State and local, should be improved forthe diffusion of knowledge and the attainment of concert and mutualunderstanding with regard to the Flax-Culture. For the present, at anyrate, few farmers can afford or will choose to incur the expense of theheavy machinery required to break and roughly dress their flax, so as todivest it of four-fifths of its bulk and leave the fiber in a state foreasy transportation to the central points at which Flax-Cotton machinerymay be put in operation. If the Flax-straw has to be hauled fifty orsixty miles over country roads to find a purchaser or breaking-machine, the cost of such transportation will nearly eat up the proceeds. If thefarmers of any township can be assured beforehand that suitablemachinery will next Summer be put up within a few miles of them, and amarket there created for their Flax, its growth will be greatlyextended. And if intelligent, energetic, responsible men will now turntheir thoughts toward the procuring and setting up of the bestFlax-breaking machinery (not for fully dressing but merely forseparating the fibre from the bulk of the woody substance it incloses)they may proceed to make contracts with their neighboring farmers forFlax-straw to be delivered in the Autumn of next year on terms highlyadvantageous to both parties. The Flax thus roughly dressed may betransported even a hundred miles to market at a moderate cost, and therecan be no reasonable doubt of its commanding a good price. M. Claussenassures me that he could now buy and profitably use almost any quantityof such Flax if it were to be had. The only reason (he says) why thereare not now any number of spindles and looms running on Flax-Cotton isthe want of the raw material. (His patent is hardly yet three mouthsold. ) Taking dressed and hetcheled Flax, worth seven to nine cents perpound, and transforming it into Flax-Cotton while Cotton is no higherthan at present, would not pay. 

Of course, there will be disappointments, mistakes, unforeseendifficulties, disasters, in Flax-growing and the consequent fabricationshereafter as heretofore. I do not presume that every man who now rushesinto Flax will make his fortune; I presume many will incur losses. Icounsel and urge the fullest inquiry, the most careful calculations, preliminary to any decisive action. But that such inquiry will lead tovery extensive Flax-sowing next year, --to the erection of Flax-breakingmachinery at a thousand points where none such have ever yetexisted--and ultimately to the firm establishment of new and mostimportant branches of industry, I cannot doubt. Our own country isbetter situated than any other to take the lead in the Flax-business;her abundance of cheap, fertile soil and of cheap seed, the intelligenceof her producers, the general diffusion of water or steam power, and ourpresent superiority in Flax-breaking machinery, all point to thisresult. It will be unfortunate alike for our credit and our prosperityif we indolently or heedlessly suffer other nations to take the lead init. 

_P. S. _--M. Claussen has also a Circular Loom in the Exhibition, whereinBagging, Hosiery, &c. , may be woven without a seam or anything like one. This loom may be operated by a very light hand-power (of course, steamor water is cheaper), and it does its work rapidly and faultlessly. Imention this only as proof of his inventive genius, and to corroboratethe favorable impression he made on me. I have seen nothing moreingenious in the immense department devoted to British Machinery thanthis loom. 

I understand that overtures have been made to M. Claussen for thepurchase of his American patent, but as yet without definite result. This, however, is not material. Whether the patent is sold or held, there will next year be parties ready to buy roughly dressed Flax towork up under it, and it is preparation to grow such Flax that I amurging. I believe nothing more important or more auspicious to ourFarming Interest has occurred for years than this discovery by M. Claussen. He made it in Brazil, while engaged in the growth of Cotton. It will not supersede Cotton, but it will render it no longerindispensable by providing a substitute equally cheap, equallyserviceable, and which may be grown almost everywhere. This cannot berealized too soon. 

XIII. 

LEAVING THE EXHIBITION. 

 LONDON, Friday, June 6, 1851. 

The great "Exposition" (as the French more accurately term it) has nowbeen more than five weeks open, and is nearly complete. You may wanderfor miles through its richly fringed avenues without hearing the soundof saw or hammer, except in the space allotted to Russia, which is nowboarded up on all sides, and in which some twenty or thirty men are atwork erecting stands, unpacking and arranging fabrics, &c. I visited ityesterday, and inferred that the work is pushed night and day, since apart of the workmen were asleep (under canvas) at 2 o'clock. Thisapartment promises to be most attractive when opened to the public. Itscontents will not be numerous, but among them are very large and showymanufactures of Porcelain, Bronze, &c. , and tables of the finestMalachite, a single piece weighing (I think) nearly or quite half a ton. Not half the wares are yet displayed, but "Russia" will be the center ofattraction for some days after it is thrown open. 

The Exhibition has become a steady, business-like concern. The four"shilling days" of each week are improved and enjoyed by the commonpeople, who quietly put to shame the speculation of the Aristocraticoracles as to their probable behavior in such a magazine of wealth andsplendor--whether they might not make a general rush on the preciousstones, plate and other valuables here staring them in the face, withoften but a single policeman in sight--whether they might not refuse toleave at the hour of closing, &c. , &c. The gates are surrounded a littlebefore ten in the morning by a gathering, deepening crowd, but allfriendly and peaceable; and when they open at the stroke of the clock, adense column pours in through each aperture, each paying his shilling ashe passes (no tickets being used and no change given--the holders ofseason, jurors' and exhibitors' tickets have separate entrances), andall proceeding as smoothly as swiftly. Within half an hour, ten thousandshillings will have thus been taken: within the next hour, ten thousandmore; thence the admissions fall off; but the number ranges prettyregularly from Forty to Fifty Thousand per day, making the dailyreceipts from $10, 000 to $12, 000. Yesterday was a great Race Day atAscot, attended by the Queen and Royal Family, as also by most of thehabitual idlers, with a multitude beside (and a miserably raw, rainy, chilly day they had of it, with very poor racing), yet I should say thatthe attendance at the Exhibition was greater than ever before. Certainlynot less than fifty thousand shillings, or $12, 000, can have been taken. For hours, the Grand Avenue, which is nearly or quite half a mile longand at least thirty feet wide, was so filled with the moving mass thatno vacant spaces could be seen from any position commanding an extensiveprospect, though small ones were occasionally discoverable whilethreading the mazes of the throng. The visiters were constantly turningoff into one or another department according to their several tastes;but their places were as constantly supplied either by new-comers or bythose who, having completed their examinations in one department, werehastening to another, or looking for one especially attractive. Turninto whatever corner you might, there were clusters of deeply interestedgazers, intent on making the most of their day and their shilling, whilein the quieter nooks from 1 to 3 o'clock might be seen families orparties eating the lunch which, with a prophetic foresight of themiserable quality and exorbitant price of the viands served to you inthe spacious Refreshment Saloons, they had wisely brought from home. Butthese saloons were also crowded from an early to a late hour, as theyare almost every day, and I presume the concern which paid a high pricefor the exclusive privilege of ministering to the physical appetiteswithin the Crystal Palace will make a fortune by it, though theinterdiction of Wines and Liquors must prove a serious drawback. It musttry the patience of some of the visiters to do without their beer or alefrom morning to night; and if you leave the building on any pretext, your shilling is gone. Every actual need of the day is provided forinside, even to the washing of face and hands (price 2d. ). But Nightfalls, and the gigantic hive is deserted and closed, leaving its fairyhalls, its infinite wealth, its wondrous achievements, whether of Natureor of Art, to darkness and silence. Of course, a watch is kept, and, under pressing and peculiar circumstances, work has been permitted; butthe treasures here collected must be guarded with scrupulous vigilance. If a fire should consume the Crystal Palace, the inevitable loss mustexceed One Hundred Millions of Dollars, even supposing that a few of themost precious articles should be snatched from the swift destruction. Ten minutes without wind, or five with it, would suffice to wrap thewhole immense magazine in flames, and not a hundredth part of the valueof building and contents would remain at the close of another hour. 

POPULAR EDUCATION. 

The Exhibition is destined to contribute immensely to the Industrial andPractical Education of the British People. The cheap Excursion Trainsfrom the Country have hardly commenced running yet; but it is certainthat a large proportion of the mechanics, artisans and apprentices ofthe manufacturing towns and districts will spend one or two days each inthe Palace before it closes. Superficial as such a view of its contentsmust be, it will have important results. Each artisan will naturally beled to compare the products of his own trade with those in the same linefrom other Nations, especially the most successful, and will bestimulated to discern and master the point wherein his own and hisneighbor's efforts have hitherto comparatively failed. Of a million whocome to gaze, only an hundred thousand may come with any clear idea ofprofiting by the show, and but half of those succeed in carrying backmore wisdom than they brought here; yet even those are quite an army;and fifty thousand skilled artisans or sharp-eyed apprentices viewingsuch an Exposition aright and going home to ponder and dream upon it, cannot fail of working out great triumphs. The British mind is morefertile in improvement than in absolute invention, as is heredemonstrated, especially in the department of Machinery; and the simpleadaptation of the forces now attained, the principles established, themachines already invented, to all the beneficent uses of which they arecapable, would speedily transform the Industrial and Social condition ofmankind. I am perfectly satisfied, for example, that Boots and Shoes maybe cut out and made up by machinery with less than one-fourth the labornow required--that this would require no absolutely new inventions, butonly an adaptation of those already well known. So in other departmentsof Industry. There is no reason for continuing to sew plain seams onthick cloth by hand, when machinery can do the work even better andtwenty times as fast. I shall be disappointed if this Exhibition be notspeedily followed by immense advances in Labor-Saving Machinery, especially in this country. 

But out of the domain of Industry, British Progress in Popular Educationis halting and partial. And the chief obstacle is not a want of means, nor even niggardliness; for the Nation is wealthy, sagacious andpublic-spirited. I think the influential classes generally, or at leastvery extensively, realize that a well managed system of Common Schools, supported by taxation on Property, would save more in diminishing theburthen of Pauperism than it would cost. I believe the Ministry feelthis. And yet Mr. Fox's motion looking to such a system was voted downin the House of Commons by some three to one, the Ministry and theirreliable supporters vieing with the Tories in opposing it! So the Nationis thrown back on the wretched shift of Voluntaryism, or Instruction forthe poor and ignorant children to be provided, directed and paid for bytheir poor, ignorant and often vicious parents, with such help andguidance as self-constituted casual associations may see fit to givethem. The result is and will be what it ever has been and must be--thevirtual denial of Education to a great share of the rising generation. 

For this suicidal crime, I hold the Episcopal and Roman CatholicPriesthoods mainly responsible, but especially the former. If they wouldonly stand out of the way, a system of efficient Common Schools for thewhole Nation might be speedily established. But they will not permit it. By insisting that no Nationally directed and supported system shall beput in operation which does not recognize and affirm the tenets of theirrespective creeds, they render the adoption of any such systemimpossible. They see this; they know it; they _mean_ it. And nothingmoves me to indignation quicker than their stereotyped cant of "Godlesseducation, " "teaching infidelity, " "knowledge worthless or dangerouswithout Religion, " &c. &c. Why, Sirs, it is very true that the Peopleneed Religious as well as purely Intellectual culture, but the formerhas been already provided for. You clergymen of the Established Churchhave been richly endowed and beneficed expressly for this work--_whydon't you_ DO _it?_ Why do you stand here darkening andstopping the gateway of secular instruction with a self-condemningassumption that your own duties have been and are criminally neglected, and that therefore others shall likewise remain unperformed? Teach thechildren as much Religion as you can; very few of you ever lack pupilswhen you give your hearts to the work; and if they prove less apt orless capable learners because they have been taught reading, writing, grammar, geography and arithmetic in secular schools, it argues somedefect in your theology or its teachers. If you really wanted thechildren taught Religious truth, you would be right glad to have themtaught letters and other rudimental lessons elsewhere, so as to befitted to apprehend and retain your inculcations. It should suffice forthe condemnation of all Established Churches ever more, that theState-paid Priesthood of Great Britain is to-day the chief impediment toa system of Common Schools throughout the British Isles. 

The Catholic Clergy have more excuse. They, too unite in theimpracticable requirement that the dogmas of their Church shall betaught in the schools attended by Catholic children, when they ought toteach them these dogmas out of School-hours, and be content that noantagonist dogmas are taught in the secular Schools. But _they_ receivenothing from the State, and have good reason to regard it as hostile totheir faith, therefore to suspect its purposes and watch narrowly itsmovements. If they would only take care to have a good system of CommonSchool Education established and efficiently sustained in Spain, Portugal, Italy, Mexico, and other Countries wherein they are theconscience-keepers of the great majority and practically omnipotent inthe sphere of moral and social effort, I could better excuse theirunfortunate attitude here. As it is, the difference between them andtheir State-paid rivals here seems one of position rather than ofprinciple. And, in spite of either or both, this generation will yet seeCommon Schools free and universal throughout this realm. But even a yearseems long to wait for it. 

TOWN GOSSIP. 

Preparations are on foot for a grand banquet at Birmingham to the RoyalCommissioners, the Foreign Commissioners and the Jurors at theExhibition, to take place on or about the 16th. This is to be followedby one still more magnificent given by the Mayor and Council of London, which the Queen is expected to attend. The East India Company give oneto-morrow evening, but I hope then to be in France, as I intend to leavefor Paris to-morrow. The advertisements promise to put us "through ineleven hours" by the quickest and dearest route. Others take twice asmany. 

Miss CATHARINE HAYES, a Vocalist of European reputation, who sang thelast winter mainly in Rome, means to visit America in September. She ishere ranked very high in her profession, and profoundly esteemed andrespected in private life. I have heard her but once, having had but twoevenings' leisure for public entertainments since I came here. There isbut one Jenny Lind, but Miss Hayes need not shrink from a comparison withany other singer. She is very highly commended by the best Musical criticsof London. I cannot doubt that America will ratify their judgment. 

We have had tolerably fair, pleasant weather for some time until thelast two days, when clouds, chilly winds and occasional rain havereturned. The "oldest inhabitant" don't remember just such weather atthis season--as he probably observed last June. I shall gladly leave itfor dryer air and brighter skies. 

XIV. 

LONDON TO PARIS. 

 PARIS, Monday, June 9, 1851. 

I left London Bridge at 11½ on Saturday for this City, via South-EasternRailway to Dover, Steamboat to Calais and Railroad again to Paris. Thisis the dearest and quickest route between the two capitals, and itsadvertisements promised for $13½ to take us "Through in Eleven Hours, "which was a lie, as is quite usual with such promises. We came on quiterapidly to Dover--a very mean, old town--but there lost about an hour inthe transfer of our baggage to the steamboat, which was one of thoselong, black, narrow scow contrivances, about equal to a buttonwood"dug-out, " which England appears to delight in. They would not betolerated as ferry-boats on any of our Western rivers, yet they are madeto answer for the conveyance of Mails and Passengers across an arm ofthe sea on the most important route in Europe. In this wretched concern, which was too insignificant to be slow, we went cobbling and wrigglingacross the Channel (27 miles) in something less than two hours, oftenone gunwale nearly under water and the other ten or twelve feet aboveit, with no room under deck for half our passengers, and the sprayfrequently dashing over those above it, three fourths of the wholenumber deadly sick (this individual of course included), when with adecent boat the passage might be regularly made, in spite of such asmartish breeze as we encountered, in comparative comfort. Perhaps wefelt glad enough on reaching the shore to pay for this needless misery, and I readily believe that an hour or two of sea-sickness may be harshlywholesome, yet I do think that a good boat on such a route might well beafforded and cannot reputably be withheld. That part of England throughwhich we passed on this route is much like that I have already describedon the other side of London. The face of the country is very moderatelyundulating; there is a fair proportion of trees and shrubbery, though noconsiderable forest that I noticed; perhaps an eighth of the land may besowed with Wheat, but Grass is the general staple. I should say threefourths of all the land in sight from this railway is covered with it, while very little is planted or devoted to gardening after the few milesnext to London. Hops engross considerable attention, and I presume paywell, being demanded by the national addiction to beer drinking. Still, Grass, Cattle and Sheep are the Staples; and these require so much lesshuman labor per acre than Grain and Vegetables that I cannot see how therural, laboring population can find adequate employment or subsistence. It looks as though the gradual substitution of Grass for Grain since therepeal of the Corn-laws must deprive a large portion of the best Britishpeasantry of work, compelling them to emigrate to America or Australiafor a subsistence. Such emigration is already very active, and mustincrease if the present low prices of Breadstuffs prove permanent. 

I was again disappointed in seeing so little attention to Fruit Culture. I know this is not the Fruit region of England, but the destitution offruit trees is quite universal. Since it is plain that an acre of choiceApple trees will yield at least a hundred bushels of palatable food, with little labor, and grass enough beside to pay for all the care itrequires, I cannot see why Fruit is so neglected. The peach, I hear, does poorly throughout the kingdoms, requiring extra shelter andsunshine, yet yielding indifferent fruit in return, which is reasonenough for neglecting it; but the Apple is hardier, and does well inother localities no more genial than this. I think it has been unwiselyslighted. 

An important and profitable business, I think, might be built up in ourcountry in the production of Dried Fruits, especially peaches, and theirexportation to Europe, or at any rate to England. I was among those who"sat at good men's feasts, " both rich and poor (the men, not thefeasts), during the six weeks I was in England, yet I cannot rememberthat Dried Apples or Peaches were ever an element of the repast, thoughGooseberries, Rhubarb, Raisins, Currants, &c. , are abundantly resortedto. If some American of adequate capital and capacity would embark inthe growth and curing of Apples, Peaches, &c. , expressly for the Englishmarket, drying them perfectly, preparing them with scrupulous neatness, and putting them up in clean wooden boxes of twenty-five, fifty and onehundred pounds, I think he might do well by it. For such a purpose, cheap lands and cheap labor (that of aged persons and young children)might be made available, while in years of bountiful Peach harvests, like the last, even New-Jersey and Delaware could be drawn upon for anextra supply. The miscellaneous exportation of any Dried Fruits thatmight happen to be on the market would probably involve loss, becausetime and expenditure are required to make these products known to thegreat majority of British consumers, and assure them that the articleoffered them has been prepared with scrupulous cleanliness. With properexertion and outlay, I believe an advantageous market might thus beopened for several Millions' worth of American products of which littleor nothing is now known in Europe. 

We were detained a long hour in Calais--a queer old town, with littletrade and only a historical importance--although our baggage was notexamined there, but sealed up for custom-house scrutiny at Paris. Theymade a few dollars out of us by charging for extra baggage, one of themout of me, though my trunk contained only clothing and three or fourbooks. Small business this for a Railroad, though it will do in stagetransportation. Our passports were scrutinized--mine not verythoroughly--we (the green ones) obtained an execrable dinner for 37½cents, and changed some sovereigns for French silver at a shave whichwas not atrocious. Finally, we were all let go. 

The face of the country inland from Calais is flat and marshy--more likeHolland, as we conceive it, than like England or France. Of course, therailroad avoids the higher ground, but I did not see a cliff nor steepacclivity until darkness closed us in, though some moderate hills werevisible from time to time, mainly on the right. Here, too, as across theChannel, Grass largely predominated, but I think there was a greaterbreadth of Wheat. I saw very few Fruit-trees, though much more growingTimber than I had expected, from the representations I had read of thetreeless nakedness of the French soil. I think trees are as abundant forfifty miles southward from Calais as in any part of England, but theyare mainly Elms and Willows, scarcely an orchard anywhere, and of courseno vineyards, for the Grape loves a more Southern sun. The cultivationis scarcely equal to the English, though not strikingly inferior, andthe evidences of a minute subdivision of the soil are often palpable. Fences are very rare, save along the sides of the railway; ditches servetheir purpose near Calais, and nothing at all answers afterward. Ipresume wood becomes much scarcer as we approach Paris, but darknessforbade observation. 

By the terms of the enticing advertisement, we should have been here at10½ P. M. , but, though we met with none other than the ordinarydetentions, it was half-past two on Sunday morning when we actuallyreached the station at the barrier of the city. Here commenced thecustom-house search, and I must say it was conducted with perfectpropriety and commendable energy, though with determined rigor. Ourtrunks and valises were all arranged on a long table according to thenumbers affixed to them respectively at Calais, and each, being openedby its owner, was searched in its turn, and immediately surrendered, iffound "all right. " I had been required to pay smartly on my books atLiverpool, though nobody could have suspected that they were for anyother than my own use; so I left most of them at London and had nodifficulty here. [One unlucky wight, who had pieces of linen in histrunk, had to see them taken out and put safely away for fartherconsideration. ] I did not at first comprehend that the number on mytrunk, standing out fair before me in honest, unequivocal Arabicfigures, could possibly mean anything but "fifty-two, " but a friendcautioned me in season that those figures spelled "cinquante-deux, " orphonetically "sank-on-du" to the officer, and I made my first attempt atmouthing French accordingly, and succeeded in making myselfintelligible. 

It was fair daylight when we left the railway station for our variousdestinations. Mine was the "Hotel Choiseul, " Rue St. Honoré, which hadbeen warmly commended to me, and where I managed to stop _pro tem. _though there was not an unoccupied bed in the house. Paris, by the way, is quite full--scarcely a room to be had in any popular hotel, and, where any is to be found, the price is very high or the accommodationsquite humble. London, on the contrary, where the keepers of hotels andlodging-houses had been induced to expect a grand crush, and hadaggravated their prices accordingly, is comparatively empty. Thousandsafter thousands go there, but few remain for any time; consequently thehotels make what money is spent, while the boarding and lodging-housesare often tenantless. Many sharp landladies have driven away their oldlodgers to the Country or the Continent by exorbitant charges, in thehope of extorting many times as much from visiters to the Exhibition;and have thus far been bitterly disappointed. I presume it will be so tothe end. Sixty thousand people are as many as the Crystal Palace willcomfortably hold, in addition to its wares and their attendants, andthese make no impression on the vast capacity of London, while they goaway as soon as they have satisfied their curiosity and ceased to attendthe Fair, giving place to others, who require no more room than theydid. I suspect theirs are not the only calculations which will bedisappointed by the ultimate issues of the World's Exhibition. 

THE MADELEINE. 

My first day in Paris was Sunday, so, after breakfast, I repaired to thefamous modern Church of the Madeleine, reputed one of the finest inEurope. This was the day of Pentecost, and fitly commemorated by theChurch. The spacious edifice was filled in every part, though at least athousand went out at the close of the earlier service, before theattendance was fullest. 

I think I was never in a place of worship so gorgeous as this. Over themain altar there is a magnificent picture on the largest scale, purporting to represent the Progress of Civilization from Christ's dayto Bonaparte's, Napoleon being the central figure in the foreground, while the Saviour and the Virgin Mary occupy a similar position in therear. In every part, the Church is very richly and I presume tastefullyornamented. 

I did not comprehend the service, and cannot intelligibly describe it. The bowings and genuflexions, the swinging of censers and ringing ofbells, the frequent appearance and disappearance of a band of gorgeouslydressed priests or assistants bearing what looked like spears, were"inexplicable dumb show" to me, and most of them unlike anything Iremember to have seen in American Catholic Churches. The music wasgenerally fine, especially that of a chorus of young boys, and thegeneral bearing of the people in attendance, that of reverence andinterest. 

 "Peace be with all, whate'er their varying creeds, With all who send up holy thoughts on high. "

But I could not bring myself to like the continual circulation ofseveral officials throughout almost the entire service, collecting rentsfor seats (they were let very cheap), and begging money for "the Poor ofthe Church;" as a stout, gross, absurdly overdressed herald who precededthe collectors loudly proclaimed. I think this collection should havebeen taken before or after the Mass. There was no sermon up to oneo'clock, when I left, with nearly all the audience, though there mayhave been one afterward. 

XV. 

THE FUTURE OF FRANCE. 

 PARIS, Wednesday, June 11, 1851. 

"Will the French Republic withstand the assaults of its enemies?" is aquestion of primary importance with regard to the Political Future, notof France only but of Europe, and more remotely of the world. Evenfettered and stifled as the Republic now is--a shorn and blind Samson inthe toils of the Philistines--it is still a potent fact, and its veryname is a "word of fear" to the grand conspiracy of despots and owls whoare intent on pushing Europe back at the point of the bayonet into thedebasement and thick darkness of the Feudal Ages. It is the FrenchRepublic which disturbs with nightmare visions the slumbers of theRussian Autocrat, and urges him to summon convocations of hisvassal-Kings at Olmutz and at Warsaw, --it is the overthrow of the FrenchRepublic, whether by open assault or by sinister stratagem, whichengrosses the attention of those and kindred convocations throughoutEurope. "Put out the light, and then put out the light, " is the generalaspiration; and the fact that the actual Republic is reasonablymoderate, peaceful, unaggressive, so far from disarming their hostility, only inflames it. Haman can never feel safe in his exaltation so long asMordecai the Jew is seen sitting at the king's gate; and if France is tobe a Republic, the Royalties and Aristocracies of Europe would farsooner see her bloody, turbulent, desolating and intent on conquestthan tranquil and inoffensive. A Republic absolutely ruled by Danton, Marat and Robespierre would be far less appalling in the eyes of thePrivileged, Luxurious and Idle Classes of Europe than one peacefullypursuing its career under the guidance of Cavaignac, De Tocqueville orLamartine. 

While in England, I could not but smile at the delusions propagated bythe Press and readily credited as well as diffused by the fortunateclasses with regard to the deplorable condition of France and theabsolute necessity existing for some radical change in her Government. "O yes, you get along very well with a Republic in the United States, where you had cheap lands, a vast and fertile wilderness, common schoolsand a general reverence for Religion and Order to begin with; but justlook at France!"--such was and is a very general line of argument. Ifthe French had been equally divisible into felons, bankrupts, paupersand lunatics, their hopeless state could hardly have been referred tomore compassionately. All this time France was substantially as tranquilas England herself, and decidedly more prosperous, though annoyed andimpeded by the incessant plottings of traitors in her councils and otherexalted stations to resubject her to kingly sway. A thrifty, provident, frugal artisan may often seem less wealthy and prosperous than hisdashing, squandering, lavish neighbor. France may not display so muchplate on the sideboards of her landlords and bankers as England does;but every day adds to her ability to display it. While Great Britain andthe United States have undertaken to vie with each other in Free Trade, France holds fast to the principle of Protection, with scarcely adivision in her Councils on the subject; and she is consequentlyamassing in silence the wealth created by other Nations. The Californiandigs gold, which mainly comes to New-York in payment for goods; but onthat gold England has a mortgage running fast to maturity, for the goodswere in part bought of her and we owe her for Millions' worth beside. But France has a similar mortgage on it for the Grain supplied toEngland to feed the fabricators of the goods, and it has hardly reachedthe Bank of England before it is on its way to Paris. A great share ofthe golden harvests of the tributaries of the Sacramento and San Joaquinnow find their resting-place here. 

"But what, " asks a Say-Bastiat economist, "if they do? Isn't allCommerce an exchange of equivalents? Must we not buy in order to sell?Isn't Gold a commodity like any other? If our Imports exceed ourExports, doesn't that prove that we are obtaining more for our Exportsthan their estimated value?" &c. &c. &c. 

No, Sir! commerce is _not_ always an exchange of genuine equivalents. The savage tribe which sells its hunting grounds and its ancestors'graves for a few barrels of firewater, whereby its members aredebauched, diseased, rendered insanely furious, and set to cutting eachother's throats, receives no real equivalent for what it parts with. Noris it well for ever so civilized a people to be selling its Specie andmortgaging its Lands and Houses for Silks, Liquors, Laces, Wines, Spices, &c. --trading off the essential and imperishable for thefactitious and transitory--and so eating itself out of house and home. The farmer who drinks up his farm at the cross-roads tavern may haveobtained "more for his exports" (of produce from his farm), than theywere worth in the market--at least, it would seem so from the fact thathe has run over head and ears in debt--but he has certainly done apernicious, a losing business. So does any Nation which buys more waresand fabrics than its exports will pay for, and finds itself in debt atthe year's end for imports that it has eaten, drunk or worn out. Thethrifty household is the true model of the Nation. And, thus tested, France, in spite of her enormous, locust-like Army and other relics ofpast follies which the National mind is outgrowing though the Nation'srulers still cling to them, is this day one of the most prosperouscountries on earth. 

But when I hear the aristocratic plotters talk of the necessity of aRevision of the Constitution in order to restore to France tranquillityand prosperity, I am moved not to mirth but to indignation. For theseplotters and their schemes are themselves the causes of the mischiefsthey affect to deplore and the dangers they pretend to be bent onaverting. Whatever is now feverish and ominous in French Politics growsdirectly out of two great wrongs--the first positive andaccomplished--the law of the 31st May, whereby Three Millions ofElectors were disfranchised--the other contingent and meditated--theoverthrow of the Republic. All the agitation, the apprehension, theuncertainty, and the consequent derangement of Industry, through thelast year, have grown out of these misdeeds, done and purposed, of theAristocratic party. In the sacred name of Order, they have fomenteddiscord and anarchy; invoking Peace, they have stirred up hatred andbitterness. Whatever the Social Democracy _might_ have done, had theybeen in the ascendant or under other supposable circumstances, the factis that theirs has been actually the cause of Order, of Conservatism, ofTranquillity and the Constitution. Had they proved recreant to theirfaith and trust, France would ere this have been plunged intoconvulsions through the mutual jealousies and hostilities of thefactions who vaunt themselves collectively the party of Order; they havebeen withheld from cutting each other's throats by the calm, determined, watchful, intrepid attitude of the calumniated Democracy. 

The law of the 31st May still stands on the statute-book, and Iapprehend is destined to remain (though many who are better informed aresanguine that it will be repealed before the next PresidentialElection), but the Republic will endure and its Constitution cannot beoverthrown. All the Bourbonists, Orleanists, and Bonapartists in theAssembly combined are insufficient to change the Constitution legally;and if a bare majority sufficed for that purpose (instead ofthree-fourths), they could not to-day command a working majority for anypractical measure of Revision. It is easy to club their votes andvaguely declare _some_ change necessary--but _what_ change? A BourbonRestoration? An Orleans Middle-Class Royalty? A Napoleonic Empire? Forno one of these can a majority even of this Reäctionist Assembly beobtained. What, then, is their chance with the People?

As to the signing of Petitions for Revision, that is easily understood. The Prefect, the Mayor, &c. , of a locality readily procure thesignatures of all the Government _employés_ and hangers-on, whoconstitute an immense army in France; the great manufacturers circulatethe petitions among their workmen, and most of them sign, not choosingto risk their masters' displeasure for a mere name more or less to anunmeaning paper. But the plotters know perfectly well that the Peopleare _not_ for Revision in _their_ sense of the word; if they did notfear this, they would restore Universal Suffrage. By clinging withdesperate tenacity to the Restrictive law of May 31st, they virtuallyconfess that their hopes of success involve the continued exclusion ofThree Millions of adult Frenchmen from the Registry of Voters. When theyprate, therefore, of _the people's_ desire for Revision, the Republicanretort is ready and conclusive--"Repeal the law of May 31st, and we canthen tell what the people really desire. But so long as you maintainthat law, you confess that you dare not abide the verdict of the wholePeople. You appeal to a Jury which you have packed--one whose right totry this question we utterly deny. Restore Universal Suffrage, and wecan then tell what the People really do wish and demand; but until youdo this, we shall resist every attempt to change the Constitution evenby as much as a hair. " Who can doubt that this is right?

"Therefore, Representatives of the People, deliberate in peace, " pithilysays Changarnier, after proving to his own satisfaction that the armywill not level their arms against the Assembly in support of aNapoleonic usurpation. So the friends of Republican France throughoutthe world may give thanks and take courage. The darkness is dispersing;the skies of the future are red with the coming day. Time is on thepopular side, and every hour's endurance adds strength to the Republic. It cannot be legally subverted; and should Force and Usurpation beattempted, its champions will not shrink from the encounter nor dreadthe issue. For well they know that the mind and heart of the People areon their side--that the French who earn their bread and are not ashamedto be seen shouldering a musket, so far as they have any opinion at all, are all for the Republic--that France comprises a Bonapartist clique, anOrleanist class, a Royalist party, and a Republican Nation. The cliqueis composed of the personal intimates of Louis Napoleon and certainMilitary officers, mainly relics of the Empire; the class includes agood part of the lucky Parisian shop-keepers and Government _employés_during the reign of Louis Philippe; the party embraces the remnants ofthe anti-Revolutionary Aristocracy, most of the influential Priesthood, and a small section of the rural Peasantry; all these combined maynumber Four Millions, leaving Thirty Millions for the Nation. Such isFrance in 1851; and, being such, the subversion of the Republic, whetherby foreign assault or domestic treason, is hardly possible. An openattack by the Autocrat and his minions would certainly consolidate it; aprolongation of Louis Napoleon's power (no longer probable) would havethe same effect. Four years more of tranquil though nominalRepublicanism would only render a return to Monarchy more difficult;wherefore the Royalist party will never assent to it, and without theiraid the project has no chance. To obtain that aid, "the Prince" mustsecretly swear that after four years more he will turn France over toHenry V. ; this promise only the last extreme of desperation could extortfrom him, and then to no purpose, since he could not fulfill it and theLegitimists could not trust him. And thus, alike by its own strength andby its enemies' divisions, the safety of the Republic is assured. 

XVI. 

PARIS, SOCIAL AND MORAL. 

 PARIS, Thursday, June 12, 1851. 

A great Capital like this is not seen in a few days; I have not yet seena quarter of it. The general magnitude of the houses (usually builtaround a small quadrangular court near the street, whence the court isentered by a gate or arched passage) is readily remarked; also theminute subdivisions of Shop-keeping, many if not most sellers confiningtheir attention to a single fabric, so that their "stores" and stocks ofgoods are small; also, the general gregariousness or social aptitudes ofthe people. I lodge in a house once famous as "Frascati's, " the mostcelebrated gaming-house in Europe; it stands on the corner of the RueRichelieu with the Boulevards ("Italian" in one direction and"Montmartre" in the other). My windows overlook the Boulevards for aconsiderable distance; and there are many of the most fashionable shops, "restaurants, " "cafés, " &c. In the city. No one in New-York would thinkof ordering his bottle of wine or his ices at a fashionable resort inBroadway and sitting down at a table placed on the sidewalk to discusshis refection leisurely, just out of the ever-passing throng; yet hereit is so common as to seem the rule rather than the exception. Hundredssit thus within sight of my windows every evening; dozens do likewiseduring the day. The Frenchman's pleasures are all social: to eat, drinkor spend the evening alone would be a weariness to him: he reads hisnewspaper in the thoroughfare or the public gardens: he talks more inone day than an Englishman in three: the theaters, balls, concerts, &c. Which to the islander afford occasional recreation are to him a nightlynecessity: he would be lonely and miserable without them. Nowhere isAmusement more systematically, sedulously sought than in Paris; nowhereis it more abundant or accessible. For boys just escaped from school orpaternal restraint, intent on enjoyment and untroubled by conscience orforecast, this must be a rare city. Its people, as a community, havesignal good qualities and grave defects: they are intelligent, vivacious, courteous, obliging, generous and humane; eager to enjoy, butwilling that all the world should enjoy with them; while at the sametime they are impulsive, fickle, sensual and irreverent. Paris is theParadise of the Senses; a focus of Enjoyment, not of Happiness. Nowhereare Youth and its capacities more prodigally lavished; nowhere is OldAge less happy or less respected. Paris has tens of thousands who wouldeagerly pour out their hearts' blood for Liberty and Human Progress, butno class or clan who ever thought of denying themselves Wine and kindredstimulants in order that the Masses should be rendered worthier ofLiberty and thus better fitted to preserve and enjoy it. Such notions asTotal Abstinence from All that can Intoxicate are absolutely unheard ofby the majority of Parisians, and incomprehensible or ridiculous tothose who have heard of them. The barest necessaries of life are verycheap here; many support existence quite endurably on a franc (18¾cents) a day; but of the rude Laboring Class few can really afford thecomforts and proprieties of an orderly family life, and the privation isvery lightly regretted. The testimony is uniform that Marriage isscarcely regarded as even a remote possibility by any one of the poorgirls of Paris who live by work: to be for a season the mistress of aman of wealth, or one who can support her in luxury and idleness, isthe summit of her ambition. The very terms "grisette" and "lorette" bywhich young women unblest with wealth or social rank are commonlydesignated, involve the idea of demoralization--no man would apply themto one whom he respected and of whose good opinion he was solicitous. Inno other nominally Christian city is the proportion of the unmarried sogreat as here: nowhere else do families so quickly decay; nowhere elseis the proportion of births out of wedlock so appalling. The Poor ofLondon are less comfortable as a class than those of Paris--that is, they suffer more from lack of employment, and their wages are lower inview of the relative cost of living; but Philanthropy is far more activethere than here, and far more is done to assuage the tide of human woe. Ten public meetings in furtherance of Educational, Philanthropic andReligious enterprises are held in the British Metropolis to one in this, and the number interested in such undertakings there, as contrasted withthat in this city, has an equal preponderance. I shall not attempt tostrike a balance between the good and evil prevailing respectively inthe two Capitals of Western Europe: the reader may do that for himself. 

SIGHTS OF PARIS. 

The first object of interest I saw in Paris was the COLUMN OF NAPOLEONin the Place Vendome, as I rattled by it in the gray dawn of the morningof my arrival. This gigantic Column, as is well known, was formed ofcannon taken by the Great Captain in the several victories whichirradiated his earlier career, and was constructed while he was Emperorof France and virtually of the Continent. His Statue crowns the pyramid;it was pulled down while the Allied Armies occupied Paris, and a resoluteattempt was made to prostrate the Column also, but it was too firmlyrooted. The Statue was not replaced till after the Revolution of 1830. The Place Vendome is small, surrounded by high houses, and the statelyColumn seems dwarfed by them. But for its historic interest, andespecially that of the material employed in its construction, I shouldnot regard it very highly. 

Far better placed, as well as more majestic and every way interesting, is the OBELISK OF LUXOR, which for thousands of years had overshadowedthe banks of the Nile until presented to France by the late Pacha ofEgypt, and transported thence to the Place de la Concorde, near theGarden of the Tuileries. I have seen nothing in Europe which impressedme like this magnificent shaft, covered as it is with mysteriousinscriptions which have braved the winds and rains of four thousandyears, yet seem as fresh and clear as though chiseled but yesterday. Theremoval entire of this bulk of many thousand tuns from Egypt to Paris isone of the most marvelous achievements of human genius, and Paris has forme no single attraction to match the Obelisk of Luxor. 

The TUILERIES strikes me as an irregular mass of buildings with littlepretensions to Architectural beauty or effect. It has great capacity, andnothing more. The LOUVRE is much finer, yet still not remarkable, but itswealth of Paintings by the Great Masters of all time surprised as well asdelighted me. I never saw anything at all comparable to it. But of thisanother time. 

THE FRENCH OPERA. 

 PARIS, Monday, June 9, 1851. 

Having the evening on my hands, I have spent a good share of it at theOpera, of which France is proud, and to the support of which herGovernment directly and liberally contributes. It is not only a Nationalinstitution, but a National trait, and as such I visited it. 

The house is very spacious, admirably planned, superbly fitted up, andevery way adapted to its purpose; the charges moderate; the audiencelarge and well dressed; the officers and attendants up to theirbusiness, and everything orderly and quiet. The play was Scribe's"L'Enfant Prodigue" (The Prodigal Son), which in England they softeninto "Azael the Prodigal, " but here no such euphemism is requisite, andindeed I doubt that half who witness it suspect that the idea is takenfrom the Scriptures. The idea, however, is all that is so borrowed. There were no great singers included in the cast for this evening, noteven Alboni who remains here, while most of her compeers are in London. I am a poor judge, but I should say the music is not remarkable. 

This is a drama of Action and of Spectacle, however, to which the Musicis subordinate. Such a medley of drinking and praying, dancing anddevotion, idol-worship and Delilah-craft, I had not before encountered. At least three hundred performers were at once on the stage. Thedancing-girls engaged were not less than one hundred in number, apparently all between fourteen and eighteen years of age, generallygood-looking, and with that aspect of innocence and freshness to whichthe Stage is so fatal. The most agile and eminent among them was a MissPlunkett, said to be an American, with a face of considerable beauty anda winning, joyous manner. I should say that half the action of thepiece, nearly half the time, and more than half the attention of theaudience, were engrossed by these dancing demoiselles. 

France is the cradle and home of the Ballet. In other lands it is anexotic, here a natural outgrowth and expression of the National mind. Ofthe spirit which conceived it, here is the abode and the Opera Françaisthe temple; and here it has exerted its natural and unobstructedinfluence on the manners and morals of a People. If you would comprehendthe Englishman, follow him to his fireside; if a Frenchman, join him atthe Opera and contemplate him during the performance of the Ballet. 

I am, though no practitioner, a lover of the Dance. Restricted to properhours and fit associates, I wish it were far more general than it is. Health, grace, muscular energy, even beauty, might be promoted by it. Why the dancing of the Theater should be rendered disgusting, I can notyet comprehend. The "poetry of motion, " of harmonious evolutions and thegraceful movement of "twinkling feet, " I think I appreciate. All theseare natural expressions of innocent gaiety and youthful elasticity ofspirits, whereof this world sees far too little. I wish there were moreof them. 

But what grace, what sense, what witchery, there can be, for instance, in a young girl's standing on one great toe and raising the other footto the altitude of her head, I cannot imagine. As an exhibition ofmuscular power, it is disagreeable to me, because I know that thecapacity for it was acquired by severe and protracted efforts and at thecost of much suffering. Why is it kept on the stage? Admit that it isnot lascivious; who will pretend that it is essentially graceful? I wasglad to see that the more extravagant distortions were not speciallypopular with the audience--that nearly all the applause bestowed onthose ballet-feats which seem devised only to favor a liberal display ofthe person came from the little knot of hired "claqueurs" in the centerof the pit. If there were many who loved to witness, there were few soshameless as to applaud. 

If the Opera is ever to become an element of Social life and enjoymentin New-York, I do trust that it may be such a one as thoughtful men maytake their daughters to witness without apprehension or remorse. I donot know whether the Opera we now have is or is not such a one; I know_this_ is not. Its entire, palpable, urgent tendency, is "earthly, sensual, devilish. " In none was the instinct of Purity ever strengthenedby beholding it; in many, it must, in the nature of things, be weakenedwith each repetition of the spectacle. It is no marvel that the Frenchare reputed exceedingly reckless of the sanctions and obligations ofMarriage, if this is a part of their State-supported education. 

I came away at the close of the third act, leaving two more to beperformed. The play is transcendent in spectacle, and has had a verygreat success here. 

XVII. 

PARIS, POLITICAL AND SOCIAL. 

 PARIS, Sunday, June 15, 1851. 

I marvel at the obliquity of vision whereby any one is enabled, standingin this metropolis, to anticipate the subversion of the Republic and therestoration of Monarchy. Such prophets must belong essentially to thatschool which teaches the omnipotence of paper Constitutions and dilateswith bristling hair on the appalling possibility that Washington, orHamilton, or Franklin, might not have been chosen to the Conventionwhich framed our Federal Constitution, and that Constitutionconsequently have remained unperfected or unadopted. The true view Iunderstand to be that if the Constitution had thus failed to beconstructed in '87 or adopted in '88, the necessity for it would stillhave existed, growing daily more urgent and palpable, so that Conventionafter Convention would from time to time have been called, and sooner orlater a Constitution would have been elaborated and adopted; and thelonger this consummation was delayed the stronger and more controllingthe Constitution ultimately formed would have been. So with the FrenchRepublic. It is simply an expression of the intellectual convictions andsocial instincts of the French People. You meet it on the Boulevards andin the cafés where the wealthy and luxurious most do congregate; yourcabman and boot-black, though perfectly civil and attentive, let youunderstand, if you have eyes, that they are Republicans; while in thequarters tenanted or frequented only by the Artisan and the Laborer youmeet none but devotees of "the Republic Democratic and Social. " Thecontrast between the abject servility of the Poor in London and theirmanner here cannot be realized without actual observation. A hundredPrinces or illustrious Dukes in Paris would not attract as muchattention as any one of them would in London. Democracy triumphed in thedrawing-rooms of Paris before it had erected its first barricade in thestreets; and all subsequent efforts in behalf of Monarchy here haveproduced and can produce only a fitful, spasmodic, unnatural life. Ifthree Revolutions within a life-time, all in the same direction, havenot impressed this truth conclusively, another and another lesson willbe added. The French have great faults of character which imperil theimmediate fortunes of the Republic but cannot affect its ultimateascendency. Impulsive and egotistic, they may seem willing to exchangeLiberty for Tranquillity or Security, but this will be a momentarycaprice, soon past and forgotten. The Nation can never more be otherthan Republican, though the possessors of power, controlling the Press, the Bureaux, the Assembly and the Army, may fancy that their personalinterests would be promoted by a less popular system, and so be seen fora season following strange gods. This delusion and apostacy willspeedily pass, leaving only their shame behind. 

The immediate peril of the Republic is the Election of May, '52, in viewof the arbitrary disfranchisement of nearly one-half the Democraticvoters, the manacled condition of the Press, the denial to the People ofthe Right of Meeting for deliberation and concert, and the betrayal ofall the enormous power and patronage of the State into the hands of theAristocratic party. If the Republicans were to attempt holding aConvention to select a candidate for President, their meetings would bepromptly suppressed by the Police and the Bayonet. This may distractand scatter them, though I trust it will not. Their Presidentialcandidate will doubtless be designated by a Legislative Caucus ormeeting of Representatives in the Assembly, simply because no fairer andfuller expression of the party's preference would be tolerated. And if, passing over the mob of Generals and of Politicians by trade, the choiceshould fall on some modest and unambitious citizen, who has earned acharacter by quiet probity and his bread by honest labor, I shall hopeto see his name at the head of the poll in spite of the unconstitutionaloverthrow of Universal Suffrage. After this, though the plurality shouldfall short of a majority and the Assembly proceed to elect LouisNapoleon or Changarnier, there need be no further apprehension. 

I hear, as from an official source, that there are now Three ThousandAmericans in Paris, most of them residing here for months, if not foryears. It gives me pleasure to state that, contrary to what I have oftenheard of the bearing of our countrymen in Europe, a large majority ofthese, so far as I may judge from meeting a good many and learning thesentiments of more, are warmly and openly on the side of the Republicand opposed to the machinations of the motley host who seek itsoverthrow. 

The conviction of Charles Hugo, and his sentence to six months'imprisonment, for simply writing a strong Editorial in the _Evénement_in condemnation of Legal Killing, is making a profound sensation here. Ithink it will hasten the downfall both of the Guillotine and the "partyof Order" which thus assumes the championship of that veneratedinstitution. The _Times'_ Paris correspondent, I perceive, takes up thetale of Hugo's article having been calculated to expose the ministers ofthe law to popular odium, and naively protests against a line ofargument by which "those who _execute_ the law are stigmatized as_executioners_. " I suppose we must call them _executors_ hereafter toobviate the hardship complained of. How singular that those who glory inthe deed should shrink indignantly from the name?

American attention will naturally be drawn to the recent debate in theAssembly involving the principle of the _Higher Law_. The subject was abill reorganizing the National Guard, with the intent of sifting it asclean as possible of the popular element, and thus rendering it either anullity, or an accomplice in the execution of the Monarchicalconspiracies now brewing. It is but a few days since Gen. Changarniersolemnly informed the Assembly, in reply to President Bonaparte's covertmenaces at Dijon, that the army could not be made to level its musketsand point its cannon at the Assembly: "Wherefore, Representatives ofFrance, deliberate in Peace. " Following logically in the same train, a"Red" saw fit to affirm that the Army could not be brought to use itsbayonets against the People who should take up arms, in defense of theRepublic. No stick thrown into a hornets' nest ever excited suchcommotion as this remark did in the camp of "Order. " In the course of aviolent and tumultuous debate, it came out that Gen. Baraguayd'Hilliers, a leader on the side of "Order, " refused in 1848 to take theproffered command of the troops fighting on the side of Order in thedeplorable street combats of June. This was excused on the ground of hisbeing a Representative as well as a General! The Champions of "Order, "having said all they wished and allowed their opponents to say verylittle, hastily shut down the gate, and refused to permit furtherdiscussion. No matter: the truth has been formally proclaimed from thetribune that _No one has a moral right to do as a soldier that which itwould be wrong for him to do as a man_--that, no matter what humanrulers may decree, every man owes a paramount obedience to the law ofGod, and cannot excuse his violation of that law by producing an orderto do so from any functionary or potentate whatever. The idea is afruitful one, and France is now pondering it. 

I attended divine worship to-day at NOTRE DAME, which seems to me notonly the finest Church but the most imposing edifice in Paris. ThePantheon may vie with it, perhaps, but it has to my eye a naked andgot-up look; it lacks adequate furnishing. Beside these two, nearly allthe public buildings of Paris strike me as lacking height in proportionto their superficial dimensions. The Hotel de Ville (City Hall) has afine front, but seems no taller while more extensive than our New-YorkCity Hall, which notoriously lacks another story. Even the Louvre, withample space and a rare position, which most of the Paris edifices want, seems deficient in height. But Notre Dame, on the contrary, towersproudly and gracefully, and I have not seen its general effect surpassed. It reminded me of Westminster Abbey, though it is less extensive. As aplace of worship it is infinitely superior to the Abbey, which has thedamp air and gloom of a dungeon, in each most unlike Notre Dame. I trustno American visits Paris without seeing this noble church, and on theSabbath if possible. 

AMERICAN ART AND INDUSTRY--BRITISH JOURNALISM. 

Since I left London, _The Times_ has contained two Editorials onAmerican contributions to the Great Exhibition, which seem to requirecomment. These articles are deprecatory and apologetic in their generaltenor, evincing a consciousness that the previous strictures of theLondon Press on American Art had pushed disparagement beyond the boundsof policy, and might serve to arouse a spirit in the breasts of thepeople so invidiously and persistently assailed. So our countryman arenow told, in substance, that they are rather clever fellows on thewhole, who have only made themselves ridiculous by attempting to do andto be what Nature had forbidden. Nothing but our absurd pretensionscould thus have exposed us to the world's laughter. America might beAmerica with credit; she has broken down by undertaking to be Europealso, &c. , &c. 

 "It is the _attempt_, and not the _deed_, confounds me. "

But what are the nature and extent of this American audacity? Ourcountrymen have undertaken to minister to their own wants by theproduction of certain Wares and Fabrics which they had formerly beencontent either to do without or to buy from Europe. Being urgentlyinvited to do so, they have sent over some few of these results of theirart and skill to a grand exposition of the World's Industry. Even ifthey were as bad as they are represented, these products should be here;since the object of the Exhibition is not merely to set forth what isbest but to compare it with the inferior, and so indicate the readiestmode of improving the latter. Russia, Turkey, Egypt, Barbary, Persia, have sent hither their wares and fabrics, which hundreds of thousandshave examined with eager and gratified interest--an interest as real asthat excited by the more perfect rival productions of Western Europe, though of a different kind from that. No one has thought of ridiculingthese products of a more primitive industry; all have welcomed and beeninstructed by them. And so ours would have been treated had they been infact the wretched affairs which the London Commercial press hasrepresented them. It is precisely because they are quite otherwise thatit has been deemed advisable systematically to disparage them--todeclare our Pianos "gouty" structures--"mere wood and iron;" ourCalicoes beneath the acceptance of a British servant-girl; our FarmingTools half a century behind their British rivals; our Hats "shockingbad, " &c. , &c. , --all this, in the first months of the Exhibition, whilethe Jurors appointed to judge and report upon the merits of rivalfabrics were making the requisite investigations. Their verdict is thussubstantially forestalled, and the millions who visit the Exhibition areinvited to look at the American department merely to note the bad tasteand incapacity therein displayed, and learn to avoid them. 

But the self-constituted arbiters who thus tell the American people thatArt is not their province--that they should be content to grow Corn andCotton, looking to Europe for the satisfaction of their less urgentnecessities, their secondary wants--are they impartial advisers? Arethey not palpably speaking in the interest of the rival producers ofEurope, alarmed by the rapid growth and extension of American Art? Wouldthey have taken so much trouble with us if American taste and skill werereally the miserable abortions they represent them?

These indications of paternal care for American Industry, in danger ofbeing warped and misdirected, are not quite novel. An English friendlately invited me to visit him at his house in the neighborhood ofBirmingham, holding out as an inducement the opportunity of inspectingthe great Iron and Hardware manufactories in that neighborhood. A momentafterward he recollected himself and said, "I am not quite sure that Icould procure you admittance to them, because the rule has been that_Americans were not to be admitted_. Gentlemen taking their friends tovisit these works were asked, at the door, 'Is your friend an American?'and if the answer was affirmative, he was not allowed to enter--but Ithink this restriction has been generally abrogated. " Here you see, wasa compassionate regard for American Industry, in danger of being misledand deluded into unprofitable employments, which neither The Times norany of its co-laborers has been able to more than humbly imitate. 

To my mind, nothing can be more unjust than the intimation that, inattempting to supply her own wants (or some of them) in the domain ofArt and Manufacture, America has rushed madly from her sphere and soughtto be Europe. She has already taught Europe many things in the sphere ofInvention, and is destined to teach her many more; and the fact that herCarriages are condemned as too light and her Pianos as too heavy, herReaping Machines as "a cross between a treadmill and a flying chariot, "&c. , &c. , by critics very superficially acquainted with their uses, andwho have barely glanced at them in passing, proves nothing but therashness and hostility of their contemners. From such unworthydisparagement I appeal with confidence to the awards of the variousJuries appointed by the Royal Commissioners. They are competent; theyhave made the requisite examinations; they (though nearly all Europeanand a majority of them British) are honorable men, and will render animpartial judgment. That judgment, I firmly believe, will demonstratethat, in proportion to the extent of its contributions, no other countryhas sent more articles to the Exhibition by which the whole world may beinstructed and benefited than our own. 

XVIII. 

THE PALACES OF FRANCE. 

 PARIS, Monday, June 16, 1851. 

France, now the most Democratic, was long the most absolutely governedand the most loyally infatuated among the great Nations of Europe. Hercure of the dust-licking distemper was Homoeopathic and somewhat slow, but it seems to be thorough and abiding. Those who talk of the Nationalpassion for that bloody phantom Glory--for Battle and Conquest--speak ofwhat was, rather than of what is, and which, even in its palmiest days, was rather a _penchant_ of the Aristocratic caste than a characteristicof the Nation. The Nobles of course loved War, for it was their highroad to Royal favor, to station and renown; all the spoils of victoryenured to them, while nine-tenths of its calamities fell on the heads ofthe Peasantry. But, though all France rushed to arms in 1793 to defendthe National liberties and soil, yet Napoleon, in the zenith of hispower and glory, could only fill the ranks of his legions by theabhorred Conscription. The great body of the People were even thenaverse to the din of the camp and the clangor of battle: the years ofunmixed disaster and bitter humiliation which closed his Militarycareer, served to confirm and deepen their aversion to garments rolledin blood; and I am confident that there is at this moment no Nation inEurope more essentially peaceful than France. Her Millions profoundlysympathise with their brethren of Germany, Italy and Hungary, groaningbeneath the heavy yoke of the Autocrat and his vassals; but theyrealize that the deliverance of Nations must mainly be wrought out fromwithin, and they would much rather aid the subject Nations to recovertheir rights by the influence of example and of a Free Press than bycasting the sword of Brennus into the scale where their liberties andhappiness hang balanced and weighed down by the ambition and pride oftheir despots. The establishment of the Democratic and Social Republicis the appointed end of war in Europe. It will not erase the boundariesof Nations, but these boundaries will no longer be overshadowed byconfronted legions, and they will be freed from the monster nuisance ofPassports. Then German, Frank, Briton, Italian, will vie with eachother, as now, in Letters, Arts and Products, but no longer in thehideous work of defacing and desecrating the image of God; for Libertywill have enlightened and Fraternity united them, and a permanentCongress of Nations will adjust and dispose of all causes of differencewhich may from time to time arise. --Freedom, Intelligence and Peace arenatural kindred: the ancient Republics were Military and aggressive onlybecause they tolerated and cherished Human Slavery; and it is this whichrecently fomented hostilities between the two Republics of NorthAmerica, and now impotently threatens the internal peace of our own. Liberty, if thorough and consistent, always did and must incline toPeace; while Despotism, being founded in and only maintainable by Force, inevitably fosters a martial spirit, organizes Standing Armies, andfinds delight and security in War. 

These reflections have been recalled by my walks through several of thelate Royal (now National) Palaces of France, the most striking monumentswhich endure of long ages of absolute kingly sway. How many there are ofthese Palaces I have forgotten or never knew; but I recall the names ofthe Luxembourg, the Tuileries, the Elisée Bourbon, St. Germain, St. Cloud, Versailles, Meudon, and Rambouillet. These do not include thePalais Royal, which was built by the Orleans branch of the Bourbonfamily, nor any of the spacious edifices erected for the severalMinisters of State and for the transaction of public business. ThePalaces I have named were all constructed from time to time to serve asresidences for the ten to thirty persons recognized as of the bloodRoyal, who removed from one to the other as convenience or whim may havesuggested. They are generally very spacious, probably averaging one totwo hundred apartments each, all constructed of the best materials andfurnished and adorned with the most lavish disregard of cost. I roughlyestimate the cost of these Palaces, if they were now to be built andfurnished in this style, at One Hundred Millions of Dollars; but theactual cost, in the ruder infancy of the arts when most of them wereerected, was probably much more. Versailles alone cost some ThirtyMillions of Dollars at first, while enormous sums have since beenexpended in perfecting and furnishing it. It would be within the truthto say that France, from the infancy of Louis XIV. To the expulsion ofLouis Philippe, has paid more as simple interest on the residences ofher monarchs and their families than the United States, with a largerpopulation and with far greater wealth than France has averaged throughthat period, now pays for the entire cost of the Legislative, Executiveand Judicial departments of her Government. All that we have paid ourPresidents from Washington inclusive, adding the cost of thePresidential Mansion and all the furniture that has from time to timebeen put into it, would not build and furnish one wing of a single RoyalPalace of France--that of Versailles. 

But the point to which I would more especially call attention is that ofthe unwearied exertions of Royalty to foster and inflame the passion forMilitary glory. I wandered for hours through the spacious andinnumerable halls of Versailles, in which Art and Nature seem to havebeen taxed to the utmost to heap up prodigies of splendor. At least onehundred of these rooms would each of itself be deemed a marvel ofsumptuous display anywhere else; yet here we passed over floors of therichest Mosaic and through galleries of the finest and most elaboratelywrought Marble as if they had been but the roughest pavement or therudest plaster. The eye is fatigued, the mind bewildered, by an almostendless succession of sumptuous carving, gilding, painting, &c. , untilthe intervention of a naked ante-room or stair-case becomes a positiverelief to both. And the ideas everywhere predominant are War and itsmisnamed Glory. Here are vast, expensive paintings purporting torepresent innumerable Sieges and Battles in which the French arms wereengaged, many of them so insignificant that the world has wiselyforgotten them, yet here preserved to inflame and poison the minds ofhot-blooded, unreflecting youth, impelling them to rush into themanufacture of cripples and corpses under the horrible delusion thatneedless, aimless Slaughter, if perpetrated by wholesale, can really behonorable and glorious. These paintings, as a whole, are of moderatevalue as works of Art, while their tendency is horrible and theirdetails to me revolting. Carriages shattered and overturned, animalstransfixed by spear-thrusts and writhing in speechless agony, menriddled by cannon-shot or pierced by musket-balls and ghastly withcoming death, such are the spectacles which the more favored andfortunate of the Gallic youth have been called for generations to admireand enjoy. These battle-pieces have scarcely more Historic than Artisticvalue, since the names of at least half of them might be transposed andthe change be undetected by ninety-nine out of every hundred who seethem. If _all_ the French battles were thus displayed, it might be urgedwith plausibility that these galleries were historical in theircharacter; but a full half of the story, that which tells of Frenchdisaster and discomfiture--is utterly suppressed. The Battles ofPtolemais, of Ivry, of Fontenoy, of Rivoli, of Austerlitz, &c. , are hereas imposing as paint can make them, but never a whisper of Agincourt, Crecy, Poictiers, Blenheim, or Ramillies, nor yet of Salamanca, ofVittoria, of Leipsic, or Waterloo. Even the wretched succession offorays which the French have for the last twenty years been prosecutingin Algerine Africa here shines resplendent, for Vernet has painted, byLouis Philippe's order and at France's cost, a succession ofbattle-pieces wherein French numbers and science are seen prevailingover Arab barbarism and irregular valor in combats whereof the verynames have been wisely forgotten by mankind, though they occurred butyesterday. One of these is much the largest painting I ever saw, and isprobably the largest in the world, and it seems to have been got upmerely to exhibit one of Louis Philippe's sons in the thickest of thefray. Last of all, we have the "Capture of Abd-el-Kader, " as imposing asVernet could make it, but no whisper of the persistent perfidy wherewithhe has been retained for several years in bondage, in violation of theexpress agreement of his captors. The whole collection is, in itsgeneral effect, delusive and mischievous, the purpose being to exhibitWar as always glorious and France as uniformly triumphant. It is bymeans like these that the business of shattering knee-joints andmultiplying orphans is kept in countenance. 

Versailles is a striking monument of the selfish profligacy ofKing-craft and the long-suffering patience of Nations. Hundreds ofthousands of laborers' children must have gone hungry to their strawpallets in order that their needy parents might pay the inexorable taxeslevied to build this Palace. Yet after all it has stood mainlyuninhabited! Its immense extent and unequalled splendor require animmeasurable profusion in its occupant, and the incomes even of kingsare not absolutely without limit. So Versailles, with six or eight otherRoyal Palaces in and around Paris, has generally stood empty, entailingon the country an enormous annual expense for its simple preservation. And now, though France has outgrown Royalty, it knows not what to dowith its costly, spacious, glittering shells. A single Palace(Rambouillet) standing furthest from Paris, was converted (under LouisPhilippe) into a gigantic storehouse for Wool, while its spacious Parksand Gardens were wisely devoted to the breeding and sustenance of thechoicest Merino Sheep. The others mainly stand empty, and how to disposeof them is a National perplexity. Some of them may be converted intoHospitals, Insane Retreats, &c. , others into Libraries or Galleries ofArt and Science; but Versailles is too far from Paris for aught but aRetreat as aforesaid, and has cost so immense a sum that any use whichmay be made of it will seem wasteful. I presume it could not be sold asit stands for a tenth of its actual cost. Perhaps it will be best, therefore, to convert all the others into direct uses and preserve thisfor public inspection as a perpetual memorial of the recklessprodigality and all-devouring pomp of Kings, and as a warning to Nationsnever again to entrust their destinies to men who, from their veryeducation and the influences surrounding them through life, must be ledto consider the Toiling Millions as mainly created to pamper theirappetites, to gratify their pride, and to pave with their corpses theirroad to extended dominion. 

ST. CLOUD is a much smaller but more pleasantly situated, more tastefullyfurnished and decorated Palace, some miles nearer than Versailles toParis, and commanding an admirable view of the city. The LUXEMBOURG, situated in the southern section of the city, is externally a chaste andwell-proportioned edifice, containing some fine pictures by living artists, and surrounded by spacious and delightful woods, shrubbery, &c. , termed"the Gardens of the Luxembourg. " The TUILERIES, in the heart of the city, near the Seine, I have not seen internally, and the exterior seems low, straggling, and every way unimposing. Its extent is almost incredible bythose who have not seen it--scarcely less than that of Versailles. TheLOUVRE is the finest structure of all, and most worthily devoted. Itslower story is filled with Sculptures of no considerable merit, but itsgalleries contain more strikingly good Paintings than I shall ever againsee under one roof. I have spent a good part of two days there, and meanto revisit it on my return. 

PASSPORTS, ETC. 

If each American could spend three days on this continent, his love ofCountry and of Liberty could not fail to be quickened and intensified, if only by an experience of the enormity of the Passport nuisance. Ithas cost me precious hours already, not to speak of dollars, and iscertain to cost many more of each. I have nearly concluded to given upGermany on account of it, while Italy fairly swarms with pettysovereignties and with Yankee Consuls, the former afraid of their ownblack shadows, the latter intent on their beloved two dollars each fromevery American traveler. Such is the report I have of them, and Ipresume the reality is equal to the foreshadowing. It is a shame thatRepublican France stands far behind Aristocratic Britain in thisrespect, but I trust the contrast will not endure many more years. 

Two Americans who arrived here last week caused some perplexity to theirlandlord. Every man who lodges a stranger here must see forthwith thathe has a Passport in good condition, in default of which said host isliable to a penalty. Now, these Americans, when applied to, producedPassports in due form, but the professions set forth therein were nottransparent to the landlord's apprehension. One of them was dulydesignated in his Passport as a "_Loafer_" the other as a "_Rowdy_" andthey informed him, on application, that, though these professions werehighly popular in America and extensively followed, they knew no Frenchsynonyms into which they could be translated. The landlord, not contentwith the sign manual of Daniel Webster, affirming that all was right, applied to an American friend for a translation of the inexplicableprofessions, but I am not sure that he has even yet been fullyenlightened with regard to them. 

I am off to-day (I hope) for Lyons and Italy. 

XIX. 

FRANCE, CENTRAL AND EASTERN. 

 LYONS, Tuesday, June 17, 1851. 

I came out of Paris through the spacious _Boulevards_, [B] which, undervarious second appellations, stretch eastward from the Madeleine Churchnearly to the barrier, and then bend southward, near the beautifulcolumn which marks the site and commemorates the fall of the Bastile, solong the chief dungeon wherein Despotism stifled Remonstrance and tamedthe spirit of Freedom. Liberty in France is doomed yet to undergo manytrials--nay, is now enduring some of them--but it is not within thecompass of probability that another Bastile should ever rear its headthere, nor that the absolute power and abject servitude which it fitlysymbolized should ever be known there hereafter. Very near it on thesouth lies the famous Faubourg St. Antoine, inhabited mainly by bold, free-souled working-men, who have repeatedly evinced their choice to diefree rather than live slaves, and in whom the same spirit lives andrules to-day. I trust that dire alternative will never again be forcedupon them, but if it should be there is no Bastile so impregnable, nodespotism so fortified by prescription, and glorious recollections, andthe blind devotion of loyalty, as those they have already leveled to theearth. 

The Paris Station of the Lyons Railway is at the eastern barrier of theCity. I received here another lesson in French Railroad management. Ifirst bought at the office my ticket for Chalons on the Saone, which isthe point to which the road is now completed. The distance is 243 miles;the fare (first-class) $7. 50. But the display of my ticket did notentitle me to enter the passengers' sitting-room, much less to approachthe cars. Though I had cut down my baggage, by two radicalretrenchments, to two light carpet-bags, I could not take these with me, nor would they pass without weighing. When weighed, I was required topay three or four sous (cents) for extra baggage, though there is nostage-route in America on which those bags would not have passedunchallenged and been accounted a very moderate allowance. Now I waspermitted to enter the sacred precincts, but my friend, who had spentthe morning with me and come to see me off, was inexorably shut out, andI had no choice but to bid him a hasty adieu. Passing the entrance, Iwas shown into the apartment for first-class passengers, while thesecond-class were driven into a separate fold and the third-class intoanother. Thus we waited fifteen minutes, during which I satisfied myselfthat no other American was going by this train, and but three or fourEnglish, and of these the two with whom I scraped an acquaintance weregoing only to Fontainbleau, a few miles from Paris. They were requiredto take their places in a portion of the train which was to stop atFontainbleau, and so we moved off. 

The European Railway carriages, so far as I have yet seen them, are moreexpensive and less convenient than ours. Each is absolutely divided intoapartments about the size of a mail-coach, and calculated to hold eightpersons. The result is thirty-two seats where an American car of equallength and weight would hold at least fifty, and of the thirty-twopassengers, one-half must inevitably ride backward. I believe thesecond-class cars are more sociable, and mean to make theiracquaintance. I should have done it this time, but for my desire to meetsome one with whom I could converse, and Americans and Englishmen areapt to cling to the first-class places. My aim was disappointed. Mycompanions were all Frenchmen, and, what was worse, all inveteratesmokers. They kept puff-puffing, through the day; first all of them, then three, two, and at all events one, till they all got out at Dijonnear nightfall; when, before I had time to congratulate myself on theatmospheric improvement, another Frenchman got in, lit his cigar, andwent at it. All this was in direct and flagrant violation of the rulesposted up in the car; but when did a smoker ever care for law ordecency? I will endeavor next time to find a seat in a car where womenare fellow-passengers, and see whether their presence is respected bythe devotees of the noxious weed. I have but a faint hope of it. 

The Railroad from Paris to Chalons passes through a generally levelregion, watered by tributaries of the Seine and of the Saone, with arange of gentle hills skirting the valleys, generally on the right andsometimes on either hand. As in England, the track is never allowed tocross a carriage-road on its own level, but is carried either under orover each. The soil is usually fertile and well cultivated, though notso skillfully and thoroughly as that of England. There are places, however, in which the cultivation could not easily be surpassed, but Ishould say that the average product would not be more than two-thirdsthat of England, acre for acre. There are very few fences of any kind, save a slight one inclosing the Railway, beyond which the countrystretches away as far as the eye can reach without a visible landmark, the crops of different cultivators fairly touching each other andgrowing square up to the narrow roads that traverse them. You will see, for instance, first a strip of Grass, perhaps ten rods wide, andrunning back sixty or eighty rods from the Railroad; then a narrowerstrip of Wheat; then one of Grape-Vines; then one of Beans; then one ofClover; then Wheat again, then Grass or Oats, and so on. I saw verylittle Rye; and if there were Potatoes or Indian Corn, they were not upsufficiently high to be distinguished as we sped by them. The work goingforward was the later Weeding with the earlier Hay-making, and I sawnearly as many women as men working in the fields. The growing cropswere generally kept pretty clear of weeds, and the grass was mostfaithfully but very slowly cut. I think one Yankee would mow over moreground in a day than two Frenchmen, but he would cut less hay to theacre. Of course, in a country devoid of fences and half covered withsmall patches of grain, there could not be many cattle: I saw no oxen, very few cows, and not many horses. The hay-carts were generally drawnby asses, or by horses so small as not to be easily distinguished fromasses as we whirled rapidly by. The wagons on the roads were generallydrawn by small horses. I judge that the people are generally industriousbut not remarkably efficient, and that the women do the larger half ofthe work, house-work included. The hay-carts were wretchedly small, andthe implements used looked generally rude and primitive. The dwellingsare low, small, steep-roofed cottages, for which a hundred dollars eachwould be a liberal offer. Of course, I speak of the rural habitations;those in the villages are better, though still mainly small, steep-roofed, poor, and huddled together in the most chaotic confusion. The stalls and pastures for cattle were in the main only visible to theeye of faith; though cattle there must be and are to do the ploughingand hauling. I suspect they are seldom turned loose in summer, and thatthere is not a cow to every third cottage. I think I did not see a yokeof oxen throughout the day's ride of 243 miles. 

I was again agreeably disappointed in the abundance of Trees. Woodseems to be the peasants' sole reliance for fuel, and trees are plantedbeside the roads, the streams, the ditches, and often in rows or patcheson some arable portion of the peasants' narrow domain. This planting ismainly confined to two varieties--the Lombardy Poplar and what I took tobe the Pollard, a species of Willow which displays very little foliage, and is usually trimmed up so as to have but a mere armful of leaves andbranches at the top of a trunk thirty to fifty feet high, and six totwelve inches through. The Lombardy Poplar is in like manner preferred, as giving a large amount of trunk to little shade, the limbs rarelyextending three feet from the trunk, while the growth is rapid. Such arethe means employed to procure fuel and timber with the least possibleabstraction of soil from the uses of cultivation. There are someside-hills so rocky and sterile as to defy human industry, and these aregiven up to brush-wood, which I presume is cut occasionally and boundinto faggots for fuel. Some of it may straggle up, if permitted, intotrees, but I saw little that would fairly justify the designation ofForest. Of Fruit-trees, save in the villages, there is a deplorablescarcity throughout. 

We passed through few villages and no town of note but DIJON, the capitalof ancient Burgundy, where its Parliament was held and where its Dukesreigned and were buried. Their palace still stands, though they havepassed away. Dijon is 200 miles from Paris, and has 25, 000 inhabitants, with manufactures of Cotton, Woolen and Silk. Here and henceforth theVine is more extensively cultivated than further Northward. 

We reached CHALONS on the Saone (there is another Chalons on the Marne)before 9 P. M. Or in about ten hours from Paris. Here a steamboat wasready to take us forthwith to Lyons, but French management was too muchfor us. Our baggage was all taken from the car outside and carried pieceby piece into the dépôt, where it was very carefully arranged in orderaccording to the numbers affixed to the several trunks, &c. , in Paris. This consumed the better part of half an hour, though half as manyYankees as were fussing over it would have had it all distributed to theowners inside of ten minutes. Then the holders of the first three or fournumbers were let into the baggage-room, and when they were disposed of asmany more were let in, and so on. Each, as soon as he had secured hisbaggage, was hustled into an omnibus destined for the boat. I was amongthe first to get seated, but ours was the last omnibus to start, and whenthe attempt was made, the carriage was overloaded and wouldn't start! Atlast it was set in motion, but stopped twice or thrice to let offpassengers and baggage at hotels, then to collect fare, and at last, whenwe had got within a few rods of the landing, we were cheered with theinformation that "_Le bateau est parti!_" The French may have been betterthan this, but its purport was unmistakable--the boat was gone, and wewere done. I had of course seen this trick played before, but never soclumsily. There was no help for us, however, and the amount of uselessexecration emitted was rather moderate than otherwise. Our charioteershad taken good care to obtain their pay for carrying us some time before, and we suffered ourselves to be taken to our predestined hotel in a frameof mind approaching Christian resignation. In fact, when I had been shownup to a nice bed-room, with clean sheets and (for France) a fair supplyof water, and had taken time to reflect that there is no accommodationfor sleeping on any of these European river-boats, I was rather glad wehad been swindled than otherwise. So I am still. But you may travel thesame route in a hurry; so look out!

We rose at 4 and made for the boat, determined not to be caught twice inthe same town. At five we bade good-bye to Chalons-sur-Saone (a pleasanttown of 13, 000 people), under a lowering sky which soon blessed theearth with rain--a dubious blessing to a hundred people on a steamboatwith no deck above the guards and scarcely room enough below for thefemale passengers. However, the rain soon ceased and the sky graduallycleared, so that since 9 o'clock the day has been sunny and delightful. 

The distance from Chalons to Lyons by the Saone is some 90 miles. Theriver is about the size of the Connecticut from Greenfield to Hartford, but is sluggish throughout, with very low banks until the last ten orfifteen miles. After an intervale of half a mile to two miles, the landrises gently on the right to an altitude of some two to five hundredfeet, the slope covered and checkered the whole distance with vineyards, meadows, woods, &c. The Poplar and the Pollard are still planted, butthe scale of cultivation is larger and the houses much better thanbetween Paris and Dijon. The intervale (mainly in meadow) is much wideron the left bank, the swell beyond it being in some places scarcelyvisible. The scenery is greatly admired here, and as a whole may betermed pretty, but cannot compare with that of the Hudson or Connecticutin boldness or grandeur. There are some craggy hill-sides in thedistance, but I have not yet seen an indisputable mountain in France, though I have passed nearly through it in a mainly southerly course forover five hundred miles. 

As we approach Lyons, the hills on either side come nearer and finallyshut in the river between two steep acclivities, from which muchbuilding-stone has been quarried. Elsewhere, these hill-sides arecovered with tasteful country residences of the retired or wealthyLyonnais, surrounded by gardens, arbors, shrubbery, &c. The generaleffect is good. At last, houses and quays begin to line and bridges tospan the river, and we halt beside one of the quays and are in Lyons. 

FOOTNOTES:

[B] _Boulevard_ means, I presume, rampart or fortified works (hence ourEnglish _bulwark_). The rampart was long ago removed, as the cityoutgrew it, but the name is retained by the ample street which took itsplace. Our _Battery_ at New-York illustrates this origin of a name. 

XX. 

LYONS TO TURIN. 

 TURIN (Italy), June 20, 1851. 

LYONS, though a French city, and the second in the Republic, wears a sad, disheartened aspect. In '91 a stronghold of decaying Loyalty, it isto-day the very focus of Democratic Socialism, being decidedly more "Red"than Paris. --Here is concentrated the Sixth Military Division of theFrench Army, under chiefs not chary of using the sabre and bayonet, andwith instructions to apply efficient poultices of grape and canister onthe first palpable appearance of local inflammation. Should Louis Napoleonbe enabled to override the Constitution and prolong his sway, it ispossible that, by the aid of the act of May 31st, 1850, whereby more thanhalf the Artisans of France are disfranchised, the spirit of Lyons may intime be subdued, and partisans of "Order" substituted for her presentSocialist Representatives in the Assembly; but, should the popular causetriumph in the ensuing Elections, I shall be agreeably disappointed ifthat triumph is as temperately and forbearingly enjoyed here as was thatof February, 1848. 

Lyons is now undergoing one of those periodical revulsions ordepressions which are the necessary incidents of the false system ofIndustry and Trade which the leaders of Commercial opinion are bent onfortifying and extending. --Here, at the confluence of the Rhone and theSaone, is concentrated a population of nearly 200, 000 souls, half ofwhom attempt to live by spinning, weaving and dyeing Silks, while theresidue in good part busy themselves in collecting and buying the rawmaterial or in exporting and selling the product. But it is not best forthemselves nor for mankind that 100, 000 Silk-workers should be clusteredon any square mile or two of earth; if they were distributed over theworld's surface, in communities of five to fifty thousand souls--if theraw Silk were grown in the various countries wherein the fabrics arerequired, where the climate and soil do not forbid, and taken there tobe manufactured where they do--the workers would have space, air, activity, liberty, development, which are unattainable while they arecooped within the walls of a single city. If those Silk-weavers, forinstance, whose fabrics are consumed in the United States, were nowlocated in Virginia, Tennessee, Missouri, &c. Instead of being mainlycrowded into Lyons, they would there obtain many of the necessaries oflife at half the prices they now give for them, while the consumers oftheir fabrics would pay for them in good part with Fruits, Vegetables, Fuel, &c. Which, because of their bulk or their perishable nature, theycannot now sell at all, or can only sell at prices below the cost ofproduction. No matter if the Silks were held in money a fifth, a fourth, or even a third higher than now, the great body of our consumers wouldobtain them much cheaper, estimating the cost not in dollars but indays' labor. The workers on both sides would be benefited, because theywould share between them at least three-fourths of the enormous taxwhich Commerce now levies upon their Industry through the sale andresale of its products, to distribute among its importers, shippers, jobbers, retailers and lackeys of infinite variety. The bringingtogether of Producer and Consumer, where Nature has interposed nobarrier, so that their diverse needs may be supplied by directinterchange, or with the fewest possible intermediates, is the simpleand only remedy for one of the chief scourges under which Industry nowsuffers throughout the world. 

"Very true, " says Vapid, "but this will regulate itself. "--Will it, indeed? Be good enough to tell me how! All the potent individualagencies now affecting it are attached by self-interest to the wrongside. The Capitalists, the Employers, the Exporters, engaged in the Silktrade, all own property in Lyons, and are naturally anxious that themanufacture shall be more and more concentrated there. The Shipper, theImporter, the Jobber of our own country, has a like interest in keepingthe point of production as distant from their customers as possible. Very often have I been told by wholesale merchants, "We prefer to sellForeign rather than Home-made fabrics, because the profit on the formeris usually much greater. " This consideration is active and omnipresentin Trade generally. The sole interest subserved by Direct and SimpleExchanges is that of Labor; and this, though greatest of all, isunorganized, inert, and individually impotent. These Silk-Weavers ofLyons are no more capable of removing to Virginia or Missouri andestablishing their business there than the Alps are of making anAmerican tour. Our consumers of Silks, acting as individuals, cannotbring them over and establish them among us. But the great body ofconsumers, animated by Philanthropy and an enlightened Self-Interest, acting through their single efficient organism, the State, can make itthe interest of Capital and Capacity to bring them over and plant themin the most eligible localities among us, and ought immediately andpersistently to do so. The inconveniences of such a policy are partialand transitory, while its blessings are permanent and universal. 

A RIDE ACROSS THE ALPS. 

Railroads are excellent contrivances for dispatch and economy;Steamboats ditto, and better still for ease and observation or reading;Steamships are to be endured when Necessity compels; but anold-fashioned Coach-and-Four is by no means to be despised, even inthis age of Progress and Enlightenment. While I stay in Europe, I wishto see as much land and to waste as little time on blue water aspossible. So I turned aside at Lyons from the general stream ofItaly-bound travellers--which flows down the Rhone to Avignon andMarseilles, thence embarking for Genoa and Leghorn, --and booked myselffor a ride across the Lower Alps by diligence to Turin. And glad am Ithat my early resolve to do so was not shaken. 

The European, but more especially French, diligence has often beendescribed. Ours consisted of a long carriage divided into the _coupé_ orforemost apartment, directly under the driver, and with an outlook oneach side and in front over the backs of the horses; the middleapartment, which is much like the interior of our ordinary stage-coach;and the rumble or rear apartment, calculated for servants or other cheaptravelers. Two-thirds of the roof was covered with a tun or two ofbaggage and merchandise; and in front of this, behind and above thedriver's seat, is the _banquette_, a single seat across the top, calculated to hold four persons, with a chaise top to be thrown back infine weather and a glass front to be let down by night or in case ofrain. I chose my seat here, as affording the best possible view of thecountry. At 8 P. M. Precisely, the driver cracked his whip, and fourgood horses started our lumbering vehicle at a lively pace on the roadto Turin, some two hundred miles away in the south-east. 

The road from Lyons to the frontier is one of the best in the world, andtraverses a level, fertile, productive country. I should say that Grass, Wheat and the Vine are the chief staples. A row of trees adorns eitherside of the road most of the way, not the trim, gaunt, limblessskeletons which are preferred throughout Central France, butwide-spreading, thrifty shade-trees, which I judged in the darkness tobe mainly Black Walnut, with perhaps a sprinkling of Chestnut, &c. Through this noble avenue, we rattled on at a glorious pace, a row ofsmall bells jingling from each horse, and no change of teams consumingmore than two minutes, until we reached the little village on the Frenchside of the boundary between France and Savoy, some fifty miles fromLyons. Here our Passports were taken away for scrutiny and _visé_, andwe were compelled to wait from 2½ till 5 o'clock, as the Sardinianofficers of customs would not begin to examine our baggage till thelatter hour. At 5 we crossed the little, rapid river (a tributary of theRhone) which here divides the two countries, a French and a Sardiniansentinel standing at either end of the bridge. We drove into the courtof the custom-house, dismounted, had our baggage taken off and into therude building, where half a dozen officers and attendants soon appearedand went at it. They searched rigidly, but promptly, carefully and likegentlemen. In half an hour we were pronounced all right; our diligencewas reloaded, and, our passports having been returned, we rattled out ofthe village and on our way, in the sunshine of as bright a June morningas I ever hope to enjoy. 

France is a land of plains, and glades, and gentle acclivities; Savoy isa country of mountains. They rose before and around us from the momentof our crossing the boundary--grim, rugged and precipitous, they formeda striking contrast to all of Europe I had hitherto seen. Throughout theday and night following, we were rarely or never out of sight ofsnow-covered peaks; nay, I have not yet lost sight of them, since theyare distinctly visible in the clear Italian atmosphere from the streetsof this sunny metropolis, at a distance of some thirty miles north. Ourroute lay through Savoy for about a hundred miles, and not one acre inthirty within sight of it can ever be plowed. Yet the mountains are ingood part composed of limestone, so that the narrow, sheltered valleysare decidedly fertile; and the Vine is often made to thrive on thesteep, rocky hill sides, where the plow could not be forced below thesurface, and where an ox could not keep his footing. Every inch ofground that can be, is cultivated; little patches of Wheat, or Grass, orVines are got in wherever there is a speck of soil, though no largerthan a cart-body; and far up the sides of steep mountains, wherever aspot is found so moderately inclined that soil will lie on it, thereGrass at least is grown. 

Human Labor, in such a region, fully peopled, is very cheap and not veryefficient. The grape is the chief staple and Wine must be the principaland probably is the only export, at least one third of the arable soilbeing devoted to the Vine. Wheat is pretty extensively sown and is nowheading very thriftily, but I suspect the average size of the patches isnot above a quarter of an acre each. The Grass is good; and not much ofit cut yet. Indian Corn and Potatoes are generally cultivated, but indeplorable ignorance of their nature. At least four times the properquantity of seed is put in the ground, neither Corn nor Potatoes beingallowed more than eighteen inches between the rows, making the labor ofcultivation very great and the chance of a good yield none at all. 

I think I saw quite as many women as men at work in the fieldsthroughout Savoy. A girl of fourteen driving a yoke of oxen attached toa cart, walking barefoot beside the team and plying the goadstick, whilea boy of her own age lay idly at length in the cart, is one of myliveliest recollections of Savoyard ways. Nut-brown, unbonneted women, hoeing corn with an implement between an adze and a pick-axe (and not abad implement, either, for so rugged an unplowed soil), women drivinghogs, cows, &c. , to or from market, we encountered at every turn. Somuch hard, rough work and exposure are fatal to every trace of beauty, and I do not remember to have seen a woman in Savoy even moderatelygood-looking, while many were absolutely revolting. That this is notNature's fault is proved by the general aspect of the children, who, though swarthy, have often good forms and features. 

We drove down into CHAMBERY, the capital of ancient Savoy, about 9 A. M. This is a town of some fifteen thousand inhabitants, pleasantly situatedin the valley of a much larger tributary of the Rhone than that we crossedat the boundary, and with a breadth of arable soil of perhaps two milesbetween the mountains. No where else in Savoy did we traverse a valleyeven half a mile wide for any distance. Here is an old ducal palace, withfine spacious grounds, shrubbery, &c. The road from Geneva and the Bathsof Aix to Turin comes down this valley and here intersects that from Lyons. We were allowed twenty-five minutes for breakfast, which would have beenvery well but that the time required for cooking most of the breakfast hadto come out of it. 

There was enough and good enough to eat, and (as usual throughout allthis region) Wine in abundance without charge, but Tea, Coffee orChocolate must be ordered and paid for extra. Even so, I was unable toobtain a cup of Chocolate, the excuse being that there was not time tomake it. I did not understand, therefore, why I was charged more thanothers for breakfast; but to talk English against French or Italian isto get a mile behind in no time, so I pocketed the change offered me andcame away. On the coach, however, with an Englishman near me who hadtraveled this way before and spoke French and Italian, I ventured toexpose my ignorance as follows:

"Neighbor, why was I charged three francs for breakfast, and the rest ofyou but two and a half?"

"Don't know--perhaps you had Tea or Coffee. "

"No, Sir--don't drink either. "

"Then perhaps you washed your face and hands. "

"Well, it would be just like me. "

"O, then, that's it! The half franc was for the basin and towel. "

"Ah, _oui, oui_. " So the milk in _that_ cocoa-nut was accounted for. 

Our road, though winding constantly among mountains, was by no means arugged one. On the contrary, I was surprised to find it so nearly level. Three or four times during the day we came to a hard hill, and usually ayoke of oxen, an extra horse or span, stood at the foot, ready to hitchon and help us up. Of course, we were steadily rising throughout, but sogradually and on so capital a road as to offer little impediment to ourprogress. A better road made of earth I never expect to see. Every mileof it is plainly under constant supervision, and any defect is instantlyrepaired. The only exception to its excellence is caused by thevillages, which occur at an average of ten miles apart, and consist eachof fifty to two hundred poor dwellings, mainly of stone, huddledchaotically together along the two sides of the road, which is twistedand turned by them in every direction, and often crowded into a width ofnot more than eight or ten feet. It is absolutely impossible that twocarriages should pass each other in these narrow, crooked lanes, anddangerous for even a pedestrian to stand outside of a house while thediligence is threading one of these gorges. 

There is no town except Chambery on the whole route from Lyons to Turin;but we passed about noon through a village in which a Fair wasproceeding. I did not suspect that two thousand people could live withinten miles of the spot; yet I think fully two thousand were herecollected, with half as many cows, asses, hogs, &c. , which had beenbrought hither for sale, and about which they were jabbering andgesticulating. Dealers in coarse chip hats and a few kindred fabricswere also present; but it looked as if sellers were more abundant andeager than buyers. It was only by great effort and by the mostexemplary patience that our driver and guard were enabled to clear theroad so that we passed through without inflicting any injury. 

Wilder and narrower was the gorge, nearer and bleaker rose themountains, steeper and more palpable became the ascent, keener andcrisper grew the air, as the evening fell upon us pursuing our deviousway. The valleys were not only insignificant but widely separated bytracts through which the road had with difficulty and at much expensebeen cut out of the mountain side without infringing on the impetuoustorrent that tumbled and foamed by our side; and even where littlevalleys or glens still existed it was clear that Nature no longerresponded with alacrity and abundance to the summons of human industry. The Vine no longer clung to the steep acclivities; the summer foliage ofthe lower valleys had given place to dark evergreens where shrubberycould still find foot-hold and sustenance. The snow no longer skulkedtimorously behind the peaks of distant mountains, showing itself only ontheir northern declivities, but stood out boldly, unblenchingly on allsides, and seemed within a musket-shot of our path. From slightdepressions in the brows of the overhanging cliffs, streamlets leapedhundreds of feet in silvery recklessness, falling in feathery foam byour side. I think I saw half a dozen of these cascades within a distanceof three miles. 

At length, near ten o'clock, we reached the foot of Mount Cenis, wheresinuosity of course could avail us no further. We must now face themusic. Our five tired horses were exchanged for eight fresh ones, and wecommenced the slow, laborious ascent of some six or eight miles. Humanhabitations had already become scattered and infrequent; but we passedthree or four in ascending the mountain. Their inmates of course liveupon the travel, in one way or another, for Sterility is here theinexorable law. Yet our ascent was not so steep as might be expected, being modified, when necessary, by zig-zags from one direction or oneside of the chasm we followed to the other. The horses were stopped tobreathe but once only; elsewhere for three hours or more they pursuedtheir firm, deliberate, decided, though slow advance. The shrubberydwindled as we ascended and at length disappeared, save in the shelteredgorges; the snow came nearer and spread over still larger spaces; atlength, it lay in heavy beds or masses, half melted into ice, just bythe side of the road and on its edge, though I think there was noneactually under the wheels. Finally, a little before one o'clock, wereached the summit, and the moon from behind the neighboring cliff burstupon us fully two hours high. Two or three houses stood here for the useof travelers; around them nothing but snow and the naked planet. Beforeus lay the valley of the Po, the great plain of Upper Italy. 

Six of our horses were here detached and sent back to the Savoy base ofthe mountain, while with the two remaining we commenced our rapid anddashing descent. Mount Cenis is decidedly steeper on this side than onthe other; it is only surmounted by a succession of zig-zags so neareach other that I think we traveled three miles in making a directprogress of one, during which we must have descended some 1, 500 feet. Daylight found us at the foot with the level plain before us, and at 8o'clock, A. M. We were in Turin. 

XXI. 

SARDINIA--ITALY--FREEDOM. 

 GENOA (Italy), June 22, 1851. 

The Kingdom of Sardinia was formed, after the overthrow of Napoleon, bythe union of Genoa and its dependencies, with the former Kingdom ofPiedmont and Savoy including the island of Sardinia, to whose longexiled Royal house was restored a dominion thus extended. That dominionhas since stood unchanged, and may be roughly said to embrace theNorth-Western fourth of Italy, including Savoy, which belongsgeographically to Switzerland, but which forms a very strong barrieragainst invasion from the side of France. Savoy is almost entirelywatered by tributaries of the Rhone, and so might be said to belongnaturally to France rather than to Italy, regarding the crests of theAlps as the proper line of demarcation between them. Its trade, small atany rate, is of necessity mainly with France; very slightly, save on theimmediate sea-coast, with Genoa or Piedmont. Its language is French. Though peopled nearly to the limit of its capacity, the whole number ofits inhabitants can hardly exceed Half a Million, nine-tenths of itsentire surface being covered with sterile, intractable mountains. Savoymust always be a poor country, with inconsiderable commerce ormanufactures (for though its water-power is inexhaustible, its means ofcommunication must ever be among the worst), and seems to have beencreated mainly as a barrier against that guilty ambition which impelsrulers and chieftains to covet and invade territories which reject andresist their sway. Alas that the Providential design, though sopalpable, should be so often disregarded! Doubtless, the lives lost fromage to age by mere hardship, privation and exposure, during the passageof invading armies through Savoy, would outnumber the whole presentpopulation of the country. 

Descending the Alps to the east or south into PIEDMONT, a new world liesaround and before you. You have passed in two hours from the Arcticcircle to the Tropics--from Lapland to Cuba. The snow-crested mountainsare still in sight, and seem in the clear atmosphere to be very near youeven when forty or fifty miles distant, but you are traversing a spaciousplain which slopes imperceptibly to the Po, and is matched by one nearlyas level on the other side. This great plain of upper Italy, with the Poin its center, commences at the foot of the lower Alps very near theMediterranean, far west of Turin and of Genoa, and stretches across thewidest portion of the peninsula till it is lost in the Adriatic. Thewestern half of this great valley is Piedmont; the eastern is Lombardy. Its fertility and facility of cultivation are such that even Italianunthrift and ignorance of Agriculture are unable to destroy the formeror nullify the latter. I never saw better Wheat, Grass, and Barley, thanin my journey of a hundred miles across this noble valley of the Po, orPiedmont, and the Indian Corn, Potatoes, &c. , are less promising onlybecause of the amazing ignorance of their requirements evinced bynine-tenths of the cultivators. In the first place, the land is not plowedhalf deep enough; next, most of it is seldom or never manured; thirdly, itis planted too late; and fourthly, three or four times as much seed isplanted as should be. I should judge that twenty seed potatoes, or kernelsof corn, to each square yard is about the average, while five of either isquite enough. Then both, but especially Corn, are hilled up, sugar-loaffashion, until the height of each hill is about equal to its breadth atthe base, so that two days' hot sun dries the hill completely through, while there is no soil a foot from each stalk for its roots to run in. From such perverse cultivation, a good yield is impossible. There has beenno rain of consequence here for some weeks, whence Wheat and Barley areripening too rapidly, while Corn, Potatoes and Vegetables suffer severelyfrom drouth, when with deeper plowing and rational culture everythingwould have been verdant and flourishing. Yet this great plain in someparts is and in most might be easily and bountifully irrigated from theinnumerable mountain streams which traverse it on their way to the Po. Inever saw another region wherein a few Sub-soil Plows, with men qualifiedto use them and to set forth the nature and advantages of skillfulcultivation generally, are so much wanted as in Piedmont. 

The Vine is of course extensively cultivated in Piedmont, as everywherein Italy, but not so universally as in the hilly, rocky region extendingfrom the great valley to this city (some thirty or forty miles). Thishas a warm though a thin soil, which must be highly favorable to theVine to induce so exclusive a devotion to it. I think half of the arablesoil I saw between this and Arquata, where the plain and (for thepresent) the Railroad stop, and the hills and the diligence begin, wasdevoted to the Grape; while from the steeple of the Carignani Church, which I ascended last evening, the semi-circle of towering, recedinghill-sides which invests Genoa landward, seems covered with the Vine, and even the Gardens within the town are nearly given up to it. The Fig, the Orange, the Almond, are also native here or in the vicinity. 

This kingdom is to-day, after France, the chief point of interest incontinental Europe for lovers of Human Liberty. Three years ago, underthe impulse of the general uprising of the Nations, its rulers enteredupon a course of policy in accordance with the wants and demands of theage, and that policy is still adhered to, though meantime the generalaspect of affairs is sadly changed, and Sardinia herself has experiencedthe sorest reverses. The weak, unstable King whose ambition firstconspired to throw her into the current of the movement for theliberation of Italy, has died defeated and broken-hearted, but his wiserson and heir has taken his stand deliberately and firmly on the liberalside, and cannot be driven from his course. His policy, as proclaimed inhis memorable Speech from the Throne on the assembling of the presentChambers, is "to rear Free Institutions in the midst of surroundingruins. " A popular Assembly, in which the Ministry have seats, directsand supervises the National Policy, which is avowedly and efficientlydirected toward the vigorous prosecution of Reforms in every department. Absolute Freedom in matters of Religion has already been established, and the long crushed and persecuted Vaudois or Waldenses rejoice in thebrighter day now opening before them. Their simple worship is not onlyauthorized and protected in their narrow, secluded Alpine valleys, butit is openly and regularly conducted also in Turin, the metropolis, where they are now endeavoring to erect a temple which shall fitly setforth the changed position of Protestantism in Northern Italy. They arestill few and poor, and will apply to their brethren in America forpecuniary aid, which I trust will be granted expressly on condition thatthe church thus erected shall be open, when not otherwise required, toany Protestant clergyman who produces ample testimonials of his goodstanding with his own denomination at home. Such a church in Turin wouldbe of incalculable service to the cause of Human Emancipation from theshackles of Force, Prescription and Tradition throughout Italy and theEastern World. 

The Freedom of the Press is established in this kingdom, yet no singlejournal of the Reäctionist type is issued, because there is no demandfor one. The only division of political sentiment is that whichseparates the more impetuous Progressives, or avowed Democrats, from thelarger number (apparently) who believe it wiser and safer to hold fastby King and Constitution, especially since the Monarch is among the mostzealous and active in the cause of Progress and Reform. I think theseare right, though their opponents have ample justification in History, even the most recent, for their distrust of the liberal professions andseemings of Royalty. But were the King and all his House to abdicate andleave the country to-morrow, I believe that would be a disastrous stepfor Sardinia and for Human Liberty. For this kingdom is almost walled inby enemies--Austria, Tuscany, Rome (alas!) and Naples--all intenselyhating it and seeking its downfall because of the Light and Hope whichits policy and its example are diffusing among the nations. With thePope it is directly at variance, on questions of contested jurisdictiondeemed vital alike by the Spiritual and the Temporal power; and repeatedefforts at adjustment have only resulted in repeated failures. This feudis of itself a source of weakness, since ninety-nine in every hundred ofthe population are at least nominally Roman Catholic, and the great massof the Peasantry intensely so, while the Priesthood naturally side withthe Ecclesiastical as against the Political contestant. And behindAustria, notoriously hostile to the present policy of Sardinia, standsthe black, colossal shadow of the Autocrat, with no power east of theRhine and the Adriatic able or willing to resist him, and only waitingfor an excuse to pour his legions over the sunny plains of SouthernEurope. A Democratic Revolution in Sardinia, no matter how peacefullyeffected, would inevitably, while France is crippled as at present, bethe signal (as with Naples and Spain successively some twenty-five tothirty years ago) for overwhelming invasion in the interest and by theforces of utter Despotism. Well-informed men believe that if the presentKing were to abdicate to-morrow, he would immediately be chosenPresident by an immense majority of the People. 

Yet there is an earnest, outspoken Democratic party in Sardinia, andthis city is its focus. Genoa, in fact, has never been reconciled to thedecree which arbitrarily merged her political existence in that of thepresent Kingdom. She fondly cherishes the recollection of her ancientopulence, power and glory, and remembers that in her day of greatnessshe was the center and soul of a Republic. Hence her Revolutionarystruggle in 1848; hence the activity and boldness of her Republicanpropaganda now. To see Italy a Federal Republic, whereof Piedmont, Savoy, Genoa and Sardinia should be separate and sovereign States, alongwith Venice, Lombardy, Tuscany, Rome, Naples, &c. , would best satisfyher essential aspirations. 

Yet Genoa is clearly benefited by her present political connection. Fromher lovely bay, she looks out over the Mediterranean, Corsica, Sardinia, Africa and the Levant, but has scarcely a glimpse of the continent ofItaly. No river bears its products to her expectant wharves; only themost insignificant mill-streams brawl idly down to her harbor and theadjacent shore; steep, naked mountains rise abruptly behind her, scarcely allowing room for her lofty edifices and narrow streets; whilefrom only a few miles back the waters are hurrying to join the Po and beborne away by that rapid, unnavigable stream to the furthest limit ofItaly. No commercial City was ever more hardly dealt with by Nature onthe land side than Genoa; no one ever stood more in need of intimatepolitical connections suggestive of and cemented by works of Internalimprovement. These she is now on the point of securing. A very tolerableRailroad has already been constructed from Turin to Arquata, someseventy miles on the way to Genoa, and the remaining thirty odd milesare now under contract, to be completed in 1852. The portionconstructed was easy, while the residue is exceedingly difficult, following the valleys of impetuous mountain torrents, which to-daydischarge each minute five gallons and to-morrow five thousandhogsheads. These valleys (or rather clefts) are quite commonly so narrowand their sides so steep and rock-bound that the Railroad track has tobe raised several feet on solid masonry to preserve it from being washedaway by the floods which follow every violent or protracted rain. Expensive arches to admit the passage of the streams whenever crossed, and of the roads, are also numerous, so that these thirty miles, inspite of the abundance and cheapness of Labor here, will cost at leastThree Millions of Dollars. Yet the road will pay when in full operation, and will prove a new day-spring of prosperity to Genoa. From Turin, branches or feeders will run to the Alps in various directions, benefiting that city considerably, but Genoa infinitely more, sincenine-tenths of the produce even of Piedmont will run past Turin, withoutunloading, to find purchasers and exporters here. A coal-mine of promisehas just been discovered at Aosta, at the foot of the Alps, to which oneof these branches is to be constructed. Genoa is now jealous of Turin'spolitical ascendency, which is just as sensible as would be jealousy ofAlbany on the part of New-York. Even already, though it has not comenear her, the Railroad is sensibly improving her trade and industry; andwhenever it shall have reached her wharves every mile added to itsextent or to that of any of its branches will add directly and largelyto the commerce and wealth of this city. In time this Road will connectwith those of France and Germany, by a tunnel through some one of theAlps (Mount Cenis is now under consideration), but, even without that, whenever it shall have reached the immediate base of the Alps on thisside and been responded to by similar extensions of the French andRhine-valley Railroads on the other, Genoa will supplant Marseilleswhile continuing preferable to Trieste as the point of embarkation forCairo and Suez on the direct route from England and Paris for India, China and Southern Asia generally, and can only be superseded in thatpreëminence by a railroad running hence or from Lake Maggiore and Milandirect to Naples or Salerno--a work of whose construction through somany petty and benighted principalities there is no present probability. 

Still, Sardinia has very much before her unaccomplished. She needs firstof all things an efficient and comprehensive system of PopularEducation. With the enormous superabundance of Sixty Thousand Priestsand other Ecclesiastics to a generally poor population of Four Millions, she has not to-day five thousand teachers, good, bad and indifferent, ofelementary and secular knowledge. These black-coated gentry fairlyovershadow the land with their shovel hats, so that Corn has no fairchance of sunshine. The Churches of this City alone must have cost TenMillions of Dollars--for you cannot walk a hundred steps without passingone; and the wealth lavished in their construction and adornment exceedsall belief--while all the common school-houses in Genoa would not bringfifty thousand dollars. The best minds of the country are now ponderingthe urgent necessity of speedily establishing a system of efficientPopular Education. 

But the Nation is deeply in debt, and laboring under heavy burdens. ItsIndustry is inefficient, its Commerce meager, its Revenues slender, while the imminent peril of Austrian invasion compels the keeping up ofan Army of Fifty Thousand effective men ready to take the field at amoment's warming. But for the notorious and active hostility ofthree-fourths of Continental Europe to the liberal policy of its rulers, Sardinia might dispense with three-fourths of this force and save itsheavy cost for Education and Internal Improvement. As things are, womenmust toil in the fields while Physical and Mental Improvement must waitin order that the Nation may sustain in virtual idleness Fifty ThousandSoldiers and Sixty Thousand Priests. 

Yet mighty are the blessings of Freedom, even under the greatestdisadvantages. Turin is now increasing in Industry and Population with arapidity unknown to its former history. Looking only at the newbuildings just erected or now in progress, you might mistake it for anAmerican city. Unless checked by future wars, Turin will double itspopulation between 1850 and 1860. Genoa has but recently and partiallyfelt the new impulse, yet even here the march of improvement is visible. Three years more of peace will witness the substitution for its longperiod of stagnation and decay of an activity surpassed by that of nocity in Europe. 

Turin is eligibly located and well built, most of the houses beinglarge, tall, and the walls of decided strength and thickness; but Genoais even superior in most respects if not in all. I never saw so manychurches so admirably constructed and so gorgeously, laboriouslyornamented as the half dozen I visited yesterday and this morning. Myguide says there are sixty churches in Genoa (a city about the size ofBoston, though with fewer houses and a much smaller area than Brooklyn), and that they are nearly all built and adorned with similar if not equaldisregard of cost. A modest, graceful monument to Christopher Columbus, the Genoese discoverer of America, was one of the first structures thatmet my eye on entering the city, and an eating-house in the square ofthe chief theater is styled "Café Restaurant à l'Immortel Chr. Columbo, "or something very near that. I never before saw so many admirablespecimens of costly and graceful architecture as have arrested myattention in wandering through the streets of Genoa. At least half thehouses were constructed for the private residences of "merchant princes"in the palmy days of "Genoa the Superb, " and their wealth would seem tohave been practically boundless. The "Hotel de Londres, " in which Iwrite, was originally a convent, and no house in New-York can vie withit in the massiveness of its walls, the hight of its ceilings, &c. Mybed-room, appropriately furnished, would shame almost any Americanparlor or drawing-room. All around me testifies of the greatness thathas been; who shall say that it is not soon to return? The narrowstreets (very few of them passable by carriages) and uneven ground-plotare the chief drawbacks on this magnificence; but the city rises soregularly and gracefully from the harbor as to seem like a gloriousamphitheater, and the inequality, so wearisome to the legs, is a beautyand a pleasure to the eye. It gives, besides, opportunity for the finestArchitectural triumphs. The Carignani Church is approached by a massivebridge thrown across a ravine, from which you look down on the tops ofseven-story houses, and I walked this morning in a public garden whichlooks down into a private one some sixty feet below it. Theperpendicular stone wall which separates these gardens is at least fivefeet thick at the top, and must have cost an immense sum; but in factthe whole city has been three times completely walled in, and the latestand most extensive of these walls is still in good condition, and wassuccessfully defended by Massena in the siege of 1800, until Faminecompelled him to surrender. May that stand recorded to the end of humanhistory as the last siege of Genoa!

XXII. 

[This letter, written and mailed at Leghorn on the 24th, has never cometo hand, having been entrusted to the tender mercies of the _French_mail which was to leave Leghorn next day by steamer for Marseilles, andthence be taken, via Paris, to Havre, and by steamship to this city. Thewretched old apology for a steamship whereon I had reached Leghorn (80miles) in eighteen hours from Genoa may not yet have completed herreturn passage between those ports, though I think she has; but whetherher officers know enough to receive and deliver a Mail-bag isexceedingly doubtful. If they did, I see not how my letter can have beenstopped this side of Marseilles. I remember that it did particularjustice to French Government steamships in the Mediterranean and toAmerican Consuls in Italy, showing how our traveling countrymen arecrucified between the worthlessness of the former and the rapacity ofthe latter. Our Consuls may well rejoice that said Letter XXII. Comes upmissing, and perhaps the Tuscan Police has cause to join in theirexultation. 

This letter also gave some account of Leghorn, a well-built modern city, the only port of Tuscany, situated on a flat or marsh scarcely raisedabove the surface of the Mediterranean, and containing some 80, 000inhabitants. It has few or no antiquities, and not much to attract atraveler's attention. 

Some thirty miles inland in a north-easterly direction, is _Pisa_, oncea very wealthy and powerful emporium of commerce, now a decaying inlandtown of no political importance, with perhaps 30, 000 inhabitants. Itlies on both sides of the Arno, several miles from the sea, and Ipresume the river-bed has been considerably filled or choked up bysediment and rains since the days of Pisa's glory and power. Herwonderful Leaning Tower is worthy of all the fame it has acquired. It isa beautiful structure, though owing its dignity, doubtless, to somedefect in its foundation or construction. The Cathedral of Pisa is abeautiful edifice, most gorgeous in its adornments, and with by far thefinest galleries I ever saw. Near these two structures is an extensiveburial-place full of sculptures and inscriptions in memory of the dead, some of them 2500 years old, and thence reaching down to the presentday. Had I not extended my trip to Rome, I should have brought home farmore vivid and lasting impressions of Pisa, which has nevertheless anabiding niche in my memory. 

The day before my visit was the anniversary of the Patron Saint of Pisa, which is celebrated every fourth year with extraordinary pomp andfestivity. This time, I was informed, the fire-works exploded at thepublic charge, in honor of this festival, cost over $100, 000, thoughPisa _cannot afford_ to sustain Free Common Schools, or make anyprovision for the Education of her Children. Of course, she can affordto die, or is certain to do it, whether she can afford it or not. Pisais located on a beautiful and fertile plain, and is surrounded bygardens, with fruit and ornamental trees; but much of the soil betweenit and Leghorn is the property of the Grand Duke of Tuscany, who keepsit entirely in grass, affording subsistence to extensive and beautifulherds of Cattle, whence he derives a large income, being the chiefmilk-seller in his own dominions. So, at least, I was informed. ]

XXIII. 

FIRST DAY IN THE PAPAL STATES. 

 ROME, Thursday, June 26, 1851. 

I left Leghorn night before last in the French steamer Languedoc, whichcould not obtain passengers in America, but is accounted one of the bestboats on the Mediterranean. The fare to Civita Vecchia (125 miles) was40 francs, but 4 added for dinner (without saying "By your leave") madeit $825. There were perhaps twenty-five passengers, mainly for Naples, but eight or ten for Civita Vecchia and Rome, although it is everywheresaid that "Nobody goes to Rome at this season, " meaning nobody that isanybody--none who can afford to go when they would choose. The night wasfair; the sea calm; we left Leghorn at 6 (nominally 5) and reachedCivita Vecchia about 5 next morning; but were kept on board waiting thepleasure of the Police until about 7, when we were graciously permittedto land, our Passports having been previously sent on shore forinspection. No steamboat in these waters is allowed to come alongside ofthe wharf; so we paid a franc each for being rowed ashore; then as muchmore to the porters who carried our baggage on their backs to thecustom-house, where a weary hour was spent in overhauling and sealingit, so that it need not be overhauled again on entering the gate ofRome. For this service a trifle only was exacted from each. Meantime a"commissionaire" had gone after our Passports, for which we paid firstthe charge of the Papal Police, which I think was about three francs;then for the _visé_ of our several Consuls, we Americans a dollar each, which (though but half what is charged by our Consuls at other Italianports) is more than is charged by those of any other nation. Then camethe charge of our "commissionaire" for his services. We took breakfast;but that, though a severe, was not a protracted infliction; hired placesin the Diligence (13 francs in the _coupé_, 10 in the body of thestage), and at half-past 10 were to have been on our way to Rome. Butthe start was rather late, and on reaching the gates of that wretchedvillage, which seems to subsist mainly on such petty swindles as I havehastily described, our Passports, which had been thrice scrutinized thatmorning within sixty rods, had to run the gauntlet again. I do notremember paying for this, but while detained by it the ostlers from thestables of our Diligence were all upon us, clamoring for money. I thinkthey got little. But we changed horses thrice on the way to Rome, andeach postillion was down upon us for money, and out of all patience withthose passengers who attempted to put him off with copper. 

Aside from those engaged in fleecing us as aforesaid, I saw but threesorts of men in Civita Vecchia--or rather, men pursuing three severalavocations--those of Priests, Soldiers and Beggars. Some united two ofthese callings. A number of brown, bare-headed, wretched-looking womenwere washing clothes in the hot sun of the sea-side, but I saw no traceof masculine industry other than what I have described. The place issaid to contain 7, 000 inhabitants, but I think there is scarcely agarden outside its walls. 

Half the way thence to Rome, the road runs along the shore of theMediterranean, through a naturally fertile and beautiful champaigncountry, once densely peopled and covered with elegant structures, thehomes of intelligence, refinement and luxury. Now there is not a garden, scarcely a tree, and not above ten barns and thirty human habitations insight throughout the whole twenty-five miles. Such utter desolation andwaste, in a region so eligibly situated, can with difficulty be realizedwithout seeing it. I should say it can hardly here be unhealthy, withthe pure Mediterranean directly on one side, the rugged hills but two tofive miles distant on the other, and the plain between very much lessmarshy than the corresponding district of New-Jersey stretching alongthe coast from New-York to Perth Amboy. A few large herds of neat cattleare fed on these plains, considerable grass is cut, and some summergrain; but stables for post-horses at intervals of five or six miles, with perhaps as many dilapidated stone dwellings and a few wretchedherdsmen's huts of straw or rubbish, are all the structures in sight, save the bridges of the noble "Via Aurelia" which we traversed, theruins of some of the stately edifices once so abundant here, and themile-stones. There is not even one tavern of the half dozen pretendersto the name between Civita Vecchia and Rome which would be consideredtolerable in the least civilized portion of Arkansas or Texas. 

Half way to Rome, the road strikes off from the sea, and there ishenceforth more cultivation, more grain, better crops (though all thisland produces excellently both of Wheat and Barley, and of Indian Cornalso where the cultivation is not utterly suicidal), but still there arevery few houses and those generally poor, the wretchedest caricatures oftaverns on one of the great highways of the world, no gardens nor otherevidences of aspiration for comfort and natural beauty, few and raggedtrees, and the very few inhabitants are so squalid, so abject, sobeggarly, that it seems a pity they were not fewer. And this statecontinues, except that the grain-crops grow larger and better, up towithin a mile or two of the gates of Rome, which thus seems anotherPalmyra in the Desert, only that this is a desert of man's making. Ipresume the twenty-five or thirty miles at this end is unhealthy, evenfor natives, but it surely need not be so. All this Campagna, with themore pestilent Pontine Marshes on the south, which are now scourgingRome with their deadly malaria and threaten to render it ultimatelyuninhabitable, were once salubrious and delightful, and might readily bemade so again. If they were in England, Old or New, near a city of thesize of this, they would be trenched, dyked, drained, and reconvertedinto gardens, orchards and model-farms within two years, and coveredwith dwellings, mansions, country-seats, and a busy, energetic, thriftypopulation before 1860. A tenth part of the energy and devotednessdisplayed in the attempts to wrest Jerusalem from the Infidels wouldrescue Rome from a fate not less appalling. 

We ought by contract to have arrived here at half past six last evening;we actually reached the gates at half past eight or a little later. There our Passports were taken from us, and carried into the properoffice; but word came back that all was not right; we must go inpersonally. We did so, and found that what was wanted to make all rightwas money. There was not the smallest pretext for this--no Barbarypirate ever had less--as we were not to get our Passports, but must waittheir approval by a higher authority and then go and pay for it. Wesubmitted to the swindle, however, for we were tired, the hour late, wehad lodgings yet to seek, and the night-air here is said to be veryunwholesome for strangers. This difficulty obviated, another presenteditself. The Custom-House stood on the other side of the street, and wordcame that we were wanted there also, though our slender carpet-bags hadbeen regularly searched and sealed by the Roman functionaries at CivitaVecchia expressly to obviate any pretext for scrutiny or delay here. Nouse--money. By this time, change and patience were getting scarce in ourcompany. We tried to get off cheap; but it wouldn't do. Finally, ratherthan stay out till midnight in the malaria, I put down afive-franc-piece, which was accepted and we were let go. Still forform's sake, our baggage was fumbled over, but not opened, and one ortwo more heads looked in at the window for "_qualche cosa_, " but we gavenothing, and soon got away. 

We had paid thirteen francs each for a ride of fifty miles over acapital road, where horses and feed are abundant, and must be cheap; butnow our postillion came down upon us for more money for taking us to ahotel; and as we could do no better, we agreed to give him four francsto set down four of us (all the Americans and English he had) at onehotel. He drove by the Diligence Office, however, and there three orfour rough customers jumped unbidden on the vehicle, and, when wereached our hotel, made themselves busy with our little luggage, whichwe would have thanked them to let alone. Having obtained it, we settledwith the postillion, who grumbled and scolded though we paid him morethan his four francs. Then came the leader of our volunteer aids, to bepaid for taking down the luggage. I had not a penny of change left, butothers of our company scraped their pockets of a handful of coppers, which the "_facchini_" rejected with scorn, throwing them after us upstairs (I hope they did not pick them up afterwards), and I heard theirimprecations until I had reached my room, but a blessed ignorance ofItalian shielded me from any insult in the premises. Soon my two lightcarpet-bags, which I was not allowed to carry, came up with a freshdemand for porterage. "Don't you belong to the hotel?" "Yes. " "Thenvanish instantly!" I shut the door in his face, and let him growl to hisheart's content; and thus closed my first day in the more especialdominions of His Holiness Pius IX. 

XXIV. 

THE ETERNAL CITY. 

 ROME, Friday, June 27, 1851. 

ROME is mighty even in her desolation. I knew the world had nothing likeher, and yet the impression she has made on me, at the first view, isunexpectedly great. I do not yet feel able to go wandering from onechurch, museum, picture or sculpture gallery to another, from morningtill night, as others do: I need to pause and think. Of course, I shallleave without seeing even a tenth part of the objects of decided interest;but if I should thus be enabled to carry away any clear and abidingimpression of a small part, I shall prefer this to a confused and foggyperception of a greater multiplicity of details. 

That single view of the Eternal City, from the tower of the Capitol, isone that I almost wish I had given up the first day to. The entire ofRome and its inhabited suburbs lies so fully and fairly before the eye, with the Seven Hills, the Coliseum, the Pantheon, the Obelisks, thePillars, the Vatican, the Castle of St. Angelo, the various TriumphalArches, the Churches, &c. , &c. , around you, that it seems the best usethat could be made of one day to simply move from look-out to look-outin that old tower, using the glass for a few moments and then pausingfor reflection. I have half a mind thus to spend one of my threeremaining days. True, the Coliseum will seem vaster close at hand, butfrom no point can it be seen so completely and clearly, in its immensityand its dilapidation combined, as from that. The Tarpeian Rock seems anabsurd fable--its fatal leap the daily sport of infants--but in allancient cities the same glaring discrepancy between ancient and modernaltitudes is presented, and especially, we hear, at Jerusalem. The SevenHills whereon Rome was built are all distinguishable, visible to-day;but they are undoubtedly much lower than at first, while all theintervening valleys have been filling up through centuries. Monkishtraditions say that what is now the basement of the Church of Sts. Peterand Paul (not the modern St. Peter's) was originally on the level of thestreet, and this is quite probable: though I did not so readilylubricate the stories I was told in that basement to-day of St. Peter, Paul and Luke having tenanted this basement, Paul having lived andpreached here for the first two years of his residence in Rome; and whenthey showed me the _altar_ at which St. Paul was wont to minister, Istopped short and didn't _try_ to believe any more. But this soil isthickly sown with marvels and very productive. 

St. Peter's, or at least its Dome, was in sight through the greater partof the last eleven or twelve miles of our journey to the city; from mostother directions it is doubtless visible at a much greater distance. Ihave of course seen the immense structure afar off, as well as glancedat it in passing by night; but I am not yet prepared to comprehend itsvast proportions. I mean to visit it last before leaving Rome, so as tocarry away as unclouded an impression of it as possible. 

Of the three hundred and sixty-five Churches of Rome, I have as yetvisited but four, and may find time to see as many more of the mostnoteworthy. They seem richer in Sculpture, Porphyry, Mosaic, Carving, Tapestry, &c. Than anything elsewhere well can be; but not equal inArchitecture to the finest Churches in Genoa, the Cathedral at Pisa, andI think not externally to Notre Dame at Paris. Indeed, though largeportions of the present Rome are very far from ruinous, and some of themquite modern and fresh-looking, yet the general Architecture of the cityis decidedly inferior to that of Genoa, and I should say even to that ofLeghorn. In making this comparison, I of course leave out of the accountSt. Peter's and the Churches of both cities, and refer mainly to privatearchitecture, in which Rome is not transcendent--certainly not in Italy. The streets here are rather wide for an Italian city but would be deemedintolerably narrow in America. 

As to _Sculpture_ and _Painting_, I am tempted to say that if mankindwere compelled to choose between the destruction of what is in Rome orthat of all the rest in the world, the former should be saved at theexpense of the latter. Adequate conception of the extent, the variety, the excellence of the works of Art here heaped together is impossible. If every house on Broadway were a gallery, the whole six miles of them(counting both sides of the street) might be filled from Rome withPictures, Statues, &c. Of decided merit. 

What little I have seen does not impress me with the superiority ofAncient over Modern Art. Of course, if you compare the dozen best thingsproduced in twenty centuries against a like number chosen from theproductions of the last single century, you will show a superiority onthe part of the former; but that decides nothing. The Capitoline Venusis a paragon, but there is no collection of ancient sculpture which willcompare with the extensive gallery of heads by Canova alone. Whenbenignant Time shall have done his appointed work of covering with thepall of oblivion the worse nineteen twentieths of the productions of themodern chisel, the genuine successes of the Nineteenth Century willshine out clearer and brighter than they now do. So, I trust, withPainting, though I do not know what painter of our age to place on aperilous eminence with Canova as the champion or representative ofModern as compared with Ancient Art. 

It is well that there should be somewhere an Emporium of the Fine Arts, yet not well that the heart should absorb all the blood and leave thelimbs destitute. I think Rome has been grasping with regard to works ofArt, and in some instances unwisely so. For instance, in a singleprivate gallery I visited to-day, there were not less than twentydecidedly good pictures by Anibal Caracci--probably twice as many asthere are in all the world out of Italy. That gallery would scarcelymiss half of these, which might be fully replaced by as many modernworks of equal merit, whereby the gallery and Rome would lose nothing, while the world outside would decidedly gain. If Rome would but considerherself under a sort of moral responsibility to impart as well asreceive, and would liberally dispose of so many of her master-pieces aswould not at all impoverish her, buying in return such as could bespared her from abroad, and would thus enrich her collections bydiversifying them, she would render the cause of Art a signal serviceand earn the gratitude of mankind, without the least prejudice to herown permanent well-being. It is in her power to constitute herself thecenter of an International Art-Union really worthy of the name--toestablish a World's Exhibition of Fine Arts unequaled in character andbeneficence. Is it too much to hope that she will realize or surpassthis conception?

These suggestions, impelled by what I have seen to-day, are at allevents much shorter than I could have made any detailed account of myobservations. I have no qualifications for a critic in Art, and make nopretensions to the character, even had my observations been less hurriedthan they necessarily were. I write only for the great multitude, asill-instructed in this sphere as I cheerfully admit myself, and who yetare not unwilling to learn what impression is made by the treasures ofRome on one like themselves. 

THE COLISEUM. 

 _Evening. _

I spent the forenoon wandering through the endless halls of the Vatican, so far as they were accessible to the public, the more importantgalleries being only open on Monday, and two or three of the very finestnot at all. I fear this restriction will deprive me of a sight of theApollo Belvedere, the Sistine Chapel, and one or two others of theworld's marvels. I know how ungracious it is to "look a gift horse inthe mouth, " and yet, since these works exist mainly to be seen, and asRome derives so large a share of her income from the strangers whomthese works attract to her, I must think it unwise to send any awayregretting that they were denied a sight of the Apollo or of some ofRaphael's master-pieces contained in the Vatican. I know at what vastexpense these works have been produced or purchased, and, though all whovisit Rome are made to pay a great deal indirectly for the privilegesthey enjoy here, yet I wish the Papal Government would frankly exact, asI for one should most cheerfully pay, a fair price for admission to themost admirable and unrivaled collections which are its property. If, forinstance, it would abolish all Passport vexations, encourage the openingof Railroads, and stimulate the establishment of better lines ofDiligences, &c. , so that traveling in the Papal States would cease to betwice as dear and infinitely slower than elsewhere in Italy, in Franceor Germany, and would then charge each stranger visiting Rome on errandsother than religious something like five dollars for all that is to beseen here, taking care to let him see it, and to cut off all privateimportunities for services rendered in showing them, the system would bea great improvement on the present, and the number of strangers in Romewould be rapidly doubled and quadrupled. There might be some calumnyand misrepresentation, but these would very soon be dispelled, and theworld would understand that the Papacy did not seek to make money out ofits priceless treasures, but simply to provide equitably and properlyfor their preservation and due increase. Here, as we all see, haveimmense sums been already spent by this Government in excavating, preserving, and in some cases partially restoring such decayed butinimitable structures as the Coliseum, the Capitol, the variousTriumphal Arches, the Baths of Titus, Caracalla, &c. , all of whichlabors and expenditures we who visit Rome share the benefit, and it isbut the simplest justice that we should contribute to defray the cost, especially when we know that every dollar so paid would be expended incontinuing these excavations, &c. , and in completing the galleries andother modern structures which are already so peerless. Rome is toocommonly regarded as only a ruin, or, more strictly, as deriving all itseminence from the Past, while in fact it has more inestimable treasures, the product of our own century, our own day, than any other city, and Isuspect nearly as many as all the rest of the world. Even the Vatican isstill unfinished; workmen were busy in it to-day, laying additionalfloors of variegated marble, putting up new book-cases, &c. , none ofthem restorations, but all extensions of the Library, which, apart fromthe value of its books and manuscripts, is a unique and masterlyexposition of ancient and modern Art. Here are single Vases, Tables, Frescoes, &c. , which would be the pride of any other city: one largevase of Malachite, a present to Pius IX. From the Russian Autocrat, andunequaled out of Russia, if in the world. I should judge thatthree-fourths of the Frescoes which nearly cover the walls and ceilingof the fifteen or twenty large halls devoted to the Library are lessthan two centuries old. This part of the Vatican is approached through amagnificent corridor, probably five hundred feet long, with an archedceiling entirely inlaid with beautiful Mosaic, and the same iscontinued through another gallery some two hundred feet long, whichleads at right angles from this to another wing of the edifice; but thecorridor leading down this wing, and facing that first named, has anaked, barren-looking ceiling, evidently waiting to be similarly inlaidwhen time and means shall permit. This is but a specimen of what ispurposed throughout; and if the money which visitors leave in Romecould, in some small part at least, be devoted to these works, insteadof being frittered away vexatiously and uselessly on petty extortioners, official and unofficial, the change would be a very great improvement. It does seem a shame that, where so much is necessarily expended, solittle of it should be devoted to those still progressing works, fromwhich are derived all this instruction and intellectual enjoyment. 

Here let me say one word in justice to the princely families of Rome, whose palaces and immense collections of Paintings and Sculptures arealmost daily open to strangers without charge, save the trifle that youchoose to give the attendant who shows you through them. I looked forhours to-day through the ten spacious apartments of the Palace of theOrsini family devoted to the Fine Arts, as I had already done throughthat of the Doria family, and shall to-morrow do through others, anddoubtless might do through hundreds of others--all hospitably open toevery stranger on the simple condition that he shall deport himselfcivilly and refrain from doing any injury to the priceless treasureswhich are thus made his own without the trouble even of taking care ofthem. I know there are instances of like liberality elsewhere; but is itanywhere else the rule? and is it in our country even the exception?What American ever thought of spending half an immense fortune in thecollection of magnificent galleries of Pictures, Statues, &c. , and thenquietly opening the whole to the public without expecting a word ofcompliment or acknowledgment in return?--without being even personallyknown to those whom he thus benefited? We have something to learn ofRome in this respect. Some of the English nobility whom the Press hasshamed into following this munificent example have done it so grudginglyas to deprive the concession of all practical value. By requiring allwho wish to visit their galleries to make a formal written applicationfor the privilege, and await a written answer, they virtually restrictthe favor to persons of leisure, position and education. But in Rome noteven a card nor a name is required; and you walk into a strange privatepalace as if you belonged there, lay down your stick or umbrella, andare shown from hall to hall by an intelligent, courteous attendant, study at will some of the best productions of Claude, Raphael, SalvatorRosa, Poussin, Murillo, &c. , pay two shillings if you see fit, to theattendant, and are thanked for it as if you were a patron; going thenceto another such collection, and so for weeks, if you have time. Ifwealth were always thus employed, it were a pity that great fortunes arenot more numerous. 

But I purpose to speak of the COLISEUM. I will assume that mostof my readers know that this was an immense amphitheater, constructed inthe days of Rome's imperial greatness, used for gladiatorial combats ofmen with ferocious beasts and with each other, and calculated to afforda view of the spectacle to about one hundred thousand persons at once. The circuit of the building is over sixteen hundred feet; the arena inits center is about three hundred and eighty by two hundred and eightyfeet. Most of the walls have fallen for perhaps half their height, though some part of them still retain very nearly their originalaltitude. In the darker ages, after this vast edifice had fallen intoruin, its materials were carried away by thousands and tens of thousandsof tuns to build palaces and churches, and one side of the exterior wallwas actually for ages drawn upon as if it were a quarry. But in lateryears the Papal Government has disbursed thousands upon thousands in theuncovering and preservation of this stupendous ruin, and with theamplest success. The fall of its roof and a great portion of its wallshad filled and buried it with rubbish to a depth of some twenty to fortyfeet, all of which has been taken away, so that the floor of theinterior is now the veritable sand whereon the combatants fought andbled and rendered up their lives, while the forty or fifty entrances foremperors, senators and people, and even the underground passage for theintroduction of the wild beasts, with a part of their cages, are nowpalpable. In some places, restorations have been made where they werenecessary to avert the danger of further dilapidation, but as sparinglyas possible; and, though others think differently, the Coliseum seems tome as majestic and impressive in its utter desolation as it ever couldhave been in its grandeur and glory. 

We were fortunate in the hour of our visit. As we slowly made thecircuit of the edifice, a body of French cavalry were exercising theirhorses along the eastern side of it, while at a little distance, in thegrove or garden at the south, the quick rattle of the drum told of theevolutions of infantry. At length the horsemen rode slowly away to thesouthward, and our attention was drawn to certain groups of Italians inthe interior, who were slowly marching and chanting. We entered, andwere witnesses of a strange, impressive ceremony. It is among thetraditions of Rome that a great number of the early Christians werecompelled by their heathen persecutors to fight and die here asgladiators as a punishment for their contumacious, treasonableresistance to the "lower law" then in the ascendant, which the highpriests and circuit judges of that day were wont in their sermons andcharges to demonstrate that every one was bound as a law-abiding citizento obey, no matter what might be his private, personal convictions withregard to it. Since the Coliseum has been cleared of rubbish, fourteenlittle oratories or places of prayer have been cheaply constructedaround its inner circumference, and here at certain seasons prayers areoffered for the eternal bliss of the martyred Christians of theColiseum. These prayers were being offered on this occasion. Some twentyor thirty men (priests or monks I inferred), partly bare-headed, but asmany with their heads completely covered by hooded cloaks which leftonly two small holes for the eyes, accompanied by a larger number ofwomen, marched slowly and sadly to one oratory, chanting a prayer by theway, setting up their lighted tapers by its semblance of an altar, kneeling and praying for some minutes, then rising and proceeding to thenext oratory, and so on until they had repeated the service before everyone. They all seemed to be of the poorer class, and I presume theceremony is often repeated or the participators would have been muchmore numerous. The praying was fervent and I trust excellent, --as themusic decidedly was not; but the whole scene with the setting sunshining redly through the shattered arches and upon the ruined wall, with a few French soldiers standing heedlessly by, was strangelypicturesque and to me affecting. I came away before it concluded, toavoid the damp night-air; but many chequered years and scenes ofstirring interest must intervene to efface from my memory that sunsetand those strange prayers in the Coliseum. 

XXV. 

ST. PETER'S. 

 ROME, Saturday, June 29, 1851. 

St. Peter's is the Niagara of edifices, having the same relation toother master-pieces of human effort that the great cataract bears toother terrestrial effects of Divine power. In either case, the firstview disappoints, because the perfection of symmetry dims theconsciousness of magnitude, and the total absence of exaggeration in thedetails forbids the conception of vastness in the aggregate. In viewingLondon's St. Paul's, you have a realization of bulk which St. Peter'sdoes not give, yet St. Paul's is but a wart beside St. Peter's. I do notknow that the resemblance has been noticed by others, but thesemi-circle of gigantic yet admirably proportioned pillars whichencloses the grand square in front of St. Peter's reminds me vividly ofthe general conformation of our great water-fall, while the column orobelisk in the center of the square (which column is a mistake, in myhumble judgment, and should be removed) has its parallel in theunsightly tower overlooking the main cataract from the extreme point ofGoat Island. Eternal endurance and repose may be fitly typified by theoceans and snow-crested mountains, but power and energy find their bestexpressions in the cataract and the dome. Time and Genius may produceother structures as admirable in their own way and regarded inconnection with their uses; but, viewed as a temple, St. Peter's willever stand unmatched and unapproachable. 

I chose the early morning for my first visit. The sky was cloudless, asit mainly is here save in winter, but the day was not yet warm, for thesummer nights are cooler here than in New-York, and the current Englishtalk of the excessive heat which prevails in Rome at this season iscalculated to deceive Americans. No one fails to realize from the firstthe great beauty and admirable accessories of this edifice, with thefar-stretching but quite other than lofty pile of the Vatican on itsright and its own magnificent colonnade in front, but you do not feelthat it is lofty, nor spacious, nor anything but perfect. You ascend thesteps, and thus gain some idea of the immense proportions prevailingthroughout; for the church seems scarcely at all elevated above thesquare, and yet many are the steps leading up to the doors. Crossing agrand porch with an arched roof of glorious mosaic, you find yourself inthe body of the edifice, which now seems large and lofty indeed, but byno means unparalleled. But you walk on and on, between opposing pillarsthe grandest the world ever saw, the space at either side between anytwo pillars constituting a separate chapel with its gorgeous altar, itsgrand pictures in mosaic, its sculptured saints and angels, each ofthese chapels having a larger area than any church I ever entered inAmerica; and by the time you have walked slowly and observingly to thefront of the main altar you realize profoundly that Earth has nothingelse to match with St. Peter's. No matter though another church weretwice as large, and erected at a cost of twice the Thirty Millions ofdollars and fifty years expended upon this, St. Peter's would stillstand unrivaled. For every detail is so marvellously symmetrical that noone is dwarfed, no one challenges special attention. Of one hundreddistinct parts, any one by itself would command your profoundestadmiration, but everything around and beyond it is no less excellent, and you soon cease to wonder and remain to appreciate and enjoy. 

I devoted most of the day to St. Peter's, seeing it under many differentaspects, but no other view of the interior is equal to that presented inthe stillness and comparative solitude of the early morning. Thepresence of multitudes does not cloud your consciousness of itsimmensity, for ten thousand persons occupy no considerable portion ofits area and might very easily be present yet wholly invisible to onewho stood just inside the entrance and looked searchingly through thebody of the edifice to find them; but there are usually very few seats, and those for the privileged, so that hundreds are constantly movingfrom place to place through the day, which distracts attention and marsthe feeling of repose and delighted awe which the naked structure iscalculated to inspire. Go very early some bright summer morning, if youwould see St. Peter's in its calm and stately grandeur. 

I ascended to the roof, and thence to the summit of the dome, but, apartfrom a profounder consciousness of the vastness and admirableproportions of the edifice, this is of little worth. True, the entirecity and its suburbs lie clearly and fully beneath and around you; butso they do from the tower of the Capitol. Views from commanding heightsare obtained in almost every city. The ascent, however, as far as theroof, is easier than any other I ever found within a building. Insteadof stairs, here is a circular road, more like the ascent of a mountainthan a Church. One single view is obtained, however, which richlycompensates for the fatigue of the ascent. It is that from the interiorof the dome down into the body of the Church below. The Alps may presentgrander, but I never expect to have another like this. 

Here I had personal evidence of the mean, reckless selfishness wherewithpublic edifices are regarded by too many, and the absolute necessity ofconstant, omnipresent watchfulness to preserve them from wantondilapidation. Five or six French soldiers had been permitted to ascendthe dome just before I did, and came down nearly at the same time withme. As I stood gazing down from this point into the church below, two ofthese soldiers came in on their way down, and one of them, lookingaround to see that no one was present but a stranger, whipped thebayonet he wore out of its sheath, forced the point into the mosaicclose behind as well as above us, pried out one of the square pieces ofagate or some such stone of which that mosaic is composed, put it in hispocket and made off. I had no idea that he would deface the edificeuntil the moment he did it, and then hastily remonstrated, but of coursewithout avail. I looked at the wall on which he operated, and found thattwo or three had preceded him in the same work of paltry but mostoutrageous robbery. Of course, each will boast of his exploit to hiscomrades of kindred spirit, and they will be tempted to imitate it, until the mischief done becomes sufficiently serious to attractattention, and then Nobody will have a serious reckoning to encounter. Afew acts of unobserved rapine as trifling as these may easily occasionsome signal disaster. In an edifice like this, there should be no pointaccessible to visiters unwatched by a faithful guardian even for onehour. 

In the afternoon, I attended the Celebration of High Mass, this beingobserved by the Catholic world as St. Peter's Day, and the Pope himselfofficiating in the great Cathedral. Not understanding the service, Icould not profit by it, and the spectacle impressed me unfavorably. Sucha multiplicity of spears and bayonets seem to me strangely out ofkeeping in a place of worship; if they belong here, why not bring in aregiment of horse and a park of artillery as well? There is ample roomfor them in St. Peter's, and the cavalry might charge and the cannoniersfire a few volleys with little harm to the building, and with greatincrease both to the numbers and interest of the audience. I am notpretending to judge this for others, but simply to state how itnaturally strikes one educated in the simple, sober observances ofPuritan New-England. I have heard of Protestants being converted inRome, but it seems to me the very last place where the great body ofthose educated in really Protestant ways would be likely to undergoconversion. I have seen very much here to admire, and there is doubtlessmany times more such that I have not seen, but the radical antagonism ofCatholic and Protestant ideas, observances and tendencies never beforestood out in a light so clear and strong as that shed upon it by a fewdays in Rome. I obtained admission yesterday to the Sistine Chapel ofthe Vatican, and saw there, among the paintings in fresco, arepresentation of the death of Admiral Coligny at the Massacre of St. Bartholomew; and if this were not intended to express approval of thathorrible massacre, I would like to know what was meant by having itpainted and placed there. 

But to return to St. Peter's. The entrance of the grand procession fromthe Vatican was a very slow process. In its ranks were the Noble Guard, the Swiss Guard, the Cardinals, and many other divisions, each in itsown imposing and picturesque costume. At length came the Pope, seated ina magnificent chair on a raised platform or palanquin, the whole borneon the shoulders of some ten or twelve servitors. This was a capitalarrangement for us strangers, who wished a good view of His Holiness;but I am sure it was very disagreeable to him, and that he would muchrather have walked like the rest. He passed into the church out of mysight, dismounted, and I (having also entered) next saw him approach oneof the altars on the right, where he knelt and silently prayed for someminutes. He was then borne onward to his throne at the further end, andthe service commenced. 

The singing of the Mass was very good. The Pope's reading I did nothear, nor was I near enough even to see him, except fitfully. I thinkthere were more than five thousand persons present, including athousand priests and a thousand soldiers. There would doubtless havebeen many more, but for the fact that a smart shower occurred justbefore and at the hour (5 o'clock), while no public notice had beengiven that the Pope would officiate. 

In the evening, St. Peter's and its accessories were illuminated--by farthe most brilliant spectacle I ever saw. All was dark and silent till, at the first stroke of the bell, light flashed from a hundred thousandburners, and the entire front of the Church and Dome, up to the verysummit of the spire, was one magnificent galaxy, while the double row ofgigantic pillars or columns surrounding the square was in like mannerradiant with jets of flame. I thought the architecture of St. Peter'sRome's greatest glory when I had only seen it by daylight, yet it nowseemed more wondrous still. The bells rang sweetly and stirringlythroughout the evening, and there was a like illumination on the summitof the Pincian Hill, while most of the shops and dwellings displayed atleast one row of burning candles, and bonfires blazed brightly in thestreets, which were alive with moving, animated groups, while the squareof St. Peter's and the nearest bridges over the Tiber were black withexcited thousands. To-night we have fire-works from the Pincian in honorof St. Peter, which would be thought in New England an odd way ofhonoring an Apostle, especially on Sunday evening; but whether Rome orBoston is right on this point is a question to be pondered. 

_P. S. Monday. _--I did not see the Fire-Works last evening, but almostevery one else in Rome did, and the unanimous verdict pronounces themadmirable--extraordinary. Great preparations had been made, and thesuccess must have been perfect to win so general and hearty acommendation. The display was ushered in by a rousing salute ofartillery; but this was not needed to assemble in and around the Piazzadel Popolo all the population of Rome that could be spared from theirhomes. The Piazza is the great square of Rome, in front of the PincianHill, whence the rockets, wheels, stars, serpents, &c. , were let off. The display was not concluded till after 10 o'clock. 

This day I have devoted to famous private galleries of Paintings andSculpture, having been again disappointed in attempting to gain a sightof the Apollo Belvedere and Picture Gallery of the Vatican. The time foropening these treasures to the public has lately been changed from 10A. M. To noon, and they are only open regularly on Mondays; sothat I was there a little before noon to be ready; but after waiting(with many others) a full hour, in front of an inexorable gate, withoutbeing able to learn why we were shut out or when the embargo wouldcease, I grew weary of the uncertainty and waste of time, and left. Alittle past 1 (I now understand), the gate was opened, but too late forme, as I did not return, and leave Rome for Florence to-morrow. Had thesimplest notice been given that such a delay would take place, or hadthe officers at the gates been able to give any information, I shouldhave had different luck. "They manage these things better in France. "

XXVI. 

THE ROMANS OF TO-DAY. 

 ROME, Monday, June 30, 1851. 

The common people of Rome generally seem to me an intelligent, vivaciousrace, and I can readily credit the assurance of well-informed friendsthat they are mentally superior to most other Italians. It may be deemedstrange that any other result should be thought possible, since the veryearth around them, with all it bears, is so vivified with the spirit ofHeroism, of Genius, and of whatever is most memorable in History. Butthe legitimate influences of Nature, of Art, and of Ancestry, are oftenoverborne by those of Institutions and Laws, as is now witnessed on allthe eastern and southern coasts of the Mediterranean, and I was ratherdisappointed in finding the present Romans a race of fully averagecapacities, intellectual and physical. A face indicating mentalimbecility, or even low mediocrity, is very rarely met in those streetswhere the greater portion of the Romans seem to work and live. The womenare brown, plain, bare-headed, and rather careless of personalappearance, but ready at repartee, self-possessed, energetic, withflashing eyes and countenances often indicating a depth of emotion andcharacter. I do not think such pictures as abound in Rome could havebeen painted where the women were common-place and unideal. 

But all with whom I can converse, and who are qualified to speak byresidence in the country, give unfavorable accounts of the moralqualities of the Romans especially, and in these qualities I includePatriotism and all the civic virtues. That Italians, and those of Romeespecially, are quite commonly sensual, selfish, indolent, fickle, dishonest, vicious, is the general report of the foreigners residingamong them. Zealous Protestants will readily account for it by theirCatholicism. My own prepossessions naturally lead me to the conclusionthat much of the religious machinery in operation here is unfavorable tothe development of high moral character. Whatever the enlightened andgood may mean by these observances, it does seem to me that the ignorantand vulgar understand that the evil consequences of pleasant sins may becheaply avoided by a liberal use of holy water, by bowings before thealtar and reverent conformity to rituals and ceremonies. --This iscertainly the great danger (in my sight) of the Catholic system, that itmay lead its votaries to esteem conformity to outward and ceremonialrequirements as essentially meritorious, and in some sense an offset forviolations of the moral law. Not that this error is by any meansconfined to Catholics, for Christendom is full of Protestants who, though ready enough to proclaim that kissing the toe of St. Peter'sstatue is a poor atonement for violating the Commandments, and Adorationof the Virgin a very bad substitute for Chastity, do yet themselvesprefer bad Christians to good Infidels, and would hail with joy theconversion of India or China to their creed, though it should involve noimprovement of character or life. I know every one believes that suchconversion would inevitably result in amendment of heart and morals, buthow many desire it mainly for that reason? How large a proportion ofProtestants esteem it the great end of Religion to make its votariesbetter husbands, brothers, children, neighbors, kindred, citizens? To myProtestant eyes, it seems that the general error on this point is moreprevalent and more vital at Rome than elsewhere; and I have been tryingto recollect, among all the immensity of Paintings, Mosaic and StatuaryI have seen here, representing St. Peter in Prison, St. Peter on theSea of Galilee, St. Peter healing the Cripple, St. Peter raising theDead, St. Peter receiving the Keys, St. Peter suffering Martyrdom, &c. &c. (some of them many times over), I have any where met with arepresentation of that most remarkable and beneficent vision whereby theApostle was instructed from Heaven that "Of a truth, I perceive that Godis no respecter of persons, but in every nation he that feareth Him andworketh righteousness is accepted with Him. " I presume such arepresentation must exist in a city where there are so many hundreds ifnot thousands of pictures of St. Peter doing, receiving or suffering;but this certainly is not a favorite subject here, or I should have seenit many times depicted. Who knows a Protestant city in which theaforesaid lesson given to Peter has been adequately dwelt on and heeded?

That the prevalence of Catholicism is not inconsistent with generaluprightness and purity of morals is demonstrated in Ireland, inSwitzerland, in Belgium, in the Tyrol, and elsewhere. The testimony ofthe great body of travelers and other observers with regard to thecountries just named, affirms the general prevalence therein of thosevirtues which are the basis of the Family and the Church. And yet, theacknowledged state of things here is a grave fact which challengesinquiry and demands explanation. In the very metropolis of CatholicChristendom, where nearly all believe, and a great majority are at leastceremonially devout--where many of the best intellects in the Catholiccommunion have flourished and borne sway for more than fifteencenturies, and with scarcely a divided empire for the last thousandyears--where Churches and Priests have long been more abundant than onany other spot of earth, and where Divine worship and Christianordinances are scarcely intermitted for an hour, but are free andwelcome to all, and are very generally attended--what is the reason thatcorruption and degeneracy should be so fearfully prevalent? If only theenemies of Rome's faith affirmed this degeneracy, we might fairlysuppose it invented or exaggerated; but even the immediate Priesthood ofthis people, who may be presumed most unwilling and unlikely to denytheir virtues or magnify their vices, declare them unfit to be trustedwith power over their own political destinies, and indeed incapable ofself-government. Such is the fundamental basis and essentialjustification of the rule now maintained in Rome, under the protectionof foreign bayonets. This is a conquered city, virtually if notnominally in a state of siege, without assignable period. The Pope'sguards are partly Swiss and partly native, that is, chosen from thefamilies of the Nobility; but the "power behind the throne" ismaintained by the thousands of French soldiers who garrison the city, and the tens of thousands of Austrian, Spanish and Neapolitan soldierswho would be pushed here upon the first serious attempt of the Romans toassert their right of self-government. Thus, "Order reigns in Warsaw, "while Democracy bites its lip and bides its time. 

Has Human Nature degenerated under Christian ministrations? There surely_was_ a Roman people, some twenty-odd centuries ago, who were capable ofself-government, and who maintained it long and creditably. Why shouldit be otherwise with the Romans of to-day? I do not believe it is. Theyhave great vices I admit, for all testimony affirms it; that they mightsomewhat abuse Freedom I fear, for the blessed sunshine is painful andperilous to eyes long used to the gloom of the dungeon. But theexperience of Freedom must tend to dispel the ignorance and correct theerrors of its votaries, while Slavery only leads from bad to worse. Iften centuries of such rule as now prevails here have nowise qualifiedthis people for Self-Government, what rational hope is there that tenmore such would do it? If a reform is ever to be effected, it cannot becommenced too soon. 

As to the actual government of Rome and her dependencies, it could notwell be worse. The rulers fully understand that they are under noobligation to the people for the power they exercise, nor for thesubmission which it commands. The despotism which prevails is unmodifiedeven by the hereditary despot's natural desire to secure the throne tohis descendants by cultivating the good will of his people. The Pope isnominally sovereign, and all regard him as personally a pure and goodman; but he exerts no actual power in the State, his time and thoughtsbeing wholly devoted to the various and complicated cares of his vastSpiritual empire. Meantime, the Reäctionist influences so omnipotentwith his predecessor, but which were repressed for a time after thepresent Pontiff's accession, have unchecked sway in the politicaladministration. The way the present rulers of Rome read History isthis--"Pius IX. Came into power a Liberal and a Reformer, and did all hecould for the promotion of Republican and Progressive ideas; for allwhich his recompense was the assassination of his Prime Minister, andhis own personal expulsion from his throne and territories--which isquite enough of Liberalism for one generation; we, at least, will haveno more of it. " And they certainly live up to their resolution. It iscurrently reported that there are now _Seventeen Thousand_ politicalprisoners confined here, but nobody who would tell can know how manythere are, and I presume this statement is a gross exaggeration, significant only as an index of the popular feeling. The essential factis that there _might_ be Seventeen or Seventy Thousand thus imprisonedwithout publicity, known accusation or trial, save at the convenience ofthose ordering their arrest; and with no recognized right of thearrested to Habeas Corpus or any kindred process. Many of the bestRomans of the age are in exile for Liberty's sake. I was reliablyinformed at Turin that there are at this time _Three Hundred Thousand_Political Refugees in the Kingdom of Sardinia, nearly all, of course, from the despotism of Lower Italy. Thus Europe is kept tranquil by asystem of terror, which is efficient while the spell holds; but let itbreak at any point, and all will go together. 

The Cardinals are the actual directors of State affairs here, and arepopularly held responsible for all that is disliked in the Government. They would be likely to fare roughly in case of another revolution. Theyare privately accused of flagrant immoralities, as men so powerful andso unpopular would naturally be, whether with or without cause. I knowno facts that sustain the accusation. 

A single newspaper is now published in Rome, but I have heard itinquired for or mentioned but once since I came here, and then by aScotchman studying Italian. It is ultra-despotic in its spirit, andwould not be tolerated if it were not. It is a small, coarsely printedsheet, in good part devoted to Church news, giving great prominence tothe progress of conversion from the English to the Romish communion. There are very few foreign journals taken or read in the Roman States. Lynn or Poughkeepsie probably, Newark or New-Haven certainly, buys andreads more newspapers than the entire Three Millions of People whoinhabit the Papal States. I could not learn to relish such a state ofthings. I have just paid $3. 70 (more than half of it to our AmericanConsul) for the privilege of leaving the dominions of His Holiness, andshall speedily profit by the gracious permission. 

XXVII. 

CENTRAL ITALY--FLORENCE. 

 BOLOGNA, July 6, 1851. 

"See Naples and die!" says the proverb: but I am in no hurry to "shuffleoff this mortal coil, " and rather weary of seeing. I think I should havefound a few choice friends in Naples, but my time is limited, and thetraveling through Southern Italy neither pleasant nor expeditious. OfVesuvius in its milder moods I never had a high opinion; and, though Ishould have liked to tread the unburied streets of Pompeii, yet Rome hasnearly surfeited me with ruins. So I shortened my tour in Italy bycutting off the farther end of it, and turned my face obliquely homewardfrom the Eternal City. What has the world to show of by-gone glory andgrandeur which she cannot at least equal?

Let no one be sanguine as to his good resolutions. I as firmly resolved, when I first shook from my feet the dust of Civita Vecchia, that I neveragain would enter its gates, as I ever did to do or forbear any actwhatever. But, after a tedious and ineffectual attempt to make up aparty of Americans to come through from Rome to Florence direct, I wasat last obliged to knock under. All the seats by Diligence or Mail onthat route were taken ahead for a longer time than I could afford towait; and offers to fill an extra coach if the proprietors would sendone were utterly unavailing. Such a thing as Enterprise is utterlyunknown south of Genoa, and the idea of any obligation on the part ofproprietors of stage-lines to make extra efforts to accommodate an extranumber of passengers is so queer that I doubt whether Italian could befound to express it. So some dozen or more who would gladly have gonethrough by land to Florence were driven back upon Civita Vecchia andLeghorn--I among the number. 

Three of us left Rome in a private carriage at noon on Tuesday the 1st, and reached Civita Vecchia at 10 minutes past 9 P. M. --theinner gate having been closed at 9. One of my companions was known andresponsibly connected at the port, and so was enabled to negotiate ouradmission, though the process was a tedious one, and our carriage had tobe left in the outer court, or between the two walls. Here I left it at10; it may have been got in afterward. We found all the rooms taken atthe best Hotel (Orlandi), and were driven to accept such as there wereleft. The boat (Languedoc) was advertised to start for Leghorn at 7 nextmorning, by which time I succeeded in getting my Passport cleared (forno steamboat in these waters will give you a permit to embark until youhave handed in your Passport, duly cleared, at its office, as well aspaid for your passage); but the boat was coolly taking in water longafter its advertised hour, and did not start until half past eight. 

We had an unusually large number of passengers, about one hundred andfifty, representing nearly every European nation, with a goodly numberof Americans; the day was cloudy and cool; the wind light andpropitious; the sea calm and smooth; so that I doubt if there was ever amore favorable passage. I was sick myself, a result of the night-air ofthe Campagna, bad lodging and inability to obtain a salt-water bath inthe morning, by reason of the Passport nuisance, but for which I shouldhave been well and hearty. We made Leghorn (120 miles) in about elevenhours, which is very good time for the Mediterranean. But reaching theharbor of Leghorn was one thing, getting ashore quite another; an houror more elapsed before any of us had permission to land. I was one ofthe two first who got off, through the preconcerted interposition of apowerful Leghorn friend who had procured a special permit from thePolice, and at whose hospitable mansion we passed the night. I wasunwell throughout; but an early bath in the Mediterranean was themedicine I required, and from the moment of taking it I began torecover. By seasonable effort, I recovered my Passport from the Policeoffice, duly _viséd_, at 10 A. M. And left by Railroad forFlorence at 10½, reaching the capital of Tuscany (60 miles) about 1o'clock, P. M. 

Florence (Italian _Firenzé_) is pleasantly situated on both sides of theArno, some forty miles in a direct line from its mouth. The river ishere about the size of the Hudson at Sandy Hill or the Mohawk atCanajoharie, but subject to rapid swellings from rains in the Apenninesabove. One such occurred the night I was there, though very little rainfell at Florence. I was awakened in the night by the rushing and roaringof its waters, my window having only a street between it and the river, which subsided the next day, without having done any material damage. 

That day was the 4th of July, and I spent most of it, under the guidanceof friends resident at Florence, in looking through the galleriesdevoted to Paintings and Statuary in the two famous palaces of thereigning family and in the Academy. Although the collections embrace theVenus de Medicis and many admirable Paintings, I cannot say that myexpectations were fully realized. Ill health may in part account forthis; my recent acquaintance with the immense and multiform treasures ofArt at Rome may also help explain my obtuseness at Florence. And yet Isaw nothing in Rome with greater pleasure or profit than I derived fromthe hour I spent in the studio of our countryman POWERS, whose fame isalready world-wide, and who I trust is now rapidly acquiring that generouscompetence which will enable him to spend the evening of his days in easeand comfort in his native land. The abundance of orders constantly pouringin upon him at his own prices does not induce him to abandon nor postponehis efforts in the ideal and more exalted sphere of his art, but rather toredouble those efforts; and it will yet be felt that his "Greek Slave" and"Fisher Boy, " so widely admired, are not his loftiest achievements. I defyAntiquity to surpass--I doubt its ability to rival--his "Proserpine" andhis "Psyche" with any models of the female head that have come down to us;and while I do not see how they could be excelled in their own sphere, Ifeel that Powers, unlike Alexander, has still realms to conquer, and willfulfill his destiny. If for those who talk of America quitting her propersphere and seeking to be Europe when she wanders into the domain of Art, we had no other answer than POWERS, that name would be conclusive. 

GREENOUGH is now absent from Florence. I met him at Turin, on his way toAmerica, on account (I casually heard) of sickness in his family. But Iobtained admission to his studio in Florence, and saw there the unfinishedgroup on which he is employed by order of Congress, to adorn one of theyet empty niches in the Capitol. His execution is not yet sufficientlyadvanced to be judged, but the design is happy and most expressive. 

I saw something of three younger American Sculptors now studying andworking at Florence--HART of Kentucky, GALT of Virginia, and ROGERS ofNew-York. (IVES is absent--at Rome, I believe, though I did not meet himthere. ) I believe all are preparing to do credit to their country. HARThas been hindered by a loss of models at sea from proceeding with theStatue of HENRY CLAY which he is commissioned by the Ladies of Virginiato fashion and construct; but he is wisely devoting much of his time tocareful study and to the modeling of the Ideal before proceeding to commithimself irrevocably by the great work which must fix his position amongSculptors and make or mar his destiny. I have great confidence that whathe has already carefully and excellently done is but a foretaste of whathe is yet to achieve, and that his seeming hesitation will prove thesurest and truest efficiency. 

I think there are but few American painters in Florence. I met none butPAGE, who is fully employed and expects to spend some time in Italy. Hishealth is better than during his last year in New-York. 

 * * * * *

The strong necessity of moving on compelled me to tear myself away froma pleasant party of Americans assembled at dinner in Florence lastevening to celebrate the 76th Anniversary of American Independence, andtake the Diligence at 8 o'clock for this place on the road to Venice, though no other American nor even an Englishman came along. I have foundby experience that I cannot await the motions of others, nor can I finda party ready to take post-horses and so travel at rational hours. TheDiligence or stage-coach traveling in Italy appears to be organized onpurpose to afford the least possible accommodation at the mostexorbitant cost. This city, for example, is 63 miles from Florence onthe way to Padua and Venice, and the Diligence leaves Florence forBologna at no other hour than 8 P. M. Arriving here at 1½ o'clock nextday; fare 40 to 45 Tuscan pauls or $4. 45 to $5. But when you reachBologna at midday, after an all-night ride, you find no conveyance forany point beyond this until ten o'clock next morning, so that you mustwait here twenty-one hours; and the Diligence might far better, so faras the travelers' convenience and comfort is concerned, have remained inFlorence till an early hour in the morning, making the passage over theApennines by day and saving their nights' rest. Three or four travelersmay break over this absurd tyranny by taking post-horses; a single onehas no choice but to submit. And, having reached Bologna, I tried togain time, or at least avoid another night-ride, by taking a privatecarriage (_vetturino_) this afternoon for Ferrara, thirty miles furtheron, sleep there to-night, and catch a Diligence or Mail-Coach to-morrowmorning, so as to reach Padua in the evening: but no--there is no coachout of Padua Venice-ward till 4 to-morrow afternoon, and I should gainnothing but extra fatigue and expense by taking a carriage to Ferrara, so I give it up. I must make most of the journey from Ferrara to Paduaby night, and yet take as much time as though I traveled only byday, --for I am in Italy. 

The valley of the Arno, especially for some miles on either side ofFlorence, is among the most fertile portions of this prolific land, andis laboriously though not efficiently cultivated. All the Grains growluxuriantly throughout Italy, though Indian Corn is so thickly plantedand so viciously cultivated that it has no chance to ear or fill well. There is enough labor performed on the average to insure sixty bushelsof shelled grain to the acre, but the actual yield will hardly exceedtwenty-five. And I have not had the first morsel of food prepared fromthis grain offered me since I reached the shores of Europe. Wheat is thefavorite grain here, and, requiring less depth of soil than Indian corn, and having been much longer cultivated here, yields very fairly. Barleyand Oats are grown, but to a limited extent; of Rye, still less. ThePotato is planted very sparingly south of Piedmont, and not so commonlythere as in Savoy. The Vine is a universal favorite, and rarely out ofview; while it often seems to cover half the ground in sight. But it isnot grown here in close hills as in France and around Cincinnati, butusually in rows some twenty or thirty feet apart, and trained on treeskept down to a hight of eight to twelve feet. Around Rome, a species ofCane is grown wherewith to support the vines after the manner ofbean-poles, which, after serving a year or two in this capacity, is usedfor fuel, and new stalks of cane replace those which have been enfeebledby exposure and decay. The plan of training the vines on dwarfed trees(which seems to me by far the most natural) prevails here as well as onthe other side of the Apennines; so that the vine-stalks are large andmay be hundreds of years old, instead of being (apparently) fresh fromthe ground every year or two. The space between the vine-rows is usuallysown with Wheat, but sometimes planted with Corn or laid down to Grass, and a moderate crop realized. 

Crossing the Apennines mainly in the night, they seemed a little higherthan the Green Mountains of Vermont, but lacking the thrifty forests ofwhich I apprehend the proximity of Railroads is about to despoil thatnoble range. But the Apennines, though cultivated wherever they can be, are far more precipitous and sterile than their American counterpart, and seem to be in good degree composed of a whitish clay or marl whichevery rain is washing away, rendering the Arno after a storm one of themuddiest streams I ever saw. I presume, therefore, that the Apenninesare, as a whole, less lofty and difficult now than they were in the daysof Romulus, of Hannibal, or even of Constantine. 

We crossed the summit about daylight, and began rapidly to descend, following down the course of one of the streams which find the Adriatictogether near the mouth of the Po. At 5 A. M. We passed the boundary ofTuscany and entered the Papal territory, so that our baggage had to beall taken down and searched, and our Passports re-scrutinized--twoprocesses to which I am becoming more accustomed than any live eel everwas to being skinned. The time consumed was but an hour and thepecuniary swindle trifling. But though the hour was early and there werefew habitations in sight, there soon gathered around us a swarm of mostimportunate beggars--brown, withered old women spinning on distaffs heldin the hand (a process I fancied the world had outgrown), and stoppingevery moment to hold out a dirty claw, with a most disgusting grimaceand whine--"For the love of God, Signor"--with ditto old men, andchildren of various sizes, the youngest who could walk seeming as apt atbeggary as their grandames who have followed it, "off and on, " forseventy or eighty years. If the ancient Romans had equaled their livingprogeny in begging, they need not have dared and suffered so much toachieve the mastery of the world--they might have begged it, and savedan infinity of needless slaughter. These people have no proper pride, nomanly shame, because they have no hope. Untaught, unskilled in industry, owning nothing, their government an absolute despotism, their labor onlyrequired at certain seasons, and deemed amply rewarded with a Yorkshilling or eighteen pence per day, and themselves the virtual serfs ofgreat landholders who live in Rome or Bologna and whom they rarely ornever see--is it a wonder that they stoop to plead and whine for coppersaround every carriage that traverses their country? That they faremiserably, their scanty rags and pinched faces sufficiently attest; thatthey are indolent and improvident I can very well believe: for when wereuneducated, unskilled, hopeless vassals anything else? Italy, beautiful, bounteous land! is everywhere haggard with want and wretchedness, butthese seem nowhere so general and chronic as in the Papal territories. Every political division of Italy but this has at least some section ofRailroad in operation; Rome, though in the heart of all and the greatfocus of attraction for travelers, has not the first mile and noprospect of any, though it would seem a good speculation to build one ifit were to be used only in transporting hither the Foreign troopsabsolutely essential here to keep the people quiet in their chains. "Andthis, too, shall pass away!"

XXVIII. 

EASTERN ITALY--THE PO. 

 VENICE, Tuesday, July 8. 

I never saw and cannot hope to see hereafter a region more blessed byNature than the great plain of Upper Italy, whereof the Po is thelife-blood. It is very fertile and beautiful where I first traversed itnear its head, from the foot of Mount Cenis by Turin to Alessandria andNovi, on my way down to Genoa; yet it is richer and lovelier still whereI have just recrossed it from the foot of the Apennines by Bologna, Ferrara, Rovigo and Padua on my way from Florence to Venice. Irrigation, which might easily be almost universal in Piedmont, seems there but anoccasional expedient, while here it is the breath of life. From Bolognato Rovigo (and I presume on to Padua, though there night and drowsinessprevented my observing clearly), the whole country seems completelyintersected by Canals constructed in the palmier days of Italy onpurpose to distribute the fertilizing waters of the Po and the Adigeover the entire face of the country and dispense them to every field andmeadow. The great highway generally runs along the bank of one of theseCanals, which are filled from the rivers when they have just been raisedby rains and are thus surcharged with fertilizing matter, and drawn offfrom day to day thereafter to refresh and enrich the remarkably levelplain they traverse. Thus not only the plain and the glades lying nearerthe sources of the rivers, but the sterile, rugged crests of the Alpsand Apennines which enclose this great basin are made to contributeevermore to the fruitfulness of its soil, so that Despotism, Ignorance, Stolidity, Indolence and Unthrift of all kinds vainly strive to renderit other than the Garden of Europe. The banks of the Canals and thesides of the highways are generally lined with trees, rows of which alsotraverse many if not most of the fields, so that from certain points thewhole country seems one vast, low forest or "timbered opening" ofPoplar, Willow, Mulberry, Locust, &c. There are a few Oaks, more Elms, and some species I did not recognize, and the Vine through all thisregion is trained on dwarfed or shortened trees, sometimes along theroadside, but oftener in rows through one-fourth of the fields, while ina few instances it is allowed thus to obtain an altitude of thirty orforty feet. Of Fruit, I have seen only the Apricot and the Cherry inabundance, but there are some Pears, while the Orange and Lemon are veryplentiful in the towns, though I think they are generally brought fromNaples and the Mediterranean coast. But finer crops of Wheat, Grass, Hemp, &c. , can grow nowhere than throughout this country, while theIndian Corn which is abundantly planted, would yield as amply if thepeople knew how to cultivate it. Ohio has no better soil nor climate forthis grain. Of Potatoes or other edible roots I have seen very little. Hemp is extensively cultivated, and grows most luxuriantly. Man is theonly product of this prolific land which seems stunted and shriveled. Were Italy once more a Nation, under one wise and liberal government, with a single tariff, coinage, mail-post, &c. , a thorough system ofcommon school education, a small navy, but no passports, and a publicpolicy which looked to the fostering and diversifying of her industry, she might easily sustain and enrich a population of sixty millions. Asit is, one-half of her twenty-five millions are in rags, and are pinchedby hunger, while inhabiting the best wheat country in Europe, from whichfood is constantly and largely exported. There are at least one hundredmillions of dollars locked up in useless decorations of churches, andnot one common school-house from Savoy to Sicily. A little education, after a fashion, is fitfully dispensed by certain religious andcharitable foundations, so that the child lucky enough to be an orphanor illegitimate has a chance to be taught to read and write; but anysuch thing as a practical recognition of the right to education, or as apublic and general provision for imparting it, is utterly unknown here. Grand and beautiful structures are crowded in every city, and arecrumbling to dust on every side; a single township dotted at properintervals with eight or ten school-houses would be worth them all. Withinfinite water power, cheaper labor, and cheaper food than almost anyother country in the civilized world, and millions of children at oncenaked and idle because no one will employ them at even six-pence a day, she has not one cotton or woolen factory that I have yet seen, and canhardly have one at all, though her mountains afford vast and excellentsheep-walks, and Naples can grow cotton if she will. England and Germanymanufacture nearly all the few fabrics of cotton or wool worn here, because those who should lead, instruct, and employ this people, areblind to their duty or recreant to its obligations. Italy, once thelight of the world, is dying of aristocratic torpor and popularignorance, whence come indolence, superstition, and wide-spreaddemoralization and misery. 

Bologna is a walled city of Seventy Thousand inhabitants, with about asmuch trade and business of all kinds as an American village of ten totwenty thousand people. I doubt that thirty persons per day are carriedinto or brought out of it by all public conveyances whatever. It is wellbuilt on narrow streets, like nearly all Italian cities, and manifestsconsiderable activity in the way of watching gates and _visé_ingPassports. Though in the Papal territory, it is under Austrianguardianship; an Austrian sentinel constantly paced the court-yard ofthe "Hotel Brun" where I stopped. Though the second town in the Pope'stemporal dominions, strongly walled, it has no Military strength, beingcommanded by a hill a short mile south of it--the last hill I rememberhaving seen till I reached Venice and looked across over the lagoons tothe Euganian hills on the main land to south-west. The most notablething I saw in Bologna was an awning of sheeting or calico spread overthe centre of the main street on a level with the roofs of the housesfor a distance of half a mile or so. I should distrust its standing astrong gust, but if it would, the idea is worth borrowing. 

After a night-ride over the Apennines from Florence, and a detention oftwenty-one hours at Bologna, I did hope that our next start would be"for good"--that there would be no more halt till we reached Padua. ButI did not yet adequately appreciate Italian management. A Yankeestage-coach running but once a day between two such cities as Bolognaand Ferrara would start at daylight and so connect at the latter placeas to set down its passengers beside the Railroad in Padua (86 to 90miles of the best possible staging from Bologna) in the evening of thesame day. We left Bologna at 10 A. M. , drove to Ferrara, arrivedthere a little past 2; and then came a halt of _four hours_--till sixP. M. When the stage started for a night-trip to Padua--nonerunning during the day. But a Yankee stage would have one man formanager, driver, &c. , who would very likely be the owner also of thehorses and a partner in the line; we started from a grand office withtwo book-keepers and a platoon of lackeys and baggage-smashers, with a"guard" on the box, and two "postillions" riding respectively the nighhorses of the two teams, there being always three horses at the pole andsometimes three on the lead also, at others only two. We had half adozen passengers to Ferrara; for the rest of the way, I had thisextensive traveling establishment to myself. I do not think the averagenumber of passengers on a corresponding route in our country could be sofew as twenty. Such are some of the points of difference between Americaand Italy. 

We crossed the Po an hour after leaving Ferrara, and here passed out ofthe Papal into the unequivocally Austrian territory--the Kingdom ofVenice and Lombardy. There were of course soldiers on each side (thoughall of a piece), police officers, a Passport scrutiny and a fresh lookinto my carpet-bags, mainly (I understand) for Tobacco! When anytide-waiter finds more of that about me than the chronic ill breeding oftraveling smokers compels me to carry in my clothes, he is welcome toconfiscate all I possess. But they found nothing here to cavil at, and Ipassed on. 

There is no town where we crossed the Po, only a small village on eitherside, and we followed down the left bank in a north-easterly directionfor several miles without seeing any considerable place. The river hashere, as through nearly its whole course, a strong, rapid current, andwas swollen and rendered turbid by recent rains. I judge that itssurface was decidedly above the level of the adjacent country, which isprotected from inundation (like the region of the Lower Mississippi) bystrong embankments or levees, at first natural doubtless--the product ofthe successive overflows of centuries but subsequently strengthened andperfected by human labor. The force of the current being strongest inthe center of the river, there is either stillness or an eddy near thebanks, so that the sediment with which the current is charged tendsconstantly to deposition on or against the banks. When the river risesso as to overflow those banks, the downward current is entirely unfeltthere and the deposition becomes still more rapid, the proportion ofearthy matter to that of water being much greater then than at othertimes. Thus great, rapid rivers running through vast plains like thesegradually form levees in the course of many centuries, their channelsbeing defined and narrowed by their own deposits until the surface oftheir waters, at least in times of flood, is raised above the level ofthe surrounding country, often several feet. When the great swamps ofLouisiana shall have been drained and cultivated for ages, they too willdoubtless be fertilized and irrigated by canals, as the great plaintraversed by the Po now is. And here too, though the acres are generallywell cared for, I saw tracts of considerable extent which, from originaldefect or unskillful management, stand below the water level of thecountry, and so are given over to flags, bogs and miasma, when only afoot or two of elevation is needed to render them salubrious and mostproductive. 

There are many more good dwellings on this plain than in the ruralportion of Lower Italy. These are generally built of brick, covered withstucco or cement and white-washed, and, being nearly square in form, twostories high, and without the long, sloping roofs common with us, arerather symmetrical and graceful, in appearance. Their roofs are tiledwith a long, cylindrical brick, of which a first course is laid with thehollow upward, and another over the joints of this with the hollow down, conducting the water into the troughs made by the former and so off thehouse. The peasants' cottages are thatched with flags or straw, andoften built of the latter material. Of barns there are relatively few, most of the wheat being stacked when harvested, and trodden out by oxenon floors under the open sky. I have not seen a good harness nor arespectable ox-yoke in Italy, most of the oxen having yokes which aBerkshire hog of any pretensions to good breeding would disdain to lookthrough. These yokes merely hold the meek animals together, having noadaptation to draft, which is obtained by a cobbling filigree of ropesaround the head, bringing the heaviest of the work upon the horns! Thegear is a little better than this--as little as you please--while forCarts and Waggons there are few school-boys of twelve to fifteen inAmerica who would not beat the average of all I have seen in Italy. Their clumsiness and stupidity are so atrocious that the owners do wellin employing asses to draw them: no man of feeling or spirit couldendure the horse-laughs they must extort from any animal of tolerablesagacity. To see a stout, two-handed man coming home with hisdonkey-load of fuel from a distant shrubbery, half a day of the twohaving been spent in getting as much as would make one goodkitchen-fire, is enough to try the patience of Job. 

Although the Po must be navigable and has been navigated by steamboatsfor many miles above this point, until obstructed by rapids, yet nothinglike a steamboat was visible. The only craft I saw attempting to stemits current was a rude sort of ark, like a wider canal-boat, drawn bythree horses traveling on a wide, irregular tow-path along the levee orbank. I presume this path does not extend many miles without meetingimpediments. Quite a number of ruinous old rookeries were anchored inthe river at intervals, usually three to six abreast, which I found tobe grist-mills, propelled by the strong current, and receiving theirgrain from the shore and returning the flour by means of small boats. Our ferry-boat was impelled by what is termed (I think) a "ropeferry"--a series of ropes and boats made fast to some anchorage in thestream above, and moving it vigorously and expeditiously from one bankto the other by the mere force of the current. It is quite evident thatmodern Italy did not originate this contrivance, nor even the idea thata rapid river could be induced to move a large boat obliquely up itsstream as well as down it. I should say the Po is here rather more thanhalf a mile wide. 

Three hours later, we crossed in like manner at Rovigo the Adige, a muchsmaller but still a large river, about the size of the Connecticut atHartford. It has its source exclusively in the Tyrolean Alps, but forthe last hundred miles of its course runs parallel with the Po, throughthe same plain, at a medium distance of about twenty miles, and has thesame general characteristics. It was quite high and muddy when wecrossed it. 

As midnight drew on, I grew weary of gazing at the same endlessdiversity of grain-fields, vineyards, rows of trees, &c. , though thebright moon was now shining, and, shutting out the chill night-air, Idisposed myself on my old great-coat and softest carpet-bag for adrowse, having ample room at my command if I could but have brought itinto a straight line. But the road was hard, the coach a little theuneasiest I ever hardened my bones upon, and my slumber was of adisturbed and dubious character, a dim sense of physical discomfortshaping and coloring my incoherent and fitful visions. For a time Ifancied myself held down on my back while some malevolent wretchdrenched the floor (and me) with filthy water: then I was in a rudescuffle and came out third or fourth best, with my clothes badly torn;anon I had lost my hat in a strange place and could not begin to findit; and at last my clothes were full of grasshoppers and spiders whowere beguiling their leisure by biting and stinging me. The misery atlast became unbearable and I awoke. --But where? I was plainly in atight, dark box, that needed more air: I soon recollected that it was astage-coach, wherein I had been making my way from Ferrara to Padua. Ithrew open the door and looked out. Horses, postillions and guard wereall gone: the moon, the fields, the road were gone: I was in a closecourt-yard, alone with Night and Silence: but where? A church clockstruck three; but it was only promised that we should reach Padua byfour, and I, making the usual discount on such promises, had set downfive as the probable hour of our arrival. I got out to take a moredeliberate survey, and the tall form and bright bayonet of an Austriansentinel, standing guard over the egress of the court-yard, were beforeme. To talk German was beyond the sweep of my dizziest ambition, but anItalian runner or porter instantly presented himself. From him I madeout that I was in Padua of ancient and learned renown (Italian_Padova_), and that the first train for Venice would not start for threehours yet. I followed him into a convenient _Café_, which was all openand well lighted, where I ordered a cup of chocolate and proceededleisurely to discuss it. When I had finished, the other guests had allgone out, but daylight was coming in, and I began to feel more at home. The _Café_ tender was asleep in his chair; the porter had gone off; thesentinel alone kept awake on his post. Soon the welcome face of thecoach-guard, whom I had borne company from Bologna, appeared; I hailedhim, obtained my baggage, hired a porter, and, having nothing more towait for, started at a little past four for the Railroad station, nearlya mile distant; taking observations as I went. Arrived at the dépôt, Idischarged my porter, sat down and waited for the place to open, withample leisure for reflection. At six o'clock I felt once more thewelcome motion of a Railroad car, and at eight was in Venice. 

XXIX. 

VENICE. 

 MILAN, Wednesday, July 9, 1851. 

Venice! Queen of the Adriatic! "City of the Heart!" how can I everforget thee? Brief, too brief was my halt amid thy glorious structures, but such eras are measured not by hours, but by sensations, and my firstday in Venice must ever hold its place among the most cherishedrecollections of my life. 

Venice lies so absolutely and wholly on the water's bosom that thelandward approach to her is not imposing and scarcely impressive. Theview from the sea-side may be somewhat better, but not much--notcomparable to that of Genoa from the Mediterranean. No part of theislets upon and around which Venice was built having been ever ten feetabove the surface of the Adriatic, while the adjacent mainland formiles is also just above the water level, you do not see the city fromany point of observation outside of it--only the distant outline of alow mass of buildings perhaps two miles long, but which may not be threeblocks wide, for aught you can see. Formerly two miles of shallow lagoonseparated the city from the land; but this has been overcome by theheavy piling and filling required for the Railroad which now connectsVenice with Verona, via Vicenza, and is to reach this city via Bresciawhenever the Austrian Government shall be able to complete it. Atpresent a noble enterprise, through one of the richest, most populousand most productive Agricultural regions of the earth, and connectingthe Political with the Commercial metropolis of Austrian Italy, isarrested when half-finished, entailing a heavy annual charge on theTreasury for the interest of the sum already expended, yet yieldinglittle or no net revenue in return, because of its imperfect condition. The wisdom of this would be just equal to that of our ten years' haltwith the Erie Canal Enlargement, except for the fact that the Austrianswould borrow and complete if they could, while New York has had no suchexcuse for her slothful blunder. 

The approach to Venice across the Lagoon is like that of Boston acrossthe Charles River marshes from the West, though of course on a muchgrander scale. The embankment or road-bed was commenced by giganticpiling, and is very broad and substantial. You reach the station just inthe edge of the city, run the Passport gauntlet, and are let out on thebrink of a wide canal, where dozens of gondoliers are soliciting yourcustom. I engaged one, and directed him (at a venture) to row me to theHotel l'Europe. This proved (like nearly or quite all the other greatHotels) to be located on the same line or water-front with the DucalPalace, Church of St. Mark, and most of the notabilities of modernVenice, with the inner harbor and shipping just on the left and theAdriatic in plain sight before us, only two or three little isletscovered with buildings partially intervening. Of course, my first rowwas a long one, quite through the city from west to east, includinginnumerable turnings and windings. After this, whomsoever may assertthat the streets of Venice are dusty or not well watered, I shall beable to contradict from personal observation. 

After outward renovation and breakfast, I hired a boat for the day, andwent in search of American friends--a pursuit in which I was ultimatelysuccessful. With these I visited the various council-rooms and galleriesin the Ducal Palace, saw the "Lion's Mouth, " descended into the ancientdungeons, now tenantless, and crossed the "Bridge of Sighs. " These lastare not open to the public, but a silver key gives access to them. Thence we visited the famous picture-gallery of the Manfrini Palace, andafter that the Academy, thus consuming the better part of the day. 

The works of Art in the Grand Palace did not, as a whole, impress mestrongly. Most of the larger ones are historical illustrations of theglories of Venice; the battle of Lepanto; the taking of Zara; the Popeand Venice uniting against or triumphing over the Emperor, &c. , &c. Someof the most honorable achievements of Venice, including her long andmemorable defense of Candia (or Crete) against the desperate and finallysuccessful attacks of the Turks, are not even hinted at. But thesegalleries are palpably in a state of dilapidation and decay, whichimplies that the Austrian masters of Venice, though they cannot stoop tothe meanness of demolishing or mutilating the memorials of her ancientglories, will be glad to see them silently and gradually perish. Thewhole Palace has a dreary and by-gone aspect, seeming conscious thateither itself or the Austrian soldiers drilling in front of it must bean anachronism--that both cannot belong to the same place and time. 

 "The traitor clock forsakes the hours, And points to times, O far away!"

The paintings in the Manfrini Palace seem to me by no means equal tothose in the Orsini, Doria, and some other private collections of Rome;even of those extravagantly praised by Lord Byron, I failed to perceivethe admirable qualities apparent to his more cultivated taste. Thecollection in the Academy I thought much better, but still far enoughbehind similar galleries in Rome. The fact is, modern Italy ispoverty-stricken in Art and Genius as well as in Industry, and livesupon the trophies and the memory of her past greatness. I have not heardin all this land the name of one living Italian mentioned as likely toattain eminence in Painting, nor even in Sculpture. 

Toward evening, my friend and I ascended the Campanile or Bell-Tower ofSt. Mark's, some 330 feet high, and had thence a glorious view of thecity and its neighborhood. From this tower, the houses might almost becounted, though of the Canals which separate them only a few of thelargest are discerned. But the port, the shipping outside, the gardens(naturally few and contracted), the adjacent main-land, the Railroadembankment across the Lagoon, the blue Euganian hills in the distance, &c. , &c. , are all as palpable as Boston Harbor from Bunker HillMonument. Immediately beneath is the Place of St. Mark, the Wall-streetof Venice; just beside you is the old Palace and the famous CathedralChurch of St. Mark; to the north is the Armory, one of the largest andmost interesting in Europe; while the dome of every Church in Venice andall the windings of the Grand Canal are distinctly visible. An Austriansteamship in the harbor and an Austrian regiment marching from the northend of the city into the grand square to take post there, completed thepanorama. The sun setting in mild radiance after a most lovely summerday, and the full moon shining forth in all her luster, gave it awondrous richness and beauty of light and shadow. I was loth indeed totear myself away from its contemplation and commence the tedious descentof the now darkened circular way up and down the inside of the tower. 

In the evening, we improved our gondoliers' time in rowing leisurelyfrom one point of interest to another. Together we stood on the trueRialto--a magnificent (and the only) bridge over the Grand Canal, ingood part covered with shops of one kind or another. Here a boy wasindustriously and vociferously trying to sell a lot of cucumbers, whichhe had arranged in piles of three or four each, and was crying "any pilefor" some piece of money, which I was informed was about half a Yankeecent. Vegetables, and indeed provisions of all kinds, are very cheap inVenice. I said this bridge is a grand one, as it is; but Venice is fullof bridges across its innumerable canals, and nearly all are of the bestconstruction. Arches more graceful in form, or better fitted to defy theassaults of time, I have never seen. 

We passed from the true to Shakspeare's Rialto--the ancient Exchange ofVenice, where its large Commercial and Moneyed transactions took placeprior to the last three centuries. Here is seen the ancient Bank ofVenice--the first, I believe, established in the world; here also the"stone of shame"--an elevated post which each bankrupt was compelled totake and hold for a certain time, exposed to the derision of theconfronting thousands. (Now-a-days it is the bankrupt who flouts, andhis too confiding creditors who are jeered and laughed at. ) This ancientfocus of the world's commerce is now abandoned to the sellers of marketvegetables, who were busily arranging their cabbages, &c. , for the nextmorning's trade when we visited it. 

Venice is full of deserted Palaces, which, though of spacious dimensionsand of the finest marble, may be bought for less than the cost of anaverage brick house in the upper part of New-York. The Duchess de Berri, mother of the Bourbon Pretender to the throne of France, has bought oneof these and generally inhabits it; the Rothschilds own another; thedancer Taglioni, it is said, owns four, and so on. Cheap as they are, they are a poorer speculation than even corner lots in a lithographiccity of Nebraska or Oregon. 

That evening in the gondola, with one old and two newer friends, ismarked with a white stone in my recollection. To bones aching with roughriding in Diligences by night as well as day, the soft cushions andgliding motion of the boat were soothing and grateful as "spicy galesfrom Araby the blest. " The breeze from the Adriatic was strong andrefreshing after the fervid but not excessive heat of the day, and theclear, mild moon seemed to invest the mossy and crumbling palaces with asoftened radiance and spiritual beauty. Boats were passing on everyside, some with gay parties of three to six, others with but twopassengers, who did not seem to need the presence of more, nor indeed tobe conscious that any others existed. The hum of earnest or glad voiceshere contrasted strongly with silence and meditation there. Venice is aCity of the Past, and wears her faded yet queenly robes more gracefullyby night than by day. 

Yes, the Venice of to-day is only a reminiscence of glories that were, but shall be never again. Wealth, Luxury, Aristocracy ate out her soul;then Bonaparte, perfidious despot that he ever was, robbed her of herindependence; finally the Holy Alliance of conquerors of Bonaparte madehis wrong the pretext for another, and wholly gave her to her ancientenemy Austria, who greedily snatched at the prey, though it was herassistance rendered or proffered to Austria in 1798-9 which gaveNapoleon his pretext for crushing her. Her recent struggle forindependence, though fruitless, was respectable, and protracted beyondthe verge of Hope; and not even Royalist mendacity has yet pretendedthat _her_ revolt from Austria, or her prolonged defence underbombardment and severe privation was the work of foreigners. But theCroat again lords it in her halls; Trieste is stealing away her remnantof trade; and the Railroads which should regain or replace it arepostponed from year to year, and may never be completed, or at least notuntil it is utterly too late. Weeds gather around the marble steps ofher palaces; her towers are all swerving from their originaluprightness, and there is neither energy nor means to arrest their fall. Nobody builds a new edifice within her precincts, and the old ones, though of the most enduring materials and construction, cannot eternallyresist the relentless tooth of Time. Full of interest as is everythingin Venice, I do not remember to have detected there the effectualworking of a single idea of the last century, save in the Railroad, which barely touches without enlivening her, the solitary steamboatbelonging to Trieste, and two or three larger gondolas marked"_Omnibus_" this or that, which appeared to be conveying good loads ofpassengers from one end of the city to the other for one-sixth or eighthof the price which the same journey _solus_ cost me. The Omnibustypifies ASSOCIATION--the simple but grandly fruitful idea which isdestined to renovate the world of Industry and Production, substitutingAbundance and Comfort for Penury and Misery. For Man, I trust, thisquickening word is yet seasonable; for Venice it is too late. It is fareasier to found two new cities than to restore one dead one. Fallen Queenof the Adriatic! a long and mournful Adieu!

XXX. 

LOMBARDY. 

 MILAN, Thursday, July 10, 1851. 

Lombardy is of course the richest and most productive portion of Italy. Piedmont alone vies with her, and is improving far more rapidly, butLombardy has great natural capacities peculiarly her own. Her soil, fertile and easily tilled from the first, was long ago improved by asystem of irrigation which, probably from small and casual beginnings, gradually overspread the whole table land, embracing, beside that of theAdige, the broad valley of the Po and the narrower intervals of its manytributaries, which, rushing down from the gorges of the Alps on the westand the north, are skillfully conducted so as to refresh and fertilizethe whole plain, and, finding their way ultimately to the Po, are thencedrawn again by new canals to render like beneficence to the lower, flatter intervals of Venezia and the Northern Papal States. Nowhere canbe found a region capable of supporting a larger population to thesquare mile than Lombardy. 

American Agriculture has just two arts to learn from Lombardy--IRRIGATIONand TREE-PLANTING. Nearly all our great intervales might be irrigatedimmensely to the profit of their cultivators. Even where the vicinity ofmountains or other high grounds did not afford the facility here takenadvantage of, I am confident that many plains as well as valleys might beprofitably irrigated by lifting water to the requisite height and thencedistributing it through little canals or ditches as here. Where a head ofwater may be obtained to supply the requisite power, the cost need not beconsiderable after the first outlay; but, even though steam-power shouldbe requisite, in connection with the admirable Pumping machinery of ourday, Irrigation would pay liberally in thousands of cases. Such easilyparched levels as those of New-Jersey and Long Island would yield at leastdouble their present product if thoroughly irrigated from the turbidstreams and marshy ponds in their vicinity. Water itself is of courseessential to the growth of every plant, but the benefits of Irrigationreach far beyond this. Of the fertilizing substances so laboriously andnecessarily applied to cultivating lands, at least three times as greata proportion is carried off in running water as is absorbed and exhaustedby the crops grown by their aid; so that if Irrigation simply returned tothe land as much fertility as the rains carry off, it would, with decenthusbandry, increase in productiveness from year to year. The valley ofthe Nile is one example among many of what Irrigation, especially fromrivers at their highest stage, will do for the soil, in defiance of themost ignorant, improvident and unskillful cultivation. Such streams as theRaritan, the Passaic and most of the New Jersey rivers, annually squanderupon the ocean an amount of fertilizing matter adequate to the comfortablesubsistence of thousands. By calculation, association, science, labor, most of this may be saved. One hundred thousand of the poor immigrantsannually arriving on our shores ought to be employed for years, inNew-Jersey alone, in the construction of dams, canals, &c. , adequate tothe complete irrigation of all the level or moderately sloping lands inthat State. Farms are cheaper there to-day than in Iowa for purchaserswho can pay for and know how to use them. Long Island can be renderedeminently fertile and productive by systematic and thorough Irrigation;otherwise I doubt that it ever will be. 

Much of Lombardy slopes very considerably toward the Po, so that thewater in the larger or distributing canals is often used to run millsand supply other mechanical power. It might be used also forManufacturing if Manufactures existed here, and nearly every farmermight have a horse-power or so at command for domestic uses if he chose. We passed yesterday the completely dry beds of what seemed to be smallrivers, their water having been entirely drawn away into the irrigatingcanals on either side, while on either hand there were grist-millsbusily at work, and had been for hundreds of years, grinding bywater-power where no stream naturally existed. If I mistake not, thereare many such in this city, and in nearly all the cities and villages ofLombardy. If our farmers would only investigate this matter ofIrrigation as thoroughly as its importance deserves, they would findthat they have neglected mines of wealth all around them more extensiveand far more reliable than those of California. One man alone may notalways be able to irrigate his farm except at too great a cost; but letthe subject be commended to general attention, and the expense would bevastly diminished. Ten thousand farms together, embracing a wholevalley, may often be irrigated for less than the cost of supplying ahundred of them separately. I trust our Agricultural papers will agitatethis improvement. 

As to Tree-Planting, there can be no excuse for neglecting it, for noman needs his neighbor's coöperation to render it economical oreffective. We in America have been recklessly destroying trees quitelong enough; it is high time that we began systematically to reproducethem. There is scarcely a farm of fifty acres or over in any but thevery newest States that might not be increased in value $1, 000 by $100judiciously expended in Tree-Planting, and a little care to protect theyoung trees from premature destruction. All road-sides, steephill-sides, ravines and rocky places should be planted with Oak, Hickory, Chestnut, Pine, Locust, &c. , at once, and many a farm would, after a few years, yield $100 worth of Timber annually, withoutsubtracting $10 from the crops otherwise depended on. By plantingLocust, or some other fast-growing tree, alternately with Oak, Hickory, &c. , the former would be ready for use or sale by the time the latterneeded the whole ground. Utility, beauty, comfort, profit, all combineto urge immediate and extensive Tree-Planting; shall it not becommenced?

Here in Lombardy there is absolutely no farm, however small, without itsrows of Mulberry, Poplar, Walnut, Cherry, &c. , overshadowing its canals, brooks, roads, &c. , and traversing its fields in all directions. TheVine is very generally trained on a low tree, like one of our Plum orsmall Cherry trees, so that, viewed at a distance or a point near theground, the country would seem one vast forest, with an undergrowthmainly of Wheat and Indian Corn. Potatoes, Barley, Rye, &c. , are grown, but none of them extensively, nor is much of the soil devoted to Grass. There are no forests, properly so called, but a few rocky hill-sides, which occur at intervals, mainly about half way from Venice to Milan, are covered with shrubbery which would probably grow to trees ifpermitted. Wheat and all Summer Grains are very good; so is the Grass;so the Indian Corn will be where it is not prevented by the viciouscrowding of the plants and sugar-loaf hoeing of which I have frequentlyspoken. I judge that Italy altogether, with an enormous area planted, will realize less than half the yield she would have from the same acreswith judicious cultivation. With Potatoes, nearly the same mistake ismade, but the area planted with these is not one-tenth that of Corn andthe blunder far less vital. 

This ought to be the richest country in the world, yet its people andtheir dwellings do not look as if it were so. I have seen a greaternumber of Soldiers and Beggars in passing through it than of men atwork; and nearly all work out-doors here who work at all. The dwellingsare generally shabby, while Barns are scarce, and Cattle are treadingout the newly harvested wheat under the blue sky. New houses and othersigns of improvement are rare, and the people dispirited. And this isthe garden of sunny, delicious Italy!

THE ITALIANS. 

I leave Italy with a less sanguine hope of her speedy liberation than Ibrought into it. The day of her regeneration must come, but theobstacles are many and formidable. Most palpable among these is aninsane spirit of local jealousy and rivalry only paralleled by the"Corkonian" and "Far-down" feud among the Irish. Genoa is jealous ofTurin; Turin of Milan; Florence of Leghorn; and so on. If Italy were aFree Republic to-day, there would be a fierce quarrel, and I fear adivision, on the question of locating its metropolis. Rome wouldconsider herself the natural and prescriptive capital; Naples would urgeher accessible position, unrivaled beauty and ascendency in population;Florence her central and healthful location; Genoa her extensivecommerce and unshaken devotion to Republican Freedom, &c. , &c. And Ishould hardly be surprised to see some of these, chagrined by an adversedecision, leaguing with foreign despots to restore the sway of thestronger by way of avenging their fancied wrongs!

And it is too true that ages of subjugation have demoralized, to afearful extent, the Italian People. Those who would rather beg, orextort, or pander to others' vices, than honestly work for a living, will never do anything for Freedom; and such are deplorably abundant inItaly. Then, like most nations debased by ages of Slavery, these peoplehave little faith in each other. The proverb that "No Italian has twofriends" is of Italian origin. Every one fears that his confederate mayprove a traitor, and if one is heard openly cursing the Government asoppressive and intolerable in a café or other public resort, though thesentiment is heartily responded to, the utterer is suspected and avoidedas a Police stool-pigeon and spy. Such mutual distrust necessarilycreates or accompanies a lack of moral courage. There are brave andnoble Italians, but the majority are neither brave nor noble. There weregallant spirits who joyfully poured out their blood for Freedom in1848-9, but nine-tenths of those who wished well to the Liberal causetook precious good care to keep their carcases out of the reach ofAustrian or French bullets. Even in Rome, where, next to Venice, themost creditable resistance was made to Despotism, the greater part ofthe actual fighting was done by Italians indeed, but refugees fromLombardy, Tuscany and other parts of Italy. Had the Romans who heartilydesired the maintenance of the Republic shown their faith by theirworks, Naples would have been promptly revolutionized and the Frenchdriven back to their ships. On this point, I have the testimony ofeye-witnesses of diverse sentiments and of unimpeachable character. Romeis heartily Republican to-day; but I doubt whether three effectiveregiments could be raised from her large native population to fight asingle fair battle which was to decide the fate of Italy. So with thewhole country except Piedmont, and perhaps Genoa and Venice. I wish thefact were otherwise; but there can be no use in disguising ormis-stating it. Italy is not merely enslaved but debased, and not tillafter years of Freedom will the mass of her people evince consistentlythe spirit or the bearing of Freemen. She must be freed through theprogress of Liberal ideas in France and Germany--not by her own inherentenergies. Not till her masses have learned to look more coolly down thethroats of loaded and hostile cannon in fair daylight and be a littleless handy with their knives in the dark, can they be relied on to doanything for the general cause of Freedom. 

THE AUSTRIANS. 

I have not been able to dislike the Austrians personally. Their simplepresence in Italy is a grievous wrong and mischief, since, so long asthey hold the Italians in subjection, the latter can hardly begin theeducation which is to fit them for Freedom. Yet it is none the less truethat the portion of Italy unequivocally Austrian is better governed andenjoys, not more Liberty, for there is none in either, but a milder formof Slavery, than that which prevails in Naples, Rome, Tuscany, and thepaltrier native despotisms. I can now understand, though I by no meansconcur in, the wish of a _quasi_ Liberal friend who prays that Austriamay just take possession of the whole Peninsula, and abolish the dozendiverse Tariffs, Coinages, Mails, Armies, Courts, &c. &c. , which nowscourge this natural Paradise. He thinks that such an absorption onlycan prepare Italy for Liberty and true Unity; I, on the contrary, fearthat it would fix her in a more hopeless Slavery. Yet it certainly wouldrender the country more agreeable to strangers, whether sojourners ormere travelers. 

The Austrian soldiers, regarded as mere fighting machines, are certainlywell got up. They are palpably the superiors, moral and physical, of theFrench who garrison Rome, and they are less heartily detested by thePeople whom they are here to hold in subjection. Their discipline isadmirable, but their natural disposition is likewise quiet andinoffensive. I have not heard of a case of any one being personallyinsulted by an Austrian since I have been in Italy. --Knowing themselvesto be intensely disliked in Italy and yet its uncontrolled masters, itwould seem but natural that they should evince something of bravado andhaughtiness, but I have observed or heard of nothing of the kind. Infact, the bearing of the Austrians, whether officers or soldiers, hasseemed to evince a quiet consciousness of strength, and to say, in theleast offensive manner possible--"We are masters here by virtue of ourgood swords--if you dispute the right, look well that you have a sharperweapon and a vigorous arm to wield it!" To a rule which thus answers allremonstrances against its existence by a quiet telling off of its ranksand a faultless marching of its determined columns, what furtherargument can be opposed but that of bayonet to bayonet? I really cannotsee how the despot-governed, Press-shackled, uneducated Nations are everto be liberated under the guidance of Peace Societies and their World'sConventions; and, horrible as all War is and ever must be, I deem a fewbattles a lesser evil than the perpetuity of such mental and physicalbondage as is now endured by Twenty Millions of Italians. When the PeaceSociety shall have persuaded the Emperor Nicholas or Francis-Joseph todisband his armies and rely for the support of his government on itsintrinsic justice and inherent moral force, I shall be ready to enterits ranks; but while Despotism, Fraud and Wrong are triumphantly upheldby Force, I do not see how Freedom, Justice and Progress can safelydisclaim and repudiate the only weapons that tyrants fear--the onlyarguments they regard. 

LEAVING ITALY. 

I have not been long in Italy, yet I have gone over a good share of itssurface, and seen nearly all that I much desired to see, except Naplesand its vicinity, with the Papal territory on the Perugia route fromRome to Florence. I should have liked more time in Genoa, Rome, Florenceand Venice; but sight-seeing was never a passion with me, and I soontire of wandering from ruin to ruin, church to church, and gallery togallery. Yet when I stop gazing the next impulse is to move on; for if Ihave time to rest anywhere, why not at home? Hotel life among totalstrangers was never agreeable to me--(was it to any one?)--and I do notlike that of Italy so well as I at first thought I should. Theattendance is well enough, and as to food, I make a point of neverquarreling with that I have; though meals far simpler than those servedat the regular hotel dinners here would suit me much better. The chargesin general are quite reasonable, though I have paid one or two absurdbills. It was at first right pleasant to lodge in what was once apalace, and I still deem a large, high, airy sleeping-room, such as weseldom have in American hotels, but are common here, a genuine luxury. But when with such rooms you have doors that don't shut so as to stay, windows that won't open, locks that won't hold, bolts that won't slideand fleas that won't--ah! _won't_ they bite!--the case is somewhataltered. I should not like to end my days in Italy. 

As to the People, if I shall seem to have spoken of them disparagingly, it has not been unkindly. I cherish an earnest desire for theirwell-being. They do not need flattery, and do not, as a body, deservepraise. Of what are sometimes called the "better classes" (though Ibelieve they are here _no_ better), I have seen little, and have notspoken specially. Of the great majority who, here, as everywhere, mustexert themselves to live, whether by working, or begging, or pettyswindling, I have seen something, and of these certain leadingcharacteristics are quite unmistakable. An Italian Picture-Gallery seemsto me a pretty fair type of the Italian mind and character. The habitualcommingling of the awful with the paltry--the sacred and thesensual--Madonna and Circé--Christ on the Cross and Venus in theBath--which is exhibited in all the Italian galleries, seems anexpression of the National genius. Am I wrong in the feeling that theperpetual (and often execrable) representation of such awful scenes asthe Crucifixion is calculated first to shock but ultimately to weakenthe religious sentiment? Of the hundreds of pictures of the infantJesus I have seen in Italy, there are not five which did not strike meas utterly unworthy of the subject, allowing that it ought to berepresented at all. "Men of Athens!" said the straight-forward Paul, "Iperceive that in all things ye are too superstitious. " I think theItalians, quite apart from what is essential to their creed, have thisvery failing, and that it exerts a debilitating influence on theirNational character. They need to be cured of it, as well as of the vicesI have already indicated, in order that their magnificent country mayresume its proper place among great and powerful Nations. I trust I amnot warring on the faith of their Church, when I urge that "To dojustice and judgment is more acceptable to the Lord thansacrifice"--that no man can be truly devout who is not strictly uprightand manly--and that one living purpose of diffusive, practicalwell-doing, is more precious in the sight of Heaven, than the bones ofall the dead Saints in Christendom. 

Farewell, trampled, soul-crushed Italy!

XXXI. 

SWITZERLAND. 

 LUCERNE, July 12, 1851. 

I left Milan at 5 o'clock, on the morning of the 10th, via Railroad toComo, at the foot of the Lake of like name, which we reached in an hourand a half, thence taking the Swiss Government Diligence for this place, via the pass of St. Gothard. Even before reaching Como (only some twentymiles from Milan), the spurs of the Alps had begun to gather around us, and the little Lake itself is completely embosomed by them. Barelyskirting its southern border, we crossed the Swiss frontier and badeadieu to the Passport swindle for a season, crossed a ridge into thevalley of Lake Lugano, which we skirted for two-thirds its length, crossing it by a fine stone bridge near its center. (All the Swiss lakesI have seen are very narrow for a good part of their length, of agreenish blue color, derived from the mountain snows, very irregular intheir form, being shut in, narrowed and distorted by the bold cliffswhich crowd them on one side or on both, often reducing them to acrooked strait, resembling the passage of the Highlands by the Hudson. )Threading the narrow streets of the pleasant village of Lugano, westruck boldly up the hill to the east, and over it into the valley ofthe little river Ticino, which we reached at Bellinzona, a smart town ofsome five to ten thousand inhabitants, and followed the river thence toits source in the eternal snows of Mount St. Gothard. All this is, Ibelieve, in the Canton of Ticino, in which Italian is the commonlanguage, and of which Bellinzona is the chief town. 

Although in Switzerland, shut in by steep mountains, often snow-crowned, which leave it an average width of less than half a mile, this valley isItalian in many of its natural characteristics. For two-thirds of itslength, Wheat, Indian Corn and the Vine are the chief objects ofattention, and every little patch of level ground, save the rocky bed ofthe impetuous mountain torrent, is laboriously, carefully cultivated. Such mere scraps of earth do not admit of efficient husbandry, but aremade to produce liberally by dint of patient effort. I should judge thata peck of corn is about the average product of a day's work through allthis region. There is some pasturage, mainly on the less abruptdeclivities far up the mountains, but not one acre in fifty of theCanton yields aught but it may be a little fuel for the sustenance ofman. Nature is here a rugged mother, exacting incessant toil of herchildren as the price of the most frugal subsistence; but under suchskies, in the presence of so much magnificence, and in a land ofequality and freedom, mere life is _worth_ working for, and thecondition is accepted with a hearty alacrity. Men and women worktogether, and almost equally, in the fields; and here, where thenecessity is so palpably of Nature's creation, not Man's, the spectacleis far less revolting than on the fertile plains of Piedmont orLombardy. The little patch of Wheat is so carefully reaped that scarcelya grain is left, and children bear the sheaves on their backs to theallotted shelter, while mothers and maidens are digging up the soil withthe spade, and often pulling up the stubble with their hands, preparatory to another crop. Switzerland could not afford to be aKingdom, --the expense of a Court and Royal Family would famish half herpeople. Yet everywhere are the signs of frugal thrift and homelycontent. I met only two beggars in that long day's ride through sterileSwitzerland, while in a similar ride through the fertile plains ofItaly I should have encountered hundreds, though there each day's laborproduces as much as three days' do here. If the Swiss only _could_ liveat home, by the utmost industry and economy, I think they would veryseldom be found elsewhere; but in truth the land has long been peopledto the extent of its capacity for subsisting, and the steady increasewhich their pure morals and simple habits ensure must drive offthousands in search of the bread of honest toil. Hence their presenceelsewhere, in spite of their passionate attachment to their free nativehills. 

Most of the dwellings through all this region are built of stone--thoseof the poor very rudely, of the roughest boulders, commonly laid up withlittle or no mortar. The roofs are often of split stone. The houses ofthe more fortunate class are generally of hewn or at least tolerablysquare-edged stone, laid up in mortar, often plastered and whitened onthe outside, so as to present a very neat appearance. Barns are few, andgenerally of stone also. The Vine is quite extensively cultivated, andoften trained on a rude frame-work of stakes and poles, so as completelyto cover the ground and forbid all other cultivation. Elsewhere it istrained to stakes--rarely to dwarf trees as in Italy. The Mulberry holdsits ground for two-thirds of the way up the valley, giving out a littleafter the Vine and before Indian Corn does so. Wheat gives place to Ryeabout the same time, and the Potato, at first comparatively rare, becomes universal. As the Mulberry gives out the Chestnut comes in, andflourishes nobly for some ten or twenty miles about midway fromBellinzona to Airolo. I suspect, from the evident care taken of it, thatits product is considerably relied on for food. Finally, as we graduallyascend, this also disappears, leaving Rye and the Potato to struggle awhile longer, until at Airolo, at the foot of St. Gothard, where westopped at 10 o'clock for the night, though the valley forks and isconsequently of some width, there remain only a few slenderpotato-stalks, in shivering expectation of untimely frost, a patch ortwo of headless oats, with grass on the slopes, still tender and greenfrom the lately sheltering snows, and a dwarfish hemlock clinging to thesteep acclivities and hiding from the fierce winds in the deep ravineswhich run up the mountains. Snow is in sight on every side, and seemsbut a mile or so distant. Yet here are two petty villages and thirty orforty scattered dwellings, whose inhabitants keep as many small cows andgoats as they can find grass for, and for the rest must live mainly byserving in the hotels, or as postillions, road-makers, &c. Yet no handwas held out to me in beggary at or around Airolo. 

ST. GOTHARD. 

We did not start till after 9 next morning, and meantime some moreDiligences had come up, so that we formed a procession of one large andheavy, followed by three smaller and more fit carriages, when we movedout of the little village, and, leaving the larger branch of our creek, now a scanty mill-stream at best, to bend away to the left, we followedthe smaller and charged boldly up the mountain. The ascent is of coursemade by zig-zags, no other mode being practicable for carriages, sothat, when we had traveled three toilsome miles, Airolo still lay insight, hardly a mile below us. I judge the whole ascent, which with alight carriage and three hard-driven horses occupied two hours and ahalf, was about eight miles, though a straight line might have taken usto the summit in three miles. The rise in this distance must have beennear five thousand feet. 

For a time, the Hemlocks held on, but at length they gave up, before wereached any snow, and only a little weak young Grass, --nourished ratherby the perpetual mists or rains than by the cold, sour earth whichclung to the less precipitous rocks, --remained to keep us company. Soonthe snow began to appear beside us, at first timidly, on the north sideof cliffs, and in deep chasms, where it was doubtless drifted to thedepth of thirty feet during the Winter, and has been gradually thawingout since May. At length it stood forth unabashed beside our road, oftena solid mass six or seven feet thick, on either side of the narrow passwhich had been cut and worn through it for and by the passage oftravelers. Meantime, the drizzling rain, which had commenced soon afterwe started, had changed to a spitting, watery sleet, and at length tosnow, a little before we reached the summit of the pass, where we founda young Nova Zembla. An extensive cloud-manufactory was in full blastall around us, shutting out from view even the nearest cliffs, while thesnow and wind--I being on the outside and somewhat wet already--made ourshort halt there anything but comfortable. The ground was covered withsnow to an average depth of two or three feet; the brooks ran over bedsof ice and under large heaps of drifted and frozen snow, and all wassullen and cheerless. Here were the sources (in part) of the Po and ofthe Rhine, but I was rather in haste to bid the former good-bye. 

We reduced our three-horse establishment to two, and began to descendthe Rhineward zig-zags at a rattling pace, our driver (and all thedrivers) hurrying all the way. We reached the first village (where therewas considerable Grass again, and some Hemlock, but scarcely anyattempts at cultivation), in fifty minutes, and I think the distance wasnearly five miles. "Jehu, the son of Nimshi, " could not have done thedistance in five minutes less. 

We changed horses and drivers at this village, but proceeded at asimilar pace down through the most hideous chasm for the next two orthree miles that I ever saw. I doubt whether a night-mare ever beat it. The descent of the stream must have been fully 1, 500 feet to the milefor a good part of this distance, while the mountains rose naked andalmost perpendicular on each side from its very bed to hights of one totwo thousand feet, without a shrub, and hardly a resting-place even forsnow. Down this chasm our road wound, first on one side of the rivulet, then on the other, crossing by narrow stone bridges, often at thesharpest angle with the road, making zig-zags wherever space could befound or made for them, now passing through a tunnel cut through thesolid rock, and then under a long archway built over it to protect itfrom avalanches at the crossing of a raving cataract down the mountainside. And still the staving pace at which we started was kept up bythose on the lead, and imitated by the boy driving our carriage, whichwas hindmost of all. I was just thinking that, though every one shouldknow his own business best, yet if _I_ were to drive down a steepmountain in that way I should expect to break my neck, and suspect Ideserved it, when, as we turned a sharp zig-zag on a steep grade at astiff trot, our carriage tilted, and over she went in a twinkling. 

Our horses behaved admirably, which in an upset is always half thebattle. Had they started, the Diligence managers could only haverendered a Flemish account of _that_ load. As it was, they stopped, andthe driver, barely scratched, had them in hand in a minute. 

I was on the box-seat with him, and fell under him, catching a badsprain of the left wrist, on which I came down, which disables that handfor a few days--nothing broken and no great harm done--only a fewliberal rents and trifling bruises. But I should judge that our headslay about three feet from the side of the road, which was a precipice ofnot more than twenty feet, but the rocks below looked particularlyjagged and uninviting. 

Our four inside passengers had been a good deal mixed up, in theconcussion, but soon began to emerge _seriatim_ from the side doorwhich in the fall came uppermost--only one of them much hurt, and he bya bruise or gash on the head nowise dangerous. Each, as his or her headprotruded through the aperture, began to "let in" on the driver, whosereal fault was that of following bad examples. I was a little riled atfirst myself, but the second and last lady who came out put me inexcellent humor. She was not hurt, but had her new silk umbrella brokensquare in two, and she flashed the pieces before the delinquent's eyesand reeled off the High Dutch to him with vehement volubility. I wishedI could have understood her more precisely. Though not more thaneighteen, she developed a tongue that would have done credit to forty. 

The drivers ahead stopped and came back, helped right the stage, andeach took a shy at the unlucky charioteer, though in fact they were asmuch in fault as he, only more fortunate. I suspected before that thistrotting down zig-zags was not the thing, and now I know it, and shallremember it, at least for one week. And I have given this tedious detailto urge and embolden others to remonstrate against it. The vice isuniversal--at least it was just as bad at Mount Cenis as here, and herewere four carriages all going at the same reckless pace. The truth is, it is not safe to trot down such mountains and hardly to ride down themat all. We passed scores of places where any such unavoidable accidentas the breaking of a reach or a hold-back must have sent the wholeconcern over a precipice where all that reached the bottom would hardlybe worth picking up. Who has a right to risk his life in this fool-hardymanner?

The next time I cross the Alps, I will take my seat for thestopping-place at the nearer foot, and thence walk leisurely over, witha long staff and a water-proof coat, sending on my baggage by the coachto the hotel on the other side. If I can get an hour's start, I can (bystraightening the zig-zags) nearly double it going up; if not, I willwait on the other side for the next stage. If it were not for thecowardly fear of being thought timid, there would be more care used insuch matters. Hitherto, I have not given the subject much consideration, but I turn over a new leaf from the date of this adventure. 

We came down the rest of the mountain more carefully, though still agreat deal too fast. A girl of twelve or thirteen breaking stone by theroad-side in a lonely place was among the note-worthy features of thewilder upper region. Trees, Potato-patches, Grain-fields were welcomesights as we neared them successively, though the Vine and the Chestnutdid not and Indian Corn barely did reäppear on this side, which is muchcolder than the other and grows little but Grass. At the foot of thepass, the valley widened a little, though still with steep, snow-cappedcliffs crowding it on either side. Five hours from the summit and lessthan two from the base, we reached the pretty town of Altorf, havingperhaps five thousand inhabitants, with a mile width of valley andgrassy slopes on the surrounding mountains. A few minutes more broughtus to the petty port of Fluellen on Lake Lucerne, where a littlesteamboat was waiting to bring us to this city. I would not just thenhave traded off that steamboat for several square miles of snow-cappedsublimity. 

Lake Lucerne is a mere cleft in the mountains, narrow and most irregularin form, with square cliffs like our Palisades, only many times higher, rising sheer out of its depths and hardly a stone's throw apart. MountPilatte and The Rhigi are the most celebrated of those seen from itsbreast. After making two or three short turns among the hights, itfinally opens to a width of some miles on a softer scene, with greenpastures and pleasant woods sweeping down the hills nearly or quite toits verge. Lucerne City lies at or near its outlet, and seems a pleasantplace, though I have had no time to spend upon it, as I arrived at 8½ P. M. Too weary even to write if I had been able to sleep. I leave forBasle by Diligence at eight this morning. 

XXXII. 

LUCERNE TO BASLE. 

 BASLE, July 13, 1851. 

Very striking is the contrast between all of Switzerland I hadtraversed, before reaching Lucerne, and the route thence to this place. From Como to the middle of Lake Lucerne is something over a hundredmiles, and in all that distance there was never so much as one-tenth ofthe land in sight that could, by any possibility, be cultivated. Thenarrow valleys, when not _too_ narrow, were arable and generallyfertile; but they were shut in on every side by dizzy precipices, bylofty mountains, often snow-crowned, and either wholly barren or withonly a few shrubs and stunted trees clinging to their clefts andinequalities, because nothing else could cling there. A fortieth part ofthese mountain sides may have been so moderately steep that soil couldgather and lie on them, in which case they yielded fair pasturage forcattle, or at least for goats: but nine-tenths of their superficies wereutterly unproductive and inhospitable. On the mountain-tops, indeed, there is sometimes a level space, but the snow generally monopolizesthat. Such is Switzerland from the Italian frontier, where I crossed it, to the immediate vicinity of Lucerne. 

Here all is changed. A small but beautiful river debouches from the lakeat its west end, and the town is grouped around this outlet. Butmountains here there are none--nothing but rich glades and gentlyswelling hills, covered with the most bounteous harvest, through whichthe high road runs north-easterly some sixty miles to Basle on theRhine in the north-east corner of Switzerland, with Germany (Baden) onthe east and France on the north. A single ridge, indeed, on this routepresents a ragged cliff or two and some heights dignified with the titleof mountains, which seem a joke to one who has just spent two days amongthe Alps. 

Grass is the chief staple of this fertile region, but Wheat isabundantly grown and is just beginning to ripen, promising a nobleyield. Potatoes also are extensively planted, and I never saw a morevigorous growth. Rye, Oats and Barley do well, but are littlecultivated. Of Indian Corn there is none, and the Vine, which had givenout on the Italian side some twenty miles below the foot of St. Gothard, does not come in again till we are close to the Rhine. But in its steadthey have the Apple in profusion--I think more Apple trees betweenLucerne and the Rhine, than I had seen in all Europe before--and theyseem very thrifty, though this year's yield of fruit will be light. There are some other trees planted, and many small, thrifty forests, such as I had hardly seen before on the Continent. These increase as weapproach the Rhine. There is hardly a fence throughout, and generouscrops of Wheat, Potatoes, Rye, Grass, Oats, &c. , are growing close up tothe beaten road on either side. I don't exactly see how Cattle aredriven through such a country, having passed no drove since crossingMount St. Gothard. 

The dwellings are generally large, low structures, with sloping, overhanging roofs, indicating thrift and comfort. Sometimes the firststory, or at least the basement, is of hewn-stone, but the greater partof the structure is nearly always of wood. The barns are spacious, andbuilt much like the houses. I have passed through no other part ofEurope evincing such general thrift and comfort as this quarter ofSwitzerland, and Basle, already a well built city, is rapidly improving. When the Railroad line from Paris to Strasburg is completed, the Frenchcapital will be but little more than twenty-four hours from Basle, whilethe Baden line, down the German side of the Rhine, already connects thiscity easily with all Germany, and is certain of rapid and indefiniteextension. Basle, though quite a town in Cæsar's day, is renewing heryouth. 

THE SWISS. 

I am leaving Switzerland, after four days only of observation therein;but during those days I have traversed the country from its southern toits north-eastern extremity, passing through six of the Cantons andalong the skirts of another, resting respectively at Airolo, Lucerne, and Basle, and meeting many hundreds of the people on the way, besideseeing thousands in the towns and at work in their fields. This isnaturally a very poor country, with for the most part a sterile soil--orrather, naked, precipitous rocks, irreclaimably devoid of soil--where, if anywhere, the poor peasantry would be justified in asking charity ofthe strangers who come to gaze at and enjoy their stupendous but mostinhospitable mountains--and yet I have not seen one beggar to a hundredhearty workers, while in fertile, bounteous, sunny Italy, thepreponderance was clearly the other way. And, though very palpably astranger, and specially exposed by my ignorance of the languages spokenhere to imposition, no one has attempted to cheat me from the moment ofmy entering the Republic till this, while in Italy every day and almostevery hour was marked by its peculiar extortions. Every where I havefound kindness and truth written on the faces and evinced in the acts ofthis people, while in Italy rapacity and knavery are the order of theday. How does a monarchist explain this broad discrepancy? Mountainsalone will not do, for the Italians of the Apennines and the Abruzzi arenotoriously very much like those of the Campagna and of the Val d'Arno;nor will the zealot's ready suggestion of diverse Faiths suffice, for myroute has lain almost exclusively through the _Catholic_ portion of thiscountry. Ticino, Uri, Lucerne, etc. , are intensely, unanimouslyCatholic; the very roadsides are dotted with little shrines, enrichedwith the rudest possible pictures of the Virgin and Child, theCrucifixion, &c. , and I think I did not pass a Protestant church orvillage till I was within thirty miles of this place. Nearly all theSwiss I have seen are Catholics, and a more upright, kindly, trulyreligious people I have rarely or never met. What, then, can haverendered them so palpably and greatly superior to their Italianneighbors, whose ancestors were the masters of theirs, but theprevalence here of Republican Freedom and there of Imperial Despotism?

Switzerland, shut out from equal competition with other nations by herinland, elevated, scarcely accessible position, has naturalizedManufactures on her soil, and they are steadily extending. She sendsMillions' worth of Watches, Silks, &c. , annually even to distantAmerica; while Italy, with nearly all her population within a day's rideof the Adriatic or the Mediterranean, with the rich, barbaric East ather doors for a market, does not fabricate even the rags which partiallycover her beggars, but depends on England and France for most of thelittle clothing she has. Italy is naturally a land of abundance andluxury, with a soil and climate scarcely equalled on earth; yet a largeshare of her population actually lack the necessaries, not to speak ofthe comforts, of life, and those who sow and reap her bountiful harvestsare often without bread: Switzerland has, for the most part, an Arcticclimate and scarcely any soil at all; and yet her people are alldecently clad and adequately though frugally fed, and I have not seenone person who seemed to have been demoralized by want or to suffer fromhunger since I crossed her border. Her hotels are far superior to theirmore frequented namesakes of Italy; even at the isolated hamlet ofAirolo, where no grain will grow, I found everything essential tocleanliness and comfort, while the "Switzer Hoff" at Lucerne and "LesTrois Rois" at Basle are two of the very best houses I have found inEurope. What Royalist can satisfactorily explain these contrasts?

Switzerland, though a small country, and not half of this habitable, speaks three different languages. I found at Airolo regular files ofSwiss journals printed respectively in French, Italian, and German: thelast entirely baffled me; the two former I read after a fashion, makingout some of their contents' purport and drift. Those in French, printedat Geneva, Lausanne, &c. , were executed far more neatly than the others. All were of small size, and in good part devoted to spirited politicaldiscussion. Switzerland, though profoundly Republican, is almost equallydivided into parties known respectively as "Radical" and "Conservative:"the Protestant Cantons being preponderantly Radical, the Catholicgenerally Conservative. Of the precise questions in dispute I knowlittle and shall say nothing; but I do trust that the controversy willnot enfeeble nor paralyze the Republic, now seriously menaced by theAllied Despots, who seem to have almost forgotten that there ever wassuch a man as WILLIAM TELL. Let us drink, in the crystal current leapingbrightly down from the eternal glaciers, to his glorious, inspiringmemory, and to Switzerland a loving and hopeful Adieu!

XXXIII. 

GERMANY. 

 COLOGNE, Tuesday, July 15, 1851. 

After spending Sunday very agreeably at Basle (where AmericanProtestants traveling may like to know that Divine worship is regularlyconducted each Sabbath by an English clergyman, at the excellent Hotelof the Three Kings), I set my face again northward at 7½ A. M. On Monday, crossing the Rhine (which is here about the size of theHudson at Albany) directly into Baden, and so leaving the soil ofglorious Switzerland, the mountain home of Liberty amid surroundingdespotisms. The nine first miles from Basle (to Efringen) are traversedby Omnibus, and thence a very good Railroad runs nearly parallel withthe Rhine by Freiburg, Kehl (opposite Strasburg), Baden (at somedistance), Rastatt, Carlsruhe, and Heidelberg, to Mannheim, distant fromBasle 167½ miles by Railroad, and I presume considerably further byRiver, as the Rhine (unlike the Railroad as far as Heidelberg) is notvery direct in its course. There is a French Railroad completed on theother (west) side of the river from Basle to Strasburg, and nearlycompleted from Strasburg to Paris, which affords a far more direct andexpeditious route than that I have chosen, as I wished to see somethingof Germany. It is also cheaper, I believe, to take the French Railroadto Strasburg, and the river thence by steamboats which ply regularly ashigh as Strasburg, and might keep on to Basle, I presume, if not impededby bridges, as the river is amply large enough. 

The Baden Railroad runs through a country descending, indeed, toward theRhine and with the Rhine, but as nearly level as a country well can be, and affording the fewest possible obstacles to its construction. It isfaithfully built, but instead of the numerous common roads which crossit being carried over or under its track, as the English Railroads are, they are closed on each side by a swing-bar, at which a guard isstationed--a plan which saves expense at the outset, but involves aheavy permanent charge. I should deem the English plan preferable tothis, though men are had much cheaper for such service in Germany thanin America, or even Great Britain. The pace is slower than with us. Wewere about nine hours of fair daylight traversing 160 miles of level ordescending grade, with a light passenger train. The management, however, was careful and unexceptionable. 

This Railroad runs for most of the distance much nearer to the range ofgentle hills which bound the broad and fertile Rhine valley on the eastthan to the river itself. The valley is nearly bare of trees for themost part, and has scarcely any fences save the very slight board fenceon either side of the Railroad. In some places, natural woods ofconsiderable extent are permitted, but not many fruit nor shade-trees, whether in rows or scattered. The hills in sight, however, are veryconsiderably wooded, and wood is apparently the common fuel. The valleyis generally but not entirely irrigated, though all of it easily mightbe, the arrangements for irrigation appearing much more modern andunsystematic here than in Lombardy. The land is cultivated in strips asin France--first Wheat (the great staple), then Rye, then Potatoes, thenClover, then Beets, or Hemp, or Flax, and so on. For a small part of theway, Grass seems to preponderate, but generally Wheat and Rye cover morethan half the ground, while Potatoes have a very large breadth of it. Rye is now being harvested, and is quite heavy: in fact, all the cropspromise abundant harvests. The Vine appears at intervals, but is notgeneral through this region: Indian Corn is also rare, and appears insmall patches. In some places many acres of Wheat are seen in one piece, but usually a breadth of four to twenty rods is given to one crop, andthen another succeeds and so on. I presume this implies a diversity ofowners, or at least of tenants. 

The cultivation, though not always judicious, is generally thorough, there being no lack of hands nor of good will. The day being fine andthe season a hurrying one, the vast plain was everywhere dotted withlaborers, of whom fully half were Women, reaping Rye, binding it, rakingand pitching Hay, hoeing Potatoes, transplanting Cabbages, Beets, &c. They seemed to work quite as heartily and efficiently as the men. Butthe most characteristically European spectacle I saw was a womanunloading a great hay-wagon of huge cordwood at a Railroad station, andpitching over the heavy sticks with decided resolution and efficiency. It may interest the American pioneers in the Great Pantalette (or is itPantaloon?) Movement to know that she was attired in appropriatecostume--short frock, biped continuations and a mannish oil-skinhat. --And this reminds me that, coming away from Rome, I met, at thehalf-way house to Civita Vecchia, a French marching regiment on its wayfrom Corsica to the Eternal City, to which regiment two women wereattached as sutlers, &c. , who also wore the same costume, except thattheir hats were of wool instead of oil-skin. Thus attired, they hadmarched twenty-five miles that hot day, and were to march as many thenext, as they had doubtless done on many former days. It certainlycannot be pretended that these women adopted that dress from a love ofnovelty, or a desire to lead a new fashion, or from any other reasonthan a sense of its convenience, founded on experience. I trust, therefore, that their unconscious testimony in behalf of the GreatMovement may not be deemed irrelevant nor unentitled to consideration. Their social rank is certainly not the highest, but I consider them morelikely to render a correct judgment on the merit of the Bloomercontroversy than the Lady Patronesses of Almack's. 

THE RHINE. 

After spending the night at Mannheim, I took a steamboat at 5½ thismorning for this place, 165 miles down the Rhine, embracing all thenavigable part of the river of which the scenery is esteemed attractive. As far down as Mayence or Mentz (55 miles), the low banks and broadintervale continue, and there is little worthy of notice. From Mentz toCoblentz (54 miles), there is some magnificent scenery, though I thinkits natural beauties do not surpass those of the Hudson from New-York toNewburgh. Certainly there are no five miles equal in rugged grandeur tothose beginning just below and ending above West Point. But the Rhine ishere somewhat larger than the Hudson; the hills on either side, thoughseldom absolutely precipitous, are from one to five hundred feet high, and are often crowned with the ruins of ancient castles, which have avery picturesque appearance; while the little villages at their foot andthe cultivation (mainly of the Vine) which is laboriously prosecuted uptheir rocky and almost naked sides, contribute to heighten the generaleffect. These sterile rocks impart a warmth to the soil and a sweetnessto the grape which are otherwise found only under a more southerly sun, and, combined with the cheapness of labor, appear to justify thetoilsome process of terracing up the steep hill-sides, and even carryingup earth in baskets to little southward-looking nooks and crevices whereit may be retained and planted on. Yet I liked better than the vine-cladheights those less abrupt declivities where a more varied culture isattempted, and where the Vine is intermingled with strips of nowripened Rye, ripening Wheat, blossoming Potatoes, &c. , &c. , togetherimparting a variegated richness and beauty to the landscape which arerarely equaled. But the Rhine has been nearly written out, and I willpass it lightly over. Its towers are not very imposing in appearance, though Coblentz makes a fair show. Opposite is Ehrenbreitstein, nolonger the ruin described (if I rightly remember) in Childe Harold, buta magnificent fortress, apparently in the best condition, and said tohave cost Five Millions of dollars. The "blue Moselle" enters the Rhinefrom the west just below Coblentz. This city (Cologne) is the largest, Ibelieve, in Rhenish Prussia, and, next to Rotterdam at its mouth, thelargest on the Rhine, having a flourishing trade and 90, 000 inhabitants. (Coblentz has 26, 000, Mayence 36, 000, Mannheim 23, 000 and Strasburg60, 000. )

There are some bold hights dignified as mountains below Coblentz, butthe finest of the scenery is above. The hills disappear some miles abovethis city, and henceforward to the sea all is flat and tame as a marsh. On the whole, the Rhine has hardly fulfilled my expectations. Had Ivisited it on my way _to_ the Alps, instead of just _from_ them, itwould doubtless have impressed me more profoundly; but I am sure the St. Mary's of Lake Superior is better worth seeing; so I think, is theDelaware section of the Erie Railroad. It is possible the weather mayhave unfitted me for appreciating this famous river, for a more cloudy, misty, chilly, rainy, execrable, English day I have seldom encountered. To travelers blessed with golden sunshine, the Rhine may wear a grander, nobler aspect, and to such I leave it. 

THE GERMANS. 

I have been but two days wholly among the Germans, but I had previouslymet many of them in England, Italy and Switzerland. They are seen tothe best advantage at home. Their uniform courtesy (save in thedetestable habit of smoking where others cannot help being annoyed bytheir fumes), indicates not merely good nature but genuine kindness ofheart. I have not seen a German quarreling or scolding anywhere inEurope. The deference of members of the same family to each other'shappiness in cars, hotels and steamboats has that quiet, unconsciousmanner which distinguishes a habit from a holiday ornament. The entireabsence of pretense, of stateliness, of a desire to be thought apersonage and not a mere person, is scarcely more universal inSwitzerland than here. But in fact I have found Aristocracy a chronicdisease nowhere but in Great Britain. In France, there is absolutelynothing of it; there are monarchists in that country--monarchists fromtradition, from conviction, from policy, or from class interest--but ofAristocracy scarcely a trace is left. Your Paris boot-black will makeyou a low bow in acknowledgment of a franc, but he has not a trace ofthe abjectness of a London waiter, and would evidently decline the honorof being kicked by a Duke. In Italy, there is little manhood but noclass-worship; her millions of beggars will not abase themselves onewhit lower before a Prince than before anyone else from whom they hopeto worm a copper. The Swiss are freemen, and wear the fact unconsciouslybut palpably on their brows and beaming from their eyes. The Germanssubmit passively to arbitrary power which they see not how successfullyto resist, but they render to rank or dignity no more homage than isnecessary--their souls are still free, and their manners evince asimplicity and frankness which might shame or at least instruct America. On the Rhine, the steamboats are so small and shabby, withoutstate-rooms, berth-rooms, or even an upper deck--that the passengers arenecessarily at all times under each other's observation, and, as thefare is high, and twice as much in the main as in the forward cabin, itmay be fairly presumed that among those who pay the higher charge arenone of the poorest class--no mere laborers for wages. Yet in this maincabin well-dressed young ladies would take out their home-prepareddinner and eat it at their own good time without seeking the company andcountenance of others, or troubling themselves to see who was observing. A Lowell factory-girl would consider this entirely out of character, anda New-York milliner would be shocked at the idea of it. 

The Germans are a patient, long-suffering race. Of their Forty Millionsoutside of Austria, probably less than an eighth at all approve or evenacquiesce in the despotic policy in which their rulers are leagued, andwhich has rendered Germany for the present a mere outpost of Russia--anunfinished Poland. These people are intelligent as well as brave--theysee and feel, yet endure and forbear. Perhaps their course is wiser thanthat which hot impatience would prompt--nay, I believe it is. If theycan patiently suffer on without losing heart until France shall haveextricated herself from the toils of her treacherous misrulers, they maythen resume their rights almost without a blow. And whenever a new 1848shall dawn upon them, they will have learned to improve itsopportunities and avoid its weaknesses and blunders. Heaven speed itsauspicious coming!

XXXIV. 

BELGIUM. 

 PARIS, Saturday, July 19, 1851. 

From Cologne westward by Railroad to the Western frontier (nearVerviers) of Rhenish Prussia, and thus of Germany, is 65 miles. For mostof the way the country is flat and fertile, and in good part devoted toGrazing, though considerable Wheat is grown. The farming is notremarkably good, and the general aspect befits a region which for twothousand years has been too often the arena of fierce and bloodyconflict between the armies of great nations. Cologne itself, though aplace of no natural strength, has been fortified to an extent and at anevident cost beyond all American conception. All over this part ofEurope, and to a less degree throughout Italy, the amount of expenditureon walls and forts, bastions, ditches, batteries, &c. Is incalculablygreat. I cannot doubt that any nation, by wisely expending half so muchin systematic efforts to educate, employ steadily and reward amply itspoorer classes, would have been strengthened and ensured againstinvasion far more than it could be by walls like precipices and a beltof fortresses as impregnable as Gibraltar. But this wisdom is slowlylearned by rulers, and is not yet very widely appreciated. Whenever itshall be, "Othello's occupation" will be gone, not for Othello only, butfor all who would live by the sword. 

For some miles before it reaches the frontier, and for a much largerdistance after entering Belgium, the Railroad passes through adecidedly broken, hilly, up-and-down country, most unlike the popularconception of Flanders or Belgium. Precipices of naked rock are notunfrequent and the region is wisely given up mainly to Wood and Grass, the former engrossing most of the hill-sides and the latter flourishingin the valleys. This Railroad has more tunnels in the course of fiftymiles than I ever before met with--I think not less than a dozen--whilethe grading and bridging must have been very expensive. Such a countryis of course prolific in running streams, on which many small and somelarger manufacturing towns and villages are located. At length, itascends a considerable inclined plane at Liege, once a very popular, powerful and still a handsome and important manufacturing town with60, 000 inhabitants; and here the beautiful and magnificently fertiletable lands of Belgium spread out like a vast prairie before thetraveler. In fact, the peasant cultivators are so commonly located invillages, leaving long stretches of the rarely fenced though wellcultivated plain without a habitation, that the resemblance to levelprairies which have been planted and sown is more striking than would beimagined. But the growing crops are too cleanly and carefully weeded andtoo uniformly good to protract the illusion. Sometimes hundreds of acresare unbrokenly covered with Wheat, which has the largest area of any onestaple; but more commonly a breadth of this is succeeded by one of Rye, that by one of Potatoes, then Wheat again, then Clover, then Rye, thenWheat, then Potatoes, then Clover or other grass, and so on. I neverbefore saw so extensive and uniformly thrifty a growth of Potatoes, while acres upon acres of Beets, also in regular rows and kept carefullyfree from weeds, present at this season a beautiful appearance. Iapprehend that not half so much attention has been given in our countryto the growth of this and the kindred roots as would have been richlyrewarded. Of course, it is idle to sow Beets on any but rich land, witha generous depth of soil and the most thorough cultivation, but withsuch cultivation the red lands of New-Jersey and the intervales of ourrivers might be profitably and extensively devoted to the Beet cultureand to that of the larger Turnips. I have seen nothing in Europe thatmade a better appearance or promised a more bountiful return than thelarge tracts of Belgium and the neighboring district of France sown toBeets. 

Indian Corn and the Vine are scarcely, or not at all seen in Belgium. Beggars are not abundant; but women are required to labor quiteextensively in the fields. The habitations of the poor are less wretchedthan those of Italy, but not equal to those of the fertile portion ofSwitzerland. Irrigation is quite extensively practised, but is far fromuniversal. The few cattle kept in the wholly arable and thoroughlycultivated portion of the country are seldom allowed to range, becauseof the lack of fences, but are kept up and fed throughout the year. Women cutting grass in all by-places, and carrying it home by back-loadsto feed their stock, is a common spectacle throughout central Europe. Trees sometimes line the roads and streams, or irrigating canals, andsometimes have a piece of ground allotted them whereon to grow atrandom, but are rather scarce throughout this region, and I think I sawsquare miles entirely devoid of them. Fruit-trees are clearly tooscarce, though Cherries in abundance were offered for sale as we passed. On the whole, Belgium is not only a fertile but a prosperous country. 

At Liege, the Railroad we traversed leaves its westerly for a north-westcourse, running past Tirlemont to Malines (Mechlin) and thence toAntwerp; but we took a sharp turn to the south-west of Malines in orderto reach Brussels, which, though the capital and the largest city ofBelgium, is barely a point or stopping-place on a right line, whileLiege, Namur, Ghent and Bruges are each the point of junction of two ormore completed roads. Brussels has slept while this network has beenwoven over the country, and will awake to discover herself shorn of hertrade and sinking into insignificance if she does not immediately bestirherself. Her location is a fine one, on a ground which rises verygradually from the great plain to a modest hill southward, and she isamong the best built of modern cities. But already she is off the directline from either London or Paris to Germany; I would have saved manymiles by avoiding her and taking the road due west from Liege to Namur, Charleroi and Mons, where it intersects the Brussels line; and soon thegreat bulk of the travel will do so if it does not already. Railroadsare reckless Radicals and are destined by turns to make and to mar thefortunes of many great emporiums. 

NORTH-EASTERN FRANCE. 

Tournay in the coal region, fifty miles from Brussels, is the last townof Belgium; eight miles further is Valenciennes, one of the strongfrontier fortresses of France, with over 20, 000 inhabitants, an activetrade and the worth of a dukedom wasted on its fortifications. Here ourbaggage underwent a new custom-house scrutiny, which was expeditiouslyand rationally made, and I kept on twenty-three miles farther to Douai, where our Railroad falls into one from Calais, which had alreadyabsorbed those from Dunkirk and Ghent, and where, it being after 10o'clock, I halted for the night, so as to take a Calais morning train at4½ and see by fair daylight the country thence to Paris, which I hadalready traversed in the dark. 

This country presents no novel features. It is not quite so level nor soperfectly cultivated as central Belgium, but is generally fertile andpromises fairly. The Rye harvest is in progress through all thiscountry, and is very good, but the breadth of Wheat is much greater, andit also promises well, though not yet ripened. Westward from Brusselsin Belgium is an extensive Grazing region, bountifully irrigated, andcovered with large herds of fine cattle. Something of this is seen aftercrossing into France, but Wheat regains its predominance, while largetracts are devoted to the Beet, probably for the manufacture of Sugar. There are few American gardens that can show the Beet in greaterperfection than it exhibits here, in areas of twenty to forty acres. Wood also becomes far more abundant in the Grazing region, and continuesso nearly up to the walls of Paris, Poplars and other trees of slenderfoliage being planted in rows across the fields as well as by thestreams and road-sides. The Vine, which had vanished with the bolderscenery of the Rhine, reappears only within sight of Paris, where manyof the cultivated fields attest a faultiness or meagerness ofcultivation unworthy of the neighborhood of a great metropolis. Ipresume there will be more middling and half middling yields withintwenty miles of Paris than in all Belgium. 

I find Paris, and measurably France, in a state of salutary ferment, connected with the debate in the Assembly on the proposed Revision ofthe Constitution. The best speeches are yet to be made, but already theattention of the People is fixed on the discussion, and it will befollowed to the end with daily increased interest. That end, as is wellknown, will be a defeat of the proposed Revision, and of all schemeslooking to the legal and peaceful reëstablishment of Monarchy, or thereëlection of Louis Napoleon. And this discussion, this result, willhave immensely strengthened the Republic in the hearts of the FrenchMillions, as well as in the general conviction of its stability. And if, with the Suffrage crippled as it is, and probably must continue to be, aheartily Republican President can be elected here next May, an impulsewill be given to the movement throughout Europe which can scarcely bewithstood. Live the Republic!

XXXV. 

PARIS TO LONDON. 

 LONDON, Tuesday, July 22, 1851. 

The quickest and most usual route from Paris to London is that by way ofCalais and Dover; but as I had traversed that once, and part of ittwice, I resolved to try another for my return, and chose the cheapestand most direct of all--that by way of Rouen, Dieppe, New-Haven and theBrighton Railroad--which is 32 miles shorter than the Calais route, butinvolves four times as long a water passage, and so is spun out to morethan twice the length of the other. We left Paris at 8 yesterdaymorning; halted at the fine old town of Rouen before noon; were inDieppe at 2½ P. M. ; but there we waited for a boat till after6; then were eight hours crossing the Channel; had to wait at New-Haventill after 6 this morning before the Custom-House scrutiny of ourbaggage was begun; so that only a few were enabled to take the firsttrain thence for London at a quarter to 7. I was not among the luckyones, but had to hold on for the second train at a quarter past 8, andso did not reach this city till after 10, or twenty-six hours fromParis, though, with a little enterprise and a decent boat on theChannel, the trip could easily be made in 14 hours--four for the Frenchside, six for the Channel, two for the English side and two forCustom-House delay and leeway of all kinds. If Commodore Vanderbilt orMr. Newton would only take compassion on the ignorance and barbarismprevailing throughout Europe in the matter of steamboat-building, andestablish a branch of his business on this side of the Atlantic, hewould do the cause of Human Progress a service, and signally contributeto the diminution of the sum of mortal misery. 

The night was mild and fair; the wind light; the sea consequentlysmooth; and I suffered less, and repented my choice of a route less, than I had expected to; but consider the facts: Here was the most directroute by Railroad and Steamboat between the two great Capitals ofEurope--a route constantly traveled by multitudes from all parts ofworld--yet the only boats provided for the liquid portion of the way aretwo little black, cobbling concerns, each perhaps seventy feet long byfifteen wide, with no deck above the water line, and not a single berthfor even a lady passenger, though making one passage each night. Whocould suppose that two tolerably civilized nations would endure this inthe middle of 1851?

We were nearly two hundred passengers, and the boat just about decentlyheld us, but had not sitting-room for all, above and under the deck. Butas about half, being "second class, " had no right to enter the maincabin, those who had that right were enabled to sit and yawn, and try tocheat themselves into the notion that they would coax sleep to their aidafter a while. Occasionally, one or two having left for a turn on deck, some drowsy mortal would stretch himself on a setter at full length, butthe remonstrances of others needing seats would soon compel him toresume a half-upright posture. And so the passage wore away, and between2 and 3 this morning we reached New-Haven (a petty sea-port at the mouthof the little river Ouse), where we were permitted promptly to land, minus our baggage, and repair to a convenient inn. Here I, with severalothers, invested two British shillings in a chance to sleep, but theventure (at least in my case) proved a losing one. It was daylight whenwe went to bed, and the incessant tramping, ringing of bells, &c. , keptus for the most part awake and called us up at a very early hour, tofidget uselessly for the recovery of our baggage, and lose the earlytrain at last. 

The country stretching north-westward from Paris to Dieppe (125 miles)is less thoroughly cultivated than any other I have seen in Europe outof Italy. I saw more weedy and thin Rye and ragged Wheat than I hadnoted elsewhere. Grass is the chief staple, after leaving thegarden-covered vicinity of Paris, though Wheat, Rye and Oats areextensively cultivated. The Root crops promise poorly. Indian Corn ishardly seen, though the Vine is considerably grown. This region isgenerally well wooded, but in a straggling, accidental way, which hasthe effect neither of Lombard nicety of plantation, nor of the naturalluxuriance of genuine forests. Fruit is not abundant. Irrigation isconsiderably practiced. The dwellings of the majority have anantiquated, ruinous, tumble-down aspect, such as I have observed nowhereelse this side of Lower Italy. On the whole, I doubt whether thisportion of France has improved much within the last fifty years. 

Rouen, the capital of ancient Normandy, is the fifth city of France, only Paris, Lyons, Marseilles and Bordeaux having more inhabitants. Herethe Railroad for Havre diverges from that to Dieppe, which we adheredto. Rouen is interesting for its antiquities, including severalvenerable and richly adorned Churches which I had no time to visit. Dieppe, on the Channel, has a small harbor, completely landlocked, and17, 000 inhabitants. It is considerably resorted to for sea-bathing, butseems to have very little trade. I judge that the Railroads now beingextended through France, are likely to arrest the growth or hasten thedecline of most of the smaller cities and towns by facilitating andcheapening access to the capital, where nearly every Frenchman wouldlive if he could, and where the genius of people and government (nomatter under what constitution) conspires to concentrate all theintellectual and artistic life of the Nation. 

The Railroad from New-Haven to London passes through no considerabletown, though not far from Brighton and Tunbridge. The country isundulating and beautiful, mainly devoted to Grass, Wheat and Wood, andin the very highest condition. It is now toward the end of Haying, andthe Wheat is just beginning to ripen, though that of Central Italy wasmainly harvested a full month ago. But the English Wheat covers theground thickly and evenly, and promises a large average crop, especiallyif the present fine weather should continue through the next two weeks. 

Noble herds of Cattle and flocks of Sheep overspread the spaciousgrounds devoted to Pasturage, especially near the Channel, where most ofthe land is in Grass. English Agriculture has a thorough and cleanlyaspect which I have rarely observed elsewhere. Belgium is as careful andas productive, but its alternations of tillage or grass with woodlandare by no means so frequent nor so picturesque as I see here. Thesturdy, hospitable trees of an English park or lawn are not rivaled, sofar as I have seen, on the Continent. I have rarely seen a reach ofcountry better disposed for effect than that from a point ten miles thisside of New-Haven to within some ten miles of this city, where MarketGardening supplants regular Farming. Women work in the fields at thisseason in England, but not more than one woman to five men were visiblein the hay-fields we passed this morning--it may have been otherwise inthe afternoon. As to beggars, none were visible, begging beingdisallowed. 

Crossing the Channel shifts the boot very decidedly with respect tolanguage. Those who were groping in the dark a few hours ago are now inthe brightest sunshine, while the oracles of yesterday are the meekestdisciples to-day. I rode from New-Haven to London in the same car withthree Frenchmen and two Frenchwomen, coming up to the Exhibition, with ascant half-allowance of English among them; and their efforts tounderstand the signs, &c. , were interesting. "_London Stout_, " displayedin three-foot letters across the front of a drinking-house, arrestedtheir attention: "_Stoot? Stoot?_" queried one of them; but the restwere as much in the dark as he, and I was as deficient in French as theyin English. The befogged one pulled out his dictionary and read over andover all the French synonyms of "Stout, " but this only increased hisperplexity. "Stout" signified "robust, " "hearty, " "vigorous, ""resolute, " &c. , but what then could "_London_ Stout" be? He closed hisbook at length in despair and resumed his observations. 

LONDON AT MIDNIGHT. 

London is given to late hours. At 6 A. M. Though the sun haslong been up, there are few stirring in the principal streets;occasionally you meet a cab hurrying with some passenger to take anearly train; but few shutters are down at 7, and scarcely an omnibus isto be seen till after 8. The aristocratic dinner hour is 8 P. M. Though I trust few are so unmerciful to themselves as topostpone their chief meal to that late hour when they have no company. The morning to sleep, the afternoon to business and the evening toenjoyment, seems the usual routine with the favored classes. 

Walking home from a soirée at the West-end through Regent-street, Haymarket and the Strand once at midnight, I was struck, thoughaccustomed to all manner of late hours in New-York, with the relativeactivity and wide-awake aspect of London at that hour. It seemed theHigh Change of revelry and pleasure-seeking. The taverns, the clubs anddrinking-shops betrayed no symptoms of drowsiness; the theatres werebarely beginning to emit their jaded multitudes; the cabs and privatecarriages were more plentiful than by day, and were briskly wheelinghundreds from party to party; even the omnibuses rattled down the widestreets as freshly and almost as numerously as at midday. The policemenwere alert on nearly every corner; sharpers and suspicious charactersstepped nimbly about the cross-streets in quest of prey, and innumerablewrecks of Womanhood, God pity them! shed a deeper darkness over theshaded and dusky lanes and byways whence they momently emerged to salutethe passer-by. Beneath the shelter of night, Misery stole forth from itssqualid lair, no longer awed by the Police, to beseech the compassion ofthe stranger and pour its tale of woe and suffering into the rarelywilling ear. Serene and silvery in the clear night-air rose the nearlyfull moon over Southwark, shedding a soft and mellow light on pillar andedifice, column and spire, and enduing the placid bosom of the Thameswith a tranquil and spiritual beauty. Such was one glimpse of London atmidnight; I have not seen it so impressive by day. 

XXXVI. 

UNIVERSAL PEACE CONGRESS. 

 LONDON, July 25, 1851. 

The fourth Annual Congress of the friends and champions of Peace, universal and perpetual, was closed last evening, after a harmonious andenthusiastic session of three full days. The number of Delegates inattendance was between eight and nine hundred, while the spacious areaof Exeter Hall, which is said to hold comfortably thirty-five hundredpersons, was well filled throughout, and densely crowded for hourstogether. Having been held at a most favorable time and at the pointmost accessible to the great body of the active friends of Peace, Ipresume the attendance was larger than ever before. 

Two thoughts were suggested to me by the character and proceedings ofthis assemblage--first, that of the eminently popular and plebeianorigin and impulse of all the great Reform Movements of our age. Everygreat public assemblage in Europe for any other purpose will be sure tonumber Lords, Dukes, Generals, Princes, among its dignitaries; but nonesuch came near the Peace Congress; very few of them take part in anymovement of the kind. In the list of Delegates to this Congress, underthe head of "Profession or Trade, " you find "Merchant, " "Miller, ""Teacher, " "Tanner, " "Editor, " "Author, " "Bookseller, " "Jeweller, " &c. , very rarely "Gentleman, " or "Baronet, " and never a higher title, Irejoice to say that "Minister" or "Clergyman" appears pretty often, butnever such a word as "Bishop" or "Archbishop, " though the most liberalof the Established Hierarchy, Archbishop Whateley of Dublin, sent abrief note expressing sympathy with the objects of the meeting. And Ithink among the clergymen present there was hardly one belonging toeither of the two Churches which in these realms claim a special andexclusive patent from Heaven for the dispensation of Religious Truth. 

The other thought suggested by this mighty gathering concerns thecharacter and efficacy of the organizations and sects in whichChristianity is presumed to be embodied. Let a Convention be called ofthe Friends of Peace, of Temperance, of Personal Liberty, of theSacredness of Human Life, or any other tangible and positive idea, andmany hundreds will come together from distant nations, speaking diverselanguages, and holding antagonist opinions on other important subjects, and will for days discuss and deliberate in perfect harmony, unite inappropriate and forcible declarations of their common sentiments and inthe adoption of measures calculated to ensure their triumph. But let ageneral Convention of the followers of Jesus Christ be called, with aview to the speedy Christianization of the world, and eitherthree-fourths would keep away or the whole time of the meeting be wastedin an acrimonious quarrel as to the meaning of Christianity or thewording of the Shibboleth whereby those who were should be distinguishedfrom those who were not entitled to bear the Christian name. 

This contrast implies a great wrong _somewhere_, and for which_somebody_ must be responsible. I merely suggest it for generalconsideration, and pass on. 

Not fully sympathising with the Peace Movement in the actual conditionof Europe, I was not a Delegate, and did not attend the first two days'deliberations. I see not how any one who does not hope to live andthrive by injustice, oppression and murder, can be otherwise thanardently favorable to Universal Peace. But, suppose there is a portionof the human family who _won't have Peace_, nor let others have it, whatthen? If you say, "Let us have it as soon as we can, " I respond with allmy heart. I would tolerate War, even against pirates or murderers, nolonger than is absolutely necessary to inspire them with a love ofPeace, or put them where they can no longer invade the peace of others. But so long as Tyrannies and Aristocracies shall say--as they nowpractically _do say_ all over Europe, "Yes, we too are for Peace, but itmust be Peace with absolute submission to our good pleasure--Peace withtwo-thirds of the fruits of Human Labor devoted to the pampering of ourluxurious appetites, the maintenance of our pomp, the indulgence of ourunbounded desires--it must be a Peace which leaves the Millions indarkness, in hopeless degradation, the slaves of superstition and thehelpless victims of our lusts. " I answer, "No, Sirs! on your conditionsno Peace is possible, but everlasting War rather, until your unjustpretensions are abandoned or until your power of enforcing them isdestroyed. " I have felt a painful apprehension that the prevalence ofthe Peace Movement, confined as it is to the Liberal party, and actingon a state of things which secures almost unbounded power to theDespots, is calculated to break the spirit of down-trodden nations, and, by thus postponing the inevitable struggle, protract to an indefiniteperiod the advent of that Reign of Universal Justice which alone canusher in the glorious era of Universal Peace. And, had I been a Delegateto this Universal Peace Congress, I should perhaps have marred itsharmony and its happiness by asking it to consider and vote upon somesuch proposition as this:

 "_Resolved_, That in commending to all men everywhere the duty of seeking and preserving Peace, we bear in mind the Apostle's injunction, '_First_ pure, _then_ peaceable, ' and do not deny but affirm the right of a Nation wantonly invaded by a foreign army, or intolerably oppressed by its own rulers, to resist force by force. "

I rejoice in being able to say that the general tendency of the speecheswas towards universal Emancipation, mental and physical. I doubt whetheran English audience composed in so large proportion of theconventionally "respectable classes" ever listened to so much downrightDemocracy before. The French speakers, the French writers, were full ofit, and the great event, at least of the last day's session, was theentrance of a body of fifteen French workmen, delegates to the World'sExhibition of the "Working Associations" of Paris, who came in a body topledge their hearts and hands to the cause of Universal Peace, and toassure the Congress that the Laborers, the Republicans, of France, wereeminently pacific in their ideas and purposes, and that the preservationof the Republic, which is the immediate object of their exertions, isvalued not more in its relation to their personal rights and aspirationsthan as a step toward the formation of a European confederacy ofemancipated Nations, and thus as the corner-stone of the temple ofUniversal Peace. The Speeches of these Workmen just from their benchesin the work-shops of Paris were every way admirable, and were receivedwith the heartiest enthusiasm. They breathed the true spirit not ofPeace only but of hearty coöperation in every work calculated to promotethe moral and social well-being of mankind. The wretched cant whichimplies _natural enmity_ between France and England, or any other twonations, was emphatically repudiated by them, and every variety offorcible expression given to the earnest desire of the Laboring Classesof France that Peace, Freedom and Brotherhood shall prevail, not intheir own country merely, but throughout the world. 

Mr. COBDEN had made his great speech on the preceding day, wherein thegrievous expensiveness and hideous immorality of Standing Armies werevividly portrayed. He did not hesitate to speak straight out on thesubject of the demoralizing influence of Armies on the People amongwhom they were quartered or posted, and the broad track of moraldesolation which an armed force everywhere leaves behind it. If thefacts in this connection were but generally known, I think there wouldsoon be a loud call from Christians, Moralists and Philanthropists forthe entire disbandment and dispersion of every Standing Army. --EMILEGIRARDIN, Editor of "_La Presse_, " spoke more especially of theenormous expense of Armies and the ruinous taxation they rendernecessary. --Mr. COBDEN spoke again yesterday, in more immediatedenunciation of the enormous Standing Army maintained by Austria, notmerely throughout its own but in other countries also, the Loans whichits Government is constantly contracting, and the gulf of bankruptcy towhich it is rapidly hurrying. He said there were intimations thatanother Austrian Loan would be attempted in London, and if it should behe should urge the call of a public meeting to expose the past knaveriesof Austria in dealing with her creditors, and to hold up to publicreprobation whoever should touch the Loan. --Mr. SAMUEL GURNEY, the Quakerbanker, also spoke in reprehension of Loans for War purposes and all whosubscribe to or encourage them. --EDWARD MIALL (Editor of _TheNon-Conformist_), also spoke forcibly against War Loans. 

M. CORMENIN, an eminent French Statesman and writer, read a witty, piquantessay in reprehension of War and all other contrivances for shorteninghuman life, which, being given first in French and then substantially inEnglish, elicited very hearty plaudits. 

There were many more speakers, including Mr. HINDLEY, British M. P. , M. BOURET, French Chamber of Deputies, ELIHU BURRITT, M. AVIGNON, an Italianbanker, J. S. BUCKINGHAM, Dr. SCHERTZER of Vienna, and JOSEPH STURGE, whomoved that a similar convention be held next year, at a time and place tobe afterward agreed on, which was unanimously carried. It was announcedthat Mr. Geo. Hatfield of Manchester had suggested and agreed to bear theexpense of fifteen Silver Medals to be presented, in behalf of theCongress, to the representatives of the French Workmen's Association fortheir attendance and sympathy. --Sir DAVID BREWSTER, being warmly thankedfor his services as Chairman, responded in a few excellent remarks, urgingeach person present to instill the principles of Peace into the hearts ofthe children who are or may be committed to his or her guidance. Heremarked that he had not once been called upon to exercise authority orrepress commotion during the whole period of the Congress, --a fact provingthat the principles of Peace had already taken root in the breasts of theMembers; and there was not, I believe, a single proposition submitted tothe Congress on which its vote was not substantially unanimous. Thefollowing are the Resolutions adopted:

 The Congress of the friends of Universal Peace, assembled in London July 22, 23 and 24, 1851, considering that recourse to arms for the settlement of international disputes, is a custom condemned alike by Religion, Morality, Reason, and Humanity, and believing that it is useful and necessary frequently to direct the attention both of Governments and Peoples to the evils of the War system, and the desirableness and practicability of maintaining Permanent International Peace, resolves:

 1. That it is the special and solemn duty of all Ministers of Religion, Instructors of Youth, and Conductors of the Public Press, to employ their great influence in the diffusion of pacific principles and sentiments, and in eradicating from the minds of men those hereditary animosities, and political and commercial jealousies, which have been so often the cause of disastrous Wars. 

 2. That as an appeal to the sword can settle no question, on any principle of equity and right, it is the duty of Governments to refer to the decision of competent and impartial Arbitrators such differences arising between them as cannot be otherwise amicably adjusted. 

 3. That the Standing Armaments, with which the Governments of Europe menace each other, amid professions of mutual friendship and confidence, being a prolific source of social immorality, financial embarrassment, and national suffering, while they excite constant disquietude and irritation among the nations, this Congress would earnestly urge upon the Governments the imperative necessity of entering upon a system of International Disarmament. 

 4. This Congress, regarding the system of negotiating Loans for the prosecution of War, or the maintenance of warlike armaments, as immoral in principle and disastrous in operation, renews its emphatic condemnation of all such Loans. 

 5. This Congress, believing that the intervention, by threatened or actual violence, of one country in the international politics of another, is a frequent cause of bitter and desolating wars, maintains that the right of every State to regulate its own affairs should be held absolute and inviolate. 

 6. This Congress recommends all the friends of Peace to prepare public opinion, in their respective countries, with a view to the formation of an authoritative Code of International Law. 

 7. This Congress expresses its strong abhorrence of the system of aggression and violence practiced by so-called civilized nations upon aboriginal and feeble tribes, as leading to incessant and exterminating wars, eminently unfavorable to the true progress of religion, civilization and commerce. 

 8. This Congress, convinced that whatever brings the nations of the earth together in intimate and friendly intercourse must tend to the establishment of Peace, by removing misapprehensions and prejudices, and inspiring mutual respect, hails, with unqualified satisfaction, the Exhibition of the Industry of all Nations, as eminently calculated to promote that end. 

 9. That the members of Peace Societies, in all Constitutional Countries, be recommended to use their influence to return to their respective Parliaments, representatives who are friends of Peace, and who will be prepared to support, by their votes, measures for the diminution of the number of men employed in, and the amount of money expended for, War purposes. 

 _American Members of the Congress. _--Nathaniel Adams, Cornwall, Conn. , Rev. Robert Baird, New-York; Geo. M. Borrows, Friburg, Maine; M. B. Bateman, Columbus, Ohio; Rev. George Beckwith, Boston, Mass. ; W. Wells Brown, do; Elihu Burritt, Worcester, Mass. ; William A. Burt, Washington, D. C. ; Dr. Thomas Chadbourne, Portsmouth, N. H. ; Rev. J. W. Chickering, Portland, Me. ; Wm. Darlington, Westchester, Pa. ; Rev. P. B. Day, New-Haven; Rev. Amos Dresser, Oberlin, Ohio; Rev. D. C. Eddy, Lowell, Mass. ; Rev. Romeo Elton, Providence, R. I. ; A. R. Forsyth, Indiana; Rev. Aaron Foster, Massachusetts; William B. Fox, do; Rev. H. H. Garnett, Geneva, N. Y. ; David Gould, Sharon, Conn. ; Rev. Josiah Henson, Canada West; E. Jackson, Jr. , Boston, Mass. ; Wm. Jackson, Newton, do; Rev. P. M. McDowell, New-Brunswick; Rev. Geo. Maxwell, Ohio; Rev. H. A. Mills, Lowell, Mass. ; Rev. A. A. Miner, Boston, Mass. ; Dr. Henry S. Patterson, Frank B. Palmer, Dr. William Pettit, Philadelphia, Pa. ; Thomas Pierce, Illinois; Moses Pond, Boston, Mass. ; J. T. Sheoffe, Whitesboro', N. Y. ; Isaac Skervan, Buffalo, N. Y. ; Rev. Zadock Thompson, Burlington, Vt. ; Rev. John E. Tyler, Windham, Conn. ; Ichabod Washbourne, Worcester, Mass. ; Rev. James C. White, Ohio; Chas. H. De Wolfe, Oldtown, Me. 

XXXVII. 

AMERICA AT THE WORLD'S FAIR. 

 LONDON, Tuesday, July 26, 1851. 

If I return this once more and for the last time to the subject ofAmerican contributions to the great Exposition, it shall not be saidwith truth that my impulse is a feeling of soreness and chagrin. Withinthe last few days, a very decided and gratifying change has taken placein the current of opinion here with regard to American invention and itsresults. One cause of this was the late formal trial of American (withother foreign) Plows, in the presence of the Agricultural Jury; whichtrial, though partial and hurried, was followed by immediate orders foran American Plow then tested (Starbuck's) from Englishmen, Belgians andFrenchmen, including several Agricultural Societies. If a hundred ofthose Plows were here, they might be sold at once; in their absence, thefull price has been paid down for some twenty or thirty, to be shippedat New-York, and be thenceforth at the risk and cost of the buyers. Andthese orders have just commenced. The London journals which hadreporters present (some of which journals ridiculed our FarmingImplements expressly a few weeks ago), now grudgingly admit that theAmerican Plows did their work with less draft than was required by theirEuropean rivals, but add that they did not do it so well. Such was notthe judgment of other witnesses of the trial, as the purchases, amongother things, attest. 

A still more signal triumph to American ingenuity was accorded onThursday. Mr. Mechi, formerly a London merchant, having acquired acompetence by trade, retired some years since to a farm in Essex, aboutforty miles off, where he is vigorously prosecuting a system of HighFarming, employing the most effective implements and agencies of allkinds. He annually has a gathering of distinguished farmers and othersto inspect his estate and see how his "book farming" gets on. Thisfestival occurred day before yesterday--a sour, dark, drenchingday--notwithstanding which, nearly two hundred persons were present. Among others, several machines for cutting Grain were exhibited andtested, including two (Hussey's and McCormick's) from America, and anEnglish one which was declared on all hands a mere imitation ofHussey's. Neither the original nor the copy, however, appear to haveoperated to the satisfaction of the assembly, perhaps owing to thebadness of the weather and its effects on the draggled, unripe grain. With McCormick's a very different result was obtained. This machine isso well known in our Wheat-growing districts that I need only remarkthat it is the same lately ridiculed by one of the great London journalsas "a cross between an Astley's chariot, a treadmill and a flyingmachine, " and its uncouth appearance has been a standing butt for theLondon reporters at the Exhibition. It was the ready exemplar ofAmerican distortion and absurdity in the domain of Art. It came into thefield at Mechi's, therefore, to confront a tribunal (not the officialbut the popular) already prepared for its condemnation. Before it stoodJohn Bull, burly, dogged and determined not to be humbugged--hisjudgment made up and his sentence ready to be recorded. Nothingdisconcerted, the brown, rough, homespun Yankee in charge jumped on thebox, starting the team at a smart walk, setting the blades of themachine in lively operation, and commenced raking off the grain insheaf-piles ready for binding, --cutting a breadth of nine or ten feetcleanly and carefully as fast as a span of horses could comfortablystep. There was a moment, and but a moment of suspense; human prejudicecould hold out no longer; and burst after burst of involuntary cheersfrom the whole crowd proclaimed the triumph of the Yankee "treadmill. "That triumph has since been the leading topic in all agriculturalcircles. _The Times'_ report speaks of it as beyond doubt, as placingthe harvest absolutely under the farmer's control, and as ensuring acomplete and most auspicious revolution in the harvesting operations ofthis country. I would gladly give the whole account, which, grudginglytowards the inventor, but unqualifiedly as to the machine, speaks of thelatter as "securing to English farming protection against climate and aneconomy of labor which must prove of _incalculable_ advantage. " Prettywell for "a cross between an Astley's chariot, a flying machine and atreadmill. "

Mr. McCormick, I hear, is probably now on his way hither from the UnitedStates, and will be rather astonished on landing to find himself a lion. Half a dozen makers and sellers of Agricultural implements, are alreadyon the watch for him, and if he makes his bargain wisely, he is morallysure of a fortune from England alone. His machine and its operator werethe center of an eager circle to-day, and if five hundred of the formerwere to be had here, they would all be bought within a month. There isto be another public trial, merely to place beyond doubt its capacity tocut dry and ripe grain as well as green and wet; but those who have seenit work in the States will not care much for that. [C]

Mr. Hobbs, of the American Bank Lock Company, has had a recent trial ofthe Chubb Lock, so long deemed invincible here, and consumed twenty-fourminutes and a half in picking it, under the supervision of judges ofunquestionable ability and impartiality. He then re-locked it withoutdisturbing the "Detector, " and left it as when it was set before him. Hehas now to try his skill on the "Bramah" lock under the challenge for£200; and, should he be able to open it, he says he shall there rest thecase. [D] He has been sent for by the Governor of the Bank of England, and will respond to the invitation. His operations have of courseexcited some feeling among those whose interests were affected by them;yet it is manifestly proper and important, if the locks relied on bybanks and other depositories of treasure here are not secure againstburglary, that the fact should be known. Unless I err as to his successat the forthcoming trial with the Bramah lock, British locksmiths mustcommence at once to learn their business over again under Yankeetuition. 

I might give other facts in support of my judgment that our Country hasnot been and will not be _disgraced_ by her share in this Exhibition, but I forbear. Had we declined altogether the invitation to participatein this show, we certainly would have been discredited in the world'sopinion, however unjustly; had we attempted to rival the costly tissues, dainty carvings, rich mosaics, and innumerable gewgaws of Europe, weshould have shown equal bad taste and unsound judgment, and would havedeservedly been laughed at. Our real error consists, not in neglectingto send articles to rival the rich fabrics and wares of this Continent, but in sending too few of those homely but most important products inwhich we unquestionably lead the world. We have a good many such herenow, but we should have had many more. One such plain, odd-lookingconcern as McCormick's Reaper, though it makes no figure in the eyes ofmere sight-seers in comparison with an inlaid Table or a case of ParisBonnets, is of more practical account than a Crystal Palace full ofthose, and so will ultimately be regarded. Looking to-day at Mitchell'sadmirable new Map of the United States and their Territories, as nowexisting, which worthily fills an honorable place in the Exhibition, with several but too few others of the same class, I could not butregret that a set of Harpers' Common School Libraries, with a briefaccount of the origin and progress of our School Library system, had notbeen contributed; and I wish I had myself spent fifty dollars ifnecessary to place in the Exhibition a good collection of AmericanSchool Books. If there shall ever be another World's Exhibition, Ibespeak a conspicuous place in it for a model American countrySchool-House, with its Library, Globes, Maps, Black-Board, Class Books, &c. , and a succinct account of our Common School system, printed in thefive or six principal languages of Europe for gratuitous distribution toall who may apply for it. With this got up as it should be, I would notmind admitting that in Porcelain and Laces, Ormolu and Trinkets, Europeis yet several years ahead of us. 

Mr. J. S. Gwynne of our State, whose "Balanced Centrifugal Pump" made asensation and obtained a Gold Medal at our Institute Fair last October, is here with it, and proposes a public trial of its qualities incompetition with the rival English pumps of Appold and Bessimer for$1, 000, to be paid by the loser to the Mechanics' Society. Mr. Gwynneclaims that these English Pumps (which have been among the chiefattractions of the department of British Machinery) are palpableplagiarisms from his invention, and not well done at that. He, ofcourse, does not claim the idea of a Centrifugal Pump as his own, for itis much older than any of them, but he does claim that adaptation of theidea which has rendered it effective and valuable. I am reliablyinformed that he has just sold his Scotch patent only for thecomfortable sum of £10, 000 sterling, or nearly $50, 000; and this is butone of several inventions for which he has found a ready market here atliberal prices. I cite his case (for he is one of several Americans whohave recently sold their European patents here at high figures) as afinal answer to those who croak that our country is disgraced, andregret that any American ever came near the Exhibition. Had thesediscerning and patriotic gentlemen been interested in these patents, they might have taken a different view of the matter. Even my New-Yorkfriend, whose toadyism in exhibiting a capital pair of Oars inscribed "Apresent for the Prince of Wales, " I have already characterized as itdeserves, yesterday informed me that he had sold $15, 000 worth of Oarshere since the Fair opened. I am sure I rejoice in his good fortune, andhope it may insure the improvement of his taste also. 

There are many articles in the American department of which I wouldgladly speak, that have attracted no public notice. Since I left for theContinent, Mrs. A. Nicholson, formerly of our city, has sent in aTable-Cover worked in Berlin Wool from the centre outward so as to forma perfect circle, or succession of circles, from centre tocircumference, with a great variety of brilliant colors imperceptiblyshading into each other. This having been made entirely by hand, with noimplement but a common cut nail, the process is of course too slow to bevaluable; but the result attained may very probably afford useful hintsand suggestions to inventors of weaving machinery. --I think the displayof Flint Glass by the Brooklyn Company is equal in purity and finenessto any other plain Glass in the Exhibition, and only regret that thequantity sent had not been larger. I regret far more that the"Hillotype, " for giving sun-pictures with the colors of life, has notyet made its appearance here, while the "Caloric Engine" (usingcompressed and heated air instead of water for the generation of power), was not ready in season to justify a decision on its merits by the Juryof its Class; and so with other recent American inventions of whichhigh hopes are entertained. We ought to have had here a show merely ofInventions, Machines and Implements exceeding the entire contents of theAmerican Department--ought to have had, apart from any question ofNational credit, if only because the inventors' interests would havebeen subserved thereby--and we should have had much more than weactually have, had the state of the British Patent-Laws been lessoutrageous than it is. A patent here costs ten times as much as in theUnited States, and is worth little when you have it--that is, it is noteven an opinion that the patentee has really invented anything, butmerely an evidence that he claimed to have done so at such a date, and apermission to prove that he actually did, if he can. In other words; apatent gives a permission and an opportunity to contend legally for yourrights; and if the holder is known to have money enough, it generallysuffices; if not, he can and will be not only plundered with impunity, but defied and laughed at. A bill radically revising the BritishPatent-Laws is now on its way through Parliament, but in its absencemany American inventors refused to expose themselves to a loss of theirinventions by exhibiting them at the Fair; and who can blame them?

The succession of _fêtes_ to be given by the Municipality of Paris tothe Royal Commissioners, Jurors, &c. , in honor of the World'sExhibition, opens this week, and will be brilliant and gratifying as noother city but Paris could make it. The number invited is over OneThousand, and all are taken from the British shore in French NationalVessels, and thenceforth will be the guests of their inviters until theyshall again be landed at an English port, paying nothing themselves fortravel, entertainment, balls, &c. , &c. This is certainly handsome, and Iacknowledge the courtesy, though I shall not accept the invitation. Ileave for Scotland and Ireland on Monday. 

FOOTNOTES:

[C] This trial took place at Mechi's some three weeks later, andresulted in a complete triumph for the reaper, which thereupon receivedan award (already accorded it by the Council of Chairmen, subject torevision upon the result of this trial), of a first-class orGreat-Medal. 

[D] He has since done so, to the perfect satisfaction of the judges. 

XXXVIII. 

ENGLAND, CENTRAL AND NORTHERN. 

 NEWCASTLE, Eng. , Tuesday, July 29, 1851. 

I came up through the heart of England by railroad yesterday from Londonby Rugby, Leicester, Derby, Chesterfield, near Sheffield and Leeds, through York, near Durham, to this place, where Coal is found inproverbial abundance, as its black canopy of smoke might testify. Newcastle lies at the head of navigation on the Tyne, about thirty milesinland from the E. N. E. Coast of England, three hundred miles fromLondon, and is an ancient town, mainly built of brick, exhibitingconsiderable manufacturing and commercial activity. 

The British Railroads are better built, more substantial and costly thanours, but their management does not equal my anticipations. They make nosuch time as is currently reported on our side, and are by no meansreliable for punctuality. The single Express Train daily from London toEdinburgh professes to make the distance (428 miles) in about twelvehours, which is less than 36 miles per hour, with the best of doubletracks, through a remarkably level country, everything put out of itsway, and no more stops than its own necessities of wood and waterrequire. We should easily beat this in America with anything like equalfacilities, and without charging the British price--£4 7s. (or over $21)for a distance not equal to the length of the Erie Railroad, almostwholly through a populous and busy region, where Coal is most abundantand very cheap. 

Our train (the Mail) started from London at 10½ A. M. And should havebeen here at 11 P. M. Or in a little less than 25 miles per hour. Butthe running throughout the country is now bewitched with ExcursionTrains and throngs of passengers flocking on low-priced Excursion returntickets to see the Great Exhibition, which is quite as it should be, butthe consequent delay and derangement of the regular trains is as itshould _not_ be. The Companies have no moral right to fish up a quantityof irregular and temporary business to the violation of their promisesand the serious disappointment of their regular customers. As things aremanaged, we left London with a train of twenty-five cars, half of themfilled with Excursion passengers for whom a separate engine should havebeen, but was not, provided; so that we were behind time from the firstand arrived here at 1 this morning instead of 11 last night. 

The spirit of accommodation is not strikingly evinced on BritishRailroads. The train halts at a place to which you are a stranger, andyou perhaps hear its name called out for the benefit of the passengerswho are to stop there; but whether the halt is to last half a minute, five minutes, or ten, you must find out as you can. The French Railroadsare better in this respect, and the American cannot be worse, though thefault is not unknown there. A penny programme for each train, to be soldat the chief stations on each important route, stating not merely atwhat place but exactly how long each halt of that particular train wouldbe made, is one of the yet unsatisfied wants of Railroad travelers. Our"Path-finders" and "Railway Guides" undertake to tell so much that plainpeople are confused and often misled by them, and are unable to pick outthe little information they actually need from the wilderness of figuresand facts set before them. Let us have Guides so simple that no guide isneeded to explain them. 

There is much sameness in English rural scenery. I have now travelednearly a thousand miles in this country without seeing anything like amountain and hardly a precipice except the chalky cliffs of the seashore. Nearly every acre I have seen is susceptible of cultivation, andof course either cultivated, built upon, or devoted to wood. A few steepbanks of streams or ravines, almost uniformly wooded, and some smallmarshes, mainly on the sea-coast, are all the exceptions I remember tothe general capacity for cultivation. Usually, the aspect of the countryis pleasant--beautiful, if you choose--but nowise calculated to excitewonder or evoke enthusiasm. The abundance of evergreen hedges is itsmost striking characteristic. I judge that two-thirds of England is inGrass (meadow or pasture), very green and thrifty, and dotted with nobleherds of cattle and flocks of sheep. They are anxious to finishHay-making throughout the region we traversed yesterday; but as therehas been scarcely an hour of very bashful sunshine during the last sixdays, more than half of which have been rainy, the operation is onerather trying to human patience. Some of the cut grass looks as if itwere Flax spread out to rot, and all of it evinces a want of shelter. This morning is almost fair, though hazy, so that the necessity oftaking in and drying the hay by a fire may be obviated, but a great dealof it must be seriously damaged. (_P. S. 10 o'clock. _--It is cloudy andraining again. )

Wheat covers perhaps an eighth of all Central England, is now ripeningand generally heavy, but much of it is beaten down by the wind and rain, and looks as if a herd of buffaloes had been chased through it by atribe of mounted Indians. If the weather should be mainly fairhenceforth, the crop may be saved, but it must already have receivedmaterial damage, and the process of harvesting it must be tedious. Barley is considerably grown, and has also been a good deal prostrated. Oats have suffered less, being more backward. --Potatoes look vigorous, though not yet out of danger from blight or rot. Not a patch of IndianCorn is to be seen throughout. Considerable grass-land has been plowedup for Wheat next season, and some Turnips are just visible; but it isevident that Grass and Stock, under the influence of the low prices ofGrain produced by the repeal of the Corn-laws, are steadily gaining uponTillage, of course throwing tens of thousands of Agricultural laborersout of employment, and driving them to emigration, to manufactures, orthe poor-house. Thus the rural population of England is steadily andconstantly decreasing. 

The best feature of English landscape is formed by its Trees. Thoughrarely relied on for fuel, there is scarcely an area of forty acreswithout them, while single trees, copses, more rarely rows, and oftenpetty forests, are visible in all quarters. The trees are not thestraight, tall, trim, short-limbed, shadeless Poplars, &c. , of Franceand Italy, but wide-spreading, hospitable Oaks, Yews and other sturdybattlers with wind and storm, which have a far more genial andsatisfactory appearance. And the trees of England have a commercial aswell as a less measurable value; for timber of all sorts is in demand inthe collieries, manufactories and mines, and bears a high price, theconsumption far exceeding the domestic supply. But for the trees, thesesullen skies and level grounds would render England dreary enough. 

Newcastle is the location of one of those immense structures whichillustrate the Industrial greatness and pecuniary strength of Britain, and illustrate also the meagerness of her Railroad dividends. The Tyneis here a furlong wide or more, running through a narrow valley or wideravine perhaps 150 feet below the average level of the great plain whichencloses it, and hardly more than half a mile wide at the top. Acrossthis river and gorge is thrown a bridge of iron, with abutments andpiers of hewn stone, the arches of said bridge having a total length of1, 375 feet, with 512 feet water-way, while the railway is 112½ feetabove high-water mark, with a fine carriage and footway underneath itat a hight of 86 feet, and a total hight from river-bed to parapet of132½ feet. The gigantic arches have a span of over 124 feet each, andthe total cost of the work was £304, 500, or about $1, 500, 000. Near thisis a Central Railway Station (there are two others in the place), builtentirely, including the roof, of cut stone, save a splendid row of glasswindows on either side--said dépôt being over 592 feet long, thepassengers' department being 537 by 183 feet, and the whole costing over$500, 000. Here, then, are about $2, 000, 000 expended on a single mile ofrailroad, in a city of by no means primary importance. If any one cansee how fair dividends could be paid on railroads constructed at suchexpense, the British shareholders generally would be glad to availthemselves of his sagacity. And it is stated that the Law Expenses ofseveral of the British roads, including procurement of charter and rightof way, have exceeded $2, 500, 000. Add to this rival lines running neareach other, and often three where one should suffice, and you have theexplanation of a vast, enormous and ruinous waste of property. Let themoral be heeded. 

THE BORDER--SCOTLAND. 

 EDINBURGH, July 29--_Evening_. 

From Newcastle to the Tweed (70 miles) the country continues level andmainly fertile, but the Grain is far more backward than in the vicinityof London, and very little of it has been blown down. More Wheat and farless Grass are grown here than below York, while Barley, Oats andPotatoes cover a good share of the ground, and the Turnip is often seen. All look well, but the Potato, though late, is especially hearty andthrifty. Shade-trees in the cultivated fields are rare; in fact, wood isaltogether rarer than at the south, though small forests are generallywithin sight. I should judge from what I see and feel that shade isseldom wanting here, except as a shield from the rain. Desperateattempts at Hay-making engross the thoughts and efforts of a good manymen and women, though the skies are black, rain falls at intervals, anda chill, heavy mist makes itself disagreeably familiar, while a thin, drifting fog limits the vision to a square mile or so. Some of thehalf-made hay in the meadows looks as though it had been standing out tobleach for the last fortnight. Even the Grass-land is often ridged so asto shed the water quickly, while deep ditches or drains do duty forfences. Fruit-trees are rarely seen; they were scarce from London toYork, but now have disappeared. Our road runs nearer and nearer theNorth Sea, which at length is close beside us on the right, but no townof any importance is visible until we cross the Tweed on a long, high, costly stone bridge just above Berwick of historic fame, and are in

SCOTLAND. 

Here the growing crops are much the same as throughout the North ofEngland--Wheat, Potatoes, Barley, Oats, and Grass--save that the Turniphas become an article of primary importance. From some points, hundredsof acres of the Swedish and French may be seen, and they are rarely ornever out of view. They are sown in rows or drills, some eighteen inchesor two feet apart, so as to admit of cultivation by the plow, which isnow in progress. The most forward of the plants now display a smallyellow blossom. All are healthy and promising, and are kept thoroughlyclear of weeds. I infer that they are mainly grown for feeding cattle, and this seems a good idea, since they can be harvested in defiance ofrain and mist, which is rather more difficult with Hay. They become moreand more abundant as we approach this city, and are grown up to its verydoors. Heavy stone walls laid in mortar and copses or little forests ofOak are among the characteristics of the rural district aroundEdinburgh, whereof the culture is widely famed for its excellence. Theonly Scottish town of any note we pass is Dunbar, by the sea-side, though Dunse, Haddington and Dalkeith lie but a few miles inland fromour road, with which they are connected by branches. We reached thiscity about 3 P. M. Or in five hours from Newcastle, 130 miles. 

EDINBURGH. 

I knew this was a city of noble and beautiful structures, but thereality surpasses my expectation. The old town was mainly built in adeep valley running northward into the Firth of Forth, with the RoyalPalace of Holyrood in its midst, the port of Leith on the Firth a fewmiles northward, and the Castle on a commanding crag overlooking the oldtown from the west. The Canongate and High-street lead up to theesplanade of the Castle from the east, but its other sides areprecipitous and inaccessible, a deep valley skirting it on the north, while the south end of the old town fills the other side. The former ormore northern valley has for the most part been kept clear of buildings, the spacious Prince's-street Gardens and the grounds of severalcharitable institutions having had possession of it, until they wererecently required to surrender a part for the Railroads running south toBerwick, &c. , and west to Glasgow for a General Depot. Across this deepvalley or chasm, northward, rises the eminence on which the new town ofEdinburgh is constructed, with the deep chasm in which runs the rapidmill-stream known as the "Water of Leith, " separating it from a like, though lower, hill still further north and west, on which a few finebuildings and very pleasant gardens are located. The new town is thusperhaps 150 feet above the old town, a mile and a half long by half amile wide, commanding magnificent views of the old town, the port ofLeith, the broad, ocean-like Firth of Forth, and the finely cultivatedcountry stretching southward; and, as if these were not enough to secureits salubrity, it has more gardens and public squares than any othercity of its size in the world. Its streets are broad and handsome; itshouses built almost wholly of stone, and I never saw so many good oneswith so few indifferent. If I were to choose from all the world a citywherein to make an effort for longevity, I would select the new town ofEdinburgh; but I should prefer to live fewer years where there is moresunshine. 

Public Monuments would seem to be the grand passion of the Edinburghers. The most conspicuous are those of Lord Nelson on Calton Hill (next tothe Castle, if not before it, the most commanding location in the city)and of Walter Scott on Prince's-street, nearly opposite the Castle, across the glen, in full sight of all who arrive in Edinburgh byRailroad, as also from the Castle and its vicinity, as well as from thebroad and thronged street beside which it is located. But there areMonuments also to Pitt, to Lord Melville, and some twenty or thirtyother deceased notables. These are generally located in the highersquares or gardens which wisely occupy a large portion of theground-plot of the new town. Public Hospitals and Infirmaries are also aprominent feature of the Scottish capital, there being several spaciousand fine edifices devoted to the healing of the sick, most if not all ofthem founded and endowed by private munificence. There are severalBridges across the two principal and more on the secondary or crossvalleys, ravines or gorges which may well attract attention. TheseBridges are often several hundred feet long, and from thirty to eightyfeet high, and you look down from their roadway upon the red-tiled roofsof large eight or nine-story houses beside and below them. Nearly orquite every house in Edinburgh is built of stone, which is ratherabundant in Scotland, and often of a fair, free, easily worked quality. Many even of the larger houses, especially in the old town, are builtof coarse, rough, undressed stone, often of round, irregular boulders, made to retain the places assigned them by dint of abundant andexcellent mortar. In the better buildings, however, the stone is of afiner quality, and handsomely cut, though almost entirely of a brown ordark gray color. The winding drive to the summit of Calton Hill, lookingdown upon large, tall, castle-like houses of varied material andworkmanship, with the prospect from the summit, are among the mostimpressive I have seen in Europe. 

I was interested this afternoon in looking around from one to another ofthe edifices with which History or the pen of the Wizard of the Northhas rendered us all familiar--the Tolbooth, the Parliament House, theCastle, the house of John Knox, the principal Churches, &c. , &c. I spentmost time of all in the Palace of Holyrood, which, though unwiselylocated, never gorgeously furnished, and long since abandoned of Royaltyto dilapidation and decay, still wears the stamp of majesty and will beregal even when crumbled into ruins. Its tapestries are faded androtten; its paintings, never brilliant specimens of the art, have alsofelt the tooth of Time; its furniture, never sumptuous, would but poorlyanswer at this day the needs of an ordinary family; its ball-room is nowa lumber-room; its royal beds excite premonitions of rheumatism: itsboudoir says nought of Beauty but that it passeth away. Yet thecarefully preserved ivory miniature of the hapless Queen of Scots isstill radiant with that superlative loveliness which seems unearthly andprophetic of coming sorrows; and it were difficult to view withoutemotion the tapestry she worked, the furniture she brought over fromFrance, some mementoes of her unwise marriage, the little room in whichshe sat at supper with Rizzio and three or four friends when theassassins rushed in through a secret door, stabbed her ill-starredfavorite, and dragged him bleeding through her bed-room into an outeraudience chamber, and there left him to die, his life-blood oozing outfrom fifty-six wounds. The partition still stands which the Queen causedto be erected to shut off the scene of this horrible tragedy from thatlarger portion of the reception-room which she was obliged still tooccupy, therein to greet daily those whom public cares and dutiesconstrained her to confer with and listen to, though Murder had stainedineffaceably the floor of that regal hall. Alas! unhappy Queen!--and yetnot all unhappy. Other sovereigns have their little day of pomp andadulation, then shrivel to dust and are forgotten; but she still livesand reigns wherever Beauty finds admirers or Suffering commandssympathy. Other Queens innumerable have lived and died, and theirscepters crumbled to dust even sooner than their clay; but Mary is stillQueen of Scots, and so will remain forever. 

XXXIX. 

SCOTLAND. 

 THE CLYDE, Wednesday, July 30, 1851. 

I am leaving Scotland without having seen half enough of it. My chiefreasons are a determination to run over a good part of Ireland and anengagement to leave Europe in my favorite ship Baltic next week; but, besides these, this continual prevalence of fog, mist, cloud, drizzleand rain diminish my regret that I am unable to visit the Highlands. Myfriends who, having a day's start of me, went up the Forth fromEdinburgh to Stirling, thence visiting Lochs Lomond and Katrine, thenceproceeding by boat to Glasgow, were unable to see aught of the mountainsbut their bases, their heads being shrouded in vapor; and, being landedfrom a steamboat at the head of Lake navigation on Loch Lomond, foundfive miles of land-carriage between them and a comfortable shelter, andonly vehicles enough to take the women and part of the men; the restbeing obliged to make the distance on foot in a drenching rain, withnight just at hand. Such adventures as this, --and they are common inthis region, --console me for my disappointment in not having been ableto see the Heather in its mountain home. The Gorse, the Broom, theWhins, not to speak of the Scottish Thistle, have been often visible bythe roadside, and the prevalence of evergreens attests the influence ofa colder clime than that of England; indeed, the backwardness of all thecrops argues a difference of at least a fortnight in climate betweenEdinburgh and London. Wheat has hardly filled yet in the ScottishLowlands; Oats are barely headed; and the Grass is little more than halfcut and not half dried into Hay; on the contrary, it now looks as if itmust winter on the ground or be taken in thoroughly water-soaked. Beingso much later, the crops are far less blown down here than they are inEngland; but neither Grass nor Grain is generally heavy, while Potatoesand Turnips, though backward, looked remarkably vigorous and promising. Beautifully farmed is all this Lowland country, well fenced, clear ofweeds, and evidently in the hands of intelligent, industrious, scientific cultivators. Wood is quite plentiful, Oak especially, thoughshade-trees are not so frequent in cultivated fields as in England; butrough, rocky, precipitous spots are quite common here, though in theLowlands, and these are wisely devoted to growing timber. Belgium ismore genial and more fertile, but I have rarely seen a tract of countrybetter farmed than that stretching westward from Edinburgh to Glasgow(48 miles) and thence down the Clyde to Greenock, some 22 miles further. The farmers in our Mohawk Valley ought to pass through this gloomy, chilly, misty country, and be shamed into a better improvement of theirrare but misused advantages. 

Traveling is useful in that it gives us a more vivid idea of the immenseamount of knowledge we yet lack. I supposed till to-day that, by virtueof a Scotch-Irish ancestry (in part) and a fair acquaintance with theworks of Walter Scott, Burns, Hogg, &c. , I knew the Lowland Scotchdialect pretty thoroughly; and yet a notice plainly posted up, "This LotTo _Feu_, " completely bothered me. On inquiry, I learned that _to feu_ alot means to let or lease it for building purposes--in other words, tobe built upon on a ground-rent. I suppose I learned this years ago, buthad entirely forgotten it. 

The Clyde, though a fair stream at Glasgow, is quite narrow for twelveto fifteen miles below that city, seeming hardly equal to theConnecticut at Hartford, or the Hudson at Waterford; but then it has agood tide, which helps the matter materially, and has at great expensebeen dredged out so as to be navigable for vessels of several hundredtuns. We passed a fine American packet-ship with a very wholesomelooking body of Scotch emigrants, hard aground some ten miles belowGlasgow, and I was informed that a large vessel, even though towed by asteamboat, is seldom able to get down into deep water upon a singletide, but is stopped half way to wait for another. This river fairlyswarms with small steamboats, of which there are regular linesconnecting Glasgow with Londonderry, Belfast, Dublin, Fleetwood(north-west of England), Liverpool, London, &c. We met four or fiveboats returning from Excursion parties crowded with the better paidartisans and laborers of Glasgow, their wives and children. 

The banks of the Clyde for some miles below Glasgow are low and marshy, much of the intervale being devoted to pasturage, while a rudeembankment has been interposed on either side, consisting of stones offive to fifty pounds each, intended to prevent the washing away of thebanks by the ripple raised by the often-passing steamboats. The end isfairly though not cheaply subserved. As we descend, the shores becomebolder; the rugged hills, at first barely visible on the right, comenear and nearer the water: low rocks begin to lift their heads above thesurface of the stream, while others have their innate modestyoverpowered by wooden fixtures lifting their heads above the highesttides to warn the mariner of his danger. At length a gigantic cone ofrock rises out of the water on the right of the channel to a height offifty or sixty feet, resembling some vast old cathedral: this isDumbarton Castle, with the anciently famous but now decaying town ofDumbarton lying at the head of a small bay behind it. A little lower onthe left is Port Glasgow, the head of navigation for very largevessels; and three miles lower still is Greenock, quite a stirringseaport, somewhat addicted to ship-building. Here our boat, which hadleft Glasgow (22 miles above) at 4 P. M. Held on till 8 for the trainwhich left the same port at 7 with the mail and additional passengers;and then laid her course directly across the channel to Belfast, 138miles from Glasgow, where she is due at 5 to-morrow morning. 

GLASGOW. 

Looks more American than any other city I have seen in Europe. Half ofPittsburgh spliced on to half of Philadelphia would make a city verylike Glasgow. Iron is said to be made cheaper here than elsewhere in theworld, the ore being alloyed with a carbonaceous substance whichfacilitates the process and reduces the cost of melting. Tall chimneysand black columns of smoke are abundant in the vicinity. The city isabout twice the size of Edinburgh, with more than double the trade ofthat capital, and has risen rapidly from relative insignificance. Newrows of stately houses have recently been built, and the "court end" ofthe city is extending rapidly toward the West. A brown or dark graystone, as in Edinburgh, is the principal material used, and gives thecity a very substantial appearance. Most of the town, being new, haswide and straight streets; in the older part, they are perverse andirrational, as old concerns are apt obstinately to be. They have an oldCathedral here (now Presbyterian) of which the citizens seem quiteproud, I can't perceive why. Architecturally, it seems to me a sad wasteof stone and labor. The other churches are also mainly Presbyterian, and, while making less pretensions, are far more creditable to the tasteof their designers. The town is built on both sides of the Clyde, whichis crossed by fine stone bridges, but seven-eighths of it lie on thenorth. Ancient Glasgow, embracing the narrow and crooked streets, liesnearly in the center, and is crowded with a squalid and miserablepopulation, at least half the women and children, including mothers withchildren in their arms, and grandmothers, or those who might well besuch, being without shoes or stockings in the cold and muddy streets. Intemperance has many votaries here, as indeed, throughout Scotland;"Dealers in Spirits, " or words to that effect, being a fearfully commonsign. I am afraid the good cause of Total Abstinence is making noheadway here--Glasgow has a daily paper (the first in Scotland) and manyweeklies, one of the best of them being a new one, "The Sentinel, " whichhas a way of going straight to the core of public questions, andstanding always on the side of thorough Reform. Success to it, and awarm good-bye to the rugged land of Song and Story--the loved home ofScott and Burns. 

XL. 

IRELAND--ULSTER. 

 DUBLIN, Thursday, July 31, 1851. 

Though the night was thick, the wind was light, and we had a very goodpassage across the North Channel, though our boat was very middling, andI was nearly poisoned by some of my fellow-sleepers in the gentlemen'scabin insisting that every window should be closed. O to be Pope for onelittle week, just long enough to set half a million pulpits throughoutthe world to ringing the changes on the importance, the vital necessity, of pure, fresh air! The darkness, or rather the general misapprehension, which prevails on this subject, is a frightful source of disease andmisery. Nine-tenths of mankind have such a dread of "a draught" orcurrent of air that they will shut themselves up, forty together, in aclose room, car or cabin, and there poison each other with theexhalations of their mutual lungs, until disease and often death are theconsequences. Why won't they study and learn that a "draught" of pureair will injure only those who by draughts of Alcoholic poison or someother evil habit or glaring violation of the laws of life, have renderedthemselves morbidly susceptible, and that even a cold is better than thenoxiousness of air, already exhausted of its oxygen by inhalation?Nothing physical is so sorely needed by the great majority as arealizing sense of the blessedness, the indispensable necessity of pure, fresh air. 

We landed at Belfast at 5 this morning under a pouring rain, whichslacked off two hours later, but the skies are still clouded, as theyhave been since Tuesday of last week, and there has been some sprinklingthrough the day. 

Of course the Crops are suffering badly. Flax is a great staple of theNorth of Ireland, and three fourths of it is beaten flat to the earth. Wheat is injured and poor, though not so generally prostrate; Oats lookfeeble, and as if half drowned; some of these are, and considerableBarley is thrown down; Grass is light, much of it uncut, and much thatis cut has lain under the stormy or cloudy skies through the last weekand looks badly; only the Potatoes look strong and thrifty, and promisean ample yield. I shall be agreeably disappointed if Ireland realizes afair average harvest this year. 

Belfast is a busy, growing town, the emporium of the Linen Manufacture, and the capital of the Province of Ulster, the Northern quarter ofIreland. It seems prosperous, though no wise remarkably so; and I havebeen painfully disappointed in the apparent condition of the ruralpeasantry on the line of travel from Belfast to Dublin, which I hadunderstood formed an exception to the general misery of Ireland. Out ofthe towns not one habitation in ten is fit for human beings to live in, but mere low, cramped hovels of rock, mud and straw; not one-half thefamilies on the way seem to have so much as an acre of land to eachhousehold; not half the men to be seen have coats to their backs; andnot one in four of the women and children have each a pair of shoes orstockings. And those feet!--if the owners would only wash them once aweek, the general aspect of affairs in this section would be materiallybrightened. Wretchedness, rags and despair salute me on every side; andif this be the best part of Ireland, what must the state of the worstbe?

From Belfast we had railroad to Armagh, 35 miles; then 13 miles byomnibus to Castle Blayney. We came over this latter route with ten ortwelve passengers, and a tun or so of luggage on the outside of theRailroad Company's omnibus, with thirteen of us stowed inside, beside ayoungster in arms, who illustrated the doctrine of Innate Depravity by aperpetual fight with his mother. Yet, thus overloaded we were driven thethirteen miles of muddy road in about two hours, taking at CastleBlayney another railroad train, which brought us almost to Drogheda, some 25 miles, where we had to take another omnibus for a mile or two, for want of a railroad bridge over the Boyne, thus reaching anothertrain which brought us into Dublin, 32 miles. The North of Ireland isyet destitute of any other railroads than such patches and fragments asthese, whereby I am precluded from seeing Londonderry, and its vicinity, which I much desired. At length we were brought into Dublin at half-pastthree o'clock, or in eight hours from Belfast, about one hundred andthirty miles. 

The face of the country through this part of Ireland is moderatelyrolling, though some fair hills appear in the distance. The land isgenerally good, though there are considerable tracts of hard, thin soil. Small bogs are frequently seen, but no one exceeding a dozen acres; thelarge ones lying farther inland. Taking so little room and supplying thepoor with a handy and cheap fuel, I doubt that these little bogs are anydetriment to the country. Some of them have been made to take on a soil(by draining, cutting, drying and burning the upper strata of peat, andspreading the ashes over the entire surface), and are now quiteproductive. --Drainage and ridging are almost universally resorted to, showing the extraordinary humidity of the atmosphere. The Potato is nowgenerally in blossom, and, having a large breadth of the land, and beingin fine condition, gives an appearance of thrift and beauty to thelandscape. But, in spite of this, the general yield of Ireland in 1851is destined to be meager. There is more misery in store for this unhappypeople. 

We cross two small lakes some ten to fifteen miles north of this city, and run for some distance close to the shore of the Channel. At length, a vision of dwellings, edifices and spires bounds the horizon of thelevel plain to the south-west, and in a few minutes we are in Dublin. 

XLI. 

WEST OF IRELAND--ATLANTIC MAILS. 

 GALWAY, Ireland, Aug. 2, 1851. 

I came down here yesterday from Dublin (126½ miles) by the firstRailroad train ever run through for the traveling public, hoping notonly to acquire some personal knowledge of the West of Ireland, but alsoto gain some idea of the advantages and difficulties attending theproposed establishment of a direct communication by Mail Steamersbetween this port and our own country. And although my trip isnecessarily a hurried one, yet, having been rowed down and nearly acrossthe Bay, so as to gain some knowledge of its conformation and itsentrance, and having traversed the town in every direction, and made theacquaintance of some of its most intelligent citizens, I shall at allevents return with a clearer idea of the whole subject than ever so muchdistant study of maps, charts and books could have given me. 

The Midland Railroad from Dublin passes by Maynooth, Mullingar, Athlone(where it crosses the Shannon by a noble iron bridge), and Ballinasloeto this place, at the head of Galway Bay, some twenty-five miles inlandfrom the broad Atlantic. The country is remarkably level throughout, andvery little rock-cutting and but a moderate amount of excavation havebeen required in making the Railroad, of which a part (from Dublin toMullingar) has been for some time in operation, while the residue hasjust been opened. (The old stage-road from Dublin to Galway measures133 miles, or nearly seven more than the Railroad. ) I presume there isnowhere an elevation of forty feet to the mile, and with a good doubletrack (now nearly completed), there can be no difficulty in runningexpress trains through in three hours. From Dublin to Holyhead willrequire four hours, and from Holyhead to London six more, making fifteenhours in all (including two for coming into Galway) for thetransportation of the Mails from the broad Atlantic off this port toLondon. Allow three more for leeway, and still the entire Mails may bedistributed in London about the time that the steamship can now betelegraphed as off Holyhead, and at least twelve (I hope fifteen) hoursearlier than the Mails can now be received in London, to say nothing ofthe saving of thirty or forty hours on the Mails to and from Ireland, and twenty or so for those of Scotland. Is there any good reason whythose hours should not be saved? I can perceive none, even though thesteamships should still proceed to Liverpool as heretofore. 

Galway Bay is abundantly large enough and safe enough for steamships, even as it is, though its security is susceptible of easy improvement. It has abundant depth inside, but hardly twenty feet at low water on abar in the harbor, so that large steamships coming in would be obligedto anchor a mile or so from the dock for high water if they did notarrive so as to hit it, as they must now wait off the bar at Liverpool, only much further from the dock. But what I contemplate as a beginningis not the bringing in of the Steamships but of their Mails. Let a smallsteamboat be waiting outside when a Mail Steamer is expected (as now offthe bar at Liverpool), and let the Mails and such passengers as wouldlike to feel the firm earth under their feet once more, be swiftlytransferred to the little boat, run up to Galway, put on an expresstrain, started for Dublin, and thence sent over to Holyhead, anddispatched to London and Liverpool forthwith. Let Irish Mails forGalway, Dublin, &c. , and Scotch Mails for Glasgow be made up on ourside, and let us see, by three or four fair trials, what saving of timecould be effected by landing the Mails at Galway, and then we shall bein a position to determine the extent and character of the permanentchanges which are required. That a saving of fully twelve hours forEngland and thirty for Ireland may be secured by making Galway theEuropean terminus of the Atlantic Mail Route, I am very confident, whilein the calculations of those who feel a local and personal interest inthe change the saving is far greater. But this is quite enough tojustify the inconsiderable expense which the experiment I urge wouldinvolve. 

Galway was formerly a place of far greater commerce and consequence thanit now is. It long enjoyed an extensive and profitable direct trade withSpain, which, since the Union of Ireland with England, is entirelytransferred to London, so that not a shadow of it remains. At a laterday, it exported considerable Grain, Bacon, &c. , to England, but thegeneral decline of Irish Industry, and the low prices of food since FreeTrade, have nearly destroyed this trade also, and there are now, exceptfishing-boats, scarcely half a dozen vessels in the harbor, and of thesethe two principal are a Russian from the Black Sea _selling_ Corn, to adistrict whose resources are Agricultural or nothing, and asmart-looking Yankee clipper taking in a load of emigrants and luggagefor New-York--the export of her population being about the only branchof Ireland's commerce which yet survives the general ruin. Galway hadonce 60, 000 inhabitants; she may now have at most 30, 000; but there isno American seaport with 5, 000 which does not far surpass her annualaggregate of trade and industry. What should we think in America of aseaport of at least 35, 000 inhabitants, the capital of a large, populouscounty, located at the head of a noble, spacious bay, looking off on thebroad Atlantic some twenty miles distant, with cities of twenty, fifty, and a hundred thousand inhabitants within a few hours' reach on eitherside of her, yet not owning a single steamboat of any shape or nature, and not even visited by one daily, weekly, monthly, or at any statedperiod? Truly, the desolation of Ireland must be witnessed or it cannotbe realized. 

I judge that of nearly thirty thousand people who live here not tenthousand have any regular employment or means of livelihood. Themajority pick up a job when they can, but are inevitably idle andsuffering two-thirds of the time. Of course, the Million learn nothing, have nothing, and come to nothing. They are scarcely in fault, but thosewho ought to teach them, counsel them, employ them, until they shall bequalified to employ themselves, are deplorably culpable. Here aregentlemen and ladies of education and wealth (dozens where there wereformerly hundreds) who year after year and generation after generationhave lived in luxury on the income wrung from these poor creatures inthe shape of Rent, without ever giving them a helping hand or a kindword in return--without even suspecting that they were under moralobligation to do so. Here is a Priesthood, the conscience-keepers andreligious instructors of this fortunate class, who also have faredsumptuously and amassed wealth out of the tithes wrenched bylaw-sanctioned robbery from the products of this same wretchedpeasantry, yet never proffered them anything in return but conversion tothe faith of their plunderers--certainly not a tempting proffer underthe circumstances. And here also is a Priesthood beloved, reverenced, confided in by this peasantry, and loving them in return, who I thinkhave done far less than they might and should have done to raise themout of the slough in which generation after generation are sinkingdeeper and deeper. I speak plainly on this point, for I feel strongly. The Catholic Priesthood of Ireland resist the education of the Peasantryunder Protestant auspices and influences, for which we will presume theyhave good reason; but, in thus cutting them off from one chance ofimproving their social and intellectual condition, they double their ownmoral responsibility to secure the Education of the Poor in some mannernot inconsistent with the preservation of their faith. And, seeing whatI have seen and do see of the unequaled power of this Priesthood--apower immensely greater in Ireland than in Italy, for there the Priestsare generally regarded as the allies of the tyrant and plundering class, while here they are doubly beloved as its enemies and its victims--Ifeel an undoubting conviction that simply an earnest determination ofthe Catholic Hierarchy of Ireland that every Catholic child in thecountry shall receive a good education would secure its own fulfilmentwithin five years, and thenceforth for ever. Let but one generation bewell educated, and there can be no rational apprehension that theirchildren or grandchildren will be allowed to grow up in ignorance andhelplessness. Knowledge is self-perpetuating, self-extending. And, dreadfully destitute as this country is, the Priesthood of the Peoplecan command the means of educating that People, which nobody withouttheir coöperation can accomplish. Let the Catholic Bishops unite in anearnest and potential call for teachers, and they can summon thousandsand tens of thousands of capable and qualified persons from convents, from seminaries, from cloisters, from drawing-rooms, even from foreignlands if need be, to devote their time and efforts to the work withoutearthly recompense or any stipulation save for a bare subsistence, whichthe less needy Catholics, or even the more liberal Protestants, in everyparish would gladly proffer them. There is really no serious obstacle inthe way of this first great step toward Ireland's regeneration if thePriesthood will zealously attempt it. 

But closely allied to this subject, and not inferior to it inimportance, stands that of Industrial Training. The Irish Peasantry areidle, the English say truly enough; but who inquires whether there isany work within their reach? Suppose there was always _something_ to do, what avails that to millions who know not how to do that precisesomething? Walking with a friend through one of the back streets ofGalway beside the outlet of the Lakes, I came where a girl of ten yearsold was breaking up hard brook pebbles into suitable fragments to mendroads with. We halted, and M. Asked her how much she received for thatlabor. She answered, "Six-pence a car-load. " "How long will it take youto break a car-load?" "_About a fortnight. _" Further questionsrespecting her family, &c. , were answered with equal directness andpropriety, and with manifest truth. Here was a mere child, who shouldhave been sent to school, delving from morning till night at anemployment utterly unsuited to her sex and her strength, and which Ishould consider dangerous to her eyesight, to earn for her poor parentsa half-penny per day. Think of this, ye who talk, not always withoutreason, of "factory slaves" and the meagre rewards of labor in America. In any community where labor is even decently rewarded, that childshould have been enabled to earn every day at least as much as herfortnight's work on the stone-heap would command. And even in Galway, aconcerted and systematic Industrial Education for the Poor would enableher to earn at some light and suitable employment six times what she nowdoes. 

In every street of the town you constantly meet girls of fourteen totwenty, as well as old women and children, utterly barefoot and inragged clothing. I should judge from the streets that not more thanone-fourth of the females of Galway belong to the shoe-wearingaristocracy. Now no one acquainted with Human Nature will pretend thatgirls of fourteen to twenty will walk the streets barefoot if the meansof buying shoes and stockings by honest labor are fairly within theirreach. But here there are none such for thousands. Born in wretched hutsof rough stone and rotten straw, compared with which the poorestlog-cabin is a palace, with a turf fire, no window, and a mass of filthheaped up before the door, untaught even to read, and growing up in aregion where no manufactures nor arts are prosecuted, the Irishpeasant-girl arrives at womanhood less qualified by experience, observation or training for industrial efficiency and usefulness thanthe daughter of any Choctaw or Sioux Indian. Of course, not _all_ theIrish, even of the wretchedly poor, are thus unskilled and helpless, buta deplorably large class is; and it is this class whose awkwardness andutter ignorance are too often made the theme of unthinking levity andridicule when the poor exile from home and kindled lands in New York andundertakes housework or anything else for a living. The "awkwardness, "which means only inability to do what one has never even _seen_ done, isnot confined to any class or nation, and should be regarded with everyallowance. 

An Industrial School, especially for girls, in every town, village andparish of Ireland, is one of the crying needs of the time. I amconfident there are in Galway alone five thousand women and girls whowould hail with gratitude and thoroughly improve an opportunity to earnsix-pence per day. If they could be taught needle-work, plaindressmaking, straw-braiding, and a few of the simplest branches ofmanufactures, such as are carried on in households, they might and wouldat once emerge from the destitution and social degradation which nowenshroud them into independence, comfort and consideration. Knowing howto work and to earn a decent subsistence, they would very soon seek andacquire a knowledge of letters if previously ignorant of them. In short, the Industrial Education of the Irish Peasantry is the noblest and themost hopeful idea yet broached for their intellectual and socialelevation, and I have great hope of its speedy triumph. It is now beingagitated in Dublin and many other localities, a central and manyauxiliary schools having already been established. But I will speakfurther on this point in another letter. 

Galway has an immense and steady water-power within half a mile of itsharbor, on the outlet of Lakes Corrib and Mash, by means of which itenjoys an admirable internal navigation extending some sixty milesnorthward. Here Manufactures might be established with a certainty ofcommanding the cheapest power, cheapest labor and cheapest fuel to behad in the world. I never saw a spot where so much water power yetunused could be obtained at so trifling a cost as here directly on thewest line of the town and within half a mile of its center. A beautifulMarble is found on the line of the Railroad only a few miles from thetown, and all along the line to Dublin the abundance and excellence ofthe building-stone are remarkable. Timber and Brick come down the Lakeoutlet as fast as they are wanted, while Provisions are here cheap as inany part of the British Isles. Nature has plainly designed Galway for agreat and prosperous city, the site of extensive manufactures, theemporium of an important trade, and the gateway of Europe towardAmerica; but whether all this is or is not to be dashed by the fatalitywhich has hitherto attended Irish prospects, remains to be seen. I trustthat it is not, but that a new Liverpool is destined soon to arise here;and that, should I ever again visit Europe, I shall first land on thequay of Galway. 

XLII. 

IRELAND--SOUTH. 

 DUBLIN, Tuesday, Aug. 5, 1851. 

I had hoped to see all of Ireland that is accessible by Railroad fromthis city, but Time will not permit. Having remained here over Sunday, Ihad only Monday left for a trip Southward, and that would just sufficefor reaching Limerick and returning without attempting Cork. So at 7yesterday morning I took the "Great Southern and Western Railroad, " andwas set down in Limerick (130 miles) at a quarter before 1, passingKildare, with its "Curragh" or spacious race-ground, Maryborough andThurles on the way. Portarlington, Mount Melick, Mountrath andTemplemore--all considerable towns--lie a few miles from the Railroad, on the right or west, as Naas, Cashel and Tipperary are not far from iton the left; while another Railroad, the "Irish South-Eastern, " divergesat Kildare to Carlow, Bagnalstown and Kilkenny (146 miles from Dublin)on the South; while from Kilkenny the "Kilkenny and Waterford" hasalready been constructed to Thomastown (some 20 miles), and is to reachWaterford, at the head of ship navigation on the common estuary at themouth of the Suir and Barrow, when completed. 

I left the Great Southern and Western at Limerick Junction, 107 miles S. S. W. Of Dublin, and took the crossroad from Tipperary to Limerick (30miles), but the main road proceeds south-westerly to Charleville, 22½miles further, and thence leads due south to Mallow, on the Blackwater, and then south by east to Cork, 164½ miles from Dublin, while anotherrailroad has just been opened from Cork to Bandon, 18¾ miles stillfurther south-west, making a completed line from Dublin to Bandon, 183½miles, with branches to Limerick, Tipperary and Kilkenny, the latter tobe continued to Waterford. In a country so easily traversed byRailroads, and so swarming with population as Ireland, these roadsshould be not only most useful but most productive to theirstockholders, but they are very far from it. Few of the peasantry canafford to travel by them, except when leaving the country for ever, andtheir scanty patches of ground produce little surplus food forexportation, while they can afford to buy little that the Railroadsbring in. Were the population of Ireland as well fed and as enterprisingas that of New-England, with an industry as well diversified, herRailroads would pay ten per cent, on their cost; as things now are, theydo not pay two per cent. Thus the rapacity of Capital defeats itself, and actually impoverishes its owners when it deprives Labor of a fairreward. If all the property-holders of Ireland would to-day combine in afirm resolve to pay at least half a dollar per day for men's labor, andto employ all that should present themselves, introducing new arts andmanufactures and improving their estates in order to furnish suchemployment, they would not only speedily banish destitution andignorance from the land but they would double the value of their ownpossessions. This is one of the truths which sloth, rapacity andextravagance are slow to learn, yet which they cannot safely ignore. Thedecay and ruin of nearly all the "old families" in Ireland are among thepenalties of disregarding it. 

To talk of an excess of labor, or an inability to employ it, in such acountry as Ireland, is to insult the general understanding. In the firstplace, there is an immediate and urgent demand for at least Half aMillion comfortable rain-proof dwellings. The inconceivable wretchedhovels in which nine-tenths of the peasantry endure existenceinevitably engender indolence, filthiness and disease. Generation aftergeneration grows up ignorant and squalid from never having had afireside by which they could sit down to read or study, nor an exampleof home comfort and cleanliness in their own class to profit by. Inthose narrow, unlighted, earth-floored, straw-thatched cabins, there isno room for the father and his sons to sit down and enjoy an evening, sothey straggle off to the nearest groggery or other den in search of thecomfort their home denies them. Of course, men who have grown up in thisway have no idea of anything better and are slow to mend; but thepersonal influence of their superiors in wealth and station is verygreat, and might be ten times greater if the more fortunate class wouldmake themselves familiar with the wants and woes, the feelings andaspirations of the poor, and act toward them as friends and wiserbrethren, instead of seeming to regard them only as strange dogs to berepelled or as sheep to be sheared. But the first practical point to bestruggled for is that of steady employment and just reward for labor. Solong as men's wages (without board) range from fourpence to one andsix-pence per day, and women's from a penny to six-pence (which, so faras I can learn, are the current rates at present, and nothing to do forhalf the year at any price), no radical improvement can be hoped for. Afamily with nothing to do, very little to eat and only a hog-pen to livein, will neither acquire mental expansion, moral integrity, nor habitsof neatness and industry. On the contrary, however deficient they mayoriginally be in these respects, they are morally certain to grow worseso long as their circumstances remain unchanged. But draw them out oftheir wretched hovel into a neat, dry, glass-lighted, comfortabledwelling, offer them work at all seasons, and a fair recompense fordoing it, and you will have at least rendered improvement possible. Thefeasibility of cleanliness will instill the love of it, at least in theyounger members; the opportunity of earning will awaken the instinct ofsaving as well as the desire to maintain a comely appearance in the eyesof friends and neighbors. The laborer, well paid, will naturally beadequately fed, and both able and willing to perform thrice the work perday he now does or can; seeing the more efficient often step above themto posts better paid and more respected, the dullest workers will aspireto greater knowledge and skill in order that they too may attain moreeligible positions. "It is the first step that costs"--the others followalmost of course. If the Aristocracy of Ireland would unitedly resolvethat every individual in the land should henceforth have constant workand just recompense, the outlay involved need not be great and thereturn would be abundant and certain. They have ample water-power for athousand factories, machine-shops, foundries, &c. , which has run towaste since creation, and can never bring them a dollar while IrishIndustry remains as rude, ill-paid and inefficient as it now is. Everydollar wisely spent in improving this power will add two to the value oftheir estates. So they have stone-quarries of immense value all over theisland which never produced anything and never will while the millionslive in hovels and confine their attention to growing oats and potatoesfor a subsistence. Agriculture alone and especially such Agriculture, can never adequately employ the people; when the Oats and Potatoes havebeen harvested, the peasant has very little to do but eat them until theseason for planting them returns. But introduce a hundred new arts andprocesses--let each village have its mechanics, each county itsmanufacturers of the various wares and fabrics really needed in thecountry, and the excess of work done over the present aggregate wouldspeedily transform general poverty into general competence. The SixMillions of People in Ireland are doing far less work this year than theThree Millions of New-England, although the Irish in New-England are atleast as industrious and efficient as the natives. They work welleverywhere but at home, because they everywhere else find the morepowerful class ready to employ them, instruct them, pay them. In Irelandalone are they required to work for six pence to eighteen pence per day, and even at these rates stand idle half the year for want of anything todo; so that the rent which they would readily double (for bettertenements) if they were fully employed and fairly paid, now benumbs andcrushes them, and their little patches of land, which ought to be in thehighest degree productive, are often the worst cultivated of any thisside of the Alps. Ignorance, want, and hopelessness have paralysed theirenergies, and the consequent decay of the Peasantry has involved most ofthe Aristocracy in the general ruin. The Encumbered Estates Commissionis now rapidly passing the soil of Ireland out of the hands of itsbankrupt landlords into those of a new generation. May these be wiseenough to profit by the warning before them, and by uniting to elevatethe condition of the Laboring Millions place their own prosperity on asolid and lasting foundation!

GENERAL ASPECTS. 

The South of Ireland is decidedly more fertile and inviting than theNorth or West. There is a deeper, richer soil, with far less stone onthe level low lands. The railroad from Dublin to Limerick runsthroughout over a level plain, and though it passes from the valley ofthe Liffey across those of the Barrow, the Durrow and the Suir to thatof the Shannon, no perceptible ridge is crossed, no tunnel traversed, and very little rock-cutting or embankment required. Although thehighways are often carried over the track at an absurd expense, whilethe principal dépôts are made to cost thrice what they should, I stillcannot account for the great outlay on Irish railroads. They would havebeen built at one-half the cost in the States, where the wages of laborare thrice as much as here: who pockets the difference? Of course, thereis stealing in the assessment of land damages; but so there iseverywhere. When I was in Galway, a case was tried in which aproprietor, whose bog was crossed by the Midland Railroad, sued thecompany for more than the Appraisers had awarded him, and it was provedon the trial that his bog, utterly worthless before, had been partiallydrained and considerably increased in value by the railroad. There seemsto be no conscience in exacting damages of those who invest their money, often most reluctantly, in railroads, of which the main benefits areuniversal. In Ireland they have palpably and greatly benefited everyclass but the stockholders, and these they have well nigh ruined. 

There are fewer remains of dwellings recently "cleared" and thrown downin the South than in the West of Ireland; though they are not unknownhere; but I saw no new ones going up, save in immediate connection withthe Railroads, in either section. If Government, Society and Ideas areto remain as they have been, the country may be considered absolutelyfinished, with nothing more to do but decay. I trust, however, that anew leaf is about to be turned over; still, it is mournful to passthrough so fine a country and see how the hand of death has transfixedit. Even Limerick, at the head of ship navigation on the gloriousestuary of the Shannon, with steamboat navigation through the heart ofthis populous kingdom for sixty or eighty miles above it, shows scarcely arecent building except the Railroad Dépôt and the Union Poor-House, whileits general aspect is that of stagnation, decline and decay. The smallertowns between it and Dublin have a like gloomy appearance--Kildare, withwith its deserted "Curragh" and its towering ruins, looking most drearyof all. Happy is the Irishman who, in a new land and amid the activitiesand hopes which it inspires, is spared the daily contemplation of hiscountry's ruin. 

And yet there are brighter shades to the picture. Nature, ever buoyantand imperative, does her best to remedy the ills created by "Man'sinhumanity to Man. " The South of Ireland seems far better wooded thaneither the North or West, and thrifty young forests and tree plantationssoften the gloom which unroofed and ruinous cabins would naturallysuggest. Though the Railroad runs wholly through a tame, dull levelsweeping ranges of hills appear at intervals on either side, exhibitinga lovely alternation of cultivation, grass and forest, to the delightedtraveler. The Hay crop is badly saved so far, and some that has been cutseveral days is still under the weather, while a good deal, though longripe, remains uncut; the Wheat looks to me thin and uneven; Oats (theprincipal grain here) are short and generally poor; but I never saw thePotato more luxuriant or promising, and the area covered with this nobleroot is most extensive. The poor have a fashion of planting in _beds_three to six feet wide, with narrow alleys between; which, thoughinvolving extra labor, must insure a large yield, and presents a mostluxuriant appearance. Little Rye was sown, but that little is very good;Barley is suffering from the stormy weather, but is quite thrifty. Yetthere is much arable land either wholly neglected or only yielding alittle grass, while I perceive even less bog undergoing reclamation thanin the West. I did not anticipate a tour of pleasure through Ireland, but the reality is more painful than I anticipated. Of all I have seenat work in the fields to-day, cutting and carrying turf, hoeingpotatoes, shaking out Hay, &c. , at least one-third were women. If Icould believe that their fathers and husbands were in America, clearinglands and erecting cabins for their future homes, I should not regretthis. But the probability is that only a few of them are there orhopefully employed anywhere, while hundreds of neglected, weedy, unpromising patches of cultivation show that, narrow as the holdingsmainly are, they are yet often unskillfully cultivated. The end of thisis of course ejectment, whence the next stage is the Union Work-House. Alas! unhappy Ireland!

XLIII. 

PROSPECTS OF IRELAND. 

 DUBLIN, Tuesday, August 5, 1851. 

Of Irish stagnation, Irish unthrift, Irish destitution, Irish misery, the world has heard enough. I could not wholly avoid them without givingan essentially false and deceptive account of what must be painfullyobvious to every traveler in Ireland; yet I have chosen to pass themover lightly and hurriedly, and shall not recur to them. They are in themain sufficiently well known to the civilized world, and, apart fromsuggestions of amendment, their contemplation can neither be pleasantnor profitable. I will only add here that though, in spite of Poor Lawsand Union Poor-Houses, there are still much actual want, suffering andbeggary in Ireland, yet the beggars here are by no means so numerous norso importunate as in Italy, though the excuses for mendicity are fargreater. What I propose now to bring under hasty review are theprincipal plans for the removal of Ireland's woes and the conversion ofher myriads of paupers into independent and comfortable laborers. Ishall speak of these in succession, beginning with the oldest andclosing with the newest that has come under my observation. And first, then, of

REPEAL. 

The hope of obtaining from the British Crown and Parliament theconcession of a separate Legislature of their own seems nearly to havedied out of the hearts of the Irish millions. The death of O'Connelldeprived the measure of its mightiest advocate; Famine and otherdisasters followed; and fresher projects of amelioration have since to agreat extent supplanted it in the popular mind. Yet it is to-day mostpalpable that such a Legislature is of the highest moment to theNational well-being, and that its concession would work the greatestgood to Ireland without injury to England. Nay; I see fresh reasons formy hope that such concession is far nearer than is generally imagined. 

On all hands it is perceived and conceded that the amount of legislationrequired by the vast, widely scattered and diversely constitutedportions of the British Empire is too great to be properly affected byany deliberative body. Parliament is just closing a long session, yetleaving very much of its proper business untouched for want of time, andthat pertaining to Ireland is especially neglected. Then it has justpassed a most unwise and irritating act with regard to the titles of theCatholic Prelates, which, because every act of Parliament must extend toIreland unless that country is expressly excluded, is allowed to operatethere, though the bad reasons given for its enactment at all have noapplication to that country, while the mischiefs it will do there areten times greater than all it can effect in Great Britain. Had Ireland aseparate Parliament, no British Minister would have been mad enough topropose the extension of this act over that country, where it is certainto excite disaffection and disloyalty, arouse slumbering hatreds, andimpede the march of National and Social improvement. An IrishParliament, with specified powers and duties akin to those of anAmerican State Legislature, would be a great relief to a BritishParliament and Ministry, a great support to Irish loyalty and Irishimprovement, and no harm to anybody. These truths seem to me so palpablethat I think they cannot long be disregarded, but that some one of thePolitical changes frequently occurring in Great Britain will secure toIreland a restoration of her domestic Legislature. Neither Canada, Jamaica nor any other British colony can show half so good reasons for adomestic Legislature. 

TENANT-RIGHT. 

The agitation for Tenant-Right in Ireland is destined to fail--in fact, has virtually failed already. The Imperial Parliament will never concedethat right, nor will any Legislature similarly constituted. And yet thedemand has the clearest and strongest basis of natural and eternaljustice, as any fair mind must confess. What is that demand? Simply thatthe creator of a new value shall be legally entitled to that value, or, in case he is required to surrender it to another, shall be paid a fairand just equivalent therefor. Here is a farm, for instance, whereof oneman is recognised by law as the owner, and he lets it for three lives ora specific term of years to a tenant-cultivator for ten, fifteen ortwenty shillings per acre. The tenant occupies it, cultivates it, paysthe rent and improves it. At the close of his term, he is found to havebuilt a good house on it instead of the old rookery he found there, while by fencing, draining, manuring and subsoiling he has doubled itsproductive capacity, and consequently its annual value. He wishes tocultivate it still, and offers to renew the lease for any number ofyears, and pay the rent punctually. "But no, " says the landlord, "youmust pay twice as much rent as hitherto. " "Why so?" "Because the land ismore valuable than it was when you took it. " "Certainly it is; but thatvalue is wholly the fruit of my labor--it has cost you nothing. " "Can'thelp that, Sir; you improved for your own benefit, and with a fullknowledge that the additional value would revert to me on theexpiration of your lease; so pay my price or clear out!"--Is this right?The law says Yes; but Justice says No; Public Good says even moreimperatively No. The laws of the land should encourage every occupier toimprove the land he holds, to expend capital and employ labor upon it, so as to increase its value and productive capacity from year to year;but the law of the British Empire discourages improvement and impedesthe employment of labor by taking the product from the producer andgiving it arbitrarily to the landlord. Yet the landlord influence inParliament is so predominant, so overwhelming, that no repeal, nomitigation even, of this great wrong is probable; and every demand forit is overborne by a senseless outcry against Agrarianism. Still, theagitation for Tenant-Right does good by imbuing the popular mind withsome idea of the monster evil and wrong of the Monopoly of Land--an ideawhich will not always remain unfruitful. 

EMIGRATION. 

Emigration is now proceeding with gigantic strides, and is destined forsome time to continue. I think a full third of the present population ofIreland are anxious to leave their native land, and will do so if theyshall ever have the means before better prospects are opened to them. Packet-ships are constantly loading with emigrants at all the principalports, while thousands are flocking monthly to Liverpool to find readyand cheap conveyance to America. But this emigration, however advisablefor the departing, does little for those left behind, and is in the maindetrimental to the country. The energetic, the daring, the high-spiritedgo, leaving the residue more abject and nerveless than ever. If TwoMillions more were to leave the country next year, the condition of theremainder would not be essentially improved. Over population is not aleading cause of Ireland's present miseries. 

EDUCATION. 

Rudimental knowledge is being slowly diffused in Ireland, in spite ofthe serious impediments interposed by Religious jealousy and bigotry. But this remedy, as now applied, does not reach the seat of the disease. They are mainly the better class of poor children who are educated inthe National and other elementary schools; the most depraved, benighted, degraded, are still below their reach. The destitute, hungry, unemployed, unclad, despairing, cannot or do not send their children toschool; the wife and mother who must work daily in the turf-bog orpotato-field for a few pence per day must keep her older child at hometo mind the younger ones in her absence. Education, in its larger, truermeaning, is the great remedy for Ireland's woes; but until the parentshave steadier employment and a juster recompense the general educationof the children is impracticable. 

ENCUMBERED ESTATES. 

The act authorizing and requiring the sale of irredeemably EncumberedEstates in Ireland is one of the best which a British Parliament haspassed in many years. Under its operation, a large portion of the soilis rapidly passing from the nominal ownership of bankrupts wholly unableand unqualified to improve it into those of new proprietors who, it mayfairly be hoped, will generally be able to improve it, giving employmentto more labor and increasing the annual product. The benefits of thischange, however, can be but slowly realized, and are for the presenthardly perceptible. 

IRISH MANUFACTURES. 

Within the past few months, a very decided interest has been awakened inthe minds of enlightened and patriotic Irishmen in Dublin and otherplaces, with regard to the importance and possibility of establishingvarious branches of Household Manufactures throughout the country. It ismanifest that the general cheapness of Labor and Food, the facilitiesnow enjoyed for communication, not only with Great Britain, but with allEurope and America also, and the extraordinary amount of unemployed andundeveloped capacity in Ireland, render the introduction of Manufacturesat once eminently desirable and palpably feasible. Even though nothingcould be immediately earned thereby, the simple diffusion of industrialskill and efficiency which must ensue from such introduction would be aninestimable gain to the peasantry of Ireland. But allow that all theidle poor of this island could in six months be taught how to earn sixpence each per day, the aggregate benefit to the Irish and to mankindwould be greater than that of all the gold mines yet discovered. ThePoorhouse Unions could be nearly emptied in a year, and this wholepopulation comfortably fed, clad and housed within the next three years. A beginning must be made with the simplest or household manufactures, for want of means to establish the more complex, costly and efficientbranches, which require extensive Machinery and aggregation of Laborers;but if the first step be successfully taken, others are certain tofollow. With abundant water-power and inexhaustible beds of fuel yetuntouched, it is demonstrable that Manufactures of Cotton and Woolen, aswell as Linen, might be prosecuted in Ireland even cheaper than inEngland, though the average recompense of Labor should thereby bedoubled. 

The first impulse to the Manufacture movement appears to have been givenby Mr. Thomas Mooney, a gentleman well known to his countrymenthroughout the United States, whence he returned some eighteen monthsago. Primarily at his suggestion, a "Parent Board of Irish Manufacture"was organized in Dublin several months since, funds collected byvoluntary subscription, an office opened, and a central schoolestablished, with a view to the qualification of teachers for thesuperintendence of auxiliary schools throughout the country. Theenterprise was proceeding vigorously and with daily increasing momentumwhen Dissension, the evil genius of Ireland, broke out among its leadingsupporters, which has resulted in the division of the original Societyinto two, one of them sustaining Mr. Mooney and the other claiming tohave taken the movement entirely out of his hands. Thus the case standsat present, but thus I trust it will not long remain. The enterprise isone of the most feasible and hopeful of the many that have beenundertaken for the benefit of Ireland, and affords ample scope andoccupation for all who may see fit to labor for its success. I trustthat all differences will speedily be harmonized, and that the friendsof the movement, once more united, may urge it forward to a mostcomplete and beneficent triumph. 

PEAT MANUFACTURE. 

The Peat Bogs of Ireland cover some Three Millions of Acres of itssurface, mainly in the heart of the country, though extending into everypart of it. Perhaps One Hundred Thousand Acres, chiefly in thenorth-east, have been brought into cultivation; of the residue, someyields a little sour pasturage, but the greater portion is of no usewhatever, save as it supplies a very poor but cheap fuel to thepeasantry. These bogs are of all depths from a few inches to thirty orforty feet, though the very shallow have generally been reclaimed. Thisis effected in some cases by removing the Peat or Turf altogether; butsometimes, where it is quite deep, by ditching and draining it, and thencutting and heaping up some six to twelve inches at the top, so that itcan be thoroughly burned, and the ashes spread over the entire surfacefor a soil. This is not so deep as could be desired, but the climate isso uniformly moist and the skies so rarely unclouded that it suffices toinsure very tolerable crops thereafter. 

I do not know how the origin of these Bogs is accounted for by thelearned, but I presume the land they cover was originally a denseforest, and that the Peat commenced growing as a sort of moss or fungus, carpeting the ground and preventing the germination of any more trees. In the course of ten or fifteen centuries, the forest trees (mainly ofOak or Fir) decayed and fell into the Peat, which, dying at the top, continued to grow at the bottom, while the perpetual moisture of theclimate prevented its destruction by fire. Thus the forest graduallydisappeared, and the Peat alone remained, gaining a foot in depth in thecourse of two or three centuries until it slowly reached its presentcondition. 

Many efforts have been made to render this Peat available as a basis ofManufacture and Commerce, but hitherto with little success. Themagnificent chemical discoveries heralded some two years ago, wherebyeach bog was to be transformed into a mimic California, have not enduredthe rough test of practical experience. There is no doubt that Peatcontains all the valuable elements therein set forth--Carbon, Ammonia, Stearine, Tar, &c. , but unfortunately it has hitherto cost more toextract them than they will sell for in market; so the high-raisedexpectations of 1849 have been temporarily blasted, like a great manypredecessors. 

But further chemical investigations have resulted in new discoveries, which, it is confidently asserted, render the future success of the PeatCharcoal manufacture a matter of demonstrable certainty. A company hasjust been organized in London, under commanding auspices, which proposesto embark £500, 000 directly and £1, 000, 000 ultimately in Peat-Works, having secured the exclusive right of using the newly patentedprocesses of Messrs. J. S. Gwynne and J. J. Hays, which are pronouncedexceedingly important and valuable. By a combination of these patentedprocesses, it is calculated that the company will be able to manufacturefrom the inexhaustible Bogs of Ireland, 1. Peat Coal, or solidifiedPeat, of intense calorific power, exceedingly cheap, almost as dense asBituminous Coal, while absolutely free from Gases injurious to metals aswell as from "clinker, " and therefore especially valuable forLocomotives and for innumerable applications in the arts; 2. PeatCharcoal, thoroughly carbonized, of compact and heavy substance, freefrom sulphur, and for which there is an unlimited demand not only forfuel but for fertilization; 3. Peat Tar, of extraordinary value simplyas Tar, an admirable preservative of Timber, and readily convertibleinto Illuminating Gas of exceeding brilliancy and power; 4. Acetate ofLime; and 5. A crude Sulphate of Ammonia, well known as a fertilizer ofabundant energy. The company is already at work, and expect soon to havesix working stations in different parts of the country, professing itsability to manufacture for 14s. Per tun, Peat Charcoal readily sellingin London for 45s. , while they expect to realize 5s. Worth of Tar, Ammonia, &c. , with every tun of Charcoal, while on Solidified Peat theyanticipate still larger profits. These may be very greatly reduced bypractical experience without affecting the vital point, that sagaciousand scrutinizing capitalists have been found willing to invest theirmoney in an enterprise which, if it succeeds at all, must secureillimitable employment to Labor in Ireland and strongly tend to increaseits average reward. 

BEET SUGAR. 

A similar Company, with a like capital, has also been formed toprosecute extensively in Ireland the manufacture of Beet Sugar, andthis can hardly be deemed an experiment. That the Sugar Beet growsluxuriously here I can personally bear witness; indeed, I doubt whetherthere is a soil or climate better adapted to it in the world. That theBeet grown in Ireland yields a very large proportion of Sugar isattested by able chemists; that the manufacture of Beet Sugar isprofitable, its firm establishment and rapid extension in France, Belgium, &c. , abundantly prove. The Irish Company have secured theexclusive use of two recently patented inventions, whereby they claim tobe able to produce a third more sugar than has hitherto been obtained, and of a quality absolutely undistinguishable from the best Cane Sugar. They say they can make it at a profit of fully twenty-five per cent. After paying an excise of £10 per tun to the Government, working theirmills all the year (drying their roots for use in months when theycannot otherwise be fit for manufacture). Mr. Wm. K. Sullivan, Chemistto the Museum of Irish Industry, states that the Beet Sugar manufacturedin France has increased from 51, 000 tuns in 1840 to more than 100, 000tuns in 1850, in defiance of a large increase in the excise leviedthereon--that the average production of Sugar Beet is in Ireland 15 tunsper acre, against less than 11 tuns in France and Germany--that eachacre of Beets will yield 4½ tuns (green) of tops or leaves, worth 7s. 6d. Per tun for feeding cattle, making the clear profit on thecultivation of the Beet, at 15s. Per tun, over £5 per acre--that thereis no shadow of difference between the Sugar of the Beet and that of theCane, all the difference popularly supposed to exist being caused by theexistence of foreign substances in one or both--that Irish rootsgenerally, and Beet roots especially, contain considerably _more_ Sugarthan those grown on the Continent--and that Beet Sugar may be made inIreland (without reference to the newly patented processes from whichthe Company expect such great advantages) at a very handsome profit. Asthe soil and climate of Ireland are at least equal to, and the Labordecidedly cheaper than, that employed in the same pursuit on theContinent, while Ireland herself, wretched as she is, consumes over twothousand tuns of Sugar per annum, and Great Britain, some twenty-fivethousand tuns--every pound of it imported--I can perceive no reasonablebasis for a doubt that the Beet Culture and Sugar Manufacture willspeedily be naturalized in Ireland, and that they will give employmentand better wages at all seasons to many thousands of her sons. 

Such are some of the grounds of my hope that the deepest wretchedness ofthis unhappy country has been endured--that her depopulation willspeedily be arrested, and that better days are in store for herlong-suffering people. Yet Conquest, Subjugation, Oppression andMisgovernment have worn deep furrows in the National character, and agesof patient, enlightened and unselfish effort will be necessary toeradicate them. Ignorance, Indolence, Inefficiency, Superstition andHatred are still fearfully prevalent; I only hope that causes arebeginning to operate which will ultimately efface them. If I have saidless than would seem just of the Political causes, of Ireland'scalamities, it is because I would rather draw attention to practicalthough slow remedies than invoke fruitless indignation against thewrongs which have rendered them necessary. Peace and Concord are thegreat primary needs of Ireland--Peace between her warringChurches--Concord between her rulers and landlords on one side and herdestitute and desperate Millions on the other. I wish the latter hadsufficient courage and self-trust to demand and enforce emancipationfrom the Political and Social vassalage in which they are held; todemand not merely Tenant-Right but a restitution of the broad landswrested from their ancestors by fire and sword--not merely equal rightswith Englishmen in Church and State, but equal right also to judgewhether the existing Union of the two islands is advantageous tothemselves, and if not, to insist that it be made so or ceasealtogether. But Ireland has suffered too long and too deeply for this;her emancipation is now possible only through the education and socialelevation of her People. This is a slow process, but earnest hearts andunited minds will render it a sure one. If the Irish but will and workfor it, the close of this century will find them a Nation of TenMillions, with their Industry as diversified, their Labor, as efficient, its Recompense as liberal, and their general condition as thrifty andcomfortable as those of any other Nation. Thus circumstanced, they couldno longer be treated as the appendage of an Empire, the heritage of aCrown, the conquest of a selfish and domineering Race, but must beaccounted equals with the inhabitants of the Sister Isle in Civil andReligious Rights or break the connection without internal discord andalmost without a struggle. There shall yet be an Ireland to which hersons in distant lands may turn their eyes with a pride unmingled withsadness; but alas! who can say how soon!

XLIV. 

THE ENGLISH. 

 LIVERPOOL, Wednesday, August 6, 1851. 

I do not wholly like these cold and stately English, yet I think I amnot blind to their many sterling qualities. The greatness of England, itis quite confidently asserted, is based upon her conquests andplunderings--on her immense Commerce and unlimited Foreign Possessions. I think otherwise. The English have qualities which would have renderedthem wealthy and powerful though they had been located in the center ofAsia instead of on the western coast of Europe. I do not say that thesequalities could have been developed in Central Asia, but if they _had_been, they would have insured to their possessors a commanding position. Personally, the English do not attract nor shine; but collectively theyare a race to make their mark on the destinies of mankind. 

In the first place, they are eminently _industrious_. I have seen nocountry in which the proportion of idlers is smaller. I think Americanlabor is more efficient, day to day or hour to hour, than British; butwe have the larger proportion of non-producers--petty clerks in thesmall towns, men who live by their wits, loungers about barrooms, &c. There is here a small class of wealthy idlers (not embracing nearly_all_ the wealthy, nor of the Aristocracy, by any means), and a morenumerous class of idle paupers or criminals; but Work is the generalrule, and the idlers constitute but a small proportion of the wholepopulation. Great Britain is full of wealth, not entirely but mainlybecause her people are constantly producing. All that she has plunderedin a century does not equal the new wealth produced by her people everyyear. 

The English are eminently devotees of _Method_ and _Economy_. I neversaw the rule, "A place for everything, and everything in its place, " sowell observed as here. The reckless and the prodigal are found here asevery where else, but they are marked exceptions. Nine-tenths of thosewho have a competence know what income they have, and are careful not tospend more. A Duchess will say to a mere acquaintance, "I cannot afford"a proposed outlay--an avowal rarely and reluctantly made by an American, even in moderate circumstances. She means simply that other demands uponher income are such as to forbid the contemplated expenditure, thoughshe could of course afford this if she did not deem those of priorconsequence. No Englishman is ashamed to be economical, nor to have itknown that he is so. Whether his annual expenditure be fifty pounds orfifty thousand, he tries to get his money's worth. I have beenadmonished and instructed by the systematic economy which is practicedeven in great houses. You never see a lighted candle set down carelesslyand left to burn an hour or two to no purpose, as is so common with us;if you leave one burning, some one speedily comes and quietlyextinguishes the flame. Said a friend: "You never see any paper in thestreets here as you do in New-York [swept out of the stores, &c. ] theEnglish throw nothing away. " We speak of the vast parks and lawns of theAristocracy as so much land taken out of use and devoted to mereostentation; but all that land is growing timber or furnishingpasturage--often both. The owner gratifies his taste or his pride byreserving it from cultivation, but he does not forget the main chance. So of his Fisheries and even Game-Preserves. Of course, there _are_noblemen who would scorn to sell their Venison or Partridges; but Gameis abundant in the hotels and refectories--too much so for half of it tohave been obtained by poaching. Few whose estates might yield them tenthousand a year are content with nine thousand. 

The English are eminently a _practical_ people. They have a living faithin the potency of the Horse-Guards, and in the maxim that "Safe bind issure find. " They have a sincere affection for roast beef. They are quitesure "the mob" will do no harm if it is vigilantly watched andthoroughly overawed. Their obstreperous loyalty might seem inconsistentwith this unideal character, but it is only seeming. When the portly andwell-to-do Briton vociferates "God save the Queen!" with intenseenthusiasm, he means "God save my estates, my rents, my shares, myconsols, my expectations. " The fervor of an Englishman's loyalty isusually in a direct ratio with the extent of his material possessions. The poor like the Queen personally, and like to gaze at royal pageantry;but they are not fanatically loyal. One who has seen Gen. Jackson orHarry Clay publicly enter New-York or any other city finds it hard torealize that the acclamations accorded on like occasions to QueenVictoria can really be deemed enthusiastic. 

_Gravity_ is a prominent feature of the English character. A hundredEnglishmen of any class, forgathered for any purpose of conference orrecreation, will have less merriment in the course of their sitting thana score of Frenchmen or Americans would have in a similar time. Hence itis generally remarked that the English of almost any class show to leastadvantage when attempting to enjoy themselves. They are as awkward at afrolic as a bear at a dance. Their manner of expressing themselves isliteral and prosaic; the American tendency to hyperbole and exaggerationgrates harshly on their ears. They can only account for it by apresumption of ill breeding on the part of the utterer. Forward ladsand "fast" people are scarce and uncurrent here. A Western "screamer, "eager to fight or drink, to run horses or shoot for a wager, andboasting that he had "the prettiest sister, the likeliest wife and theugliest dog in all Kentuck, " would be no where else so out of place andincomprehensible as in this country, no matter in what circle ofsociety. 

The _Women_ of England, of whatever rank, studiously avoid peculiaritiesof dress or manner and repress idiosyncrasies of character. No whereelse that I have ever been could so keen an observer as Pope havewritten:

 "Nothing so true as what you once let fall; Most women have no character at all. "

Each essays to think, appear and speak as nearly according to theorthodox standard of Womanhood as possible. Hardly one who has anyreputation to save could tolerate the idea of attending a Woman's RightsConvention or appearing in a Bloomer any more than that of standing onher head in the Haymarket or walking a tight-rope across the pit ofDrury Lane. So far as I can judge, the ideas which underlie the Woman'sRights movement are not merely repugnant but utterly inconceivable tothe great mass of English women, the last Westminster Review to thecontrary notwithstanding. 

I do not judge whether they are better or worse for this. Theirconversation is certainly tamer and less piquant than that of theAmerican or the French ladies. I think it evinces a less profound andvaried culture than that of their German sisters; but none will denythem the possession of sterling and amiable qualities. Their physicaldevelopment is unsurpassed, and for good reasons--their climate is mildand they take more exercise than our women do. Their fullness of bust isa topic of general admiration among the foreigners now so plentiful inEngland, and their complexions are marvelously fair and delicate. Except by a very few in Ireland, I have not seen them equaled. And, onthe whole, I do not know that there are better mothers than the English, especially of the middle classes. 

I did not find the Aristocracy so remarkable for physical perfection andbeauty as I had been taught to expect. Some of them are large, wellformed and vigorous; but I think the caste is not noticeably so. Amongthe ladies of "gentle blood, " however, there is more of the assertedaristocratic symmetry and beauty than among the men. 

The general stiffness of English manners has often been noted. Not thata gentleman is aught but a gentleman anywhere, but courtesy is certainlynot the Englishman's best point. No where else will a perplexed strangerinquiring his way receive more surly answers or oftener be refused anyanswer at all than in London. Even the policeman who is paid to directyou, replies to your inquiry with the shortest and gruffest monosyllablethat will do. 

Awkwardness of manner pervades all classes; the most thoroughly natural, modest and easy mannered man I met was a Duke, whose ancestors had beendukes for many generations; but some of the most elaborately ill bredmen I met also inherited titles of nobility. And, while I have beenthrown into the company of Englishmen of all ranks who were cordial, kind, and every way models of good breeding, I have also met here moreconstitutionally arrogant and, unbearable persons than had crossed mypath in all my previous experience. These, too, are found in all ranks;I think the Military service exhibits some of the worst specimens. ButBull in authority anywhere is apt to exhibit his horns to those whom hesuspects of being nobodies. Elevation is unpropitious to the display ofhis more amiable qualities. 

I have elsewhere spoken of the indifferent figure made by mostEnglishmen at public speaking. Many of them say good things; hardly onedelivers them aptly or gracefully. Any Frenchman having Lord Granville'sbrains would make a great deal more out of them in a speech. I attributethis National defect to two causes; first, the habitually prosaic levelof British thought and conversation; next, the intense pride which isalso a National characteristic. John is called out at a festivegathering, and springs to his feet really intending to be clever. Butthe next moment the thought strikes him--"This is beneath my dignity, after all. Why should I subject myself to miscellaneous criticism? Whyput myself on the verdict of this crowd? Does it become a gentleman ofmy standing to fish for their plaudits? What will success amount to, ifattained?" Or else he criticises his own thoughts and meditated forms ofexpression, pronounces them tame, trite or feeble, and recoils fromtheir enunciation as unworthy of his abilities, position and reputation. The result is the same in either case--he hesitates, blunders, chokes, and finally stammers out a few sentences and subsides into his seat, sweating at every pore, red-faced with chagrin, vexed with himself andevery body else on account of his failure, which might not haveoccurred, and certainly would not have been so palpable, had hisself-consciousness been less diseased and extravagant. 

I have said that the British are not in manner a winning people. Theirself-conceit is the principal reason. They have solid and excellentqualities, but their self-complacency is exorbitant and unparalleled. The majority are not content with esteeming Marlborough and Wellingtonthe greatest Generals and Nelson the first Admiral the world ever saw, but claim alike supremacy for their countrymen in every field of humaneffort. They deem Machinery and Manufactures, Railroads and Steamboats, essentially British products. They regard Morality and Philanthropy asin effect peculiar to "the fast anchored isle, " and Liberty as an ideauncomprehended, certainly unrealized, any where else. They arehorror-stricken at the toleration of Slavery in the United States, inseeming ignorance that our Congress has no power to abolish it and thattheir Parliament, which _had_ ample power, refused to exercise itthrough generations down to the last quarter of a century. They cannoteven consent to go to Heaven on a road common to other nations, but mustseek admission through a private gate of their own, stoutly maintainingthat their local Church is the very one founded by the Apostles, andthat all others are more or less apostate and schismatic. Other Nationshave their weak points--the French, Glory; the Spaniards, Orthodoxy; theYankees, Rapacity; but Bull plunders India and murders Ireland, yetdeems himself the mirror of Beneficence and feeds his self-righteousnessby resolving not to fellowship slaveholders of a different fashion fromhimself; he is perpetually fighting and extending his possessions allover the globe, yet wondering that French and Russian ambition _will_keep the world always in hot water. Our Yankee self-conceit andself-laudation are immoderate; but nobody else is so perfect on allpoints--himself being the judge--as Bull. 

There is one other aspect of the British character which impressed meunfavorably. Everything is conducted here with a sharp eye to business. For example, the manufacturing and trafficking classes are just nowenamored of Free Trade--that is, freedom to buy raw staples and selltheir fabrics all over the world--from which they expect all manner ofNational and individual benefits. In consequence, these classes seizeevery opportunity, however unsuitable, to commend that policy to thestrangers now among them as dictated by wisdom, philanthropy andbeneficence, and to stigmatize its opposite as impelled by narrow-mindedselfishness and only upheld by prejudice and ignorance. The French widowwho appended to the high-wrought eulogium engraved on her husband'stombstone that "His disconsolate widow still keeps the shop No 16 RueSt. Denis, " had not a keener eye to business than these apostles of theEconomic faith. No consideration of time or place is regarded; infestive meetings, peace conventions, or gatherings of any kind, wheremen of various lands and views are notoriously congregated, and where noreply could be made without disturbing the harmony and distracting theattention of the assemblage, the disciples of Cobden are sure tointerlard their harangues with advice to foreigners substantiallythus--"N. B. Protection is a great humbug and great waste. Betterabolish your tariffs, stop your factories and buy at our shops. We'rethe boys to give you thirteen pence for every shilling. " I cannot sayhow this affected others, but to me it seemed hardly more ill-manneredthan impolitic. 

Yet the better qualities in the English character decidedlypreponderate. Naturally, this people love justice, manly dealing, fairplay; and though I think the shop-keeping attitude is unfavorable tothis tendency, it has not effaced it. The English have too much pride tobe tricky or shabby, even in the essentially corrupting relation ofbuyer and seller. And the Englishman who may be repulsive in hisout-of-door intercourse or spirally inclined in his dealings, isgenerally tender and truthful in his home. There only is he seen to thebest advantage. When the day's work is over and the welcome shelter ofhis domestic roof is attained, he husks off his formality with hisgreat-coat and appears to his family and his friends in a characterunknown to the outer world. The quiet comfort and heartfelt warmth ofan English fireside must be felt to be appreciated. These Britons, likeour own people, are by nature not demonstrative; they do not greet theirwives before strangers with a kiss, on returning from the day'sbusiness, as a Frenchman may do; and if very glad to see you onmeeting, they are not likely to say so in words; but they cherish warmemotions under a hard crust of reserve and shyness, and lavish all theirwealth of affection on the little band collected within the magic circleof Home. Said an American who had spent two years as a public lecturerthroughout Great Britain: "Circumstances have introduced me favorably tothe intimacy and regard of many English families, and I can scarcelyrecollect one which was not in its own sphere, a model household. " Myown opportunities have been very limited, yet so far as they go theytend to maintain the justice of this remark. There are of courseexceptions, but they would be more abundant elsewhere. And I regard thealmost insuperable obstacles here interposed to the granting ofDivorces, no matter on what grounds, as one cause of the general harmonyand happiness of English homes. 

But I must not linger. The order to embark is given; our good shipBaltic is ready; another hour and I shall have left England and thisContinent, probably for ever. With a fervent good-bye to the friends Ileave on this side of the Atlantic, I turn my steps gladly and proudlytoward my own loved Western home--toward the land wherein Man enjoyslarger opportunities than elsewhere to develop the better and the worseaspects of his nature, and where Evil and Good have a freer course, awider arena for their inevitable struggles, than is allowed them amongthe heavy fetters and cast-iron forms of this rigid and wrinkled OldWorld. Doubtless, those struggles will long be arduous and trying:doubtless, the dictates of Duty will there often bear sternly away fromthe halcyon bowers of Popularity; doubtless, he who would be singly andwholly right must there encounter ordeals as severe as those which heretry the souls of the would-be champions of Progress and Liberty. ButPolitical Freedom, such as white men enjoy in the United States, andthe mass do not enjoy in Europe, not even in Britain, is a basis forconfident and well-grounded hope; the running stream, though turbid, tends ever to self-purification; the obstructed, stagnant pool growsdaily more dank and loathsome. Believing most firmly in the ultimate andperfect triumph of Good over Evil, I rejoice in the existence anddiffusion of that Liberty which, while it intensifies the contest, accelerates the consummation. Neither blind to her errors nor a panderto her vices, I rejoice to feel that every hour henceforth till I seeher shores must lessen the distance which divides me from my country, whose advantages and blessings this four months' absence has taught meto appreciate more clearly and to prize more deeply than before. With aglow of unwonted rapture I see our stately vessel's prow turned towardthe setting sun, and strive to realize that only some ten days separateme from those I know and love best on earth. Hark! the last gunannounces that the mail-boat has left us, and that we are fairly afloaton our ocean journey: the shores of Europe recede from our vision; thewatery waste is all around us; and now, with God above and Death below, our gallant bark and her clustered company together brave the dangers ofthe mighty deep. May Infinite Mercy watch over our onward path and bringus safely to our several homes; for to die away from home and kindredseems one of the saddest calamities that could befall me. This mortaltenement would rest uneasily in an ocean shroud; this spirit reluctantlyresign that tenement to the chill and pitiless brine; these eyes closeregretfully on the stranger skies and bleak inhospitality of the sullenand stormy main. No! let me see once more the scenes so well rememberedand beloved; let me grasp, if but once again, the hand of Friendship andhear the thrilling accents of proved Affection, and when sooner or laterthe hour of mortal agony shall come, let my last gaze be fixed on eyesthat will not forget me when I am gone, and let my ashes repose in thatcongenial soil which, however I may there be esteemed or hated, is still

 "My own green land forever!"

THE END. 

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