The Press.
London, England, 1853-09-03 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

eonld spend there three years or more of his life, in
its most impressible stage, without drawing front
that residence much profit that is not immediately
connected with his study and his books.
Then, again, as to the poll examination being a
slight ono : it is so from the necessity of the ease.
Any examination, whether professional or otherwise,
which every man, in any institution whatever, is re-
quired to pass, must be of a comparatively low
character. And if this be so, as I readily allow,
surely in the case of those students destined for
commercial life (of whom I have before spoken) the
mere attainment of this "outward and material sign
of academical proficiency," as your correspondent
terms it, can be no very great object ; so that, if their
parents should be unwilling to send them at an early
age to mix with those older than themselves, they
might well be contented, as things now stand, to
send them up at the usual age to go through such
portions of the university course as their time will
permit, and then devote themselves, without a degree,
to their more immediate duties in life.
f your correspondent imagines that, consistently
with a materially •shortened course, the same profi-
ciency may be arrived at which is now attained by the
higher men in classical and mathematical honours,
I think that here again he is entirely mistaken.
The vacations with such men are, I am sure, by no
means wasted periods of time. On the contrary,
there are no portions of their university life more
rigidly turned to account; and the comparatively
short times of rest which really reading men now
enjoy are no longer than necessary for the preserva-
tion of health, and of intellectual as well as bodily
vigour. By taking two years from such men's period
of study, the loss, in point of proficiency, would be
great indeed, and the character of the university
(even if the number of candidates for honours should
be increased thereby—which I very much doubt)
would, in my opinion, be lowered instead of raised.
There is one more point to which your correspon
dent alludes—that of the various expenditure of those
whose means materially (lifter. Unquestionably this
ix a source of some difficulty ; but I think that the
difficulty would be rather increased than diminished by
dealing with the same men at an earlier period of life,
unless the whole management of the university were
changed, which I do not see that your correspondent
anywhere proposes. Surely a man of limited means,
from nineteen to twenty-two years of age, is less
likely to be led away by the example of richer com-
panions than the youth of from seventeen to nineteen
or twenty.
Upon the whole, then, 1 am much better satisfied
that these points in the university should remain as
they are, or at least that they should be subjected
only to the slight change which the commissioners
propose, rather than to the great and sweeping
alterations which your correspondent seems to desire
to see carried into effect. I have the honour to be,
sir, your obedient servant,
AN M.A. OF ST. JOHN'S.

NATIONAL EDUCATION IN IRELAND.
TO THE EDITon OF "THE PHESS."
Sir,—lt is not often that I have the misfortune to
differ with the views expressed in your paper, but I
cannot regard the above scheme in quite the same
light as you appear to do. As a theory it may
have much to recommend it; but, if success is in
any measure to decide the merits of a system, the
merits of this cannot, 1 fear, be regarded as proved
to our entire► satisfaction. Ido not believe that any
blame attaches to I.crd I►erby, as he could not, of
course, `al expected to foresee all the circumstances
that have combined to mar his plan. And, indeed,
if I mistake not, during his too brief tenure of office,
he expressed a feeling of disappointment at the little
favour which it experienced at the hands of many of
the most excellent and active clergymen of the Irish
Church ; and intimated a desire to see some modifi-
cations adopted which might tend to induce them to
alter their opinion of the plan.
It may or may not be sneeessful as a scheme for
educating the Roman Catholics, and is no doubt the
best that their " gentle priesthood" would approve ;
but what are its merits as a system of mixed educa-
tion ? The most impudent Papist could not, with
any plausibility, assert that the ratio of his coreli-
g. *sts to the Protestants exceeds that. of three to
one. lint let us look at the commissioners' statistics,
as printed in your last paper. The number of Roman
Catholic children in the schools is stated to be
414,717, while Protestants, including Presbyterians,
only number 611,301; or the ratio is above six to one.
And, if we exclude the Presbyterians, we find that
only '24,618 other Protestant children attend the
schools, and this number has to include those of the
national Church and of other bodies of Protestants;
so that the proportion of these to the Roman Catholics
is only one to seventeen. 1 cannot but hope, there-
fore, that the plan may be made more istletablo to
the members of that issuer► a•f the Church ►with
which the one in England is united, and this will, I
trust, soon fall to the lot of Lord Derby, or of some
of his adherents, to accomplish. I am, sir, your
obedient servant, CANTABIUGIENSIS.

SATURDAY,

THE CHINESE REVOLUTION.
BARELY six months have• elapsed since the English public

first became aware that the rebellion in China was a
serious matter. A few rumours of trouble and conflict

had, indeed, previously from time to time reached the
ears of the " outer barbarians." Chiefly through the highly-
refractive medium of proclamations in the Pekin Gazette,
our merchants in Canton or Shanghae learnt that in
certain remote provinces of the Celestial Empire things
were not altogether going on as they should do. At first
the rising disturbances were treated in the contemptuous
style with which a metropolitan newspaper would mere
lion, by way of hint to the police, that a gang of burglars
was infesting some distant county. Gradually the
symptoms grew more alarming. The felons became in
turn " insurgents" and "rebels." The Pekin manifestoes
assumed a more emphatic tone. Provincial mandarins
were successively degraded and disgraced, avowedly for the
ill-success of their endeavours to stop the conflagration.
Every new despatch showed that the rebellion was as-
Slnnmg e mare formidable aspect ; that the rebel army was
expanding in numbers, improving in discipline, and, by a
esentinued series of SUCCeSS, increasing in audacity. Town
after town was taken, and province after province occupied
by the insurgent forces. But the worst feature attending
the insurrection was this—that its leaders never stopped to
consolidate their conquests. Cities were abandoned
almost as 1441011 as captured; and the districts overrun
were quitted without scruple, not even soldiers enough
being left in them to retain a semblance of military
possession. 'Throughout their career the rebels behaved
like men whose final object was still far remote—who
were gradually and with fixed determination winning their
way to a distant goal. That goal, we have lung since felt
assured, is l'ekin. Meantime the tokens of distress and
fright iu that capital have become more urgent. New
governors and larger supplies of money were for some time
periodically sent down to the disturbed districts. Then
the exhaustion of the imperial exchequer, and the per-
plexity of the imperial mind, were displayed in successive
appeals to the loyalty, the hopes, or the fears of the people,
rued in desperate shifts to raise supplies. The property of
discomfited generals and unlucky mandarins was confis-
cated with unsparing rigour. Court favours and official
places were sold to the highest bidders. His Celestial
Majesty invoked the sympathy and contributions of his
subjects in a style of eloquent pathos. The troubles of
his empire, lee said, allowed him no repose at night, and
took from him all appetite for food in the day. From a
new proclamation just received by the last overland mail
we learn that the Emperor, " with feelings of the most
bitter distrees, makes his second requisition for contribte
tions, because he has no resource left, and trusts that the
people will take it into consideration."
To us in England, so rapid has been the march of events
and the traumnission of intelligence, the whole course and
result of the rebellion is already mapped out. We know
it all—beginning, middle, and end—even though the end
"is not yet." In fact we have a " theory " for it, by
which we can account in the neatest possible manner for
the origin of the revolt; men expluitt the influences which
have rendered it successful; and can prophesy with as
much assurance as if we already saw it the final triumph
which is to exterminate the Altuitchou oppressoni of China,
and place a civilised country and Christianised people under
the restored and paternal rule of the Ming dynasty. For
this theory—of whose foundation in fact we confess ourselves
utterly nimble to pronounce an opinion—we are indebted
chiefly to the curious volume published lately in Paris by
MM. Callon and Yvan. Briefly summarised, the narra-
tive of the rebellion furnishedby these worthy missionaries
runs as follows :—The revolt commenced some time in
IS: 10, arising in the first instance out of the antagonism of
races. Subjugated mid crushed to the earth through so
many generations, the ancient Chinese had never become
lost amid their Tartar conquerors. Their race was always
distinct, and the spirit of discontent, if not of insurrection,
was always alive among them. Such a spirit always
blazes up soonest and most fiercely in mountain districts.
A poor soil, roving tendencies, and hardy habitudes, render
the uwuntaineer the most sturdy to assert his individual
independence, and the most formidable foe to the op-
pressor. It was accordingly in the sterile mountain region
of Kouang-si that the revolt find broke out. The stubborn
race who inhabited that region, called the Miatetzes, had
never been thoroughly reduced to servitude, and some ill-
judged and weak attempt to coerce them appears to have
given the first impulse to their insurrection. Finding fit
leaders, encouraged by early successes, and allured by am-
bition, which would seem, from all we elm learn, to have
aimed even from the beginning at the loftiest prize, the
insurgents gradually extended their sphere of operations.
At the commencement their progress was slow. Many
months were passed in fighting their way over the frontier
ofiliouang-siand in obtaining full possession of the atlja-

SEPTEMBER 3, 1853.

cent fertile provinces of the two Knitting& But though
slow their advance was sure. Having excellent discipline
in their ranks, while thee* of the imperialists presented
nothing but a chaos,—opposing valour to the most arrant
cowardice, and common 'tense and honesty to the most dis-
graeufal mixture of folly anal pecuhttion,--the rebels were
invariably victors in every encounter, and welcomed as
deliverers in every district which they approached. As
deliverers, indeed, they presented themselves in more
than words. The spirit of the "race " was appcaltsl to
MO excited with admirable skill. Proclaiming war to the
knife against the Mantehoua, and exterminating that
hated nee with indiscriminate brutality, the leaders of the
revolt offered to the Chinese safety, freedom, anal a compa-
rative exemption from the burdensome imposts hitherto
exacted by the imperial taxgatherers, and for which they
sulkit ea a light eouttibution towards carrying on the ar.
ilefore long a new and powerful weapon was allayed b)
the revoltem against the t lovernment. They hail appealed
to the spirit of nationality. and they now added an appeal
to the spirit of religion. Their selection of a faith shawl:
ham widely anal—until this proof was atforded—untats-
peetedly the seed sown by the Christian missionaries Of
various sects and through succeasive getteratiams bad
taken root in the " Chinese mind." Whether any of the
chiefs themselves had been pupils of the Ettropout mis-
sionaries we have no proof to show, ti gh the fact has
Weil asserted. But, at all events, the new 'leen-haat' they
have industriously disseminated contain the genn of
Christianity, as the quotations front their "sacred pant-
phleta," already given in our columns, sufficiently testify.
It was, however, necessary for their purpose that the po-
pular reverence, when excited toward the new faith, should
Is' at once concentrated nom' Inane central point. Such
was accordingly provided. tinder the name Tien-te
mysterious personage was presented alike to the faithful
as an inspired prophet anal ruler—the " Son of God," and
" Elder Brother," as he is called in the Trimetrical Claw
ale—anti to the loyal as a genuine heir and successor of
the ancient dynasty of the Mings. Thus doubly armed,
the career of the insurgents became one of uncheekml
prosperity. They have never sustained a revere(' or re-
treated a step. Even now, as WI, have said, in I.:who'd
their ultimate triumph is looked upon RS secure. The
rebellion is termed a revolution, and estimated as of
higher consequence than any that has hitherto occurred,
even in revolntioenry Europe. Already we seem to see
the Ming dynasty installed in power, and tho vast popula-
tion of China convertod to Christianity, inoculated with
arts anal sciences, literature, manufacturea, and a commer-
cial system after the English pattern, and fast becoming
the best friends teal most lucrative customers England
ever poaseNtasl.
Upon this theory we have already confessed our incom-
petence to offer any opinion. We have, however, sundry
doubts respecting one of the principal elements—if it
might not, indeed, he termed the keystone of the hypo-
thesis—nannely, the existence of the supposed prophet anal
ruler, Tiopte. Through the narrative of MM. Callerey anal
Yvan this prophet appears occasionally as an individuality.
Niy persamd aspect and mental character arc portrayed,
and we find him described as a man of middle age,
slender, anal marked with the smallpox; exceedingly re-
served in demeanour, but possessing great political aagte
city, R wonderful superiority of mind, with extraordinary
activity and energy. It is related of hint that he some-
times received envoys, treating them with extreme affithi-
lity, and diateoursing to them with a severe air and in
most diantitied language. Nay, his portrait is said to have
been taken and disseminated in thousands of copies
throughout the empire, a facsimile being presented in
the frontispiece to the volume. Yet, after all these
apparent proofs of personality, there are reasons to believe
that Tien•te is nothing but a myth. Certain it is that the
only visible leaders of the " revolution" are five chiefs,
or primes, entitled reaq'ectively the NI irthem, the Southern,
the Eastent, and the Western Prince, with the ficad Prince
l'ateitiean,r, RS the that'llr superior of them till. it is also
not less certain that 'newts, himself has disappeared from
the scene. He is said tat be deceased, anal that Tae-Ping,
his son, reigns in his stead, to whom, accordingly, have
been transferred all his attributes anal titles, ineltuling
that of "'True Sovereign of all Nations In the World," to
which Sir 4 leorge Bonham has felt himself compelled to
ott'..r a funnel repudiation. But Tien-te was descrlhea by
the French authors as being in the prime of life, an age
hardly cansiqent with that of his supposed son, who is
said to be twenty-three. According to the same authori-
ties, also, Titlete first made his appearance in ISM, while
the official letters. written in May last by the "Prince of the
East" to Sir O. Benham, are dated in the " third year of
the reign of Tne-Ping." Some of the insurgent chiefs are
said by the ('liner 1 lembl to have confessed that the existence
of Tietete was merely ideal--an invention, useful at the
time, and carrying weight among the ignorant classes of

THE PRESS.

tho Chinear. And, although thty in Ih.. nn►nr
.01"1.11e:.

l'ing,and date their despatches by his reign, the " Prinees
have alren:ly isited a programme mipecting the future
government and proposed division of the emmtry by and
:inning themselves, hi a Welt the imperial mithorit) us•
SUlllett a very shadowy aspect. As far as ocular testimony
goes, moreover, it seems that Tae-l'ing continues to be

shrontled in stomplete
1. poll tine spot. or ut all events in those localities to which
Europeans vouliltilitabt St,t.t.:4S, tilt' state and progress of ton.
ivvidution were, until van lately, even molt mysterious (him
in England itself. After longest tttttt blering in the distanee,
the conflagration at length broke out on the verge of the
visible benzin' by the successive captures of Amoy, Nan-
king. and Chin-keang•foit. The latter city is one of the
1111165 1111pOrtillit 114111164, whether commercially or politically
estimated, in the whole empire. It lies "ablaut half
mile front the south bank of the I.ang-tsi. kiang, and is
sumo ttttt led by high and solid walls, four miles in eireitit.
with hills in the rear of considerable extent. It iv hen•
that the Grand Canal, waning from the south and m inting
close under the city walls, firms a junction with the
river. From its peculiar position, Chiteiteang-foss is tin,
key to the whole of China—provisions and specie supplies
for the capit4 being always conveyed along the enrol
route." Wltritell of this IlliVISICtt of the insurgents, who
might be expected to attack the Ktiglish settlement, and
whose intentions it was at all events most important to
iitteerialill, Sir Givrge Bouleutt, the British plenipotentiary,
left Hong-Kong for Shangitait in Matruh last. lie flaunt
the English residents there in much excitement, but ne
way dispirited by the approach of peril. Wit are pleased,
though not surprised, to find how prompt null vigorous
were their proceedings under the entergeney. Obtaining
the sanction of the Consul and the advice Of Fish-
bourne, senior navel officer in the port, the English mer-
chants formed themselves into n corps of volunteer 4, and
raised fortifications which gave the settlement fall security
from any sudden attack. Tiw Imperialist officials at the some
tinte were pestering the British authorities with various
estydements, designed to indite() them to lend some aetive
assistance towaols " sweeping Off the detestable set of re-
bels" front his Celestial Majesty's dominion**. Sir 0.
Bonham offieially assured the Chinese " Tatintaii" that
the British intended to maintain the strietest impartiality
between the parties ; and afterwards, with a wise foresight
of future eventualities, resolved to proceed himself to Nan-
king, In order to einiummiente this determination directly
to the insurgent chiefs, who might otherwise have tier
counted the English among the favourers of the Tartar
dynasty, according to the tenor of some dextrously-
worded Imperial proclamations which went issued about
this time. lie embarked in the Hertnex, and steamed up
the Yang-tree River. On passing Chitekeang•fiso the vessel
was fired at frallt the insurgent batteries, but did not return
the fire, believing that tt was a mistake. Arrival at Nan.
king, Mr. Interpreter:U.l4ms went ashore, and held sundry
CollVelltittiolll4 with the chiefs : interview between them
antl the Plenipotentiary was also planned, lint did not
come off, being prevented partly by the weather
and partly by apprehensions of Celestial etiquette. A multi-
tude of visitors, however, of every rank (Tombs' the ate .1-
while she remained at Nanking, imul to all of these, says
Sir George Bonham, " i caused to be conveyed a full ex-
planation of the motives that hail promptAtil the visit, sad
an it%StlirilllCt. that our part wits altogether a neutral one."
Courteous hitters were exehangial—after a few preliminary
misunderstandings had been explained away—with the
chiefs, and the Hermes steamed heck to Shanghai., being
fired upon again, through another mistake, rectified by
farther explanations, on mpassing Chitekeang-foo. The
incidents of this visit Inv narrated, with all itr reawma and
results, in a series of official papers lately printed by order
of the House of Commons. These papers coltish' all
account of the only occlusion on which British funetionaries
have come into contact, er even approached within sight of
the Chinese revolution. Fmm the nuthentie details thus
furnished we have gathered many of the facts, nth] many
eormetions of former " which we have presented to
our routers in the fore Bing article.
As for the result of Sir I ieorge's expedition, we fear that
it will hardly fulfil his antiripations. Inc intelligence of a
later date titan his despatches to I turd Clarendon we loath
that a " mereettary force," eonslsting of a mixed
sgntulmu
of English, Ameriefut, mot Portinmese ships, hail been
hired by the Imperialists, awl soiled, with their European
crews, to aid in in attempt to recover the impertent town or
Chin-kelutgleo. An attack was made on that place,
in
the Tartars, who constituted the land forces, held
aloof, and left the contest to the " red devils," who, on their
side, retreated iluseniniously, after receiving a few shuts
and expenslitrt their own un tttttt nition in a harmless can-
nonade. Tlx itaatlent Witi discreditable in every respect,
awl may bare serious Cu insolowneeit. The chine*, have
hardly learnt to distinguish between the various nations of

413

Europeans who honour them with their visits, awl certainly
(4.llllirehella the emistilittiolud *lumina which °blip
an envoy to proclaim striet itetitndity on the !tart of his
sovereign, und yet forbid his interference with tin' subjects
who ehoose to engage its hired iteceasarit•s in the tituirrel.
am.:ression of these eowiirdly Ibruvoea limy prove It
serious obstacle to the friendly antl oommercial ititercosinte
which we have pronsised mirselver is to spring out of the
revolution wilco seeomplishea. The unit consequence
has het% to elicit from the l'riitees a letter Ailing the
stittgertivii

" OM, sine*, the two loath.* aro now engaged In warfare. the
going to 1110 111 i is Met'olllitiatied WWI 11104111\ellielleN; 111111.111.11jilli;
fnlw Ult• 0141,40 or Wi,urs, ee 011,b111.1 deign
%nil II few 'Mouths, moil we have thenntglily lieNtre)ell the
.I.lollrq, When. 'pedlar, the stilleet% of your liononeablo nation
eenl.l 171 Ind eome %about belnit Involved In the trleka of them.
false Tart.tre. Would It nut, In your eetitnotlook Ilsit, he prefer,

If, on the other hand, the rovolution id i hi Not succeed,
we apprehend that boom the 111antelsiet Emperor little
hopo of favour to Europeans CAll
►wolf is evidently liMtAteititt'a NO intimately with the.
preaching ut European mitotionariea, and the disseinitisti 0000
of European itleas—to say nothing of <ntmiwtakallle tokens
of European sympathy—that 'lieu Voting, when once nun•
firmly seated tin the throne of his IttlecAtOtt4, must illi'Vitall.l)
look upon ill() 1%4 ittlattllistlo6 as 11114 t 111.1114.01. lu
either case, notch akilful treatment, and memo lurk, will 1e•
requisite to enable Mt even to retail. our present pomition ,
on tiny tlitinelly foot Mg, in the Flowery Land.

'HIE 10116 RANT IN AIISTIIALIA.
secci:lo,l‘ll "intik from Australia disclose t 4) US
state Of soeiety whose mingled traits of happiness
and stiffering,of progress and mavagery,deepen rattier
than change as time passes on. 'the colony, by
every biter despateli, appears more flourishing ; but
the mai% iduals who ciallpOse it are eltpilatal to sitarist:.
vicissitudes, and dturtwttaised by a more disgraceful
brutality. Wealth and want run ever into wider
extremes ; and the distinction 'let woo' various classes
is perhaps even more strongly marked than in h:ng.
land itself, with this cliffen.nee, that superiority in
condition and riches depends far more upon the
animal then the intellectual (amities. Mere sunset*
his' strength is the great desideratum, to be aceom.
parried, if possible, by a total ignorance of, or
inditferenec to, the refinements of feeling, the defies
ties of sentiment, the pride, dignity, and oven—we
must old—the titanium honesty, which are the
qualifications demanded from almost every class,
save the very lowest, in our eivilimeil state. Fittest
with theme gifts, positive and negative, the emigrant
to Australia is suro to make his fortune. Unfitted,
he is nearly equally sure to starvt)--at least until
suffering shall have so worn down his native pride
and gentlemanly feelings us to induce him to accept
the most menial service which offers him a chance
of daily bread. but us, as a warning to stunt', and
by way of information to all, depict the first expe-
riences of it "new arrival " at the colony, as we find
them described in some of the most recent letters
from the spot itself :
Ms destiny is Port Phillip. After a long revive up
Ow bay, the ship attrition; off a cluster of wooden houses
and Is 1W stores, the beach in triad of them strewn with
&vivito.; billies Roil refuse, ealle.il Williamstown. The
bind MCI, of the 111101. ply only for extorti )))) ate 'mil fancy
prices, eithoilateil 4111 111I' illixict) of the tsitssetiger to go.t
itshisre Owl the means 4lf Iolllslsill. AN time persons out
of t. 4.11 ellllll4lt pay the demand, or will nut submit to what
appears to their as yet happy hiesperienese to be reibis.ry,
they wait ooto biiard, for two 41r 11111'44 hears perhaps, till
one 4.1 f the Melbourne steamo.cs limits.% its circuit of
bay and brings up alongside the ship for tiers. With a
toll frei"lal Nile starts for the inspiall of the muddy Yams,
and glides lip between flit mid scrubby hunks, passing the
week sit an iron ste.striihisitt, rusting to in the
shallow wider, a few vessels biking in ballast, eta i an 4411-
(li:it in *unreel-in lying oat his l'ack by it gum-tree, watching
the 14414119 M ready to pismire sin thee evasive skippers, who
at times alistrart portions of the Australian continent
without paying for a !keno.. Ilis4hi.r up, the Yana, not
very aide anywhere., narrows rapidly, and beconics 4•Vi•
acidly ti as Mall for the Ironic that, as yet, has no other
Ili•re slid then. the netting carcase sit an 511 or
Isms. on tits• water's edge 'N16111104 the air for a considerable
ilistuttee, and, SS de' 11ew conti.r begins to sight the city
of Melbourne, at the very iturnevest rut of the river,
there is a succession of wooden slaitgliterhouse•s, multing•
lotuses, and other similar stublishinents, sumaittiled
Isy iiisle.seribidile filth, of it most patched, rickety,
1013 inaliesioift esaistrution, stud yet its full activity.
In the yards of the mloingliter-ltionses pigs are rcvelling
among the gu llsuige, dragging shied large lengths ofentrails,
or ilev log theta in a reamer that makes the stranger no
woolly vow to abstain from' dalry•feel' pork flaring leis en.
tiro soliairo iii the eiilotty. Through this part of the river
he hail better shut his eyes, and nose., too, if romviiiie, mid
reserve himself for the littoling•place, where his real Von.
Ws will begin, espevially if he has intsuspaetingly brought
July luggage with him on his first josurney up. There ale
two landing.plitecis, nod the alcitiners stop at the worst,
called tole's Wharf. Aii elioriniato mantra of truffle has
certainly been thrown suelibilly upon this spot ; last, cane
%Ailing the revs. . derived Crow it by the proprietors,
something might have been done to redeem it from toeing,
as it is, u diagracu and scandal to the city. Hoods are

414

tumble* ea to the bank, and the drays back up to them to
be WWI through pools et Week nut in which they stand
sandy . Boxes, owes, and begs (no matter what
their contents i
s may roll into the slush, and stay there
seeking till called for. Expensive as horseflesh is, half the
power of the animal is wasted in getting out of these pita
and the deep ruts of the roadway, which a few loads of
steam would fin and level. There is no shed to protect
goods liable to be damaged by rain. Reckless indifference
everythingbut collecting the enormously high freights up
the river, and the still higher rate of carriage to the city,
seems to he the rule. Combined, these charges have fre-
quently amounted to more, for a distance of six or seven
miles, than the freight of the goods from England.
Once clear of Cole's Wharf, things begin to mend : you
ascend into the city, and in the course of a walk of an hour
or two a better impression is produced. The main streets
of Melbourne are well planned, wide, and regular. The
houses are, of °nurse, very dissimilar—is good stone or
brick building often having a mean little wooden shed for
its neighbour. There are many vacant plots of ground fur
building, and in geed situations they command fabulous
prices, far more than would be given for ground in the
heart of London : it is difficult to believe that these prices
represent the real values. Many lots have been bought
over and over again, not to build on—the only thing that
could make them profitable—but to sell as a speculation.
The original owners, or the first purchasers of them, have
netted enormous sums ; but those who bought late, calcu-
lating that such sites must continually rise in price, may
find themselves disappointed. Of public enterprise, even
to guard against impending social perils, there is none ; the
rains of heaven are the only scavengers of the city, and,
out of the main streets, the filth of the alleys and back
premises is excessive, there being no drains of any kind.
Much alarm, indeed, begins to be felt for the health of the
place, and with good reason, when 1,000 souls are being
added to the population weekly. But in this, as in every-
thing else, gold paralyses effective exertion on a large scale,
and the very wealth of the land seems to be condemning
its capital to disease and pestilence.
The great error in the plan of Melbourne is the dispro-
portion between the main streets and the lateral communi-
eations. The last have been made much too narrow, little
better than alleys. The inconvenience is already apparent,
and will be felt more and more every year. Land has be-
come so valuable that it is feared the evil is now beyond
remedy. For all defects of drainage, for the bad supply
of water, the peril of a tire of Californian magnitude
without an engine in the place, the Government,
the corporation, the police, mid the authorities; generally
are abused; but the people thenualves, who might do so
much in all these matters, have attempted nothing. All
are too busy in the one pursuit—money-making ; nor can
any improvement be expected till the place becomes less
of a camp and more of a community. The feeling of citi-
zenship has yet to grow up ; the merchants and shop-
keeper's are rather euttlers to an immense army, suddenly
thrown into the province, than patriotic burghers. The
mass of the people are strangers to the place and to each
other; the diggings are nut a home Wally one, and the
spirit that takes men there is almost as visible at Mel-
bourne. No common action for a future and general benefit
can yetbe organised ; and it is useless to complain of an evil
that nee in the very structure of society; time only, and
the subsiding of the present feverish excitement of the
search for gold into a steady and regular trade, can re-
move it.
Some few months ago the city was far less safe than
now; but those who have resided there any length of time
do not, even at present, trust wholly to the police. Many
of them always carry arms, if they have to be out after dark,
avoid certain localities, keep the centre of the street, and
answer any inquirer of the hour, or applicant for a light to
a cigar, by the click of a pistol, and UM injunction to the
parties to keep their distance. The fact is, so completely
are the relations of society reversed, that the garb of a
gentleman is in itself a protection, being the badge of
poverty—he is not worth robbing—he either has no money,
or, being sober and discreet, leaves what he may have at
home. But the drunken digger, just down from the mines
with his gold dust in his belt, reeling from potbellies to
iwthouse, is a rieh and easy prey. He is marked out, fol-
lowed, sad robbed in a systematic matter. Many a better
' pocket' of gold is 'slaked out of a kennel in the city than
ouuld be got by weeks of delving at Ballarat. Except to
this class the place is safe enough, and quieter than could
be expected.
The tide of iiumigration continues to
the
into Mel-
bourne at a rate almost alarming. Up to the end of 18114
the population of time province of Victoria had more than
doubled what it was in ISM ; what it will be at the close of
Pitlft it would be difficult to predict. The arrivals in the
month of April have exceeded the slia.riesum of any month
in Virt2; and on the 27th of May more than 2,100 immi-
grants arrived in the bay in the course of the twenty-four
hours. To meet this daily-increasing masa of life there is
in Melbourne little or no preparation; the place is fed, like
a besieged city, by supplies thrown in by distant specula-
tion, and provisions are, indeed, nearly at siege and famine
prices. As to housts•room, every nook is filled: the Owes
of those who leave for the goldfields are instantly occupied
by new comers. Only the more provident and better cir-
cumstanced arrive furnished with tents, which they can
pitch at ' Canvas Town,' or portable houses, to put up ou
any patch of ground that can be obtained.
Tired and impoverished in Melbourne, the new-
comer resolves to proceed without delay to the dig
Rings, where at first he may deem himself lucky if,
by incessant work, lie secures a bare subsistence :
Mr. Hardy. the late chief gold commissioner, states,
from his own experience, that the average earnings of the
diggers do not exceed one ounce a week ; in prop ortiou to
the tl sands engaged in the pursuit, those who snake
large sums are few ; those who succeed are men who have
had some knowledge of mining or been used to the
roughest labour. To do anything, more experience is ne-