The Express.
London, England, 1851-02-22 00:00:00

abominations. as they have their dire and card-tables;
and my blood ha. fairly tingled in my veins, as I have
watched the sturdy, rough, and toil-worn miners sacrifice
their earning on the altar; of these hawk-eyed sharpers,
who were playing 2140 chances against the miner's one : all
China against a China orange : and too often it is the case,
that, like a well-sucked orange, the man who stakes his
means '• upon the hazard of a die" has to roll away from
• the gambler's table. The whole country is prevaded with
I the baneful rpirit of gaming; but it must be seen to be
fully understood. Men from the mines may at all times
be seen, hazarding lump of gold against lump, and staking
"dust " against dollars ; and the perfect indifference with
which they witness the fruit of their labour swept from
them is not the least re • arkable part of the affair. At pre-
sent, as may naturally he supposed, government is impotent
to interfere in crashing this crying evil : nor do I see, in
ease of determined opposition, bow the government can
suppress it. " This is a free country," is the continued
vaunt, and if the "enlightened citizens," are pleased to im-
molate themselves before men—compared with whom
burglar. and highwaymen arc less culpable, as regards the
injury inflicted upon society—who is there to prevent
them ?

In one of the principal streets in Sacramento, they have a
hone market and general auction mart, held daily, al fresco,
beneath the spreading branches of a gigantic tree ; and it is
not a little amusing to listen to eight or nine vendors calling
out the merits of their goods, cattle, and horses at the same
time. All day long they are at it. One, mounted on a
horse for ale, will clash into the throng with, " Here you
are, gentlemen, this is the true Yankve-breed, a regular
ring-tail roarer, warranted sound, wind and limb, or no
sale, and only sixty dollars offered for him! tsh ! nine up!"
—"One hundred and fifty! One hundred and fifty! Only
one hundred and fifty dollars bid for this splendid team and
yoke of oxen," eyes nnother.—" What do you say ?" asks
a third. " Yon want blue blankets because they don't
show the dirt ; you're the wrong chap for these diggings,
my flue fellow, if vou care for a little dirt; it's the quality
of the article, and.not its colour, that constitutes its value;
and only twelve dollars bid for this splendid pair of
blankets." Other cries in other voices arc going on, when
in again dashes the horseman—" Seventy dollars for the
ring-tail ; eighty! eighty-five! eighty-five! Don't let him
he sacrificed: look at him, he's got any amount of work in
him: see here and away once more darts the "true
Yankee breed," with its rider shouting out its qualifications
and the laat bid. And so they keep at it from dawn till
dark.

Sutter s town, or Suttorville, two or three miles lower
down on the hanks of the river will soon be merged in
Sacramento City. It possesses few buildings as yet; but
the sound of the saw, the hammer, and the axe, never
ceases, till the obscurity of night causes a suspension of
labour; and such is the driving, tearing, onward-forcing
movement, that no mercy is shown to the brute creation.
Hundreds upon hundreds of horses, mules, and oxen, lie
sweltering on the plains, literally wrought to death with
over work and want of food ; and what surprised me was,
that, though at every fifty paces you will stumble on
bloated, decaying carcasses, sometimes lying six and seven
in the fellowship of death, they yet emitted no offensive
effluvia; which I presume, speaks for the great purity of
the atmosphere. -Notwithstanding this, fever and ague are
exceedingly prevalent, front the low marshy nature of the
country. I have heard three or four different parties assert
that they have pulled over what is now Sacramento City in
a boat. To furnish an idea of the reckless-tearing, go
a-head," spirit of the times, I happened to mention
to a settler the advisability of raising the banks o
the river to where it branches off to the north, middle,
and south forks: for the distance is not great, and
many lives, probably, and much property might be
saved by such a precautionary measure. The answer was,
" What if the city is inundated: it will soon rise like a
phernix from its ashes; and if thousands were to perish,
there are plenty more to fill their places." The fact is, in
the scramble for wealth, every one is struggling who shall
get most in the shortest space of time. No one thinks of
raising permanent works; no one thinks of remaining in
the country longer than he can avid; and the idea of
waiting returns from the cultivation of the soil is out of the
question. The excitement throughout California is so
great, that one's head is in a continual whirl. No time is
allowed for sober reflection ; the cry is ever " On, on!"
You are swept into the whirling vortex, and it requires no
little strength of purpose to resist the temptations held out
for speculation.
Lind in Sacramento City fetches nearly as high a price as
it does in San Francisco, and it is continually changing
hands at improved rates. Predictions have gone abroad
month by month, fur the last eighteen months, that there
will be a sudden and a mighty crash; but the growing
aspect of affairs belies the vaticinationu, nutwithstunding
the immense sums of gold that are shipped monthly from
• the country, and the absorption caused by the gamblers and
hotel-keepers, who I cannot but suspect are playing a "rosy
, game." New hotels and restaurants are being opened
• every, day : they last a few weeks, and are then closed, and
I the buildings announced fur sale or lease. The custom
they all receive is immense ; so is also the expense they are
I put to: but their receipts arc the "ready," and 8,000 dots.
• or 10,000 dole. shipped off by the steamer at a time would
scarcely be noticed. Bagatelle as 10,000 dots. may appear
in California, this sum, invested in the older states, would
• enable a man to live in much comfort. Whether lam un-
generous in my conjectures let others determine ; but one
or two shameful failures, falling beneath my notice, render
me dubious of the fair play going on.

These volumes altogether may be described as full
of no‘elty and amusement, blended with much that
is new and "passing strange."

Popery: British and Foreign. By WALTER SAVAGE
LANDOLL Chapman and Hall.
Of course we have nothing to do with the papal
mutter in this part of our paper, except under its
literary aspect. Mr. Landor's pamphlet is the highest
production as a brochure on the subject yet out. It
has all the lucid dignity of his usual style and all its
vigorous imagery. We note, too, as usual, a certain
intellectuality of tone. Mr. I:andor sacrifices an
opponent with the grace and loftiness of a classic
priest. His point of opposition to the papal move-
ment is essentially that of a man of letters—not a
sectarian. The man of letters is the born foe
of the bigot —and knows that bigotry is not
the weapon to use also on his own side.
lie opposes on grounds of good sense and
humanity. So it was that Erasmus opposed the
abuses of catholicism; there is an Emmen felicity
of exposition in this pamphlet. But Mr. Landor's
is a higher character, and ho besides is a poet. here
is a capital epigram.
The age ! In regard to learning, it has rolled far back.
Learning was never so highly cultivated in Italy as when
Muretus delivered an oration in praise of Catherine de
Medici, in celebration of the massacre on St. Bartholomew's
day. tire the same priests the same power, and nothing
will be wanting but Latinity for the oration.
Mr. Landor directs attention to the importance of
a thorough investigation of the question whether St.
Peter was ever at Rome. What a happy metaphor
is the following !
Emperors and kings are servants of the servant. The
attendants and disciples of our Saviour were poor fisher-
men ; they would have stared at any gentleman leaping
into their bt in a lappetted cap and flounced petticoat ;
no preface of " with your leave, or by your leave ;" first
Wang the helm, then seizing and dragging the net, simply
and solely for his own emolument.
The following deserves very attentive considera-
tion. There is a fashion among the very orthodox
of running. down philosophical speculation—but surely
philosophical good conduct is worth trying for !
The arts and sciences have made wonderful progress
within our memory; has moral philosophy made may
Compere the writings, compare the conduct, of those who
occupy the highest seats in the Christian synagogue, both
at home and abroad, with the writings and conduct of
Epietetus, and Seneca, and Plutarch, and Marcus Antoninus.
On which side lies Christianity? It lies invariably on the
side of those who knew not Christ. No persecution,
no strife, no intolerance, on their part ; no cessation or re-
mission on the opposite.
Mr. Landor has a very wholesome way of looking
at the church of England.
Idleness and high food have made our prelates restless
and pugnacious, and, like game-cocks, they crow the louder
by feeluig the corn stack under them.
Then how excellent the allegorical history of the
Puseyite movement, which we subjoin :
Let us have cheap bread, whether we have it from our
own country or from abroad. Let us have cheap religion,
whether it comes from Lambeth or Geneva. The religion
of Rome is found to contain snore impurities in the barrel;
but though it is apt to get into the head, it agrees very well
with most stomachs. The great capitalist who sends it,
Over has a prodigious number of customers; he gives long
credit and takes small interest, having a mortgage on every ,
article in the house, from the baby's whistle to the mothers
nightcap. His factors must be admitted at all hours, whe-
they of the day or of the night, at the ringing of the bell ; so
that presently-the wife is not the husband's, nor the husband °
the wife's, nor the children either's. If the flour is to be
bolted at all, it must be bolted at such mill as he appoints ;
land a pretty good quantity of bran is thought to make it ;
wholsumer. However, by paying more you may be scoured
less. At last, the factors in many places grew too numer-
ous for the consumers, and so insolent that they parti-
tioned the land among themselves, and assumed the names
and titles of the landlords. The farmers cared not a straw
who took the tithes, until it occurred to them that after one
party had taken them, another might come and do the
same. It had pleased them lately to see the children of
their old curates made lords, and sitting in parliament with
black aprons over their knees, as decent and orderly as
their good housewives at home. Ultimately they
to grow suspicious that somewhat was in the wind, by ell:
they found candlesticks and candles, and artificial
flowers on the communion tables in their parish
churches. Stroking their hair forward, and drawing
one foot backward, they "made so bold " as to ask the
reason of this fashion; and they were informed, by a
priest at each end and another in the middle, that it was no
communion-table, but an altar. At last a whole detach-
ment in sable was landed upon the coast, and surveyors