Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-10-02 00:00:00

THE NORTHERN TIMES. ---LIVERPOOL, FRIDAY, OCTOBER 2, 1857.

LITERATURE.

YOUNG AMERICA ABROAD IN EUROPE, ASIA, AND AUSTRALIA;
By George Francis Train. London : Sampson Low,
Son, and Co.
Mr Freeman Hunt, who introduces this work to the
public with a few nreiminary remarks, puts the question,
—" Why shall not Commerce be installed among the
occupations whose achievements shall be deemed worthy
of record, and possess a literature peculiarly its own?"
To the first part of the question, we presume, the only
possible answer is, that there is no reason whatever why
Commerce should not be f o received, and that, in point
off4ef'it
were
sachievements
in any be sreare thus
ot consideredr
light already,byany
and never
rational being. To the second part of the question
we can only say, that we cannot see what kind of
literature Commerce can invent which would be "pecu-
liarly its own ;" and what benefit either commerce or lite-
rature could deriv s from such an invention. We fully
concur with him, however, in thinking that commercial
men may confer, oftener than they have done, very high
advantages upon literature, and still more upon the
commercial world by devoting their spec:al acquirements
of information to the production of works calculated to
diffuse the knowledge which their time, habits, and
energy, have enabled them to master. Such a book as
this wh:ch Mr. Hunt intr:,clacea. viewing foreign countries
and their capabilities of production and improvement
from a point not that talent up by the ordinary tourist,
is undoubtedly well qualified by its construction to be
useful to the world in general, infinitely beyond the
vast majority of travellers' notebooks. C mceiving this
to be the meaning of the introduction we "an fully agree
in its propositions, and are prepared, without further
cavil at the terms, to receive the subject of Mr. Hunt's
eulogy with a welcome. The name of the author of this
work is, however, one already favourably introducei
to the public of Liverpool. Mr. George Francis Train
is well known as one of the most energetic, enterprising,
and pe- severing young merchants America has sent out.
It is not vary long since he gave to the public of Liverpool,
in his own person, a dashing and brilliant outline of
his exertions in Melbourne, and his travels over more
than half of the globe. Those who heard that description,
full of spontaneous vlgoar and descriptive power, and
delivered at a rate of word-velocity about twice that of
Sir George Grey, or Mr. Charles .Mathevvs, will ba able
to comprehend how such a work as this now before us
was written. To compress into six months so much
travelling as Mr. Train describes, would be toil beyond
the power of most men, But to ransack the commercial
records of all the countries through which he passed—
to find out their resources, and arrive at their capabilities
for development—to compare and analyse their several
degrees a .d rives of progress—to enter into the causes
of their advancement or decay—and then to set out
on pkper, fit for immediate pehication, the results of
almost every weeks' labour as he hurried along ; this was
indeed a task which required an amount of energy,
comprehension, acteenese of observation and perseverance,
quite beyond the reach of most of ns even to understand.
In his own words we find, thus summed up, at the
close of this portion of the work, the leading p Ants cf
Mr. Train's extraordinary six months' tour, from his
leaving Melbourne in November, 1855:
I have bought spring chickens and plain.ainst at Anjer, eaten
mgosteen and drunk ice-water at Batavia, lunched at the
kingly palace of the Du eh govenor at Bulteezorg in Java,
passed through the straits of Sunda to look at the villags of
Minto, the tin mines of the Island of Bence, and the spice-
groves of Sumatra ; gathered pine-apples at three cents a
dozen, walked through nutmeg plantations, and seen the
native ;irk bathe at Siegapire ; talked opium to missionaries
going up the China seas, and wandered tleough the streets of
hone Kong, sot prised at its r itaid progress; felt home-sick iu
the desolat on of Marren), and bluer still while gazing at the
cheerless burial ground at Whampos; promenaded about the
Factory gardens in the morning, and in the evening, at Gluten,
aad joined in boating, billiards, and routes, making the
acquaintance of its merchants, its bankers, and its ladies ;
weaned ten knots agaiest !he monsoon up the China coast, up
that it-muster river the Yang-tzs-Kiing to 11, oosuag, where
opturn-ships use cannon as an argument ; and still further up
this wonthrful dart rto Shanghae, were silks and gie.in teas,
and ships and imp 'ins, make active is their seasen merChaats
who live like princes, and appear to r e:ish life in China.
Di-appointed in paying toy respects to the Emperor of Japan
by the non-arrival of the 'Greta,' a state-room was offered
rue by a Canton merchant whose clipsar was haunt d two the
coast, so in company wilt the Iloston boys, Heald and Gray,
we came down fluking ; Saw Niugpo in the distance, passed up
the River Min without meeting the Oriental's' fate, and
anchored at the Pagoda. No pirate crossed our track, but the
Tartar Viceroy of Foo-chow-foo, whose beggarly aid struck
down my coolie boy. This is were I saw the black tea ship-
ments, the cormorant fishing, and the huge spittoon of our
Consul (Ike that long-necked jar of the crane in the fable).
Did not atop at Amoy, but saw the Sweatt fleet loading slaves,
who embark as pashengers, and do not find the mistake till
they land in Cuba and South America.
I looked again at Hong Kong and hurried down to Singa-
pore in an opium clipper steamer, sailed past Peaang, up the
Bay of Bengal, into the hooghlry, and then I saw Calcutta,
and Indian life ; and watched the Indians' customs, while I
lived and mixed wilt, Europeans, who opened for me the rooms
of the Bengal Club. I saw that roost uousual sight, two live
Gsvenor•Generals at one time in India, and Indian princes,
ant Indian kings, at lady Cannins's ball, whose whealthy
domains Enelan,l his kindly-relieved them o, a philanthropy
peculiar to ourAng,lo-Saxon mother. I boated up the river to
he Government Palace, and saw tha government park, and
the govenor's menagerie, and in Calcutta saw the disgusting
forms of Hindus worship. Continuing my jeurney I saw
Madras and stopped long enough to be disgusted, hut nut
sufficient time to see its many beautiful residences behind the
wide and uninviting seaport. Bought Indian jewellery from
Trichinopoly, and was amazed at the sight of a catamaran;
hurried on to Ceylon, and killed musqu:toes as big as an ink-
battle, at the mansion-house at Point de Gine, but did not
think nine% of the cinnamon groves, a standing sell to the
overland passenger. Sp:nt forty dollars in Singalese bracelets
made of amber and tortoiseshell ; talked East Indian, when the
` Nubia's,' party spoke of American slavery, and argued the
point whether annexation in India were a blessing, in America,
a crime ! My fellow pass: ogees all considering the political
fillibustering seizure of Oade, a master-stroke of policy with
the late lord Dalhousie. Slept four in a room all the way to
Aden, having a sou of the parliamentary debater, the late Lord
Erskine, es a churn. Stopped a day on the Arah's shore to
coal, and saw 'h_ naives dive for sixpence, ahl the erreamp-
ment where the Sepoy regiment guards the sterile rocks of
Alen itgainst the Arabs.
gaicker and faster we moved ot, up the Red Sea's hot
waters, but maw no foot. prints of Pharaoh or his heists, no
chariot wheels, ne ancient Colt's revolver or Minis rile in the
sand ; wa'clied with singular irrerast the Arab caravan as the
pilgrims prayed an I resumed their match to Meter., and
counted a thousand camels going between Suez acid Cairo ;
ceased to feel t.uprise at the mutinous behaviour of Napoleon's
army, fnr the desert ride is terrible to the rerves. Passed
through the I+nd of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, and gazed
on Alt's tomb. All this I 811,V ; and then ,hose otheyrrawmoindtsieorsf
of the world, so dark with age and mystery, the
Egypt more astonished me than anything vet whit It I have
s,-en ; but I hastened cre, leaving the Nile, Lower Egypt, and
Cairo, through the fertile va ley of the Delta, threueb the
inland towns of mud and filth, disgusted with sole eves, sand
and fleas, the, humbler and ties] Of the land, till we
go' Co
Alexandria, where CI opats a's Needles reminded me of (`reiae's
amours; and Catacombs and Pompey's Pillar covered another
historic 'err. Once more started off, and this time for Syria
and Peleatine ; reaw Joppa and Rernlah, and Jerusalem,
plucked thorns on the spot were Pontious Pila..e crucified
Christ ; gathered fruit upon the mount of Olives, and fisaver,
in the ga den of G 3tlisemlne. I saw the holy Sepulchre on
Mount Cavalry, anl the tombs of David and of Abseforn and
of the Judges; the brook Kedron, the valley of Telioshapliat,
the tomb of Lazarus anti Mary's Well, and walked through
the 'ViaDolorosa, and saw the site of Solornerr's temple. And
then I rode to Bethlehem, and saw stars still shining brightly
over the shepherds of Judea, and beautiful nomen with simple
att're ; and further on Jordan, with its memories, the Dead
Sea, and Jeriets and Galilee : I saw the Manger Cradle in the
Sepulchre, but did riot profit by the mumery of the pries'. I
went again to Rionlall and pocked lilies in Sharon's valley,
and oranges in the groves of Joppai Then I tried the Au •trian
steamer and found an -talian prince, an Irish p-er. and a
nobleman of Prance at our table. I saw Mount Carmel,
Napoleon's hospital, arid Acre and Beyrout ; was entertained
by an Egyptian sovereign in European style, and caught a
glimpse of the harem's inmates, peering clown upon the deems.
With Arab la arses, in company with a London banker, I rode
o'er hill and valley; and there were the cedars of Lebanon,
and beyond them was Damascus.; then we visited Latakia and
Larnica in the Island of Cyprus, and went to Alexandretta,
and Messna, arid then to Rho les, where the Kuights of St.
John were once all powerful, and anchored at it cnyrna, a
claimant for the nativity of homer =went over to Beruabat,
picked oranges out of the parlour windows of my friend,
and ordered some flf'y boxes of figs as presents far home
consumption.
I hope you aro not fa'igu d ; Est there's -more ground yet to
cover, for continually we are passing new scenes, island after
island filled with history, wild and terrible history. There
was Patmos, and—l forget the name, the place menierahle'for
brutal slaughter of. the Greeks : 120,000, not forty years ago,
were m ssacred by the Turk ; one thousand only °teep d to
tell the demning tale ! And this is that Turkey. f
allied armies have dressed themselves in ti mourning
0 her lands of note I passed, islands of which the Levant is
which
garb. the
full, covered with foliage, bandits, and windenills, and then to
Tripoli:Gallipoli, and the Dardanelles, an.ti;4l,ldf:iteiir:,ued Sea of Marmora. I saw the impqnes' and •tinivriity and all that
makes the picturesque in old 'Stamboul, and.therta were Con-
stantinople-and Pert and the Bosphortai,
water, that covers the ruig of minty a lair and, )niely 'maid;

and I saw the v; ages on either side, and the transport fleet,
and Scutari's hospifa:, all strange, all novel ; but not so strange
as represented in the boolc°, not so beautiful as the writers
,yrould make us believes tla; real featursA are swallowed in
fancy Why don't tourts's stick to the truth, for cxaegoretion
spoils the effac ? From the capital of the Turk, I steamed
through the Black Sea, and landed in the Crimea, to be
astonished at the magnitude of modern warfare.
There were five monster armies, and all that gves them
strength. How different from a land at peace 1 Katniesch,
with its army, fleet, and its village of huts, at Balakinva, a
little mountain lake, uncomfortably packed with sh'pping—
Balaklava, where ana ion went to war by rajway ; awl :Sebas-
topol in its horrible desolation, and the Began with its sickening
memories, and the Malakoff, and Inkerman, and the Alma,
and the lists of the last of the Cardigans, and the Tchernaya,
and Balbek ant Simpheropol —all these were visited, and
then we returned through the Moslem pass ; through the
lonian islands, were we saw Stio with its quaint old city, and
Corti], with its frowning cannon, pointed by an English gar-
rison--?ast Athens, immortal Athens, the land of fable and of
fame, the home of renegade Greeks and of robber hordes;
past Lord Byron's grave where he wrote Ws own requiem. Up
the Adriatic, near the classic grounds of Italy till we saw
Trieste and shuddered at the Austrian's despotic sway. We
anchored, and Austrian officars waited upon us ashore with
Austrian bayonets, examining our baggage with Austrian
incivility, and watching us as though we had been guilty of some
political crime. From the hour 1 landed till I left the frontier,
pass'ng on.through Graz to Vienna, and from Vienna into
Germany, I was never an liberty; I knew that Austrian police
were ever near. and the never-ceasing checking and counter-
checking, signing and counter-signing of my passport, told of
their damnable system of esp cnage, by which, thank God,
England and my own country have never been cursed. From
Austria, through Germ in states', into Belgium, and then to
France; through continental cities full of paintings and
scu'pture, with history written la blood, till we reach a free air,
and lan led at Dover; and hero I am, in London, in time foe
the peace illuminations and the Derby.
This rapidly-sketched outline merely tells, the reader
the many places Mr. Train saw; but gives him no idea
of the *moues of information he contrived to extran as
he passed on his way. It is not oaly that he has given
full details of the commercial history and capabilities of
each country, but there is scarcely a topic which could
possibly be touched upon in connexion wish arty of the
places be travelled through which he has not introduced.
Art, literature, science, religion, mallows, dress, social
life, are all discussed with the most amazing volubility,
and pronounced upon with a dogmatic decision, which
often displays as much jade:- ment and acuteness as
courage and promptitude. o.:e feels quite at a loss
how to deal with a work so am z:ngly comprehensive
as this. What is ,the. use of &bating sicgle points of
difference with an author who deals with almost evrery
conceivable question, and every country in the world, in
one volume? To what avail to point out slight inaccur-
acies in the statements of a traveller, who has described
the history, resources, character and social life—who has

analyzed the past and prophesies the fature—of half
the nations on the earth in a six rnontlis' tent.? Teat
Mr. Train was mis aken when he fancied he passed the
grave cf Byron at Missolonghi—that in his haste he
sometimes forgot in whit quarter of the globe be happened
to be, and calls his travels wanderings in Europe, Asia,
and Australia, not remembering this a goodly portion
of his work refers to Egypt ; these are trifling inaccuracies
which the most ordinary reader can understand to be
merely the result of hurried labour. That many of
Mr Train's conclusions are such as English readers will
hardly agri e with, no one will be-surprised. The werk is
of a character which, to say the least of it, is intensely
American. Viewed as a merely literary production, it is
undoubtedly disfigured by a superabundance of peculiarly
Attie jean phraseology, and its opinions are obviousuy in-
fluor-seed by the same tinge of national partiality. Mr.
Train rejoices in everything American. He is proud to
find American ices and confections at the table of the
Governor General of India. He is not very s -rry to have
to tell that the drunkenness in the Crirae,n camp was
occasioned by " pure New England rum." Ile would have
eve-y- place Atneriaanised, iecluding Jerusalem mai
Athens He is glad to tell ns, although of course a de-
termined Republican, th at he was introduced by Lord
John Russell to Lady Russell, at Braemar ; Viet he spent
an evening with the Duke of Devonshire in Wales ; that
he rode to Sebaetopre in compan with a Russian prince;:
and such pieces of good fortune with which democracy not
unfrequently loves to reward its patience and self-denial.
He meets two young ladies of rank at the Gevernor-
General's ball in Calcutta, and, having given their names.,,
hi informs the public, with a candour peculiarly charae
teristic of an American traveller, th it " neither of these
young ladies need look for her portrait in the Book of
Beauty." On the same occasion, he tell us he saw 5911113
of the Ameers of Seiade, and alludes to tnein as " the
captives, or rather the victims, of Sir Charles Napier, who,.
following the model of the great Roman general, and
Perry, on the lakes, and of Bosquet at the Malakoff,
marked his despatch by its brevity. The pun was WO
good to be lost, and the simple Latin word peccavi went
forward to the Governor General —I have sinned (Made)."
Not at all hours can even an ac lie American be sapient.
The story which Me Train tells so gravely, as a fact of
history, is an old joke which appeared in Punch several
: years age, and of which we knew the inventor. But it is
a task of neither pleasure nor profi:, to dwell upon trivial
inaccuracies, blemishes, and defects of taste in a work
which must be loeked on ;es a feat of energy rather than a
finished literary production ready for the critic. Taese
disadvantages a-e inseparable from the very nature of such
a book, and the reader will find, on the whole, fewer of
them than he might reasonably expect. One can hardly
recommend the undertaking of' such perbrmances
Scarcely a more profitable result can be derived from them
in general than from exploits in walking for a wager, or
displays of slight of haud. It would unquestionably have
been better if Mr. Train had taken more time been more
cautions in his conclusions, less universal in his topics,
and more careful about the revision of his book. But the
feat has been accomplished, and the results are before us;
and it would be injustice ro deny the:, this volume contains
a vast variety of information, obtained with singular energy
ells qitickness of observation, and valuable in a high
degree not to the commercial reader only, but to the world
in general Mr. Teen is an honea and faithful observer.
He looks at eve-y.hing clearly out of his own eyes, where
they are not interfered with by an American haze, and is
not content to judge of any country according to the
received fashion of travellers. Wherever his own obser

vations is involved, he may in geaeral ba safely reed
upon; and where commercial topics are concerned, we d)
not think it would have been an easy t ,sk to cram him
with got-up facts and statistics. It need not ba said that
the commercial portions of tha work we by far the most
valuable. Indeed, the latter part, which is confined alto-
gether to Australia, is worth infinitely more than all th,,
rest. In Australia, Mr. Train had time and ample
opp,3rtunities of personal and close information. No one
can read this part if the volume without feeling astonished
at the clearness and exactness of observation which mingle
with so much of brilliant volubility. We should be glad
to quote largely from :be Australian. letters, if our space
would allow us to do them any justice, and if it were not
that many of them made their first appearance in the
columns of uur o journal. It is an interesting and
useful consideration to observe how many of the con-
jectures hszarded. by Mr. Train, from his o observation
of the condition of Melbourne same years since, have
come to a full realisation Indeed, there Are other p arts
of the work to which the semi remark will apply. The
chapters on India contain many instances of the same
accuracy of conclusion from rapid observa. ion. There

are many p -ssage9, tors, of rich and brilliant description.
clashed off in the same vivacious style as the author's
public speaking. In Java, he tells ui
No pen can t xpreEs, no tongue can utter, no ponc.l can paint
the sublimi-I of nature in di.) interior of Java ! All I see or

ho*r around we enchants my senses. It is the land of poetry
and eoug ; and when von gmz upon the burial-place of a native
prince, or a Hindoo chi,f; when yon emternplate the tuaAsive
ruins of lust ages ; when you walk over and around the
immense native temples—bniq God knows when—admiring
their atetitecture and revering their venerable age ; whet you
pan through monster estates of rice, of sugir, and of CJifte---,

aII cultivated with the simp'e of the nativesland

see no modern t,ols of cul ure ; Wien you smell 111.., odour of

the spices, and are astonished at the bc:auiy of the nu meg and
peper at ihe singing of Jiva birds, and chirping cf inu•cts
and lizards ; as you ride through forests, curiously absorbed i❑
the wonders of the eat ;at the c mat grives, the c )!ton and
the bread•fruit tree; at the banyan, with its numberless

branches, all taking lot again to strengthen the old trunk:a
touching emblem of parent and chill supporting each otha.,
through earthquakes, storms, and tempests ; at the mangos the
groves ; 143 ratan winding i.setf about the teakwood forest ;
at the bamboo shooting up 'through all the rest ; at the culti-
vatioc of European fruits and native vegetables; at the
simplicity of the native gills who bathe so innocently before
you as )'ou stand upon the riva's bank, and ncee them p'unging
singing, laugirM; and swimming about—now below the water
and now above ; at th • frightful look of some of the (Alder men
and women, whose chocking custom of chewing the betel-nut,
mixed with pepper-plant and tobacco, gives their lips an un-
natural red, and blackens their teeth till they resemble charcoal;
at the monkey-resemblint, appealance of the babes and children,
and the monkeys themselves; at the immense herd of native
deer; at tha wild hog; at the tiger and the rhinoceros ; at
the cassowary, a huge black bird, not unlike, except in colour,
the emu of us.tralia—when you have seen all these wonders
of this wonderful county, in three hours' rile, you will come
to the conclusion that personal observation willj teach a man
more in oae day thin he can 'learn from books in an age.
The 'dream', of my youth are all revived again, and the
pichires, of my school-books give me the form, but not the life,
of nature. Whop the foregoioe, changes hay® boo rand
• •.;
•

before ten o'clock in the morning, and you have drunk deeply
of such grand and p:ctureagne scenery as the view presents far
and near about the Coverntnent House, you cannot but
imagine and feel 'hat you are' in a , fairy-land, and all that is
required to complete the allusion, and make .a garden of Eden
of the ground,lt is to see hut -nee Adam and Eve, instead of
such a swarm of semi-clad beings.
While in China the author very naturally falls into.a
consideration of the opium question. We cannot refrain
from extracting the following interesting summary of the
history of the opium trade:—
While on this question, there can be no harm in briefly
tracing the history of the opium-trade, from the notes which
I have made from the several authors. The fiest opium
which the Chinese got a taste of was introduced by Col. Wat-
son and Vice-President Wheeler, from Benga', about the year
1700. These gentlemen, then, may be considered the fathers
of the immense trade, which forms nearly one-half of the
entice- foreign commerce of China. During the• next half
century the import did not exceed 200 cheats of a pienl each;
but in the year 1767:—in Lard Chatham's day—it reached
1,000 chests, the Portuguese having the trade entirely to
themselves, at the-then flenrishine'eport of Macao, Six years
later, that indefatigable body of merchants, the East India
Company, started their first 'venture, -and owned the firat
receiving-ship near Cumsinginoon. The treaenry of the Com-
pany was at Canton, and the proceeds of thee armed ship sent
out from Bengal in .1781, entirely laden with opium, was
passed to the credit of that government. The first receiviug-
ship at Whampoa was about the period of Lord M'Cartney's
embassy to Pekin, 1794 and then the Chinamen' began to
enact prohibitory laws, for previous to the commencement of
the. present century it was admitted at the China custom-
house as a medical drug, under a duty equal to six cents per
pound. The import increased gradually, and at that time
(1800) amounted to 2,000 chests ; which see alarmed the
Imperial government, that a s'oeper was at once put on in the
shape of its entire prohibition as an article of sale or import ;
and unman under penalty of death was allowed ta. cultivate
the poppy in His Majesty's dominion. These laws have not
been repealed, but the government has never been able to
execute them.
In 1809' the [long merchants gave security that no- opium
should be broteght; but notwithstanding these precautions- some
5,000 chests found their way through Macao and Whenzpoa, in
1820 ; and the next year the Governor of Canton was dis-
charged in disgrace for want of vigilance ; mire stringent acts
obliged the merchants to resort to all the dodges of the
smuggler—bribery, arms, and secrecy.. Abney was paid the
merchant at his counting house, and the Chinese purchaser,
with boats armed to lie teeth, got the needful from oat of the
storeships in'the night-time. Than came the age of opium--
clippers and romantic adventures--.he time of great risks for
greet profits. About the time of Louis Philippe's desut on
the French throne, other edicts were proclaimed year after
year, stronger and strongir, in 1831, 1832, and again in 1831:
the Impiriat Cabinet than put forth proclamations against
foreigners fur bringing, and Chinese for using, did wltieti was
undermining all their happiness; and yet in the fare of all this
the import had so multiplied, that in 1836; 35,000 cheats were
sold in China. We have now reached the period of one of
the most remarkable events of ies history, the exciting dis-
cussion among the chief govenors and ministers of thee Empire,
comprising: the mist talented stet- amen of the land, for and
against its being a legal:aed trula ; but its opponents ware to,
strong for those who recommended it, and the former came off
victiniou.„ while many of the la ter were disgraced by the
Emperor for expressing such opinions.
At once measures were eaten more decided-thanbefore, even
to the- execution of those who were engaged is smunlnag.
Foreign merchants engaged' in the traffic were notifieek by
government to leave the country. In 1843 a.Chiaatuan- was
beheaded at Macao, and another towards the end of ihe year
near the foreign residences at Canton, and shortly after another
Chinaman-was executed in the factory-gardens—all for, dealing
in the drug. Some others inland had their l'ps cut off';; and
other ci ueltiee were resorted to in order to atop the use of it
in the kingdom, and yet all the while the oaium-merchants
were sill rolling in the drug. We are all of us more
familiar with- its history since then. Extraordinary powers
were given to the . celebrated Commissioner Lin, who
arrived in Canton in Match, 1539, It is a short story ;-,„
Lin's energy,. his letters to- foreign residmts, the bond
from them in return, swearing they would never again:
engage in it,. which was never kept; the seizure of 23,283-
chests and their destruction in twenty days, by lime and salt,
nearly 10,001),(00 dollars in value ; the protests of the mer-
chants; threa.ctivity of the East India Company;. the arrival
of the British fleet; the prewess.of the British army in the
far-famed opium war, where millions of Chinese were sent to
me(t their ancestors, and Cana opened up to foreign commerce
by the treaty of Nankin, in 1842. This war to, a certain
extent settled the question, and the trade has gone on from
200 chests, in. 1756, to 70,000 or 80,000 in 1856;e-from one
million dollars then to forty million dollars now. But now
t iere is little said about it in the Pekin Gaze2e. and the
traffic still moves on. The late Emperor, when again asked to
legalizi the trade in 1841, made use of strong language in his
remarkable reply—' Yes, I cannot prevent the introduction of
the growing poison ; gain-seeking and corrupt men will, for
profit and sensuality, defeat my wishes ; bat nothing will in-
duce me to derive a revenue from the vice and misery of my
people.'

From what Ican see you might as well try to keep back the
waves of the sea, (which Sidney. Smith, when he first intro-
duced that amiable lady, Damo Partington, to the world,
failed to de,), as to stop the use of opines. When segars are
• abolished and tobacco in any form is not used as a stimulant,
when intoxicating beverages are swept from the earth, when
slavery is no more and the 'world as pure as when created, the
opium trade, foreig❑ and dome-tic, may prove abortive ; but
until then I doub; if all the books which aro published, argu-
ments which are advinced, the laws which aro enac!ed, will be
the means of keeping opium out of China. The nasives have
a taste fos it; and if they cannot get it from India, they can
cultivate it in any quantity in. their own empire.. Some con
attends, assert that even now. they produce some 40,000 chests
p r year;. and as the loans of it increases, in spite of the
government, they will continue either to raise is or to imp ,rt it.
The East India Company have the credit of all the iniquity,
but so long as they continue to derive 18,030,000 dollars
revenue per annum, what do th'y irate far newsplper squibs
and Bankain editorials?• But China does not take it fast
enough, for even now they have and are establishing retail
shops over the Singapore part of the Indian Empire, and the
beautiful rice-tields and fertile lands of Hiudostan must give
way fur the growth of the poppy, after sufficient have been left
for the food of the nation.. As a question of broad and liberal
philanthrophy, Englasid once expended some 10,000,000
dollars in abolishing. West Indian Slavery. I wonder if her
benevolence will ever reacts the East Indian Continent?
Parliament may consider it. We will wait a little longer.
In a letter from. Singapore I think I alluded to the rather
startling fact that almost the whole revenue of that Island of
the Company was derived from the sale of the licence to the
opium farmers—.some 200,000 dollars. Take the traffic a' ay.
from the commerce of China, and some of those beau•iful
palaces where the mereant so hospitable entertains the sn-an-
ger,would have to close their doors. Even now the Lade is
not what is was ; fortunes are not mate in one successful
operation,. as years ago. Then, every roll was a strike ;
but of late years it is difficult to get a spare. There's
no use its abusing those who deal in it;, you may as well black-
ball the rum-seller. There's not so much difference as one
may imagine. Holland gin on the North American Indian,
and Patna or Malaya on the Asiatic—each carries destruction
with execs% If you blame one, blame all— and don't save

your cormsp3ndent ; for my fist foreign venture was a ship-
men: o' four tins of the precious staff in the old ship. Eliza
Warwick,' to China, in 1816, an invoice of sixty dollars
squeLz 3d out of a clerkship salary in a Boston firm, and if those

Who now ;rade in it are not more successful than I was they
will never mak', their fortunes, for it almost made me

beside getting a sevmv rebuke from my cornmande!-in-
chief fur indulging at my early time of lif,) in the opium trade
. .

I think it only justice to stite that the shipment would have
been more successful bat not the thug entirely evaporated before

it lynched Canton.
We should be glad if our space allowed U 3 to make
more copious citations from this work. To indicate its
character is, however, sufficient to ensure it sums attention

on the part of the public It is an experiment, a literary
exploit; such as only very peculiar cap%bilities could
render so far suecessmul, and which certainly we should
not recommend any of our readers to imitate. The book,
as it stands, is one with which many readers will probably
find fault, but from which none can fail to derive
_ _

amniement, and from which any one capable of profiting
by it can ga her much valuable information, not to be
attained in so condensed and ordered a form from any
other source.

CONSUMPTION : Its CAUS(3S, Piewntion, and Cure; By
John Balbirnie, MD. ; Lonchn: Darton and Co.,
Holborn Hill.

HYDROPLTHIC APHORISMS : By John Balbirnie, M.D ;
London : Dayton and Co.

The first of these little volumes is an abbreviation of
a large and well-known work by Dr. Balbirnie, entitled
" The Water Cure in Consumption " The object of its
issue in the present cheap and convenient form is to place
within the reach of all classes the advice and
instruction which it contains upon one of the most
deeply and painfully interesting subjects which can
possibly engage attention. Dr. Balbirnie endeavours to
divest c3nsumption of some of its most cruel terrors,
by demonstrating its curability even at very very advanced
stages, by the treatment of which he is one of the ablest
advocates. The mode of cure which this work is pr.duced
to promulgate, is.a purely hygienic system of cure—in the
author's own words, " the water-cure of the present day, in
honest and scientific hands, and freed of all adventitious
and ad captandum acce.sories." The candour, clearness,
and freedom from needless professional technicalities,
which will be remarked in this book, form not its least
valuable qualities, 'as an agent in removing traditionary
and superstitious terrors; and assisting every clsa

of the public to cimprehend and contend-with t°l6
and accessories of a disease long deemed fetal. • ,coeft
The second of the volumes before us, is a fittitrecuod'
pion to the former, and contains fall and Olin ese.
for the application of the treatment Dr. BAlbirDie
to the various forms of disease.

EARLY CLOSING MOVEMENT•

TO THE RETAIL EMPLOYERS OF 65
• BRITAIN. trail!"
GENTLEKEN,—WiIIe-you permit me re a •
clos-
ed tress a few remarks, to, you relative. to
during the approaching winter. the beidlV
However your immediate predecessors, as to 0
buSiness establishments ma
m y have been eor'i that
:i
considered as ere "'shopkeepers," I feel assiyheiot jot,
a body,aimigher standard. ‘' tided to
deeming it an honour be be actively inaen beeo
that commerce, which, humanly speaking, hagfrotour
main source of our country's greatness, and get
be its chief stay, you yet feel that it is n°', eeraue
these secular occupations should engross either 1'3600:4
affections and thoughts ,or those of the eerselle Qit
God's providence, hold situations . under you' ny
terms, you (Henke the late-hour system—i 3 mateoro!ed
ces, far more than your yoing men do, jadslnbd wiNef
I see and hear. You have become initeres`geee„,lool
great truth that, after all, men require sonlet'crlen r
iff(
money to make them happy ; that they have Off(
aspirations which that corninodity can neve:be o'j
and, further, that, in the main, your profits at (e ooh
the year would be quite as large, even thought edee gel
'business were materially curtailed—a large Po'"eoplOrio
day being, in the vasemejority of shops, moor °:,tgr
and thus literally wasted, to say nothing of "„' .10,1
and expenses which are entailed by late tradiolopee,,,
Coascious that your lot is cast in a retnerke tb:"4
of the world's history—a period which is noc • Etv"o
acterised by its scientific discoveries, astoundlll°,ooo,
they are, than by its moral, soaring, and politica', j
and when men are becoming estimated not 9;4)51,54
account of " the abundance of their possess'eorsleV
their enlightened and personal merits—it is na-,peowe
should be concerned for your own order, and be e'efif°.l
desirous that yourselves and your immediate 'jog'
should,. at least, not be out-stepped in this ouvrar
tt
of intelligence by mechanics and artiaans. e,e Ogo,
Nor can you be sensible, now that prescriP
are thus daily beComing less and less regardeecite for f• I,C:
sous are estimated for what they arerather tO-,0 of` ,0
they have, that, if henceforward, business 10,tbeo°,0
occupy their proper position in societyethey on to-to
less the slaves of the shop than hereteforer3L-04/`e
more time than the fag ends of the evening f°r ',Mier)!
pursuits andahe acquirement of useful. knee, o• ld'l
must be confessed, that hitherto a large Ver„1111;11,0",
eeopkeeping classes (especially prevision "`",,-- w,"roo
chemists, and sectioa of drapers) in London Iljei've
provincial towns, have practically been, pre
devoting even this small fragment of time t°
si
a purposes of their being. rei oi
Knowing and feeling all this, you are, I edra' as
body, heartily tired of the late-hour system,-
rejuicd at its overthrow. This knowledge 3''reavi,olif
however, unless put into action, is of no avail'
,„-eer':4ol
that unduly prolonged labour is, eveh o°"'
viewed, a great mistake, and in other reePee:o3',' f
serious evil, bear witieme when I state that, 5; rag
men, you who have not already done so,- she anus'
'rer
practical turn to that conviction. That is to .rieeleh
using as effort to secure the co-operation of ye:lef,
Live ueigauours, each should; resolve, for bo';it's°4o
whatever others may do, henceforward, he "'fie- °„,e
necessary example in his wn establish non'- t
r,,r"
mencement of the winter season is best suited le- tie
Pose is aelestion. Hithertoit has been too tocclleiee or
,
that the favourable majority of employers
oreo
111
deterred from closing early because of a small ai
their brethren resolutely refusing to do ;#
minority isoften confined to one or two indirjuedleie
district, who appear to forge:. that men harr
well as rights.
ere9ee
Whilst this state of things has been going o'rcji9
years, never to be recalled, have beg' passinre °rje pe
sons of improvement, wasted ; e vast masses -,goe peo
have been deprived of their rightful priviieees;"oohrif
can tell how. many thousand have been throcybe'ostilaets
of suffering and disease, or, more serious still, Pr', 464
consigned to•the silent tomb ; and all thisin e°''?. ,
of the opposition of the above wre'ched niinorgie too
. unfortunately, there always have been, and itoeir'of
feared always will be, persons.who, incased i°,,`„ so'bel
selfishness, are alike dead to the. appeals 01 -30"1,11
justice, and of humanity. It is utterly vain, theu', of 0,
for the compliance of these determined °Wrier: elltal
movement—every effort of persuasion having bee; to'
ted on them, rather let them be abandoned'
tiO(
unenviable isolation. Gee 0
Nor need any avail be apprehended from theireee4eo
ing to keep their shops open late (excepting eve?
themselves and those in their employ), now tho' 35 0
trade has so much decreased, and especially able
ra,
purchasing clasees generally have become so la'
our movement..
eoPulAr,
Even before the cause attaened its resal' ' )I°' z
there were not wanting-reolployere
;nandboldPecrd— ...7e-ti 11' of
ded, to set the example of closing early o,';,e ;°,of
had the gratification of hearing them s,
satisfactory results which thusarose to tbemsei'e
families, and their assistants.
The following, which is the substance of a leTtli,frfo?o,l
chemist carrying on business in one of the Ws'l,, strijt4
localities of the metropolis, may be adduced ag 1e,e3100/
specimen of such testimony.—"l close ehlfg
during the six days of the week at 8 o'clock (t. 4-„.
eze'
from business fourteen hours in tke week), which h 3.
practice since January, 1855. . .•
feodyff
If this advantage could have been obtained bar 3' -6ote)
pecuniary sacrifice, I should have been content; Jodi
believe it has. been secured; without any loss pJ
rejoice that L have made the change." „ r o,efr
I venture to hope that many who may bolleareilol
reading this letter will be induced to make a
periment to that of this spirited chemist, an".,vii°lool
success. If you will only take the precaution ; tl3o erjel
due notification to the public that you ate about co ref
early, Lam confident that the plan will meet I-1-,toOfeff
approval and support of thegreat balk of your'eu el .14
and that, once thoroughly adopted,
so far- fro yea
being likely to revert to the old system, YlrootP
would rather be that of regret that you bad tio
ago abandoned the practice replete with son'
evils to all parties connected with it.
I am, gentlemen,
tfillllo
yours very resnee A
JOHN LLI,WL,OOI
r; Hon. See. of the Early Closing
35, Ludgate-hill, London, 28th Sept., 11357.

BJYS' CLOTHING Itl.l-;E: WI CH GRE tiTiTA.ITE AT •
COAI PANY'S, Raneiagh-street.

Le Nord announces that the Emperor Napoleon'
.-,j
a visit to the Ring o Prussia.
THE DIY OF HUKLLIIT/ON ANT) NITER "Sy-
notified that Lloyd's will be c10,;(33 on the 7th 0f t
the day of humiliation and prayer. 011601 Private letters received at Paris state that, a
Singh, the Nanaharsjah of C tahmeer, had dieciie
poison. He had placed an army of Sikhs at the
of the British. r to
Tae Sardinian Government h is issued a ciren,, 3, cso, of
kr own to architects that destrs are desired for ,i'oo'ol
sons Turin n l one in Genoa. The cost of °',l(l ris
pris)os Tulin (580 c 911,) is axed at £62,400, °6810,0)
of the other £50,400. The cost of the prison at .00;00,
not to exceed £64,000. One priz3 is offered fig, afrpt
orisons in Turin of £320, with further premintridesig."
and £6O for the second and third best. Fur the;24/1
the prison in Genoa the premiums offered are '1" tot
and £4B,
PoRT,K,OUTTI, Sept. 23.—Great activi'y pre' ;the 110
dockyard in the cun;truetion and completion 0' of lit"
men-of-war on thevarious building slips. AurnoOdli
ore tine Victoria, 131 g in; ; Prince of Wales, 13"' all. 10
, 101 ; Royal Fred !rick, 116 ; and Bacchante, 51- 0010
with the exceptioe of th 3 Royal Frederick (but„,oll9i
be altered to one), screw ships, and will be Pr,Vidrot
engines of from 609 to 1,000 horse-power. 1.0!6620,
D mean, and Ilicehante will b 3 espec'ally mlO /00
powerful ships.
„ VOL 11:
THE ROBB SHIES AT Sr. PANCRAi tor, al,
Tuesday, at the weekly meeting of the clire-rosvolP
Churchwarden Wyatt in the chair, a discussion 3.0 sect
the master's not having sent in his resignation 1000,0 i
ante with his previous declaration. Mr. Glazie,re 0100
the master bore a high character, and mold unt,",,rged, btt
with these robb ides. The chairman said 110 f"-gede,i
with great neglect in allowing them anoint iiiitiPor
nose: Towards the dose of the meeting tl7rdit
received the tho cook had ben taken into a" Jio
brought up at the Clerkenwell police court. do OA
ONE OF IIIE RARE THINGS —she Courier satiOne
relates the following story, we hope 01 good An 11:e
This spring, a Canadian, of St. John's subttruds'hielt`olo
poor man, and the father of a family, present' t from ell
a rich Englishman of this city, and asked to felitiottitri
one of his houses within the wails. The een"'assiny'
accepted on both sides, and the day fixed for Potatitols
lease. Oa the day appointed, both went to the art a %lA'
there the I,raprietor, instead of a lease,_ eigneilY;(o.4s.
donation. He then explainel his conduct '° .3 gea-09,
who was of coarse full of astonishment at Woo 001
act. ' I began," said he, "to make my f°rpt, parisoltf
the French Canadians; I traded in the I°°/—lodgeloll,
and, wherever I went I was kindly received,
coins
fed ; and ell g,
ratuitouslr. Since I have be atit',
have sought fir the meats of paving my debt °1
fr t
,00-
and as I could not acquit it towards those tow tomt eat)
owing, I resolved to do so in favuor of the gist
who should offer me a good opportunity."

trot.
At LEWIS & COMPANY'S, Raaelaill'srworf fl
BOYS are CLOTHED m tb.o Age. or 104

, Th
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41114'170h;
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tend with the ea 7
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as', is a ti tt iogcoo
,aa,l p'aia chred;
)r. 13Albirnie 860,