The Sun.
London, England, 1855-09-04 00:00:00

-LIT.BRA T UR E.

1,
Memoirs of Lieutenant .Tosepn, ene Bellot. 2 Vols.
Hurst and Blackett.
An anonymous biographer has undertaken to
celebrate in a brief but sufficient memorial the
career of that gallant French sailor whose life was
unfortunately sacrificed in the vain but chivalrous_
endeavour to carry succour to the missing Arctic
Navigators. Prematurely though that careef 404-si
closed, it was nevertheless one so remarkable of its
kind as to deserve some more than ordinary com-
memoration. This more than ordinary commemo-
ration it has obta3n9d in the two volumes here sub-,
witted to our notice=—volumes comprising, besides
the anonymous ineMOiralreadyalluded to, the whole
of the singularly interesting journali written by •
Lieutenant Bellot himself during the course of his
voyage made in the Polar Seas in search of Sir J.
Franklin and his ill-fated companions. These jour-.
nals, beginning on the 22d of May, 1851, and sly.
tending to the Bth of September, 1852, embracing,.
an interval of very nearly sixteen months of ro-
mantic and sometimes perilous adventure, are fol-
towed towards the- close of the second volume by
a variety of illustrative notes and 'other documents,
these again, being in their turn succeeded by .a
number of curious particulars relating to thefamous
Bellot Testimonial. As an appropriate frontispiece
to the work, we have an engraving by Chas. Collin
from an original drawing by Jobbe Duval, por-
traying the face. and figure of Joseph Reno Bellot,
the brave and the good, as he must have appeared
at the period when his noble life was upon the eve
of its premature termination. The capacious and
massive forehead,.the gentle and observant eyes,
the calm courage expressed by lip and nostril,
every line, every lineament of the young mariner's
countenance appears to us strangely and strikingly
characteristic. Having mused for a while over this
effigy of his features so as to become familiarised
with their general expression, and in this manner
to have acquired as it were a personal acquaintance
with the aspect of the man as he was in life, as he
breathed and moved among his fellows—we turn
with increased interest to an examination of the bio-
graphic sketch of his history prefixed to the journals
in which he himself has graphically and vigorously
preServed to remembrance the principal incients of
that daring and generous enterprise which will be
his passport to the notice and admiration of pos-
terity.
Although Joseph Rene Bellot—the sou of a
plain artizan, a smith and farrier—was horn at
Paris, he regarded as his native city, by adoption,
the less important locality of the seaport of Roche-
tort. Rochefort was throughout his life viewed
by him with grateful affection, as the spot in which
he had acquired a partly gratuitous education, and
by the aid of the munificent municipality of which
he was enabled, at an early age, to enter upon the
honourable and gallant profession in which he very
rapidly acquired for himself peculiar distinction,.
if death snatched from him the opportunity of any
very notable promotion. Bellot's life, beginning
on the 18th of March, 1826, closed at the early
age of 27 years and 5 months, on the 18th of Au-
gust, 1853, when he mysteriously disappeared on
the edge of a vast crack or fissure in a hummock
of ice, into which it was presumed he had been
blown by the heavy wind then prevailing, his
comrades at the time couple of sailors
named David Hook and William Johnson)—
having found his stick lying on the verge of this
great aperture in the hummock, their shouts for
:he owner, "Mr. Bellot ! Mr. Bellot !" remaining
unanswered. That is the last we hear of him—the last!
Johnson, in his simple and manly record of the ca-
tastrophe, tells us that almost immediately before
Lieutenant Bellot disappeared down this fissure
in the ice, he had been talking with him and his
other companion about the danger of their posi-
tion, and that when one of them remarked that the
American Expedition had been drawn up and
down this very channel, the Wellington Channel,
Bellot replied—" I know they were ' - and when the
Lord protects us, not a hair of our heads shall be
touched." A few seconds afterwards; it being
then about a quarter past eight a.m. on
Thursday, the 18th of August, 1853, Bellot having
remarked, after lashing up his books, that he would
4o and see how the ice was driving, Johnson fol-
lowed him four minutes later round the angle of
the hummock, at the corner of which he had last
been observed. Within that brief interval the
noble-hearted tar had vanished ; and his place was
uo more known amongst his fellows ! His remains
were never recovered. His memory alone was
left ; but that memory will long be kept green in
the popular heart, both of France and England.
A. memorial obelisk of Aberdeen granite rising to
the height of 34 feet, and inscribed with the name
of BELLOT, and erected after the design of Mr.
Hardwick, R.A., is to commemorate henceforth
the career of the French sailor, in a conspicuous
position on the banks of the Thames-at Greenwich.
Viewed from the river this interesting monument
will have the fountain of the western esplanade or
green in the background, and above that on the
bill the famous Observatory. It is a historical
spot to have selected, a site, observes the editor of
these volumes, upon which "no English officer—
not even Nelson—has had a similar mark of '
respect paid him," that of a monument raised in
his honour on the exterior of the great Hospital,
the Sailor's Palace at Greenwich. Bellot deserved
some peculiar recognition like this, and his memory
has secured it amidst an universal feeling of sa-
tisfaction. He will be remembered by posterity,
as he was appreciated by his contemporaries.
"In promise," says Colonel Sabine, " I have
rarely seen his equal, and never his superior." Sir
Roderick Murchison has spoken of him affection-
ately as his valued young friend," and admiringly
as " the good and intrepid Bellot." "Ma foi,
Monsieur," exclaimed the vivacious Jules Janin,
running up to the young officer in the May of
1851, when they accidentally encountered each
other, at the time of the Universal Exhibition :
"Ma foi, Monsieur, I had a great wish to know
you ; you are a bravo man ; allow me to clasp
your hand—" the impulsive fueilletonist, adding
afterwards when he related the incident, " I loved
hinfht once, the charming lad, whom I saw but for
two or three hours." Others have spoken of him
no less earnestly in the language of unaffected ad-
miration. M. Chasseriau, on the 16th of October,
1853, through au article in the Moniteur. M. de
la Roquette, in the memoir written by him
in the latter part of the same year, that " re-
markable memoir," says Bellot's anonymous bio-
grapher, in which the memorialist has " worthily
appreciated the seaman, the voyager, and the stu-
dious geographer." Captain Romain Desfosses
(under whom he served) spoke of him as a " dis-
tinguished 61eve "-" good for everything, and full
of ardour to do everything ; superior in all points
to his position." Remember, for a moment, what
that position was : Bellot was the son, as we have
remarked, of a simple artisan—a smith or farrier of
Rochefort. His intelligence as a child induced the
municipality of that seaport to obtain for him, at
the instance of the mayor, a demiburse at the Col-
lege at Rochefort. At the age of little more
than seventeen he has fairly embarked in
his profession. He moves successively into
the Borda, into the Suffren, into the Friedland.
He makes his first cruise on board the cor-
vette Berceau. He quits France for the first
time in this way, as an elth.,e de marine, on
the 23d of June, 1844. Before twenty, he is, by
the Ist of November, 1845, an eleve of (the first-
class, and, by the second of December following,
is named Chevalier of the Legion of Honour. A'
little later we find him no longer in the corvette
Berceau, but, with the ribbon of the Great Order
at his button-hole, on board the frigate Belle
Poule. Ou the 15th of November, 1847, he is
promoted to the rank of enseigne de vaisseau. As
such he is in the Pandora, and, as such, a little
later, he sets sail on the 23d. of July, 1848, for La
Plata and Oceania on board the corvette Triom-
phante. By the 25th of August, 1850, he is back
again at Rochefort. Then followed that voyage to
the Polar Seas which needs not here to be particu-
larised. It is vividly within the general recol-
lection. It is the source of all our interest in
Ballot. It is as much, as directly, as indisputably
the secret of his fame, as it was the cause of his
dissolution. Thus lived and died, for others more
than for himself, in the service of his country, in
the interests of humanity, beloved, respected, andt
admired by all with whom he came in contact,
Joseph Rene Bellot--a self-made man,
son oatv
farrier of Rochefort, officer of the iniP/Valolneony
of France, chevalier of the Legion of
gratitudeap not
one to whose memory England,
obelisk in granite upon the bank
less than in admiration, resolviefdthtoe
Thames,
upon Hospital, under
upon the esplanade of Greenwich.
vfea,tobryui
the shadow of the Gredeneriiivc
Re-
membering his brief an
_Jotu.rnals,
our remarks upon these
übss Observatory.
espe-
cially hearing in recollection his premature and
heroic death, close we
with one
earnest volumes ribu ive aspiration—
Honoured, henceforth, by all 'English hearts, be
the „awe and the fame of the
sentence of hi s Memoirs
Ino
wayir s o andf
t
young French
Na ' Lieutenant !

A Val

: a Eistory of Diplo-
macy.
Embassies andßy F,o,rrehigen,
Roving Courts
Englishman." G.
Routledge.
It really appears to us a sad pity that we should
find a brilliant writer like, our old friend " The
Roving Englishman" degenerating into a mere
book-maker. Yet as such he actually appears be-
fore us in this his " History of Diplomacy"—a
thing of " shreds and patches," relating to us all
sorts of frivolous gossip about " Embassies and
Foreign Courts." Our author, in this manner,
having fairly.raounted upon hia hobby, goes off at

' a wild canter through Europe, Africa, and Asia,
north and south, east and west, through the length
and breadth of the old-world hemisphere. Now he
pulls up with a jerk at Egypt, now he takes a
flying leap into Westphalia. Here he pauses for a
brief breathing time in Spain, and starts off again
at a tangent into Italy. He jolters our memory
too, not merely in regard to place, but, if possible,
Still More surprisingly in reference to time—hurry-
ing-4s without a4.3r; regard to chronological sequence
to the days of LOAis XIV., of Frederick 11., of
Mazarin, of Richelieu, of Swift, of Luther, of Lady
Temple and Lady Hamilton, introducing us helter-
skelter to)arch-ambassadors, and ministers resi-
dent, and eliarg6S d'afraires, and gentlemen envoys,
to private sigenti, and secret agents, and deputies,
.and commissioners,. and nuncios, and legates, and
, .plenipotentiaries...He.confesses his obligations can-
didly enough in his "Preface" to the works of writers
such as Mimes, and Martens, and Wheaton, and.
Cussy, and Flassan,and de Callieres, and De Wic-
4iiefort, and ItYnkershOek—besides making the
most ' ostentatious reference to page and volume of
the books quoted, in the. course of foot notes the
most manifold .and miscellaneous. As to the pur-
pose of "The-Roving. Englishman," in this the
latest of his literary. ventures, let us hear what he
himself has to say, almost by way of apology, cer-
tainly by way of extenuation :

" In eur own day, Lord Brougham has surely never
been held a foe to the laws, because he has passed so
many years of his valuable career in ably advocating
legal reforms. Dickens has never been censured as a
jail-bird or a ragamuffin for having popularly exposed
the mazy horror of.a, chancery suit, and drawn the im-
mortal characters of , Dodson and Fogg, or Brass, of
Bevis Marks. Neither is it to be inferred that he, one
of the greatest and kindliest public teachers England has
ever known, desires to ridicule the institutions of mar-
riage' and will-making, because he laughs with such ini-
mitable grace at the Commons in David Copperfield,'
or describes the true startling sadness of a poor man's
sullied hearth in Hard Times.' One may be sincerely
pious, yet repudiate the doctrines of the Mormons, the
Jumpers, and the fuddled tenets of the inspired cobbler
who improved an- occasion last week on Kennington
Common. Mr. Layard may be an ardent reformer,
without going so far as that high-born Mr. Bligh, whom
the papers informed us lay on his stomach and harangued
the crowd during the recent disturbances in Hyde Park.
May I not, therefore, be allowed to point out abuses to
the full as bad as those which the strong hand of glori-
ous Brougham pulled happily down, or those which the
pleasant pen of Dickens is daily fretting so perseveringly
away 1" - - -

.Abuses, he means, of course—and they are abun-
dant enough, Heaven knows—in our blundering
old system of word-catching, hair-splitting diplo-
macy.. So far as this laudable purpose of his is
concerned, we have but eulogiums for "The Rov-
ing Englishman." It is for inasmuch as he fritters
away that earnest and commendable purpose, by
allowing his style to degenerate into that of the
mere idle, discursive, slovenly, gossipping book-
maker, that our author appears to us to deserve
little else than reprehension. As rapidly as lie has
gained his present popularity, so rapidly will be
lose it—unless he evince by his after writings
greater interest in preserving a reputation as
sparkling as it threatens now to be evanescent.

CHINESE MODE OF TREATING CHOLERA

A Chinese missionary writes to the Civilta Cattolica,
of July 12 :

" One morning, after having said mass, I felt symp
toms of cholera. I had a difficulty of breathing amount-
ing almost to suffocation. A cold so intense took pos-
session of 'my arms and legs that I could not feel a hot
iron applied to them. Just then a Chinese Christian
came in to see me, and as soon as he looked at me, ho
said, Father, you have the cholera.' To be certain,
however, he looked under my tongue, and observing the
peculiar blackness of the veins there, he remarked that
unless I applied a remedy speedily I would not live until
night. I told him to do what he could for me. He took
an ordinary pin, and began pricking me under the tongue
until he drew out from ten to twenty jet black drops of
blood. Then, after rubbing my arms gently, he tied a
string very tightly about each one of my fingers, and
pricked each one on the outside at the root of the nails
until he brought a drop or two of the same kind of blood
from each. Then, to see whether the operation bad been
successful or not, he pricked me with the same in the
arm, very 'near the vein that is usually opened in blood-
letting, and seeing no blood issue lie pronounced it
satisfactory. I still felt, however, a fearful oppression of
the lungs. To relieve this, ho run the pin obliquely into
the pit of my stomach about two-thirds of its length.
(This operation the Chinese call opening the mouth of
the heart.) Nut a drop of blood came out here, but in
a moment I felt myself entirely relieved, my blood began
its circulation, my natural warmth returned, and, after
an hour of slight fever, I went about my avocations.
This is the ordinary Chinese remedy. I have known it
to be applied to five of our fathers in cholera, and it
failed only once."

HOLYHEAD HARBOUR WORKS.—The new harbour
works at Holyhead were inspected on Wednesday by Sir
Charles Wood, Mr. Ronde'', C.E., and several other
gentlemen, all of whom expressed themselves much
pleased with the rapid progress the contractors are
making in carrying out the Admiralty plans.
KENSINGTON GARDENS.—In consequence of the state
of the weather on Sunday, there being a cold north wind
and threatening of rain, the numbers in these Gardens
were not so great as during the warmth of the previous
Sunday. The band commenced as usual at five, but die
continued playing at half-past five when the rain com-
menced, and the great concourse of people took shelter
under the trees. After the shower had passed off the
crowd dispersed to various parts of the gardens. Not-
withstanding the inclemency of the weather the number
of persons was very great, viz., 48,841.
Tin 'MURDER AT CUDHAIL—BROMLEY, Monday even-
ing.—Some clue to the perpetration of this diabolical
murder has been obtained ; the police are on the mur-
derer's track, and there is every probability that within
43 hours he will be in the hands of justice. It has already
been stated in the reports which have appeared that
after committing the murder the murderer robbed the
house of some clothes, and these having been offered for
sale have put the police in possession of the important
information which it may be reasonably supposed will
lead to his speedy apprehension,
FATAL ACCIDENT ON A RAlLWAY.—Yesterday morn-
ing, the body of a man named Harrison was found at a
place called Dog-lane, on the Manchester and Sheffield
Railway, near the Guide Bridge station. He is sup-
posed to have been crushed to death between the buffers
of some waggons belonging to a London and North-
Western train, which had been shunted there a short
time before the body was found- by one of the railway
servants. The unfortunate man was recognised as a
resident in the neighbourhood, but it is not known what
business had brought him on the line at the place where
ha was kill.d.

TEM BOURNEMOUTH SANITARIIIII.—A short time since
an amateur theatrical performance in aid of this charity
was held at Colonel Waugh's residence, Campden-house,
Kensington. Colonel Waugh has followed up his gene-
rosity upon that occasion by holding a grand bazaar at
his marine residence, Brantisea-castle, Poole, which
Commenced on Wednesday and terminated on Saturday
last. The bazaar was of the most extensive nature, and
the arrangements for the public accommodation com-
plete. It was announced that 1,0001. had been given
by one person, and 5001. offered by another if the same
sum could be raised. Independent of these sums, be-
tween 5001 and iool. were realised at the bazaar.
1 MELANCHOLY SUICIDE OF A QTJAKERFss.—Yesterday
afternoon, Mr. Win. Carter, the coroner for East Sur
i rey, held a lengthened inquiry at the Queen Tavern,
Commercial-road, Peckham, respecting the circumstances
attending the death of Mrs. Mary Anne Aylesbury, a
member of the Society of Friends, who herdestroyed
life by swallowing arsenic. Mr. Thomas Joseph
._Green,
afternoon last he was called in to see the deceased, a H.
surgeon, of Ivy Cottage, Peckham, said that one Friday
found her sitting on the bed, appareotly
poison,that Ihnegaskedp herin
Having heard that she had taken
Witness gave her an
why she had done so, and she replied,
bad tempted her to take it.'
k the next morning
emetic, but at half-past two
,satnoigtyetiher with a
she expired. Verdict—Tit
ne)].;°i'verpool Albion•
), that the
lt is well known (says ?
t board at this port, the other
steamer Europa took on
13.
re day, a large quantity of inpoc'hclos;heilnl
and that she
em-
barked
an
ex-
pected to sail le
In troopsuf
omr number
err :
and
edeahs
dut
officersitns
af;ttrohnha;
eto,rnod
Saturday.ne
p Friday,ar t ushe
was
somecb(a)nrksiedderah
Every-
thing was apparentlyhead
order was received from-quarters that she was to
be detained until the 3d inst., in order to wait for seve-
ralad,nngoing
other officers who were to go out in her. This de-
tentionb oa
rida its
the
came
uterhoe down
oa w country f
they
rn nil
found
otanhdat
day.
o London,
n On Saturdayeing tw
on
o
ar
fie
only one side and the
top of each separate hut was on board ; and, on making
further investigation, they ascertained that the remain-
inggrant ships have left theLv
EMIGRATION PRONE
portions had been put on board the Great Britain.
for all foreign ports, undiel‘riEGeßrPosev°ye°rLdn'T
um—reinngtwietnnhsteP
ing on board 8,908 ye-ceti
pastgi
ohrit monthhema
vi
cabin, passengers, of whom 166 occupied
and the remainder steerage berths. Of the latter,
2,412 were English, 320 Scotch, 4,875 Irish, and 1,201
natives of other countries, chiefly Germans. These were
again sub-divided as follows :—To Australia : Six ships
and 1,199 passengers, of whom 62 were cabin, 650 Eng-
lish, 123 Scotch, 308 Irish, and 46 foreigners. To the
United States : 20 ships and 7,174 passengers, includ-
ing 95 cabin, 1,495 English, 164 Scotch, 4,428 Irish,
and 992 foreigners. To New Brunswick : 1 ship and
157 passengers, of whom 8 were cabin, 32 English, 1
i Scotch, 35 Irish, and 91 foreigners. To Canada : 1
ship and 534 passenger; including 1 cabin, 235 Eng-
lish, 229 Scotch, 104 Irish, and 172 foreigners.
Some time this month a new screw-steamer, to be
called the Boristhene, will be launched from Mr. Laird'e
yard, in Liverpool, for the French Messageries Imps
riale, and immediately afterwards a sister vessel, callec,
the Meandre, will he launched for the same company-
These vessels are of 1,300 tons register, and 220 horse-
power ; built with very fine lines to obtain high speed,
with comparatively small power. The company cum'
menced operations by the purchase of the Lusitania an
Braziliera, then forming part of the line from Liverpoolto the Brazils, the names of which were changed,
Braziliera
Lusitania being called the Hydaspes, and
t!I
transferred to the Simois. The third El!
vebioisthene
ei of the line
Boristhene; and
was called the Jourdain, and, with the ,
, Meandre, the line will consist of five steamers,
eiliera

Despatches were received to-day at the Admiralty,
from the Commanders of the Allied Fleets, but they
will not be issued from the Gazette office till late this

evening.

A working engineer, of the name of John Ross, re-
siding in Montreal, claims to have discovered a new mo,
tive power which will waft a ship across the Atlantic
Ocean in three days.
THE LATE HEREFORD FgaTivAL.—The accounts of the
late festival of the three choirs were on Saturday last au-
dited by the committee, and the result is much more satis-
factory than at ose time had been anticipated. The expen-
diture on account of the festival, engagement of singers,
band, &c., amounted to 2,6581., being 6311. ss. 10d.
more than the expenditure at the last festival at Here-
ford in 1852. The receipts were 2,0281. 108. 9;d.,
being 8001. more than in 1852, and leaving a balance of
630/, to be made good by the stewards. Instead of
each steward having, therefore, to pay 100/. (the usual
loss), the amount of each gentleman's liability is 811.
IGs. The collection for the charity for the relief of
the widows and orphans of the clergy now amounts
to 8701., and will no doubt reach 9001. After Mr.
Townsend Smith had gone fully into the accounts on Sa-
turday the committee and stewards requested him to
withdraw, and the following resolution was afterwards
passed--" The stewards, being anxious to mark their
sense of Mr. Townsend Smith's exertions upon the pre-
sent occasion, far exceeding those which have been re-
quire. from him at any previous festival, resolve to
enterinto a subscription of 51. each towards a testimo-
nial to be selected by the Archdeacon, after consulting
with Mr. Townsend Smith, and to which the Arch-
deacon, as chairman of the committee, requests to be
permitted to contribute a similar sum,"