The Sun.
London, England, 1852-10-25 00:00:00

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LONDON AND PARIS.-A CONTRAST.

If anybody wants to realize the charms of thismetro-
polis lot him spend a week, such as the week before last,
at Paris, and return for a week, such as last week, to
London. There ho will find the air itself, if not every-
where balmy, yet always exhilarating, brightening up
every face, giving elasticity to every step, and so clear
that from the top of the Arc do Triomphe, or the heights
of Montmartre, it seems possible to count every
chimney and every attic window in Paris. Here he passes
at once into the atmosphere of a brewhouse end the
odours of a stable. He breathes in steam, ho sees
through smoke, he walks through mud, and he smells
the sewer. As ho forces his way through the princi-
pal thoroughfare he is alternately stunned by the
incessant noise and brought to a standstill by the
utter inadequacy of both the pavements and the car-
riage way. There were times last week when to get
from Charing•cross to the London-bridge station
would take nearly as much time as a
journey by the
express from Landon to Brighton, or to Oxford.
Paris, of course, has its disugreeables, for though
not a port, nor the seat of manufacture, except for
articles of luxury :and taste, it is a garrison, and
a hundred thousand soldiers are a blessing not
without some drawbacks. But in Paris immense
efforts have been made, and are still making, suf-
ficient to satisfy the strongest craving for improve-
ment. The congested centre of that metropolis is being
perforated by splendid thoroughfares, opening the great
national and municipal palaces to one another, and giving
a clue to the intricate labyrinths that surround the Hotel
de Ville. Under the banks of the Seine vast sewers in-
tercept and carry off what we as carefully infuse into
our river, though in Paris there is not the same neces-
sity for such an arrangement as in the care of a tidal
stream which twice n day brings back its load of abomi-
nations. Among other points in which Paris sets us an
example, it is now more than half a century since a
corpse was interred, or an animal slaughtered for food,
within a (Darter of a mile of the barriers. The result
of these and other arrangements is, that Paris is a city
a man is happy to live in all the year round, even when
he has other alternatives. Its suburbs are sought rather
for cheapness and quietness, and for schools, by reduced
gentlewomen, by aunts, and grandmothers, than by
men and families. Though dissipation and poverty
shorten life there even more than tier°, at all events
Paris is an enjoyable city, and its inhabitauts are con-
tent to make it their constant home.

We only contrast the condition of the French and
the British capitals just to show how much can be dune
in spite of the great difficulties and hindrances inevit-
able to a place always on the verge of revolution, and
enjoying only a fraction of our commerce and wealth—
how much, on the other hand, may be lett undone in
the wealthiest, freest, and quietest metropolis in the
world. It is little to the purpose to talk of this or that
foreign city, or toexpatiate generally on continental dirt,
for whist fair comparison can there be between this city
of millionaires and towns where silver, if it exists at

ail in an unalloyed form, is as precious as life-blood?
There is no occasion, however, to go to contrasts at all.

Every engineer, every mechanic, will tell us, what in-
deed is obvious on the smallest consideration, that

whatever is necessary to the health and comfort of a
city ii a mere question of £. s. d. if it is possible
to make one street a good one, to make one house
perfectly clean and sweet, to do one hundred yards of
drainage effectually, to supply one house with a
sufficiency of pure water, it is possible to do this
for the whole city. Among ether uses designed in
the existence of palaces and mansions, Providence,
doubtless, intends that they shall be specimens of what
may be done, and that, beginning from these, we shall
go on to do the like for whole cities. Buckingham Pa-
lace, we trust, by this time has been rendered a healthy

and cornmodi-0u73 residence, in spite of some consider-

. .
able difficulties. That once achieved, there is no reason
why every tenement in St. Giles's or Bethnal-green
should not be made as salubrious and agreeable, as fur
as it goes—nay, more so, seeing that the very cellars
even of the notorious Church-lane are at a higher level
than the not of Buckingham Palace; but it is a matter
of demeustration that there need not be one single
nuisance, either public or private, in this metropolis, and
that the heart of London might be as sweet as the South
Downs. London might be made the very healthiest
spot in the world, for even that apparently insuperable
evil, the smoke of our coal fires, besides that it is more
of an eyesore than a real mischief, may bo reduced
withi❑ very bearable limits. The obstacles to improve-
ment, then, are moral rather than physical, and the an-
tagonists we have to deal with are not so much the ele-
ments of external nature and the necessary conditions
of humanity in masses, as certain foes within the camp—
the selfishness, stupidity, and indolence of man, or rather
of sumo men.

The worst of it is that the more talk there is about it,
the more legislation, and the more there is that professes
to he done, the less we have in the way of actual results.
For example, there has been no end of discussion about
intramural interments, and an Act was passed, now many
months since, which was expected by the credulous
panne to stop tnem altogether. iNo such thing. To the
best of our information the spade is busy in every burial-
ground of this metropolis, and parsons, clerks, sextons,
beadles, grave-diggers, and all the rest of the sable fra-
ternity, aro burying all the faster because they think
their time short. Really they have no occasion to
give way to these gloomy apprehensions. Strong in
the power of prescription, and mighty in abuse, they may
safely trust in the weakness of laws and the imbecility
of Parliament. Twenty years will find them still unmo
lusted, still gathering fees from corruption, and reaping
a harvest from death. The next generation will see our
graveyards only heaped a yard higher, and their
walls only bulging a little more, and of somewhat
deeper stain. The Hest generation will see the
Thames still unnaturally turbid, and its mud banks
still crimson under the July sun ; it will still be
greeted at every step with the vapours of death as-
cending from grates,areas, cellars, and the whole surface
of a soil saturated with sewerage and impregnated with
gas. The next generation will still find our paving in
heaps for three months every year, our great thorough-
fares at a dead lock ton times a day, our ears stunned
by a traffic nine-tenths of which could be carried swiftly
and silently over rails, Holborn-hill without a viaduct,
and the metrapolis in general only getting worse and
worse, because, as long at least as we continue to prosper,
it must become larger and larger.
To what purpose, then, is all this, if so far there has
been nothing but talk, and for the future there seems
nothing but discouragement ? Is it nothing, then, that
the metropolis still want the muster mind who is to
render it the monument of his useful services ? On all
sides ambitious patriots are asking for something to be
done. Everywhere you meet your Hercules panting
for his labours. Atter all, homely as it may appear,
what arena so worthy as that in which we live ? Tho
control of fifty colonies, the adjustment of the European
" balance of power," the regulation of trade, and all the
other functions of an Imperial Government, have their
several glories, but also their difficulties and theirmis-
haps. Moreover, these are matters in which political
sentiment and party spirit are sure more or loss to thwart
the greatest talents and best designs. But the internal
improvement of this metropolis is a work which will
surely reward the statesman with some degree of suc-
cess, and which promises a comparative exemption from
merely factious obstacles. At the present rate of in-
crease, the population of this city will amount, in thirty
years to that of an independent second-class State, and
ought to confer as much glory on its restorer as Hol-
land, or Belgium, or Denmark, or Portugal could on
its greatest deliverer or statesman. We seriously
com-
mend this consideration to some of the many Ministers
unattached who aro going about town asking for em-
ployment, and unable to get it in more usual channels.
Of course it cannot be disguised that the task requires
even more judgment than courage, and we cannot pro-
mise to back up every great scheme for the improvement
and better management of this metropolis simply be-
cause it is a great scheme. Projectors must take their
chance of that. We have only to proclaim that the work
is still to be done. London waits for its great tedile.
There is still to come the man, who will not, indeed,
" find it brick and leave it marble," but who may render
it the most wholesome, agreeable, and convenient place
of residence in the world, and that not merely for the
ten thousand fashionable families who occupy one quar-
ter of it for the season, but for the half-million families
who are confined to it all the year round.—Tinier.

AWFULLY SUDDEN DEATH IN A RAILWAY CAR-
RIAGE.—On Monday last, Mrs. Timbre% a passenger
by a 9 30 a.m. express train from London was, on the
train approaching Warrington, observed by ono of her
fellow-passengers to lean back as if dozing, but upon its
arrival at the station it was found that she was dead.

HARDY WOMEN.--A very singular exhibition took 1
place yesterday in the bed of the river opposite the spot I.
where the horologe-hill stood in days of yore. There •
were,lwe should say, at least two dozen of boats, and six 1
times as many women in the water around them, Some '
of the damsels were nearly arm-pit deep, with scarcely
one straw more than their busts above water. All were
busy—all were feeling for mussels with their feet, and,
when found, stooping down till their chins touched the
water, so as to secure them with their hands ; but, in
some cases, chin deep would not answer, and then over
head and ears was the order of the morning. Sticking
among the clay, treading upon sharp mussels barefooted,
and working past the middle in water for hours, one
would have thought enough to produce wry faces and
chattering teeth; but nothing of this was seen, for all
was gay and merry as a marriage bell, teaching the
spectators that happiness is common to all conditions of
life; and
also realizing the old proverb, that " one half of
the world does not know how the other makes a liveli-
hood"—Montrose Standard.
WEST RIDING MILITIA.—The number of men
wanted for this branch of military service is 3,760; thil
is for the West Riding, and exclusive of the number
wanted for the Ainsty, which would increase the number
bi is r notin each definitely
regiment,
mentioned by some few hundreds. Supposing the 3,760
to constitute three regiments, as at present intended, it
will give for one regiment 1,264, and for the other two,
1,253.
settled
but whatat
presentshall
thebe theen
exact_
number
robins& is going on for throe regiments only, viz,, the
it, 2d, and 3d.

TILE UNITED STATES.

(From the Times Correspondent.)
NEW YORK, Oct. 9, half-past 10 a.m.
My letter on the Lone Star movement reached this
country just as our leading journals had become
aware of the extent of that society, and somewhat in-
, formed iu regard to its operations. I had derived my
information when I wrote from what I believed to be
authentic sources, and I am sorry now, in addition to
what I had before stated, to be obliged to communi-
cate oter facts, which not only corroborate all that I
said, but which impart a still deeper signification to
this matter. Your remarks on the same subject were
immediately copied into some of our newspapers,
while others gave the substance of them in their own
editorial articles ; but my letter by the last steamer
will have already informed you of a gross outrage
perpetrated upon our flag by the authorities in Havan-
na, and you will find in nearly all our Atlantic
journals of the last week earnest language concerning
that occurrence.
I need not tell you that the recent occurrences in
Havacnah, as well as the remarks of our most promi-
nent newspapers, not only confirm the truth of all my
statements in reference to the Lone Star Order, but
they corroborate to au unexpected extent the tendency
of public opinion in this country as I foreshadowed
it. The truth is, that this is likely to prove a very
ugly business for us all. I entertain apprehensions
about it which I cannot shake oft I see a drift of
public feeling among the American people which be-
tokens the precipitation of events that I think every
friend of this country would try to avert. But there
is something else that I regard as still more impor-
tant. The present Captain General of Cuba is the
worst enemy Spain has inspired, perhaps by loyal zeal
for his Sovereign and patriotic feelings for his coun-
try, he is pushing things to such an extreme that he
is waking up the indignation of that very class of
our people who will thus be hurried into a policy
which, but for such outrages, would meet with no
favour except from the Lone Star men and their
intimate adherents. The treatment which several of
our officers and vessels had already experienced
afforded some theme for talk about national insulf,
American power, Republican empire, &c. ; but all
this would have slipped by, and men of sense and
discretion would have every where either overlooked
or palliated what had been done; but the late aggres-
sions and insults to the Cornelia and the Crescent city
have excited universal indignation. The British peo-
ple have never submitted very tamely in any period
of their history to insults on the sea, and it should
never be forgotten in any judgment which English-
men form about Americans, that we are only Anglo-
Saxons, much resembling our fathers in past ages and
oar brothers of 1852, on the other side of the
At-
lantic, in our good and our evil things, But it would
be strange enough if the vast difference in our history
should not work some modifications also in the deve-
lopment of national character and popular feeling.
The Americans have grown to be more sensitive on
this subject of interference and aggression on the
ocean than even Englishmen are Themselves.
I regret very deeply all that has happened
in our relations with Cuba since the first
larding of Lopez at Cardenas. I did not
lament his first repulse, nor did I meach regret
on the whole, the final state he suffered,, nor did I
much regret the fate of my own countrymen, any
further than my humanity might have been stirred
by the brutality of their deaths. But Ido not desire
to see my country irritated into a new and precipi-
tate launch upon the territories of our neighbours.
Heaven is leading us fast enough, without having
the unholy impulses of bad passions to derive us on.
Like all other Americans who take time to reflect, I
wish my country to spread her dominion no faster
than she can extend it by the arts of peace or by
friendly negotiations. For these reasons, I regret
deeply the course the Captain General of Cuba is
taking ; for it requires no gaze of a seor to foresee
what will be the result. And then suppose the up-
shot of the matter—what would be a war with Spain
to us ? She was too weak 30 years ago to repress
the independence of her American colonies, and if
she has now to contend for the supremacy of the last
of them against the whole force of the llaited States,
we shall only witness a spectacle which we would
not wish to contemplate.---the final degradation of one
of the oldest and most venerable States in, Europe.
How much were it to be desired that at the present
moment some friendly power would wia:isper wise
counsels in the ear of the Cabinet at Madrid! It
would seem now that unless the present Captain
assissst :s reef-ilea_ and his niece filled ',lse. :ese
man, Cuba will be revolutionized, and the sem of the
Antilles lost to Spain for ever. There is a ferocity
about his administration which recalls .se uvenirs of
barbarous times, and his recent atrocities have cur-
dled the blood of our people with horrors and filled
them with indignation.
The Webster movement has gained in c arnestness
and intensity during the last few days. There have
been several mass meetings in Boston, and in other
portions of Massachusetts, and every new speech that
is pronounced goes to show that the brew ih between
the Scott and Webster men of the United States can-
not be healed. Two evenings ago, at the last great
Webster meeting in Faneuil-hall, " tins cradle of
American liberty," were the most im pi• essive and
powerful addresses in favour of the D.?olaration of
Independence had been pronounced thrve -fourths of
a century ago, Mr. Curtis, one of the most eminent of
the Boston lawyers and citizens, closed. an impas-
sioned, learned, and powerful appeal of tin •ee columns
by the following peroration :
"Entertain no vain regrets for him whom you are
now seeking to honour from motives emin o utly honour-
able to yourselves. For your country, far a wronged
and injured people, for a neglected constitution, you
may grieve (sensation)—but not for him. :(f the efforts
which you and others aro now making cannot be
crowned with success, he assured that th e residue of
that life will be all that your fondest 'V fishes could
make it. (Loud applause.) You will see an old age
adorned with letters, sustained by roligic n, dignified
by the noblest of human pursuits, surrounded by the
affections of a grateful people, and exensi sing, by the
mere force of intellect, en influence exec° ding that of
his own previous life. You will see the ;retirement of
a statesman whose resources of personal b appiness are
as ample as his power of public usefulnes s. You will
see that great orb go down to the west, aal skies un-
clouded and serene. Its last rays will rest on you.
The later wisdom of advancing years that, will go forth
to mould the opinion of the world will be lattered to you.
In the midst of you ,defended by your gig dance, encom-
passed by your care, he will remain, and :his fame will
be to you and yours :3 possession which neither time,
nor accident, nor human caprice, nor hurnitii malice, can
touch or take away."
They are having I see, morover, le: sis numerous
but equally resolute meetings in favour crf Mr. Web-
ster in other parts of the country, and o !rtainly this
movement must seriously affect the fortunes of
General Scott. A very large number of newspapers
in every part of the country have, durisn K the tour of
General Scott through the west indulged', in the se-
verest strictures upon his course. They do not hesi-
tate to say that it is a gross violation of pi tblic decency
that the Commander-in-Chief of the American army
—our little Duke of Wellington—should, when a
candidate for the highest civil office, and: still in the
exercise of the highest military power le sown to our
constitution, choose such an occasion as this to travel
thousands of miles with an imposing Finite, and at
great public expense, merely to m ale political
speeches in his own favour, under the pretext of
performing a public duty. No wonder that the
Bugled° Republic should ask, as it does in the follow-
ing paragraph ,
" THAT SITE FOR A. MILITARY HOSPITAL..—When
Will General Scott find that site ? He has been march-
ing and countermarching, traversing and re-traversing
State after State, electrifying his Whig friends through-
out the country with his 4aiusurpassed eloquence,' and
his wisdom, which exceeds Newton's and .Locke,a,, all
about a site for a military hospital. We should not
wonder if that evasive, dodging, unfindable site should
keep out of the General's sight till the time drtws near
for him to be cited to embark for the Salt River country.
Let us not be understood, however, as insinuatiug that
the Whig candidate is on an electioneering tour, instead
of looking for that site. No, no, he denies that at every
place where he stops. Ile is certainly in pursuit of that
site, which, like an iynis fatuus, lures him from place to
place, first one course and then another, sometimes ap-
pearing nearly within his reach, and then flitting again
away into another State. A very slippery thing is that
site which the General is pursuing ; and we sometimes
doubt whether ho will ever got within the sweep of his
sword of it."
Many newspapers have made themselves merry at
a thousand peculiar remarks's:if the illustrious General
on his tour, and it has already grown into a proverb
that a`Scott-man must of necessity " love that Irish
brogue." The General himself made use of this ex-
pression while addressing a crowd in Ohio. Upon
which the Neu, York Sun makes the following com-
ments :
" While the General was addressing a crowd at Cleve-
land, Ohio, and telling bis auditors bow glad he was to
be with them, some son of Erin, whose tongue, it seems,
betrayed its nationality, with genuine Irish hospitality
told him he was welcome. Quick as thought the Gene-
ral exclaimed,—
' I love that Irish brogue. I love to hear it.'
" O'Connell himself never excelled that bit of blarney.
We expect the Irish brogue to become quite fashionable
in political circles at least; and, should Scott be elected
to the presidency, office-seekers will doubtless practise