The Sun.
London, England, 1865-12-11 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, -MONDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 11, 1865.

vernment had anticipated that request. (Cheers.)
They had determined that there should be forthwith
a full, an impartial, and an independent inquiry.
(Hear, hear.) The arrangements for conducting
that inquiry had already made some progress.
They would be completed with as little delay as
was compatible with their satisfactory completion.
He hoped that his information respecting the
progress that was being made in them would go to
Jamaica by the next mail. (Hear, hear.)
It was the object of the Government that
nothing should be left undone that was
calculated to secure the most complete and perfect
knowledge upon the whole subject. When the in-
quiry was over, the Government would not be found
disposed to palliate or excuse anything that was de-
serving of reprobation. (Hear, hear.) In the mean-
time, he was sure the deputation would feel the
necessity of saying nothing, and even of thinking
nothing, which was incompatible with the freedom
and fairness of that inquiry. (Hear, hear.) He
wished to say, with regard to Governor Eyre, that
that gentleman was not known personally to him.
He was known to him only by his reputation, which
had always been that of a man of courage and hu-
manity. If he might judge of the distress which
the receipt of the intelligence from Jamaica in-
flicted upon a person in his (Ir. Cardwell's) posi-
tion, what must he think of a person who found
himself placed in the position in the colony in which
Governor Eyre had been placed ? Whatever the
deputation might think, and whatever their feelings
might be upon the other parts of his conduct, they
must feel the deepest sympathy for any man placed
in that position. They must feel that if the disturb-
ance that took place had not been immediately
brought to a close, disastrous consequences of the
worst kind might have followed. (No, no, and a
cry of " Question.") They had come to ask for a
fair inquiry. He trusted that the spirit of fairness
would characterise the conduct of all who were pre-
sent. He felt it to be his bounden duty, after lis-
tening to so many remarks respecting Governor
Eyre, to say that which he had just said. (Hear,
hear.) He believed that Governor Eyre himself
would be the first person to welcome the opportu-
nity of such an inquiry as was asked for. He (Mr.
Cardwell) was desirous that the inquiry should be
full and complete, and by the result of that inquiry
his conduct for one should be guided.
In reply to a question put by the Rev. DAVID
THOMAS,

Mr. CARDWELL said that he had been in corre-
spondence with Governor Eyre upon the subject of
Jamaica during the whole current year. That cor-
respondence was already passing through the press
for the purpose of being laid before Parliament at
its meeting. (Hear, hear.)
Mr. CHAMEROUZOW thanked Mr.Cardwell, in the
name of the deputation, for the courtesy he had
shown in making arrangements for the accommoda-
tion of so large a number of gentlemen.
The deputation then withdrew.

Metropolitan Improvements•
.t>

Among the mass of private bills that await the
consideration of the new Parliament there is a small
percentage which are not brought forward for the
purpose of still further cutting up the metropolis
with railways, but are on the contrary intended to
improve it. The Board of Works has taken the
field with renewed energy. Middle-row, Holborn,
is to be removed, the Burdett-road, Finsbury, the
Commercial-road, Whitechapel, the High-street,
Kensington, are all to be improved. Park-lane will
cease to be a standing reproach to the Board, for it
is to be widened to an extent that will not only ac-
commodate its traffic, but make it one of the finest
main thoroughfares in London. The new street to
the Mansion-house is to be proceeded with. Two
new and magnificent approaches are to be made to
the Thames Embankment—one passing over the site
of Northumberland-house, and giving a wide pros-
pect from the corner of the Haymarket right across
the river; the other, equally spacious, from the cor-
ner of Wellington-street on to the embankment at
the foot of Cecil-street. A magnificent crescent is
to be built along the embankment stretching from
Hungerford to Waterloo-bridge. Preliminary steps
are to be taken for embanking the south side of the
Thames, and on the north the embankment is to be
continued from what is called " Mr. Cubbitt's road"
up to Chelsea.
This makes a very fair list of improvements, and
above all of improvements that are most urgently
needed. The Board of Works are evidently deter-
mined to maintain the reputation they have justly
earned. If they cannot make London beautiful in
the Continental sense of the word, they are at least
bent on making it more habitable and convenient,
on facilitating the passage of its enormous traffic,
and by wider and straighter streets bringing its al-
most unmanageable distances more under control.
What they have already done they have done well,
and, as what they have done what at the outset they
intended to do, the promise of these announced im-
provements comes upon us in a more hopeful form
than the dim visions in which the ideas of metropo-
litan
improvements used to flicker before the con-
stitution of the Board. Already we have one fine
new street, many are improved by better lighting,
all have been properly numbered and clearly named.
The main drainage system is complete, with the
exception of the short link of low level sewer
which is to run under the Thames Embank-
ment and the Embankment Railway; and, the
greatest and most important of all, the drainage
pumping stations will be begun next week. As it
is, however, all except about one-eighth of London's
refuse is now conveyed far away—a fact which any
one who travels by water between Barking and
Crossness Point will discover. The great embank-
ment, too, is fast progressing. The foundations are
laid at Westminster, and the granite facing is
begun. Part of the parapet has been fixed near
Temple-gardens, all along the line of works be-
tween these two points the river has been dammed
out, the slime and refuse cleared away, the concrete
poured in, and the filling up of earth begun.
Since the first conception of this great work many
improvements have been made upon its original de-
sign, and none greater than those of its northern
approaches, which the Board of Works are now
applying to Parliament for powers to carry out.
The most important of these is the alteration which
is to be effected by the removal of no less a building
than our old friend, Northumberland-house. This
new thoroughfare will be a continuation in a per-
fectly straight line of Cockspur-street, and passing
through the corner houses of Charing-cross, west of
Northumberland-house, removes part of the old
mansion itself, and traversing its gardens, North-
umberland-street and Percy wharf, comes out upon
the broad highway of the embankment, which at
this point will be about 300 ft. wide. The sweep of
the river makes the embankment at this place
wider than at any other part except east of Hunger-
ford-bridge, where it is upwards of 400 ft., and as
the 300 ft. below Northumberland-house will, of
course, not be all required for the roadway along
the embankment which will be uniformly of 80ft.
wide, a large clump of trees will be planted
here, but not so as to interfere with the fine view
down the new avenue across the river from Charing-
cross. The width of this road is to be 80ft., and
on both sides the land will be occupied with fine
buildings, the ground-rents going far to repay the
cost of the thoroughfare, which will not exceed
£190,000. At the bottom of this road a handsome
in
steamboat pier is to be built. Another road, but one
of less importance, though still of the same width,
is to be
shut made by
removing
end of
Whitehall-place,
blocke hal
-of wharves
which
ythe
any
giving another line of route to the embankment. A
third, though only of 40ft. width, will enter
on the
river road from Villiers-street ; and the fourth, as
-ide and- handsome as that to be taken through
'-umberland-house, is to pass from the corner
-don-street, through Savoy-street and a
tenements and wharves, on to the
'he foot of Cecil-street. Along all
Ard of Works retains the free-
.:qtating the style in which

4-erloo bridges a space
will be reclaimed
Along this
'nt-ataped

row of fine shops, with a belt of trees planted in the
centre of the embankment. East of Waterloo
bridge, at the foot of Surrey-street, the bank again
widens, and another space in the centre is set apart
to be occupied by trees and shrubberies up to the
Temple-gardens. Beyond this it again narrows,
and the wide road and footpaths will leave little
room for planting. Almost equal in importance to
these promised facilities and improvements is that
which the Board of Works propose in the widening
of Park-lane. It is proposed to take down the whole
block of buildings from Glocester-house, the resi-
dence of the Duke of Cambridge, up to No. 1,
Park-lane, in front of Holderness-house, and to
put back the railings of the private garden ground
which adjoins the Park some 25ft. up to near
Grosvenor-gate. This will give to Park-lane a
uniform width of 70ft. (the width of Cannon-
street) from Piccadilly up to close upon Grosve-
nor-street. Of course the Board of Works hope
that this improvement will notes be allowed to
stop short at this point ; but as the rest of the
land on the left is Hyde Park, a special dispensa-
tion must be given by Parliament to enable them to
touch it. That they may obtain this permission is
most earnestly to be wished. The encroachment on
the Park is not worth mentioning, for from Gros-
venor-gate the lane is already so wide that putting
back the park railings some 25ft. would .give the
whole road a width of 70ft. from. Piccadilly to the
Marble Arch.

These are some of the improvements which the
Board of Works promise us if they can but obtain
the funds with which to carry them out.

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

THE " EXAMINER" ON GREECE UNDER SPONNECK.
—.The Greeks have at last got rid of Count Spon-
neck, a Danish Mentor being as insupportable to
them as a Bavarian. They want to Grecianize their
young King, and this was a thing that Sponneck
would not hear of. He was deeply impressed with
the grave injunctions of the Great Powers, who
said, one and all, that this thing must not be done
and the other thing must not be attempted. Spon-
neck obeyed them, and the consequence is that he
has done nothing. He has not set the provinces in
order, he has not reorganised the army, he has not
brought capital to the country or made it prosperous
or contented. He has not even put down the bri-
gands, or constituted either a Government or a
police capable of putting them down. Will the
young King do better in the hands of the pure
Hellenes than he did under his Danish Mentor ? All
depends upon some one Greek coming forth and
displaying a real talent for government and for
management. The monarch is a dashing youth,
rides a Centaur, and likes the pastimes and excite-
ment of a young king of twenty. This alone
will not go far. And yet it is better than the
united cunning of the late King and Queen, who
pretended to be most Greek, but who were so
merely by cheating all parties, selling places, and
making the palace the head-quarters of petty
squabbles and intrigues. Otho trusted no ministers
and employed none that would not be subservient
to his narrow views. King George can at least call
to his councils only those whom the public voice
put forward and whom the Chambers will support.
But will the Chambers support an able and an
honest man ? Deligiorgis, the leader of the popu-
lar party, is said to be both, and we see that he is
definitely the Minister—certainly the best choice
that could have been made. Politics unfortunately
form a trade in Greece. They are so more or less
in many ccuntries. Only it is the trade of a small
portion of the people, whilst the larger portion de-
votes itself to industry and productive callings. But
politics in Greece form the all-absorbing trade.
And the locusts are too many for the green leaves
and grass. They devour everything. The army is
disreputable, fit for anything but either defending
or preserving the peace of the country. But turn
it adrift, and so many brigands are let loose upon
the land. The army of civil employes is quite
as bad. " You ought to have reformed all
this," exclaims Count Sponneck to the protect-
ing Powers, "before you sent King George and me
to Greece. You might have named a Dictator
ad hoc, with fleets and troops in the Pincus. You
should have cleansed the Augean stable of King Otho
ere you sent King George to occupy it." For he
cannot clean it. He cannot go to war with the
Greeks, and make himself unpopular by his first
acts. And not being able to do this, he can do
nothing. If he had the genius and the will to re-
form these abuses theChainber would not let him do
it, for its members live by these very abuses, or are
closely connected with those who do. We need but
mention the recent circumstance of a Ministry which
came in with a programme for large reductions and
economy. It was unable to live a fortnight before
the Chamber. There are some who blame consti-
tutional government for this. What would they
gain by doing away with it? King Otho did so
virtually, and made use of his almost uncontrolled
power to introduce or augment all the elements that
exist. In 0 tho's hands Greece was a farm which
he tried to turn to value for himself. His successor
cannot hope to reign but by consulting the country,
enlightening, pacifying it, selecting from it the best
men, and encouraging the best motives. Had Count
Sponneck gone upon this tack he would have done
better than by vainly attempting to govern Greece
without consulting the Greeks at all. The result
was that they neutralised each other, and that there
has been no result whatever.

THE "SATURDAY REVIEW " ON THE POSSIBLE
ABSORPTION OF BELGIUM BY FRANCE.—The absorp-
tion, from some point of view, would scarcely be of
much benefit to the French nation. The neutrality
of Belgium is a shield behind which, in case of a
European conflict, France stands sheltered on the
north. Provided that Belgium can make her neu-
trality respected, she protects the French frontier
better and more cheaply than a French army of
150,000 men. Such has been the opinion of M.
Persigny and. of M. Thiers, and the opinion is as
sensible and as rational as could be wished. N o
scheme for the partition of Belgium could make the
French frontier as secure. Supposing even that the
illusory plan for annexing to France the territory
between the Scheld and the Meuse were carried into
effect, France would still have lost something. It
is true that upon paper her military position would
be magnificent. In the case of a war with Great
Britain, she would enjoy theoretically the advantage
of an adjacent seaboard, intersected by navigable
French rivers, without being exposed, on the other
hand, to the discomfort of blockade. But, in fact,
the Dutch, if they held Antwerp, could never re-
main neutral in such a contest. The first cannon-
shot would be the signal for their joining one or other
of the belligerents; and France would take care that
the choice was promptly exercised in her own favour.
To give the French the Scheld and the Meuse would
therefore, in reality, be to give them Antwerp.
Belgium, in such an event, must be held by French
troops, and in all probability would again become
the theatre of war. There are accordingly, in truth
and in fact, but two real alternatives—whether Bel-
gium is to exist, or to pass into the condition of a
French province ; and the latter would involve
nearly as much loss of military advantage as it
would gain. But the question of extension of the
French frontier must not be considered solely, and
would not certainly be decided, upon militarygrounds.
Every windfall that comes to the French Empire has
a tendency to strengthen. the Imperial dynasty ; and
the annexation of Belgium, Savoy, and Nice would
be trophies to which any future Bonaparte adven-
turer would be entitled to point with triumph as
among the hereditary glories of his house. This is
not so serious a reproach as it might seem. There
are few Royal families upon the Continent that
would not court a distinction of the kind, and
that territorial greediness is not altogether a
thing of remote antiquity which converted the Con-
gress of Vienna, fifty years ago, into a banquet of
Royal and Imperial harpios. For a new empire,
like the French, the prestige of a policy of annexa-
tion is worth more, and the desire to obtain it would
be more excusable. France might not care to have
Belgium as a military position, or as a political in-
vestment ; but it might be worth France's while to
have it for an ornament, and a concession to her
own vanity. If the Belgians cared less about their
national independence, it would be in greater peril.
They do care about it, and they are right in so
doing. As they are circumstanced at present, they
present the unique spectacle of a free and indus-
trious people, engaged in working out many difficult
problems in religion and in politics, and sheltered
from all the interruptions of war. Transformed
into a knot of French departments, Belgium would
in many ways be benefited ; but she would exchange
national self-government for government by pre-
fects, and would buy a showy interest in the French
flag at the ruinous price of partnership in French
enterprise and adventure. And so long as the Bel-
gians prefer remaining as they are, so long will it be
very difficult for Napoleon 111. to seize upon their
territory. The French, in spite of all that John Bull
may think, are not a nation of brigands. They
are a people with a good deal of nobility of nature,
mixed up with egregious vanity, and lust of con-
quest, and intolerable arrogance. They are far too
liberal and civilized not to blush at the idea of re-
peating the old follies of Napoleon lII.' and crush-
ing the individuality of Belgium, without consulting
Belgium's wishes. Universal suffrage does not
mean much, but it means something ; and the
French, who have so persistently maintained that
the Schleawigers and liolgoinorg, ought to be con-

suited about their own destiny, could not, and would
not, assert that the opinions of the Belgians were
totally beside the point. There is a large Republican
party in name, which, with all its faults, has the
merit of being cosmopolitan in its sympathies. This
is, indeed, the best side of French Republicanism.
It has a kind of impulsive and generous interest in
many causes which it has been the hereditary policy
of successive French statesmen to consider antago-
nistic to the best interests of France. M. Thiers,
M.Guizot, and perhaps the Emperor of the French,
are superior. in many respects to the wild and en-
thusiastic French Democrat ; but if they are exempt
from his failings, they are deficient in some of his
virtues. The same popular feeling which defends
in France the cause of Italy against the traditional
prejudices of French statesmen, would, if necessary,
espuse the cause of Belgium.

THE " LONDON REVIEW" ON ENGRAVING WITH
A SUNBEAM.—The title of our article is by no means
figurative. We can now dispense with the engraver,
and employ the sunbeam in his stead. The new
process by which this revolution is to be effected is
that of Mr. Walter Woodbury, and has been recently
described in the scientific journals. -As it is not a
complex one, we shall try and convey an idea of its
general features. In taking an ordinary photograph,
a solution of silver is placed upon glass, and has
projected on it, through the medium of a camera
obscura, an image of some object which it is desired
to represent. This image consists of several com-
binations of light and shade, and, as the effect of
light is to darken the silver solution by decomposing
it, the lightest shades (those most illuminated) are
represented on the glass plate by dark portions, and
the dark shades, being less decomposed, are fainter.
In this case, the object photographed has been re-
presented by lights and shades. There are, however,
certain combinations other than those of silver, which
are differently affected Wight. Now, a compound of
gelatine and bichromate of ammonia is one of these.
When this is exposed to the action of light, it be-
comes perfectly insoluble ; so that when a photo-
graph taken with it is placed in hot water, the parts
which were least exposed are dissolved away, and
those submitted to the light remain, thus leaving a
representation in relief. Upon this quality of bi-
chromatized gelatine depends the principal feature
in the new process. In the first instance, a nega-
tive (that is, a photograph of a special kind on
glass) is taken of the picture or object of which it
is wished to obtain an engraving, and this is placed
over a plate of talc, bearing a stratum of the pre-
pared gelatine, and in this position exposed to the
light. The sun's rays, in passing through the ne-
gative, fall upon the gelatine with various intensity,
hardening the parts least covered, and leaving those
parts unaltered which are completely protected by
the shadows of the negative. After sufficient ex-
posure, the gelatine plate is removed, and placed in
hot water, which dissolves away all those parts
unacted on by the sun, leaves those completely ex-
posed intact, and partially removes the portions of
the plate which were slightly protected. When,
therefore, the gelatine plate, with its support of talc,
is removed from the water, it presents a series
of elevations and depressions which exactly
correspond in extent and height to the lights and
shades of the picture. It is in fact an intaglio plate
in gelatine, but one which, as its depressions cor-
respond to the light portions of the picture, can-
not be used for engraving. A cast must be taken ;
and this is effected either by metallic deposition, as
in electrotyping, or by pressing the hardest gelatine
plate into one of soft lead. The latter method is
the one which Mr. Woodbury employs, and
although it seems hard to believe, it is unques-
tionably the fact that by pressure alone a per-
fect impression of the gelatine is produced on type-
metal. The next stage in the process is that of
printing. An intaglio block, i.e., one in which the
dimensions are to be filled with ink, and the surface
to be left clean, has been produced, but it remains
to be shown how it is used. If it were simply coated
with ordinary printing ink the " proof" would be as
devoid of half-tones as the worst photo-lithograph,
and therefore a peculiar ink—suggested many
years ago by M. Gaudin is employed. This ink
consists of gelatine holding colouring matter, of
whatever hue is desired, in solution ; it is a
translucent preparation and is not densely coloured.
This compound is poured into the intaglio mould
—for a mould it really is—and the latter is
pressed down upon the paper which is to receive the
print. The ink, which has become semi-solid, falls
from the depressions in the block somewhat in the
manner of jelly from a jelly-mould, and soaks into
the paper. In this way the deepest depressions,
corresponding to the darkest shades, throw down
the greatest number of layers of ink, and the shal-
lowest ones the least ; so that a picture is produced
in which even the most delicate half-tints are ex-
quisitely brought out. Indeed, the result is some-
what similar to that of " washing" in watercolour
painting, the greatest quantity of colour producing
the greatest shade, and conversely—every tint in
the gradation being preserved. The inventor of
the exceedingly ingenious method we have described
considers that one man at work with four presses
could produce as many as 120 prints per hour, and
at a cost which would be very trifling. If in prac-
tice Mr. Woodbury's process turns out as successful
results as those we have already seen, we have no
doubt of its coming into general use. At present
we can only testify to the beauty and perfection of
the specimens we have inspected.

" THE ATHENEUM" ON PORT WINE !—Every one
has heard of the eccentric nobleman who said to a
party of guests, " You have tried my champagne
and liked it, but I could not tell you its history ;
you spoke well of the hock, but I was silent--for I
really don't know how it came into my cellar ; but
this bottle of old port I can recommend, for I made
it myself." The story is familiar to every one ; but
the art of making fine old port has hitherto been a
mystery to the millions. Drawing the veil, and
throwing light on things not generally known, the
author of a manual just published gives three re-
ceipts for port wine. No. 1 runs thus —" British
Port Wine. Take British grape wine, or
good rough cider, 4 gallons ; recent juice of
elderberries, 1 gallon ; logwood, in fine chips,
4 ounces ; rhatany root, bruised, lb. ; French
brandy, 2 quarts. Infuse the logwood and rhatany
root in the brandy, and 1 gallon of the grape wine
or cider, for one week ; then strain of the liquor,
and mix it with the other ingredients. Keep it in a
tightly-bunged cask one month ; it will then be fit
for bottling,"—and fit for very little else, we should
think. No. 2 wine, a liquor that may be used for
medicinal purposes amongst the " surplus popula-
tion," and may also be given away in large quan-
tities to poor relations, and other members of the
lower orders, is made thus :—" Put into a clean and
perfectly sweet 60-gallon cask, which has been
previously fumed with brimstone, 8 gallons of
sound port wine ; add to that 40 gallons of
good cider, and filll up the cask with French
brandy. The juice of ripe elderberries and sloes
will impart a proper degree of roughness, and
you can communicate the colour you desire with
cochineal." Merely to read this makes the tongue
as rough as a bread-grater. Here is the third re-
ceipt :—" Take sound cider, 24 galls. ; port wine,
4 galls. ; juice of ripe elderberries, 6 galls. ; brandy,
6 quarts ; logwood, 1 lb. ; American isinglass, dis-
solved in a gallon of the cider, 12 oz. Blend these
well together, by stirring, for one hour ; and if you
prefer a rough flavour, add alum, in powder, 5 oz.
Bung it down closely, and in three months bottle it.
In twelve months it will he ready for drinking."
This is the port wine that is usually put on students'
tables in the dining-halls of our Inns of Court.

THE TEXAS COTTON CROP.—A letter from Gal-
veston, Texas, states that the cotton from that port this
year will be at least 200,000 bales, which is about one half
the aggregate export from the State. The same letter states
that much of this cotton is paid for in gold, and mentions
the extraordinary influx of gold into the State. The value
of this Texas cotton, computed at 400,000 bales, at 40 cents
per pound, would be $80,000,000, or equivalent to 1,500,000
bales at the prices of 1859. If allowance is made for the
wheat, corn, wool, hides, growth of stock and other pro-
ducts, Texas will probably have given this year a greater
product in value, in proportion to population, than any
other State in the Union.

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54, Upper Baker-street ; 103, Tottenham-court-road ; 96,
Upper-street, Islington, N.; Harvey, Notting-hill; Close
Brothers, 65, High-street ; and Stubbs, Queen's-terrace, St.
John's -wcod, London ; and all respectable grocers and oho-
mists.—Beware of spurious imitations,

America from the Atlantic to the Pacific.

The following letter has been addressed to the editor of
the Anglo-American Times :
In a late number of your paper in which you did me the
honor of favorably noticing my work entitled " America
from the Atlantic to the Pacific," you in a kindly spirit
take exceptions to the proposed route which I advocate,
and draw the conclusion that I am opposed to the
Central or Union/Pacific route. Will you permit me to
definitely explain, in as brief and comprehensive a manner
as possible, what the purport of that book is.
From Europe to North America we have a system of
communication by steam and sailing ships. We have
lines of steamers as follow :—From Bremen, Havre,
Southampton, London, Liverpool, Cork, &c., to Quebec
and Montreal, Halifax, Portland, Boston, New York,
Baltimore, and New Orleans. These lines, with the innu-
merable sailing fleets which sail from every European port
of any importance, convey the enormous traffic in pas-
sengers and commerce which continually flow westward
across the Atlantic. From the Atlantic board we have,
according to the Report on Foreign and Domestic Com-
merce for 1864, published by order of the Secretary of
the Treasury of the United States, seven distinct routes
between the Atlantic Coast and the Mississippi River.
(1) From Portland by the Grand Trunk Railway of
Canada to Detroit, Michigan, and thence, with a traverse
of the State and Lake of Michigan, to Milwaukee and La
Crosse ; (2) by the New York Central, the Great Western
of Canada, and the Chicago and North-Western railroads
to Prairie du Chien ; (3) by the New York and Erie, the
lines of Ohio and Indiana south of the great lake, and the
Illinois Central, to Galena; (4) the Pennyslvania Central
and its Western connections to Rock Island ; (5) the
Baltimore and Ohio, by way of Cincinnati to St. Louis;
(6) from Richmond, through the Cumberland Valley to
Memphis ; and (7) from Charleston and Savannah, tra-
versing the States of Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi,
to Vicksburg and New Orleans. Besides these we have
the Atlantic and Great Western, which, in combination
with the New York and Erie, with which it unites at
Salamanca, and the Ohio and Mississippi, forms a direct
and unbroken line of 1,200 miles on the six-foot gauge,
and unites the Mississippi with the Atlantic board. All
these are overcrowded with freight and traffic at the
pkesent time, and demand an increase of rolling stock in
order to carry on profitably the marvellous increase of
trade which has developed itself during the past two or
three years. By reference to the Weekly Circular of Messrs.
SATTERTHWAITE, published in the last number of your
paper, you will perceive the Grand Trunk of Canada has
all it can do with the local business, and is not now re-
ceiving any through freights from Chicago and other
Lake (Michigan) ports for Boston and other New England
places, such as Portland, &c. Mr. E. W. WATKIN, M.P.,
the Chairman of the Grand Trunk, at the last meeting
stated that five years since the net receipts for the year
were £72,000, while this year they would amount to
.£400,000.

The Chicago and Alton (281 miles) in 1863 earned
$1,673,706, against $2,770,484 for 1864, while for the
month of September, 1864, the earnings were $320,381 ;
for the same month in 1865 they were $399,602.
The Chicago and North-Western (609 miles) in 1863
earned $3,988,042, while in 1864 the earnings amounted
to $6,114,566.
The Erie Railway (724 miles)in 1863 earned $10,469,481,
while in 1864 the earnings increased to $13,429,643.
The earnings for the month of August, 1864, were
$1,105,364, while in the same month for 1865 they were
$1,364,126. The line is so crowded that they are compelled
to refuse freights.

The New York Central (656 miles) earned for the year
1863 $11,069,853, while in 1864 the earnings were
$13,230,417 ; for the month of August, 1864, the earnings
were $1,173,117, while for the same month in 1865 they
were $1,500,000. This road is completely blocked at
Albany with freight which it is incapable of running.
The Atlantic and Great Western (507 miles) :—By refe-
rence to the report of J. W. FORBES, we find the receipts
for the first six months of the present year upon the 322
miles then open were $2,579,737 ; and for the months of
July, August, and September, upon the 490 miles then in
work were $2,011,676. If the receipts for the months of
October, November, and December equal those of the pre-
ceding three months, as it is announced they will, then
the gross receipts for the year 1865 will be $6,603,089.
For the month of October we find the receipts amounted
to $719,911, against $396,847 in the corresponding month
of last year, showing the enormous increase of $323,064.
No one can admire more than I do the patriotism,
energy, will, and public spirit which Mr. JAMES WHENRY
has manifested in carrying on and completing so much of
his contract during the war. I can bear personal testimony
to the fact that during the darkest hours of the Republic
his resolution never faltered, nor his confidence abated
one iota in the final issue. This statement is inserted, as
your late criticism would seem to infer that I was opposed
to the M'llEratY project.
The Pennyslvania Central Railroad (411 miles) upon a
capital of $16,696,763 produced the net earnings of
$4,873,218 in 1864.

The Baltimore and Ohio (380 miles) in 1864 earned
$3,618,612 on a capital of $10,000,000. Both these
roads are doing all the business which their lines can
carry.

The Chicago and North-Western (609 miles) in 1863
earned $3,988,042, while in 1864 the earnings amounted
to $6,114,566 ; for the month of October, 1865, the earn-
ings were $923,886, against $729,759 for 1864.
The Chicago and Rock Island (182 miles) in 1863 earned
$1,959,267 ; in 1864, $3,095,470.

The tonnage of the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers is 50
per cent greater than before the war. The steamboats
between St. Louis and New Orleans ara crowded with all
classes of goods, while the railroads of the South, which
during the war were sadly cut up, mutilated, and
destroyed, are rapidly being repaired and placed in a state of
adaptability to the wants of travel and traffic. The whole
country east of the Mississippi exhibits a series of net-
works of railways which ramify in• every direction, and
which, extensive and numerous as they are, are found in-
capable of providing for the wants of trade. The products
of the mines, manufactures, and the soil have increased to
such a degree that ere long other outlets to the Atlantic
coast must be found. The present great lines must bo re-
lieved of the cumulative pressure of trade, by the con-
struction of lines parallel with those of the Grand Trunk,
Central, Erie, &c.

Beyond the Mississippi a trade is springing up, popula-
tion increasing, agriculture developing, mining producing,
and a current of commerce moving, which in a few years
will astound the most sanguine believers in the future
prosperity of America. The history of those regions
during the past ten years must convince any reflecting
person that within the next ten years neither one nor two
lines of railways will suffice for the never-ending traffic
that will move from ocean to ocean, over prairie, across
river, and over mountain.
There have been four routes proposed between the Mis-
sissippi River or its borders and the Pacific Ocean, to con-
vey this traffic. Tho Southern Pacific Railroad, passing
on or near the parallel of 35 deg., which is central to the
region of cotton, the sugar cane, and the vine, and which
will be supported by the populations of Louisiana, Ar-
kansas, Neosho (or the territory occupied by the Cherokee
and Choctaw Indians), Texas, New Mexico, Arizona,
Sonora, and Southern California. The length of
this route would be, from Fort Smith, situated in Arkan-
sas, on the Arkansas River, to San Francisco, a distance of
1,952 miles, and the estimated cost is placed at
£20,000,000, or about £lO,OOO per mile. It may be safely
stated that there is little or no movement made in re-
ference to this route at present. The scarcity of popu-
lation, their late relations to the Federal authority, the
various tribes of Indians which infest the country, and the
fact that the United States Government has lent its in-
fluence and assistance to the Union or Central, :are all
obstacles which impede any present movement in the con-
struction of a line on the parallel of 35 deg.
The Central or Union Pacific Railroad on the average
latitude of 46 deg. would pass Missouri, Kansas, Colorado,
Utah, Nevada, and California. Now it is a law in re-
ference to population in America that there should be one
mile of railroad to each thousand of population ; for in-
stance, in 1861, the population of the United States was
estimated at 31,615,267, while on that date official reports
show that there were 31,168 miles of railroad, at a
constructive cost of $1,777,993,818, or $37,794 97 per
mile.

The Central Pacific is divided into three divisions : the
eastern division, 360 miles in length, the central division,
1,400 miles, and the western division, 265 miles. The
California, or western division, consists of three sections.
The Ist section, from San Francisco to San Jose, a dis-
tance of 49 3-10 miles, was completed at a cost of $40,000
per mile. The 2nd section, between San Jose and Sacra-
mento, 115 miles, is now being hurried forward with
considerable energy. The company during January,
February, and March employed five hundred men,
in June they reached two thousand, while in July
they had increased to two thousand five hundred,
and the company hoped they would have in October five
thousand laborers employed. California is rendering all
the assistance possible in lending the security of the State
and guaranteeing the payment of the interest of the com-
pany's lbonds in gold. The State of Nevada, through
which the Pacific Railroad will pass, in 1860 contained a
population of only 6,857; at the close of 1863 it had reached
60,000, and was increasing in a marvellous ratio. Her
mines in 1864 produced 1120,000,000, while she paid
$3,000,000 for fieights coming into the territory from the
Pacific coast. The State has pledged her credit to the ex-
tent of $3,000,000 in aid of the railroad.
Utah Territory is increasing in population and in
wealth, and BRIGHAM YOUNG has promised to furnish all
the laborers and mechanics requisite to build that portion
of the road passing through that country.
Colorado, in 1860, possessed a population of 34,231; in
1864 it had increased to 60,000 ; at the same ratio, in 1870
the population will exceed 200,000. The product of gold
for 1864 was over $15,000,000.
Kansas, in 1860, had a population of 107,206, in 1864,
120,000. In 1860 there were 6,922 waggons crossed the
Missouri River into Kansas.

In the spring of 1864, PETER A. DEY, Esq., engineer of
the Union Pacific Railroad, writing from Canada, under
date of May 17th, says, " Four thousand waggons and Piz

1.1% ....

thousand tons of freight have crossed the River Omaha
since April Ist. There is now a daily movement of two
hundred teams, three hundred tons of freight, and one
thousand persons. The statistics of the spring emigration
for 1864 shows 75,000 men, 22,500 tons of freight, 30,000
horses and mules, and 75,000 cattle. It is computed that
the population of Kansas in 1870 will reach the aggregate
of 300,000, that of California will amount to 1,500,000,
Nevada to 180,000, Utah to 240,000, Colorado to 180,000,
or a total on the line of the Pacific Central
Railroad, in 1870, of two million four hundred
and sixty thousand inhabitants, which would allow
of two thousand four hundred and sixty miles of
railroad, according to the recognised law which governs
railroads in America in reference to population. The
whole length of the Central Pacific Railroad is 2,045 miles.
The English colony of Victoria in 1861 had a total popu-
lation of 540,322, and possessed 361 miles of railroad, cost-
ing £35,000 per mile, which paid six per cent., while Cali-
fornia, with the same population, had only 75 miles of
railroad in operation. But besides the prospective increase
in population, in overland trade, and the support of the
States through which the railway passes, the grants of the
general government in bonds and lands make it one of
the best investments to offer to European capitalists.
That road I have looked upon as the road first to be
finished. This is the great central route following Mr.
HEENRY'S, 1,200 miles from the Atlantic. But I hold one
is not sufficient; and, moreover, if England desires even
a partial interest in the trade of the Pacific, she must seek
an avenue at once. The question which I have endea-
voured to put to the English people is, Are they willing
to have the whole of the Pacific trade for ever snatched
from them? Are they willing to see the highway to India,
China, and Japan wholly pass through American territory ?
Or are they willing to assist in the construction of a route
at once international and expedient ?
The Northern or Lake route, and the Canadian are alike
impossible at the present. Idaho, Montana, and Dakota
are comparatively deserts, and inhabited by tribes of
Indians inveterately hostile to the United States. The
reports of Major-General G. K. WARREN, U.S.A., Pro-
fessor Hum, PALISSER, and others, prove these deserts to
be forbidding and incapable of agriculturally supporting
population. The Great Plains, which extend through this
distance, are characterised geologically by a development
of the cretaceous formation, which is observed over large
Asiatic areas, and, concurring with aridity, constitutes the
American desert. Population would have been slowly
attracted to these localities but for the discovery of gold.
The proposed Canadian route north of the great lakes
is unpopulated, marshy, incapable of agricultural improve-
ment, and dreary in every aspect.

The Canadians, now that the proposed Confederation of
the British North-American provinces is considered favour-
ably, are desirous of opening up a route to the territory of
the North-West, and thence to the Rocky Mountains. But
they halt at once in considering the feasibility or non-
feasibility of such a route when they contemplate its cost.
Professor K. Y. HIND, in his "Narrative of the Canadian
Exploring Expedition," says that " any railway passing south
of the 49th parallel, must pass for a distance of twelve hun-
dred miles west of the Mississippi, through uncultivable land; or,
in other words, a comparative desert." Major PALISSER, on
the other hand, addressing the Duke of Newcastle, says :
" The knowledge of the country, on the whole, would
never lead me to advocate a line of communication from
Canada across the Continent to the Pacific, exclusively
through British territory. The time has now gone by for-
ever for effecting such an object."
The Hon. S. P. CHASE, late Secretary of the Treasury,
at the conclusion of the chapter on Pacific Railways in his
Report on Finance and Commerce for 1864, remarks :--
" The international railroad will be the favorite object of
English capitalists on this continent, as the Union Pacific
Railroad will combine in its behalf the energies of the
Government and citizens of the United States. These two
enterprises, therefore, will precede the construction of rail-
roads on the gulf and lake routes."

With your permission, 1 will continue and conclude this
subject in your next number, when I think I shall be able
to show that the international route is one which presents
advantages greatly to be appreciated by the United States,
and that the opening up of Hudson's Bay Territory will
prove a mine of wealth to the commerce of the State of
Minnesota, and the lakes, rivers, and railroads which
diverge from that point. It is a question which vitally
concerns Canada and
,the English nation, if there is not
unselfish patriotism enough, neither sufficient foresight
manifested by the Directors of Hudson's Bay Territory.
Why, then, when American enterprise pushes her iron
pathways to the door of her territory at Perubina, her
passengers may push on unasked and quietly settle where
they cannot buy. The role of Texas may be repeated. The
trade of the Pacific swells into grand proportions; even P.
portion of that trade is a prize worthy of the effort of ob-
taining. The age is one of progress, the march is west-
ward, the people flock towards the Rocky Mountains,
the virgin wealth of the Pacific invites the poverty-
stricken of Europe. Nations must be up and doing, as
well as individuals ; they must not glide with the current
and sail with the wind ; they must be the pilots to guide
the pioneers opening up the way for millions to follow.
THOMAS RA WLINGS, F.R.G.S.
Gresham House, London.