The Sun.
London, England, 1862-10-30 00:00:00

711 E PACIFIC.

By the arrival at Southampton of the West India
mail steamer La Plata, we have files of the Panama
Star and Herald to the 9th inst.

The steamer Valparaiso, from the South Pacific
ports, had arrived. The people of Chili seemed
wholly engrossed with the preparations going on
for the celebration of the anniversary of the inde-
pendence of their republic.

DOA Manuel A. Tocornal, Secretary of State, had
given a splendid fancy ball at Santiago.
A very successful ladies' fair was held at Valpa-
raiso on the 4th, sth, and 6th of September, for the
benefit of the Benevolent Society of that place.
The Valparaiso and Santiago Railroad was fast
progressing, and would, it was expected, be opened
throughout for traffic before another year.
The railroad from Santiago to San Fernando, it
was expected, would be opened at the same time.
Since last advices the following British vessels
had arrived at Valparaiso:—The Glenthuniy and
Phaeton, on the 7th of September ; the Dayspring,
Bth ; the Mandeline, 11th ; the Dundonald and the
John, on the 13th. Transactions in charters. have
been very numerous since the departure of the last
steamer, although in some instances at a slight de-
cline in previous rates. The Georgiana would pro-
bably be taken up for ores at 13 when the next
mail leaves.

_Exchange at Valparaiso... On London, 90 to 60,
43d., 451 d., to 451 d. ; Paris, 4f. 65c. to 4f. 70c.;
Hamburg, 40 to 40i.
From Peru there is no particular news. £700,000
of the English loan had reached Peru, but remained
deposited in the hands of the consignees, Govern-
ment, or rather Congree9, still declining to accept
the loan.
A national bank of di6count and deposit, with

power to issue notes far 10 dollars anal upwards,
was likely to be established. The Government
had brought a bill for the purpose before Congress.
A bill has also been laid before Congress by the
Government for regulating weights and measures
by the decimal metre, and being sanctioned by the
Senate would likely soon become law.
The patent for importing coal oil, so hastily
granted, had been annulled by Congress, so that
there is now free trade in that kind of light.
The following British vessels since last advices
had arrived at Callao---viz., Sea Nymph, Sept. 24 ;
Monteagle, 26th; and also her Majesty's ship Tri-
bune, 27th, from Valparaiso.
Her Majesty's ship Topaz was to leave Callao for
Panama on Sept. 30.
A revolution had again broken out in Bolivia.
General Perez was in pursuit of General Acha.
This latter was trying to collect forces in Corocoro,
but as the whole army and all the other towns were
for Perez, General Acha would, in all probability,
make his appearance in Tacna as a refugee.
A vessel arrived at Caldera on the 20th of Sep-
tember, from Europe, reported the total loss of the
American ship Reporter, bound to San Francisco,
off Cape Horn ; only four of the crew were saved.
The British ship Blue Rock, 700 tons, 11I'Dowell
master, laden with guano and bound to Hamburg,
sprung a leak off Chiloe. The captain endeavoured
to put into Valparaiso, but was prevented by con-
trary winds, and the ship finally sunk in lat. 22 40,
long. 72 30, about 200 miles south-west of Iquique;
all hands were saved.

LI7ERA7 ÜBE.

The Ganges and the eeine. By Sidney Laman

Blanchard. 2 vols. Chapman and Hall.

Under this title Mr. Blanchard gives ns a series
of essays and tales illustrative of various phases of
Indian and Parisian life, the former of which are
now published for the first time, whilst most of the
latter have appeared in the pages of Household
Words and All the Year Round. A few miscel-
laneous papers are also added ; the whole forming
a work which, for the lovers of light reading, will
possess considerable attraction. Some of the papers,
moreover, touch on topics of no small importance,
such for instance as that styled " India and Cotton."
" Nature," says the writer, " has given us every
advantage in India that soil and climate can fur-
nish ; but although she has done so much for us, we
have done so little for ourselves that the work may
be considered barely commences. There are immense
cotton fields, it is true ; but neither capital, skill, en-
terprise, nor even honesty, are employee; in raising
the plant; which is, therefore, an inferior article,
fetching an inferior price. The natives, to whom the
cultivation is almost entirely confined, have very
little power to improve the state of things, and
what power they have they do not care to employ.
Each man has a little patch of ground which he
cultivates for himself. He is responsible to no other
person for looking after his own interests, except,
indeed, to the native usurer, from whom he has
received advances for the purchase of the seed, and
who faithfully sells him up if he neglects to pay
them back. The first mistake which he makes is in
the matter of this same seed. The seed produced
from his own district is sown over and over again,
year after year, and has been allowed to reproduce
itself in this manner for centuries past. The usual
fate of a very old family which has been too ex-
clusive in its alliances, of course attends it. The
plan becomek weak and imbecile, and, coming
from an exhausted stock, suffers the additional dis-
advantage of having its education entirely neglected.
It never could be an aristocrat, and the ryot (or
cultivator) effectually prevents it from taking even
a respectable middle-class rank. The seed having
been sown, the ryot is happy for a time in throw-
ing the responsibility upon nature, under whose
auspices it usually grows up in due time.
The period for gathering depends less upon
the ripeness of the cotton than the private conveni-
ence of the ryot—a marriage or death in his family,
or the occurrence of some native festival—so that
the process is either performed too soon or too late.
The other preparations whien it has to undergo are
made upon the same lax principle ; and the delay
of transport being added to the other delays, the
cotton most likely catches the rainy season on its
way to the coast, where it arrives damaged, if not
utterly spoiled. The purchaser, indeed, may con-
sider himself fortunate if he receives the article only
dirty and ill-prepared; for I have heard of such
things as straw being packed by mistake in the
bales, not to mention the carcases of animals and
other little matters of the kind." Any quantity of
cotton, the writer says, may be produced in India
if the Lancashire millocvners will only bestir them-
selves. This, at present, they seem little inclined
to do, for reasons which Mr. Blanchard takes
some trouble to explain. His analysis of the
notorious " Nil Darpan " gives an amusing idea
of the constituents of a Hindoo' drama. In "The
City of Akhbar Kahn " we have an excellent
description of that wondrous specimen of Hindoo
or Saracenic architecture, the Taj Mahal ; but
the part of the work which we think least happy
is that termed " The Simpkins in India."

A Sailor Boy's Logbook, from Portsmouth to the
Peiho. Edited by Walter White, 1 vol. Chap-
man and Hall.
This is an unpretending little volume, written
evidently with perfect good faith, and giving "a
plain unvarnished tale" of the experiences of a
youth who, smitten with a love of the sea, entered
the naval service for the term of ten years, but left
it with dislike at the end of five ; having, during
that period, visited China and Japan, and assisted
at the disastrous attack on the Taku Forts. As a
picture of ordinary seafaring life, drawn by a youth
of more than ordinary education and intelligence
for that station, the work possesses peculiar value,
and we strongly recommend its perusal to lads
who may wish to follow in his footsteps. As a
specimen of the style, we give an account of the
attack on the forts :-
4, No sooner did the Chinese see our boats approaching
than they opened a tremendous fire from every available
position, tearing up the boats and killing many a brave
fellow before we could land. Thus was our hilarity turned
into rage, pain, and disappointment, by the want of good
judgment, as we thought, somewhere. The nearer
we came to the landing place the nastier it
looked. However, as soon as our boat touched the
ground,
.we jumped out and found ourselves up to the
waist in water and slime ; and, what was worse, our am-
munition was rendered useless by the soaking it got. Some
poor fellows lost their footing, and went down so deep into
the mud that they were drowned by the jump from the boat.
Others seemed petrified, and crouched into the very bottom
of the boats, so terrible appeared the iron storm that we had
to face.
" We were under the charge of an old petty-officer. He
was addressing an order to one of our party, when a shot
struck him and he fell dead. We moved on : might as
well advance as to stand there to be killed, especially as the
forts were pouring on us a murderous fire of grape-shot and
all other conceivable missiles. The sight was sickening to
see so many falling around, and yet no one able to stretch out
a helping hand to save. All at once I felt a sudden numbness
in my head, and my cap was knocked off. I instinctively
put up my hand, but felt no blood, and fortunately kept
my footing. My impression was that I had been acci-
dentally hit by a Frenchman behind me who was firing at
the forts. Dreadful was our struggle through that greasy
mud. At length we reached the outermost trench, where
one-half of our number, having spoiled their ammunition,
could not molest the enemy; so we halted under cover,
looking on, and wishing the Chinese, the forts, and the
officer who selected the landing place, at the devil; any-
where but in the place they happened to he."

Me Birds of Song. By H. G. Adams. Hogg an

Sons.
We have hero the first of three volumes in which
it is purposed to give " a complete account of the
feathered families of Britain," the birds of song
appropriately taking the lead. The volume is
adorned with upwards of 50 illustrations by Wm.
'
Harvey, Luke Clennel, and W. S. Coleman, and
contains, interspersed with the descriptions, nume-
rous anecdotes, and quotations from the poets. At
in the the
breachway' finic inil the observ-
we think
the end, too; are full directions for keeping birds in
cagcustom,es, a
n th
,c,amosr,e
honoured
at ce."

............

Undiscovered Crimes• By Waters. Ward and
Lock.
Mysterious murders :'orin the staple of these nar-
ratives. They are interesting of their kind, and
will no doubt be appreciated by the admirers of this
style of literature,

PRINCESS S THEA 7 RE.

AT.TSS AMY SEDG\VICK.

The buoyant and hilarious Miss Amy Sedgwick is
a material addition to the ranks of this theatre—the
defect of which, as we have already remarked, lay
in the direction of a heroine. She appeared on
Monday in the "Hunch-back," and last even-
ing in the " Love Chase"—her performance in
the latter play being, we think, much the truer and
the more successful. Miss Sedgwick has sens'bility,
but she wants passion for the poetic drama
whilst in respect to the comic she has
undoubted humour, which in recent years has
been refined by no small amount of art. Her
Constance is now at all points the very best
tho stage possesses, and the nearest approach
to Mrs. Nesbitt's which our generation
is likely to see. In this—to all the vigor and the
freshness which distinguished its first present-
ment, she now adds a variety and truth of pleasantry
which makes it as comic as it is natural. Another
feature of the performance was the Lydia of Miss
Constance, Aylmer, which we are happy to
refor to as a far more successful effort
than her first one. In the simple and
deep devotion of the maiden " love distraught,"
but who rests on her truth and duty as on a rock,
amidst fearful surges, she displayed an earnest-
ness and even pathos which revealed the presence
of actual power, however dependent on time and
study for its adequate development. To characters
of this cast she should certainly confine her pre-
sent efforts, and gain a foothold of her art,
before she takes to a leap upwards. The rest of
this charming comedy was very worthily
sustained. Mr. George Vining was an excellent
Wildrake, with much more balance in its changes
than is usually exhibited ; Mr. Shore, an
earnest Master Waller ; Mr. Fitzjames a
young comedian, who has wisely taken to
old men —is a very sound Sir William, in
theory, if somewhat over-emphatic in practice,
whilst the Widow Green of Mrs. Marston—a
powerful addition to the company—presents the
only approach the stage has seen to the inimitable
performance of Mrs. Glover. The house was well
attended.