The Sun.
London, England, 1849-12-22 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON,

country, ab;ye tte love of the mu mil of the b.d of
great rivers.
" 2d. The nature of the soil.
" 31. The climate, as it resp3cts temp r 4 ure, rains,
and winds.
" 4th. The food and water.
" sth. The temperance and cleanliness of till e)plc.

" 6th. The appearance of the country."
We cannot better close our allusions to the inte-
resting little volume before us than by transcribing
from it the following vivid and charming portraiture
of the general appearance of the province:—
"In N. E. Texas no barren rock nor arid waste, nor
offensive marsh exists; but the spirits and the mind are
healthfully excited by the appearance of a country having
a beautifully undulating surface, agreeably dish rsified by
woodland and prairie, and with an infinitude of little rip-
pling rills, bresking it up into hills and valleys. The
surface is everywhere covered with the most lux-
uriant vegetation. The foliage of the trees and
shrubs has a variety, beauty, and symmetry, unknown
to less genial climes. Flowers of the richest hue, and
suited to every taste, adorn the prairie; and even the
unsightly river bottoms are rendered more detestable by
the twining of the beautiful cactus, and other climbers,
which form the ornaments of European hot-houses. The
birds flitting from tree to tree are very numerous, of
elegant form and of beautiful colours; and many of thew
warble too. The ground, and the grass, aid indeed
every thing, swarm with insects of hi/Ruffin' forms
and colours unknown to us. The birds of prey, even,
as the goshawk and the forked-tail hawk, are lovely
creatures. The dreaded rattle and mocassin snakes
have most beautiful painted skins, and the tarantula,
to my eye, an elegant form and colour. Nature
there exists in a million forms to which we are strangers;
and everywhere Ebe clothes herself in beauty.
You cannot but admire the green-headed prairie fl:,
a hicb maddens 3 cur horse in the mid-day sun ; and the
mo:quito which torments you at night is unsurpassed
in ligh tress and elegance of torm. So soon as the evening
sets in, the grasshopper, locust, and other- insects,
fill the air with their beautifully tuned songs ; and
the tree frog, and the various kinds of night
birds pleasingly swell the chorus. To my mind no
country oilers so much beauty and luxury. and it is
probable that the poet and the painter will ere long rank
there as ordinary inhabitants; and whilst Texas has an
indisputable right to its title of the Italy of America, it
also lays claim to the not less enviable one of the garden
of the world.

No description of a remote country could be at once
more circumstantial and more fascinating than the
one here given by Dr. Edward Smith of the province
of Texas, one of the most fruitful, beautiful, and
salubrious countries in the whole extent of the
American Continent.

CITY ELECTIONS.
BRIDGE WARD.

Yesterday being St. Thomas's Day, a wardmote of the
freemen and home hollers of the ward of Bridge was held
at nn)n, in the Vestry-room of St. nignus Church,
Fish-street hill, for the election of Common Councilmen
and other officers for the ensuing year; Alderman Sir
Chaptain Marshall in the chair.
Atter the clerk had read the precept,
Sir CIIAP3I.IN MAnsnam. said they were all no doubt
aware that since they met last year for the election of
officers a new Act of Parliament bad been passed
(the 12th and 13,h of Vic.), which altered the elective
franchise and the mode of voting, and he was happy
in being able to congratulate them that these
alterations would conduce to the benefit and welfare of
the respective wards of the city of London.
The election of the inquest, whose duty it is to sup-
press all nuisances, to prevent the using of false weights
and meaurce, and to report to the Court of Aldermen
the names of all persons carrying on business in the
ward without being freemen of the city, was then pro-
ceeded with, but excited no opposition.
Mr. HENRY GIBBS said, as the different members of
the Common Council whose term of office had just ex-
pired offered themselves fur re-election, he had very great
pleasure in nominating them again as candidates for the
-Ace for the ensuing year; but in doing so he had no in-
ention whatever of shutting out any other gentleman who
igh t think fit to present himself, and he was actuated only
by the conviction that every inhabitant of the ward felt
proud of the sincerity, worth, and ability of the class of
gentlemen who composed the Common Council of the
past year. He begged, therefore, to propose the follow-
ing gentlemen:—
James Lowe, stationer; Thomas Pewtress, stationer;
Vk illiatn Knott, haberdasher; John Bills, needletneker;
Jacob George Cope, fishmonger ' • Henry Mathew,
stationer ; William Chadwick, builder ; Charles
W het ham, leather-seller.

Mr. EATRY seconded the motion, expressing a hope
that they would enjoy health and prosperity, and be
enabled long to fulfil the duties of their &ice.
Mr. TUCKER wished to know whether Mr. Lowe and
Ir. Pewtress were qualified to present themselves as
can lidates for the ofhee, and whether the new law did
not render their election illegal.

The CLERK said that those two Honourable Gen-
tlemen were perfectly qualified. The ancient law
of the city was that any inhabitant householder
who was properly rated could offer himself as a common
councilman, and the new law did not in any way
destroy the right or alter or vary the nature of the quali-
fication required, but it brought into existence a new
class of persons who could stand for the office, and this
was done by opening up the Parliamentary register.
He apprehended chat it did not now matter whether a
candidate was of one ward or of another.

Atter a discussion with respect to the wretched state
of the drainage in the neighbourhood of Hart-street,
Lombard-street, which it was alleged had placed the
lives of several pereons in jeopardy, and to which the at-
tention of the Common Council was invited,

Mr. TUCKER proposed the name of Mr. W. Gain, felt
maker, as a common councilmwto.
The CHAIRMAN then put the names of the c sndidates
seriatim, when the number of hands held up for each was
as follows:

James Lowe ...
Thomas Pewtress
Wm. Knott ...
John Hills ...
Jacob George Cope
Charles Whetham
Henry Mathew ...
Wm. Gain ...
Wm. Chadwick ...

The CHAIRMAN then declared that the first eight gen-
tlemen were duly elected common councilmen of the
ward for the ensuing year.
Mr. CHAnwicte said he would not give the
wardmote the trouble of going to a poll, and, in
perfect good feeling, he thaeked them for the
trust and confidence which they had reposed in him
during the past year, and bowed with all submission to
thtir present election of Mr. Gain in his place, for
owing to his long residence in the ward and his ether
qualifications, he would no doubt serve them better than
he h d done.—(Cheers )
After the transaction of some other business the ward-
mote separated.