The Sun.
London, England, 1849-02-19 00:00:00

N 9 FEBRUARY 19, 1849.

P.S. I sincerely hope you will be so kind as to answer
my ill-written but sincere letter. " MARIA.
" Mrs. Bartlett, Epsom."
The court was here cleared for about three-quarters
of an hour. On being re-opened,
Mr. Borthwick said, under any circumstances, he cer-
tainly must ask for a remand, if the Bench
,had any
doubt in their minds OR the subject of weommittal.
The CHAIRMAN said, if a remand were asked, that
further evidence might be produced, the Bench would
feel inclined to grant it, but not, otherwise.
Mr. Borthwick—Then, Sir, I do ask a remand on
that ground.

Mr. Owen protested against the adjournment, as mos
unjust to his client. , •

The CHAIRMAN—Under all the circumstances, the
Bench felt it their duty to grant the remand prayed,
in order that further evidence might be adduced.
Mr. Owen here put in a letter, which he stated that
Mr. Bartlett had received from the Mayor of Liverpool.
The following is a copy of the same:—

"Liverpool, Feb, 15, 1849.
" Sir,—My attention having been called to a paragraph
in the London Times of Monday relating to yourself and
Miss O'Grady, I deem it say duty to address you on the
subject.
" You are a perfect stranger to me, and I can know
nothine of what may have taken place between you and
Miss O'Grady; but I deem it a duty incumbent on me
to inform you that all which Miss O'Grady is said to have
stated as having taken place between the Mayor and her-
self is entirely untrue.
" There are other important points connected with
Miss O'Grady's visit to Liverpool, which, if you think it
worth while to inquire into to promote the ends of jus-
tice, I will afford every facility and information respect-
ing her daring her stay here.—Yours, &c.,
" J. BRAMLEI MOOSE, Mayor.
"J. H. Bartlett, Esq., Epsom."
A short discussion here ensued as to the most conve-
nient day for the rehearing, and Mr. Qwevslindertaking
that the accused should not be released fro the cagody
of the Sheriff until after that day, Wednesday next was
ultimately decided upon.
The prosecutrix remained in the room during the
whole day.

DREADFUL ACCIDENT AT
GLASGOW.

,
GLASGOW, SATURDAY NIGHT.---ADOlit a quarter to
eight this evening an alarm of fire was given in the
upper gallery of the Theatre Royal, Dunlop-street,
which was, as usual on a Saturday, very crowded in
that part of the house. In their efforts to escape
down the narrow spiral staircase, which form the only
means of egress from the gallery, 50 or 53 people, men,
women, and children, were crushed and smothered to
death. The sufferers were all of the working classes.
As the same state of alarm did not exist in the other
parts of the house, the remainder of the audience kept
their seats until they were enabled to disperse at their
leisure.

The alarm of fire was first given in the front of the
upper gallery; and the cause of the fire was a leak in
the gas-pipe, the gas from which was exploded by a
lucifer match used by some one to light his pipe.
Scarcely any damage was done to the theatre.

ANOTHER ACCOUNT.
Oct Saturday evening, about half-past seven o'clock,
one E Ike most fearful catastrophes that ever occurred
in Scotland took place in the Theatre Royal, Dunlop-
street. Very shortly atter the performance had com-
menced an alarm was given that a fire had broken oat
in the upper gallery, and as a matter of course the audi-
ence, which was numerous in the gallery, became much
excited.

It was soon apparent to the manager that the fire had
been occasioned by an explosion of gas, and he, to-
gether with the members of his company, used their
utmost exertions to restore order, in which they par-
tially succeeded. Meanwhile, however, the alarm had
been eonveyed to the central police-offices, and the fire
brigade were very soon at the theatre, and immediately
commenced operations, which had the effect of increasing
the fears of the people, and a general rush was made to
the door, in order to escape from the fire, which had in
fact been previously extinguished. Despite all remon-
strance the people would be out, and the result was the
premature death of sixty-four individuals, besides four
more or less injured. It would be vain to attempt to
convey any idea of the scene which the theatre pre-
sented at the time of the accident; that can be better
imagined than expressed. The authorities were very soon
at the theatre, and, while assistance was being procured,
the gallery stair was ascended, when at one oT the land-
ing places was discovered a scene of the most horrifying
description—men, women, and children huddled together,
trodden under foot, dead, and dying. The poor crea-
tures were carried to houses adjoining, and every exer-
tion used to restore animation, but, unfortunately, these
exertions were in but few instances successful. Sixty-
one were dead, and three sent to the Royal Infirmary;
two died upon the way, and one shortly after. Eleven
persons, slightly bruised, were able to be removed to
their homes, and others are still in the infirmary in a
dangerous state. The sixty-one dead bodies were, in
the course of the evening, removed to the Clyde-street
Hospital, and there kept till Sunday morning for iden-
tification.

About ten o'clock the authorities were at the hospital,
and it was arranged, to satisfy the relatives of the poor
creatures who had been waiting in hundreds around the
hospital during the night, to admit them. The bodies
were spread out on the floor of the large shed, and when
each relative, father, mother, wife, or other friends were
recognised, their shrieks rent the air. One woman
claimed three as her own. Without scarcely a single
exception the sufferers belong to the lower class of
society, and are for the most part lads between 14 and 17
years old; the enly female amongst the dead was one
girl three years of age.
A gloom has been cast over the city by the fearful
occurrence, which it will require some time to dissipate.
The theatre has sustained no damage from burning, as
the flame of the gas-pipe was almost instantly extin-
guished.

PARLIAMENTARY BUSINESS.
(From the Votes and Proceedings of the House of Commons.)
NOTICES GIVEN AT TkIE PRIVATE BILL OFFICE.

SATURDAY, FEE. 17.
--
The following petitions against the undermentioned Pri-
vate Bills were deposited:—
Lancaster and Carlisle Railway (from the Lancaster and
Carlisle Railway at Lancaster, to the Preston and Wyre
Railway, &c.) Bill—from the Company of Proprietors of
the Lancaster Canal Navigation.
Lancaster and Preston Junction Railway (Junction with
the East Lancashire Railway in Preston, and Amendments
of Acts) Bill—from the Company of Proprietors of the
Lancaster Canal Navigation.
Lancaster and Preston Junction Railway Acts Amend-
ment (Powers to alter Tolls and: for Appointment of
Officers) Bill—from the Company of Proprietors of the Lan-
caster Canal Navigation,.
Tyne River Conservancy Bill—from the Mayor, Aldermen,
and Burgesses of the Borough of Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

TIIE SERPENTINE.—The level of the Serpentine
has been lowered several feet, with the intention, it is
supposed, of effecting a cleansing of the bed from the
foulnefs with which it is at present contaminated, and
the portion of the river beyond the bridge, and in Ken-
sington-gardens, has been almost drained dry for a simi-
lar purpose. The north bank of the Serpentine was
crowded with pedestrians on Sunday in consequence of
the remarkable splendour of the day; and, in conse-
quence of the decrease of water, the pathway was con-
siderably enlarged, and was the subject of general notice.
It is proposed for the river to be completely emptied, and
a hard substance of brick or other material formed at
the bottom, and that it should subsequently consist of a
clear running stream, of a few feet of water in depth
only, similar to the basi❑ in the Green Park, next to
Piccadilly. This would have the effect of invigorating
the visitors, and furnish all the necessary means for ab-
lution in the summer, and skating in the winter months,
without the present acompaniment of foul collections
and pestilential vapours, which have so long and justly
been the subject of general complaint. At the time of
these improvements of the Serpentine being effected, it
will be well for the Department of the Woods and Fo-
rests to turn their attention to the state of the promenade
along the north bank of the river, and between it and
the carriage road. It is now the chief and most fashion.
able point for promenading, and is nevertheless in a very
uneven and uncomfortable state, and may as well, at the
same time that it is improved in that particular, be con-
siderably widened for the comfort and convenience of
the public.

ARRIVALS or SPECIE.—The following arrivals of
specie have just taken place from the ports and countries
mentioned :—The ship Persia, arrived from Calcutta and
the Cape of Good Hope, respectively, brought from the
Cape 13 bags and 3 casks of copper, and 1 parcel and 6
boxes of specie, consigned to order, and also 3 boxes of
specie addressed to two commercial firms in the metro-
polis; the Ann Bridson, from Valparaiso, 660 bags of
silver ore and 33 tons of copper regulus, consigned to a
commercial house; the Orkney Lass, from Jamaica, 4
packages of copper, individually addressed; the Princess
Royal, from Ilamburgh, 7 casks of nickel specie, ad-
dressed to a metropolitan firm; the vessel Vicar of
Bray, from Huanachaca, Iquique, and Islay, has brought
from the latter place 107 packages of gold and silver,
consigned to a firm of commercial eminence in the me-
tropolis; and the vessel Heroine, from Algoa Bay, has
brought one box of specie, individually addressed, and
also 1 box and I other parcel of specie, consigned to a
firm in the metropolis.
WAR MEDALS.—CHATHAM, FEB. 16.—Major T.
Smith, Barrack-Master at this garrison, and who is brother
to Sir Harry Smith, the Gevernor at the Cape, has received
his war medal—bearing clasps, two threes and a four in three
sections—for services rendered in the Peninsula, when he
was serving as Lieutenant and Adjutant of the 95th Rifle
Regiment; Captain David Cooper, of the 17th Regiment, and
also Lieutenant-Colonel Kelly, of the Provisional Battalion,
have each received their medals for the same same service.
QUEEN ANNE'S BOUNTY.—An account, just pub-
lished, of all the moneys received and disbursed by the gover-
nors of Queen Anne's Bounty during the year ending Dec.
23
01
0,
,1085471. a
1847, gives theseniou results uo
of
t yearly— e :—Received
rentsveddue, 0
r 200,054'.i
n; disbursed,arrear,
is
in
138/. The tenths of the deanery of York are arrear, and
will not be received till a difference concerning the right to
pay the same is determined.
Mdlle. Lind is expected in Newcastle shortly, on a
visit to Mr. and Alm Grote.—Gateshead Observer,

[PRICE SD.

SPIRIT of the PUBLIC J OURNALS.
I TIIIES.—As far as they go, the Ministerial measures
for Ireland are characterized by undeniable necessity,
simple justice, and plain common sense. If the praise is
great, the qualification is as great as the praise. A crisis
may be met, a catastrophe averted, and an imperfection
set right, without any positive step in that bold and mas-
terly policy which all history tells us is necessary to re-
generate the mind and manners and condition of a people.
The present time may or may not he the golden oppor-
tunity. Perhaps a spontaneous, or, we should say, a Pro-
vidential decay mad dissolution of Irish society is not the
time for its reconstruction. Perhaps the hour when one
set of agitators is in prison and the other in contempt,
when pauper tenants are throwing up their holdings and
pauper landlords their estates, and when myriads
are flying across the Atlantic, is not that
which calls for vigorous and prospective legis-
lation. Perhaps nothing of this sort is really
positive, and the comprehensive measures which
pre sent themselves in so bright but undefined a
Corm to the imaginations of unofficial men may bs empty
and delusive dreams. We only observe that such mea-
sures there are not in this instance. What we have is
very good as far as it goes. The grant of 50,0001. is
necessary and will not go far. The Hon. Member for
Middlesex has computed, on we know not what grounds,
that it will be exhausted in one fortnight. Mr, Disraeli,
following the Hon. Member for Stroud, assumes, on the
authority of one of the papers before the House, that
592,0861. is the calculated expense of maintaining the
population in the twenty-one suffering unions. But the
case is not quite so bad as these gentlmen seem to ima-
gine. This portentous figure does not represent the ex-
penditure of one year, for it includes old debts to the
amount of 84,3801. Nor is it to be supposed that the ree
maing 507,706/, is likely to fall upon the public this year,
or did fall upon the public the last. In fact, 199,0231. of
it was defrayed by rates actually collected in the unions;
the whole of the amount advanced in aid by the
British Association or by Government being 237,2301.
The case, therefore, is much more hopeful than it ap-
peared through the gloomy medium of Friday's debate.
Indeed, we are bound to say that we have never seen so
much reason to congratulate the country as we find in
the papers just presented to Parliament. They deter-
mine within manageable limits the locality and the
amount of Irish distress; and prove that our legislators
can " tackle" it, if they choose. According to the Minis-
terial measures, two or three annual grants of 50,0001.
are the very utmost to be demanded from the Imperial
Exchequer. If that be all, England will have no great
reason to complain, and will not complain unless pro-
voked to it by her Irish calumniators. In these 21 dis-
tressed unions the annual deficiency to be met by ex-
ternal aid is considerably under 300,0001. There are
in other parts of Ireland some electoral districts
very crowded and distressed ; but 350,000/. is
probably a full estimate of the assistance necessary to
carry all the distressed localities of Ireland through
this fourth winter of famine. And now comes the ques-
tion,—how is this sum to be raised? Government pro-
ceeds on the path of precedent, common feeling, and
common sense, by proposing to raise it on the ancient
principle of a rate in aid. The proposal is, that when
the rates of the electoral division shall exceed ss. in the
pound, the surplus shall be collected from the unions at
large ; and when this union rate in aid shall exceed 2s.
in the pound, the surplus shall be collected from Ireland
at large; and when this Irish rate in aid shall exceed 6d,
in the pound, the surplus shall be paid from the Imperial
Esxchequer. Thus the poor-rate of no one electoral dis-
trict will be able to exceed 7s. 6d. For the present it is
not intended to ask for this sixpenny rate on the landed
property of Ireland for more than two years. It will
probably realise from 250,0001. to 300,000/.; and even
if the present distress should continue, would only
leave about 100,0001. to be contributed by Govern-
ment. We think we can answer for the peo-
ple of England, that if they see Ireland
first doing its utmost, by the collection of an
Irish rate, they will not grudge the further sum required
from the Exchequer. But, on the other hand, as the
Irish Members are already showing themselves restive at
the idea of an Irish rate, we must beg to remind them
that Ireland is still financially distinct from this country.
Not only land, but all property, and even all income in
this island, pays a sevenpenny rate to the extraordinary
necessities of the empire, including the necessities of the
Irish crisis. Complaints are already made against the
collection of an Irish rate upon land only. Unfortu-
nately Ireland does not possess the machinery for a pro-
perty-tax; and it would not answer to create such ma-
chinery for an impost only asked for two years. Some
of the other propositions brought before the Select Com-
mittee on Thursday are of such evident utility that they
scarcely call for a word of remark. The periodical va-
luation of property, in lieu of one ad libitum, is so rea-
sonable that we cannot believe the latter to have been
practised to a considerable extent. As for the emigration
rate and the emigration powers extended to the rate-
payers and guardians of particular electoral districts, we
only hope they will be turned to some account; but, as
Irish guardians and rate-payers have uniformly exhi-
bited a determination to spend:as little money as possible,
and never to act in concert for any good purpose, we
wholly despair of ever seeing them subscribe for emi-
gration. The proposed addition of fifty new unions is a
change absolutely required by the practice of relief to
able-bodied poor. The unions were much two large even
for the former imperfect end niggardly system of;relief.
What must be thought of an arrangement which made
it a common thing for a poor creature to walk thirty miles
to the nearest union-house, with the chance of rejection;
and under which one man actually walked 150 miles
backwards and forwards before he was ultimately admit-
ted? Want of funds will prevent the immediate construc-
tion of workhouses for the new unions; so that meanwhile
it will be necessary to hire such buildings as may do for
the purpose. We must confess to some serious misgiv-
ings as to one piece of indulgence submitted by Lord
John Russell to the Irish Committee. It is that boards
of guardians may be empowered to excuse incoming
tenants from payment of arrears of poor-rate, which had
accrued on property not occupied during the previous
twelve months. The reason for this indulgence is, that
the enormous arrears of rate now due on farms and
tenements in many parts of Ireland deter tenants from
hiring or occupying them, as they are liable to a dis-
traint on their property for the arrears. But why give
up the arrears altogether? Why excuse the landlord
for the sake of the tenant? The landlord will only have
to leave his land idle for a twelvemonth, and he will be
quit of all arrears. Would not the same object be an-
swered by the board of guardians declaring the arrears
a permanent debt on the land, to be recovered as the
Legislature may hereafter see proper, and simply giving
the new tenant an assurance that he, his stock, and his
produce, will be respected? It must never be forgotten
that the Irish landowners are responsible for the state of
things which preceded the famine, and which have so
fearfully aggravated its horrors. They must not be let
off. The land is the proper lien for all the rates due
from it, and we are not disposed to release it from the
full discharge of its duties.
POST.—It seems that the adventurer of Boulogne and
Strasbourg, the prisoner of 11am, the fox-hunter of
Leamington, and the special constable of London, is de-
termined to be not only the ruler of a mighty nation, but
the Haroun al Raschid of the 19th century. There is
more in Louis Napoleon—not than we have:said there
was, for his actions but justify our recorded anticipa-
tions—but there is more in him than many of his well-
wishers had hoped, or any of his enemies had dreaded.
The Liberti, in the passage which we quoted last week,
places his character in perhaps the fairest light in which
it has hitherto drawn public attention, but in a light
quite conformable to the expectations and estimate con-
ceived of the Prince President by all who personally
knew him. There have often been rulers, since Diony-
sius the elder of Syracuse, who have made it their busi-
ness to prowl incognito through their capitals, from
motives of cruel suspicion, and for the sake of
personal espial. There have been others who have
played the maskers for the sake of adventure and
excitement, tin the history of many a great
modern country; and there not only have been a third
class of Sovereigns who have done the same in order to
gratify their abominable lusts, but, alas ! there is, even
in the broad daylight of this journal-watched age, a
monarch of that execrable kind—and a woman, too—
whose pranks, orgies, midnight prowlings, back-door ad-
ventures, and transparently vielsci addiction to systematic
indecency, are the shame of an old and once glorious
throne. Meantime Louis Napoleon's amusements in the
moments of leisure which are snatched from important
and earnest labours set an example of another sort. In
business, not a holiday or make-believe sinecurist, but a
diligent and genuine workman, he is, when released from
it, a brave gentleman and a true man on every occasion
—one who knows how to give delight among the great,
the wealthy, and the refined, and to obtain it among
the lowly, the destitute, and the despairing. Our
readers will have remarked the little incident
which has suggested the observations we have just
made. A poor woman had lost her husband in that
terrible insurrection, to the suppression of which
exalted
po/sias.t.
June Louis Napoleon owes his present
tion. She was now left with five children in a state
t
of starvation, and the eldest of those children was
ten years old. Hearing that the nephew wFarenbcth
Emperor had come to visit the HotelDiepue,pearli:L.g.oThe
friend to write these words on a scrap of
ld re ot hdaughtereoe
dto
wife of an insurgent killed at the barricades,
of an old soldier, the mother of five children,
She lives a tel
cuhit, re
ed
starvation, has no hop© left
bu
numero, Idle rue." She threw r n
these lines into the ycar-
riage, while it was standing in the Place Notre Dame,
and the Prince perceived the paper only
n graphic just
hwrhesnt
wehe
was alighting afterwards at
h. words:
will again let the Lrbertre latetihne its
"The following day a private carriage stopped in front of
the house indicated in the paper, and a gentleman having
made some inquiries in the neighbourhood, ascended to
the garret, where the most appalling distress presented
itself tc his sight. " What does the gentleman wish ?"
said the poor woman. " I bring you assistance in the
name of the President of the Republic." " Oh, my God!
he has taken pity on me. I was told he was charitable
and humane to the poor." "What do you require for the
moment, my poor woman?" " 20f, to puy my rent, and
some trifle to keep my children from starving until I can
procure employment." " Well, lam charged to give
you those two notes of 100 f. each." At the sight of the
notes the poor woman had nearly fainted. Her first im-
pulse was to embrace her children, exclaiming, " You
are saved!" The stranger, visibly affected, withdrew,

-~~~.`

leaving a visiting card, and telling her to 001129 to his
address whenever she required assistance. Great was
her astonishment when she read on the card, "The Pre.
sidont of the Republic." She burst into tears and ran
down stairs to the house porter to communioato her di-
light. " What!" said he, "that gentleman so simply
attired was the nephew of the Emperor ! A,h, had I
known him, I would have asked permission to embrace-- '
him." The entire neighbourhood was soon informed of
the visit of Louis Napoleon Bonaparte. "It is like the
period of the empire," said one, when speaking the fol-
lowing day of the President's noble action."
Such a little transaction as this is surely bett/t.r worth
our attention and that of our readers than many a more
showy occurrence ithat claims our time and apace, and
extorts public notoriety. The President 's act is not only
of a kind to afford useful example to some persons and
pleasure to all, but is the more respectable for its off-
handedness, its unstudied spontaneity. It ' was
not one of your well-planned and ostenta-
tious snares for applause. There was nothing
and could be nothing, premeditated in the matter. Louis
Napoleon sees lying at the bottom of his carriage a scrap
of paper, which he little guesses at first to be the last
hope and the last chance of an entire starving family.
He picks up the letter of the poor widow, written, as we
Ihave seen, with a mixture of confidence and anxiety.
He immediately promises himself—we purposely sup- •
pose the least noble motives that the case could argue
very great pleasure ; for Louis Napoleo u has heart in
two senses—be has heart in dealing with clanger, and ho
has heart also in dealing with misfortune; and accord-
ingly he promises himself a treat, kno' wing well how
very little may be a great deal in such ma Vera; for-tritr •
noticeable that while his donation is p trfectly ample, t
and even munificent, it is, at the sae le time, such
may be consistent with a wide area of relief, rather
than such as curtails the means of futui:e or collateral
beneficence. His zeal is " a zeal accor ding to knovr-
ledge;" and singularly enough, the ms ruler in: which
his generosity became public, instead of destroying (as
such publications—because they are 1 rlorifications—
generally do), the merit of his act, enhani:ed that merit.
In order that the poor woman might not want in future,
but might know where to apply for relief in her
necessities, he, left her his card; and the 1 fitter, intended
to be the means of future charities, was f urned into the --
means of immediate fame, by the gratitude of the enrap-
ture and astounded widow. When Louit Napoleon was -
a prisoner at Ham, he busied himself in devising some.
groat, effective, and comprehensive systet n for the relief
of the poor. This was the though that tro übled his heart
and racked his brain. He did not (like Silvio Tellico)
employ himself in inditing an ingenice is and elegant
complaint destined to perpetuate the mem cry of his own
misfortunes, but he elaborated a project (successful or
not, it is foreign from our argument; the effect of such
things, rests with God; the wish and the desire are all
that can be expected from man)—a project for the &Hee
viation of the miseries of others. It Ives not " i mid
prigioni," but "extinction du pouperisnie" that issued from
the prison of Louis Napoleon Bonaparte. Now, we say
that this plainly betokened the instinct of some great
destiny. We call that a great destiny w hich largely in-
fluences the position of your fellow-crest urea, and which
is bound up with the history of mill ions of human
beings. Of such a destiny, therefore, that man shows
an instinctive presentiment whose mind is, even in
the most distracting personal misfortunes, incessantly
turned to the condition of others, to the condition of
a whole people in. its largest and neat suffering
classes. This is not only a gentle ftieling, in that
sense of the word " gentle" which probably originated
the name of gentleman, but it is a feeling even
princely. Nations want not and need not those who are
absorbed in themselves to govern the state; nations
need those who care for nations, and thos a who so care
are not inappropriately placed when they' are raised to
the most exalted situations. We are glad that the fine
qualities which Louis Napoleon exhibited in adversity
have stood the far harder test of dazzling success. We
are glad that, even in the smallest and most unpremedi-
tated acts, he has evinced an undepraved, unperverted,
and unlost consistency. Wo are glad that he displayed
such fortitude and bearing in misfortune ; we are still
more glad that he shows such moderation, firmness, and
gentleness in power. We are glad of this for the sake
of France, and indeed for 'the sake of the world. We
now feel confident that, whatever fortune betides him, he
will act a dignified, a true, an honourable part. He has
been tried by the two great ordeals, and has passed theta
both unscathed. Had he been cowardly, we should have
seen it long ago ; were he insolent, we should see it now,
Music and the sun bring out the cobra.

TlMES.—Civilisation has taken a bold flight since
the day it was declared that its development was
bounded by the shores of the Mediterranean. The
whole surface of the globe is the heritage of man,• and
he will no longer be excluded from the full fruition of
his birthright. Yet by what slow degrees have we ar-
rived at this point. For how many ages wero not the
sages of antiquity content to acquiesce in the arbitrary
decision of geographers, which remain as monuments
of the ignorance of their epoch. An uncouth figure, of
a panther or crocodile was the best make-shift by which
they could distinguish the vast regions that lay out of
the immediate boundaries of their little world. The
existence of the two Americas was voted the hallucina-
tion of diseased brains. The pillars of Hercules were
the limit beyond which there was nothing but a
stormy sea, or at best some Fortunate Islands,
the destined abode of the blest when the spirit
had been dislodged from its mortal tenement.
The speculations of the ancients on the destinies
of their race are a melancholy example of the infirmity
of human judgment. They would have laughed to scorn
I the idea that from a little island in the far north-west,
1 where dwelt a few savages, segregated by a belt of
wintry sea from the whole, world, there should issue a
race destined to subdue countries more vast and more
important than all which then owed allegiance to the
Roman name. They would have been slow to admit as
a possibility that the little insular province which was
first thrown over when their empire was shaken by die.
cord within and warfare from without would ono day
exercise an influence second to that of no other Power in
European affairs; bring into subjection the regions of
legend—for such was Ilindostan to them; and colo-
nise and occupy vast countries, regions of fable, the
/
very existence of which it would have been deemed pre-
posterous to maintain. All this, however, has come to
pass. The inhabitants, or descendants of the inhabitants
I of the despised and rejected Britain, divide with four
other States the chief power of Europe; by their counsel
and their arms they have subjected the most important
part of Asia to their control; in what little of civilisation
exists in Africa they have their full share; Australasia
is their own; North A.merica they have occupied, and
are at this moment bury grouping themselves on its
western coasts, to work out a destiny which will, no
doubt, be in harmony with their previous career.
Many of us here in the British islands, and our
contemporaries in the United States, will, if life be
spared us for a quarter of a century, see great changes
on the shores and in the islands of the Pacific, and in
these changes those who use the English speech aro
I fated to play no unimportant part. For many years
there have been symptoms and tokens of the coming
events : the full colonization of Australia and New
Zealand; the occupation of various important ports in
the waters of the Pacific by the United States; our own
war with China; the opening of Borneo by Sir James
Brooke, and his yet greater achievement of interesting
the mind of Europe in the condition of the Indian Ar-
chipelago; the Oregon discussion; the war between the
United States and Mexico, which led to the cession of
California, and the almost fabulous discovery of gold in
that neglected region—all these facts are suggestive of
what is to follow. Add to them all the velocity attained,
in travelling by sea or land, the glut of popula-
tion here at home, and the redundancy of capital
(the British isles contain about twenty-eight
millions of inhabitants, and discount on good paper
might on Thursday have been obtained in the City
at 2 per cent.), and who can doubt what must happen
when a way is discovered to give employment to the sur-
plus population and vent to the uneasy capital of the old
country? With regard to the United States, from
other reasons, which it would be hero beside our purpose
to set out, the case is stronger than with ourselves. In
the States legions of colonists, incited by avarice or in..
stinct, are already on their way, and have deserted the
Atlantic for the Pacific Ocean. There remains but one
obstacle to keep back the current; a little strip of land
twenty miles broad—the isthmus of Panama—stands as a
dyke or barrier to this stream of enterprise. The tide, ..
however, has set in, and will soon sweep away so petty
a hindrance as this. Projects for cutting through this
neck of land have, as is well known, been afloat for many .
years past. The time had not come for carrytiziog
them out. The passage by the isthmus was
arev
felt to be a matter of prime necessity.
h.-I:gars
of
now changed. The scheme has passed from
the speculator,e
the projector to the counting-house. 4?
and will, no doubt, ore long be cTahrrrieeed
able and necessary enterprise.
to the design. First,
pf
roiunteiapselatereetashoodna-
have been proposed for effectgivilSsg,nausdirectly; not at the
it is proposed to cross thet_i isthmus
point where it is narrovrhees
atttpths_e_rbeliat mbyouanitianien ridge
the entertained, Grenadian
a brurion.
slh,ooouOldfeuentihteigchhfaogrrbeiidslsotn.s
hi here wirty-three miles. the Pacific. Th.wt,ite the Atlantic with Pahamwitliicolitl
project at this point have
Pro-
posals to carry out .
to the ridiculous beenrequieementgof
Government they could never be carried
out nearly at this point byThSeal
be •
Another route should mentioned, which has
out-
cwhinghouse at Panama.
been pointed
riversol'o
Salomon
and Co.,
Chagres and Trinidad on the Atlantic aide were to be
united by a canal of 25 miles with the river
Farfan, which flows; into the Pacific—the total
length this way would be 50 miles, and the
highest point of land 33 feet. The canal was to be 160
feet in width, and 22 feet deep, and to admit vessels of from
1,200 to 1,400 tons. There are, however, differences of
opinion as to the facilities of this route, and the climate
is said to be in the highest degree prejudicial to health.
The second great route proposed is through the isthmus
of Tehuantepec, a province of Mexico. If our readers
will take a map, they will see marked on the Atlantio
side the river Coatzacoalcos. This river, which, as re-
presented on the map, pursues a course as devious as our
own Wye, is stated to be navigable in some degree for
160 miles. Where the river ceased to be navigable a
canal 50 miles in length was to be constructed, sur-
mounting in its progress a table-land at a place called
1 Tarifa, 525 feet high, and falling from Tarifa to the Pa-
cific 660 feet. The canal was to be 20 feet deep and 122
feet wide, and required 130 locks. The cost of the scheme
was set at about three millions and a half sterling. The
third project is represented as the most feasible. In the
Times of Tuesday last there appeared a detailed iteoetteL
of the route by the Lake of Nicaragua. This lake is
connected with the Atlantic by a river, the San Juan,
_
about a hundred miles in length, 100 to 200 yards in
breadth, and with a depth of from one and s halt to nine
by. locks, the
Lfathoms. The obstacles are four rapids and. some shal-
lows. The rapids are to be overcome
eePQennitnsge.ver e
facility
shal-
lows by the ordinary method of d
of Nicaragua is 90 miles long and
for navigation. This lake is 001211 pres.
.. y
sited with the andeller

lake of -Leop by the river Titipapa, which is 20 miles in
length; and i,i is ,said that it would require three locks,
and to, be ca
.'be
d throughout to render it practicable
for ships. .be Lake of Leon is 35 miles in length, and
is separated front the Pacific by 29 miles. Eleven
miles, hower 7, from the lake runs the river Torta, and
it is by opez ling a communication with this that the
entry.to the Pacific would be effected at the port of
Rialejo. The Nicaragua route would have the advan-
tage of passir ig through a country of undoubted salu-
brity.. It ma y not, generally be known that the journey
between the t wo g rest oceans has already been effected
by boat, alth. ;nigh the route taken would for practical
purposes be * mit or the question. In 1783 a monk per-
suaded the I adian s to cut a short and shallow canal
itself
into tonne( :ts -th e river Atrato, which throws
into the Gulf of .D arien, with the river San Juan, which
runs into the: Pee i 6 is at about the fourth degree of south
latitude. In the w set season boats still pass by this route
from' one ocean to another, but the fact we rather men-
tion as a curious c ,ne than as supposing it to hare any
mportance. 'TL e, connexion between the two oceans
must be on a gra; a der scale than this, and will no doubt
be shortly effect( .(1' by one or other of the three great
routes we have described.

THE LE G AL TITLE ASSURANCE
COMPANY.
(Profyision ally Registered, January 17, 1849.)
Capital. 2,00( 1,0001., in 80,000 Shares, of 251. each.
Prelimii Lary Deposit, 2s. 6d. per Share.
Prospectuses and ful 1 information may be obtained at the Tempo-
/ ary Offices of the Cot apany, 13a, Cannon-row, Westminster, on ap-
lication to

G. F. HOWE, Hon. Sec., pro tern.

Noi r ready, in 2 vols. post Bvo.,
ANECDOTE S of the ARISTOCRACY,
AND

EPISOi 'ES IN ANCESTRAL STORY.
F3y J. B. BURKE, Esq.
Author of " Th e Peerage," " The Landed Gentry," &c.
" Mr. Burke has hei given its the most curious incidents, the most
stirring tales, and th e most remarkable circurastauces connected
with the histories, pul die and private, of our noble houses and aris-
tocratic families. Th. Ise stories, with all the reality of established
fact., read with as mu zit spirit as the tales of Boccacio, and are as
fall of strange matter ' for reflection and amazement."—Britannia.
Henry Colharn, Publisher, 13, Great Marlborough-street.

Tc ...morrow will be published,
MR. ALT ZED STREET'S NEW POEM,
F R 0 N T EN A C.
A 110 g3"(ANCE OF INDIAN LIFE.
Richard nentley, New Burlington-street.

THE PROV IDENT CLERKS' MUTUAL
LIFE ASSI:11 ANCE ASSOCIATION and. BENEVOLENT
FUND, 42, Moorgat 5-street.
Me Eighth ANNI ;AL MEETING of the 11F.NEVOLF.NT De-
wartment of this Ass. teiation will be held at the London Tavern, on
WEDNESDAT, the 2131; Instant, at Six o'clock, P.M.. precisely.
JOHN A BEL SMITH, Esq. in the Chair.
RICHARD HENRY JONES, Chairman.
February 19, 1849.

sT•

JAMES'S

T H E ;A T R E.

Sea_on 1849.
FREXCII I 'LAYS and. OPERA COMIQUE.
THIS EVENING,

The Performances will commence at Half-past Soren •'clock, with
UNE FEMME Q 1 II SE JETTE PAR LA FENETRE.
To conclude Witt the popular Opera Coraique, entitled
DOMINO NOIR.

Lord Ellen, M. (;ha teaufort ; Juliano, M. Soyer ; Horace, M.
Couderc; Gil Perez, M. Isuguet ; Angele, Mdlle. Charton ; Brigitte,
Mdlle. Martial ; Ursule,, AMR. Morel ; Jaciathe, Madame Mancini ;
Gertrude, Mdlle.
Mr. Mitchell begs Ws) to announce that, notwithstanding the in-
creased expenses of the present entertainment, the prices of admis-
sion are determined ;IA iollows :
Boxes - • • .. ss. M.
Pit .. • • .. • • 3s. Od.
Amphitheatre .. • - 2s. Od.
Subscriptions for the season may be arranged at Mr. Mitchell's
Royal Library, 33, Old Bond-street; Mr. Sams', St. James's-street ;
Mr. Andrew?, New Bond-street; and at the Box-enlce of the
Theatre, which is ope n. daily from eleven till are.

1711F.A altE ROYAL, HAY MAR a E
Mr, B. Webster,. Sele Lessee and Manager. Old Ilromptoa.
The public is resp,setfully informed that this Theatre has, during
the recess, undergone. very extensive repairs and alterations and the
whole re.decorated.

THIS EVENING,
Will be performed THE STRINGER. The Stranger, Mr. C.
Kean ; Mrs. Haller, Mrs. C. Kean.
Alter which, TWICE KILLED.
To conclude with an Arabian Nights' Entertainment, entitled
CA.M.A.R.ALZAMAN AND BADOUR, ; or, The Peri who Loved
► the Frince. Characters by Messrs. Bland, Keeley, Mrs. Keeley, Miss
Horton, and Miss Reynelds.