The Sun.
London, England, 1849-01-11 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

WHAT I SAW IN CALIFORNIA. By E.
Bryant, late Alcalde of St. Francisco.
Seldom has a book appeared at a more opportune
moment. Mr. Bryant's very interesting travels
would have been welcome at any time, but appearing
just now, when the El Dorado of California promises
to realise the golden visions of Sir Walter Raleigh,
their value is immeasurably enhanced. " What I saw
in Calitornia" appears in Numbers VI. and VII. of
Bentley's Standard Library, a monthly series, which
has already presented us with the chefs d'auvres of
the inimitable Sam Slick, with the marvellous legends
of the Porcelain Tower, with Maxwell's very inte-
resting revelations concerning the Czar and his Court
and people. The former numbers of the " Library"
are, however, eclipsed by this last addition. " What
I saw in California in 1846 and 184 T" gives a very
interesting picture of that now celebrated
region, enlivened by anecdotes and sketches
of men and manners innumerable. To the
account of what was seen in California in
1846 and 1847, is appended an account of what is to
be seen there in 1849—and this part of the work will,
we suspect, be found not the least attractive. The
following passage details the manner in which the
gold is obtained :
‘• The hill sides were thickly strewn with canvass tents
and bush arbours; a store was erected, and several
boarding shanties in operation. The day was intensely
hot, yet about two hundred men were at work in the full
glare of the sun, washing for gold—some with tin pans,
some with close woven Indian baskets, but the greater
part had a rude machine known as the cradle. This is
on rockers, six or eight feet long, open at the foot, and
at its head has a coarse grate or sieve; the bottom is
rounded, with small cleets miled across. Four men are
required to work this machine; one digs the ground in
the bank close to the stream; another carries it to the
cradle, and empties it on the grate; a third gives a vio-
lent rocking motion to the machine; whilst a fourth
dashes on water from the stream itself. The sieve keeps
the coarse stones from entering the cradle, the current
of water washes off the earthy matter, and the gravel is
gradually carried out at the foot of the machine, leaving
the gold, mixed with a heavy fine black sand, above the
first cleets. The sand and gold mixed together are then
drawn off through augur holes into a pan below, are
dried in the sun, and afterwards separated by blowing off
the sand. A party of four men, thus employed at the
lower mines, averaged 100 dollars a day. The Indians,
and those who have nothing but pans or willow basketß,
gradually wash out the earth and separate the gravel by
hand, leaving nothing but the gold mixed with sand,
which is separated in the manner before described. The
gold in the lower mines is in fine bright scales, of which
I send several specimens.

" As we ascended the South branch of the American
fork, the country became more broken and mountainous,
and at the saw-mill, twenty-five miles above the lower
washings, or fifty miles from ;Sutter's, the hills rise to
about a thousand feet above the level of the Sacramento
plain. here a species of pine occurs, which led to the
discovery of the gold. Captain Sutter feeling the great
want of lumber, contracted in September last, with a Mr.
Marshall, to build a saw-mill at that place. It was
erected in the course of the past winter and spring, a
dam and race constructed; but when the water was let
on the wheel, the tail-race was found to be too narrow
to permit the water to escape with sufficient rapidity.
Mr. Marshall, to save labour, let the water directly into
the race with a strong current, so as to wash it wider
and deeper. He effected his purpose, and a large bed
of mud and gravel was carried to the foot of the race.
One day Mr. Marshall, as he was walking down the race
to this deposit of mud, observed some glittering particles
at its upper edge; he gathered a few, examined them, and
became satisfied of their value. He then went to the
fort, told Captain Sutter of his discovery, and they
agreed to keep it secret until a certain grist-mill of
Sutter's was finished. It, however, got out and spread
like magic. Remarkable success attended the labours of
the first explorers, and in a few weeks hundreds of men
were drawn thither. At the time of my visit, hut little
more than three months after its discovery, it was esti-
mated that upwards of four thousand people were em-
ployed."

Even without the all-attractive appendix, " What I
saw in California," written as it is in a most animated
style, and abounding as it does with information,
constitutes one of the most agreeable books of travels
that have recently appeared.

TREVETHLAN; a Cornish Story. By W. Davy

Watson, Barrister-at-Law. -3
Vole.
If " Trevethlan" be Mr. Davy Watson's first
literary attempt, it augurs well for his future career.
This " Cornish Story," notwithstanding its modest
appellation, is more interesting and more worthy of
perusal than the majority of the more pre.
tentious fictions which are almost daily issuing
from the press. " Trevethlan's" great charm is
the straightforward honesty of purpose and dig-
nified simplicity by which it is characterised.
There is no striving after effect apparent either in the
style or the arrangement of the incidents. The story
is founded upon a favourite theme of novelists. Be-
tween the elders of the families of Trevethlan and
Pendarrel a deathful animosity had long subsisted,
which animosity is far from being shared
in by the younger branches. Lady Eleanor
Pendarrel is another Lady Ashton, but
with this essential difference—a woman's heart
throbs in her bosom notwithstanding her ambition,
her imperious tyranny, and her other unwomanly cha-
racteristics. The denouement of the love story of
Trevethlan and the gentle daughter of the imperious
Lady Eleanor is not calculated to please the
tastes of the sentimental. The author of this
" Cornish Story " seems to consider the romantic
attractions of a trip to Gretna Green quite insufficient
to counterbalance the sin and sorrow of filial dis-
obedience. For his forcible enunciation of this un-
palatable truth, if he meet with little sympathy from
these for whose benefit it is intended, he will at
least be rewarded by the approbation of all
whose approbation is worth having. This brief
allusion to its closing scenes does but little
justice to the interesting nature of the tale. The real
heroine is Lady Eleanor, and most admirably is her
character, with its good and evil peculiarities, deli-
neated. Some of the minor personages, more espe-
cially a country minister and a quiet middle-aged
brother and sister, living in happy retirement in the
suburbs of London, with whom Trevethlan becomes
acquainted in his wanderings, are most attractive
characters, naturally and beautifully portrayed.

We understand that the Rev. William Corbett Le
Breton, curate of Si, Olave, Southwark, intends offering
himself as a candidate for the Golden Lectureship, when
it is declared vacant by the Court of the Haberdashers'
Company, in whose gift the appointment is vested. We
heartily wish the Rev. Gentleman succes3, as we are in-
formed that he is only curate of St. Olave, the living
being under sequestration, that, in the absence of the
rector, he is only in receipt of one quarter of the annual
income, although doing the entire duty of the living.
PRICE OF BREAD IN EDINBURGH.—The price of
the 41b. loaf was yesterday reduced a halfpenny. It is
now sold at sixpence halfpenny, ready money, or if paid
within a month ; and sevenpence credit. Flour, 2s: 4d
per stone.
MARRIED.—Dec. 25, at Blairgourie, Scotland, a
jovial basket-maker, to a fair maid from Glasgow. The
happy bridegroom is nearly fifty years of age, has a
wooden leg, and is the recipient of 2s. 6d. weekly from
a neighbouring parish. The youthful bride is abi)ut
twenty-two years of age.
FLUCTUATIONS OP THE FRENCH FUNDS.—La PfdBSe
says :—" In the year of Grace 1805, before the battle of
Austerlitz, the public funds stood at 61 francs; on he
arrival of the news of that great victory they fell to 59
francs, 80 centimes. A glorious peace raised them to 60
francs 60 centimes. Before the birth of the King of
Rome (in 1811) the price was 81 francs 50 centimes.
The day following that event the price fell to 78 frapcs
75 centimes. In 1814, before the fall of the Emperor
Napoleon, the funds stood at 45 francs 25 centimes.
After the entrance of the allied armies into Paris they
rose to 49 francs 50 centimes. A Provisional Govern-
ment was appointed, and they rose to 52 francs, `the
deposition of the Emperor was decreed, and they rose to
55 francs 75 centimes. His abdication raised them to' 63
francs 50 centimes. In 1815, before the landing of the
ex-Emperor at Cannes, they stood at 84 francs 61 cen-
times. On the news of his arrival in France they fell to
77 francs 60 centimes. After his re-entry into' Paris
they stood at 73 francs. He set out for the army, en-
couraged by a fall to 54 francs 75 centimes. He gained
the battle of Ligny, and they declined to 53 francs 50
centimes. Yet, after the disaster of Waterloo, they rose
to 59 francs 75 centimes. On the second abdication' of
the Emperor, and the re-entrance of the allied armies,
the funds rose to 61 francs. So that, in point of fact,
the price of stocks was lower by 1 franc 20 centimes,
after the battle of Austerlitz, than after the re-entrance
of the allied armies into Paris!"
WHITTINGTON CLUB.—A festival was given at
this institution last night, in commemoration of its
first anniversery, at which about 1,500 visitors were
present. We need hardly observe that the Whittington
Club is established at the old Crown and Anchor Ta-
vern, the rooms of which are devoted to the ordinary
objects of a literary institution, combined with the prac-
tical advantages of a household, whereat the cost of
living is confined within the must economical limits.
The building is most admirably adapted for these pur-
poses; and there was excellent accommodation for the
festival of last night. The entertainments were of a
varied character. A prefatory speech was delivered
by Mr. Sheen, the president, in the long room,
wbich was prettily decorated with evergreens; and
then came songs, duets, and pianoforte fan-
tasias by a few expert amateurs. An adaptation of the
farce Box and Cox followed, wherein a brisk little gen-
tleman in spectacles gave a capital imitation of Buck-
stone and other actors of obscurer individuality ; and
by-and- bye there were optical illusions and divers tricks
of legerdemain. The programme concluded with a ball
and supper, " roast beef and plum-pudding," so pro-
mised the bill, " forming prominent features of the
latter." The scheme thus provided by the committee
seemed to be highly relished by the company, and the
utmost cheerfulness prevailed during the time we were
present. The reunion was politely conducted, and the
social intercourse which it was the object of its pro-
moters to encourage fully secured. Other meetings of
a like friendly nature have already taken place, the ten-
dency of which, no doubt, has been to multiply the sub-
scriptions and strengthen the existence of the club.
Letters from Hamburgh report a firm market for
stock and railway shares. At Amsterdam public secu-
rities were generally better.

ST. CLEMENT DANES BURIAL

GROUND.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

Sin,—The paragraph which appeared in your
journal of the 6th instant, on St. Clement Danes
Burial-ground, is calculated, more especially at the
present time, to mislead those whom it most concerns
—viz., the public. The left-handed compliment which
would make me discriminate between the odour
arising froth boiling fat, the " open grating commu-
nicating with the sewer," and that arising from decom.-
pwing dead bodies, I decline accepting. It is quite
true that I have during many years endeavoured to
convince my countrymen that the living cannot with
impunity inhale the odours arising from the grave-
yard. The conclusions which I have long since
arrived at are the result of some labour, close obser-
vation, and personal risk. " Dead men tell no
tales ;" yet, though our legislators seem to think
that the cesspool and the sewer should be the
chief objects of their solicitude, they will find that
the dead man's question, which should have been first
in the category, will force a recognition, and deniand a
remedy. The forthcoming retribution would fall less
heavily had the facts on recurd been duly appreciated.
I could, Sir, say much, and to the purpose perhaps, in
reference to the condition of Clement's-lane, its
grave-yard and other abominations, but, for the pre-
sent, I forbear. I may, however, restate a portion of
my evidence before a Committee of the House of
Commons in 1840—viz., that in this lane, in which
the living breathe, on all sides, an atmosphere im-
pregnated with the odour of the dead, there had been
41 deaths in 18 months ; whilst in 1848 the propor-
tion of deaths on the north-eastern, the grave-yard
side of the lane, are at the rate of one in each house—
that is, there are 37 houses on that side, and 37 dead
bodies are taken out of those 37 houses during the
year. And, be it remembered, these deaths are ex-
clusive of those who are smitten there, but die, or re-
cover, as the case may be,in the hospitals or elsewhere.
It is said, that the smell of which I complained before
the Committee on interment in towns, in 1842, arose,
undoubtedly (?), from an open grating communicating
with a sewer in a yard in the above lane. Perhaps
by the removal of pig-styes and boiling houses, one's
olfactories may have a less appreciatory task imposed
upon them. But though the nose is not merely an
ornamental appendage to the face, but the registrar of
odours ; and though th• " sentinel" may be constantly
on guard, he cannot persist in the recognition of even
the most disgusting effluvia beyond a certain period
of time ; yet, what does this prove ? Why, that by
the sense of smell we recognise the presence or ab-
sence, of an odorous compound, and that is all. Let
not people, therefore, deceive themselves, or deceive
others. Life has, in myriads of instances, been de-
stroyed without any smell being perceptible. If it
were not so, how comes it that the fathers and mothers
of the generations that are past never smelt the mi-
asma that impaired the health, or destroyed the lives
of their offspring, by the various diseases to which
childhood is more especially liable—as measles, scarlet
fever, &c.? Or why was it that about this time last
year, when the mortality in London alone exceeded
by thousands the ordinary two weeks' average—why
was it, I say, that no one smelt anything peculiar;
whilst this year, when cholera (an exaggerated form
of typhus) is the destroying angel, have the victims
seen, or have they recognised by the nose the peculiar
principles that have poisoned their blood and knaved
them out of their lives ? I, Sir, am anxious not to
participate in, or sanction, any such notions, and this
is the chief cause of my troubling you with this corn-
munication.—l am, Sir, your obedient servant,
GEO. A. WALKER:
St. James's-place, St.James's, Jan. 8.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.
Sra,—l beg most respectfully to direct the atten-
tion of your nautical readers to another invention by
Mr. Bush, who is well known in the scientific world,
as having erected the light of all nations "on the
Goodwin Sands. The invention to which I allude
is " Bush's Patent Compass?'
I have had much experience in nautical matters,
as commander of the iron screw-vessel Ranger, and
have always found the local attraction of the ship on
the compass. cause it to veer two to three points, ac-
cording to the list of the vessel; but having, wit-
nessed experiments made on Mr. Bush's compass for
concentrating the local magnetic attraction of iron
vessels, so that the needles of the compass should
not be subject to that deviation which has proved so
fatal to our ships of war, and to the lives of our brave
tars, and having had several opportunities of testing
the accurate performance of this invention, under
almost every variety of circumstances, I have great
satisfaction in being able to state that nothing could
have answered better; for it was always correct—
the iron having no effect on it; and I much prefer it
to the compass adjusted according to Professor Bar-
low's method.

Permit me to add, that I hope ere long to see
Bush's compass adopted by every ship sailing on the
high seas.—l am, Sir, your most obedient,
ALXANDER GALLOWAY, R.N.
Greenwich, Jan. 3, 1849.

IRELAND.
THE ANTI-POOR-LAW MOVEMENT.

DUBLIN, WEDNESDAY.—The following requisition,
bearing the signatures of a number of landlords and
landholders of the county, has been addressed to the
Sheriff of Westmeath, Mr. Middleton Berry, a gen-
tleman who has taken a prominent part among the
opponents—and they are legion—of the Poor Law in
its present shape :
We, the undersigned landholders and inhabitants
of the county of Westmeath, strongly impressed with
the conviction that this country has been brought to
the verge of destruction by the operation of the present
system of Poor-laws, and that
general injury has been
effected to the trade, manufactures, and agricultural
interests of Ireland by mistaken legislation, request that
you will call a meeting of the county of Westmeath, on
an early day, in order to petition Parliament for an im-
mediate alteration of the Poor•law, and the restoration
of our trading and commercial interests on the footing
contemplated by the Act of Union." _ __ _ . _

The Sheriff-has appointed Monday, the 22d instant,
for the day of meeting. The whole country is now
fairly up in arm!: against the Poor-law. It is the all-
engrossing and never-ending theme of newspaper
criticism ; but, unfortunately, you look in vain for
two writers among the legion, whose opinions coincide
as to the remedy to be applied to mitigate the evil.
There is a most admired unanimity in condemnation
of the system ; but there the union ends. All the
rest is bitter and fruitless controversy.
THE WEATHER.--There has been a very sudden
change in the weather, which up to Monday night
was remarkably fine for the season. Yesterday was
intensely cold, with incessant rain; last night it blew
a perfect hurricane, the rain still falling, and up to
the dispatch of this letter the storm continues to rage
with such violence as to preclude the possibility of
the Holyhead boat making the
passage in time to
catch the two o'clock train to London.

SALE OP THE STOWS LIBRARY.--There was little
in the catalogue of y esterday calling for particular no-
tice. The chief feature in the day's sale was a remark-
ably choice copy of John Boydell's collection of prints,
engraved after the most capital paintings in England,
with French and English descriptions. This collection,
which includes 450 very fine large plates, many of them
proofs before letters, was selected for Mary Boydell.
The disposal of this lot excited an active competition,
but it was ultimately secured for the Beaufoy Library
for seventy-five guineas. A copy of Bloomfield's His-
tory of the County of Norfolk, in five volumes, very
scarce, sold for 13/. Bocattin's Falles of Princes and
Princesses, with other Nobles trough ye mutabilitie and
change of unsteadfast Fortune, with their most detest-
able and wicked Vices, translated by Jo. Lidgate, Monk
of Burye, a rare tract, in black letter (1554), realised
5/. Brant's Stultifera Nevis, the Ship of Fool's, wherein
is sh owed the Folly of all States, Latin and English,
translated by Barclay, another curious black-letter tract,
sold for 101. 15s , to Mr. Andrews, of Bristol. Brea-
denbach's Opus Transmarine Perigricationis ad Vene-
randum et Gloriosem Sepulcrum Dominicum in Jerusa-
lem, gothic letter, first edition, a rare book, and un-
common object of curiosity and interest, being one of
the first books of travels ever printed, realised 11/.
Britton's History and Description of Ancient Stone
Crosses, sold for 61. 2s. 6. ; and Brockedon's Illustra-
tions of the Passes of the Alps, with upwards of 100
plates, for 41. 165.; the latter purchase being made by
Mr. Bain, of the Haymarket. The day's sale realised
360/ Es. 6d.
The Christmas pantomime draws good houses at
the Dublin Theatre Royal.
The Queen's Theatre, Dublin, is nightly thronged
to suffocation to witness the new piece dramatised
from Mr. Dickens's Christmas story of the Haunted Man.
GEOLOGY.—Last evening Mr. J. Ashbury Smith
delivered the first of a series of Wednesday evening lec-
tures on Geology and the " Vestiges of Creation," at
the National Hall, Holborn. The lecturer was listened to
with great attention, and was several times applauded
in the course of his able delivery. The hall was well
attended.

DERWENTWATER.—Derwent Lake was completely
frozen over last week, and many hundreds daily amused
themselves with skating upon its glassy surface.—Cum-
berland Pacquet.
OFFICE OF HARBOUR MASTRR--Captain Fisher,
R.N., principal harbour master of the port of London,
has resigned his appointment, after thirty years' ser-
vice. It is an important office, and no doubt the
Lord Mayor, in whom the appointment of a succes-
sor is vested, will take care that none but an officer
of acknowledged character and qualification shall suc-
ceed to it. _ _

- -
SINGULAR DEATM—On Thursday a woman named
Whitby, living in Douro-street, died under singular
circumstances. The husband of the deceased had an
abscess in the side, and about ten days ago, while she
was dressing it, she pricked or cut her thumb. Some o
the matter from the abscess got into the wound and pro-
duced inflammation, which gradually increased, and the
result proved fatal—Liverpool Courier.
The Lord Bishop of Manchester left Sedgeley on
Monday night for London, to attend some meetings re-
specting ecclesiastical matters. His Lordship is expected
to return on Friday.—Manchester Courier.

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