The Sun.
London, England, 1847-03-01 00:00:00

HER MAJESTY'S THEATRE.

Coletti, the grt atest of European baritones, made his
abut for the eeason at h, r Mejesty's Theatre on Satur-
day evening, in tho character of Nino. 'The public
owed him an umiak honorable for the manner in which
it had tamely suffered him to be victimised by an un-
principled clique some four years since. (The disgraceful
Teunbarini row will he fresh in the recollection of our
readers.) That amende was made on Saturday evening.
It is seldom that so much enthusiasm is exhibited within
the precincts of this Theatre as that with which the
appearance of Coletti was hailed, and the applause was
richly deserved—a great actor, a great singer, and a
handsome man, he was the very Nino of the
author. llis voice, of immense power, great flexibility,
and of fine quality, is completely under command.
His taste is exquisite, and he is an accomplished musi
cian. Sanchiell, who was the Abigail, is greatly im-
proved since last session—as powerful, as energetic as
over—her rower and her energy are more completely
under command, and that defect of intonation which
last season marred some of her most meritorious efforts,
has disappeared. Mademoiselle Faggiani, who appeared
in the part of Fenana, is a great improvement upon Ma-
demoiselle Corbari. The choruses were magnificently
given. Full justice is now done to the choral music of
Verdi. Those who have only heard the old chorus
under the inspirations of the Maestro can form but a
faint idea of the beauties of his choral music. The or-
chestral effects, too, were splendidly brought out ; there
was none of that " jangling and jarring' which, from
uon, stom
allet imewsenptainfhuallry.
har-
moniously. When it is considered that the
awphpaatreevnetr cainuse,thwe'as,
orlcahs testsreaa,s
present is almost entirely a new band, it must
be admitted that Balfe has performed wonders.
His orchestra need not shrink from a comparison with
any in the world. The new ballet of Coralia concluded
the evening's entertainments. The house was crowded in
eves), part.
Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Cambridge,
accompanied by Prince Frederick of Hesse, and attended
by the Baroness Hammerstein, the Baron Knesebeck,
and Mr. Edmund St. John Mildmay, honoured the
performances at this theatre on Saturday evening with
her presence. There were also present his Grace the
Duke of Wellington, the Marquis of Ailesbury, the
Marquis of Donegal, the Marchioness of Douro, his
Excellency the Russian Minister and the Baroness
Brunow, and Mademoiselle Olga de Lechner, the Earl
of Lonadale, the Earl of Granville, the Viscount Can-
talupe, the Earl of Munster, the Viscount Morpeth, the
Hon. William Ashley (who occupied her Majesty the
Queen Dowager's box), Lord Ernest Bruce, Lord Mac-
donald, Lord Gardner, Lord Sandys, Sir William and
Lady Fremantle, Lady Curtis, Lady Grant, Sir George
and Lady Carroll, Lady Smyth, Lord Suffield, Lord
Adolphus Fitzelarence, Count Koudriaffsky, M. de Berg,
Sir George Wombwell, Bart., the Hon. G. Byng, the
Hon. R. Curson, the Hen. Sir T. Harvey, Sir H. Webb,
Bart., Sir M. Meux, Mr. Hubert De Burgh, Mrs. De
Burgh, and Miss De Burgh, Mr. Townley, Mr. H.
Broadwood, M.P., Mr. Forde, Mr. C. Phillips, Mr. and
Miss Trelawney, Broadley, Captain Greville, Col.
Bowers, Captain Murray, Captain Lynn, Mr. Sand-
ford, &c.

MISS CLARA SEXTON'S ENTER-

TAINMENTS AT MISS PALMER'S SOIREE.

Miss Clara Seyton gave her entertainment on •' Eng-
lish Comic Opera at Miss Palmer's scientific and musical
soiree last week. These soirees ate most delightful re-
unions, combining the attractions of a prikKate social
party with those of public entertainment. They com-
mence at eight o'clock, and some twb hundred
ladies and gentlemen are assembled in a drawing-
room. There is music, singing, and then a lecture.
on some scientific or artistical subject. The lecture on
Wednesday last was delivered by Miss Clara Seyton,
the subject English comic opera. Never did Miss Clara
Seyton appear to greater advantage ; she was full of
spirit and humour, was in excellent voice, and was much
and deservedly applauded, and as the soiree partakes of
the nature of a private reunion, the audience were af-
terwards afforded the gratification of paying their indi-
vidual compliments to the great talents which had been
so successt ully exerted for their gratification.

INSTITUTION OF CIVIL ENGI-
NEERS, Fen. 16.
Sir JOHN RENNIE, President, in the Chair.
The papt,r read was a continuation of that which was
brought forward at the last meeting by Mr. G. B. W.
Jackson, Assoc. Inst. C.E. It gave an " Account of the
mode of gaining land from the sea, by Polders ; and the
art of budding with fasciae work, as practised in Hol.
land and Germany."

The paper commenced by reference to the works of
Mela, Weibeking, Spanzin, Calaud, Hyde Clarke, and
others, as having given the best known accounts of
Dutch water constructions, and the situations of these
labours. It then described the "Polders" as being
tracts of land recovered from the sea, by a construction
of a belt of dykes, gradually raised to above the water
level, and then pumped dry, by which means they were
still rendered habitable, the level of the many more an-
cient being beneath that of the sea. When thus re-
claimed they form the finest land, and produce, for
many years, immense crops, almost without the appli-
cation of manure. The usual construction of these
dykes was described to be, by sinking successive layers
or beds of fascines or faggots of about 30 inches thick,
by from 8 to 16 yards in width, and of proportionate
length, weighted with gravel and stones, mingled with
clay, sea-weed, and salt. These layers were continued
various
cw untilaaps r theyconstructed
o b withformse r e
takena a c
af
tit
noedod of
forr
more ai
heights,
egho
evg of
brickwork,
above
tst rl
delicateiiewdc ke srmwee
operation
pfrt
ukeel
materials,
sl
described;so, whennhaenoafp s thelboolmsi ci
enprt
g i
aomtart othde
ipso:
were formed upon them. The difficulties of the usual
construction of the larger and of the smaller dykes, of
cularly entering into the details of the dimensions and
quantities of the materials employed, and the precau-
tionslast portion of each dyke, which, unless skilfully con-
ducted, in proper weather, frequently hazards the safety
of the whole work.
The different kinds of lock-gates and sluices used for
facilitating the outflow of the land waters and prevent-
ing the ingress of the sea were fully described, and drew
from several members accounts of balance and other
gates of peculiar construction used in Holland and else-
where. The original kind appears to have been the
self acting balance-gates of unequal surface, so placed
upon the pivots that on the rising of the tide they closed,
and remained so until on the receding of the tide the
weight of the accumulated land waters forced them open.
Recently machinery has been employed for opening and
shutting these gates, and the ordinary lock-gates have
generally been adopted, as it was found that they were
frequently prevented from shutting by some floating
matter getting between the mitre posts, and great
leakage ensued. The general details were then given of
the methods adopted for the subsequent drainage of the
Polder lands, the separation of the springs, the upland
and lowland waters, and the method of conducting
them out to sea. The slopes of the faces of the dykes
vary considerably; some of the low dyes are, in section,
of the form of an arc of a circle of six to ten feet chord,
and ten inches to one foot versed sine, covered with
fascine matting, staked down upon a clay bed. Others
have a base of 19 feet wide and 5 feet high, of a trian-
gular section, also made of fascines and stakes, secured
by hurdles and wattling ; with clay, peat, sea-shells,
and sand well rammed in, and then covered with turf.
Others are formed of rows of piles 16 feet long, with
their heads 6 or 7 feet above the shore, joined longitudi-
nally and laterally by waling timber, filled in and
around with fascine beds, and weighted with stones.
Baskets filled with sand are also used in certain situa-
tions, as well as various modifications of all these kinds
of protections. It was stated that these constructions
were found to succeed better, and last as long, as stone,
being, at the same time, about half the cost ; and in the
discussion which ensued, this statement was confirmed
even for some parts of England where stone was not

expensive.
Our limits will not permit a more extended notice of
this excellent paper, of which it was justly said by one
of the speakers that "it is the first detailed account in
the English language of some of the most interesting
hydraulic works of Holland."

THE INDIAN GABELLE.
(From the Examiner.)
Humble trade is, after all, the great civiliser and humaniser
of mankind, and has, unquestionably, contributed far more to
the prosperity of our Indian empire, than statesmen and
warriors. It, alone, overthrew the great commercial mono-
polies; abolishes all-pervading transit duties and Octrom ;
bound the Custom-house to moderation; gave personal free-
dom to British subjects in exchange for proscription; created
an Indian public opinion, and established the freedom of the
press—the security for all other freedom.
We observe that this busy agent is again engaged in its
quiet, bnt effectual labour of benevolence. Its present ob-
ject is the overthrow of the notorious gabelle of Bengal, by
tar the ugliest, and the most comprehensively mischievous
of all the monopolies which still continue to disgrace the
legislation of this empire. Cheshire, Worcester, Liverpool,
Manchester, Glasgow, Birmingham, Leeds, Hullßristol, are
all alive to the subject; and, as the question will soon come
before Parliament, we shall give a brief account of the pre-
sent state of the great public nuisance.
There exist, all over British India, either monopolies in
salt, or heavy duties, which are bad only in the second de-
gree. This, of course, includes all the native states within
!Jur frontier, called " under our protection," and, consequently,
this necessary of life is vended to an indigent people,
amounting to 150,000,000, at prices the most exorbitant,
while the subjects of the native princes, beyond the walls of
the fiscal prison-house, with its peine forte et dure, get their
salt as cheap as the citizens of New York—that of Cheshire.
But the salt monopoly exists in its most exquisitely per.
nicious form in the finest provinces of our Indian empire;
those of Lower Bengal, over about forty-eight millions of
people. This country is low and moist ; its coast, in propor-
tion to its area, small; and here alone, for there exist neither
salt lakes, nor brine springs, nor fossil salt, can salt be
manufactured.
On this limited coast, covered for the most part with un-
wholesome jungle, the brine is weak, because the sea receives
at it the drainage of the Himalaya and Vindya ranges, as well
as that of the Gangetic plain, 1,500 miles in length, and often
500 in breadth.
The natural cost of manufacture is, consequently, great,
and it is enhanced by the unskilfulness of the sole manufac-
turers, the Hon. the East India Company, the leasehold
delegates, on behalf of the Crown of Great Britain and
Ireland. The process is rude, in fact, beyond what would be
credited at Nantwich or Droitwich—such as it was under the
Moguls and the Patans, and most probably in the time of
that great legislator Menu, or when the Shastres and Puranas
were written. The first cost is about 60s. a ton, or about
thrice the price of better salt at Liverpool.
The delegates of the Imperial Crown is not only the sole
manufacturer, but, in violation of the spirit and letter of its
engagements in 1833 to forbear from every kind of trade, the
sole wholesale merchant. It conveys all the salt for the
consumption of forty-eight millions of souls to one spot, not
a centrical one, the town of Calcutta, and here it sells whole-
sale, or even retail, the salt of the best quality at near 121. a
ton, being about twelve-fold the price of good Cheshire salt
in Liverpool.
Then, the salt falls into the hands of a small combination
of native dealers who exercise a second monopoly in it, and
having, according to the analysis of Professor Farraday, laid
before a Committee of the Commons, mixed it with from
fifteen to twenty per cent. of earth, proceed to dispense the
" black drose", which has lost every feature of a muriate of
soda, over the provinces. The transit is generally against
the current of the Ganges and its tributaries, so that by the
time it has got to a moderate distance, the price ranges from
301. to 401. a ton ; that. is, from about fifteen to twenty times
the retail price which the people of England pay for their
salt !

Let us now turn to the capacity, as tax-payers, of the
people who are to consume salt at such prices. The vast
majority are rural labourers, earning at the utmost from 31.
to 4/. sterling a year, and the majority not near so much.
The bard earnings,.then, according to distance from the sup-
ply, of from a month and a half to three months of a labour-
ing man are required to furnish his family with a supply of
salt, the consumption, which with a less stimulating diet, and
hardly any other condiments, ought to be greater, being less
than one-half the average consumption of each individual
in this country.
Let the English reader fancy to himself an English day-
labour earning 301. a year, obliged to pay for this single con-
diment of salt from N. to 101. a year, being, at the same
time, reduced to half a ration, and then he will have some
tolerable notion of this pet tax, so long and so obstinately
defended by the British Government cf India.
We do not mean to assert that the prices we have given
are always paid by the Indian peasantry. We know that
they are not, for the smuggler steps in and relieves the
people of some share of the burden imposed on them—in-
deed of a considerable share, for it has been computed that
not less than one-fourth part of all the salt consumed is con-
traband 1 There are, however, situations which his benevo-
lence cannot reach, and here the people eke out the pittance
of culinary salt they can afford to purchase, by the use of the
ashes of vegetables, muriate of lime, and Epsom salts, vul-
garly called the " bitter purging," an article which we ven-
ture to guess that our East India director wouldinot find a
pleasant, however much it might be a sanative ingredient in
his own curry!
The monopoly is, in fact, a frightful capitation tax, in
some respects worse than the old French Gabel's, which con-
tributed so handsome a share towards bringing on the Revo-
lution, for the old French Government distributed its . salt
over the provinces, while the British Government vends it all
at one corner. The proof that it is worse is, indeed, afforded
by the fact that, deducting the supply derived from smug-
gling, the average consumption in Bengal per head is not
greater than under the Gabelle, where salt was dearest, and
greatly below what it was where cheapest.
The duty charged on British salt in the United States. ofa
American is about Bs. a ton. and in British India 81.. 3s. 6d
.at
ton, or above twenty times as much. British 8414t.s.jas sold
C;ay at
New York to the labourers of that city. earning
44. a-day, at . a
earning, when very well paid,
the rate of 455. a ton, and to the British labourers cal-
cutta,ofl2lderation.
derived by the Indian Govern-
ton ; a contrast that ought to shame some people into mo-
deration.
solf°°p
The whole revenue
a-year, or t, although the salt d
went from i
The its
much
han
British Government, cherishedthe
amamount
monopoly
of
duty
yielded to it, four-and-twenty years ago, above
1,500,0001. i
a year, and, although it wasinfinitely less onerous
that
the Bengal salt monopoly, voted it a nuisance and
abolished it. The year after the total abolition, 1826, the
whole public revenue was larger without, than it had been
with the salt duty, and this without any increased taxation.
All good example, however, is lost on the East India
Company in financial matters. In administrative and judi-
cial reforms, it is often bcld and judicious; but the moment
finance is touched, it bekngs to the fifteenth century. In
Committee
searching oifncituhirey Ilinotuso ethoisf
vCe.taymsamlotnms
omnoapdoelya,
calBr3e6fulaand
and the virtual drift of its report waa that it was a pub-
lic nuisance which ought to be abated: Ten years have
passed away, and the Indian Government has done nothing
but nibble at it. The salt is as high priced as ever—as dirty
as ever; the rulers of the monopoly are as stringent as ever,
and smuggling is more rife than ever. In finance the Com-
pany does nothing, except at the point of the boyonet. It re-
quired two heavy charges of that bayonet in 1813 and 1833
to drive them from their great commercial monopolies, as in-
jurious to England as to India, and ruinous to themselves in
purse and character. A few years back the whole inland
trade of India was harrassed by an infinity of transit duties
and octrois, which were abolished only by a bold act of
'virtual disobedience on the part of one of their own servants,
whom good fortune had placed in temporary authority.
They had long been filling their coffers by taxes on the
religious rites and superstitions of the Hindus, from the car
of Jagernat, down to the bathing or the shaving of a pil-
grim ; and these imposts, of worse odour than the faro ,ous
dirty tax of Vespasian, have, even now, been only parti ally
abandoned, and this not voluntarily, but through h
B-4.11 to of
the public opinion of England.