The Sun.
London, England, 1870-06-02 00:00:00

A VISIT TO GIBRALTAR.

From the trite quotation, " Facilis descensus
Averni," we learn that the infernal regions of clas-
sical paganism had at least one advantage over
Gibraltar—namely, that they were easy of access,
whereas the noted British possession is hard to
enter and hard to quit. Having fought your way over
by main force from Algeciras, you soon begin to reflect
and to entertain serious misgivings, that you might as
well have remained at (say) Cadiz, or any other interest-
ing Spanish town. The Rock, of course, is an admirably
picturesque object, and the galleries are wonderful works
of military art. But these may be " done " in a day,
and, these done, what is to be done next?
Nurtured in an atmosphere of railroads, you are always
forgetting your situation, and asking yourself when the
next train will start. Then, remembering that trains are
not, you walk into the hall of your hotel, and your heart
beats high if you read on a placard that in about three
days hence the P. and 0. steamer will call at Gibraltar on
her way from Malta, for you flatter yourself that you will
be conveyed to2Southampton.
Battening on hope, you brace up you nerves to
endure three days more, although each proves more
intolerable than the one preceding. Of Spanish life there
is scarcely a trace, save in the shape of one wretched
water-carrier, who wastes his lungs in the national " cry"
" Aqua," and a sprinkling of melancholy Moors, who
glide about in pairs, and seem to discourse solemnly about
nothing. English life is represented by the garrison and
the friends of the garrison ; that is to say, by a set
of gallant gentlemen who are perfectly satisfied
with each other, and have no desire for the society of
strangers. _ _ _ _

At first, indeed, there is something exciting in, the
signal gun, which, fired from the summit of the Rock,
shakes the whole town, and in the military music by
which it is followed. You may likewise feel enthusiastic
when, at a late hour, the National Anthem is played.
But all this becomes terribly monotonous in a short time.
The gun that startled you on the first evening has rather
a lulling influence on the third the tunes that the band
has borrowed from the music-halls and from Offen-
bach begin to acquire a funereal ring, and even the
dulcet saunds of the Scottish bagpipes grow un-
pleasing to the ear. But your greatest horror is
the sentinel, who all through the night, at short intervals,
is shouting " Who's there ?', to some inoffensive wanderer,
and is sure t' receive a satisfactory answer. You almost
begin to wish that somebody may be shot, by way of
creating a little variety, but
.your wish is even more vain
than wicked. Everything is dreadfully secure. The
impregnability of the fort extends to the whole population.
Strict preservation of order, without the slightest fear of
an attack, is the rule of the day. The lively knife of
Andalusia is unknown in Gibraltar.
However, the third day is waning, and the hour of
deliverance is at hand. The approach of the P. and
0. is announced, and you prepare to take leave of
Gibraltar with a parting benediction. But a horrible
telegram arrives, and you learn that, the steamer
being completely full, a berth is not to be had for
love or money. The information that another P. and 0.
will call a week hence is far from reassuring. In the
course of the week you will be sorely tempted to commit
some outrage that will induce the indefatigable sentinel
to end your miserable existence, and if you conquer the
temptation you are by no means sure that P. and 0. the
second will not be as full as P. and 0. the first.
I myself have gone through all the misery which I have
inflicted on the impersonal you." Delighted, therefore,
was I to learn that on the day after the departure of the
English vessel the noble Spanish steamship (say) Cid
Rodrigo, coming down the Guadalquivir from Seville,
would stop at Algeciras and proceed to Marseilles, calling
by the way at Malaga, Almeria, Cartagena, Valencia, and
Barcelona. At each of these places a good part of a day
would be lost, and therefore the journey would be long;
but all trivial considerations vanished before the intense
desire to quit Gibraltar. Times.

TRADE IN THE SOUTH.—The merchants and
planters of Southwestern Virginia and Tennessee are to
hold a council of peace at White Sulphur Springs some
time in June to establish closer relations with each other,
and consider the state of the markets and general prospects
of trade for the current year. One of the objects of the
conference, as it appears from the comments in the Vir-
ginia newspapers, is to reestablish the trade of the Virginia
cities, and persuade the southwestern buyers that it is no
longer necessary for them to go to Baltimore and New
York for their supplies. White Sulphur Springs is pre-
Taring for a livelier season than has been known there
since the First Families made their fatal mistake ten years
ago.—Boston A.chiertiscr.