The Sun.
London, England, 1856-12-29 00:00:00

LI fE RAT U E.

The Rise and Progress of Australia, Tasmania,
and New Zealand. By an Englishman. Saun-
den and ()ilea', Conduit-street.
Australia has given rise to almost as many
volumes as nuggets , and many of the books are
about as profitless as many of the " diggings ;"
being mere imaginary speculations, differing only
in the tools employed in the process ; pens, ink,
paper, and mental conceit, being the adjuncts in
the attempt to " make a book ;" and pickaxe,
spade, and physical strength, constituting the re-
quisites for the attempt to " make a fortune."
Countless publications have been presented to the
world, containing all possible views and digests of
these vast colonies in the South Pacific, and his-
torical, commercial, moral, social, and progressive
data have been abundantly supplied by authors of
various opinions and abilities ; whereby the home
student may be enlightened, and the adventurous
emigrant excited.
The work before us affords a compendium of
useful matter, forming a desirable and con-
cise work of reference ; inasmuch that it con-
tains a considerable amount of valuable ex-
tract from sound and able authorities, and ex-
emplifies a strong degree of comparative and
observant power in the author, who, although he
has been somewhat free in the use of other writers,
employs them discretionally and acknowledges
them honourably. A Colonial directory, and im-
portant statistical details are given ; and, alto-
gether, the volume may be estimated as a superior
and reliable " Handbook " for traveller or settler.
During the author's first visit to Melbourne, in
1853, he relates the following story, as illustrative
of the unlettered ignorance characterising many
of the richest and most influential men in the
colony. A gen,leman of literary profession gave a
lecture on the " Beauties of the Poets," and this
occurs as a conversational interlude :
During the lecture, and after the lecturer had recited
" Wolsey's farewell to the world," the leviathan of wealth
previously alluded to—the hero of the present
and power
sketch—the magistrate and ex-mayor of the town, inno-
cently remarked to a gentleman sitting near him, that
" Mr. Wolsey appeared to have been very badly used ;
but," he continued, " who was this Wolsey ? I never
heard of him before, did you?—who or what was be ?"
Our informant added, consi •erably to our amusement on
saying that he replied to his inquisitor by tolling him that
"Mr. Wolsey formerly held a commission in a large and
important establishment at the west•end of London." " I
thought so," rejoined the colonial millionna.ie ;—" a com-
mercial traveller, I suppose ? But," he continued, " what
did he mean by `the tender leaves of hope?' I suppose he
travelled for the firm of Hope in the tea trade ?" The
closing supposition proved too much for the gravity of
his respondent, whose ingenuity was suddenly taxed to
find sorne other than the real cause fora burst of laughter
that followed an inquiry of so serious but stimulating a
nature.

We conclude our notice with a paragraph on the
present state of the chief emigrant depots :
With regard to the principal towns in the colony of
Vietotia—Melbourne and Geelong—we may observe that
the improvements which have taken place since 1853 cor-
respond with the favourable change manifested in the
tastes and habits of the population. Melbourne can now
boast of its University—with, at present, sixteen students
—its Chamber of Commerce, and other institutions that
furnish evidence of the social and mental progress of the
place and the people. The town is now partially, and will
shortly be entirely lighted with gas, while the improved
state of the streets, as well as the buildings, public and
private, prove that neither the local authorities nor private
individuals •have been insensible to the advantages to be
derived from the abolition of public nuisances and private
hovels. The improvements in Geelong, although not quite
so striking and extensive as those in the capital, have
steadily and substantially progressed ; and while Mel-
bourne, as the seat of government, is likely to maintain
the lead in a commercial as well as political point of view,
the situation and salubrity of Geelong are infinitely supe •
rior, and may well cause all those connected with the go-
vernment and its administration to regret that " head-
quarters" was not originally fixed in a place—the natural
advantages of which are so superior to those of the
capital.

Lillian's Golden, Hours. By Eliz% Meteyard (Sii-
verpen). Routledge and Co., Farringdon-

street.
This is a charming story, not only calculated to
interest and delight the young, but also to win the
perusal and admiration of their elders. Miss
Meteyard has a valuable power of earnestly de-
veloping the higher attributes of life in her stories,
while she allures and fixes the attention by amusing
and exciting narrative. This author has always
worked for an elevating purpose, whet her her labour
has treated the question of political economy or
juvenile amusement; and we can recommend this
volume as being one of the best of the kind offered
to our notice, essentially combining the elements
of pleasure and utility. The scene and incidents
lie in the romantic region of the Rowter Rocks, iu
Derbyshire. Vivid descriptions and graphic expla-
nations of various phenomena of nature abound in
the work, and the refining influence of humanity
is ably advanced through the familiar medium of
" household pets." Altogether the book is just the
one to be presented at this season by aunts, uncles,
and gran dpapas.

THE NAVAL CAMPAIGN IN THE
BALTIC.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

- -
SIR, —The liononr,ble testimony officially given
by the First Minister of the Crown in regard to
the conduct of a late Commander-in Chief of her
Majesty's naval forces in the Baltic, having been
subjected to severe non-professional criticism, I feel
it a duty to the Crown and to our country, as a
naval officer, to submit the following observations
to the judgment of the whole naval profession.
Admirals as enterprising and brave as any whose
deeds are recorded in history were employed during
the long war between 1793 and 1815. Yet hostile
fleets were passively blockaded by superior force in
bays and roadsteads, having wider entrances
deeper water, and more capacious anchorages, less
effectually protected by forts and batteries than
those of Cronstadt—nevertheless there is Lot one
instance of an enemy's fleet having been destroyed
or even assailed in such positions under these more
favourable circumstances.

The attack on Algiers, garrisoned by inexperi-
enced barbarians, is not a case in point ; neither
was the capture of the Danish fltet at Copenhagen,
previous to a declaration of war, nor the naval ac-
tion in the Bay of St. Domingo (ill provided with
the means of offence), nor the battle of the Nile
any proof of the practicability of combustible ships
successfully contending with red-hot shot. No,
nor did the practicable success at Basque Roads
induce even the most sanguine officer there present
to anticipate greater good fortune than to escape
without material damage from the batteries of Aix,
whilst running through a channel half a league in
width into an anchorage nearly three leagues in
circumference, on the distant side of which the
enemy's squadron (driven on shore by fire vessels)
lay in a helpless condition.
Great blame has been imputed by self-constituted
1 naval critics to the disclosure made of the ineffi-
cient state of the crews of the Baltic fleet ; but I
respectfully submit to the judgment of my brother
officers, whether the fact ought not to be pressed on
public attention, with a view to
the safoty of our
country by promoting an unanimous call fot a re-
currence to our former truly
laws thoughtlessly abolished.
Better would it have b Legislature
iug shipping interest, out been had the,
indemnified influential
judicious navigation
corporations, and the silkier-
by the remission of bemp,anu on
taXes on timber,
all Ciat is used in ship building and navigation,
than to have lowered the pay of our gallant tars to
a parity with that of continental- havigat°rB3 who
of the public purse and
(with their fatuities can subsist on the most cost-
less food--on stock)fi l and train oil.
I ahnouuctid six v fish ago* that eighty thousand
" blue i
where the absence of exactions insure remunera-
tive freights without resorting to the
tdiminutionade of
(once
wages. Since that period our coasting r
for seamen) has beau
Jackets"b-ade resorted to a foreign laud,
highl...
J prized
navigators. How many more
defenders have thus been forced to
of our gallant
plof their transatlantic brethren
follow the
exarilhrteant to ascertain, in order, with
it would
beliutilo) promote an unanimous expression
greater zoo.
iuion iu favour of liberal wages, and
of public opfatal
expedient, which must otherwise
against the .
to alien
be adopted—that of a Naval Foreign Enlistment

Bill.
Raving, through your favour, thus publicly re-
tverediotxVesfrsoumlyu(i)yw
nbroopthineiroonffi,
ncearms,elly,d
te
he taut.
per
red-hot shot, from half a hundred cannon directed.
at the bows of ships advancing through a narrow
channel, independent of carcasses and shells
showered from a thousand artillery around—would,
in a fewminu es, destroy any number of ye gels.
It is true that moans of setting these hitherto
forini‘tablo methods of defence at defiance have
mbeeenut—cobniumoutniiseaetqeduaallty vtarurieouths
attimthees3eto Ginapoovrtearnn-
t
tbnye amn
isnhd as vper fade.oi l
ce
cu tpoi
eodb
bt obtain Ipi
ai
rmt
yp ao impartial 1
iConsiderationder
,
erfuoluirnutlnureenpcere—,s:nutcelid
seamen, and
produced
d
expatriation
p ia
tioown of
thus caused the vital interest
pressed
es
interests of our country to be
overlooked. Thirty-three noble ships of the
Spanish line have I seen under weigh. Their
naval power is now no more. Yet the causes of its
downfall were not so manifest as those which
threaten our naval se •and, oiniequencly, our
service
national iwtepun , .
dence. I am, sir,
Y. obliged and obedient servant,
London, Dec. 27. DIINDONALD.

*Observatious on Naval Affairs, published by Ridg•
way.