The Sun.
London, England, 1856-12-19 00:00:00

CALCUTTA AS IT 13,

Every English traveller who visits Paris sighs over its
improvements. The contrast with London is too strong.
The difference between the acts of M. Hausmann and those
of the Board of Works are too great to leave room for
any feeling but regret. Travellers have even been heard
to aver that we might purchase independence too dear at
the price of stagnation, that a few weeks of a wise despo-
tism might do more for our cities than ages of municipal
self-government. Yet it is doubtful if such a despo-
tism, if worked by Englishmen, would suffice to the end
required. In Boston Americans, as jealous of interference
as the citizens of London, still enforce sanitary laws with
a rigour Louis Napoleon dare not attempt. In India an
absolute Government declines even the effort to improve
its capital. Calcutta, the metropolis of Asia, the seat of a
trade which has risen to 20,000,0001., is cared for less
than a tenth-rate town in the Mediterranean. The City of
Palaces, as some traveller contrived to designate it, wants
all the three attributes of a capital—convenience, beauty,
and original character. It is not convenient for health, for
the science of which we boast has done nothing to redeem
the original mistakes of the founder. He placed the city
on a spot where there is no natural drainage, and we have
only reported on an artificial remedy. A single shower of
rain fills the streets knee-deep. The compounds of the
luropean houses retain the water till the sun sucks it up
scattering malaria in the transit. The bazaars of the city
and the native town aro alike crossed by open drains full
of corruption, such as the costermongers of St. Giles'
would be unable to endure. Great native merchants
leave black ditches uncovered under their walls, and a
journey through Chitpor-road is full of torture for all but
snuff.takers. The river, perhaps the swiftest, and cer-
tainly the most beautiful of Asiatic streams, besides
the uncleanliness natural to a port, is filled with
dead bodies and feted with the excrement of a nation.
That river, and a few half-stagnant tanks, furnish the
drinking water of a population which has learnt from habit
to fear the cholera as little as the lightning. The stroke of
both may be deadly, but they are considered equally una-
voidable. Charnock and his successors let the native town
grow as it would, and it has grown, as a jungle grows, the
faster for the absence of ventilation. That the plague has
never appeared in the Burra bazaar is a blessing we owe to
the mercy of God, not to any carefulness of our own. With
cholera endemic we still enforce no ventilation, open no
new streets, clear no path for the wind; and regard build-
ing acts and acts for lodging-houses as a dreamt some future
generation may begin uselessly to discuss. Our popula-
tion congregates as it will, builds as it can, and lives as it.
may, without that guidance which is our moral claim to
govern. It is " Oriental," and that is a sufficient apology,
as if Orientals had not built Antioch, or Munco had never
enforced the religious duty of the bath. The shore, which
from its gradual slope renders quays and jetties easy of
construction, is left to be coveredh a witthremdeudofan2,ooocoi
and filth,
dangerous bits of granite. With
there is not one quay, one jetty, or one landing wharf,
and but ono large crane. Imports from half the world
aro still unloaded in country boats, and insurance is 'dill
of the
rr
ievnedre. r edc twoe e
It tpt
se rhceesn t. morenoidle c
Iceso est? ye
ebdy
wt hee
Ind aanyg epr se
es
with
resigned regret over the absence of all European amuse.
ments. But even the busy could appreciate cabs, or Some
mode of progression swifter than the palanquin, and less
costly than a private carriage. We have nothing of the kind
—a strange nondescript box on wheels, drawn by ponies
recommendation. They whose traces are usually of rope, plying only from the rail.
way ghaut. There are some. places on earth as little fa-
voured by nature and as little cared for by man which
which
a n
expenditure,
cutta have one not unimportanpsterhoroveliedgeeimoe
London are
cheap. Calcutta is dear. Rent,
although
at least twice as
shi sx t one-third. •
rueatmtraeasasobtnshoeer-ylare outside the ditch,
pehtioeuhgeehhtehfeerree
ts
uo
octroi. Meat, three-fourths of which
can
be eaten, is rising to English prices for joints which in Eng-
land can be wholly consumed, T
still cheap ; but the confectioner's bill our English habits
impose on us fully remedies that getables, we believe,
xfs
insignificant opprobrious
on us
on the genius of our Rutin
tilated, and unsupplied wteiahs. Undrained,
ments or the means of locomotion costly in the
extreme, Calcutta is not the,men
yetwould select
for convenience. As little • it place sane
water, without amuse-
picturesque, and thel
flat country may sometimes
contain the elements of the
verdure niaydistinguished
. viater c;dbepearpoteyt.tudA
union of flowing water
n of grander natural
feature.. But
compensate for the
.b
Paper, Calcutta is wanting in all theses—lndian

t ttton

SU2 OF.FICE, Seven o'clock.

AMERICA.

(PY MAGYETIO TELEGRAPH.)
ARRIVAL OF THE ERICSSON.

(PRONE Otiß OWN CORRESPONDENT.)
LIVERPOOL, FRIDAY.

This day, at 1.30 p.m., the United States mail
steam-ship Ericsson arrived off Holyhead. She
was to leave New York on the 6th inst., with the
United States and British North American mails
for Liverpool.
She is expected to arrive in this port at mid-
night.

NAVAL APPOINTMENTS.—(This Day.)

The following appointments were made at the Ad-
miralty this afternoon :
Lieutenant—G. M. Smith to the Melampus.
Mate—John T. Swann to the Pluto.
Midshipmen—H. J. Coddington to the Pluto ; J. L.
F. Paul to the Hermes.

Paymasters—James M. Lowrey to the Simoom ;
Henry J. Kelly to the Megmra.
Clerks—Robert K. Harriott, to the Nereus ; Charles
Gribble to the Simoom ; Corbet C. Edwards to the

Megtera.
Second Xi-aster—Daniel Pender to the Plumper•

Master's Assistant—W. J. Grandy to the Plumper.
Assieant Clerk—Edwin Theakston to the Simoom.

LONDON GAZETTE—(This Evening.)

FOREIGN-OFFICE, DEC. 17.
The Queen has been pleased to approve of Mr. Car
Lange as Vice-Consul at Newcastle-on-Tyne for the Grand
Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin.
WHITEHALL, DEC. 17.
The Queen has been pleased to present the Rev. David
Stirling to the church and parish of Dalmellington, in the
presbytery and shire of Ayr, vacant by the death of the
Rev. William Gilchrist, late minister thereof.
DOWNING-STREET, DEC. 17.
The Queen has been pleased to appoint Stephenson Vil-
liers Surtees, Esq., to be Chief Judge, and T. E. Rernono,
Esq., to be First Puisne Judge, of the Supremo Court of
the Island of Manritl.us.
Her Majesty has also been pleased to appoint Giovanni
Conti, LL.D., to be one of the Judges for the Island of
Malta.
Her Majesty has farther been pleased to appoint Alex-
ander Stewart, Esq., to be a Member of the Legislative
Council of Trinidad ; Charles Ambroze Lorenz, Esq., to
be a Member of the Legislative Council of Ceylon ; Hugh
Low, Esq., to be a Member of the Legislative Council of
Labuan, and the Chief Justice of Antigua to be a Mem-
ber of the Council of that Island.
Erratum in Ga:ette of Tuesday, Dec. 9.—For " John
Staples Findon, Esq.," read " John Staples Finden, Esq."
WAR DEPARTMENT, PALL-MALL, DEC. 19.
55th Regiment of Foot—Major-General the Hon. Gen.
Anson to be Colonel, vice Lieutenant-General the Hon. H.
E. Butler, deceased.
82d Regiment of Foot—Major-General Nicholas Hamil•
ton to be Colonel, vice Lieutenat-General Francis M. Mil.
man, deceased.
WAR DEPARTMENT, PAL-MALL, DEC. 19.
6th Regiment of Dragoon Guards—Cornet Walter Blach
ford Gifford, from the 9th Light Dragoons, to be Liente
nant, by purchase, vice, Johnston, who retired on the 3d
June, 1856.
4th Light Dragoons—William Chain, jun., Gent., to be
Cornet, by purchase, vice Ames, who retires.
Coldstream Regiment of Foot Guards—John Fletcher
Hathorn, Gent., to be Ensign and Lieutenant, by purchase,
vice the Hon. William Henry Bruce Ogilvy, who retires.
10th Regiment of Foot—Lieutenant George Stewart
Nutting has been permitted to retire from the service by
the sale of his commission.
27th Foot—Ensign Henry Scott Simeon to be Lieute-
nant, by purchase, vice Garstin, who retires ; Henry Mon-
teath Caine, Gent., to be Ensign, by purchase, vice
Simeon.
30th Foot —Decinsus Montagu. Gent., to be Ensign, by
purchase, vice Mackesy, who retiree.
32d Foot—Lieutenant Alfred Bassano, to be Captain,
without purchase, vice Birtwhistle, deceased ; Ensign H.
George Browne to be Lieutenant, without purchase, vice
Bassano.
37th Foot—Ensign George Bagnall to be Lieutenant, by
purchase, vice Webb, who retires ; Michael Andrews
Borthwick, Gent., to be Ensign, by purchase, vice Bagnall.
38th Foot—Captain Sidney Godolphin Qnicke, from
half-pay of the 38th Foot, to be Captain, vice Beswick,
appointed Adjutant of a Depot Battalion.
47th Foot—Captain James Armar Lowry, from half-pay
of the 47th Foot, to be Captain, vice Brevet Lieut.-Col.
H. M. Hamilton, promoted to the substantive rank of Ma-
jor Unattached, under the Royal Warrant of the 6th Oct.,
1854.
49th Foot—Major and Brevet LienteCol. Cadwallader
Adams, from half-pay Unattached, to be Major, vice Bre-
vet Lieut.-Col, Sing, whose brevet rank has been converted
into substantive rank under the Royal Warrant of 6th
Oct., 1854; Captain Charles Fitz Gerald, from half-pay of
the 49th Foot, to be Captain, vice Brevet Lieut.-Col. C.
Adams, promoted to the substantive rank of Major Unat-
tached.
50th Foot—Ensign Charles Wynn Isdell to be Lieutenant
by purchase, vice Massy, who retires.
65th Foot—Captain S. W. F. Wilson, from half-pay of
th 55th Foot, to be Captain, vice Werge, whose brevet
rank has been converted into substantive rank, under the
Royal Warrant of 6th Oct., 1851; Ensign Archd. James
Arnett to be Lieutenant. by purchase, vice Pirrie, who re-
tires ; William Martin Frobisher, Gent , to be Ensign, by
purchase, vice Arnott, promoted.
72d Foot—Capt. Robert Douglas, from half-pay of the
72d Foot, to be Captain, vice Alison, whose brevet rank
has been converted into substantive rank, under the Royal
Warrant of 6th Oct , 1854.
77th Foot—Capt. Edward Morton Long, from half-pay
of the 77th Foot, to be Captain, vice Brevet-LieuL.• Col.
G. Ir. S. Willis, promoted to the substantive rank of
Major unattached, under the Royal Warrant of 6th Oct.,
1851.