The Sun.
London, England, 1856-11-27 00:00:00

LLOYD'S SHIPPING.—(This Day.)

LONDON, Nov. 27.—Wind this day at noon, W. ;
light breeze and cloudy.
PORTSMOUTH, Nov. 26.—Wiud W.S.W. to W.N.W.—
Arrived-11.111.5. Antigua, with bowsprit, foremast, and
mainmast sprung, having experier cad a succession of
southerly gales from the 7th to the 13th Nov., and sailed
for Sheerness.

PLYMOUTH, Nov. 26.—Wind N.W,—Sailed—H.M.S.
Actaeon, for the East Indies ; H.M.S. Raleigh, Cape of
Good Hope ; Ethiope, mist of Africa.
FALMOUTIi, Nov. 26.—Wind W.N.W., strong.—Ar-
rived—Marianne, Donna Theresa, and Sef, from Rio de
Janeiro.

SOUTHAMPTON, Nov. 26.—One of the boilers of the
Parana (s.), which was to leave on the 2d Dec. for the
West Indies, burst while being tested, killing four men,
and injuring eight others.
RAMSGATE, Nov. 26.—Arrived--Sea Nymph, from Lon-
don, for Launceston, with cargo shifted.
WATERFORD, Nov. 25.—Wind N.W.—Arrived.—Bea-
trice, from Ibraila.
HULL, Nov. 2G.—Wind N.W.—Arrived—Morning
Star, from Taganrog.
GLOUCESTER, Nov. 26. - Arrived—Barrowgate, from
Taganrog.

(PER ELICOTR/0 TELEGRAPFI.I
LIVERPOOL, Thursday Morning.

Wind N.W.
Arrived—Lydia Frances, from Jamaica.
QUEENSTOWN, Nov. 25.

Wind W.
Arrived—Fairy Queen, from Manilla.
KINGSTOWN, N0v.26.

Wind W.
Arrived—Jessie Byrne, steamer, from Ship Island.

(BY SUBMARINE AND BRITISH TELEGRAPH.)
GRAVESEND, Thursday, 9.53 a.m.
Wind W.S.W. ; four hours' flood; fine.
Sailed.—Tasmania, steamer, for Constantinople; Daniel,
steamer, Emden.
DEAL, Thursday, 9.34 a.m.

Wind N.W.,
Passed.—Phoenix, from Alexandria, for London.
Anchored—Addington, from London, for Bombay.

VESSELS SPOKEN WITH

The Samarang, from Cardiff, for Rio Janeiro, Nov. 6.
The Euphrates, from London for Calcutta, Oct. 15, in
lat, 13 S., long. 31 W.
The Secret, from Batavia, for England, Sept. 10, in
lat. 26 S., long. 51 E.
The Maurney, from Resolution Island, for Liverpool,
Oc;. 1, in lat. 22 S., long. 3 E.
The Argonaut, from Malta, for Callao, Oct. 14, in lat. 3
N., long. 19 W.
The Mayon, of Charleston, from New Orleans, for Lis-
bon Oct. 3, in lat. 34 N., long. 59 W.
The Elizabeth, of Queb6c, for Hull, Nov. 13, in lat 43
N, long 48 W.
The Alma, from Liverpool, for Callao, Oct. 11, in lat.
8 N., long. 22 W.

THE A VTI•POOR LAW BOARD LEAGUE.—An adjourned
meeting will take place; at the Colosseum Hotel, this
evening, at eight o'clock, to enrol members and for
eneral purposes.
ECCLESIASTICAL REFORM.—Lord Lyndhurst has, it is
said, received information from the Government that an
Ecclesiastical Courts Reform Bill, of a much less effi-
cient character than that of last session, is to be intro-
duced next year.
REV. MR. CAIRD, OF ERROL.—It is rumoured that
the pastoral charge of the splendid Gothic edifice in con•
nection with the Church of Scotland, now being erected
on the West-end-park, Glasgow, has been formally
off,e,rAed
PEEPto this A
talented
SCOTLANDlentedand THROUGHpopular HERpreacher.
SONGS."
Under this title, which aptly enough indicates the pur-
pose she has in view, Miss Lizzy Stuart gave an enter-
tainment last night at the Walworth Literary Institution,
comprising readings and songs very judiciously alter-
nated. The lecture, far it was truly such, is introduced
by an appropriate graceful speech, which at once be-
speaks the attention of the audience ; and to the title of
each song there was appended a variety of historical
incidents, amusing anecdotes, and biographical notices,
selected with great care and good literary taste. Miss
Stuart's enunciation is distinct and emphatic, though
somewhat rapid ; and her conception and expression of
several points in her lecture told with great effect, Her
musical abilities are well adapted for expressing the
various peculiarities of Scottish song. *he was equally
successful in the pathetic and tender as in the more
B:irring and humorous. In particular, t o modern songs,
by Mr. B.,llantine of Edinburgh, "Castles in the
and " Ilka, hla ie o' grass," were sung exquisitely, a
were greatly applauded. The entertainment, upon the
whole, is one which ought to be very congenialt and
propriato to literary institutions—amusement
aarnedfoin-
struction being judiciously blended. Those ,
likedwhile thehoe
s moresongs—Scotch
intellectualso ngare
always
those
will find it in historical facts and national characts ristics.

TEE PROPOSED HONDURAS RAILWAY.

The following letter from Dr. Scherzer, of the
Imperial Academy of Vienna, to Sr. Don Victor
Herran, on the Honduras, and the proposed Hon-
duras Railway, will be every where read with much
interest, now that the colossal scheme is fairly be-
fore the civilised world :
VIENNA, AUSTRIA, AUG. 17, 1856.
To DON VICTOR HERRAN, MINISTER PLENIPOTENTIARY
OF THE REPUBLIC OF HONDURAS, TO TIM COURT Or
ST. JAMES'S.
Sir,—You have done me the honour, in your letter
of the Bth inst. to ask from me some observations on
the Republic Of Honduras, of which 1- made a very
thorough examination, in the course of nay recent tra.'
vels in Central America, under the auspices of the' Im-
perial Academy of Vienna, and I hasten to comply with
your request.
The. principal quest;on which you have propounded
is, "The possibility of c)ristructing a railway across the
Isthmus of Central Aznarica, within the territories of
Honduras, from Puerto Caballos on the Atlantic, to the
Bay of Fcnseca on the Pacific, and if the configuration
of the country offers any insurmountable obstacles to
the execution cf such a work ?"

In reply to this question, I ain happy to have it in illy
power to say, that I have visited and examined with care
theigreater part of the country which the proposed railway
traverse, and that I am convinced there is no insur-
mountable ossLac:e is the execution of the work. In fact,
the difficult:es to be overcome are uos,_ii .sos. ~s.l would
appear from a first, glance at the !liana liondurss and the
mountain system to the csuntry. Whoevur travels there
must soon arrive at the conclusion that the great valleys
of the rivers Ulur. and Goascoran, the first stream falling
into the Atlantic, and the second flowing into the Pacific,
offer every facility for the execution of the work proposed.
Colluctively these valleys have a length of 160 English
miles ; and the greatest elevation of the country, at the
point where they may be said to join each other, is but
2,400 feet. The thorough reports which have been pub-
lished on the proposed railway by Mr. Spier, formnriy
Minister of the United Sates in Central America, and
which are doubtless known to you, supported as they
are by the high authority of Captain Fitzroy, R.N., in his
communication to Lord Clarendon on this subject, ren-
der it unnecessary for me to enter into details, and I ac-
cordingly confine myself to saying that, throughout my
travels, I have had abundant opportunities of verifying
these reports, and can testify to their accuracy. -Be-
tween Mexico and New Granada there is no point
which, from lie geographical position, is so favourable
for the construction of a railway between the seas as
that afforded by the Isthmus of Honduras, and whether
we look to the transport of passengers or of -merchan-
dise, the rapid transmission of the mails and of treasure
between the Atlantic States of the United States,
and California, or between Europe and Australia and.
China—in all these respects its advantages are most ob-
vious. The ports which form the points of departure,
on both seas, combine the conditions most favourable for
the realisation of this vast enterprise;
that on the Pacific. The Bay of onseca may perhaps
be considered as the safest and most commodious port
on the entire western coast of America. All the navies
of the world might meet in the grand basin, to exchange
for the benefit of humanity the delicious products of the
tropics, against the manufactures of European civilisa-
tion.

The many material resources of Honduras will greatly
contribute to facilitate the construction of the proposed
railway, the adjacent forests will supply the necessary
timber, and the rivers, navigable in the rainy season for
considerable distances, will easily permit of the transpor •
tation of mat:rials, and of supplies, as well as of the pro-
ducts of the soil.

But what gives most importance to the plateau of
Honduras, apart from its fertility and its temperature
of perpetual springs, is the salubrity of its climate, which
allows colonists from northern regions to cultivate the
soil and pursue their avocations without danger to their
health. I have visited the greater part of North America,
from Canada and Lake Superior to Louisiana and the
Gulf of Mexico, but I have nowhere found a territory
which offers the same advantages to agriculture with the
plateaux of Central America. .Commencing at an eleva-
tion of 3,000 feet above the sea, Enropt'an agriculturists
will find throughout a climate perfectly salubrious.
The meteorological observations which I made in dif-
ferent parts of the country, extending over a period of
two years, and which I propose very MCI to publish,
show that at the elevation of 3,000 leet the thermometer
very rarely falls below GO deg., and seldom rises above
82 deg. of Fah. The mean temperature of the summer,
or hot season, is from 69 deg. to 75 deg. of Fab. The
soil of Honduras, with few exceptions, is of such
fertility as to require no manuring in order to yield
two or three crops 'a year. The products of the
torrid zone - sugar cane, coffee, cocoa, cotton, rice, to-
bacco, maize, bananas, yams, yucas, potatoes, &c.—maybe
cultivated gide by side with the wheat, barley, oats, rye,
and the other cereal grains and useful plants of Europe.
A delicious cliniaw permits the emigrant to labour and
follow his avocations for the entire year. With less
effort be obtain 3 ten times the products which ho could
secure in Europe. In niece, parts of the Stare are found
mines of silver, geld, Lad, copper, and iron, yet unde•
veloped, and only awaiting the introduction of capital
and of intelligent wcrkinen.

The plateau of Honduras, as well as the plateaux of
Central Atnerica, iu general, justify the belief that the
world may enjoy the different products of the tropics,
s uchas
recourse
c
o
to h
ff e
e
,
and
e
ssuogaers:ewntiitahloutut
tchievi!niseacettn necessity of having
abominable institution of slavery ; had that all these
products may be cultivated by free labour, through
the medium of European colonies, which may be esta-
blished here, without the least danger to health, or risk
to life.

I should trespass perhaps i)oth on your tine and pa-
tience were I to enumerate the many advantagel which
capital, whether engaged in emigration, indin, try, or
commerce, might secure in the admirable countries of
the isthmus, most especially if devoted to the construc-
tion of a railway there, free for all nations. By opening
its high plains—picturesque and fertile beyond compari-
son, but now soly.ary for lack of inhabitants, to foreign
emigration—Honduras could not fail to attract speedily
the accumulate.; capital, skill, and intelligence of Eu-
rope, and take a superior position amongst the Spanish
American Republics.
As you have expressed your wish to give these lines to
the public (which, if you deem them of sufficient interest,
you are welcome to do), I regret that I am unable, at
this moment, to present to you an adequate tableau of
' this country, concerning which I might add a thousand
interesting details. But you will find most of these in
a work on the "St .-es of Nicaragua, Honduras, and
San Salvador," which has just been issued from the
Brunswick (German) press.
In one word, I do not believe there is, in the entire
new continent, a country which presents so great ad-
vantages for European colonisation, industry, and
commerce as central America. Situated between the
two great ccans of the globe, it offers, on its eastern
coast, the same facilities for commerce with the United
States and Europe that it affords on its western shores
for that of China, Australia, and the East Indies. The
construction of a railway to cross the isthmus of Hon-
duras, passing through a country healthful and fertile,
would,fleeteeto f ship?,
myip opinion,fre
nur ohpeetahne shores,sigilal lforad etnh e with sailing
colonistsof a
going to establish themselves on the table-lands of Central
America. It will be a sublime spectacle to witness the
theirmay
capital,
n riu t
to e, o
development ofthis happy
their intelligence, country, fort
o
hosewhro
by
ypen their heirposition,
its immense solitudes to populations
c and to industry. But, apart from the service which
they will render to humanity, I believe that all who
contribute to these good results, will also receive a just
and profitable return for their efforts and expenditure.
With high respect, I am, Sir, yours, &c.,
CARL SCEIXBUB.