The Sun.
London, England, 1858-11-30 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY EVENING, NOVEMBER 20, 1858.

BRIT 1(&

kLUMBIA.

(From a -Correspondent of the Times.)

VICTORIA, VANCOUVER'S ISLAND, OCT, 6.

In my last lctter from San Francisco I stated
that I would visit the Fraser River gold mines, and
report upon them from, personal observations. An
opportunity occurred of my doing so in the follow-

ing manner :
In consequence of rumours of an alarming colli-
sion between the miners
and the Indians, the Go-
vernor determined to visit the interior in person ;
and the account of the collision which was brought
to him by a deputation from the miners at Fort
Yale and Fort Hope was given with such minute-
ness, detailing the massacre of 45 white men and
the commission cf other atrocities, and the demand
for assistance w as so pressing, that the Governor
made a requisition upon her Majesty's naval and
military officers on the station for men to accom-
pany him to support the civil authorities if neces-

sary.
I accompiied this party, and now give you the
jottings of the trip.
I regret the delay in forwarding this letter, but I
could not help it, for the last mail, by -which I in-
tended to convey it, left a few hours, before I got
back to Victoria.
The Governor had with him 22 'ion-commissioned
officers and men of the Royal Marines and Lieute-
nant Jones, R.M., in charge, from the Satellite ;
and 14 non-comissioned ()Akers and men of the
Royal Engineers, and Major J. S. Hawkins, R.E.,
who commanded the party, Mr. Bannerman, the
geologist of the British Boundary Commission now
engaged in this country in "fixing" the line of de-
markation between ourselves and our " cousins,"
accompanied the party.
We left Esquimault harbour, near Victoria, late
in the evening of August 30, and early next morn-
ing anchored off Point Roberts, near the mouth of
Fraser River. Point Roberts is a narrow peninsula
which runs into the Gulf of Georgia, and some
interest attaches to it at present from the fact that
the 49th parallel of north latitude, which is the
boundary line between the British and American
possessions, crosses the point, giving to America a
small portion of the northern extremity of it, as
determined by the astronomers of the two nations
on the commission. A joint national monument is
to be erected here.

Some of us landed on Point Roberts, and visited
the spot marked as the boundary. The first portion
of the new colony of British Columbia which I
touched promised to justify the high eulogiums I
had heard passed upon the country. The scenery of
Point Roberts is rich to a degree—almost tropical
in luxuriance and in colouring. The land rises
gently from the shore of a long, graceful, crescent-
shaped bay, covered. with blue shingle, first to a
strip of narrow plateau, from which it runs up into
a high bank, impenetrable from the rankness of the
vegetation ; Douglas pine, cedar, sycamore, maple,
alder, birch, dogwood, 'snowberry—covered with
round white wax-like flowers,—the wild cherry in
full bearing—the fruit tempting to the eye, but
bitter as quinine to the taste,—willows, wild goose-
berry, chrysanthemums of a light violet, very deli-
cate, Michaelmas daisy, sand reeds, and many other
plants hustling one another for room.
The first light frost of autumn had just tinged
this mass of foliage, and produced the most resplen-
dent colouring imaginable. The combination was
made up of masses of dark green, the colours of the
alder and pine ; clumps of the rich canary, of the
broad-leaved maple ; the deep red of the logwood,
and the light green of the cedars—quite as gorgeous,
but without the glare, of tropical colouring.
The entrance to Fraser River, between Point
Garry and Point Pelly, is nine miles north of the
49th parallel and of Point Roberts. The views
obtained of the mainland as we approach the river
are very fine. The horizon is bounded by a curved
line of lofty mountains of all shapes—some extend-
ing into a chain, others thrown into a congeries of
peaks, crags, and bluffs, speckled with snow, and
broken by great gaps and chasms,—the whole at
first appearing as if enveloped in a cloud of blue
gauze. On nearer approach we found that all
these mountains were covered from base to summit
with pines. To a height of 3,000 feet the moun-
tains of Fraser River are covered with timber.
The change from Vancouver's Island is at once
manifest. Everything on the continent is on a
grand scale.
I must try and give you some idea of the river,
which is fast becoming so famous. The entrance
proper is between Point Pelly on the north and
Point Garry on the south bank. An extensive flat
belt of low alluvial land intervenes between the
mountains I have just mentioned and the Gulf of
Georgia. The river runs through the delta, a con-
siderable portion of which it overflows. Outside
the mouth of the river the navigation is rendered
difficult and tedious by shallows, but Capt. Richards,
of her Majesty's surveying ship Plumper, has dis-
covered a deep and safe passage, which, when
buoyed, will afford easy access to large vessels.
The Satellite entered by this channel lately. The
width of the river at and for some little distance
beyond the entrance is about two miles. The river
is more remarkable for its depth than for its
breadth. The impediment to its navigation for
many hundreds of miles is caused by the strength
of its current and its rapids. The water is clear
and pure, of excellent quality, cool, and agreeable
to drink, without filtration.
The soil on both sides is evidently rich from the
exuberance of the vegetation. The south bank is
covered with a crop of long coarse grass and
shrubs, grouped into dense thickets ; while the
north side produces bulrushes in the marshes, and
belts and clumps of Douglas pine and other coni-
fer& on the - elevated dry spots. An Englishman
is astonished at seeing the pine family select such
rich soils as it does here. It indulges the same
taste on the north coast of California and' else-
where on the Pacific. This fact puzzled the hon.
and learned members whose labours are given in
the blue-book on the Hudson's Bay Compuny, if I
mistake not. In British Columbia the pine takes
the matter very indifferently. It spreads itself in
one unbroken sheet from the bottom of the deepest
valley to the top of the highest hill. Rich soil and
poor, deep soil and thin, black vegetable mould and
gray clay, seem to suit it equally well ; and some-
times, as if to show its contempt of luxurious feed-
ing, it flourishes in the clefts of rocks without any
sort of soil that I could distinguish, nourished by
moisture.
A few miles up the river narrows to a mile. The
body of water is immense, the depth must be equal
to that of the ocean. The Leviathan could ascend
for 35 miles, if, according to our captain's dictum,
she had astern wheel. The captain was not correct.
Side wheel boats can go up for 35 miles to Fort
Langley. There, owing to the strength of the cur-
rent and of the rapids a stern wheel boat is re-
quired. The stern wheel gets over the shoals
better, too, because it displaces less water than the
side wheels. As we ascend some 10 miles up the
country on both sides becomes clothed with trees,
and the view is confined to the glades that pierce the
profuse and tangled thickets. The current gets
strong, too strong for sailing vessels, which could
only warp up. On the coast, at or near the mouth
of the river, and for many miles up, there is not a
site eligible for a town. Except a solitary. otter,
which gave us a passing stare, we saw no signs of
life for many miles. The absence of birds is re-
markable. The scene is rich, soft, and luxuriant,
but very lonely.
Fifteen to twenty miles up the pines recede in
long stragglingbelts, and give place to a foreground
of alder, poplar, and sycamore, and the edge of
the river's banks are feathered with willows and
shrubs. The river continues to contract, about the
width of the Thames at Greenwich, and the vegeta-
tion thickens and grows ranker until the banks
become impenetrable walls of foilage, in places
having the appearance of artificially trained rows as
seen in the clipped avenues in England, the trees
very tall and slender, and so lithe that they bend
low to every passing breeze. The effect is very
graceful. You can see the same sort of thing on the
river San Juan in Nicarragua if you take that route
Nhen you pay us a visit. But I'm getting prosy
and v
must hasten on with my narrative. Half an
hour's steaming and we leave the narrows, the banks
recede, and the river expands into a wide lake—
the current disappears. The water seems to be re-
posing on its way- down, and the surface is clear
and placid as the face of a mirror. On emerging
from this basin we open the
highlands and come
under the shadow of the mountains, which appear
bolder and assume an aspect of greater grandeur
than on the first view.
It is really difficult to say which gratifies the eye
most on,this most beautiful river, the rich varying
hues of tle foliage on either side, which chancre's
so frequently as to dispel monotony, or the fore-
ground of cerulean mountains clothed in their tall
graceful pines. While feasting upon these beauties
a picture of a different character presents itself—a
fleet of 13 canoes
(I was prosaic enough to count
them as they flitted by), a boy and a girl in each,
fishing for salmon.
How skilfully these young creatures managed
their frail, tiny barks ! They rush them through
the fiercest rapids, wind and coax them along the
stony, devious belts in shore, and glide them over
the broad currents with equal safety.. Besides their
skill, they display a grace in their management
which is unattainable by civilised man. A turn
of
the Reach brings the village in view—a single
parallel line of huts built of reeds and thatched
with leaves, on the white sandy beach ; a long line
of canoes staked in single file in front, cunningly
placed out of reach of the steamer's swell ; a few
of the patriarchs of the tribe;gentlemen who once
were " braves," sunning themselves among their
. _

enjoying their otium cum dignitate after the
fashion of the Youcloulyets ; and the lathes grilling
the salmon (flattened and boned) in a cleft stick
stuck upright before the fire ;—a perfect picture of
savage life.
A little way beyond the Indian village the
scenery presents a new phase. Pines, of a more
commanding height than any yet seen, resume
their place on the banks and run down to the
verge of the water, their boughs bearing festoons
of the tillandsia or Spanish moss, the first I have
seen in this country. The effect of this elegant
gossamer drapery trailing, as it does, among the
trees, must be seen to be appreciated. I have seen
hundreds of miles of it in California, but cannot
find similitudes to describe it by.
Now for a little practical episode. We stop our
boat alongside the brigantine Recovery, which is
.anchored in the middle of the river doing duty as
3. revenue cutter. We deliver to the Recovery
something i 0 for the comfort of the inner man i"
and we pick up Dr. Wallace, the assistant-surgeon
of the Satellite, to accompany Major Hawkins'
military party,—a happy change for us. The Go-
vernor transacts some business. Our party gets
three cheers that " make the welkin ring" from the
Recovery's men, which we, of course. politely re-
turn ; and we start in the dusk, which soon changes
to darkness—most fortunately for you and your
readers, for you are saved from further description,
save and except a few particulars touching the Re-
covery, which will be brief.
The Recovery is not a man-of-war, but a private
vessel, belonging to the Hudson's Bay Company.
She has a revenue officer (a civilian) on board and
a complement of 30 sailors and marines from the
Satellite, in charge of the second-lieutenant of the
latter ship, Mr. Roach, and two midshipmen. This
force does the State some service in guarding the
river against the ascent of unlicensed spirits to
poison the poor Indians with, and in looking after
other matters of a fiscal nature,—more particularly
the suppression of smuggling from the American
embryo towns which have sprung.up in mushroom
haste on Paget Sound and at Semiahmoo Bay, near
Point Roberts, since the discovery of gold. Our kind
neighbours boasted publicly that the " City of
Semiahmoo" would acquire " a rapid development"
from its facilities for carrying on a contraband
trade with the new colony, which John Bull would
be too sleepy-headed, good, easy man, to put
a stop to. Some, deeply read in Mattel, even
doubted, or rather pretended to doubt, John's
right to interfere. What ! Stop a free and in-
dependent Yankee in the exercise of trading in
what, where, and with whom he pleased, subject
only to the impulses of his own sovereign will and
pleasure ? This doctrine was enunciated partly
from natural obliquity of mind, partly from a spirit
of bullying, and from what is vulgarly called
" trying it on," and partly for the use and edifica-
tion of Bunkum. It was initiated in Washington
City; and travelled via Washington Territory, to
Semiahmoo, and other kindred places. But alas
for human hopes and aspirations ! One of the
qualifications of Mr. Douglas is that he lived
among our good cousins long before he became
Governor ; that for years he has had business
transactions with them; and that he knows them,
consequently. "He knows them like a book," said
a politician the other day, in the street to another
man. " Like a book ! Yes, like a library," re-
joined his interlocutor. " Lost money by them,
too, at that." It is clear they can't come over to
the Governor. He'd sooner smother them with
politeness. But to my tale. The well laid spe-
culation in smuggling has been nipped in the bud.
With all his blustering and ostentatious wearing
of arms (always the sign of a coward), the Yankee
is, of all men, the easiest brought under the cor-
rection of the law.

There have been a few cases of attempted " run-
ning," but the whiz of a rifle bullet " over the
bow" has always brought the gentleman to with
wonderful alacrity.
There has not been a single case of collision. But
without the little Recovery we should not have been
allowed, I believe, total' the Fraser River our own.

• SEPT. 1.
Passed last night at Fort Langley, a post of the
Hudson's Bay Company. From the late debates in
Parliament one can gather that the company's
beds in London have not been " beds of roses." I
never tried such a bed, and cannot speak of its qua-
lities, but I have used many a hard bed, and from
experience, I can say that the Langley beds bear
away the palm in this quality. Mine suggested a
hint for Mr. Roebuck's benefit. Let him get a di-
rector as a scapegoat, to pass some night on one of
their own beds out here, and all the sins of the
company will be expiated. The welcome was kind
and hearty, and the hospitality generous, for which
I am most grateful, but the bed rather primitive.
While the governor is transacting a heavy budget
of business I stroll about and look at the place.
The fort is a stockade of strong pickets enclos-
ing a quadrangle which contains the buildings for
the transaction of business and for residences.
Everything has been designed for use and nothing
for ornament; the gentleman in charge, like all the
" servants," is well-educated, intelligent, very civil,
obliging, and gentlemanly; no show, fuss, or osten-
tation. All the arrangements are with a view to
business, and great order and regularity reigns
throughout the establishment. One may be taken
as a sample of all their establishments.
The soil at Langley is rich, and wherever it has
been cleared of trees it has produced an abundant
crop of grass—most excellent pasture, of which the
good quality of the dairy produce gives ample tes-
timony. The ground is actually matted with grass
—so thick is it—and it is long and green even at
this season, while that of Vancouver's Island is
dried up. The climate is moist, and the atmo-
sphere is at present quite grateful, warm, and
balmy. In summer the musquitoes are very tor-
menting.
The Fort is surrounded by forest, ,chiefly the
universal Douglas pine, some, of which have at-
tained gigantic proportions here. Fruits and vege-
table are very abundant, and the apple trees are
bending under the weight of their golden crop.
This is by far the most eligible place for settlement
I have yet seen on the continent. The Company
have a farm four miles in the interior, on which
horses and cattle thrive well, but not sheep—there
is too much forest for them.
The view from the Fort is very fine. It embraces
the river, which washes the base of the little pla-
teau upon which the Fort stands; takes in an In-.
dian village on the opposite side of the Fraser, the
valley of the Keitsay watered by the Pitt River, a
tributary of the Fraser, and a great clump of lofty
mountains, being a portion of the coast range lying
eastward at a distance of some fifteen or twenty
miles from Langley. The Keitsay valley, which
runs from the Fraser River at Langley to the
mountains on the east, is a portion of a greater
valley lying between the 49th parallel, the Gulf
of Georgia, and the coast range, and which is said
to contain a tract of rich, flat bottom land,
100 square miles in extent, fit for cultivation.
The Fraser River runs through it. Like the rest
of the continent, it is unexplored. Its situation
would indicate that the soil was alluvial. It
seemed to mo well suited to rice growing. Like
the rest of the country, it is heavily timbered.
I had here some little opportumty of seeing the
relation of the Indians to the Company. The fact
is that every " fort" forms a small nucleus of civili-
zation, around which the effect of the Company's
treatment is quite apparent. The Indians in these
localities have all made a step in advance of the
more remotely placed savages. Here were young
Indians employed as porters, coopers, boatmen,
menials in the houses, all earning wages, paid
chiefly in commodities ; while some find employ-
ment as pilots. One of these piloted our boat into
the entrance of the river. They are most efficient
pilots. I was informed that some of the Indians
were so intelligent as to have risen to the important
position of interpreters. I could not test their ac-
complishments, but I did meet an Indian boy who
spoke very fair English. Taken young, there is no
doubt but that the' Indian is susceptible of being
reclaimed; but in order to civilise him he must be
removed from the influence of savage life. Their
natural intelligence and acuteness I had seen dis-
played on several occasions.
The solitude of Langley has been invaded and
the Company's business engagements disturbed by
the intrusion of the gold hunters, who at first were
very saucy. The gentleman in charge complained
of the Yankees having been very intrusive, imper-
tinent and lawless when they first came up the
river in force, and when they fancied they were
beyond control of the authorities. They invaded
his corn-fields, ate the green peas. stole the oats,
tore down the fences for firewood, and miscon-
ducted themselves in other ways. How strange
that the natural coarseness, the bad manners, and
the vulgarity of this people will cling to them
wherever they go ! For my own part, I take this
to be an illustration of the effect of bad Government
upon national manners and morals. A stop must
be put to these unseemly and brutal displays of their
customs in this country. Our own self-respect
calls for their repression. If these people don't
know the practice of decency, they must be taught
it ; and if they don't choose to learn it, they
must go back to their own country, where they
can indulge their propensities. I, of course, allude
to the. " Hoosier" class—the great Yankee "un-
washed," and do not include in my denunciation
any American who deserves the epithet of gentle-
man. _ _ _

In front of Fort Langley a narrow island, called
Manson 's Island, about two miles long, divides the
river. The smaller branch is the one on which the
Fort is built. It is the
.south channel. It has a
depth of three fathoms in the middle, but along

shore it shoals to about seven feet. The tide raises
the water from 18 inches to 2 feet.,

The town of Langley consists of about a dozen
tents, used for all the purposes of life—decency
excepted. " Growler House" is a tent where brandy
is sold on the sly under cover of permission to
" furnish meals at all hours." " Our House" is in
the same business. Other tents are occupied byway-
faring miners " loafing" away time which, if well
employed in the mines, would yield them a good
return. The scene was strange enough, full of
antithesis, but so little edifying, that I had better
suppress it. The canvass town is on the beach;
but, as a new town is to be laid out under autho-
rity two miles lower down the river on a good site,
I suppose this rapscallionry will " quit" soon.
Our steamer is now off up the river, and I must
start. The day is sweltering hot, and the boat is
even hotter than the day—a floating oven. It
'makes me perspire to look at her, and she is so
crowded with passengers that there is no elbow
room. The only place to stand in even is the wheel-
house. I hope the mosquitoes will behave them-
selves, for if they make free with one at such a
disadvantage they will mar my enjoyment of the
scenery.
A short distance beyond Fort Langley we passed
through a group of seven islands of fanciful shapes
—some triangular, and one the exact shape of a
heart—covered with sycamores, their silvery loaves
glittering in the sun as they fluttered to the lightest
breath of air that stirred. The river here is ex-
panded into a wide glittering lake and is rather
sluggish, but a short distance beyond the islands
the current begins to be felt, the steamer begins to
labour and fails to keep up her speed. The captain
gives the current at five knots an hour. At seven
miles above Langley sounded and found 10 fathoms.
This depth is found for 80 miles up from the mouth
of the river. Ten to 15 miles from Langley the river
assumes the form of a series of magnificent reaches,
winding round the headlands of a succession of
long strips of valleys and bottom land which run in
lateral lines along the banks at intervals. Some of
these valleys recede, for miles, and run into the
distant mountains. One would suppose their soil to
be rich,
,judging from the luxuriant growth of maple
and deciduous. shrubs which succeed the pine forests,
now left behind. For many miles we have a noble
foreground of lofty mountains, from 2,000 to 3,000
feet in height, variously shaped—great round
mounds, long serrated ridges, and snowy peaks.
None of them bald, all covered with timber, the
narrow strips of bottoms at their base grow-
ing the softer woods—maples, sycamores, alder,
wild cherry, &c.—while the mountains them-
selves yielded no other trees than pines. The
vegetation is much fresher here than on the Gulf of
Georgia. No autumnal tints yet. The season is later
than on the coast. _ _

A few miles' steaming, and the scene is consi-
derably changed. Banks of clay succeed to the
vegetable mould which produced the trees above
mentioned, and we have a dense growth of cedars.
" This country is well adapted for settlement,"
" Who would remain in Europe that could settle in
such scenery, soil, and climate ?" were some of the
cogitations of the English passengers.
Twenty-three miles from Langley the Smess River
empties into the Fraser on the south side. About
15 or 20 miles up the Smess there is a party of
Sappers and Miners and others, under the charge os
Capt. Haig, R.E., encamped. This party belongs
to the Boundary Commission, and is detached to
verify the line of the 49th parallel, as ascertained
by the American astronomers. Both parties (the
American and English) agree in their work. The
American party traced the parallel from Semiahmoo
to the Smess Valley, and the English party verified
the work at both ends. Capt. Haig walked along
the line, which had been delineated by notching the
trees by the Americans, from Smess to Semiahmoo.
The journey was terrible, from the denseness of the
forest, and took him three days to perform—the
distance about 50 miles, I think, he said. He de-
scribes the country as a tangled thicket, all except
Smess Valley, which is a rich open plain, covered
with the tallest grass he ever saw—a fact which
some of our keen neighbours have not been slow to
discover and to take advantage of. An Americanised
Swiss and a true live Yankee are squatted in it,
feeding their worn-out mules. For the present they
are quite welcome ; better turn the grass to some
account than let it rot. I believe the authorities
think so, and do not entertain a " dog-in-the-
manger " policy.
A little way beyond the Smess we come upon
another cluster of islands covered with tall syca-
mores and spruces—which grow in thick belts as
close as artificial hedges—in a reach of the river
wide enough to justify the appellation of a small
bay.
Five miles from the Smess the River Chilwaiuck
(pronounced as if written Chilwayack), falls into
Fraser, also on the south side. The river drains a
large lake some 20 miles up the country. Both it
and the Smess are at all seasons navigable by large
canoes, and in the high stages of water in summer
by the batteaux of the Hudson's Bay Company,
which carry. 30 to 40 tons.
At the mouth of the Chilwaiuck there is a fishing
station of the Company, now deserted in consequence
of the idleness of the Indians. The discovery of gold
is fast corrupting the River Indians. They neither
have caught sufficient salmon this season for their
own winter supply, nor have they worked as here-
tofore for the Company.
From the mouth of the Smess the Smess plains
extend back into the interior, and run along the
river for some distance. They are spoken of as
being extensive and having good soil. Likely
enough, though I cannot speak with any certainty,
not having landed. They appeared buried in wood
like the rest of the country. There is great diversity
of opinion as to the quantity of good. soil in the
country available for settlement by farmers. I
shall only speak positively upon this subject when
I know the fact from my own observation.
The sunset this evening was the most glorious
imaginable. None of our party has ever seen an
like it. As the sun withdrew behind the
mountains mountains they became enveloped in thin airy
clouds of deep violet, the edges tinged with a rich
rose colour. Presently the two colours united and
overspread the whole series of mountains in a
colour quite indescribable by so poor a hand at
these matters as your correspondent.
We encamped for the night on a little ledge
covered with reeds, on the bank of the Harrison
River, another tributary of the Fraser. This river
drains a series of lakes in the Lilooett country—an
extensive district which lies to the north-east of the
river, and which contains two vast chains of moun-
tains—portions of the coast range running inland
from the gulf of Georgia, and another spur of the
same range called the Lilooett Spur. These two
ranges run north-east from the coast to the Fraser
River, leaving a great stretch of country between
them which contains the lakes drained by the Har-
rison. The Harrison is a large river, and its water
is remarkable for the deep blue of its colour—a
striking contrast to that of the Fraser, which is very
light—almost grayish. It falls into the Fraser on
the north side, 55 miles from Langley.
It was amusing and instructive also to see the
facility with which most of our passengers adapted
themselves to circumstances. No sooner had the
boat stopped her engine than a crowd of miners
sprang on shore, each ,with his blanket, his frying-
pan, and his little kit. While I was gaping about
me and gazing at the scene these " old hands " had
made themselves comfortable. In a few minutes
fires had been lit and the frying-pans brought
into play to cook their bacon ; coffee was preparing,
and some of the fellows were actually asleep.
Evidently.old:campaigners, these fellows ! No strife
and no noise.

THE EXTRAORDINARY CHARGE OF
MURDER IN WALES.

David Thomas, who has been several times re-
manded on a charge of murder at Blaendynfieh,
near Llandovery, was on Saturday brought before
the bench of magistrates. It should be remembered
that the prisoner is named David Samuel in the
warrant, and it is by that name he is designated in
the evidence. Mr. Parry, of Carmarthen, appeared
for the prosecution ; and Mr. Owen, of Pontypool,
for the prisoner. Mary Jones said she lived at
Glasalltfach in 1825, and remembered Lewis Wil-
liams, who was her second cousin, being mur-
dered, She also remembered a servant at Sletty-
evanddu at that time, called David Samuel.
He was in the habit of coming at times to see
his sister, who was in the employ of witness's grand-
mother. At that time he was marked by small-
pox on the face, and heavy eyebrows and a low fore-
head, and was about 19 or 20 years of age. On
being asked to look round the room and see whe-
ther she could see David Samuel, the witness said
she did not think she could, but that the prisoner
very much resembled him. It was 33 years since
she saw Samuel.
William Davies said he remembered hearing of
the murder of Lewis Williams. He did not know
David Samuel, of Slettyevanddu, but knew David
Samuel, the son of the miller of Trebane Mill,
Celycwm (the person who committed the offence
with which the prisoner was charged). He saw
him at Dowlais about eight or ten years after the
death of Lewis. After closely inspecting the pri-
soner at the bar the witness said he was not the
David Samuel, the miller's son, referred to.
Several other witnesses were examined, and a
further remand was applied for, but the magistrates
having ,conferred for a short time unanimously
agreed to dismiss the case, and the prisoner was
accordingly discharged.

LA BELLE FRANCE.

(From the Dispatch.)
Were we to judge of France by its literature
alone we know not that we could assign a higher
character to any other people in Europe. There
is a clearness, simplicity, and logical rigid sequence,
combined with a fascmation and easy facility in
the style of their great authors, that amply satisfies
the"intelligence of the most reflective. There is
also a precision and justness of thought in their
views, such infinite sagacity and good sense com-
bined with remarkable subtlety in their enun-
ciations of opinion, while over all presidos such a
well regulated moral tole, that nothing but sectarian
bigotry or national prejudice could fail to appraise
them at a very high valuation. We have risen
from the perusal of the dissertation of Monsieur De
Montalembert on the recent Ministerial crisis in
England, with sentiments of earnest admiration.
We are surprised that a foreigner, and especially a
Frenchman, should apprehend the significancy
of our political and social life with such a clear
insight, and in such a catholic and philosophical
spirit. We think it must do us all good to
see ourselves reflected in the mirror of his just
views and intelligent wisdom. We trust his candid
examination of the " Condition of England Ques-
tion" will make us conscious of the institutions
which have elicited from so sagacious a statesman
such well-founded admiration, and gravely ponder
over the responsibilities of unsettling a system
which, " the envy of surrounding nations and the
glory of the world," seems to be least appreciated
by those who are most indebted to its virtues.
The good and sagacious Frenchman " hopes on—
hopes ever." Ile yet expects even for his prostrate
country the happy consummation ours has already
reached. He has faith in the destiny of that noble
band of Gallic patriots who, amid the universal de-
generacy, have not fallen from the mettle of their pa s-
ture. And so it is with Poland, Italy, and Hun -
gary—" the thin red line "—the small and tenuous
band of heroic souls who "would rather not be, than
live to be in awe of such a thing as I myself,"
mistake their own enthusiasm and devotedness for
the public spirit of their nation, and believe their
dastard and craven countrymen to be animated
with the self-sacrifice and intrepid national
pride which inspires their own independence
and intrepidity. They have yet to learn that
to acquire liberty, nations must first of all deserve
it, and know how wisely to use it. They have still
to discover that a whole nation cannot be disen-

thralled by the mere aspirations of the handful of
the good and true ; and every people must work
out their own political salvation, not through the
self-immolation of the few, but by the heroic
patriotism of the many.
What hope is there for the country that Monta-
lembert loves so well, but not, we fear, wisely ? Is
it race or is it destiny that places her, in our ap-
prehension, further off than ever from her political
redemption? Is it that being Celtic, her people
without septs and chiefs wander like sheep without
a shepherd, and "find no end in wandering mazes
lost ? ' Is it that their genius and character having
designed them for the patriarchal absolutism of a
feudal oligarchy, they find that having an-
nihilated their nobility, they are totally un-
fitted for that constitutional self-government
whereby it seems the destiny of Saxons to
" show the nations how to live ? " We reproach
her rulers, we contend that she is what they have
made her, we denounce the Emperor, call him
tyrant and traitor—

-- A vice of kings ;
A cutpurse of the empire and the rule ;
That from the shelf A precious diadem stole,

And put it in his pocket!
Yes, although he is only one, and his subjects 36
millions, we lay all the sins of the State upon his
shoulders, and talk only of sympathy and commise-
ration -with his suffering subjects. How long will
this cant about the oppression of sovereigns blind
us to the abjectness of the people ? It was not
without reason that the greatest of Frenchmen
called a Gaul singe-tigre—monkey he is now as he
was then.

If we would know how to appreciate the French
charapter we will trace it through its history. Not
to speak of our English monarchs having so often
overrun France, or to insist too much on the un-
natural spectacle of many feudatories and vassals
of its kings siding with strangers and invaders
against their country, we rest at the massacre of
St. Bartholomew for the " picture in little" of the
nation. Next-door neighbours, intimate friends,
families in kindly intercourse, the old in graver
discourse, the young in the song and the dance,
and the more intimate relationship of opening
courtship, in the busy towns and the sunny villages
but an hour or two before, part with friendly leave-
taking. But the guest, as he leaves, gives the
signal wink to the Catholic servant of the Hugue-
not host ; and when the assassin bell tolls front
every Christian church, the guests return to mur-
der their entertainers—Frenchmen, fellow-country-
men, neighbours, andSriends. The Great Revolu-
tion—what is it but tie one half of the people mur-
dering the other half—secret denunciations of
friends and neighbours again anonymous ac-
cusations to veiled councils whispers of
incivism insinuations of disloyalty—and then
straight to the guillotine, to say nothing of the
baths and Meudon breeches—and this not against
a foreign enemy, but against one another.
There is an inveterate faithlessness, treachery, and
distrust about all the national acts of the French,
and withal a degree of poltroonery and subserviency
among them that ought to make the reflective
despair of their regeneration. Poor, harmless,
well-meaning, sincere Louis is executed without
one finger being raised to his rescue. The unhappy
Widow Capet, the ward, as it were, of the whole
nation, is beheaded, and a Queen that might have
" inspired a soul beneath the ribs of death," and
roused the chivalry of: Europe, passes away with-
out one Frenchman with soul enough to draw a
sword to save or avenge her. The nobility that
should have died in the last ditch for their order,
their lands, and fair name, run away with scarcely
a show of resistance, and become the miserable
pauper refugees to happier countries. Napoleon—
one man—usurps the Sovereign power, and scarcely
one solitary Republican ventures upon the slightest
resistance to his sway. Louis le Desire comes—
Charles the Tenth " absquatulates," and again, not
the feeblest resistance to his deposition is even
attempted. Louis Philippe gets himself crowned ;
he has numerous Princes of his own blood royal ;
he surrounds himself with a Chamber of Peers.
Rey presto ! He escapes "by the skin of his
teeth ;" calls himself Mr. Smith ; carries his own
carpet-bag ; his Princes disperse to the cry of
" Sauve qui peat!" and King, Princes, Peers,
Field-Marshals, " great men" and all, give up the
finest kingdom in the world into the hands of a
lawless rabble, without striking one blow or risk-
ing one scratch for their hearths, their homes, their
women, or their property. The Republic succeeds,
" one and indivisible" (!) Liberty, Equality, Frater-
nity, trees of liberty, machinery, dresses and‘decora-
tions—Albert, ouvrier, a Minister of State! Pre-
sently appears a special constable from:Marylebone
and a smart young lady of the easy virtue sort.
The Republic, one and indivisible—that is, Lamar-
tine, Ledru Rollin, and the rest—do not like him
—confound his impudence—had prohibited his
entry upon the soil of France. But modest assur-
ance and more profound humbug—more deep and
skilful than the humbug it succeeded—carry the
day. The Republic, one and indivisible, with all
its patriots, Albert ouvriers, incorruptible Rollins,
stump-orator Lamartines,heroes)Marshals, Generals,
Admirals, armies and navies, vanish " in the twink-
ling of a bed-post," or change like the cruel fathers,
country bumpkins, lovers and shepherdesses, into
the clown, harlequin, columbine of the pantomime;
the Equality of the Republic " drifts" into the ab-
' solute Dictatorship or the Empire ; and all fall
down, without scrupletor hesitation, to submit to
be the slaves or victims of the Prisoner of Ham.

The recent narrative of an Algerian victim of the
coup d'etat, a landed gentleman, Colonel in the
Imperial Guard at Waterloo, is a painful evidence
of the fact that the French people, like the
Bourbons, have learnt nothing and forgotten
nothing. It proves too, conclusively, that " if
you want to roast a Frenchman, you will get
another to turn the spit." At the secret bidding
of the President yet an inchoate Emperor
—there seems to have been no abjectness
of subserviency, at which any he com-
missioned tothe duty would not stoop ; no treachery
they would hesitate to perpetrate ; no fraud, in-
justice, or cruelty they would scruple to commit.
Half the nation quaking with dastard terror were
at the word of command arresting, imprisoning,
spying, transporting the other. Gentlemen, without
a moment's notice, were dragged from their peace-
ful country houses and the bosom of their families,
and disappeared never to be heard of more. Vene-
rable ladies, distracted at the kidnapping of their
sons, were tied to the cart's tail and dragged pri-
soners through the streets, trailed to death if they
could not keep their feet. No accusation, no charge,
no indictment, no trial. It was the pleasure of the
Emperorz--everybody ran, flew to execute it—that
was enough. At the hint, the whisper, of any secret
enemy, a lion's mouth anonymous denunciation was
sufficient. It was enough that the best men in
France should be suspected—off with them " with-
out judge or jury." This was not the act of the
Praetorian cohorts, the myrmidons of the despot--
it was not the 'gensd'armerie alone, the spies, the
police. Magistrates, private citizens, anticipated,
by their zeal in the service of oppression, the
official eagerness of the hired instruments of the
law. The best generals of France were marched
off to prison or across the frontier by. their
own troops—the men they had led to victory.

Everybody succumbed, everybody obeyed, every- '
body fell down prostrate before the one man
who had pluck enough to say they must. " The
En;lperor, said a Parisian barber to our friend the
other day, "is a truly great man. No ruler has
ever made himself so feared." Is not Kossuth
right in his recent lecture, when he says there is
no individuality, no self-dependence, no personal
independence among the French ; that the indivi-
duality is merged, sunk in the nation ; that they
live in and for society—to be and to do not what
they themselves are moved to, but what they see
the majority do. Men, women, and children, are
all ready to be spies of the Government—informers
upon each other—secret police, anything ordered
by the strongest power for the time against their
own countrymen—their very friends and neighbours
—their very relatives—their own families even.
This is what this appalling narrative of France, not
merely as it was but as it is, but too conclusively
proves. Where is Changarnier, where Ledru
Rollin—what became of Guizot, Montalembert,
Thiers, Michelet, Louis Blanc, Cavaignac, and all
the rest of the men of mark, and leaders of society
and opinion ? Is there one great name in all
France that is on the side of the Emperor ? Yet
he rules, and all obey. Is there any class—the
great landowners, the chief nobles, the Academy,
the learned or the middle orders—in his interest ?
Yet there he is, and they are nowhere.
In England here we would fight it out—
we have fought it out—our Cavaliers and
Roundheads—our Jacobites and Hanoverians.
We could have no coup d'etat here—no
sudden jump into power would induce our Saxons
to submit to it. We would stand by, our opinions—
our rights—the law. The Duke of Wellington with
the Army at his back would have been nothing to
us. We would have drawn off and fallen back upon
our strength, and taken the field again. Our nobles
would die in harness rather than quit their grip of
their rights and acres. Our middle classes would
stand shoulder to shoulder against the most power-
ful usurpation, and spend their last guinea and
drop of blood before submitting to it. But there is
the fact broadly staring us in the face, that in
France revolution after revolution has been per-

fected without a struggle, almost without a pro-
test ; and that whenever one man was strong and
dexterous enough to get into position, all the rest
fell down before him, the unwilling in submission,
the indifferent in obsequious subserviency.
Abuse of the Emperor, denunciations of his per-
fidy, perjury, tyranny, are really childish. He is an
effect, not a cause of the state of France. He is the
mere instrument of Providenceto prove to mankind
that power will never lie idle or without fruits ; it
will be always usurped where men are weak
enough to permit it. One half the people helped
the coup d'etat, arid the other half succumbed to in
place of resisting it, else it could never have been.
It was the nineteenth century- way of repeating
the eve of St. Bartholomew. In every town and
village throughout the Empire, we learn from the
Algerian victim, there were arrests, crueltieS, de-
portations under direct control of the municipal
civilians—the fellow citizens of the denounced or
suspected, There never will be freedom if subjects
submit to be slaves, or help to rivet the manacles
upon each other. •

LAW INTELLIGENCE.—Nov. 29.

COURT OF EXCHEQUER.

(Sittings at Nisi Prius, before Mr. Baron Martin
and a Special Jury.)
BENNETT V. IVATKINS AND OTHERS.

This was an action brought upon a post-obit bond
made in the year 1854 by a Mr. Watkins, of whom
the defendants are executors. The defence was,
that the signature of Mr. Watkins to the bond was
a forgery.
Mr. Iluddlesten, Mr. Hawkins, and Mr. George
Francis were counsel for the plaintiff; Mr. Edwin
James and Mr. Karslake appeared for the defen-
dants.

After Mr. Huddleston had opened the case for
the plaintiff,
Mr. Joseph Bennett was called, and, being sworn,
said—The plaintiff is my brother. I now live in
Nelson-square, Hackney-road. I knew the late
Mr. Robert Watkins. He was land steward to
the Duke of Norfolk, and my father was his grace's
steward. My brother, the plaintiff, is a tailor.
On the Bth of July, 1854, I was at his place of busi-
ness in Regent-street. Mr. Watkins came while I
was there. I was talking to my brother when he
came. I did not hear the conversation between
them. I was, in a back room. I was subsequently
called into the nom. (The bond vas handed to
the witness. I saw that paper there. That is my
signature as attesting witness. I saw Watkins
sign it, and heard him say " I deliver this as my
act and deed." He shook hands with my brother
and went away.
Cross-examined by Mr. James—My brother had
all the house except the shop—that was my im-
pression. I was keeping billiard tables then at
the Eagle Tavern, in the City-road. I am a cigar
merchant. I always travelled in the tobacco way.
I was then living at 8, Gresham-street, City-road.
I keep billiard-rooms now in Finsbury-pavement,
and travel in the daytime in the tobacco business.
I left the Eagle four years ago. I travelled then.
I keep no stock of tobacco. I get orders, and then
purchase the tobacco. I sold some a month ago to
gentleman who frequents the rooms, 21b. or 31b. I
don't persevere in that line much. I only use up
my old customers, and have very nearly done so. I
cannot mention any other sale. I never applied to
Mr. Watkins for loans of money. (Letter handed
to witness.) That is my writing. I usually sign
my name to letters so. It is my ordinary writing.
To the bond it is my extraordinary writing. In
attesting legal documents I use it. I have been in
the revenue service and executed a great many
bonds. I left the service in 1837. The salary
would not keep me. I was dismissed the service
for neglecting the duties. I had other business in
hand at the time. I was not in the tobacco depart-
ment at the Custom-house. Mr. Watkins was be-
tween seventy and eighty years of age, when he
signed, the bond. On the Bth of July I merely
made a call on my brother. I did not know that
Watkins was coming there. I dined there. I
did not know who was there until I was called.
I can't recollect what was said. He didn't
speak to me, but said to Sam—" I wish you
luck, my boy." I only saw him twice in
about thirty years, although I knew him well. I
heard nothing of the bond till lately—about three
weeks ago. I have kept a beershop at Mile-end.
That's a year and half ago. Part of the time I
had a billiard table there. I paid rent one way or
the other. The landlord was satisfied. He agreed
that I should walk out. I returned to him the
pictures I paid for when I went in. The rent was
£24. I paid £l2 or £l5 for the pictures. I went
from there 'to a cottage close by, and thence to some
walk, not Birdcage-walk, but a very nice place, and
paid my rent there. It was in the Globe-road. I
owed my brother for some clothes.
Re-examined—The landlord was very friendly
and took the pictures.
Samuel Charles Bennett—l am the plaintiff, and
carry on business in Langham-street, Langham-
place, as a tailor. I knew Robert Watkins for
some years, and was intimate with him in 1854.
My father was very intimate with him. I was
apprenticed at Arundel, and saw Watkins there
frequently. In 1839 or 1840 I went to London.
He wrote to me to say that there was a business to
be disposed of at Hampton, and offered to put me
into possession of £5OO to take it, but I did not
approve the business. In 1845 I was in trade in
Richmond-street, Soho. Mr. Watkins then lent
me £lOO. I wrote to say that I was going into
business, and he enclosed me a cheque. In 1847
I was in difficulties. He had lent me several large
sums of money. My father died in the same year.
When he died I received a letter from Mr. Wat-
kins dated the 7th of January, 1847. (This was a
letter of condolence. Many other letters written
by the late Mr. Watkins to the witness were handed
IT to him for identification, in order that they
might be used to compare with the signature to the
bond.) I owed him £609 18s. 2d. I was entitled
to some property in right of my wife. There was
a draught deed of assignment prepared, but Mr.
Watkins declined to execute it ; it was in 1848.
'ln 1851 I made an assignment for the benefit of my
creditors, and the deceased signed for £730. In
1850 the legacy became due. There was a negotia-
tion going on with a tenant for the purchase of the
property. Mr. Watkins went down with-me and
my wife, and purchased it for £l,OOO. Subsequently
the tenant did not purchase for more than £l,OOO.
Watkins got his money, but no interest. I was
obliged to be insolvent in 1853 to wipe off the re-
mainder of the assignment. In 1854 I made an
assignment to Mr. Watkins. He called on me in
Regent-street. I asked him to lend me £lOO. He
said " he was short of money, and, beyond that, he,
had promised his wife not to lend any more money. '
I said " I did not know what I should do." He
said, " There is one thing I can do for you, and
that is to give you an I 0 U for £l,OOO, payable
- I-0 U,
after my death." He then wrote me the
and told me totaseertain from mylawyerif th at woul d
intended.
I a proper document to secure what he
II took it to my lawyer's and had counsel's opinion
upon it. A bond was prepared, and he came on
the Bth July, and I told him that that I 0 U
was not a proper security, and that my lawyer,
Mr. Melton, had suggested a bond. I showed
him the bond, and returned him the I 0 U,
He said, " I you £l,OOO, but the bond is
for £2,000." I then said "If you read on
you will see that it is for £1,000." He then
said " that he was prepared to execute it, but we
should want a witness." I said "My brother is in.