The Sun.
London, England, 1858-03-23 00:00:00

Tat SUN, LONDON TUESDAY' -EVENING MARCFI 23, 1858.

I
resolution of the House on his taking the oaths in
the manner which he declares to be the most bind-
ing on his conscience. It certainly will not in '
any degree be impaired by the advent of Lord
DERBY to place and power.
I We can readily understand the soreness of
the Roman Catholic members at the unwise
and impolitic distinction maintained between ,
themselves and their fellow-representatives. But.,
and we say it with the most perfect good feeling,
it would have been better had they brought for-
ward their demand for relief in a separate form.
They are sufficiently influential to demand redress.
We earnestly hope that the form of oath to be
taken by every Member may be made identical ;
that nothing should be allowed to remain to ex-
' hibit distrust in one any more than another, or to
recognise a distinction. But still it is better not
_ to embarrass the Jew question by an additional
element. Let the Roman Catholics obtain ample
' relief, but let not the Jews be embarrassed in the
1. attempt.

The vexatious attendant on the recent passport

regulations will this evening be brought under the
consideration of the representative branch of the
Legislature. They may indeed be described as
intolerable, and if persisted in must seriously im-

pair the intercourse that should subsist between
friendly nations. As we hate on several occasion

explained, these "tickets of leave" afford but
little, if any, protection against the conspirator,

or indeed wrongdoers of any class. All these

persons can easily provide adequate substitutes,
But they constitute great annoyances and formid

able obstacles to those who may desire to visi

France for purposes of business or pleasure. The
former will find the loss of time and expense, and

we may add degradation, of seeking a banker's or
magistrate's recommendation, a matter that may

.nduce them rather to entrust their affairs to res

dent agents than to see after them personally. The

latter will consider more closely the claims of the

many picturesque spots to be found in the United
Kingdom. The railways and hotels of England,
Ireland, and Scotland will largely profit by the
virtual exclusion of those who have but few

days-or weeks to spare, and there can be but little
doubt that every inducement will be held out by
the parties sa strongly interested in taking advan-
tage of the favourable opportunity. But it will
be at the expense of the railways and hotels of
France, whose directors and managers have no
objection to British gold. They will have
ample cause to deplore the results arising from
Imperial fears or Imperial jealousy. Even the

schoolmasters and shopkeepers will participate in
what, if persisted in, must prove a heavy blow and
great discouragement to their respective callings.
The Emperor has au unquestionable right to

make such regulations as he may think expedient
for the management of his own subject, and he
may refuse to permit any stranger to visit his
dominions save on specified conditions. But we
must say that he has no right to constitute our
Foreign-office one of his bureaux of police. It is
a principle of our law that every British subject

is to be deemed innocent of crime until he is con
victed by a jury of his peers. He has a right to
the protection of his Government either at home
or abroad, whithersoever he may please to go.
He should not be compelled to enter into a history
of his bittb, parentage, and education, or have
all his antecedents investigated, and days wasted
before he could beallowed to visit Boulogne, Ostend,
or Calais, which, for all practical purposes, slx.nold be
128 4"......:.' tto Liverno.l t r M.ne.hA,,ter. A.%
zr It smpediment.
should not be obtruded on him at Downing-street.
The French authorities should not frame regula-
tions to be enforced in the British metropolis
against British subjects. If they want to estab-
lish a system of espionage it should be carried out
through their own detectives. Our officials should
lend no aid thereto.
It is but justice to the present Government to
say that they did not introduce the obnoxious
system. It is not very easy to alter existing
regulations. We are, however, convinced that tem-
perate but firm representations would be promptly
attended to. The French police would easily
understand the injuries arising both to England
and France from an obstinate adherence to these
highly injudicious rules.
At all event=, a resolute course, on the part of
intending tourists, will go far to remedy the
grievance. For once let British scenery receive
fair play ; let those who have a mouth to spare
determine to devote it to an investigation of the
beauties of their native land. Their time will not
be wasted. They will not find " all barren " at
home. There are matters worth seeing at the
Lakes of Cumberland or Killarney, the Highlands
of Scotland or Wales, Fingal's Cave, or the Giant's
Causeway. Beelomond, Skiddaw, Snowdon, or
Mangerton, will well repay a visit. Nor need we
say a word in favour of Derbyshire, or Devon-
shire, Worcestershire, Wtokl )cv, or Connemara.
The most varied taste may be gratified. Every man
may find a suitable place of recreation, without
passing from under the protection of British law, or
encumbering hiui:e:f with a passport beyond that
contained in his purse. Such a course pursued
for a single season would have far greater effect
than all the arguments of diplomatists. Let
pleasure-seekers do their part, and railway and
steam-packet companies and hotel keepers fairly
respond to the invitation, and in due time
announce their intention of so doing, and the
object will be accomplished.

LATEST NEWS.

THE CHINA MAIL.

We have received the letters of our special and
private correspondents from Canton and Hong

kong to the 29th of January.

(FROM THE TIMES' SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT.)

" GOVERNOR'S TA.MITN, CANTON, JAN. 28.

" Having gone down to Hong Kong with the
last mail boat, I remained there a few days to
get my letters and make some arrangements for a
more protracted residence in Canton. The topics
of interest in the city cf Victoria were not very
numerous. The arrival of the Princess Char-

lotto and the departure overland of Cap-
tain King—farewell dinners to Commodore
Elliot, who takes home the Sybille—the ad-
vent of Captain Hall, to take the place of
Captain E lgell as Senior Officer—deeds of heroism
upon the walls, reported by the heroes upon
leave—the circumstances of one or two past balls

and the probabilities of the forthcoming races—
the departure of the Madras troops and expecta-
tion of others to supply their places, were the
chief matters talked over in that not very event-
ful city. Some benevolent individuals amuse
themselves throwing pebbles into the stagnant

sacialities of the island by inventing some egre-

gious shave.' Yeh was a frequent hero of these
fictions. At another time Peh-Kwei had ab-
sconded. Then the Tartar General bad fled to
join a camp of 20,000 men assembled near Fort
Lin. A Frenchman had been found outside a
Canton shop skinned. The whole of the 96
villages were ready to march upon the invaders.
A massacre of the English in Canton was in active
preparation. The blockade was taken off !
" This last was the all-absorbing shave.' The
island was immediately divided into two parties,
who argued the question entirely upon public
grounds. It was amusing to one a little behind the
scenes to hear these disinterested and patriotic dis
cussions. You never would have imagined that the
disputants had any personal interest in the matter.
Yet it does so happen that some of the Chinese
houses have been buying large quanties of teas at
high prices in the north, reckoning upon the con-
tinued suspension of the southern trade ; and it
generally occurs that the representatives of these
houses think the Chinese ought to be punished by
keeping up the blockade until they have learnt
that we can do without the commerce of
Canton. On the ether hand, those Americans
who have intimate relations with the Chinese, and
people who could not run the risk of buying teas
in the north at their present prices, are struck
with the gross cruelty of stopping the poor China-
man's commerce in his own river. They never
hint that they hope to buy 11,000,000 lbs. of teas
at lower prices as soon as the river is open. The
hope may be illusory, but it is a chance which
costs them nothing.
" The leaders subsequently conferred upon this
subject of raising the blockade. The consultation
took place on Monday, the 25th, and the day de-
termined upon is the 10th of next month. This
mail will probably take home a copy of the pro.
clamation about to be issued at Hong Kong. We
shall not get the Gazette here until the mail is gone.
"On the 21st I returned to my quarters in
Canton, and found that all the tender solicitude of
the people of Hong Kong had been entirely
thrown away. I traversed the whole city with
oiy trunk and chow-chow basktts, myself the only
escort to my four coolies. Along the great east
.nd wes: thoroughfare a closed shop was become
A rare exception, and the only difficulty was to
push our way through the crowd. The people
were cutting up their pigs and their fish (the
abundance of immense carp, tench, wad roach in
the streets of the city is wonderful), and cooking
their comestibles in full business-like security.
Idlers were playing at Chinese hazard, and exhi-
biting their piles of coins upon the board. The
_ _ _
Ai, irtoredible number. were
t'`"tf "'"" vurlollB _aDtiaues OL ue,..norrcat.
fashions, and were victimising credulous
lieutenants in a way which Mencius would
not have approved. The crowds are not
even afraid to manifest curiosity at the
c!othes and features of their European guests,
and the shopkeepers invite you into their shops
with a politeness that demonstrates that they have
no misgiving that you will exercise any right of
conquest except a conquest by purchase. Yet the
spirit of insolence has departed out of them.
Neither in word nor gesture is there any symptom
of hostility or even of dislike. I have seen two peo-
ple frightened very much by a scolding for using
the word " fan-quei " (foreign devil)—but I
believe they used it in all innoce,nce, having
never heard us called by any ether name. 1
would neglect no precautions, for the neglect
of precautions would revive hopes now aban-
doned, and the neglect of precautions nearly
proved our destruction at Ningpo during the last
war ; but so far from there being any notion of
retaking this city, I believe that no 10 Chinamen
within sight of Canton would dare to raise a stick
in the presence of a British or French soldier or
sailor.
" The street of the triumphal arches is the only
exception to the general reopening movement.
That street lay rather in the way of the Phlege-
thon's fire, and the lower part of it has suffered
severely. The Chinese are engaged in clearing
away the rubbish to rebuild their burnt houses,
but the uninjured shops near the Treasury stdl
remain sulkily closed. In the large western su-
burb, where the streets and shops are quite as
good as in the city, not a shot fell, and business
goes on as usual.
" The commercial parts of Canton have been
much over-estimated. We have believed that there
must be seine grain of truth in the bombast and
brag of the Chinamen. Canton is big and popu-
lous, that is all. In other respects it is a very
ordinary China city. Its temples are numerous,
and the Confucian temple and the temple of five
hundred gods are good of their kind, but most of
the others are miserable and dilapidated. The
nine-storied pagoda is in so ruinous a condition
that the General the other day forbade the at-
tempt to climb the fragments of its broken stair-
case. Major Luard, whose success at the escalido
seems to have inspired him with a mania for
climbing, had previously risked his neck in
getting some way up. Yet this pagoda is
the great boast and lion of Canton. The
Chinese boasted of it because foreigners could
not get near enough to see what a miserable
ruin it is. What can we think of a people who
will not afford a few dollars to save their monu-
ments from mouldering ? When the General and
his party went to the pagoda it had all the air of
not having been opened for 20 years. I have
already spoken of that great district or desolation
the Tartar General's yamun. Hundreds of coolies
are now papering and whitewashing, carpenters
are shoring up, and I believe, even painters are
painting. It is thought that when the jungle is
cleared away, and the roofs and floors are secured,
and the bats driven out, and the atmosphere
sweetened, it will become good barracks, and that
the surrounding grounds will become what I inno-
cently described them as being when I spske of
them on Chinese testimony—' capital camping
ground for the British grenadiers.'
" How different are all the realities of Chinese
life from our English notions of Oriental magnifi-
cence ! Their ridiculous mandarins, whom our
middle classes wonder at, andonr great folk adore,
live in houses in which an English gentleman
would be ashamed to lodge his steward, and keep
their retainers in places which au English farmer
would think quite unworthy of his cows. It is
explained that they allow vast yamuns to fall to de-
cay because their tenure of office seldom exceeds three
years; their luxuries, therefore, are for dresses,
embroidered tunics, jadestone sceptres, loose silk
chair-covers, and such dike moveables.
foundl _ the yamun of,yeh-Kwei in a much
re
u'fir..ge:tiotil__lie,eyesutatyee sensationsthan when e no
ulr leftfirs it.t
night I shall
in notha that
vwinth were, suddenly left alone at sun-
ut*-tizi-ainam:u men in that unknown Babylon of
or "te3ilethei,t s Pay Mon s, without light,
P _ or guide,
sech,
'Fancy 50 foreigners left na

the dark in Vauxhall-gardens two days after London
had been stormed, groping about the rotunda and
the Alhambra and the side boxes for places

where the might sleep secure from a night
attack. It was not encouraging that when
two of us penetrated to Peh-kwei's buildings

to demand oil and tallow, a hundred fellows,
headed by Peh-kwei, and his guest the Tar-
tar General, stormed at us in chorus, and twice
pressed us out by the unhostile pressure of their
bodies against ours before we could make our-
selves understood sufficiently to levy a pound of
candles as the price of peace and quietness.
" Now all this is entirely changed. Through the
open yamun doors crowds of Chinese come and
go. The Chinese tribunal of Peh-Kwei and the
tribunal of three Commissioners (Colonel Holloway,

le Capitaine Martineau, and Mr. Parkes) are aux
petits soins. Thanks to the energy of the trium-
viri, the streets of Canton are as safe from Euro-
pean violence as the streets of Paris are from
Chinese exictions. Colonel Holloway's Court
takes all the mixed cases ; and, 'finding the other

day that a Chinaman was in the wrong, he was
sent over to Peh-Kwei with a statement of the
circumstances. The Mandarin was so charmed
with this compliment that he had the poor wretch
bambooed nearly to death.
" The New Court has also established a new
Canton police. Captain Pym is the Colonel Rowan
of Cantos. He has 100 soldiers under him armed
with swords and revolvers, and the French have a
separate body of 30 men. Associated with the
European police aro an equal number of Tartars.
Five English and two French stations have been
established in convenient parts of the city and
suburbs, and the shopkeeping community are likely
to obtain under British and French rule a security
they never before hoped for.
"Things were proceeding so happily that Pell-
Kwei the other day wrote a note to Lord Elgin
c ,mplimenting him very much upon the state of
affairs, and suggesting that we were all now such
very good fiends that it was quite unnecessary for
us to keep soldiers in the city. This polite imper-
tinence produced an answer which Peh-Kwei his
not yet shown to his most intimate advisers. In-
stead of evacuating the city the General has been
obliged to remind the Tartar General of a stipula-
tion that the arms of the Tartar soldiery should
be given up. The Chinese dignitaries were pre-
pared to correspond upon this subject, to appoint
commissioners, to receive reports, and to hold
a discussion upon every gingal. The English
General, with a barbaric promptitude, marched
1,300 coolies and a large escort into the three great
depots, and, on Saturday last, lodged nearly all the
rubbish within the English lines. The Vane
Imperial armouries were in a high state of effi-
nency. The doulde-handed swords were immense
in numbers and terrible to look upon. There were
rooms full of those fear-inspiring shields which, in
some quite mo leru period of Chinese history,
probably gave to some piratical Greek the idea
of the Shield of Minerva. There were arrows in thou-
sands, very carefully finished and preserved in cases,
but the mandarin bows were very rare. Great
stores of quilted war jackets filled the presses, and
there were many complete suits of Chinese armour.
e he swords, and pikes, and gingal, and matchlocks
were innumerable ; but the chief attraction was
five brass guns, which were followed by covetous
eyes as they wore walked off by the coolies. In
another establishment we found collected all the
shot that could be recovered after the last year's
bombardment, and also some of the unexploded
shell, which hid been fired upon the city on the
28th December. There was also a great depot of
infernal machines in form like a dark lantern made
of tin ; many flags and banners were also carried
off.
"I have taken some pains to ascertain the loss
suffered by the Chinese during the bombardment
and the storm. We have all the official returns of
the first day in our possession, and no account that
I have seen places the deaths during the whole
operations higher than 200. Some distrust the
Chinese accounts, but I am inclined to put fsith in
them. Unless you surround Chinese soldiers you
never kill many of them. You never catch them
upon an island, or in au isolated position. They
act upon the principle of the Wife of Bath, that
" 'A mouse who trusts to one poor hole,
' Can never be a mouse of any soul.
They fire very fiercely upon you as you are coming
up to attack them, but escape by the back door as
s.-at.n as you get too near. Our escalade was a cora-
rn -yr ul r V art, a wal6 Mir-N*lA ig.,F7.7=
Fort (lough ; they never expected that you would
turn aside and jump upon wooden legs' over the
wall. flowqua's Comprador, with whom some of
us talked the matter over, declares that it is impos-
sible that the numbers killed could be greater than
is stated. The people, he says, knew perfectly well
the line the fire would take and got out of the way.
The troops who were obliged to remain on the
walls kept very much under cover, and great quau-
tities of the missiles missed the wall and fell into
the ditch. The dead must be buried outside the
city, and as the western gate only was open, it
was easy for any one to calculate how many were
carried out. It says little for the destructive
power of our warlike engines that so small a loss
should have been occasioned by so large an expen-
diture of shot and shell, but the probabilities are
that the fact is as the Chinese state it. It is placed
beyond doubt now that the loss of the Chinese dur-
ing the bombardment in 1856 was not more than
43, and I quite belie ye in the probability that the
recent list of killed dots not exceed 200.
" The Staff arrangements have undergone some
change. The last accounts from India showing that
e
Major Crealock's regiment was actively engaged, he
rtoesihginserdeglits eSnttaaffl appointment here, and is gone off
duty. Captain Pellew, the Gene-
rsl's aide-de-camp, has pursued the same course.
Captain Cooke, of the Marines, succeeds Major
Ore dock, and Capt. Carrington, who has hitherto
acted as Provost-Ma,rshal, has been removed to tho
Adjutant-General's department. The General has
not yet chosen an aide-de-camp to succeed Captain
Pellew.
"Our great want is interpreters. It would ap-
pear that there are only three English iuterpretet s
available for our use in all China. Mr. Wade and
Mr. Parkes aro worked beyond all reason, and,
what is more to the purpose, they toil in vain to
overtake the exigencies of the public service. Mr.
Alabaster, a young man of some acquirements in
Chinese, is in attendance up au Yen. There is a
Chinaman named Wang, and a Portuguese named
Lozario. These are the only mouths through which
we can cemmunicats with this p o. 1".
Pell-Kwei has been asked to take some steps to-
wards alleviating the misery of the destitute
classes, but he does not see his way to the employ-
ment of any less efficacious methods than the head
cutting knife and the bamboo. The life of these
high dignitaries must be very' dull. Ptah-Kwei is
too great a man to do anything. He sits all day
in an uncomfortable straight-backed chair, and re•
ceives a few reports, and writes occasionally—or ra-
ther dictates, for his handwriting is unpreseutable
to the Emperor. Seeing him the other day in this
poiition of dignified discomfort, one of the inter-
preters asked him whether he passed much of his
time in reading ? His answer wan, ' No, I never
read ; my heart is heavy. I cannot laugh over ro-
mances, and if I read good books I go to sleep.'
" Yen, on board the Inflexible, exhibits much
the same spectacle; aud it naturally occurred to the
Anglo-Saxon mind that ho also must want books.
Thu offer was rejected ; but Yeh is a religious man
and said nothing about romances. His answer was,
What should Ido with books? All the books
that are proper to be read I know by heart.' He
quoted Caliph Omar without having ever heard his
name. He passes his time in praying to Buddha,
gilianae 'or Sortes Bibliese.' One of them is
atluiludetsetlellilningghsieshfeomrteusn, eanaß9
logioupsaptoeros abound
uSnd in for
Sortes Vfoie--
headed Scheme to determine when the Kwangsi
Rebellion will terminate.' Tue Chinese are very
indignant with
him for not killing him-
self.
They say Eep number one fools ;
he no make
by these fortunetellei ho no make
fightee pigeon ; 1
writes pigeon,
rle&lin, he no tt
cu se thloat.' The wretched crea-
ture seems to have been influenced in his conduct
n 2; numbertricks, w
enhe
arebaall
hetero-
dox in China as they are in England. Respica
rivales Divorunt. Yet, although the revelations of
his state papers, and our observation of his personal
habit, demonstrate thtt he is without conduct or
a
judgment, or even the along common-sense of an
ordinary Chivanien, his official rank is so great
that we are told that his presence in the Canton
river exercises en unfavcureble influence upon our
dealings with the Chine •,e people. Unless early
roes of his degradation should be received. Ise will
be sent away. The present idea is to send him to
Calcutta, where he will probably have an oppor-
tunity of cultivating the friendship of the King of
Oude within the wails of Fort-William.

HONG KONG, JAN. 29.
Our latest advices from England are to the 26th
Novemh r. The steamer with the mail of the 10th
December keeps out. The steamer Ottawa, with
the outward mail, 'ewes to-day.
By a Government Gcu.-,ette .Extraordwary, pub
lished late last evening, we learn that the blockade
of the port and river of Canton will be raised on
th© 10th February next. The city and suburbs
will be open to foreigners under certain conditions,

and martial law will continue during the occupa-
tion by the Allied Forces.
By this opportunity we have little to report from
this.
At Canton matters remain quiet, and the system
of government adopted seems to work satisfactorily.
It will probably be some time before entire confi-
dence is restored, and we learn that a good many
of the wealthy inhabitants are still leaving the place.
When the restiutions to trade are removed we look
forward to a better understanding between
foreigners and Chinese.
Their Excellencies Lord E'gin and Baran Le
Gros still keep their stations off the city.
It is said the Ambassadors will proceed north as
early as practicable.
Yeh, the late viceroy, is still on board her Ma-
jesty's steamer Inflexible, stationed in the river.
We believe it is not yet decided what will be done
with him. His being allowed to remain so near his
former seat of Government is considered to exert
some influence over the present Chinese Commis-
sioners, who previously acted under him.
Oue or two regiments of native troops are ex-
pected in here shortly, from Bengal.
Her Majesty's ship Sybill', Commodore Elliot,
sailed for England on the 21st inst., and her Ma-
jesty's ship Comus on the 26th inst.
We have to mention a most daring robbery and
murder which was committed in this place on the
evening of the 26th inst. At about 5 o'clock in the
evening the shop of a watchmaker wai entered, and
property to a considerable amount taken away.
The European boy in charge was killed, having
been stabbed in several places. The Chinese house
servant has been taken into custody, and a China-
man connected with the establishment, supposed
to be the murderer, has been captured at Macao.
Watches were found in his possession, and a knife
soiled with blood.
At Hongkong business during the past fortnight
has been very inactive, partly owing to the state
of Canton matters, and restricted also from the
approach of the Chinese new year, 12th proximo.
Cotton.—Small sales of Bombay. Quotations
nominal $l5.
Cotton Yarn.—No sales. Prices are somewhat
lower.
Sdk.—No purchases have been made at Macao
for Great Britain.
Exchange on England, 44. 9id. ; on India, 220 r.
The present steamer takes a large amount in
treamire for India and England.
Freights.—Little demand tor tonnage.
At Foochow the tea market was very dull. Set-
tlements reported at 6,000 chests congou and about
1,000 hilt' chests Oolongs, at a decline of about 1
tall. Remaining stock 65,000 to 70,000 chests
congou (mostly common kinds), and 15,000 half
chests Oolongs. One vessel had sailed for England
and two were loading.
Our Shanghae advices are to the 23d inst. Busi-
ness in imports and exports had been limited.
Total exports of tea to Great Britain, 38,000,000
of lb. against 46,000,000 last year to the same time,
being adecrease for the present year of 8,000,000 lb.
Sitk.—Transactions bad been very small, esti-
mated at 1,000 bales, at a decline in price of 40
taels.
Freights to England, 2/. 10s. for tea, and 4/. 10s.
for silk.
Amoy advices are to the 24th inst. Transactions
in imports and exports very limited.
Manila advices are to the 23d inst. The quota-
tions for exports were nearly nominal.
Our latest dates are—from England, Nov. 26 ;
Calcutta, Dec. 19 ; Bombay, Dec. 16 ; Singapore,
Jan 2 ; Manilla, Jan. 23 • Sydney, Nov. 10 ; Mel-
bourne, Nov. 16 ; Shanghae, Jan. 23.

LITERATURE.

Recollections of the Last Four Popes, and of Bom4
in their Times. By Cardinal Wiseman. Hurst
and Blackett.
Cardinal Wiseman, whore name has long been
eminent among those of his own faith for his lite-
rary as well as his theological attainment, is not
unknown as an author to a wider circle. His
charming romance of the catacombs, "Fabiola,"
was an universal favourite, and the volume before
us is by no means restricted in its interest to those
of the same creed. Though of course maintaining
the spiritual and temporal authority of the Pope,
and tinged throughout with the author's peculiar
opinions, the work is written in a tone of modera-
tion, and freedom from asperity that prevents it
from offending the feelings and prejudices of his
opponents. There are not mealy persons who can
boast of having seen five successive rulers, and
those who have must have witnessed changes in
nations and manners which must interest all classes
of cultivated readers. An observer of the taste and
abilities of Cardinal Wiseman cannot fail to find a
congenial subject in the artistic remains of the
Eternal City. His first introduction to it was in
early youth, when, in company with five others, he
was sent to colonise the English college in that city,
which bad long been desolate and deserted. He
gives an amusing list of the misadventures of the
journey, then a formidable one. He tells us how
the embarkation took place on the second of Octo-
ber, and the arrival late in December ; how a fort-
night was sp •lit in the passage from S:avona to
Genoa, how a dog went mad for want of water, how
the ship went on fire, how a sudden squall nearly
destroyed them, and how, at length, they heard
the joyful sound "Ecco Rema." Pius the Seventh
was the Pope who then wore the tiara, who had
witnessed the convulsions of Europe, who had seen
the fall of the Emperor who dethroned him, and who
had been restored to power by the course of events.
In his long life of more than eighty years what
vicissitudes had that old man seen and experienced,
what thrones and dynasties swept away before the
march of the conqueror, or crushed by the Im-
perial tread to lift their heads again when he had
passed by. The Cardinal thus describes his senti-
ments on his first interview :
The feelings of any one permitted to approach that
most venerable man had necessarily a colour and vivid-
ness beyond those inspired by his dignity and office.
His history had been mixed up with that of the world,
and its very anecdotes were fresh in memory. To the
young especially, who remembered him only in a posi-
tion so different from his natural one, as a captive and a
persecuted Pontiff, who had almost learnt to disjoin the
idea of the supreme rule of the Church from all the pomp
and even power of worldly state, and to associate it with
prisons and bonds, as in the early stages, there was the
halo of the Confessor round the tiara of Pius, that
eclipsed all gold and jewels. His portrait had been fa-
miliar to us, but it was that not of a high priest, clad in
" the vesture of holiness," but of an aged man bending
over the crucifix in search of its consolations, and speak
ing those words which had been made sacred by his con-
stant utterance—s" Mae the holy and adorable will of
God be ever done!"' Then had come the news of hie
wonderful triumphs, his humble victory, scarcely less
astonishing than that of arms. He had been rescued
fram his durance not by the power of man, not by the
armies that almost hemmed in his Prison, but by that
higher will that keeps in its own hands the hearts of
kings, and turns them at pleasure. The same stern com-
mand which bad torn him from his palace and borne him
away, had set him free, or rather ordered his restoration.
To this, indeed, had succeeded another danger and tem-
porary retreat ; so that the final settlement of the Holy
Pontiff in his dominions, and their restoration in their
integrity, had only occurred three years before, and bore
the character of recent events. As yet, indeed, one
might almost have said that the triumphal arches and
garlands of his joyful entry into Rome had scarcely
faded, and that the echoes of the welcome cries that
greeted him still lingered among the seven hills. For the
people all spoke of them as things of yesterday.
He gives an interesting account of the Pope's
endeavours to restore and embellish the artistic
marvels of Rome, a task that was carried on with
energy by his second successor, Pius the Eighth.
To the library Pius made considerable additions, not
only of manuscripts, but of many thousands of printed
volumes. Among these was a magnificent collection of
bioles, and biblical works. The Pantheon had long
been to Rome what Santa Croce was to Florence, and
Westminster Abbey used once to be to us ; the mauso-
leum of great men. The busts of distinguished Italians
were arranged round its walls, and gave a profane ap-
pearance to the church. By order of the Sovereign
Pontiff a new gallery was prepared in the Capitol, under
the name of Protometheca ; and in one night of 1820,
the whole of the busts were removed from the Pantheon,
and carried thither.
It is, however, one even greater glory of Pius's reign,
that he commenced that series of excavations round an-
cient monuments which have been continued till the
present day, and have done more for solid antiquarian
learning than any previous study. Former excavations
..... ....,” a,....1.12,1 .A 1 AL 4.•s,aai , 6 t.l 1./1./Ccatu imuasa.c. 4_, .1 a, null
were filled up again as fact al made. But, in 1807, the
Arch of Septimus Severus, which, as may be seen in
Piranesi's pi ints (not here " the lying Piranesi," as For-
syth calls hini), had been more than half buried in the
ground, was cleared of all rubbish, and an open space
life quite round it. An immense spur, too, was added
to the Colosseum, to prevent a large portion of its out-
ward wall failing. Tue excavations and restorations of
ancient monuments were continued IT the French au-
thorities under the Empire, and often with a bolder
hand, for churches were destroyed or desecrated to dis-
cover or restore heathen edifices. But after the restora-
tion the work was resumed with greater vigour.
Archaeologists were wonderfully disappointed when on
excavating round a column in the centre of the Forum,
which had been the very pivot of systems, it displayed on
its pedestal an inscription of Phocas, a monarch totally
out of the pale of craeeicalsociety. Besides, however, other
interesting restorations, that of the arch of Titus reflects
the greatest credit on the commission appointed by Pius
for the preservation of ancient edifices. This, not only
beautiful, but precious monument had been made the
nucleus of a hideous caAellated fort, by the Frangipani
family. Its masonry, however, embraced and held to-
gether, as well as crushed, the marble arch ; so that on
treeing it from its rude buttresses, there was fear of its
collapsing, and it had first to bo well bound together by
props and bracing beams, a process in which Roman
architects are unrivaled. It was in this condition that
I first remember the arch of Titus. The seven-branch
candlestick, the table, trumpets, and other spoils of the
temple which RotaA has so well illustrated in a
learned little treatise, as collateral and monumental evi-
dences of Scripture truth, were invisible in great niea
sure behind the wooden framework-, which also cona-
jdetely hid from view the beautiful relief of tho apothe-
se a in the key stone. The simple expedient was
adopted by the architect Stern o`, completing the arch in
stone ; for its sides had been removed. Thus encased in
a solid structure, which continued all the architectural
lines, and renewed its proportions to the mutilated centre,
the arch was both completely secured and almost restored
to its pristine elegance.
The Cardinal's first view of Leo the Twelfth was
on the imposing occasion of his coronation. He
thus describes the gorgeols specta.3!e :
For the first time I witnessed pontifical high mass in
St. Peter's. All was new—the ceremony, the circum-
stances, the person. As has been before observed, the
infirmities of Pius VII. had prevented him from officiat-
ing solemnly ; so that many of us who had already passed
several years in R. erne had not witnessed the grandest of
pontifical functions. But, strange to say, though some
of our body had shortly before received holy orders from
his hands in his private oratory, as I had not enjoyed
that privilege, the countenance, from wh oh later I had
to receive so many benign look., was all but new to me.
And the peculiar moment in witicti he stands painted,
clear as an old picture, in my memory, was one which
can only be once passed in each pontificate. As
the procession was 'slowly advancing towards the high
altar of the Vatican basilica, it suddenly paused, and I
was but a few feet from the chair of state, on which, for
the first time, the Pontiff was borne. No other court
could present so grand and so overpowering a spectacle.
In the very centre of the sublimest building on earth there
stood around a circle of officers, nobles, princes, and am-
bassadors in their dazzing costumes ; and within them
the highest dignitaries of religion on earth, bishops and
patriarchs of the western and of the eastern Cnurch,
with tire sacred college in their embroidered robes,
crowned by heads which an artist might have rejoiced
to study, and which claimed reverence from every be-
holder. But rising on his throne, above them, was he
whom they had raised there, in spite of tears and remon-
strances. Surely, if a life of severe discipline, e f con-
stant suffering, and of loug seclusion had not sufficed to
extinguish ambition in his breast, his present position
was calculated naturally to arouse it. It ever in his
life there could be an instant of fierce temptation to
self applause, this might be considered.the one.
And wherefore this praise in the triumphant proces-
sion towards the altar over tho Apostles' tomb, and to
the throne beyond it ? It is to check the rising of any
such feeling, if it present itself, and to secure an anti-
dote to any sweet draught which humanity may offer;
that so the altar may be approached in humility, and the
throne occupied in meekeess. A clerk' of the papal
chapel holds right before him a reed, surmounted by a
handful of flax. This is lighted : it flashes up for a mo-
ment, dies out at once, and its thin ashes fall at the
Poutifre feet, as the chaplain, in a bold sonorious,voice,
chaunts•aloul," Pater &trete, sic transit gleria mundi."
"Holy Father, time peiseth away the world's glory !"
Titre times is this impeessive rite performed in that
procession, as though to counteract the earthly influences
of a triple crown.
The character and policy of Leo he describes at
length, as well as his reforms and alterations which
were doubtless actuated by a sincere desire of re
formation and improvement. The brief pontificate
of Pius the Eighth did not afford scope for many
remarkable events. He was distinguished, as we
remarked above, by his love of arts and learning.
He wassucceeded in 1831 by Gregory the Sixtemth,
the civil and domestic questions of whose time are
beyond the scope of this volume of pleasant infor-
mation and agreeable personal recollections. The
artistic associations of his reign are, however, above
the stormy elements of political strife,; and they
thus are alluded to :--..
Let us begin with these higher proofs of genius. The
Roman galleries were rich till hie time, iu masterpieces

of Greek and Roman art. Indeed, one only wonders
how so ranch that is beautiful remains there after Rome
has enriched the rest of the world. Unfortunately, in
ancient times, many of the sculptures excavated. when
the soil was for the first time upturned, were placed in
the palaces or villas belonging to the family of the reign-
ing Pope, and thereby became appropriated to its own
use. Thus, the Medici Villa received those matchless
statues and groups which make the Tribune at Florence
a temple of highest art, though adorned only with spoils
secretly conveyed from 'tome. Thus also, whatever in
the Museum of Naples bears the name of Farnesiao, as
the Hercules and Dirce, came from the gigantic palace
of that family in Rome. Let us imagine these two col-
lections poured back into their original source, and what
would the Vatican be now ? Then add to the sum of
Roman artistic wealth the innumerable pieces of sculp-
ture colected or scattered in other places, and even in
other parts of the city, in the villas and palades of Rome,
in the Louvre, at Munich, in London, and it well may
be said that the Eternal City has not only heaped up
artistic treasures for herself, but that she has enriched

with them the entire world.
With this inexhaustible mine of wea:tb, she had not
thought of goi❑g beyond her own soil to increase her
store. She watches indeed more jealously over it, and
over every new discovery, and does not allow the stran-
ger so easily as formerly to be a gainer by her own losses•
The consequence has been most beneficial. Unable any
longer to look to Italy for the accumulation of master-
pieces, we have turned to the original fields where she
reaped her golden harvests, to Greece and Asia, to Lycia
and Halicarnassus. It was Gregory XVI. who first en•
larged the boundaries of artistic collection in Rome, and
brought into near connection the monuments cf miler
schools, those from which it had always been supposed
that the more elegant and sublime productions of Grecian
taste and genius had received their first inspiration?.
The discovery of Assyrian monuments has indeed
materially modified these theories. Egypt can no longer
claim to be the cradle of artistic Greece ; no lawgiver of
her future code of taste ever larked in the bulrushes of
the Nile. And Etruscan art is no antecedent preparer
or modifier of Grecian grace, it is a portion finished and
refined of it, though corresponding with it in progres-
sive development, from rigid archaism to nnzoned

luxuriancy.
Gregory added to the Vatican, but kept unblended
with its chaster treasures, most valuable collections of
these two classes of monuments. He began nearest
home. Mention has already been made of the Etruscan
discoveries commenced a few years earlier in the Papal
territory. Campaigns had long supplied Europe
with what are still called Etruscan vases, probably
the same objects of commerce as figure in our
customs list under the designation of " Magna
Gra3cia ware." The Museum at Naples was rich in its
collection of them ; and most other countries possessed
a few specimens, North of Rome, most Etrurian cities
contained local museums, in which were deposited curi-
osities, as they are called, picked up in the neighbour-
hood. Chiusi, Volferra, Cortona, and other successors
of old Etruscan towns, treasured up with care the re-
mains andeevideaces of their ancient taste and splen-
dour. Sometimes an antiquarian academy or society
occupied itself with researches and discussions on the
spot, and published learned and useful transaotione.
Such are those of the academy of Cortona, which extend
to many volumes, full of interesting matter.
Among the eminent characters whom the author
met in Rome was Cardinal Mezzofanti. His ac-
count of this remarkable linguist though brief is
full of interest.
The name of this eminent mun is too well known
throughout Europe, for it to require any eulogium here.
Moreover' a most accurate and full life of him has been
compiled by one who has spared no pains or research to
make the biography complete. I allude to the Very
Rev. Dr. Russell, President of St. Pa..rick's college,
Maynooth, to whom I have tran-ferred iey little stook of
anecdotes and information concerning my good and gifted
friend. Having made this sacrifice to the desire of an-
other, whom I may describe by the very same terms, I
will not anticipate here what will be adorned by the
graceful pen of his biographer. I will but say that I
can attest his perfect utterance and expression in the
few languages with which I happen to be acquainted,
and that I nave heard natives of almost every country
in Europe and Asia, not to mention California, who hate
borne witness in my presence to his perfection in accent
and phrase, when speaking their various languages. The
general observation used to be, that they would easily
have taken him for a native each of his own country.
Tois magnificent gift of universal speech was net
thrown away in any sense. It was habitually employed
in good, in instructing and assisting spiritually many
who, without him, might have remained ignorant or
helpless. Though it was natural that he should be fond
of conversing in his many languages, I should doubt if
ever it was done from love of display, for be was humble
and shrinking on every occasion. Indeed be knew his
powers to be a gift rather than an acquisition. His ap-
pearance certainly did not bear the seal of 1014 high in-
tellectual mark ; for his learning on all subjects was
accurate, extensive, and solid. The countenance, which
was the dial to the busy and complicated works above it,
was not ample or noble in its traits. His brow was
a problem to phrenologists : though his eyes were
heavily pressed outwards by what they may have con-
sidered lingual faculties. One of this order once told
him gravely that he had great facility in learning lan-
guages. " But then," Mezzofanti archly added in _telling
me this wise discovery, "he knew that I was already
-.;fti omaciple
and childlike' charitable to exoess, and ready to help any
one with head or band.
With Pope Gregory's death the record closes,
having embraced a period of twenty-eight years.
The length of the time, the various subjects of the,
memoirs, the character and position of the writer,
the exciting events that have kiuce taken place,
all combine to render this volume attractive alike
to those who sympathise with the Cardinal in his
reverence fot. the Pontificate, and to those who are
desirous of ext3nding their a.-,quiintince with the
ohief characters as well as the artistic records of
the City of the Seven Hills.

ACCIDENT ON THE NORTEI.WESTB.RN

RAILWAY.

A correspondent of a contemporary this morning
writes as follows :—Yesterday I got into the 8.15
a.m. express train at Rugby for London ; when
we arrived at Wolverton, where the tickets were
collected, the train proceeded for London at the
rate of from 40 to 45 miles per hour: The train
passed Watford station, aud, on looking out of the
window, I saw we were on the Watford embank-
ment, which is at least from 50 to 60 feet high. All
on a sudden the carriage seemed to sink under us,
and then followed a series of the most violent oscil-
lations and bumping of the carriage for a period of
10 or 15 seconds, the speed of the carriage became
less and less, and all at once it turned over flat
on its side, myself undermost, and the whole
of the passengers on me. While all was in
confusion some persons made their appearance
on the topside of the carriage, and drew us out
one by one ;' the first inquiry naturally was, "Is
anybody killed or hurt 1" and we were pleased to
find, beyond a few scratches with glass, and a few
shakes, no personal damage was done. On looking
at the train and. the line it presented a perfect
wreck. The train, which consisted of an engine and
seven carriages was divided or broken up into
three parts, and lay scattered as follows :—The
engine was about 100 yards in advance of the train,
imbedded axle deep in the sand ; the guard's
van, which was next to the engine while the train
was in Motion, was lying on its side on tha edge of
the embankment; it has broke down the tele-
graph post ; opposite to the van were two carriages
coupled together, with the two ends sticking up,
while at the place where they were coupled they
were axle-deep in the ground. A few yards fur-
ther on was the carriage in which I was; lying
flit on its side. The remainder of the carriages
were in various positions, axle-deep in the sand or
ballast. The carriages were all more or less da-
maged, the axles bent, and the windows smashed.
Looking back at the ground over which we had
passed, the sleepers were dashed to atoms, the
rails were bent, the chairs were broken, and broken
axle and. gre Ise boxes lay about in all directions.
I was the first paesenger.who ran back to look at
the road, when the cause of the accident was at
once apparent. A gang of men were employed in
repairing the permanent way, putting new
sleepers, and doing general repairs. On looking at
the work only one chair out of every two was
spiked to the sleeper, and those which were fas-
tened were fastened with wooden pegs about one
inch in diameter. In one place no chair bad been
placed on the sleeper to support the rail, but
tile rail was left to a distance of 6 feet 6 in. without
arty support whatever. The result was, as soon as
the train Caine on the' unsupported part of the rail
the rail bonded outwards, the chair on the next
sleeper broke in two., and at the second sleeper the
engine ran off the rails. From the impression of the
wheel made on th rail it was quite evident the
engine commenced to leave the rails at the spot
where the rail gave way for want of a chair to
support it. When the engine got off the rails it
ploughed up the road for 50 or 70 yards, das-
li6l everything to atoms.
When I arrived at the spot where the road, was
breken up, the first question I asked wat'o,
did you not signal to the engine driver The
,ivys
vtlackeny
his speed Where are your signa.l. “No
men replied, "We have no signal
signal flags ?" t,peatd.
the state of the road at
reply ; "but we told them a, was the
the si nals were at the
the Watford station." 110 W g
station
The chief caun I-am use abof ourle to sapreservatiy.
en undoubtedly
•
was the sand ballast which
the train it
reed, and which checked the force of and
sand after the engine
was put fresh on the
ploughed through the
embankment
vented us from being hurled over the .
train got off the rails. The next cause which pre-
.) cued to be
three lines of rails, and our train happ wal the company are widening their road for
on the middle line.

The invitations for the new Indian loan of 8,000,000.
►re expected to be issued to-morrow. According to
some reports it is to he raised on 4 per cent. debentureo
redeemable in seven years,