The Sun.
London, England, 1866-11-26 00:00:00

7 TVENTY-FIVE YEARS AGO.

Less than twenty-five years ago the first success-
ful experiment with electro-telegraphy was made,
though it had been the subject of investigation some
years previous. A wire was stretched from Wash-
ington to Baltimore in 1844, and soon after ex-
tended to New York, and very rapidly throughout
the country and the world, till at length the earth
is girdled, and time and space are literally annihi-
lated. The author of this wonderful discovery still
lives in the enjoyment of a green old age, rich in
honours and the substantial rewards of his genius.
Twenty-five years ago ocean steam navigation
was a new thing, and its practicability has just been
demonstrated. True, years before a little steamer,
known as the Savannah, had crossed the Atlantic,
but her daring feat had long been forgotten, never,
perhaps, to be recalled, had not the Western World
been waked up one morning by the astonishing
news that the Sirius, a small English-built steamer,
had arrived from London. The Sirius was soon
followed by the Great Western—and thenceforth
ocean steam navigation became a fixed fact. Before
there had been no steamships, only steamboats—
useful craft on lakes and rivers, and other inland
waters—but the idea that steam could be made avail-
able for navigating the ocean had long been scouted
in high places. Twenty-five years ago there were
no steamships of war, but ocean steam navigation
having been demonstrated as practicable, the nations
ceased to build sailing vessels for war purposes, and
rapidly substituted steamers.
Twenty-five years ago most of the inventions of
agricultural machinery, which now so lighten the
labours of the farmer, while they increase his gains,
were unknown. Who ever heard of the reaping
machine till it made a sensation at the London Ex-
position in 1851 ? It must have had a brief exis-
tence before that, for it was sent, a perfected engine,
from Chicago to London ; but how few had ever
heard of it, and now, who would think of working
even a twenty-acre farm without its aid ?
Twenty-five years ago there were railroads with
locomotive engines, but they date only a few years
anterior. The writer of this well remembers read-
ing the account of Mr. Stephenson's first success in
England, and he has not forgotten when the first
short line was put in operation in this country.
Twenty years ago railroad connection between the
Hudson River and Lake Erie was scarcely com-
pleted, the Erie and the Hudson River lines were
hardly thought of, and in the great West, where the
railroad may be said to have achieved its greatest
triumphs, it had no existence at all. If the last
twenty-five years did not witness the origin of the
railroad, it has seen its wonderful expansion, until
this country and Western Europe have been con-
verted into gigantic gridirons by the crossing and
interlacing of iron bands, and all other modes of
land travel have become nearly obsolete, and a five-
mile journey in an old-fashioned stage coach is
more to be dreaded than a hundred miles in a
rail-car.

Twenty-five years ago California was unexplored
and uninhabited, save by Indians and a few
Mexican adventurers and outlaws, and its
wealth of precious ores was a well-kept secret ; and
the other gold-producing States and Territories-
-Nevada, Colorado, Arizona, Montano, and Idaho
—now so familiar to every ear, had no existence,
save as they formed parts of the unexplored far
West of the Rocky Mountain region.
Twenty-five years ago a hundred thousand dol-
lars was regarded as a magnificent fortune, to which,
though many aspired, few attained ; and the num-
ber in the metropolis of the -Western World whose
estates reached this figure could be counted on one's
fingers. There are more men in New York to-day
whose annual incomes reach one hundred thou-
sand dollars than there were twenty-five years
ago of those whose entire possessions amounted
to as much. Twenty-five years ago there were
possibly, half a dozen millionaires in the whole
country. To-day they may be counted by hun-
dreds.

Twenty-five years ago the population of the Em-
pire State was less than two and a half millions.
To-day it cannot be less than five millions.
Twenty-five years ago the population of the entire
country was only seventeen millions. To-day it is
nearly forty millions.
Twenty-five years ago there were twenty-eight
States in the Union. To-day there are thirty-six,
with half a dozen more to be added within a few
years.
The world moves ; but such wonderful strides as
it has made within the last twenty-five years for-
mer generations never saw. Every department of
life has felt and seen its accelerated motion ; and it
is almost enough to make one feel giddy to look
back over the last quarter of a century and wit-
ness the rapid succession of discoveries in art
and science, and the wonderful increase in wealth
and population.—Antiquary in Scientific American.

A fortnight ago we gave a private letter addressed
by Secretary Al' Culloch to Consul-General Murphy,
at Frankfort-on-the-Maine, giving the information
which the Secretary has just stated officially,
that the 5-20 Bonds would be paid when due in coin
The following official confirmation has now reached
England :—Secretary M'Culloch has replied of-
ficially to an inquiry made by Messrs. L. P. Morton
and Co. relative to the manner of payment of the
principal of the 5-20 Bonds. The Financial Secre-
tary says :—" I regard, as did also my predecessors,
all United States Bonds as payable in coin. The
bonds that have matured since the suspension of
specie payments have been so paid, and I have no
doubt that the same will be true with all others,
this being, as 1 understand it to be, the established
policy of the Government. The 5-20 Bonds of
1862 will either be called in at the expiration of five
years from their date and paid in coin, or be per-
mitted to run until the Government is prepared to
pay them in coin."
The Temps of Wednesday published a circular
which the Minister of War has just addressed to the
Departmental Intendants, informing them that
the entire expeditionary corps of Mexico is to return
to France at the early part of next year, and that
they are therefore to cease henceforth to send any
stores to that country. " This circular," says the
2 emps, " confirms a resolution of which no one
could any longer doubt, and which was too clearly
indicated by the nature of things not to force itself
in a measure upon the attention of the Government.
Our withdrawal from Mexico will take place speedily,
completely, and at one time. It will be simultane-
ous, and not successive. The partial and successive
withdrawal would have been justified had Maximi-
lian's empire gradually consolidated itself and been
able to replace by its increasing force the strength
we withdrew from it. That has not been precisely
the course of events during the last few months. It
does not need much reflection now to recognise that
the system of gradual evacuation at first decided on
might have exposed the last representatives of the
French flag in Mexico to grave difficulties, and led
of itself to the revival, so to speak, of an expedition,
the end of which is ardently, and we believe unani-
mously, desired."

We are requested to correct a current misappre-
hension that the Exhibition at Paris will open on the
Ist of May next, and to state that the Ist of April
is the day appointed, which arrangement will doubt-
less be adhered to. A complete rehearsal of the
opening of the Exhibition is to take place on the
31st of March, 1867.
In consequence of the date for the opening of the
Paris Exhibition having been altered from the Ist
of May to the Ist of April, an order has been re-
ceived at Chatham directing the whole of the models
in course of preparation at the dockyard for exhibi-
tion to be ready for transmission to Paris by the
middle of the month of February.

We hear that the Paris press has just issued four
octavo monthly magazines. One is dedicated to art,
another to literature, and a third to science, while
the fourth is to be known and inquired for as " Le
Mois Agricole." It is published by M. Gossin, and
may be safely consulted by those who are looking
for reliable information on French agricultural
affairs.