The Sun.
London, England, 1861-05-25 00:00:00

L.ITE.RATUBE.

Queensland, Australia. By John Dunmore Lang,
RD., A.M. Edward Stanford.
The convulsions in America, however much they
are to be lamented, will ultimately prove of great
advantage to the British colonies. Theoretically
we are opposed to slavery, and we are expending
large sums of money and sacrificing human life an-
nually to check the importation of negroes into
America; but while the Southern States were able
to furnish our cotton spinners with the raw material
at as cheap a rate as they could expect to obtain it
from any other quarter, humanity was quietly
put on the shelf, and our Manchester capitalists
were satisfied with the existing state of affairs, and
did not care to speculate money in endeavouring to
produce in our own colonies an article which they
could obtain without trouble from our transatlantic
slaveholding neighbours; The climate of the
Southern States of America is well suited for the
cultivation of cotton, but there are many countries
which are possessed of equal advantages, although
it has been the interest of certain individuals to
ignore the fact. Some time ago an endeavour
was made by certain parties to form a company for
the purpose of cultivating cotton in Australia, but
the Government of New South Wales (the ldest
and the least energetic of all the Australian colonies)
refused all assistance, and the attempt fell to the
ground. Now, however, our manufacturers are on
the qui wive, the American supply is likely to be
stopped, and they are anxious to find other markets.
Queensland, Australia, is in every way suited for
the production of cotton, and Dr. Lang's work is
published at a most appropriate time. Having long
resided in Australia, and traversed most of the ex-
plored regions, his opinions are worthy of atten-
tion. As in his previous writing, Dr. Lang goes
heart and soul into his subject; his object being to
show that Queensland presents a highly eligible
field for emigration, and possesses every capability
to be the future cotton field of Great Britain. Some
very fine samples of cotton have been sent to Eng-
land as an earnest of what the colony can produce;
but we must bear in mind that the author gives us
only one side of the question, or at least throws the
weight of his argument on the favourable side. His
topographic details are carefully written. The colony
extends between the 30th and the 11th paral-
lels of south latitude, and from the sea to the 129th
east longitude. The boundaries are not correctly
fixed as yet, but the above dimensions are pretty
near the mark. There is little doubt that in a few
years the squatters will extend their runs to the
Gulf of Carpentaria, for those pioneers of civiliza-
tion, where the country presents any attractions, are
sure to pave the way for agriculture and general
colonisation. A considerable portion of the work
is devoted to the history of the aborigines, whose
habits and customs in various parts, the author has
had opportunities of studs ing. The conversion and
education of the natives is very desirable, but all
the efforts that we make are in talk, not action.
A short time ago, when the aborigines were nearly
exterminated in Victoria, some pious individuals
called meetings, and endeavoured to
.excite public
sympathy in favour of the destitute and neglected
aborigines; but this movement did not take place
until there were next to none left. It is a painful,
but, nevertheless, an established fact, that the mis-
sionaries do not take any pains with the inhabi-
tants of Australia ; but few missionary posts have
been established, and these have soon fallen into
decay; the alleged reason being the ignorance and
inability of the natives to understand the Scrip-
tures ; but they all, more or less, believe in a
future state, however indefinite. Are they worse
than the Sandwich Islanders ? No, the fact is there
are no native productions in which the aborigines can
trade, no ivory or skins to encourage the ministers
of Christianity to persevere in their pious labours.
The day of poisoning and shooting down the blacks
have passed away, and common sense and humanity
is beginning to effect what coercion was unable to
accomplish. Emigrants to Queensland must ex-
pect to be severely tried by the climate, and the
tropical plagues, in the shape of flies and reptiles
of all shapes and sizes ; but after a little time they
will get used to them, and none need be discouraged
by the desponding letters of " New Chums" on their
first arrival. Oa this disagreeable subject the
author observes a discreet silence. Dr.
Lang has given a very fair account of
the country, and to those of the labouring
classes who desire permanent employment,
Queensland offers a far better field than the other
colonies, where, if wages are high, the individual
who obtains eight or nine months' work during the
year may consider himself fortunate. Many squat-
ters have left Victoria where their runs are being
curtailed, and the rent increased, for the extensive
and fertile plains of the North, and there can be
little doubt that before long Queensland will be-
come great, both from her pastoral and vegetable
productions. The timber of Qaeensland will
form a remunerative export, one of the most
valuable samples of which is the Moreton
Bay Pine (Araucaria Cunninghami). An
author informs us that it resembles in its
character the swamp oak of New South Wales (the
only wood in that colony, we believe, that will
float), but grows to a much greater height, viz.,
from a hundred to a hundred and fifty feet. It
resembles the Baltic or North Carolina pine, and
appears to be of much more valuable quality than
the Canadian timber. It is used for the same pur-
poses and is cut into boards for exportation. The
Iron Bark, Red Cedar, Blue Gum, Box, and other
Australian woods are to be found in great abun-
dance throughout the colony. The great drawback
hitherto experienced to the exportation of Austra-
lian timber has been the expense of transportation.
The introduction of rai.ways will, however, over-
come this difficulty. And we trust, ere long, to be
independent of foreign states for the requirements
of our manufactures, and that our colonies, when
their resources are fully developed, will be able to
supply the home market and other nations with
the products of their soil which hitherto we have
been obliged to import.

THE UNITED STATES LEGATION.—The United
States Legation is temporarily located at No. 7, Duke-
street, Portland-place.

STEAM COMMUNICATION WITH VANCOUVER
ISLAND.—By advices from Vancouver Island to the 23d
March last, we learn, on unquestionable authority, that the
mercantile community in that colony have become so angry
at the frequent interruption of the communication with
Europe and New York, in consequence of the American
steamers running from San Francisco so irregularly, and
particularly of their having established a low rats of fares
to Portland, which enables the miners to pass into British
Columbia by way of the Columbia River, instead of going
in the first instance to Victoria as heretofore, that they held
a public meeting at Victoria (the capital of Vancouver
Island), when it was unanimously carried that a British
steamer should at once be pu, on for the conveyance of the
mails, passengers, and specie; and the Hudson Bay Com-
pany offered the Labouchere for the purpose, provided a
subsidy of £3,000 a year was granted Subscription lists
were at once opened to raise a moiety of _that sum ; the re-
mainder it was anticipated would be voted by the legisla-
ture, as the majority of members concurred in the necessity.
There is but little doubt that the Hudson Bay Company's
offer will be accepted, but as the Labouchere, the steamer
employed in the fur trade, is ill calculated for the passen-
ger trade, a steam vessel will be purchased in England,
and thus form the nucleus of a British steam-packet com-
pany in the North Pacific. What an opening this would
be for the Cunard line, or for either of our great ship com-
panies; the Cunard Company, perhaps, would ultimately
derive the greatest advantage, and, by combining with the
Pacific Steam Navigation Company, engross the whole of
our trade on the Western Coast of America. Liverpool
interests are paramount in the South pacific, auld vfby
491114 it A9t be pt ii the North?

.111?. TRAIN'S SPEECH AT ISLIN(2-'TO.N.

(Rohl the London American of Wednesday.)
The magnificent hall recently erected at High-
' bury Barn was built by the enterprising proprietor,
Senore Giovaneli, in seven weeks, and is one of the
finest rooms of the kind in London.
Some four or five hundred guests sat down to
the grand inaugural banquet which we alluded
to in our last, comprising editors, vestrymen, and
residents of Islington. Mr. M'Evoy, M.P., who
was to take the chair, wrote a note at the last
moment that he was detained on the question of
Irish Education in the House of Commons, and
some of the gentlemen connected with the Islington
Vestry, who had given Mr. Train permission to in-
troduce his street railways in the parish, immedi-
ately proposed that Mr. Train should take the chair.
The audience insisted, and the banquet was pro.
longed till midnight—a banquet of English, Irish,
and Scotch, with an American chairman.
The following eloquent remarks were made by
Mr. Train in response to the toast—" The Chair-
man."

The frequent allusions to American affairs to-
night I presume have been made because my
nationality is known, and Sou wish an American's
opinion of American affairs. (Hear, hear.) But if I
touch upon them you will perhaps object to my
language, my earnest way of calling plain things
by their plain names. (No.) Will you let me speak
what I think ? (Yes.) Will you let me give you the
actual sentiments of a man who loves his country
only second to his God ? (Applause.) Then you
shall have it, and that is expressed in pointed words
under the flag on the outside of every Northern en-
velope—Death to Traitors. (Hear, hear.) You
love your country, so do I mine; you rejoice to see
the Chartist demonstration crushed in its infancy.
(Hear, hear.) You erect monuments to the heroes
who stamped out the Indian rebellion ; and you
shot down those on the Ballarat, when I was in
Australia, when they broke the law of the na-
tion. (Hear, hear.) How, then, can you sympa-
thise with those blackhearted knaves who would
ruin a land blessed by God with natural and ea-
tional attributes grander than any known to man !
Having been in England from the commencement
of the insurrection, I have earnestly watched the
opinion of the people. First there seemed general
lament about what they termed fratricidal war—
(hear, hear)—but on second thought the sympathy
appeared to be like that of a successful merchant
over the failure of his rival on the other side of the
street. (Cheers and hear.) The next phase was a
universal howl at the Morrill (all pronounced it
highly immoral) Tariff. (Laughter.) The pocket
was in a spasm ; and trade knows little sympathy.
Yoa forgot your half a century of Wilberforcian •
ism, and patted the South cotton and slavery on
the hack—the Times leading off and encouraging
the traitors. Then the South clapped an export
duty on cotton. Again the tide ebbed, and the South
was proved barbarian by the pirate chief, who dis-
gusted everybody with his privateering proclama-
tion. (Shame.) Then Lord John Russell declared
war against the North (no, no) by acknowledging
that the Southerners were belligerent, and
did us—most humiliating to our pride—the dis-
tinguished honour—quoting Canning in 1825—0 f
comparing us with the beggarly Turks. (Laughter.)
Lord Palmerston lost no time in correcting the bad
impression of the Foreign Secretary, and the
Queen's Proclamation now comes most opportunely.
(Hear, hear.) When a man has corns on his feet he
is most irritable when his neighbour goes out of his
way to tread upon them : so if England really wishes
to unite the two parts, let her overhaul an American
ship. (Hear.) The last speaker, Mr. Lawrence, was
cheered • when he hoped that the next mail would
bring peace. (Hear.) We are not quite ready to
shake hands—our feelings at the North have been
too long outraged. We don't believe there is any
fight in the South. The Southern chivalry will
collapse into exile like an over-inflated balloon—
(laughter)—and instead of peace I hope the next
news will bring submission to the Federal Power,
or that the hordes of the pirates are burnt to the
ground. (No, and loud cheers.) Never was known
before such an outburst of nationality. The Hermit
Peter and his crusaders, and the rising of the Giron-
dists, so eloquently described by Lamartine,to whom
I had the honour last year of introducing Senator
Seward, our present energetic Premier, were
nothing in comparison to the outburst of enthusiasm
from the insulted North, who will pour down upon
the pirate bands and traitor gangs and sweep them
off like turning the waters of the Mississippi into
the drains of New Orleans and purify the city, by
cleansing the accumulated political stench of the
party lately in office. (Hear.) Hull on the Lakes
and Arnold on the Hudson, were true men compared
to Stephens, Colt, Floyd, and their brother traitors,
and Aaron Burr was a patriot alongside of the
traitor leader Davis. (Applause.) We have a Go-
vernment at last—only eight weeks in office—
yet 50,000 soldiers at Washington—Fort Pickens
fortified—several regiments landed at Texas, and
20,000 soluntoers at Cairo to atop every barrel of
pork brought down the Ohio, and every bag of corn
down the Mississippi. (Cheers.) Riflemen in Fort
Maurice ; riflemen at Annapolis. Fifty steam trans-
ports and 200,090 men blockading every Southern
port—(loud applause)—and all in a fortnight.
Does that look like a weak Government ? Does
that give you an idea of a dying nation ? No.
Gentlemen, we have at last turned our ploughshares
into weapons of defence, and the traitors, when
they find cannon to the right of them—cannon to
the left of them, cannon behind them, thundering
the death-song of parricides, will cower into obscu-
rity at the mere sight of their own blood. (Hear,
and applause.) The Cabinet is a unit. The new
Ministers to foreign lands are arriving ; last night
the Ambassador to England, now in London ; the
son of one President—the grandson of another—
himself the candidate for Vice-President—Charles
Francis Adams—(cheers)—of Massachussetts, will
represent America like a gentleman and a states-
man. A man of talent, a man of wealth, Mr. Adams
will soon show your Ministry the good feeling that
the United States (not disunited yet)—(hear, and
cheers)—bears towards the land that gave them
birth. Our American Ministers have been living in
attics and back parlours ever since Massachussetts'
favourite son—Abbott Lawrance—returned so well
the hospitality showered upon him ; and now we
have another representative who will prove himself
worthy of the State who at a few hours' notice
sent those regiments who hewed their way over
the dead bodies of the traitors at Baltimore to
the protection of the Capitol. (Loud cheers.)
The battle of Baltimore in the second Revo-
lution was only another edition of the battle
of Washington on the anniversary of the first
Revolution. (Loud cheers.) We have at last
succeeded in sending abroad men of brains
and position Ambassadors, Consuls, and Se-
cretaries—who are devoted to the Union—Dayton
at Paris has arrived in time to displace the Minister
who, I am told, presented the traitor Commissioners
to the Emperor, and Clay at St. Petersburg, are
entire men, and all the appointments are creditable
to the nation. I know you will pardon me for not
speaking of the street railways ; you get enough of
them in the papers. I can only say that the opposi-
tion is as much exaggerated as my energies are
overrated. (" No," and cheers.) All inventions are
opposed, moral, mechanical, or political. I believeif
some philosopher should discover a shorter cut over
a level road to a happier world, tb ere are many theo-
logical fossils who will prove that it is not only de-
structive of propertyand dangerous to life, but highly
detrimental to the best interests of the Church.
(Laughter and oh.) I had rather talk about America
than street railways. Don't forget what I have told
you about the issue of the contest—America must
drop the comparison. It is no longer North and
South, it is order against anarchy—patriots against
parricides—Unionists against traitors. (Cheers.)
They must submit or be exterminated. The Times,
of Bth May, discussing the debate on acknowledg-
ing the independence of the lonian Islands, says:—
" When the lonians have compelled several British
armies to capitulate, starved out or burnt out several
garrisons, and sent a dozen or two of our steam frigates
to the bottom of the Mediterranean, we shall be pre-
pared to advise a recognition of their independence,
at whatever cost to our pride." (Cheers.) lam glad
your Thunderer has furnished me with words to ex-
press the exact sentiment of 2.) millions of Union
men. It is not war alone ; for pestilence is in the
rice swamp—Missouri is with the negroes—in-
surrection sleeps with the slave, and gaunt famine
will soon hold his dreary Court of Death.
The chiefs will slink away like rats from a burning
ship—already they are begging your ambassador
for an armistice—(hear, hear)—but they refused the
Crittenden compromise. They have sown the wind
and must reap the whirlwind—with naval brigades
forming—patriotic bands raising—merchants con-
rrib
uting—bells ringing Union—cannon roaring
Union—fair girls wearing next their bosom Union
bows—(cheers and laughter)—woven with Union
rosettes—and cheers going up to Heaven from the
Union mon of Union Square—with such acticn
America fears no evil. The fisherman at Marblc-
head drops his net and cries Union, to the rescue—
the farmer on the Green Mountains hears it at the
plough, and the Ohio boatman passes over to the hi n-
ter on the prairie, onward over the range of moun-
tain passes to the gold digger on the Sacramento
when up go the flags, as San Francisco cries Union
along the line. (Cheers.) General Houston's great
heart is gladdened at the sound, and on he rushes
with the red artillery. Fort.Pickens booms a reply
that reaches to the capitol, and cheers our old back-
woodsman President, till the tears start as he
hears the cry of Union now, and Union for ever. It
has been our living sentiment, and, by the blessing
of God, it shall be our dying sentiment—Union now
And Vnien fer ever. (Loud cheers.) And let me

say
wordsto othe t patriothepoet g
bandsm ana
of
e r omyf
them for the Volunteers of England—
Step together ! all together ! close, close together!
Remember this is holy earth dearpo
zeeohu,nwt country, in
wroteth e
On which our measured footsteps tread,
The living land which gave us birth,
The dust of our immortal dead I
Step together all together 1 close, close together !
Each man true beside us;
Close together I fall together
Death can but divide us.—(Cheers.)
Perchance the spirits of our sires
Look down from yon bright stars above,
And from those orbs of quenchless fires,
Light in our hearts a patriot love.
The wind shall bear across the sea
The burden of our earnest song,
Who, hearing, doubts, we will be free?
They taunt us with our love of gold,
Our hate of blood, our love of peace;
We would not sell what they have sold,
For even life itself's increase.--(Loud cheers.)