The Sun.
London, England, 1857-05-01 00:00:00

LONDON, FRIDAY EVENING; MAY .1,

• •
• EAST IN DIA 'HO USE , 29T u APRIL, 1857.
TIHE COURT of DIRECTORS of the EAST
INDIA COMPANY DO HEREBY GIVE NOTICE, That it
QUARTERLY GE ,IEIIAL COURT of the said Company will be
held at Their !louse in Leadenhall-strect, on WEDNESDAY, the 17th
June next, at Eleven o'clock in the foreinon.
JAMES C. MELVILL, Secretary.

EAST INDIA HOUSE, 29Ta Aram, 1857.

"HE COURT of DIRECTORS of the EAST
c TNT DIA COMPANY do hereby give Notice, that the Transfer
Rooks of the said Company's Stock will be shut. on TM. SDAY, the
9th June, at Three o'clock, and opened again on TUESDAY, the 14th
July ; and
1 ha rtl-re Warrants for the Dividends on the said Stock, payable on
the 6th July, 1557, under the 11th section of the Act 31 ased 4th Wm.
IV , cap. t 45, will be ready to be delivered on that day.
JAMES C. MELVILL, Secretary.
•

fiiRENCH
FXI lIX EHIBITION. - Th 9 FOURTHM
ANNUAL RITION of PICTURES byern Artists
of the FRENCH. SCHOOL, will OPEN to the Public on MONDAY,
the 4th of May, at the French Gallery, 121, opposite the
Otera Colonnade. Admission, One Shilling; Catalogues, Sixpence
each. Open from ten to six daily

FRODSHAM, Secretary.'

AIET ROPO LITAN COUNTIES and
GENERAL LIFE ASSURANCE SOCIETY, 27, Regent-
street, Waterlco-place, London. Capital, 100,0001. • •

TausTrus. :
at. tin. Spencer It. Walpole,3l.P. Richard Spooner, Esq., M.P.
Henry Peter Fuller, Esq. lE. Vaniittart Neale, Esq.
Life Assurance business transacted In all Its branches.
N.B. The bonus declared vt the last division of profits averaged
33 per cent. on all the premiums raid.
F. FERGITSO.T'CAMROTTX, Manager.

10NDON GENERAL OMNIBUS
4 COMPANIY.
The Manalters HEREBY GIVE NOTICE, That the Balance of
the Dividend for the year ending, lst..Dccetnher r4z., ss. per share,
c'ear of income tax, as declared at the lieheral Meeting of Share.
hollers, held in Paris on 25th inst.. will be payable at the-Offices of
the Company, 454; Strand, Loudon, and 14, Rue Vivienne, Paris,
between the hours of Eleven and Three, en and after 4th May.
- Tne Share Certificates must be deposited at the Office of the Com.•
party two c'ear days before payment of the Dividend.
The Report and Accounts for the year will be delivered to each
Shareholder in the Dividend.

By Order.

A. G. CHURCH, Secretary.

454, Strand, 28th April, 1857.

'IIIHE SALOON DINING-ROOM of the
I. WELLINGTON, having a separate Entrance at 53, St.
Jatnes• street, will be OPEN to Gentlemen for the SEASON ONLY,
on and after SATURDAY, 2d Slay, between Six and Elevpn

The Dinner for the Day will be served at a minute's notice, be-
twe, n six and nine o'clock, at a charge of seven shillings. This in-
cludes dessert and attendance.
All the French Dibhes will be dressed by a Chef of great celebrity,
who has brought over the necessary aQslatants with him from Paris.
English Joints will be comprised in the Rill of Fare, and the result
is a dinner of extraordinary merit, In ad litiou to the present List
of Wines used at the Wellington, there is a special List, offering a
small selection of the most curious and extraordinary Wines, as
regards quality, age, and condition, which will be greatly appreciated
by the connoisseur.

SOUND AND WHITE TEETH ate not only
indispensably requisite to a pleasing exterior in both sexes, but
they are peculiarly appreciated through life, as highly conducive to
health and longevity. Among the various preparations offered for
the teeth

ROWLAND'S ODONTO,

or Pearl Dentifrice, stands unrivalled. Prepared from Oriental

Herbs, with unusual care, transmitted to this country at great ex-
pense, this unique compound will be found to eradicate all tartar
and concretions, and impart a pearl-like whiteness to the enamelled
surface, remove spots of Incipient decay, render the gums firm and
r d, fix the teeth firmly in their sockets, and from its aromatic in-
fhpnce impart sweetness and pur ty to the breath. Price 2s. 9d
per box.
Carrrox.—The words "Rowland's Odouto" are on the Label, and
" A. Rowland and sons, 29, I: atton-garden," engraved on the Go-
vernment Stamp affixed on each box.

Sold by them and by Chemists and Perfumers.

THE LATE DUCHESS OF GLOUCESTER,

(From the Daily News.)
The death of the last of the fifteen children o
George 111. carries back all minds over a large
space of time, and would create a historical interest
in connection with the death of the Duchess of
Gloucester, if there had been much less than there s
of personal interest attending the character of tt e
amiable princess who has just departed. Her birtl.
and her title by marriage, recall some associations
which it may be useful to revive, under the altered
circumstances of a new century and generation. The
discontents which existed for a time between the
father and the father-in-law of the deceased Prin-
cess produced consequences on her life—and that of
most of her family—and on public morals and wel-
fare, which ought not to be forgotten in a review of
her character and position; and which are not yet
over in regard to the existing generation.
George 111. married, in 1761, the Princess Char-
lotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. He was not satis-
fied with pleasing himself in his own marriage, but
fully expected that his brothers would please, not
thremselves, herb him, in -tireir marriages.- sigry
did not do so ; and when he was a sober married
man, with half-a-dozen children, be was excessively
scandalised at the discovery that the Duke of Cum-
berland had married Mrs. Horton, and the Duke
(f Gloucester the Countess Dowager of Waldegrave.
There were immediate political consequences arising
from the family quarrel—the Opposition finding
their spirits and forces at once revived ; but a more
permanent, and far more serious, consequence was,
that the Royal Marriage Act was devised by the
Kung, and carried through Parliament with a high
hand, in the midst of protests and remonstrances
from Burke, Lords Camden and Rockingham, and
others, and many forebodings of the mischief it
would cause. Under this Act no descendant of
George 11. could marry under the age of 25 with-
out ,the King's consent ; nor after that age other
wise than after applying to the Privy Council (in
case of the Sovereign's disapprobation), and wait-
ing a year to rise whether either House of Parlia-
ment would address the King against the marriage
—which, in that case, could not take place. It was
too late now, happily, to overthrow the Duke of
Gloucester's marriage, which had taken place five
years before. It was declared at court in the
autumn of 1772, the same year that the Royal Mar-
riage Act passed. The fanaticism of the German
Queen for royal quarterings, which even exceeded
the passion of the King for prerogative, was, ne-
cessarily mortified this time ; but both were re-
solved that it should be the last. Their children
should marry royalty, or not marry at all. They
never doubted whether they could enforce their
decision when once they had the law on their side.
Certain other, prior, and greater laws of human
nature they made no account of.
After the birth of two daughters, the discounte-
nanced pair had a son, who remained the only one.
He was born at Rime on the 15th of January,
1776; and all the English in Rome were present
at his baptism, the next month. On the 25th of
the following April was born the 11th child of
George lll.—the Princess Mary, who was to be the
wife of the little Cousin at Rome. The event was
signalised by anther remarkable address presented
(on the day of the baptism) by the Lord Mayor and
Corporation of London—an address which contained
a sermon on laws, liberties, and the glorious Revolu-
tion, which did not seem to have much to do with
the infant princess, and which got a very short
answer from the King. That was the time when
the Americans were preparing their Declaration of
Independence, which was promulgated on the 4th
of the next July ; and when M. Necker was put at
the head of French finance—a time at which King
George did not want to hear anything about liberties
and revolutions, and when accordingly all manner
of people were seizing every opportunity of preach-
I ing to him about them.
During the long course of years in which many of
the other members of the family were involved in the
penalties and perplexities of their rank, with regard
to love and marriage, it was believed that the Prin-
cess Mary and her cousin, the Duke of Gloucester,
were attached. She was interested in his Cambridge
life (his education being finished there) ; and she
gloried in his receiving the General's thaks in the
field, when he was fighting in Flanders, so early as
1794. He proved himself both a gallant and able
soldier, and really won his rank—whichrose to that
of field marshal in 1816. When the young people
were one-and-twenty the princess Charlotte was
born ; and as it soon became understood that there
would be no heir apparent if the Princess of Wales
lived, the necessity was admitted of keeping
the Duke of Gloucester single, to marry the pre-
sumptive heiress of the throne, in case of no eli-
gible foreign prince appearing for that function.
For twenty of their best years the Duke and the
Princess were kept waiting, during which interval
(in the year 1805) ho succeeded to his title on his
father's death. Everybody liked and loved the
Princess Mary, who was a pattern of duty and
sweetness through all the family trials she had to
witness and share in ; and the Duke, though not a
man of much political ability, was in that part of
his life a Whig, and on the generous and liberal
side of almost every -question. We are obliged to
say "almost," because he supported with his whole
force the exclusion of Dissenters from the Univer-
sities, when he was Chancellor of the University of
Cambridge, after the death of the Duke of Grafton.
On the anti-slavery question be was as earnest in
his own way as Wilberforce in his, and kind and
helpful in all matters of charity that came before
him. Romilly tells us a curious thing of him—
that he volunteered, in a tete-l.tete with Sir S.
Romilly, his declaration that Queen Caroline was
innocent, and that her accusers were perjured. He
latterly became a Tory ; but, for the greater part
of his life, the same genial spirit of liberality and
personal unassumingness distinguished him and
the Princess Mary. As for her, she pleased old
and young alike. Lord Eldon used to tell with
delight a joke of Queeh Charlotte's—about the last

. ,
person in -the world whom any one would suspect
of jesting. Her Majesty used to charge the Lord
Chancellor witleffirting with her daughter Miry ;
and the Chincellor used to reply that he was not
Emperor, King, or Prince,_ arid that, moreover, he
was married' already—a reply which reminds us of
that reported by Charles Lamb of six Scotchmen,
who, on somebody wishing that Burns was present,
all started fOrward on their seats to declare that
that was impossible,. because Burns was dead. But
we mast suppose that Lord E'don, who really bad
huneet&in. his way, considered the above as near
an approach to jocularity as could be permitted in
the presence of royalty.
In 1.814, when the Prince of Orange was in Eng-
land, and his fat ,er announced his approaching
marria_ e with the Princess Charlatte, Princess Mary
looked bright • and happy,' Lord Malmesbury se-
oorded in his diary whet her manners were like
when the charm of youth was past, and the charac-
ter of womanhood was marked. e said she. "was
all gool humour and pleisautness ;" addine, " her
Manners are perfect, and' never saw or. coeversed
with any princess so exactly what she otrglit to be."
And no one livitig, perhaps, knew more princesses,
or more of what they really were, than the old di
'plematist. The Prince of Orange went away, and
PrinceSs Mary- drooped. Everybody was saying
that the Duke of Gloucester must be the Princess
Charlotte's bridegroom after all. But a few months
more put an end the long suspense. When the
Princess Charlotte descended the great staircase at
Cannon Housa, after the ceremony of her marriage,
she was met at the foot, with open arms by the
Prim:o4w -Mary, -whose face mil/4h ei in Leer"
The Duke and Duchess of,G-loucester were married
in a few weeks—en the'234 of Jcly, 1816. The
bride's demeanour was so interesting and affecting
that it opened the sluices of Lord Eldou's ready
tears, which he declared ran down his cheeks ; but
the-Cliief Justice, Lord Elleuboreugh, also present,
must have been in another mood. Some persons
were talking in a corner of the crowded room ; and
the Chief Justice called to them, iu the meist of the
ceremony, "Do not make such a noise in that corner
—if you do, you shall Le married yourselves." It is
rather pathetic now to think of the details of that
marriage—the crowded saloon—the royal .mother
and sisters on one side the altar, and the royal bro-
thers on the other—the bride, though no longer
young, "lot:king very lovely," in a remarkably
simple dress ; to remember how the scene was re-
lated at every, fireside in England ; and then to
think that none of the family, and probably no one
who was present, survives. No application was
made to Parliament for an increase of income in
this case. The benevolent habits of the Duke' and
Duchess had taught them in a pracrical way the
value of money ; and they arranged their plan of
life so as to make their means suffice, and leave
enough for much support of schools, and aid to
many a good cause.
They lived together eighteen years—the Duke
dying in November, 1834. It surprised no one
thatihis wife proved herself the Most assiduous and
admirable of nurses during her husbands decline.
After his death, she live -t in as much retirement as
her rank admitted, doing good where she could,
and universally beloved. She saw the last of her
immediate relatives drop from her side, and her-
self left the survivor of that long family train that
used to look so royal and so graceful when return-
ing the admiring salutations of the public on the
terrace at Windsor. All that long series of heart-
histories was closed. The wretched avowed mar-
riages, and the wretched, or happy,. or chequered
secret marriages, and the mere formal state mar-
riages, which took place in 'consequence of the
Princess Charlotte's decease, were alike dissolved
by death. What a world of misery could this sur-
vivor have told of, arising from the jaw-made in-
compatability between royalty and the natural
provision for the domestic affection!. The elabo-
rate and public preparation required by the Mar-
riage Act in her own case, by which her marriage
was made an act of the state, was painful enough ;
but her lot, with its one steady affection, long in
suspense and late gratified, was a happy one in
comparison, perhaps, with that of any other mem-
ber of the family ; and many a painful meditation
must she have had that piece of enforced legie-
lation of her father's early and headstrong years.
Those various love stories are hidden now in the
•aye ; and she who was the depositary of so many
em a eviedalemettnner.TrTfrere,ellien, let
them rest.
But the leison they yield should not be neglected.
There was a strong hope that when our young
Queen Victoria, who was at full liberty, as Sove-
reign, to please herself in marriage, had made her
choice, this . wretched and demoralising Marriage
Act, always reprobated by the wisest and best
men of the time, would be repealed. There
were then none left of the last generation who
could be pointed at, or in any way affected,
by such a repeal ; and it was thought that
it would be wise to do the thing before there was a
new generation to introduce difficulty into the case.
The opportunity has almost been allowed to slip
from U 3. The royal children have ceased to be
children, at least the elder ones. Meantime, there.
is, as we all know, a wrong and growing popular
distrust, in our own country and in others, of the
close dynastic connexions which are multiplying by
means of the perpetual intermarriages of a very few
families. The political difficulties recently, and
indeed constantly, experienced from the complica-
tion of family interests, involving almost every
throne in Europe, are a matter of universal feeling
and conversation. There is no chance for the phy-
sical and intellectual welfare of coming generations
when marriages take place among blood rely ions ;
and there is no chance for morality and happiness
when, under legal or state coidpulsion, young peo-
ple love in one direction and marry in another.
No evils that could possibly arise from marriages
out of the royal pale can for a moment compare
with the inevitable results of a royal marriage law
like ours, perpetuated through other generations
than the unhappy one that is gone. Royalty will
have quite difficulties enough to contend with, all
through Europe, in coining times, without the
perils consequent on this law. Its operations will
expose all the intermarried royal families in Europe
to criticism and ultimate rejection by peoples who
will not be governed by a coterie of persons diseased
in body through narrow intermarriage, enfeebled in
mind,—strong only in their, prejudices, and large
only in their self-esteem and in their requirements.
There is yet time to save the thrones of Europe—
or at least the royal palaces. of England—from the
consequences of a collision between the great na-
tural laws ordained by Providence, and the narrow
and mischievous artificial law ordained by a wilful
King of England. The King is in his grave, and
the last of his children is now gone to join him
there. Let the time be laid hold of to bury his evil
work in the tomb which is now to be sealed
over him and his for ever ; and the act will
be gratefully acknowledged by a long line of
fu-
ture princes and princesses, who will be spared the
bitter suffering of those who have gone before. It
can never be, as was said by wise men 80 years ago,
that royal personages who are declared of age at
18 will have no will of their own, in such a matter
as marriage, at five-and-twenty. Marriage is too
solemn and sacred a matter to be so treated as a
piece of state politics ; and the ordinance which is
holy in the freedom of private life may be trusted
with the domestic welfare of prince and peasant
alike.

( From the Times. )
Tho last of the childron of George 111. has de-
parted this life. Her Royal Highness the Duchess
of Glocester, expired yesterday morning at the age
of 81. She was born on the 25th of April, 1776,
and consequently had long passed the ordinary
limit of human life. It is impossible not to feel
that the extinction by the death of this Royal lady
of a family placed iu so eminent a station is a note.
worthy event. There were thirteen children born
from the marriage of Geor,ze 111. with Queen Char-
lotte—George Prince of Wales, afterwards George
IV. ; Frederick, Duke of York •, William, Dukeof
Clarence, afterwards William IV. ; Edward, Duke
'of Kent • Ernest, Duke of Cumboland, afterwards
King of Hanover : Augustus, Duke of Sussex :
and Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge. Of the six
daughters three died unmarried, and three were
married. The names in the order of birth stand
thus :—The Princes Royal, Charlotte Augusta,
who was married to the King of Wurtemberg ; the
Princess Augusta, who died unmarried ; the Prin-
cess Elizabeth, who was married to the Prince of
Heve Homburg ; the Princess Mary, the lady
just dead, who was married to her cousin the Duke
of Gloeester ; and, finally, the Princesseg Sophia
and Amelia, both of whom died unmarried. With
so copious a race there was little danger of a
disputed succession or of a vacant throne. It
is singular, however, how few in number are the
representatives of this numerous family in the pre-
sent generati,n. Queen Victoria, the King of
Hanover, and the three children of the late Duke
of Cambridge are, we believe. now the only sur-
vivors, and the Princess Charlotte, daughter of
George IV., is the only one who has passed away.
L There is, however, happily but little chance that
the Royal Family of England will be speedily ex .

balloted. But :a few days before the venerable
Duchess of Gloc,ster was summoned fr iil.l this
world a ninth child., was born to the Qicen :of En -
land, so that an orderly successi,n 'the 13Liti-h
throne would appear to ba -among the events on
which one 'may calculate with rea4onable certainty.
It is:but just that we.shoul,l add a few words ;is
a tribute- of -respect to the :memory of the late
Duches4 of Glonester. • Her' R iyal niglines4 was
never called upon to play any p!omineA p'ut on
the pub'ie seen., but h9r private life was naltked
by every wommly virtue, awl by the-profu:e exer-
cise of unostentatious charity. bile was a distin-
-1 guishel ornament of the high s,ciety in wlll,lh sl!e
had so long moved, and her loss will be most deeply
regretted by: those who knew her beet.

/. Shortly after eight o'clock yeiterclay morning.
her Majesty's Lord Chamberlain atr.ved at Glou-.
cester House, when orders were issued to her Ma-
jesty's upholsterers, Messrs. Ranting and Son, ef.
St. James's-street, Piccadilly, f. r the nec ssary
arrangements for her Royal Highness's funeral.
In accordance with the desire of the IV e Duchess,.
the funeral proceedings will be conducted in a com-
paratively private manner, with' the exception of
the presence of a detachment of the Life Guards to
escort the funeral cortege to the' terminus_ of the
Great Western Railway, Paddington. Nothing
beyond the ordinary display observable at the
funeral of a pr/ate individual will take place..
Orders were received yesterday morning at
Windsor for the opening of the royal mausoleum
in St. George's Chapel. The remains of the illiis-
itiOttB deceased will be placed by the side,,,of.her.
royal husbind.

THE ." GREAT EASTERN."

•
An old proverb says that " n there is othing new
under the sun." With regard to travel abroad, and
its ordinary sigh's, this may be true. Everybody
knows all about the Crimea. Constantinople, and
the gaudy wretchedness of the East, is as hackneyed
as Cneapside. Mont Blanc is as well known as
Primrose-hill. The Pyramids exhibit huge posters
about " Warren's Jet." Ararat, with its unbroken
solitude of ages, has been invaded ; and even the
grim
,icy caverns of the Arctic regions withhold no
secrets. The last of the exclusive places is about.
to be opened to us ; and what between correspon-
dents, amateurs,, and artists, Hong Kong will soon
be as familiar as the Isle of ogs, and the mystery,
of the internal domestic economy of the Celestial!
Empire a thing of no account.
What remains to be seen ? Where is a man to g )
for a new sensation or a novel sight? We think eve
can say. On either side of the river, in the midst of
those dreary regions known as East Greenwich and
Millwall, where the atmosphere is tarry, and every-
thing seems slimy and amphibiou., where it is hard
to say whether the land has been rescued from the
water or the water encroached upon the land;
where the shops sell anchors ship's cables, how-
itzers, hemp, hammocks, bricl other nautical ree
mains, or at most only rise to the eleaancies of
tarpauling suits, limp sou'-westers, and such like
weatherbeaten fuxuries,—two gigantic schemes are
in progress, which, if not entire novelties, are at
least as near approaches to it as this generation is
ever likely to witness. That at East Greenwich is
the manufacture of the great Atlantic 'Submarine
Telegraph ; at Millwall lies Scott Russell's leviathan
ship the Great Eastern. At the former place the
visitor (if not also a shareholder) can realise the
great idea. There in a comparatively small compass,
cell over coil, till the eye is pained and dazzled in
attempts to follow it, lies the monstrous cable, like
the endle-s snake of the Scandinavian mythology,
which was said to encircle the world. But with the
Great Eastern steamship the case is different. It is
difficult, if not entirely impossible, for the mind to
appreciate and, realise its immense hulk at once',
The visitor catches no glimpse of it till he enters
Scott Russell's yard, when, though the ship is still
at a considerable distance, it seems suddenly to shut
him in—a mountein of metal across his patli—while
all around are scattered ponderous m asses of girder 4,
funnels, bulkheads, boilers, and machinery, like tU
debris of some colossal iron world. So. vast is thi
bulk of the huge ark that from no one point, save
at the river's side, cm the eye take in its whole
proportions, and even then its immensity is so great
in-'comparisou with all the notions previously cog-
ceiyecl of monster ships that it seems to elude cont.
prehension and weigh upon the mind—'a kind If
iron nightmare—a phenomenon, hard and unrealis-
able. It is useless looking at it, so you try by details
to. bring the mind to an approXiination of its size,
wander about the yard in search of familiar objects
which may restore to their equilibtiun your dis-
ordered ideas of proportion. On the ground lie=
something like a field of red iron with a kind 'of
hedge of the same material all round it, and tin this
you walk until you find it to be the lAA and small-
eat of the bulkheads or water-tight
.compat trneuce,
and which in the course of a day or so will be lifteicl
bodily 100 feet into the air, and placed in the stern
of the ship. Again disturbed in your tansies, you
seek refuge iu the contemplation of a labyrinth of
•
spokes and stays, a semi-circle of iron like the sup-
ports of a building—wider across than King Wil-
liam-street, larger than the circus at A,tley's, arid
which instinct soon tells you can b 3 nothing less
than part of one of the great ship's paddle-wheee.
By this time, half used teethe Brobdignagian world
around, the visitor can coolly walk down a couple
of long iron tunnel's, which in lightnes., cheerfel-
ness, and general population, remind him forcibly
of the Burlington-arcade. He knows these are two
out of five of the ship's chimneys, but is reconciled
t' the fact and feels that on the whole they are
quite what he expected. So with a row of red build-
ings which 'at first look like houses and seem tile
iron suburbs of the vast edifice which towers aboVe
them. These are the boilets, though the wildest
ideas as to their use seems to pervade the mass io
visitors who peep in at the manholes. They are
evidently looked upon (especially by the ladies) as
mere iron technicalities quite dist net from the ship,
though useful in some remote and unexplained de-
gree—probably as models, or as adjuncts to the
captain's toilete. Each of these boilers, however,
weighs 45 tons, and is intended to work at a pre 4-
sure of 251 h. to the square inch. Some have already
been tested with the hydraulic pump, weth a force
of upwards of 601 b. per square inch, and proved 'so
solid and faultless in their construction that a pres-
sure of 1001 b. might have been applied with safety.
The sight of such objects as these around gra-
dually restores the visitor's mind, and predis-
poses him for appreciating bulk at least.
He somehow expects to 'find everything
large and in keeping with the " monster
of the deep," and turns with disappoint-
ment from the aspect of tall factories awl large trees
which aredwarfed to things of paltry insignificance.
In this frame of mind, if he were to'cl that the
steam-cradle, which high over all in a massive
framework of oaken beams lifts up the boilers awl
other sundries was fixed there for the purpose of
hoisting in the fillip's telescope, he would take the
information as a matter of course, and be in ,no
way surprised or moved by the announcement.
But we mu.t go to the ship itself, though none are
in a burry at first to mount its lofty sides. BUM
near it is a tall framework, or rather a wooden
tower, by means of which, after toiling up a flight
of 04 steps, the deck is gained at last. Here, no
matter how much the previous sights may have
prepared the ideas, the ship viewed from the deck
as one great whole, or rather as much of the great
whole as can be seen, for all cannot, is quite be-
yond. the grasp of ordinary comprehensions to rea-
lise. In fact it is like anything, but the deck of a
ship, though nothing but the deck' of the ship is like
it.. Some of our readers very probably have been
on the roof of the Crystal Palace or Great Exhibi-
tion while building. Let them recal either of thci.!e
scenes—the webs of scaffolding, the groups of forges,
the cradles and winches, the girders, pillars, and
plates, the white-heat rivets, the punching machines,
the monstrous screws, and above all the bellowing
din of by no means distant thunder, and they can
form some idea, though but a faint one, of the deck
of the Great Eastern. •
It is very difficult for any amount of description
to conveyan adequate notion of a. vessel which is
18,000 tons larger than the largest ship in the world.
It may, perhaps, be gained by the visitor who evalks,
to the edge of the vessel, looks up and down the
Thames,, surveys the domes of Greenwich Hospital,
has a bird's,eye view on to the docks of large West
Indiamen, and wonders at the diminutive proportions
of the old 3-decker used as the Seamen's Hospital.
Or, better still, if he turns his glass from the riier and
peers cautiously over the edge of the space where
the upper and lower saloons for the cabin passengers
by the Great Eastern are to be constructed. It
seems like looking from a housetop into some ordi-
nary metropolitan square, or the court of an exten-
sive French hotel, at the bottom of which even the
noise of the workmen is subdued, for they are 60
feet beneath the spectator. In spite, however, of
these aids to appreciation of its size, one must resort
to'figures at last in order to understand the monster
fully. Her length, then, between the perpendicu-
lars is 680 feet ; length on the upper deck, 692 feet
ht
.—within 28 feet of double the length of the heig

Bulkheads
Iron deck

Number of saloons
Height of saloons on upper deck

Number of ditto ".
Length of upper siloons
Ditto lower •.,
Thickness of iron plates in keel
Ditto inner and outer skins

PADDLE ENGINES.

Number of cylinders ...
Diameter of ditto •
Weight of ditto (each)
Length of strokb
Number of boilers
Furnaces for ditto ...
Diameter of paddlewheels

Number of cylinders
Weight of ditto (each)

Diameter of ditto
Length of stroke
Number of boilers
Furnaces for ditto
Diameter of screw

Number of blades to ditto

Length of screw shaft
Weight of ditto (about)
Weight of ship engines, &c., as at its launch-
-12,000 tons.
Immersion of this weight ... 15 fk. 6 in.
Ordinary light draught ••• ••• ••• 20 feet.
Probable maximum immersion when fully
laden 30 feet.
Quantity of coal which can be carried for
voyages 11,379 tons.
In addition to these facts we may mention that
she will have six masts and ten anchors. All the
former will be of hollow wrought iron, except the
last or mizen mast, on which, at a heightl of 84 feet
from the deck, will be placed the compass. The
masts will spread together no less than 6,500 yards
of canvass, thou;b, having no bowsprit, she, of
course, can carry no spritsail. Three of the masts
will .be square-rigged with iron spars, except the
upper topsail-yards. The rigging will be of wire,
and the large shrouds of this material will be eight
and a half inches in circumference. She will carry
20 large boats on deck ; some of them are new pa-
tents, on most ingenious principle., to which we
shall refer hereefter. In addition to these she will
also carry, suspended aft of her paddle-boxes, two
small screw steamers 100 feet long each and of be-
tween 60 and 70 tons burthen. These will, of
course, be ra7ved and lowered by small auxiliary en-
gines, several of which will Ve fixed on beard for
working pumps, hoisting sails, weighing anchor,
elec. Botlethe little screws will be kept in all re-
speets perfectly equipped for sea and used for em-
barking and landing the passengers with all their
luggage, arc., alongside the wharf or pier, which-
ever it may happen to be. This will be onerous
service, for the Great Eastern is fitted to accom-
modate 800 first-class passengers, 2,ooosecond-class,
and 1,200 third-class,—in all 4,000 passengers ; or,
carry,it ' e
it is said,mploeidio,o
intransport themen. s
of troops,
will b
she readecany
for launching early in Augast next, and be able to
take her first trial trip to America and hack about
tee middle of that month. She is expected to re-
alise a speed of at least 20 miles an hour, or to
accomplish the voyage from England to Australia
(between which countries she is to run) in 30 days.
Reckoning the cost at so much per ton it is said to
be one of the cheapest vessels yet constructed. The
arrangetneete for the launching—or perhaps we
should rather say for her being lowered gradually
down an inclined plane into the river—are quite as
extraordinary and as noteworthy as the vessel it-
self. At present we cannot enter into the details
of the plan, which has been entirely devised by the
eminent engineer to whom the whole merit of ori-
ginating the first great idea of the vessel is due—
Mr. Brunel. We may mention, however, that the
launch will be by no means a slapdash affeir into
the " native element," but a tedious operation
which will probably occupy two or three days. On
these points, however, and on some others of equal
interest, we shall give our readers fuller informa-
tion as the great ship, progresses towards comple-
tion.

150 feet.
60 tons.

EQUALISATION OF THE POOR-RATES,

A public m•:etingof theratepayers of St. George's
in-the-East and the adjoining parishes was he'd
on Wednesday at the George Tavern, Commercial-
old, to consider the propriety of petitioning Par-
liament for an- equalisation of the poor-rates
throughout tha metropolis.
The Rev. G. H. M‘GILL, having taken the chair,
observed that the subject which the meeting was
invited to consider was one that deeply concerns
both the ratepayer and the pauper. The inequality,
in the pressure of the poor-rates on different dis-
ticts of the metropolis was a grievance that called
loudly fur redress. When the Bishop of London
and Mr. Gladstone sometime since visited the
easterly part of the Metropolis, they expressed it as
Vieir opinion that the residents of the West-end of
London ought to contribute towards supporting
the poor. of the East-end, in order to relieve the
unequal pressure to which the inhabitants of that
portion of the metropolis wore subjected. Every
ratepayer of the district would at once acquiesce
iu that opinion. He himself had paid as much as
in the poimd for poor-rates, and it was fal-
lacious to louk for any diminution of this legal im-
post by means of charitable contributions. The
only practicable mode of lightening the burden
was to equalise the tax throughout all the parishes
of the metropolis. As this was a quistion wholly
unconnected with political, or religious views, he
hoped to have the support of men of all parties in
his efforts to carry out the object he was anxious
to attain. lie had invited Mr. Hanbury, the
newly-elected member for the county, to preside
on the present occasion, but that gentleman was
of opinion that some one locally connected with
the district should discharge that duty ; but both
advised that
that gentleman and Lord Grosvenor had promised
to give their most cordial support to the movement
itioleypass a bill to
pinatah
jeamHztssehoofulCdobmempoentistloannedd
afford the relief desired.
into a statistical detail, with a view to show the
Mr. W. GILBERoTf,
to.hfolCpeorisior-OrgattOellinaftthere edanteerrienngt
" That this meeting is of opinion that the poor-rate
greatpa
resolutionparishes
i ense oqi:u thei ty
nactropoli4, moved the following
assessment in every parish in London ought to be equal.
Mr. WILLIAMS seconded the resolution.
Mr. G. L. HUTCHINSON said be had been endea-
vouring ever since 1829 to impress upon the public
the necessity of this measure, and the only objec-
tion hd bad to the resolution was that it confined
its operation to London only. The poor belonged
to the country at large, and not merely to London.
wlioerdtherefore movede sh ou
lads
haen omitted,amendment
t thheawt
otrhd
se
" England and Wales" be inserted in the resolu-
tion ; which was seconded by Mr. Taylor.
Mr. BROOKS said, he was altogether opposed to
the present movement, believing, as he did, that
by degrees the whole parochial system of the coun-
try would be destroyed by it. They would com-
mence by union rating, then proceed to district
rating, th= n to metropolitan rating, and finally
they would arrive at national rating, which would
be nothing less than centralisation and coercion.
31r. A. S. AYRTON, M.P., rose for the purpose
of .tendering a piece of advice. They had met to