The Sun.
London, England, 1842-10-27 00:00:00

THE TARTAN

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We have much pleasure in publishing a communi-
cation, which shows that after her Maj est g's visit to
the land of the " mountain and the flood," her " heart
warms to the tartan," and she has condescended to
patronise an interesting branch of Scottish manufac-
ture. It may be explained that on the 7th current
the Duchess of Buccleuch, by command of the Queen,
addressed a note to the deputation of the woollen ma-
nufacturers of Tillicoultry, Alva, &c., who waited'
upon her Majesty at Drummond Castle, requesting
them to forward specimens of their manufacture,
which was promptly done, and the following gratify-
ing letter from the Duchess of Buccleuch has been the
result :
" The Duchess of Buccleuch has received the
patterns sent by Messrs. Drysdale, Paton, and
Archibald, and begs to inform them, that she has
chosen four 'shawls for the Queen, of the Royal
Stuart, the Duchess of Kent, the Drummond, and the
Menzies tartans, and she requests that two dresses
may be sent, one of the tartan marked the Duke of
Wellington, and the other the Atholl Murray. The
Duchess of Buccleuch has selected for herself three
shawls—Napier, MiLean, and APTavish, and the
pieces of tartan marked the Duke of Buccleuch, the
Duke of Wellington, and Sir Robert Peel. She re-
quests that enough or a waistcoat may be sent to her
of Sir Robert Peel, and two of the Duke of Wel-
lington, tartans.
" Drumlanrig Castle, Thornhill, Oct. 17, 1842."!
—Glasgow Paper.

SUPPOSED FELICITY of the PO
NESIANS in a STATE of NATURE
No picture is more deceitful than that which exhi-
bits the supposed innocence and delights of savage
life. The child of nature is usually represented as
being free from every envy and all the factitious pas-
sions of civilised existence ; a stranger to covetousness
and ambition; happy in the enjoyments of those
around him ; content with his present lot, and having
no apprehension in regard to the future. Oppressed
by no care, burdened by no toil, tormented by n 6
restless desire, seldom visited by sickness, his wants
easily satisfied, his pleasures often recurring, the
Otaheitan was conceived to pass his days in uninter-
rupted felicity, under the magnificent sky of the
tropics, and amid scenes worthy of paradise. But a
closer view disclosed a very different state of things.
The lower classes were unmercifully plundered and
oppressed by their superiors ; domestic happines, in
its proper sense, was unknown ; the females were re-
duced to the greatest debasement, not being allowed
to partake of the same food with their husband and
brothers, and not even permitted to dress it at the
same fire, or place it in the same basket. It is fur-
ther asserted, that they were, generally speaking,
without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful, and
that, under the dominion of the worst of propensities,
they often acted more like fiends than human beings.
" That there should," says Forster, "exist so great a
degree of immorality in a nation, otherwise so happy
in its simplicity and in the fewness of its wants, is :4
reflection very disgraceful to human nature in general,
which, viewed to its greatest disadvantage here, is
nevertheless imperfect." That this immorality did
exist is not denied by one of the most ardent admirers
of the Polynesians, who to the observation of a phi-
losopher could add the advantage of a repeated resi
dente among them. True it is, that many who have
ceased to do evil, after the manner of their uncon-
verted countrymen, have not yet learned to do well,
to the full extent of their Christian obligations.
Where sins are gross and shameful, the first step is
more easily taken than the second ; and hence the
missionary finds less opposition when he denounces a
flagrant iniquity than when he enjoins a needful virtue
or a becoming grace. Those who read with attention
the Epistles of St. Paul to his converts, in the most
refined parts of the Roman empire, will perceive that,
though they had abjured the abominations of heathen-
ism and the useless ceremonies of the Mosaical law,
their conduct did not, in all cases, throw a suitable
light on the purer principles which they had openly
professed. The fifth and sixth chapters of his first
letter to the Corinthians prove but too clearly, that the
licentiousness of pagan manners did not yield, all at
once, to the holy precepts of the Gospel, nor to the
instructive example of its self-denied teachers.—
Edinburgh CabinetLibrary,No. XXXIII. Polynesia.
a _

BRIGHTON RAILWAY.—The official returns of the
Railway are verifying anticipation. They continue
to show a large and, what is better, a steady traffic,
the receipts of the week ending 15th instant being
4,6461. 15s. 11d., while for the six months ending
October Bth last, the amount was, we understand, no
less than 98,5681. 3s. 11d. If such is the case even
now, with the traffic but imperfectly developed, what
may not be expected next year, when the Paris and
Rouen Railway is open. The goods' traffic on
the Brighton line has already risen to seventy
or eighty tons a day, and is expected to
increase much more. In our last paper we mentioned
that a survey was in progress for a coast line from
Chichester, to join the Brighton Railway. 'We un-
derstand that this project is strongly supported by the
Duke of Norfolk and Mr. John Abel Smith. It will
increase the traffic of the Brigkton line very much,
and it is said that the Brighton Company will lease it
of 5 per cent. upon the cost, which will be small, as
the country is quite level, and it is expected that
15,0001. per mile will cover the expence.—Brighton
Gazette.
ROYAL BUCKINGHAMSHIRE AGRICULTURAL ASSO-
CIATION.—An "Annual General Meeting of the
Members of this Association" was advertised to take
place on Wednesday (yesterday), the 26th inst., at
the " George Inn, .Aylesbury." The main attrac-
tion of the advertisement was, however, the announced
intention of his Grace the Duke of Buckingham and
Chandos to take the Chair on the occasion, and to
" dine with the members after the meeting." The
opinions of a leading agriculturist are always of im-
portance to our fellow-countrymen, but the views of
so distinguished an advocate of the interests of the
British farmer as the Duke of Buckingham—who, it
is presumed, has at no inconsiderable sacrifice thrown
aside the patronage of a Minister of the Cabinet,
and_ renounced office, rather than submit to what
he himself designated an " unwarrantable interfer-
ence with the landowners of the country"—would, we
thaught, be regardel by all classes with peculiar in-
terest at the present period. The frequent formula
now a days returned by a Sheriff to an unfortunate
client, who -is anxious to secure the person of
some undiscoverable debtor, would not be inap-
plicable to the case of his Grace of Buckingham
—he was " non est inventus." His Grace was
sojourning at his estate in Hampshire. Whe-
ther his absence arose from his own disinclina-
tion to attend the meeting, or from a disposition to
accommodate himself to the desire of, her Majesty's
Ministers to suppress as much as possible all declara-
tions from influential quarters respecting the operation
of the new tariff, is a question which we cannot deter-
mine, hut we can well understand the policy of the
Cabinet at this moment to escape the possibility of
any injudicious declaration on the part of their friends
on this important subject. —Morning Advertiser.
BIRD TRAP EXTRAORDINARY.—Upon the arrival
of the Elk engine at Nine Elms, on Tuesday night,
with the six o'clock train from Southampton, a lark
was found in the ash-pan (within six inches of the
fire-bars), which had received no further injury from
this novel species of bird-trap than the singeing of a
few tail feathers. It is now in the naseession of the
engine-driver, and appears quite