The Sun.
London, England, 1845-12-27 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, SA.TUR DA Y EVENING. DECEMBER 27, I 845:

gallant neighbours. A victory to them brought little
or no advantage, because lives were sacrificed
which could not be replaced, and any disaster which
might have befallen England was speedily repaired
almost entirely from the vast resources furnished by
her mercantile navy. Latterly, however, a power
differing in every respect from France has sprung up,
ready to compete at sea with any European state ;
her merchant-vessels, and the number of her seamen,
exceed those of every kingdom or empire in the world,
except those of Great Britain, and they have, besides,
all the qualities and superior advantages which long
distinguished the brave defenders of these islands.
It is utterly incomprehensible, therefore, how the
British Admiralty can overlook these circumstances,
and spend large sums voted by Parliament for the
naval service, without taking into account the most
important and, indeed, vital consideration in this great
national question. At the present moment, though
so few ships are in commission, the greatest difficulty
in procuring able-bodied seamen exists, the Retribu-
tion steamer, and several other vessels required for
service cannot make up their complements, and
should a war suddenly break out, no remedy for this
alarming evil can be found but one, which the nation
generally, and more especially the mercantile classy
would resist with the most determined energy to the last,
Under the present system it is well known men can-
not be had in sufficient numbers ; one-half, nay one-
fourth that might be required, could not be obtained
by legal and constitutional means. The system of
impressment has now been dormant for more than
thirty years, but without that or a radical change;
both in the mode of paying our sailors and in their
treatment on board, we could not raise a body of
sailors fit to contend with the American navy.
In 1816, notwithstanding the fame attached to the
name of PELLEW, and the prepossessions of the sailors
in favour of Lord EXMOUTH, the fleet destined for
the attack on Algiers was long detained at Spithead
for want of men, and it was with the utmost difficulty
that numbers, considerably below the usual comple-
ment, were at last collected for working the ships-
Are affairs in a better position now ? The Americans,
as, at the end of the last war, are making every exer-
tion to obtain our best sailors, by means of large pre-
miu►ns, large wages, and good treatment. The mer-
cantile navy is fully employed, trade never was in a
more thriving condition; the demand for seamen,
consequently, is good, and the pay better than in the
royal navy. In the one service the engagement is
made for a voyage, or a very limited period ;
in the other the seaman is little better than
a slave ; his period of service has no limit but that
of his life or his ability to serve, or the wants and
caprices of the Admiralty ; he is subject to the most
degrading of all punishments. Neither he nor the
soldier is tried, like the rest of his countrymen, by
his peers, but by a body with despotic power, de-
sirous to repress, by the utmost severity, every
act, nay, every word and look, that they
consider offensive; he is ill-paid, and the only
prospect of consolation he has is some trifle
per day when his strength is worn out, or per-
haps a retreat in Greenwich Hospital, when he has
lost a leg or an arm in the defence of his country.
These are the men that saved England from many
attempted invasions, and from the most recent and
dangerous of all, that formed with so much care,
and but for them with certainty of success, by
BONAPARTE at Boulogne. Never did such reproach
attach to a nation. England treats her best friends
worse than enemies ; she admits that her wooden
walls are her only protection, that without her
sailors she could not exist as a nation, while the gal-
lant men who mount these walls are subjected to
hardships and cruelties, compared with which the
sufferings of the African race in the colonies, for whose
freedom she paid'twenty millions, were absolutely no-
thing. Another session of Parliament cannot pass
over without some remedy, some radical change
in the whole system of manning our navy. We
felt its effects during the last war with
the United States ; the best of our sailors
who conquered at Trafalgar, indignant at
such treatment, and bribed by higher pay, fought
against their country, and lamented their success.
Are the same disgraces and calamities to be repeated,
because the Government will not spend half a million
more in paying our seamen, nor take the trouble of
framing an Act of Parliament which may rescue
them from indignities and sufferings which gallan
men will not patiently endure ?

Lord JOUN RUSSELL'S inability to form a free-
trade Government, and the obstacles which have still
to be overcome before the free-trade question can
reach a successful issue, not unnaturally suggest
attention to the present state of the representation.
If the Reform Act had indeed made the House of
Commons the people's House, how long ago should
we have got rid of the corn-laws ? If Lord 'Thum
RUSSELL, not having a majority in the present House
of Commons, had been able to rely on the result of
another general election, as the true index of the
people's voice, would he have hesitated for one
moment as to accepting the trust tendered by her
MAJESTY, or would he ultimately have yielded to the
difficulties by which he was overcome ?
It is undeniable that the system of nomination,
which the Reform Act was to abolish, still prevails to
a very great :extent in the House of Commons.
Some notion of its extent may be gathered from the
following facts, which we have derived from two
Parliamentary papers of the year 1844 (Nos. 11 and
435).

There are as many as 174 constituencies in tha
United Kingdom having less than 1,000 electors
each ; and these 174 constituencies return no less than
241 Members of the House of Commons. These 174
constituencies are made up as follows :-116 English
boroughs ; 12 boroughs in Wales ; 13 Scotch counties,
and 8 Scotch boroughs ; 2 Irish counties, and 23
Irish boroughs.
Of the above 174 constituencies, there are as many
as 82 which have less than 500 electors each—viz.
60 English boroughs, 3 boroughs in Wales, 2 Scotch
counties (Bute and Sutherland), and 1 Scotch
borough, and 16 Irish boroughs. These 82 consti-
tuencies, of less than 500 electors, return in all 110
Members of Parliament ; 28 English boroughs among
them returning each two Members.
The following boroughs return two Members each,
and have each less than 300 electors :—Andover,
Chippenham, Harwich, Knaresborough, Lyming-
ton, Marlborough, Richmond, Tavistock, Thetford.
Tavistock is a single exception in this list to the
general rule, that corruption and proprietary in-
fluence govern the returns of these miserably small
constituencies. Thetford, the last on the list, is the
smallest in point of numbers, having only 192
electors. It returns Sir JAMES FLowoa, the wisest
of the wise, and Mr. BINGHAM BARING, the heir of
Lord ASIIBURTON, and a member of the Government.
Among the constituencies of less than .500, which
return only ene Member of Parliament, Caine,
Reigate, and the county of Sutherland have less than
200 electors (the constituency of the county of
Sutherland being actually no more than 167 !) ; and
Arundel, Ashburton, Dartmouth, Flint, Lyme, Mid-
burst, Northalierton, Wilton, and the Irish boroughs
of Cashel, Ennis, Portarlington, and Tralee, have
less than 300 electors.
We have named 24 constituencies which have less
than 300 electors. Of these twelve are, to all intents
and purposes, proprietary boroughs. Here they are
in a row, with the names of the virtual proprietors
and their politics :

Chippehham...Mr. NEELD Tory.
Marlborough... Marquis of AYLESBURY Tory.
Richmond Earl Or ZETLAND Liberal.

Caine Marquis of LANSDOWN ...Liberal.

Reigate „Earl SOMERS ...Tory.
Sutherland ..Duke of SUTHERLAND Liberal.
Arundel Duke of NORFOLK Protectionist.

Flint Sir R. W. BULKELEY Liberal.

Midhurst Earl of EG3IONT... ....... ....Tory.
Wilton Earl of PEMBROKE Tory.
Thetford Lord ASHBURTON Tory.
Portarlington..Earl of PORTARLINGTON Tory.
Andover, Harwich, Knaresborough, Lymington, and
Lyme are known to be sinks of corruption. So
much for seven out of the 24 constituencies of less
than 300 electors.

Large constituencies, with the ballot, furnish the
only possible effectual security against nomination
and corruption. Ballot by itself could do no good in
such hole• and-corner constituencies as Thetford and
Harwich, Reigate and Lymington. It might even
increase corruption in constituencies so small that
they may be taken in with one haul of a briber's

net. We should much rejoice to see a revival of the
efforts, which have been so long dormant, for further
Parliamentary Reform ; and the statesman who
should persevere till he triumphed, in endeavouring
to reform the representation by introducing vote by
ballot, and getting rid of all constituencies under
1,000, or even under 500 electors, would render an
immense service to the cause of public morality and
enlightenment, and need fear no imputation of revo-
lutionary designs.

The Paris papers of Thursday have not arrived.
During the whole of last night a violent storm raged,
which probably has prevented any vessel from cross-
ing the Channel.

BUSINESS DONE IN FOREIGN RAILWAYS AT THE
LONDON STOCK EXCHANGE, DEC. 26.
Anglo-Belgian — Madrid and Valencia...
Barba does
Boulogne and Amiens.. 10% Namur and Liege 3%
Bordeaux &Mediterran North Jamaica ...
Bordeaux and Toulouse Orleans and Vierzon
Do. & Cette (Espeleta) Orleans and Bordeaux 11N,
Do. (Mackenzie's) .. OverYasel ••• —.
Callao, Lima, and Pa- Paris& Lyons (Laffitte) 2%
cific Coast
_ .

Central of Spain ..
Ceylon . —

Ditto (Calon'a)--
Ditto (Sud Est) 2l/
:8

Demerara
Dendre Valley ...... 1,4
Dutch Rhenish
Dieppe & Paris Juliet —
Dijon and Mulhouse 17s
East Indian
Famponx & llazebrouk
Grt Northern of France
Constituted 15%
Do. Pepin le Ilalleur —
Great Paris and Lyons 2%
Great Western Bengal IA
Great Western Canada
JamaicaS Mid. Junction
Do. North Midland —
Do. Extension
Jersey —
Louvain and Jemappe 2
Lyons and Avignon —
Luxembourg

Paris and Orleans 47V2
,Paris and Rouen
Paris and Strasburg
(Ganneron's)
,Do. (Compe de L'Est)
Do. (Aymard's) —
Paris and St. Quentin —
Rouen and Havre —
Royal North of Spain —
Sambre and Meuse
Strasburg and Bale
Tournay,Jurbiso, Lan-
den, and Hasselt
Tours and Nantes
(M acken zie's)
Do. (Lefebvre's) 2
Do. (O'Neill's)
Trinidad .....
Verona and Ancona....
West Flanders

We hear that Mr. Cardwell, at present Secretary
to the Treasury, is to succeed Mr. Hope, as Under-
Secretary to the Colonies.
It is said that Mr. Charles Wood, who seceded
with Lord Grey from Lord Melbourne's Government
in 1839, distinctly refused to join in Lord Grey's re-
cent objection to Lord Palmerston as Foreign Se-
cretary.

Hull and Selby SO
Ditto 14 Shares
Do. Half Shares
Invernessand Elgin ..• 1

Ipswich, Norwich, and
Yarmouth
Irish North Midland l%
Isle ofAxholme 2%
Killarney Junctions ll%
Kendal and Windermere 1114
Lancaster and Carlisle... 30 00000 ••••••
Larne, Belfast, and Bal-
lrmena
000000 •••••
Leeds and Carlisle
Leeds and West Riding
Junction
Leicester & Birmingham 225. — ••• •• ••••••
Leicester and Bedf3rd... 225.
/ r
Leicester and Tamworth 425.
Livery. and Manchester.loo ...
Do. 1/2 Shares
Do. Quarters 25
Liverpool& Leeds Direct 2% .. ... 21,8 ...
Lpool., Mnchstr, & New-
castle Junction
Landon and Birmingtimloo 224 222 224....
Do. Thirds
Do. 14 Shares
Ditto Fifths
••• ..... •..
Ditto Extension ...... 14(,
London and Blackv••all. 161. 135.4 d 9%... ..... ....
Do. New
Ditto Extension
Londoz. and Brighton
Do. consolidated Bths... 40 .....
Ditto, Sixths
L. adon and Croydon, 131. 15s. 9d. 22% 2134 ....
Do. Guaranteed 5 per
Cent.
.. ,
Lon., Chel., 0x.,G10., and
Hereford
•
Lendort and Greenwich 12115 s 4d...
Do. Preference ...18/17s 2d —
London Hounslow, and
Western -
Lora & S.Western 411 6s 10d...... 77 76
Do. New Consol. Bths 20 .
..... 35
Do. New
Do. New
London& South Essex 23/4 ...... _
...
London and Y0rk...... •.. 21/2...... 41/8
London and Windsor ... 1
•••
London, Warwick, and
Kidderminster ... ...... 21A 24 134
London, Salisbury, and
Yeovil
Londonderry &Coleraine 5 . ... .............,
Londonderry and Ennis-
killen
Lynn and Ely ..... ....... 5
Lynn and Dereham 5 —
Manchester and Leeds .. 76 133
Ditto IA. Shares
Do. Quarters 2
Do. Fifths 1 . .... 14 131/2% .....
Do. Sixteenths ... 54 —
Manchester and Birmin. 40
Do. Quarters
Do. New Quarters
Do. Continuation and
Welsh Junction
Manchester,Buxton,and
Matlock 425....... 24104 p....
Manchester, Birin., and
Mould Junction ..
Manchester and Rugby
Direct . 425.
Manchest. &Southampt. 2 ...... 3 21,4
Midland 100 .....157 156 155
Do. riftlis 2
Do. New
Midland, Birm.,Derby...loo 125 ..,
Midld. & East. Counties 2%......

:g P

2%
3%
224

654

2 p

[55

Midland Great Western
(Irish)
Do. Extens. to Sligo 23/4..... .....
Newcastle and Darling-
ton Junction 25 ...... ..... .....
Do. New Brandling 2O
INT Aveastle and Berwick 5
Newcastle and Carlisle...loo
Newport& Abergavenny 21/2......
New Ross and Car10w.., 22s
Newry and Enniskillen 2% — .....
Newark, Sheffield, and.
Boston ... .. .. ......... 25%8..... 2344% 2%.....
Norfolk Extension 2
North British
Do. Half Shares ..... 31/z — ........ •• •••
Do. Exten. to Carlisle 11A 23/4 31/4
Do. Ext. to Dalkeith 25
Ditto ditto
North Devon 2 .. ...
North of Norfolk .. 2:3/4 — ... ... ........
Northern and Eastern... 45 .......
Do. Scrip
Do. Quarter Shares... 12% —
Do. New
N. Kent & Direct Dover 2%
North Staffordshire 425....... 37i 4% p 4IA p
North Wales
North and South Wales
and Worcester
Northern and Southern
Connecting
Norwich and Brandon... 16
Ditto New 3 —
Northampton, Banbury,
and Cheltenham
Nottingham and Boston 1% l7l
Nottingm., Erewsh.Val-
ley, and Manchester... 1% ••.... .....
Nottingham and Mans-
field

2%
2614
7.174

Oxford, Gosport, Ports-
mouth, & Southamptn 425.
Oxford, Worcester, and
Wolverhampton
Oxford, WTitney, and
Cheltenham..., -
Perth and Inverness ... 2%
Pilbrow Atmospheric ... 1 -.,...
Portsmouth Direct ...... 33,E
Preston and Wyre
Do. % Shares
Reading, Guildford, and
Reigate
Richmond 5
Rugby, Derby, and Man-
chester ..•••• - 25/ —
/a
Rugby and Huntingdon 2
Rugby, Leamington,aad
Warwick
Rugby, Warwick. and
Worcester... ... 425.
Scottish Central
Scottish Midland
Do. Extension —
Sheffield & Manchester 100
Do. Quarter Shares... 8
Shrewsbury and Birm... 214_
Shropshire Mineral 425.......
Shropskire Union
14 dis
Shrewsbury & Hereford 2%
Shrews., Wolverhamp ,
& S. Staffordsh. June. 2%
Sligo and Shannon IX,
Somersetshire Midland 2,,,,
•• .....
South Devon... —
South Midland 425....... 3%1/21A% p.. 3% p
South & Midlands Junc 425...... _
... —
South Staffordshire June 2% _
South Eastern & Dover 3312 s 4d... 38 .
Do., No. 1 l2
Do., N.. 2.
Do., No. 3
D0., Ne. 4
Southampton, Manches-
ter. & Oxford Junction 425......,
St. Alban's, Hatfield, and
Hertford Junction ... ......
Staines and Richmond,.. 1 ......
Staffordsh. & Shropshire 23/4 ......
Q.outh Wales 2%••••.. 31AN%
Taw Vale Extension ...
Tean and Dove Valley 1% .....
...
......
..
Trent Valley 2 ..... • 18 171/2
Trent Valley and Holy-
head Junction
Tring, Reading, and
Basingstoke 54 — ...............
Ilverstone and Furness 21/2--
...............
Vale of Neath 2 ...... ........ ...
Warwick & Cheltenham 1% ... .......... ..
Warwick and Worcester 425.
Waterford and Kilkenny 3 — ..............
Waterford and Limerick 7% — ............ ~.
Waterfd,Wxfrd,Wicklw,
and Dublin
W aterford, Wexford, and
Valentia
Waveney Valley 2 - ...............
Welch Midland
West Cornwall ...... 2 ... - • .............
West Yorkshire
West London,Old Shares 20 .....
West End and Southern
Counties
fiexford and Carlow
Wisbeach and St. Ives... 2
Wilts, Somerset, and
Southampton . 13a ...... ............
WHO, Somerset, & Wey-
WinorocuesHereford,
thter,Ro-s's 2%.....
314
. ...".
..
and Gloucester '42s.
Worcester, Tilbury, and
Ludlow 2% ......
\Vorcester, Shrewsbury,
7d Cr -- -

am irewe Union ... .. 1,(1... •• --
Worcester and S. 'Wales 425......
Worcester,Warwick,and
Rugby
Yarmuuth and Norwich. 20 ......

Ditto, New
York and Carlisle 27 2%.....• ..—„,
York and Lancaster 2 /8
York and North Midland 50
_...

Ditto 4 Share; 25
Ditto Scarboro' Branch. 25
Do. Selby 2O —
Do. Extension . 5 . 294 304
FOREIGN RAILWAYS.
- -

17 dis
4 •

114

23

Anglo- Belgian - 4
Barbadoes 1 ......
Boulogne and Amiens lO --- 11%•••••• - .....
Bordeaux & Mediterran 2
Bordeaux, Toulouse, and
Cetti (Mackenzie's)... 2 - •••
Do. (Espelete's) ..... 2 •••• •
Calais, Dunkrk, and West
Flanders -•••----
Callao, Litna, and Pacific
Coast 1
..
... ... .. .........
Central of Spain ...
Ceylon .......... .... .. ..- ss.
Demerara 2l/2 ... -
Dendre Valley
Dijon and Mulhouse
Dutch Rhenish 5 -
East Indian ... ..... .... ss.
Eastern Belgian Junctn. 2%
Fampoux & Hazebronk 2
Great North. of France
Constituted ... 5 ...... 15% l5
Great Paris and Lyons 2
Great Western Bengal... ss. %
Great Western Canada.- 314 .....•
Jamaica S.Mid. Junction 1
Jamaica North Midland 1
Do. Extension 1
Jersey
Louvain and Jemeppe... 4 ... . 214
Lyons and Avignon

113

214

Luxembourg...
Madrid and Valentia.... 2 ...
Mauritius 1
Namur and Liege
North Jamaica... ......
Orleans and Vierzon ... 10
Orleans and Bordeaux... 6 ...... 111/2,
Over Yssel 4/ 3s 4d l%lAi dis ....,
Paris 8c Lyons (Laflitte's) 2
Paris and Lyons (Gan-
neron's) a
Paris & Lyons, (Calon's) 2
Paris &Lvons (3ud Est) 2
.
Paris and Orleans 2O
Paris and Rouen
Paris and Strasbourg
(Ganneron's)
Do. (Compe de L'Est) 2
Do (Avmard's)
Paris and St. Quentin
Rouen and Havre ...... 18 - .... .•••••••
Royal North of Spain ... 2
Sambre and Meuse ...... 6
Strasbourg and Bale ... 14
St. Laurence & Atlantic
Tournay, Jurbise, Lan-
den, and Hasselt....... 4
Tours and Nantes (Mac-
kenzie's) . 4
Do. do. ( Lefebvre's 1 2
Ditto (O'Neill's) 2
Trinidad
Verona and Ancona... 3
West Flanders ...... .... 4
MINES
—--- - - -

Real del Monte Unregd. -27. 3N

114
IA dis
2%

4712

LLOYD'S SHIPPING—(THIS DAY.)
LONDON, DEC. 27.—Wind this day at noon, W., moderate
breeze and fine.
DOWER, DEC. 26.—The Rose, Volckmann, from Liverpool
to Hamburgh, has put in here leaky, and with loss of sails
and spars, and must discharge.
COWES, DEC. 25.—A boat, marked " Star, of Sunderland,
Mathew Atkinson," also a topmast yard, sails, and rigging,
were picked up off the Spurn, 14th instant, and brought in
here. The Emilio, from Liverpool to Kiel, arrived here 23d
instant, is reported to be damaged.
DEAL DEC. 26.—Wind W.S.W., strong and squally —Arrd.
Emperor, Jones, Bombay. Arrd. from the river, for Kdso,
Hudson Calcutta ; Columbus, Losh, Bahia; Donna Carnie-
lita. Williams, St. Lucia,
FALMOUTH, DEC. 26.—Arrd. Swift packet, Rio Janeiro,
sailed Nov. 12; on freight about 11,0001. in gold and dia-
monds; Orestes, Porter, Belize; 574, Stubb, Wyburg, with
loss of bowsprit, &c., having been in contact with a brig 22d
inst. Put back, Jane, Thomas, La Guayra.
BRISTOL, DEC. 26.—James, Salmon, St. John's, N.B.
MILFORD, DEC. 25.—Arrd. Monarch, Brown, St. Lucia.
CLYDE, DEC. 25.—Arrd. Euxine, Livingstone, Quebec.
Sld. Favorite, Allan, Demerara; Springfield, Roy, Mobile;
Sessotris, Mackenzie, Savannah.
WATERFORD, DEC. 24.—Arrd. Nancy, Foran, St. John
New Brunswick.
SUNDERLAND, DEC. 26.—The Union, Lumsden of Seaton
Sluice, was abandoned during the night of the 22d inst., in
a sinking state, about 75 miles E.S.E. of the Spurn ; crew
saved.
ST. IvEs, Dec. 25.—The Mov, Murphy, from Newport to
Limerick, has been brought in here much strained, and with
loss of bulwarks, &c., and one man washed overboard.
WexFoRD, DEC. 25.—The vessel wrecked at the Small
Salter Island on the 21st inst., appears to be the Sarah Bease,
of Cork, and not the Welcome, as yesterday reported.
CORRISBAY, DEC. 22.—The Isabella, of and fur Sunderland,
went ashore near Dunnet Head, this morning, and remains
full of water ; crew saved.
DOUGLAS, ISLE- or- MAN, DEc.24.—The Marchioness Douglas,
ofand from Carlisle, took the ground on leaving Derby Haven,
and has put in here, with considerable damage.
WELLS, DEC. 26.—The Ellen, of this port, took the ground
in putting to sea yesterday, and remains, without apparent
damage.
YARMOUTH, DEC. 25.—The brig Union, of Seaton Sluice,
was passed on the 23d instant, in lat. 53 deg. N., lon. 4 deg.
E , on her broadside, and aband, ned, by the North Briton.
LONDON' DEC. 27.—The Belmont, Grant, arrived in the
river from St. John's, New Brunswick, passed Dec. 7, in lat.
46 deg. N., lon. 44 deg. W., a barque of about 500 tons,
waterlogged and abandoned, mizenmast and bowsprit stand-
ing; had a high poop, with a wooden rail; appeared to have
been boarded and stranded. The name consisted of five
letters, the two first partly obliterated, and the others ap-
peared to be " ake."
MARYI'ORT, DEC. 25.—The Eliza, Beattie, which was on
the North Pier 22d inst., has been got off and into the
harbour.
ILFRACOMBE, DEC. 25.—The bucy reported yesterday as
having been towed into this harbour is marked " Helwick
Swatchwav," and not " Alnwick," as then stated.
OFF PORTSMOUTIL—SOpIIie, Adicks, Rio Janeiro, and
sailed 23d for Antwerp.

LITERATURE.

NARRATIVE OF A MISSION TO BOICHARA
IN THE YEARS 1844-45. By the Rev. Joseph
Wolff, D.D., LL.D.
The circumstances under which Dr. Wolff under-
took his last expedition to Bokhara, for the purpose
of ascertaining the fate of Colonel Stoddart and
Captain Conolly, have been so recently and so fre-
quently detailed that it is unnecessary further to
allude to him. The manner in which Dr. Wolff
volunteered to undertake this dangerous adventure
was so chivalrous, his whole conduct throughout so
disinterested, that he appeared to us as not belonging
to this age, but to the olden time, to the days when
faith, and hope, and trust, and charity, and friend•
ship, were not mere names, but great facts—to be
one of those men whom Bayard would have cherished,
and whom Tasso would have commemorated. Friend-
ship, such friendship as in these self-seeking days is
sneered down as romantic, seems to have been the
impelling cause to his braving the dangers of the
desert and the wrath of the Bukhara despot.
Conolly was his friend, and for the chance
of rescuing that friend from captivity he
was content to brave every peril, and to
exhibit to the world an example of moral and
passive courage, in the presence of which the
highest efforts of mere physical courage must " pale
their ineffectual fires." This narrative is written in
a style so simple that it is at times, from its very
simplicity, sublime. It is a complete mirror not only
of the acts, but of the thoughts of the writer ; he
shows how he was deceived—the characters of those
wall whom he came in contact, and how, at length,
by circumstances, he was led to the detection of the
falsehoods which their craft had palmed off upon him.
His description of the manner in which he was at
first induced to trust Abdul Samut Khan, the Prime
Minister of the King of Bokhara, and of the cir-
cumstances which gradually- opened his eyes as to the
true character of this hypocrite, swindler, and mur-
derer, is admirable. There can be no doubt but that
this man was the prime instigator of the deaths of
Stoddart and Conolly. He thus describes that hor-
rible tragedy in a conversation with Dr. Wolff:—
" When Colonel Stoddart arrived at Bukhara, his
Majesty sent a whole troop of soldiers to receive him;
he came to Bukhara, and to the Ark, just when Hazrat
returned from a pilgrimage to Baba Deen Nakshbande
(a holy man buried outside the town). Colonel Stoddart
was on horseback. The Shekhawl, and several other
Serkerdeha (grandee) went up to him and said, ' This is
his Majesty, you must dismount.' But he replied,
have no orders for doing so.' The Ameer smiled, and
said he is a mehmoon (guest). When you, Joseph
Woolf, made your salaam before the Ameer, the Slick-
hawl took slightly hold of your shoulders to make you
bow down; you submitted with your book in the hand;
but when the Shekhawl only touched Colonel Stoddart,
he laid his hand on his sword and drew it. Nothing
was said to this. The house of Toora, the same house
in which you live, was assigned to him as his quarters.
When a few days after the Rais (one of the mullahs who
watch over the people, and have power to flog any one
who does not observe strictly the Muhammadan reli-
gion) sent one of his friends to Stoddart and asked him
whether he was an eljee (ambassador) or a sodagur
(merchant)? Stoddart replied, Eat dung!'
"His imprisonment upon this occasion the Nayeb
passed over in silence, and continued, At last from fear,
Stoddart said he would become a Mussulman, and
accoriing to the hluhammedan religion, if a person says
he will turn Mussulman, he must either do so, or die. He
became a Musselman, and a short time after openly
avowed again the Christian religion. At last it was
agreed that he should write to England to be acknow-
ledged as the accredited agent of Great Britain at the
court of Bokhara, and that the King of Bokhara should
be the acknowledged sovereign of Turkistaun, &c.; and
Colonel Stoddart promised that in four months an answer
should arrive from the Government of England. Though
at his (Stoddart's) request, japar khanas (post-houses)
were established from Bokhara to Sarakhs, which did
not exist either at Bukhara or in the land of Turkistaun
from the time of Afrasiab, fourteen months elapsed, and
no answer arrived. During the time that Colonel Stud.
dart was at Bokhara, Captain Conolly went from
Organtsh (Khiva) to Khokand, where he stopped a con-
siderable time, exciting both countries to wage war
against the Anseer of Bokhara. He at last arrived at
Bokhara, announcing himself as a British agent, without
having any letters from the British Government; and
whatever Colonel Stoddart had agreed to he upset,
announcing to the King of Bukhara that the British
Government would never interfere with the affairs of
Turkistaun, and all that Colonel Stoddart had agreed
to went fur nothing. Thus it was clear Colonel Stod-
dart was a liar. During the stay of Conolly and Stoddart
they took every opportunity of dispatching, in the most
stealthy manner, letters to Caubul; and on this account
his Majesty became displeased, and both Captain Conolly
and Colonel Stoddart were brought, with their hands
tied, behind the Ark (palace of the King), in presence of
Makhram Saadat, when Colonel Stoddart and Captain
Conolly kissed each other, and Colonel Stoddart said to
Saadat, " Tell the Ameer that I die a disbeliever in Mu-
hammed, but a believer in Jesus—that I am a Christian, and
a Christian I die." And Conolly said, " Stoddart, we
shall see each other in Paradise (Behesht), near Jesus."
Then Saadat gave the order to cut off, first the head of
Stoddart, which was done; and in the same manner the
head of Conolly was cut off.' "
Dr. Wolff's description of his detention at Bokhara,
and of his hair-breadth escapes from what appeared
certain death, both there and on his road home, until
he reached Tabreez, is most interesting. His know-
ledge of Hebrew stood him in good stead during his
captivity, for the Jews were permitted to visit him,
and with Bibles open before them, they conversed
together in Hebrew, in the presence of the Bok.
hara spies, who imagined they were reading
the Scriptures ; and thus Dr. Wolff was in-
formed of the plots which were laid against
him, and was enabled to circumvent them. The
conclusion we draw from reading this work is,
that military officers are, of all others, the most un-
fitted for diplomatic employment in the East. They
are unsuited to diplomacy by their manners, their
habits, and their want of education, that is to say, of
diplomatic education. As a proof of it, we would
merely mention the fact that Stoddart and Conolly,
who went to Bokhara with every prestige in
their favour, were massacred, while Dr. Wolff,
who went alone, without authority or protection, and
with every chance against him, accomplished the
object of his mission, and returned unharmed. This
proves that the whole of our diplomatic bureauocracy
in the East stands in need of reform, and that, before
we can have that influence in the courts of Central
Asia which we ought to exercise, we must have a
body of men specially trained and educated for the
diplomatic service of the Eastern courts. It is the
opinion of Dr. Wolff that an invasion of Bukhara
from India might be easily accomplished, and that
the people would be glad to see the Ameer, and his
Nayeb, Abdul Samut Khan, punished for their
treachery to Stoddart and Conolly. The name of Sir
Charles Napier is well known in Central Asia, and is
a name of terror to all who hear it. A Fakeer from
Sinde thus described him to the caravan with which
Dr. Wolff returned from Bokhara—

" There is now a Governor in Snide, Lord Napier by
name, who is like lightning flame. He has beaten one
hundred thousand Pooiuj with four hundred men.
The whole caravan exclaimed, " Allah, Allah, Allah !
They certainly will come here ; and if they come, we
submit at once, for we Turkomauns will never fight
against those who have the upper hand. We serve the
most powerful, let them be Hindus, Christains, or Alus-
.

sulmans. Those who give us keelaats (robes of honour,
and tillahs (ducats), we serve.'"

The terror Of Nailer's name, were he to undertake an

expedition against Bokhara, would, in the opinion of
Dr. IVolff, be sufficient to cause the inhabitants to
deliver up the Ameer, without the necessity of strik-
ing a blow: the Ameer himself, it would appear, is in
great terror of the vengeance of England. From the
Persian and Russian ambassadors Dr. Wolff received

every assistance ; indeed, but for the firmness of the

Persian ambassador to Bokhara, it is very doubtful
whether he would have returned alive. Into the con-
troversy, as to the conduct of Colonel Shiel and the

Foreign office of this country, and more particularly
as to the policy of Lord Ellenborough's letter to the
Ameer of Bokhara, assuring him that Stoddart and

Conolly were only innocent travellers, they having
previously represented themselves as Official envoys
of the English Government, we shall not
now enter. That is a subject which will no doubt be

fully investigated in Parliament, and having as yet
heard only one side of the question, we have not the
materials for coming to a deliberate judgment on the
matter. These volumes are illustrated with a number
of curious portraits of the principal personages of the
Courts of Bokhara and Persia, beautifully coloured ;
and the work, taken as a whole, is the most interest-
ing narrative of personal adventure that we have read
for years.

A WORLD OF WONDERS. By Albany Poyntz.
Among the busiest and pleasantest of the contri-
butors to Bentley's Miscellany, one Albany Poyntz
has for a considerable time past held a very promi-
nent position ; and it is agreeable to find him at
length breaking from the tutelage of periodical lite-
rature and coming before us in the shape of a sub-
stantial volume like the present. As a combination
at once of amusement and information, we know of
no other work of recent publication with which it
can be compared, forming as it does a kind of
modernised Sir Thomas Brown. Unfortunately, the
writer has selected topics which, only four years ago,
were ably treated by Charles Mackay, in his " Me-
moirs of Popular Delusions," yet Albany Poyntz has
infused into them so much of his peculiar smartness
and bon homnzie, that although they in some measure
lack novelty, every page is sprinkled with novel facts,
given in a novel manner. Besides this very excellent
characteristic, the book embraces almost all the
" popular superstitions" that can be named, strips
them naked one by one of the mysterious veil with
which they are usually enveloped, and holds them
up to our derision, as mere scarecrows of idle
ingenuity. It is customary, now-a-days, to con-
gratulate; ourselves upon the enlightenment of
the present generation, but our gratulations are
surely somewhat premature, when, according to our
own recollection, men are found so credulous as to
advance the old wives story of the "dowsing rod" in