The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1851-01-23
LETTER FROM LONDON.


wild ringing Of midnight bells, has been memo
rable one in English history. 1t has been marked
by national prosperity, when utter ruin had been
predicted, by the Advancement Of popular reforms
among the hearts of the people, and the general
diffusion of useful knowledge
That England, during the past year, has been
in somewhat critical position as regards her in
dustry, inasmuch as she has been divorcing her.
self from her old policy Of protection, land all
changes are fraught with dangcr,) no person can
deny; but as whole, the year has been happy
one in which industry, among all classes, has been
better rewarded than before, las an sverage,) and
her new policy Of free trade has experienced a
triumph in the teeth of those crOakers who have
been all along utteripg such dOeful prophecies Of
ruin.
Ii has been year Of national peace, and love
for peace has grown strong in the hearts of Eng
lishmen The year, too will be a marked one, as
the one in which the great Worlds Industrial
Fair was originated, and the building to contain
| 1t was designed and constructed for the direct
effect Of the great gathering next summer will be
to cause pesce among the nations.
The year, too, has other features which will
preserve its memory green in the hearts Of mil
lions. In 1850, England lost her greatest states
man and noblest patriot, Sir Robert Peel, and was
thrown into deep mourning almost at the same
time that the startling news of President Taylor's
death was spreading from city to city and from
town to town, over the whole United States
During the past year, England has lost by death
her Vice Chancellor, the Duke Of Cambridge, and
the Recorder of London. That great poet, Words
worth, sings now no more, but is added to the list
Of the illustrious dead of 1850 and Jeffrey too,
and Bowles; Jane Porter, the moralist Fraser
Tytler, the historian Brunei, the great engineer,
and many other great names which will not soon
be forgotten by this generation, and whose vir-
| tues will be handed down TO future ages. But the
new year is full Of promise, and will be remark
SsaS L2a'Es1 by annals of the worlds industry,
peace, and brOtherly reciprocity
On Tuesday, the last day Of the old year, the
contractors for the building Of the Worlds Fair
! formally delivered over ~ magnificent structure
into the hands Of the Royal Commissioners The
building is not yet entirely finished, but nearly
SO, md will be quite 60 in the course of two or
three weeks. Previous to delivering the building
into the hands of the Commissioners, the con-
tractors entertained in their crystal palace the
Royal Society of Arts for they are much indebted
to that Society inthe construction Of the building
as its counses and advice have been freely given
and freely followed on many points which have
arisen for difference of opinion, during the growth
| Of the structure.
Mr.. Owen Jones is painting portion of the in.
terror, so that the committee may judge of the
merit of his plan, which consists of the three
ooors, blue red and yellow, in the proportions Of
s, 5, and 3. The columns are to be blue and
yellow, the under side of all the girders red
Many are already Directing to his plan, insisting
that 80 much red cannot be in good taste.
The greatest trial that foreigners will be COM
PEELED to undergo, next summer, will be the ex-
IRENE difficulty of obtaining apartments. The
hotels will be crowded besides, man will need
the resources of millionaire, to live at London
hotel next summer, when, on ordinary occasions, it
is a costly practice. All apartments will early be
taken, and those who come late must fare badly
| Punch may not be so wide Of the mark when he
gives us few peeps at life, next summer, and pic
lures man in his night-oap putting his head out
of a cab-window, and calling for his hot water to
shave himself with, while in the distance there is
nibus to Lett"
The anniversary Of the Manchester Soir6e took
place few evenings since. MIR. Golden was
prasant, and made able speech rrn, N. tara-
ton which the English Government insists upon
imposing upon knowledge. II was an able speech
and he showed by facts how wrong it is to lay o
duty upon paper, which shall press terribly upon
the poor, hut scarcely touch the rich Ii is we'll
known fact that The Times, and few of the lead
ing papers, are strongly in favor of taxation on
paper, and by the penny stamp, for 1t prevents
competition. With such an enormous tax no man
will attempt to run q race with them while they
have the advantage Of great age, consummste
abilities and plenty of capital Were the taxes
thrown off, there would he forty daily papers pub
lished in London, while now there are only four
or five, and monopoly would be defeated. II is
the general opinion here, that If such were the
case, journalism would lose its present splendor Of
not and would not be sequence of free trade in
knowledge One result would be, that Reform
would have its ten journals where Anti Reform
had its one, while now the case is directly the
reverse.
The frightful accounta of the rsvases of cholera
in Jamaica have set the people here to thinking
of the sanitary condition Of London The strict
regulations which were in vogue while that cpl
demic was feared in London have been revoked,
|
church yards ! could give you some terrible
facts, but will not shock your readers with them.
Friends Of health are calling Justify upon the
! itary commissioners to take decided steps to in
sure the health of the metropolis during the great
| influx OF people next year. IL is calculated by
those who are not given TO inordinate enthusiasm,
that the extra population Of London next spring
will not fall much short OF million and II such
be the case it will be necessary for the health Of
| - 49, l..
| taken on every hand by the commissioners and
board of health. There is no wisdom in any
cowardly fears on the subject, DOR in any spirit
of careless bravado. IL is strange that in 70 en-
lphtened city as London, the practice Of inter-
ments should be allowed within the bounds Of the
town Long ago, Paris made the practice nnlaw-
full, except in extraordinary cases but here the
matter ia one Of speculation and in some cases
hundreds and thousands Of bodies have been
packed Immediately under the churches where,
every Sunday, the congregation meet for worship;
and at such pieces Paintings are a common thing,
and individuals are suddenly attacked with IL
ness, and are removed to undergo serious sickness
or death And although physicians have long
known the muse Of these Paintings and sudden
attacks, yet il was terrible hard work to discon-
tinue the practice for short time when the
cholera panic made every heart tremblo. The
reason is and WAS that the owners ofthe churches
and chapels will not forego their profits made
from burals, and old privileges and scandalous
monopoies have an alarming tenacity for life in
London.
The result Of the election, in the horough Of
Aylesbury, for a member TO supply the place Of
the lameated Lord Nugent in Parliament, was
the return of Mr. Calvert, Wing. Mr.. Broughton,
thorough Radical, was defeated.
Ia France, the past week, the public and the
Assembly have been agitated by the trial of M.
Atlas, "a police agent Of M. Yon, who was Com,
mssary OF the Police for the National Assembly,
for forging pct Of assassination, and accusing q
club nj aona rtiats of hase desjoo nop thu iifs