The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1852-07-23
AUSTRALIA,

AUSTRALIA.
We find the subjoned striking remarks in
the New York Herald:
In the hierogiyphic language of the ancient
Egyptians, the idea Of eternity was expressed
BY the symbol of serpent with his tail in his
mouth. The end was absorbed in the begin
ming, and the circle was unbroken. The his
tory Of man, up to its latest Developments, at.
fords a grand confirmation of the truth and
beauty of this alIegory. Asia was the cradle
Of the human race, and the scene OF its early
greatness. Here grew the arts and sciences,
and here existed the greatest Kingdoms OF the
earth; but its cycle came round, and its gio-
ries faded and waned. Africa became the next
great link in the circle of mankird's develOpe.
ment; and after countless ages had rolled
away, it, too, obeyed the inevitable law, and
the grandeur of the mighty empire Of the Pha-
ssa0hs and the Pt0lemes vanished, like dream
in the night. The third ecene of human great.
ness was enacted in Europe; but its star has
passed its zenith, and is waning under the
baleful influence of despotism and superstition.
Three and half centuries ago, the fourth act
in the worlds drama was introduced, by the
discoveries of the inspired GenOese navis ator,
and the continent of America commenced the
fulilment of the glorious destiny which was
reserved for her. The fifth and last link in
that almighty circle seems to be that more re.
Gently produced continent in the Pacific Ocean,
which has within the pr sent year disclosed the
golden treasures of her bosom. The mex
haustbIe mineral wealth of Australia is now
attracting the thoughts and w0Oing the steps
Of men in every quarter of the civilized world,
and that continent is giving, at this early day,
promise of rivalling or transcendlng the great
ness of its predecessors. Australia will, in
turn, become blended with Asia. The tail of
ahe serpent, on emblem of vitality, will be in.
serted into its mouth, and the circle will be
complete and unbroken.
Comment Involved as is the future in mys.
terry, it is not less inscrutable, than the method
which Providence often employs, to work out
its own all.wise, and all powerful will. The
human mind could see in the vast influx of
criminals from Sydney and Botany Bay, into
California, nothing but unmitigated evil. The
human heart revolted at the murders with
which the footsteps of these wretches were at
tended, and recoiled in horror almost as great,
from the sanguinary means adopted to put an
end to them. Ruin and desolation seemed
consequence so inevitable, that there were few
who doubted that they must shortly follow -
Yet by means of these very murders, of these
very crueltes, of these very perpetrators of
crime and its scarcely less criminal avengers,
almighty wisdom was working out one of those
great problems which involve the destiny of
the human Understanding that self existent
circle which begins and ends in eternity, its
beginning and its end alike undiscoverable to
human wisdom. The escaped convicts sc-
quainted themselves, in California, with the
signs which indicate the neighborhood of gold.
They became aware that the same signs exis-
ted in the land which they had LETT. Driven
forth from the land to which they had escaped,
by the Avenger Of blood, they returned to
whence they came. Quite unconscious of the
part they were playing in the mighty drama Of
the worlds destiny, they opened new land
of gold to the rapacity of their countrymen.
Ignorant, even, of the extent to which their
conjectures were true, they have in the hands
of Providence, been made the instruments in
producing q change in the face of the entire
world.
That change is already in progress, and is
advancing with steadiness which laughs a
resistance, and rapidity which defes all calcu
lation. The excitement now prevailing in thu
British isles, finds no parallel, even in the ex
traordinary scenes which ushered into exis
tence, as State of this Union, the colder
soil Of the far distant California. Australi,
has usurped the place of all other ideas, rem
dered men deaf to all other subjects, usurpeo
the place of politics and religion, and rendered
the whole population Of Great Britain nsensi
Bile to anything not connected with its wonder.
and its treasures. The masses preparing t.
take passage for the new Ell Dorado, exceed
all belief A proof of the extent to which the
mania has spread. is found in the heterogene.
Gus character of the proposed emigrants.-
Merchants and farmers, tradesmen and me.
chanics, manufacturers and capitalists, loafers
aud paupers, those who work for living. and
those who contrive to live withou, working.
awyers, doctors, preachers, discharged sol
diers, seamen-persons, in one word, of every
Imaginable class and description, are preparing
to take water. To accommodate this huge
exodus, preparations proportioned to the ext.
eSSsf " 49, pioStcss. al all the ports OF
the British Isles. Eight distinct lines of emf.
grant ships, comprising between sixty and
seventy vessels, have been organised for the
benefit OF passengers, entirely indepepden, of
the government lines, which latter are on a.
ranged that eight ships leave every month
The Cunard Company, independently Of ho,h
are arranging steam line between New yorr
and Aspinwall, in conjunction with their line
between Liverpool and New York. In con.
junction with this line, the Australia and Pa.
ci6c Mail Steamship Company has been or.
ganised to carry passengers from Panama ts
Sydney and the reverse. Finally, and mos
important Of ali, a company, to be called thu
Liverpool, Nicaragua and Pacific STEAMSHIP,
Company, has been org anised to carry passen
gers by the Nicaragua route, all the way fron
Liverpool to Australia. These arrangement
present vivid picture Of the impression whcl