Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1872-11-20
An E.r,hIy Paradise.


Far away down in the balmy Pscif,
lie the islands OF New Caledonia. Ba
lade, for so the chiet island is called
is one OF the furthest outlying stars OF
the Australasian constellation. Six
days Of fast sailing are needed to reach
the spot from Sidney; and when there,
II men versed IN the modern science
and possessed of the modern artillery OF
war, chose TO resist landing, even a
powerful force might be unable to effect
it. Balade is two hundred miles long
and about thirty wide, and it is so guard
ed by jealous coral reefs jagged rocks,
and treaeherous sand banks, that by
only two tortnous channels in all that
circumference is it possible to get to the
shore. One of these is that by which
Cook sailed Ia when he discovered the
island in IVA and the other was only
found by Captain Woodin in 1919. The
books say there are sixty thousand per-
sons living on Balade; but since the
wars, which lasted for some years after
1858, when the French seized the island
to establish naval station, the
number OF natives has probably
been much diminished. These facts,
and others about Balade, have lately
taken fresh interest, for ship-load after
ship-losd of French Communists have
recently been sent thither, and New Cal
edonia will consequently assume an i'm
portance hereafter in the eyes of the
civilized world it has never possessed
before Ten thousand Communists are
to be put upon the island under the sur
veillance, for the present, of single
regiment of French troops; and the fu-
ture of such a society, while certain to
be scanned with unAagging curiosity,
may likewise prove both socially instruc-
tive and politically significant.
Apart from the magnitude and social
importance of this experiment, it is in
vested with romance that must in
crease the interest with which it is re-
garded. All the picturesque adjuncts
that have charmed the world in the ad-
ventures real or imaginary, of Robinson
Crusoe, Paul and Virginia, or the dwell
ers at Pitcairn's Island, may easily be
equalled or surpassed at Balade. The
climate is exquisitely soft and balmy,
aud the scenery is of fairy loneliness.
Groves of sandal wood range for miles
in the interior, lofty peaks, divided by
fertile valleys, scar msjestically into the
sky. The cocoanut, the banana, bread
fruit. the yam, taro and mango grow in
and so the sugar cane and
the vine. Large and well-watered plains
yield bounteous pasturage. Fish and
game are abundant. Coal and iron are
found among the hills, and-although
the French government has discouraged
The search for it--gold is known to exist
here. Other choice stones and minerals
are abundant, including good granite
and the rarer green amplitude. Thus,
1.-THE materials Of delicious climate, un-
limited and fertile soil, exquisite
scenery, uncommon security from exter-
lal attack exist to assure comfort and
happiness. Eden itself could scarcely |
yet forth more perfect earthly para
lise; and if communism can flourish
anywhere, or under any
circumstances, it assuredly should be at
his beauteous isle, "set in the silver
lea" the future home of the unquiet
pirits who lately threw up bsrricades,
mashed the Hotel de Vile, and de6ed
Bismarck and NJ. Theirs alike behind the
valls of Paris. m. Trrr-w NEf