CANADIAN VIEW OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE.

Lyttelton Times, Volume VI, Issue 420, 12 November 1856, Page 3

CANADIAN VIEW OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE.

[From the Montreal ' Advertiser,' May 31.]

While the American Government is doing; its best to provoke a war with England, a state of anarch}", sufficient to engage all its energies, exists in its own dominions. Congress-men commit murders, senators are all but beaten to death in her Legislative Chambers, and bands of armed ruffians desolate the territory, assassinate the citizens, and fire the buildings in Kansas. The North sends men, money, and arms to the invaded country, and the South accepts the challenge by similar demonstrations. One thing only prevents a war with England; one only stays a civil war in Kansas. The American eagle is a half-breed between a carrion vulture and a dung-hill rooster. He lacks tha courage neeesssry tor fair combat, and he crows the loudest when furthest from his enemy. The men of the revolution are dead; their inferior children of 1812 are in their dotage ; the present genei-ation, raised on hot cakes and sweet fixings, and stimulated with tobacco jinee, is all talk and no cidor, r ais destitute of the stamina on which courage is founded, as their mothers are of'Hesh. Look at the women —■ charming at IG, faded at 20, toothless ut 25,

hideous at 30. dividing: thoir time between thoir rocking-chairs and thoir beds, incapable of exertion, incompetent to exercise, ever ailing, listless, lazy, straight up and down, like an old fashioned clothes-pin, making up the deficiency of their developments with whalebone, cotton and bran —are these the thiugs to .suckle heroes? The nice has deteriorated" and is dwindling away, and. but for the constant introduction of new*and healthy blood from immigration, would disappear in a century. The moral deficiencies of the people are equal to the physical. The boys slang each other, but never tight: the men assassinate, but never come to blows; they talk terrible things in public meetings, and confine their terrible doings to a concealed shot or stab at an unprepared enemy. Ministers of the Gospel advise bloodshed and take up subscriptions for rifles : everything necessary for a combat is sent to the scene of contention but pluck: the men are white-livered and afraid of each other, and if one party advances, the other runs away; houses are plundered, and burnt and unarmed people butchered; if the assaulted pick up courage and advance again, the assailants run in their turn, and like scenes follow their footsteps. Indignation meetings are held in all the cities of all the States, money is subscribed for arms and ammunition, for food and clothing, patriotic orations thunder from the rostrum, and incendiary declamations from the pulpit; the North is about to vindicate its liberties, the East to fly to the assistance of its childreu ; outraged liberty is to be appeased with the blood of the marauders, the freedom of the soil* of Kansas to be relieved from the opprobious despotism of its invaders. Now, surely there will be fighting. No, gentlemen, not a bit of it: it is still all talk, very tall and superlative talk, but still roared pr&terea nihil.

For a year we have heard of civil war in Kansas, its territory invaded., its polls mobbed, its Legislature overthrown and ifeurped by ruffians: records of monstrous outrages, of violations of property, and of civil and political rights before unheard of in a civilized country. We were told the day of retribution was coining —that the free-soil men were in arms, the whole territory was a huge camp., intrenchments were thrown up. and cannon bristled on them ; rifles ■were there, and tons of powder and lead. Terrible things were those rifles; they fired 20 times in a minute, and killed their man at a mile.

Then came further wrongs. The President liad conspired against the freedom of Kansas : United States' troops were sent in to disarm the true citizens, and to leave them at the mercy of individual ruffians. 2sow then comes the tug of war. The law-abiding people have borne the last oritrage -. now Kansas will avenge herself. The women make cartridges, and practise with' revolvers: the men flourish their weapons and talk of Bunker-hilL The invaders arrive, a sheriff with a dozen of men marches into the stronghold of the desperate freemen, and lo ! the war spirit is extinguished like a farthing rushliirai in a tub of water; the bravest fly like sin.-*? wiriio.it a blow, or dating-to fire th< ji • ' >n_r r,'.n_jtt rifl?s. even at a mile, and the r.v - i;-1- dur th-jir arms, and herd, cowering, wi-• l:i. i v,oni'a and children, while their d\\ ' *,_- sr.* bnnud. their property plundered, an ; j- lv<j-; threatened by heroes like them-j-el ' ■■ . of Washington! Oh, apple pax •. i jjunhiu pie! Oh,'lasses sweetnin' at: ,• \i-n fi? in->! that the star-spangled ba •■ M.ld float over such a pack of coward

A;;i these are better than fair specimens of th-v vrople who talk of going to war with Eng];r: ;:i the same way as they do of conquering !X ■'.. raa —who propose to make a week's excu/-; >:l :br the conquest of Canada, and would 3i<vi> ne-:-n glad of the job of taking'Sebastopol it! a fortnight. W« do not think there is mvci reason to be af'-isd of them, whether there be war or peace. j\ contest in which there arc morn hard knocks 1-i be f^ot than plunder is exactly the one in. v.'i'ch our degancrattl cousins have the least d-. ire to <:i)g;ige. Let them hold Kansas meetin :s ;:nd Hummer meetings and Crampton indign:.'f.yii meetings, if they please: talk Ls their p. ulsar voe;itioi!, a nationiil iiir'.tution, and one o: h<? most innocout. Wiih a population which, t. r-'r to invade the right-and pi'jperty of others, h: >. ithout the courage to protect its own ; with si? ■ nny made up of the congregated scoundrels o: '11 ;iaticus, and a fleet manned feebly, as it is,

with such a set of riif-ra.lT that while the onehalf of the crews are in irons, guard boats, while in harbour, have to watch day and night to prevent the desertion of the others, and the service so unpopular that a single steamer has taken months after it was commissioned to obtain a erew —there is no more to bo dreaded from war vapouring, or the reality of it from the United States, than from similar gasconade, or actual action on the part of his Serene Majesty the Emperor of Timbuctoo. It is simply ridiculous, and should be treated like another burlesque.

Editorial Life in Califobxia. —It is a tolerably general idea in the Atlantic States, that a Califoruian editor is constantly in fear of being killed., or of being frequently shot at. The "editor of the < Golden Age,' an excellent San Francisco paper, very neatly hits oil" eastern ideas of Califomian civilization.- The following, he says, is a specimen of the daily routine ofan editor's life in San Francisco: —" First, gets up at ten in the morning; dresses himself; puts on his hat in which are six. or seven bullet holes, and goes to a restaurant for breakfast. After breakfast, starts for the office to look over the papers, and discovers that he is called a scoundrel in one of them, a liar in another, and a puppy in another; he smiles at the prospect of having*something to do; fills out and despatches three blank challenges (a ream or two of which he always keeps on hand, ready printed to save time): commences writing a leader, when, as the clock strikes eleven, a large man, with a cow-hide in one hand., and*"a bowie-knife in his belt, walks in and asks him if his name is ; he answers by knocking the intruder down two pairs of stairs with a chair. At twelve o'clock, finds that his challenges have been accepted, and suddenly finds that he has a little affair of that nature to settle at the beach, that day at three: goes out, kills his man, and then comes and dines on stewed grizzly. Starts for the office; while going there gets mixed up in a street row, and has the heel of his boot shot off by accident: laughs to think how beautiful it was done ; arrives at his sanctum,- and finds an infernal machine on the table; knows what it is, and merely pitches it o\it of the window; writes on moral reform, and starts for the theatre; attacked at the corner of an alley by three men, kills two of them, and takes the other to the station house. Returning to the office at eleven at night knocks a man down who attempts to rob him : kills a dog with a piece of paving stone ; gets run over by a cab, and has the tail of his coat slit with the thrust of a knife, and two bullet holes put through his beaver as he steps within his own door : smiles at his escapes; writes until two o'clock, and then ' turns in' with the happy consciousness of having two duels to fight the next day."— Notes on California.

Poetjuit of Gexebax Walkeb.—A New York correspondent of the ' Independence Beige' gives the following free portrait of General Walker:—" Figure to youi'self a man five feet high, of a very mean look, his hair almost red, innocent of both whiskers and moustache, with very high and prominent cheek bones, a low forehead, and a sullen-looking eye. So much for the person. For its ornament, sometimes he wears a blue cape, but oftener a blouse of blue flannel; a black pair of trowsers, boots, a Kossuth hat, a belt, and a sword. Without this sword you would think him the most insignificant fellow in the world —a little grocer, probably, belonging to the worst parts of New York. It is said that he has tried three professions—the bar, medicine, ane divinity—and has failed in all. His partisans declares that he speaks French, English, and Spanish but it is doubtful whether he throroujrhly knows one of these languages. His brother, who is with him, and who is named out of a conieJy—Jforval Walker—is a terrible drunkard, and the greatest braggart in the world."

Copenhagen axd Cbojcstadt.—A Contract, —The entrance to Copenhagen was protected by a number of vessels moored in line, and flanked on each side by the Crown batteries. The fire of these was crossed by other batteries on the Isle of Amack, the citadel of Copenhagen and other temporary works. It appeared hardly possible that any ships could sustain such a multiplied and tremendous fire It would now-a-days be declared liopelcss, and our great and costly fleet would hover about in the parade of immense uselessneds. But we liad a Nelson

there then, and the same heroic courage which would have made .Nelson dash into Cromtadt in 1855 made him, on the memorable 2nd of April 1801, dash in among the batteries, men-of-wav, fireships, and gunboats of Copenhagen, and even when signalled by his commander-in-chief (Sir Hyde Parker), after the battle had raged three hours, to draw off, wink hard and light on. Had it rested with Parker wo were beaten,but havin«a Nelson there we won. That is just the dill'erence in result to a mere admiral, an ordinary old gentleman of routine, and a great hero. For four hours, the most tciriblc battle raged that was ever seen between sea and land. Nelson declared he had been in 105 actions, but in none so terrible as that. The Danes fought with all the sublime courage of their ancestors. Two thousand cannons poured forth death on every side. The loss of the British was 200 men ; that of the Danes 6,000, in killed, wounded, and prisoners. So say our accounts; the Danes say the loss of the English was 940 : that .of the Danes 1,299 (Allen's Hand Book). Nay, Danish authors comfort themselves with the. assurance that Nelson himself was beaten, that the Council of war held on board his ship decided to draw oil' with a favourable wind which just set in, but that the Crown Prince, not knowing the real condition of the English, saved them uy accepting Nelson's demand for an armistice. Thus were we conquered both x at Copenhagen and at Waterloo, and with our1 characteristic dulness did not know it. The result, however, was that the English ships suffered immense damage, but the Danish ones, with the exception of the Holstein, were all destroyed, and either during the battle or after it, i unserviceable. The town had besides received great damage. A truce was entered into for 14 weeks, the only obstacle to a peace being the dread of the Russian vengeance on the part of I the Danish Government. Nelson immediately went in quest of the Russian fleet which escaped into Cronstadt, where he would soon have followed it, had not the news of the assassination of Paul, and demand for a cessation of hostilities on the part of his successor, put an end to further action. — IVcslminsier Review.

A Political Agitato it. —'MelboumePunch' publishes the following letter, found in the deadletter office of our contemporary. The young" gentleman by whom it was written signs himself '■ Dick Cordevoys," and few of our readers mil be disposed to question its genuineness:— " Melbun, Sept.' 8, fiTty-sicks. "Dear Bill— Me and Jem and one or two more has been having sutch fun lately goin about to politiknl meatings of a evening. Jem has got up a new cooey,-so as you can't here a man speke wiie he does ir, and I've learnt to whistle through irsy fingers beautiful. Three or four on us can make such a row in a room as they're obliged to stop altogether, and then the chairman says " Gentlemen : 1 beg you'll give the candidate a f.iir hearing;"—aint it prime? I've been and made speaches as have been reported in the papers, over and aver again. Last week I says to old Chapman " Go to bed," and next morning L seen it in the papers. At the Attorney-GeneraTs meeting on Monday we come out pnrtiklar strong. You look at the reports and you'Jl see 'Confusion' lots of times. That was Jem, and me, and Bob as done all that; and the Attorney-General he says to us :' If you'll only here me out, gentlemen, I'll satisfy yen that I was right.' Aint it a lark to be called a gentleman by a swell like him, and to have one's speaches reported in the papers and that. " Some-times by way of a game, we go in for partikiar questions. On Friday we went in for State .Aid ; and Jem sa' s let's support the Denomenashonal S'stem, for a spree; but it wasn't much oi a spree after all, because there was very little said about it, and we didn't get up half a' row. The best is to shout according as you find your wind stand, off and on, through the evening; and you didn't ought to remain more than you can help it in out- place, but shift, about from one part of the room to the other. " It's been very dull times .since you went up the country. Only two extraornaries last week, and sold uncommon bad. Jem had eight left out of firee dozen and I had (o walk right out to Richmond to sell mine, and then I had to let the last few go at fourjience, and so hoarse shouting I hadn't no voice for jio.itiks in the ■'veiling. I'm half a mind to cut the paper line ; it's got to so blessed dull since the pease corned out. If there's anything to be done up your way let us know."

Hujiting vis Dignity.—There is a good anecdote afloat about Mr. Abraham Hayward, whortt* correspondence with Mr. Croker ancnt M. do Montalernbert's new book, i adverted to last week. It appear* that Mr. Hayward has a fondness for high society, a distinguished mem-

ber of which he considers himself; and one day being asked to (line with a certain duke, and finding that Thackeray was also invited, he proposed that they should share a cab there together. :■ On their way, Mr. Hay ward was very grand in his discourse, and was kind enough to instruct his friend as to the manner in which lie ought to- conduct himself in the distinguished company which he was about to join. Thackeray bore it all very patiently, and apparently listened attentively—but he had his revenge. When they had arrived at their destination, and were standing in the hall, surrounded by a crowd of solemn livery servants, Thackeray walked gravely up to Hay ward, and in an audible voice, offered to toss him for his share of the cab faro ! l rou can imagine Mr. -Hayward's dismay at what he considered such dreadful vulgarity.— lllustrated Times.

Mr. Batxy's Cast of the Head or Palmer.—Two casts were allowed to be taken of the head of Palmer after his execution. The first was taken by Mr. Wm.'Bally, the wellknown -phrenologist, of Manchester ; the second by Mr. Bridges, of Liverpool. We have heard a statement that Mr. Bally did not attempt to take a cast; and another that he failed in his attempt. The former needs no contradiction ; as to the latter, we have seen a plaster cast produced by him which appears to he, and no doubt >s perfect. Mr. Bally, we understand, used a ■ f composition, invented by himself, by which .he is enabled to re-produce the texture of the skin ; and to secure that the plaster cast shall be precisely the size of the head. Mr. Bally was a pupil of Spurzheim ; and he has taken casts of the heads of a very large number of condemned criminals-in England and Ireland; but he has not'in'his collection, nor. has he seen, a head so contracted in the sincipital region as that of Palmer. Mr. Bally thus describes Palmer's organisation:—The posterior region (corresponding with the posterior lobe of the brain), is very broad and shallow. Amativeness is very large, as is also combativeness : but philoprogentiveness is very small—-not comparatively only, but. actually. The middle region is very large. Here secretiveness is remarkably prominent, as well as alimentativeness, destructiveness, acquisitiveness, and constructiveness being large. Love of life moderate. Coming to the anterior region, the perceptive faculties are large ; but the region of those of reflection is narrow and receding. ,The orgaiis of the moral sentiments are singularly developed, and pnrtake of the form of an e^. Benevolence is full, ami hope rather large: veneration being a degree less prominent, and conscientiousness very small. Without saying that this is a type of head of what has been called the 'prisoner class,' Mr. Bally thus sketches the character he should.predicate phrenologically ; —A., man who, as a rule, would be respectful, polite, and even charitable; but one who, for any preconceived object, would act most cunningly and- secretly, perfectly indifferent'to honour or truth ; and who, in such si case, would bp careless what became of the'most intimate 'iicquaintance or the nearest relative. Speaking generally, Palmer's head presents much the same conformation as that of Rush; but is less in size. Palmer's temperament was sanguine and lymphatic.—-We understand that the enstis to be exhibited in the ■Exchange Rooms. — Manchester Guardian.

Is .John Samjetb Alive?—Mr. Mnguire, M.P., writing in a Cork paper, revives the strange story that '* the late Mr. Sadleir" is alive. He writes : —

"Not one of John Sadlier's relatives saw the body, or, if they did, not one of them ever declared that it was his body. And they ask how, supposing it to have boon John Satlleir's body, did John Sadleir come to thnt particular spot on which he was lying'? Did he ride, or did he walk ? If heroile, where is the cabman who drove him? If he walked, ■whether the whole way or any part of the way, how did it happen that the boots were perfectly clean, and free from stain of any kind? 13o\y did he cross the moist and muddy ground that-encircled the hillock on which the body was found f If that hillock could not be. approached in the daytime without this shoes or boots of the persons approach* ing them beii:g dirtied, how did it happen that John Sadleir contrived to get at it in the dark without spot or stain of any kind ? Then, there was no post-mortem examination. The presence of the essential oil of bitter almonds was ascertained by smell ; but whether any of the poison had reached the stomach of the body then •examined was never ascertained, because knife never touchad ir. If another body passed for awhile for that of Foschini, til,! Italian assassin, why mifht not ji well-seli'elt'd body pass ibr that of John Siullicr, especially when

so many concurring circumstances helped the r.pectators and the public to an easy credulity? It is then triumphantly asked why should he kill himself? Money was what he toiled and schemed, and lied, and i'orged for ; and money he had to an enormous extent —a quarter of a million at the very least. If lie had not, where has it gone 1 "Who can account for its disappearance? Who can tell one word about it ? Sadleir alone can clear up the mystery. Mystery as it is at present, I am to!d there are interested people in the city who are confident that it is a mystery not altogether impenetrable ; and that one of the banks is even now attempting to trace no It ss a sum than £'237.000, which it is thought may be done by the aid of certain crossed checks. Curiously enough, the belief of Sadlier's existence .is ;;Lso entertained in the monied circles of Paris."

In reply to tho above statement, Dr. ISTichol, of Hampstead, has published a communication, in which he states tliat he made a most careful postmortem examination in the presence of three witnesses, and found the oil. of almonds in the stomach ; and that with respect to identification, the butler declared the body on oath to be that of his master, it was recognised by one of his brothers, and by at least three of his most intimate -friends; and, lastly, the coroner himself, who was perfectly acquainted with the appearance of John Sadleir, satisfied himself by a most careiuLinspeetion of the body—even to opening the eyes—that it was none other than that of the late member for Sligo.

Colonial Fibre foe SLvnt;facttjeixg Purposes.—A meeting was held at Manchester last week, at which, the promoters of the " Colouial Fibre Company" stated the objects for which the company has been established, and quite alive to the important results which will arise from the extended introduction of fibrous plants into this country from our '"West Indian colonies. The meeting was held in the Town Hall, on Thursday evening, Mr. Watts, mayor, presiding. Mr. Young, a director of the Colonial Fibre Company, and Mr. Sharp, gave some interesting information relative to the attempts which have been made to obtain manufacturing fibres from tropical plants growing in British colonies. Mr. Sharp said the sheet-anchor of the Company's-iinderfakiug wastlieplaintain tre® (mitsa paradisiaca) , as the colonies included in their charter, of British Guian&and Jamaica, could furnish 500,000 to 700,000 bales of fibre, each bale being about 3 cwt. In those two colonies this tree was universally -cultivated, its fruit being there the chief article of food. Each tree, on arriving at perfection, bore from' 251bs. to GOlbs. of fruit," and was then left to rot, as it never produced fruit again. It- was propagated by suckers, and-did-not require renewal for twelve or fifteen years. The concentric rings of the outer part of its trunk formed one mass of fibre, and fibres could be obtained even to the end of the midrif of the leaf. It would be exported hi the form of bundles of fibre. Mr. Sharo described the process of converting this tree mto fibre, and exhibited bunches of it; also pointing to fibres obtained from the leaf of the American aloe, and to a much finer and different quality from the aloe variegata. These fibres were adapted to the various textile purposes, one of tho fabrics being of the character of,silk, but in some respects superior, and worth 3\d to -Id per Ib. Fine paper could be obtained from the fibre, and the mucilaginous centre of thepipnt yielded a -wterial not unlike cotton. Mr." Sharp said fiom tbcM nuttcvinis could be obtained ni tides from the fineness of French cambric \o the strength ami thickness of a cable. The fibre could be lived, and in this country would sell nt not exceeding 2d. per lh, allowing a lnrsre, prof!. It was further slated that cloth could"bo nicnuift'iui.d from a mixture of fibre and wool: arsu tl.:\ the plantain fibre, though somewhat riV". r in to Ihi-^i hn- p, rcM-fed imuui b( J'<r the action of silt w. lor. 'Whileon i\w :.a -. \ -i" . ncvo y'^OoA for" ?wt. of coif on. sr: cv.i.<- ' ' IV, or pi yon cwt.ofi mp, it yielded -iS cwi. >.{'■; l.ntain libie. ri.d there we're iYvp:tv'i?l ".''* ""ros ironl the pl-.'ptrin being pororni.;!. J.i 31' Imsli Cutii.n;1. (* 11 >ly DemerniM, Vu <■<>-•. nv h:.d k\ n 0,.L" ( Civ W a million rv\- <' n " v' n's -A "2<\ t.1- V. bit 'n J-muu.i. A\bvi'> !!■, vx;;s ni'lev \.u\ ..\ ior rivtr, ibo tn.i'.'V :"j culv .' > '>-. 4>'rr-p-lve^. I.lr. Vmh'" tin.! >- •< b b: n iltu ilepiwl.st'on c '•"•' 'xvh ir *]- V'cA 1:m- s that he know ;;i> c 4 '.'. 1 o«;es-!i > ! vildrisi.- r.:.d miidiinery, whidi -'ould le bought: cr l,>s- ',i:i;i .-C1..000, A\hile a i'cwyc-is ago it <■<>< £70,000. rr"ir;vir V,\-\\ -^.-A cv u*\J.t]-c-

the London papers, in the establishment of a Company for the purpose of constructing a railway from the Mediterranean to the Persian Gnjf. The distance is Estimated to be 900 miles, being between Selencia and Bussorah ; and thtcompletion of the undertaking will effect great improvement in the facilities of transit between England and India, diminishing the distance by nearly one half. We append a notice of the scheme: —" A most important step is about to be taken towards the extension of-the Indian railway system. A company is now in course of formation, having in view the construction of a railway in the valley of the Euphrates, from the Mediterranean to the Persian Gulf. The point of departure for the railway wall he the port of Seleucia, on the Mediterranean, to Ja'Ler Castle, on the river Euphrates, a distance of about 80 miles. From, the latter point advantage will be taken of the Elvers Euphrates and Tigris, by means of appropriate steam vessels, to continue the route to the head of the Persian Gulf. It. however, is not intended that the railway shall stop- short at Ja'ber Castle, but the line will he gradually extended through the valley of the Euphrates until the confluence of that river and the Tigris is reached, at Kurnah, where a sufficient depth of water exists to admit the largest steamers. It will readily he. seen that this is probably the most important step that has jet been taken to faciliate communication between Europe and India, and that its results vrill he as gigantic can scarcely he doubted. So sensible has the Turkish Government been of the vast advantage to be derived from the execution of this project, that the promoters have not only secured most favourable terms with regard to the concession of the railway, but have obtained a guarantee of 6 per cent, on the capital employed in the construction of the railway &c, for a term of 29 years. In distance the actual saving by this i oute will be upwards of a thousand.miles,.and it is impossible not to foresee that as the railway will traverse, a country rich in capabilities, £-nd.comparatively populous, that a new field will be opened to or merchants for the exer. ise of their enterprise. "With respect to the profits to the shareholders, the directors abstain from making an estimate, but to any one who'contemplates the vast and daily increasing trade and traffic letween this country find India, it can scarcely be doubted but that the returns will be most remunerative. To what extent the commerce of the country will be increased it is impossible to say. but even with the existing trade between the various points on the route, there is good reason to believe that the profit would be exceedingly large. When it is taken into consideration that in addition there will be the passenger trrHie and the revenue to be derived from the electric telegraph which will be completed direct from London to the Indian -capital,* it will be evident that a. very high rate of profit cannot fail to result from the carrying cut of the project, which vrill reduce, when complete, the time occupied in travelling from London to Calcutta by one-half. The route chosen oilers no engineering difficulties, and has been approved of by undoubtedly competent persons, jmd the whole hne freni Seleucia to Bussornh. a distance of 900 miles, iris estimated m:ry be completed i;i live ysnrs. The direction is of the highest character for respectability and personal knowledge of the subject, aiid under their energetic nuinr.gomerit it may be assumed that ere many years have elapsed, as vast a change will have occurred in our' intercommunication with India r.s when sailing- vessels wove superseded by steam and the- overland route."