EXTRACT FROM THE LETTER OF A GENTLEMAN IN THE SERVICE OF THE EMPEROR SOULOUQUE. [From Punch.]

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume VI, Issue 507, 12 June 1850, Page 4

EXTRACT FROM THE LETTER OF A GENTLEMAN IN THE SERVICE OF THE EMPEROR SOULOUQUE. [From Punch.]

The .bipod of African kings which j flows in my veins having rendered me .an object of unjust persecution in my native conntry of NewiOrleans, I resolved to come to 'P.ort-au-Prince, and try, my fqrtune there. I 'had the good fortune t to ,pkase his Imperial Highness Ptince Benbow, Lord High Admiral, for whom I made the tigbt embroidered pantaloons of his office, and have since been in great favour .among the Court and nobility, as Court and fashionable .tailor. The coronation of the Emperor enabled me to exhibit my skill ; I invented a robe for the Lord Chancellor of the Empire, and a .coatee for the general officers, which have been greatly admired, and I hope will bear a comparison with the first efforts of European, or «yen Broadway, artists. The Court is at this moment in mourning. Mourning here, I need not tell you, is not black, but a becoming light pink ; that of the royal and imperial family is yellow. Theiimperial house is at present en devil for the se-venty-sixth wife of King Bosh, of the Niger, who had died of a superfluity of rum, to the grief of her royal consort. White men are tolerated at Port-au-Prince, though of course not admitted into society. At church and the theatre places are set apart for them ; and the domestics of their Majesties are selected from this class of human beings. They are treated generally not unkindly, but the hot blood of the African noblesse is proverbial, and the poor devils occasionally suffer from this irascibility. I remonstrated the other day with his Highness Field Marshal Prince Pierrot, who was about to whip an Oxford gentleman employed as tutor to his two sons, and had him tied up to a cocoa-nut tree, when I happily succeeded in diverting the Prince from his intention. At dinner, his Majesty is waited upon by six English footmen in the imperial livery of nankeen, laced with blue galloon. They were selected from among the largest of their class of England ; but not being here allowed to wear stockings, their calves have a very different appearance to that of their brethren in their native country. When the Emperor is pleased, or has had enough, he dabs a portion of the meat from his own plate into the mouth of the Field Marshal, Prince, or Grand Dignitary of the Empire, sitting next to him. When angry, his Majesty flings bis dish or bis cup at the heads of the footmen in attendance. It is fine to see the unflinching courage with which they receive these marks of the imperial discontent. The cook, who has been created Duke of Caboosia, is an artist from an English man-of-war. He, and the dancing- master of the imperial family, are of pure African blood ; a Frenchman previously acted in both capacities ; but having made lo\e to several of the princesses, he was dismissed, and blown from the mouth of a 24-pounder off Fort Banjo. The dining hall is richly decorated with works of art. On the north side of the wall there is a fine picture of Edward the Black Prince serving King John of France at supper, and the Black Prince is a fine likeness of his Imperial Highness the Grand Duke Bobo, the eldest son of the Emperor. C«sar falling at Pompeys Statue is another fine work in the grand hall. Cssar is a fine mulatto, and Pompey a mandingo of $he purest national colour. Both figures are considered very fine, 'specially Pompey's. The Empress and daughters sate for the beautiful picture of Cleopatra sailing c\own the Nile, and the Egyptian Queen is represented, as history has painted her indeed, of the mpst brilliant Nubian jet. The two pages are the two; youngest sons of the. Empress, their Imperial Highness Prjnce. Day aftd Prince Martin. But I must lay down my pen, and; resume my scissors : an order comes. from hisMajes-? ty for a jacket and panjtalppns, for- a court ball ; he says he will We epaulets on tbe latter^-to hear, is, to, obey. Farewell..