Literature.

Colonist, Issue 37, 26 February 1858, Page 3

Literature.

review;

If Australian writers have described the colonies in too glowing a manner, a writer in the JSfew Quarterly Review\soi: November,is determined at all events to administer an antidote. In treating of. Australia, the author is certainly about as much at home as he would be in the middle of the Sahara, or on the top of the Himalayas. Take the following specimen :—- .., .

We have heard it stated, and by a good authority too, that there is not. aii English bom person in these colonies who does not wish himself out of them, and we can understand the feeling. Making money is pleasant, but without moneys worth the pursuit is apt to pall. It is not the only pleasure' most men require in this life. Take any day of Australian life. You comehome ; after a hard, dusty day's work, and you- long for a quiet evening with your wife and, children, such as you could get once in dear old, England. When you sit down' to dinner, which: your wife has had to cook, and your children to prepare for, you see the partner of your domestic joys with a face (from flea and mosquito^ bites) like a pottle of prize strawberries atj C his wick, a pleasant object to contemplate of an evening. During your dinner you are tormented with flies and bitten with fleas; your,very sliop of roast mutton, ori your plate, before you have time to dispose of it, is blown by the yellow bottle full of live maggots,—you push your plate away sick and disgusted,—you pour out and drink half your pale ale, and in a moment your-gfes is crammed with ten thousand debauched ftiesj■■".who* die in. drunken happiness.' You call iivyour children; they come, looking squalid, pale,'and jaded; no rosy cheeks here—yon help your wife to put away the things, and then sit down, with flies, fleas, and, moaquitos, a mottled-faced wife,, irritable children, and your own .pleasant reflections.- You may have made a very fortunate speculation that day; but it takes a vast amount of money to compensate you for so much domestic misery;; When, you retire to bed it will be only to a second torture 01; fleas and other vermin, and you will pass a restless, feverish, sleepless night; your children will cry and call for mamma half the night long; and you will get up to another day of speculation, gain or,' loss, a jaded wife, tired children,, and thorough discomfort. Hence it is not just for those people who. write books for the purpose of inducing emigration to Australia, to give an estimate only of the milk and honey the country-offers. We believe a great quantity, of the household milk. to. be spur, and most of its honey nought, but gall and bitterness, : • <. ' "' '

Now most of this is the grossest exaggeration. The good authority'we should imagine to be some unfortunate dyspeptic that somewhere about 1854, vat . which] period the reviewer is evidently rather strong in facts (?) and dates", had' overtraded in drapery; for it is a well known fact that; scarcely any of those English-born persons' who by industry and talent raise an independence in 'the colony ever Eventually stay in England. They may come over to see the old country occasionally, and while in Australia sui generis be-always growling out their comparisons, but a, year iii England is quite enough, and glad they are again to undergo their adopted country's dust and insects, which they do not consider an equipoise for the fogs and humidity; of England. With regard to the assertion of " any day of Australian life," the mos-, quitos, &c, only annoy during the summer season; except in the neighbourhood of stagnant water they do hot bite'during the day, and at night mosquito curtains are an easy and infallible remedy. The statement of the general aspect of the children, especially those of the labouring class, is absolutely false. There is not half the sickness or delicacy of appearance among children in Australia that there is in England. Their illnesses are more violent and rapid, but much rarer and not so long enduring, and the general aspect is one of sound health, promising earl}'- maturity of both mind and body. In the localities mentioned the reviewer is singularly happy, his topographical knowledge being remarkably accurate —. that is to say, it would be if the places were, where they undoubtedly ought to be. Thus Ballaarat and Boningyong are .described as being of different districts'; at present they are about the same distance from each other and as thoroughly disconnected as London and Westminster ; while Chines and Bonirigyong aro stated to be close together, the distance in reality being some forty or fifty miles. Again, Mr.-. Westgarth's descriptions of things he has seen the reviewer allows are accurate, but showing small powers of observation; and then fills up the details with a few fancy sketches* We have not room to notice all the discrepancies of this inventive article, but two of them would be so universally condemned by every one who has. really, seen the country that we feel bound to mention them. The tea in Australia is said', to be generally sour and acrid; now tea is the most general beverage in the colonies, there, are thousands of families that scarcely ever take any other, tea at breakfast,: tea at dinner, tea at supper; Australian's relish a, cup of tea before anj'thing, and one of their; ctiief complaints whenthey come to England, is, that here they cannot got tea for love or, money; birch broom and Prussian blue in, abundance, but no tea. The next is—"The; scenery in the immediate neighbourhood of, the diggings is less-wooded; " this mistake explains the basis of the good authority of the above-mentioned overtrading dyspeptic. He has visited one of the old gold-fields for, one day, and iff the last five or six miles he has observed that tall trees becomejscarce, and broad, low, thickset bushes more abundant. It was lucky for him that he was. not inclined to tiy the jumping powers of his horse over one of those tempting tushes, for should the animal have rushed the leap he would have found behind the green leaves and twigs a solid stump. Poor, fellow, how should he know that those bushes' were the stumps of old trees felled for splitting and firewood, and giving evidence: of the vitality and vigour of the Australian soil and climate by reclothing their un-. topped base with an abundant covering of' verdure ?— John Bull, JSioik 14.

Young America Abroad in Europe, Asia,, and Australia. By George Franci? '•" Train.—London": Sampson Low, Son,' and Co.. 1857. ■■.-.'.. We are glad of the opportunity of review^ ing in tin's ouv first special "Australian " cdi- : , tion Mr. Train's work, both on account p£ the authentic and valuable intelligence "if

iontains, and also as the published opinions of the author, an enlightened American merchant, most honourably and successfully associated with the commercial progress of our colonies at the Antipodes. Almost from the day of his landing at Port Phillip to the time of his departure (when he was publicly entertained by all the principal merchants) on the extensive tour which supplies tile data of a great part of the present publication, he was continually proving to the Melbourne merchants, that it was possible to unite with mutual advantage, close attention to private commercial affairs and vigorous practical efforts for improving the accommodation and developing the resources of the mercantile public generally; for he was highly successful both as a public and a private man, and respected accordingly. " Youna America Abroad " consists of a series of Tetters addressed to various newspapers, and may be divided into two parts; the one written during the author's residence in Australia, the rest while he was travelling the route before alluded to, and in the '- course of which he visited Java, Singapore, China, Bengal, Egypt, the Holy Land, the Crimea, and England. In the introduction to the book by his friend Freeman Hunt, who apparently edited the publication, we are told that the-latter "were composed on ships and steanfers, and amidst all the inconvenience, hurry, and bustle of travel," and that the whole have not had the benefit of the author's revision. This we easily believe, for while we have rarely read a book containing in the same space so much valuable information and shrewd suggestive intelligence, certainly we cannot remember ever having hitherto read one throughout written in such a bad style of composition. The malformation of the sentences occasionally makes the perusal almost painful; and were it not for the evident truth, the graphic description, and the clear and liberal opinions that appear in almost every page of the work, few readers would persevere to the end. In one place we were delayed by a sentence in which twenty-nine commas, four semicolons, and eight other grammatical marks were between a nominative and its Verb; in artdther we were completely puzzled by finding the two parts of a simple •proposition divided by upwards of twenty independent paragraphs; sentences exceeding a page in length are quite common. It is a great pity that Mr. Hunt did hot exercise a friend's privilege and remove some of the abundant evidences of haste which he admits mar the statistical knowledge, the sprightly descriptions, the in- , structive historical sketches, the practical suggestions, and the amusing incidents which are abundantly scattered throughout the book.

The first chapter of "Young America Abroad" is a review of a thirty months' residence in the Southern Eldorado, commencing in May, 1853, when Hobson's Bay, " from Williamstown to Sandridge, was nothing but one complete forest of masts," being the period of the most reckless shipping of goods that the world ever witnessed. Then had shortly commenced the importation of thirty millions worth of goods for two years' consumption by a population of 300,000, followed by the naturally to be expected failure of some 350 firms, representing a loss of about £5,000,000. To assist in the disposal of this vast amount of gdods there were no roads, scarcely any wharves or storage room, and no mercantile rendezvous. The political times too were gloomy, the Governor, Mr. La Trobe, evidently unable to cope with the exigencies of the vast emergency, there had faded the first flush of the prosperity of the diggers, who were dissatisfied with the license-tax, and demanded to j be represented in the colonial Parliament; the land was locked up from the agriculturist, and the Government, in spite of an illegal appropriation of emigration funds to 'the amount of £800,000, was head over ears in debt. At this period many came, looked, and departed; not so our author, who probably concluded that things being so bad, must mend; Mr. Train soon soon begins to write more hopefully \ the new Governor, Sir Charles Hothara, arrived, and the expenses of Government were materially reduced; a responsible Legislature instituted; the export duty of 2s. 6d. an ounce on gold was imposed and found to work favourably; taught by bitter experience, home shippers ceased to ship recklessly, colonial dealers to trust indiscriminately ; public works on a grand scale began to shoot ahead; good agricultural land could be had in abundance at a moderatejprice; the introduction of machinery restored "tlie prosperity of the goldfields; railways and telegraph lines were commenced; Mr. Train arid a few others instituted the Melbourne Chamber of Commerce, fire brigades, &c, and the prosperity of the colony seemed to be built on such a solid foundation that he *' recommended it, though young in yeafs but old in experience, to slip the painter, cut adrift from the Old Country, and become a nation of themselves." However, he complains that the " population are slow to move; with that peculiar love of country characteristic of the English people, they are apethetic in raising & flag of their own," and were Mr. Train t6 return now, he would find that peculiarly honourable feeling still more openly expressed* for the idea of severing all ties between Australia and the Mother country is generally considered by sensible .colonists as the Utopian dream of visionaries. A few similar idiosyncrasies excepted, Mr. Train's remarks on Australia and the other countries he visits, are very just, instruc^ tive, and often original. The information he has collected is invaluable and well digested, and his description of scenery, manners, and places, with the exception of the Verbal faults pointed but, vivid and very clear.

We could far exceed our space with valuable extracts, but must content ourselves with the following. In a letter dated March 11 to 17, he says :— c> But there is one thing pretty certain"; India can

spare no troops for the Crimea. She wants them all within her empire, for the natives are always plotting." In the summary of his six months' tour he describes English power and influence thus: —

In all these lands there is a wonderful respect for England; her army and her navy are everywhere ; notwithstanding the Baltic and the Black Sea fleets, she seems to have a man-of-war at every port. No wonder Englishmen are so proud of their country, for no other nation has done what she has done. A little island by itself, England sends her martial airs into every corner of the world. Go into the Oriental sea and you will find English charts and English surveys, of every ha bouv, every bay, every river, every channel, every port of water, where commerce could be introduced. On land it is the same; her geographical knowledge is wonderful. With credit, with capital, and with steam, she has for a long time ruled the finances of the world. And concludes with the following creditable sentiment of Young America:— " Though oceans roll between us, though our lands are far apart, • Though rival mothers bore us, we are brothers still at heart; Let us think upon the ancient blood that circles in our veins, And drain the cup of fellowship while yet a drop remains. " So here's a health to Albion, the jewel of the sea, And her daughter, fair Columbia, the happy and the free; Long may their sons their praises sing in friendship s jovial strains, ... . And drain the cup of fellowship while yet a drop , remains." — John Bull, Nov. 14.