tract speed of most ocean mail-carrying steamers is eight knots. We believe that the Eastern Steam Navigation Company intend making their first voyage to Australia. The actual distance from Milford Haven, the company's starting-point, to Port Philip, is less than twelve thousand miles, if no ports be touched at. A speed of fifteen knots or iniles an hour averaged from land to land would take the Leviathan to the golden colony in about thirty-two days. This can only be accomplished, even at that high speed, by avoiding all stoppages for coals, which, besides detaining a ship many days in the different ports, carries her a great distance out of the direct steaming course. Here we find another novelty brought to bear by Mr. Brunel. A ship of this huge capacity can carry twelve thousand tons of coals: quite sufficient, it is stated, for her consumption on the outward and homeward voyages. Space will still be left for five thousand tons of cargo, the massive machinery, and four thousand passengers with their luggage and all necessary stores for use. Large indeed must that steamer be which can provide a main-deck saloon sixty feet in length, and forty in width, and fifteen in height: with a second-class saloon only twenty feet shorter, and a foot or two less in height. The Leviathan has these and they appear but as small compartments of the huge interior. It would prove a fortunate circumstance for our military authorities, who are so much in want of steam transports to the seat of war, if this monster ship were ready for sea at the present moment. There are just now two divisions of the French army, of ten thousand men each, ready to be conveyed to the scenes of their future operations. The Leviathan, with just sufficient fuel for so short a voyage, could take on board one of those divisions entire, with horses, fodder, artillery, and ammunition; it could land those ten thousand men, with proper arrangements, in the Crimea; could return and carry the second of those small armies; and could arrive back at Marseilles for the second time within one month from her first starting. It has been deemed an achievement worthy of The advantage of this arrangement is twofold. mention, to convey an entire regiment of light Besides the avoidance of stoppages for coalings cavalry from Bombay to the Crimea, by way of on the voyage, the ship earns all the freight the Red Sea and Egypt, in about two months. which must otherwise have been paid to sailing If the calculations as to speed of the Leviathan vessels for the conveyance of the fuel to the coal- be correct-which more learned heads than ours ing depots, which, on three-fourths of the quan- declare them to be-then the iron ship could have tity consumed on one voyage would amount to a conveyed at least half a dozen regiments of cav. sum sufficient to bulld and equip a steamer of alry from Bombay to Balaklava, by way of the two or three hundred tons. In order to compen- Cape of Good Hope and the Straits of Gibraltar, sate for the great loss of weight caused by all in two-thirds of the time, and at not much greatthis enormous consumption of fuel, and to main-er cost than was required for the one regiment tain an equal immersion of the paddles, the coal will, to a certain extent, be replaced by water pumped into the water-tight compartments forming the skin of the ship, and of which we shall presently have occasion to speak. In addition to this arrangement the paddles have been so adjusted on the wheels as to be as efficient at one draught of water as at another. conveyed through Egypt. Had the old system of ship-building still prevailed with regard to sea-going steamers-had our shipwrights worked on the wooden-wall principle instead of the plate-and-rivet method, we should never have possessed such noble steamships as are owned by our large commercial companies. Certain it is that the Leviathan could It is impossible to judge of the future finish or not have been built, on the wooden system. The accommodation of such a gigantic ship as the mightiest giants of Indian forests, of fabulous Leviathan from the present state of the iron hull. age, in countless numbnrs, would not have suf Immense divisions of metal plates, reaching to ficed to produce a ship of half her size. Strength an incredible height, with sub-compartments at enough could not have been obtained with the right angles appear to divide the monster fabric most ponderous masses of timber-work, braced into a number of square and oblong spaces, as they might have been with iron and copper, each of which would contain an eight-roomed to have floated so mighty a load of cargo, mahouse of Camden Town build, or a semi-de-chinery and living beings. Yet the monster of tached villa from Stockwell, at forty-pounds per annum. We inspected a model of the ship in wood, and could scarcely believe that the unsightly mass of iron-plates, rivets, and joints, just beheld, could by any possible ingenuity be wrought into anything so beautifully symmetrical as the long, arrow-like little craft before us, tapering off forward as sharply as a woodman's hatchet or a Thames wherry. From that model we were enabled to understand where the engines, coals, stores, and cargo would be placed, and moreover, where the two thousand first-class passengers would be berthed, in their five hundred state cabins, and where the two thousand second-class and steerage passengers would be placed, without nearly as much crowding as in an ordinary passenger or emigrant ship. which we are now writing, so new in its various appliances of power, so wonderful in its unheardof capacity, is composed of plates of iron, less than one inch in thickness. The secret of the great strength attained by this comparatively small amount of metal is in the peculiar structure of the hull. It is built throughout, in distinct compartments, on the principle of the Britannia Tubular Bridge, and when finished will be in fact a huge tubular ship. The principles of that structure need not here be dwelt upon. It will suffice to explain that the whole of this vessel will be divided into ten huge, water-tight compartments, by means of iron-plate bulkheads carried up to the upper deck, thereby extending far above the water-line. In addition to this great safeguard against accident, the whole length of the ship, except where she tapers off at either end, is protected by a double skin of befal a vessel at sea is undoubtedly a fire. The metal plating, the outer one being distant three iron water-tight bulkheads would seem to defy feet from the interior. These double tubular that destructive element sufficiently; but in orsides are carried to far above the deepest water- der to make assurance doubly sure, the builders mark, and inasmuch as the transverse bulkheads are experimenting with a view to employing onextend to the outer of these skins, they are divid- ly prepared uninflammable wood for the interior ed into many water-tight subdivisions, any one fittings. or two of which, though torn or fractured, and filled with water, would not affect the buoyancy or safety of the ship. Such is the Leviathan. She is to be launched unlike any other ship, broadside onto the water by means of hydraulic power, and early in next Besides the great transverse divisions before spring, is expected to make a trial trip to the alluded to, there are two enormously strong United States and back in less than a fortnight. longitudinal bulkheads of iron running from stem In contemplating this Brobdignag vessel, our to stern, each forty feet from the inner skin, and small acquaintance with things nautical, dwarfs carried to the upper deck: adding greatly to the down to Lilliputian insignificance. Before reachsolidity and safety of the vessel. The main com- ing the Isle of Dogs, we had imagined that we partments thus formed by the bulkheads, have a possessed some acquaintance with ship-building means of communication by iron sliding doors and marine engineering. One of the Leviathan near the top, easily and effectually closed in time cylinders was sufficient to extinguish our pretenof need. In this way, not only are all the most sions. exposed portions of the ship double-skinned, but the body is cut up into a great number of very large but perfectly distinct fire-and water-proof compartments, forming, indeed, so many colossal iron safes. If we can imagine a rock to penetrate the double skin, and make its sharp way into any one of these compartments, it might fill with water without any detriment to the rest of the ship. One of the most terrible calamities that can With a Brunel for designer; with a Stevenson for approver; a Scott Russell for builder; with Professor Airey in charge of the compasses, and Sir W. S. Harris looking after the lightning conductors; the Leviathan may well be expected to turn out the floating marvel of the age. Fancy the astonishment of the South Sea islanders when they behold her, rushing past their coral homes ? Julia A Poem. By Wesley Brook, author of "Eastford," etc. Boston: Ticknor & Fields. This is a poem in four cantos, in the Spencerian stanza, but the free, so called "Don Juan" rhyme. It is the story of a young Boston belle, the course of whose true love did not run smooth; and so they took her, to cheer her, to Nahant and Newport, which gives the author an opportunity to dwell on the beauties and follies of those fashionable places of resort. We quote the following verses, referring to Nahant, as a not unfair speci men of the Poem: NAHANT Famous in Indian legendary story, The dark old solemn headlands' cliffs, whose Glooms o'er the wave; on what a scene of glory, XXI. But stern in primal grandeur, when it threw Its broad bare shoulder to the mad waves' lash, And the red savage, poised in light canoe, Lit the sea-sparkles to his paddles' flash,— To the wild sea wind, and the billowy dash. A sad mute gaze; even the silvery spray STATE OF THE BIRMINGHAM "IDOL" TRADE. Having learned from the Record that a very brisk manufacture of Hindoo idols was carried on by a most respectable and orthodox house at Birmingham, we have, though we confess it, with some difficulty, obtained a list of the articles. The bill we have had duly translated from Hindostanee. YAMEN (God of Death)—In fine copper; very tasteful. NIRONDI (King of the Demons)-In great variety. The giant he rides is of the boldest design, and his sabre of the present style. VARONNIN (God of the Sun)-Very spirited. His crocodile in brass, and whip in silver. COUBEREN (God of Wealth)-This god is of the most exquisite workmanship; having stimulated the best powers of the manufactur ers. SMALLER DEMI-GODS, AND MINOR DEMONS IN No Credit; and Discount allowed for Ready From the Daily Advertiser. AMONG the many romantic passages of the long conflict which England waged with France for the sovereignty of the western world, there are none more interesting, as there are none better preserved in the popular traditions of America, than those which belong to the unfortunate expedition of General Braddock against Fort Duquesne in 1755. ish official character which have wrought such lamentable results in the present Crimean campaign of the allies, Braddock's expedition a quires an additional immediate interest. The obstinate prepossessions in favor of military routine which led the Cabinet of George II. to reject the sensible proposals of the astute Halifax, and to insist that a warfare in the American wilderness should be carried on by the troops and the tactics of Europe-the lordly imbecility of Newcastle which delayed be The story of that hapless march is full of in- yond all measure the preparations for the camstruction for the soldier, and full of pathos for paign, the favoritism which converted the exthe poet. For the patriotic student of Ameri-pedition into a "job,” and landed the army in can history the tale has a still deeper interest. Virginia to seek transport and provisions from Since it is unquestionably true that in the is- Pennsylvania, the dogged adherence of the sue of that expedition the fate of the rebellion Commander-in-chief to a system of personal which subsequently gave liberty to our coun- exclusiveness which alienated his American try was in a great measure decided. to come. officers, and disgusted the Indian allies, and The colonial cities, ready to burst out into a his no less dogged determination to fight, die, blaze of festal triumph when the news of vic- and be beaten according to precedent rather tory, so confidently anticipated, should come than to seek victory in untrodden ways; all from the West, were smitten into shame and these characteristics of the Western expedition terror and fear by the tidings of the dreadful of 1755 throw a timely light on the similar disaster which had overtaken the royal army. characteristics of the Eastern expedition of But the defeat of the 9th of July, 1755, com- 1854. The "campaigns of the Duke" were pelled the colonies to arm in their own de- the nightmare of the Newcastle of the 18th fence, and threw them into that war which century, just as the "Peninsula " has been the prepared military material and military ex-incubus of the Newcastle of the 19th. The perience for the greater contest that was yet thing that has been, is again, and the history of nations, no less than of men, demonstrates It was a sagacious soldier of the Revolution the truth of Pestalozzi's melancholy proposiwho observed that the attempt to enforce the tion that "nobody learns much from any exauthority of Parliament over the colonies, perience but his own." which failed in 1775, would undoubtedly have It is certainly remarkable that America been successful twenty years before-for" with should have waited a century for a full and acthe partial exception of the people of New curate narrative of an expedition so important England, the Americans were equally desti- in her annals. tute of means of defence or skill to use them." Incidental and imperfect accounts we have Nor is it a consideration unworthy of notice in sufficient numbers, and Mr. Sparks in the that the success of General Braddock might appendix to the second volume of the "Writ have deprived America of him who was the ings of Washington," has given us a sketch of head at once and the right arm of the Repub- the combat, admirably exact, but necessarily lican cause. Attached to the staff of the Com- brief. Yet we have to congratulate ourselves mander-in-chief, Major Washington of Vir- now for the first time on the possession of a ginia was the only colonial gentleman (with history of this memorable campaign, which is the exception of Benjamin Franklin of Penn- at once copious, interesting and elaborate.sylvania) who had attracted the favorable no- This gratification we owe to Mr. Winthrop tice of the British General, and there is rea- Sargent of Philadelphia. In February, 1854, son to suppose that had Braddock been vic- the Historical Society of Pennsylvania estabtorious, his young aid-de-camp would have lished a publication fund, by the terms of secured that advancement and occupation in which any person whatever, on the payment the royal service which he then ardently de- of twenty dollars, becomes entitled to receive a copy of all its future publications during his sired. In the tremendous war which the "Great life time. The interest alone of the sum they Commoner" urged on to such splendid results received (which we are pleased to learn alfor England, the young Virginian, metamor- ready amounts to four thousand dollars) is to phosed into a British officer, would doubtless be applied to purposes of publication, in aid of have sought opportunities of foreign distinction, which purposes funds will also be advanced by and the curious in contingencies can hardly the Society itself, and derived from the gener hope to find a richer field of conjectures than al sale of the works they may issue. that which is here revealed. The first fruits of this undertaking, which As a commentary upon those traits of Brit-we cannot too highly commend, and which we hope to see extended to many other States,, These journals have been edited with care and now lie before us in the form of a fair octavo erudition, and are followed by an appendix full of more than four hundred pages, handsomely of curious and entertaining matters. A brief printed and neatly illustrated with necessary but well considered index puts all the contents plans and views. This work consists in part of the work within easy reference, and comof an " Introductory Memoir" from the pen of pletes a volume which we sincerely recommend Mr. Sargent, in which the course of events to our readers, and which is to be regarded, we that led to the expedition against Fort Du- hope, as only the first of a long and successful quesne is ably set forth, the progress of the ex-series. The necessity of such publications is pedition clearly and accurately detailed, and evident. One can hardly glance over our cur the catastrophe painted in colors at once vivid rent literature without seeing how much needand distinct. In the course of this memoir, ed is a more precise and accurate knowledge Mr. Sargent furnishes us with very interesting of the events of our history. It is but the other details of the character and the manners of day that an article appeared in the North the early settlers of the Middle States, and en- American Review, in which the extraordinary riches the substance of his narrative with statement was made in reference to the subthose biographical and anecdotical comments ject of this monograph, that Braddock's defeat which are so pleasant in the reading that we took place in the "open field," the place of are apt to forget how "painful" they are in their intended "ambuscade" not having been the making. We might take exception some- reached by the French and Indians! This times to Mr. Sargent's use of language, and we statement, so utterly at variance with the popshould be disposed to remonstrate with him on ular tradition on the subject, is equally far rethe employment of such very outlandish "ser-moved from the truth of history. Mr. Sarvants of his thoughts" as "inignoscible," sat-gent's narrative only sets forth more clearly ired" and "alienigenate;" we might join issue what might have been sufficiently demonstralwith him, too, in respect of certain estimates ed by Mr. Sparks's account, that M. de Beauof character, and we have observed some jeu never intended to lay an "ambuscade" at slight errors in his references to contemporary all, but only to dispute the passage of a ford, events. Thus the battle of Culloden was fought not in 1745, but in 1746; the Empress Queen was not the ally but the antagonist of Frederick the Great; and as Franklin was born in 1705 his mind could hardly have been in its "dawning" at the time of Braddock's arrival in 1755. 99 66 But considered as a whole this memoir of Mr. Sargent's is a valuable contribution to our historical literature, and we hope that it may be read as extensively as its merits and the interest of its subject deserve. The memoir is followed by the journals of Capt. Orme, one of the General's aids, and of some naval officers attached to the expedition. and that the defeat of the Anglo-Americans was due, immediately to the fact that their enemies were completely concealed from view in the thickets of a deep and dangerous ravine. Such errors are the fruits of that middle term between popular traditions and minutely authentic information which is the promised land of ingenious hypothesis and plausible conjecture. And it is only by the extensive and thorough prosecution of such researches as those to which the Historical Society of Pennsylvania has so wisely extended its encouragement, that the history of our country can be brought out into the full and perfect day of truth. "SWEATING THE JESUIT."-In Mr. Soulé's dead bodies of seventy Chinamen. It appears letter he says of Mr. Perry's letter, that "this last that there is a company of Chinamen in this production of his sweats the Jesuit and the felon city doing quite an extensive business, in disinall over." It has been supposed that the verb terring and shipping the dead bodies of their here is a misprint, but it probably is a French countrymen to the order of the relatives of the use of the metaphor by which in English we deceased in China. The cost of the operation is might say, "it reeks with Jesuitism." The about fifty dollars-a sum willingly expended by change is something like that of an intelligent the wealthier class of Chinese, who consider foreigner, who said that Father Taylor preached it a duty, as well as a privilege, to pay triwith a great deal of ointment, meaning to use our bute of respect to the remains of deceased relacommon phrase of a great deal of "unction."-tives. Advertiser. CHINESE CORPSES. It is stated, as a curious fact, that the Queen of England is now the temporal monarch of THE Herald says, the ship Sunny South clear-more Roman Catholics than the Pope, and of ed yesterday for China, having on board the more Mussulmen than the Porte. From The New York Times. IN the Daily Times of yesterday, in the remarks on "Misplaced ideas" little more was done than correcting the Albion's mistake in attributing to Sidney Smith the paternity of an idea which Macaulay has made popular, but did not create. The originator of the picturesque passage was no doubt Henry Kirke White, but we think that Macaulay did not borrow from him but from Shelley, who it is clear had the lines of White in his mind. We shall trace the progress of the idea, or rather the progress of the wandering artist through the pages of English literature and into a popular reputation-thus commencing with what is generally conceded as his present "local habitation," and conveying him back to that home from which he was kidnapped. In Macaulay's brilliant review of "Ranke's Ecclesiastical and Political History of the Popes, etc., the passage alluded to occurs. Tracing the antiquity and strength of the papacy, and marvelling at its continuous "life and youthful vigor," he writes: "She was great and respected before the Saxon had set foot on Britain-before the Frank had passed the Rhine-when Grecian eloquence still flourished at Antioch-when idols were still worshipped in the temple of Mecca. And she may still exist in undiminished vigor when some traveller from New Zealand shall, in the midst of a vast solitude, take his stand on a broken arch of London Bridge to sketch the ruins of St. Pauls." This was published in the "Edinburgh Review," October, 1840. So much for Macaulay. Now for Shelley. In the dedication of Peter Bell the Third, by Miching Mallecho (Percy B. Shelley,) to Thomas Brown, Esq., the younger (Tom Moore) author of the " Fudge Family," we have the following passage: Hoping that the immortality which you have given to the Fudges, you will receive from them, and in the firm expectation that when London shall be a habitation of bitterns, when St. Paul's and Westminster Abbey shall stand shapeless and nameless ruins, in the midst of an unpeopled marsh: when the piers of Waterloo Bridge shall become the nuclei of islets, reeds and osters, and cast the jagged shadows of their broken arches on the solitary stream, some transatlantic commentator will be weighing in the scales of some new and now unimagined system of criticism, the respective merits of the Bells and Fudges, and their historians." This is dated Dec. 1, 1819. "Some second Vandal hath reduced her pride, And with one big recoil hath thrown her back To primitive barbarity * * * Thus far Kirke White's parental authority is undeniable; but if even it were slightly doubtful, the annexed quotation on the decline of Albion, the growth of the arts elsewhere, and its effect, is conclusive evidence against Shelley and Macaulay : Rise in some distant clime, and then, perchance, Where, to his wandering thoughts, no daring prow He journeys joyful; and perhaps descries Of fallen Albion. To that land unknown Some vestige of her ancient stateliness; We give not only the parallel passages, but a little of their settings, so to speak, the more fully to confirm our belief that the reviewer fash-Far from the civilized world; and sagely sighs, ioned his succinct picture from the more various And moralizes on the state of man." details of Shelley's composition. In Macaulay we find the idea of Kirke White and the details of Shelley; because in the latter we have the idea and some of the details of White's passage, which we give. In the series of poetic fragments entitled "Time," and which was begun about 1803, and written on between that period and White's death, TAKING CARE OF AN ORPHAN. A strange murder was committed at Virginia, eight miles below Auburn. An Indian killed his little nephew, a child three years of age, by cutting his head off with a knife. The reason alleged was that the child had no father or mother to take care of it. |