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®ur .foreign Comsponbencc.
LONDON LETTERS—NO. I.
London, April 13, 1848.
My Dear R. —l did not intend to write to
you until the Steamer of the 2‘2d, but I have
concluded to send you my first letter by the
new and superb steamship, “America,” which
sails from Liverpool, on her first voyage
to our shores, on the 15th inst. She will
carry out intelligence of such deep interest,
that it has induced me to anticipate the peri
od fixed for the commencement of my corres
pondence to your new weekly ; and, also, to
devote my letter to other themes than those
which are to form the staple of my commu
nications, viz : matters of Literature and the
Arts —all of which have been quite over
shadowed in the intense excitement of the
past few days. I will not, however, by too
long an exordium, withhold from you the one
grand item in my budget of news, which is
the total failure of the great “Chartist De
monstration.” The noble Constitution of Old
England is still triumphant. The integrity
of her government has been preserved, and
millions rejoice thereat!
The “ Chartists” made their 4 demonstra
tion 1 on Monday last, and a less formidable
one you can scarcely conceive of. Indeed,
if I should attempt to give you a description
of their actual resources as exhibited on that,
occasion, you would probably insist that I
was quizzing you ; and yet never did I see so
miserable and ridiculous a farce as the Char
tistgathering on Ivennington Common. It is of
course difficult to form a precise estimate of
the numbers—of all classes—which were
present: but 1 am sure I am outside of the
mark when I place the sum total, at twenty
five thousand, an estimate which has been
exaggerated by some to nearly a quarter of a
million. ‘ I had expected to see an imposing
assemblage, but never did reality more effec
tually put fancy to flight. The mass of the
malcontents were ill-clad —and ill-looking
men and boys, whose appearance was calcu
lated to inspire sympathy and pity rather
than fear. The former feeling I really did
cherish towards them, though you know me
too well to suppose that I could sympathise
■with their misguided and reckless opinions,
if opinions they can be said to have, who
know no game but “ follow your leader.”
You will naturally ask, I suppose, ‘Were
there not great and overwhelming displays of
government preparation to suppress any at
tempt to form the procession V I answer :
So far from it, l did not see, at any time du
ring the day, a single body of soldiers, and
only a few squads of police or special consta
bles ! Now when y r ou remember lhat it was
arranged that 200,000 men should march
from Ivennington Common, through the great
veins of the city, and to the very halls of leg
islation, to intimidate Parliament into a com
pliance with their demands —lhat Feargus O’-
Connor and his associates had issued pla
cards pledging the Chartists to carry out the
plan with their lives—when you remember
that in the teeth of all this bravado, with no
visible opposition to their movements, only’ a
few poor thousands could be mustered, half
of whom were impelled by curiosity alone,
perhaps—the procession is abandoned and
the crowd quietly disperses— do you not
behold a sublime moral spectacle ? What
else is it than the triumph of principle over
passion—of a free government over the de
structive tendencies of reckless anarchists T
I am a citizen of the United States it is true,
and dearly do I love my country —and proud
am lof m y birth-right, but I have not wit
nessed this grand Chartist explosion, or rath
(“r “ flash in the pan,” without being tho
roughly convinced that the intelligent masses
°f England— the middle and the upper class
es prize too highly the liberties guaranteed
to them by the iflitish Constitution, to be wil
ling rashly to expose them to the horrible re
SUM MM MV MASY SASIYYS*
suits of Chartist Demonstrations ! English
men are aware that they have a noble system
of government, and if they cannot help see
ing the absolute and pressing need of great
national reforms— can they help be
lieving that their Constitution will secure
these to them by its own legitimate work
ings.
Influenced by the sentiments of the people
among whom I write, I cannot help exclaim
ing with them, “ Long live the Queen ! —long
live the British p arliament;” and, I would
add, long may they live to perfect for the peo
ple that glorious sy r stem of government, which
is the basis of our own, and which we have
added to, but never altered!
Sir George Grey r, s bill, for the more ample
security’ of the British Crown, will be carried
through both houses with an overwhelming
majority'. The people of England intend to
maintain their government —and if so, who
shall say them nay 1 I am persuaded, my r
dear R, that Great Britain is not to he revolu
tionized, like France, by a mob. The spirit
of Englishmen is totally different from
that of the French. The former fs sober,
reflecting, deliberate—the latter visionary', im
pulsive and reckless. Witness, in proof
thereof, the result of the ‘ three days 1 in Paris,
and the memorable one day', the 10th of April,
in London.
By the way’ it is rtiost amusing to hear
some of the Chartists, themselves, vehemently
disavow any intention of resorting to rebel
lion ! Oh no! they are as loyal as any,
now that the flame of revolution, at first seen
darting upward its forked tongue, has been
so effectually’ put out —and by r what and By
the torrents of human blood shed in civil
war I By’ the mere force of physical pow
er ? No! but by the moral power of public
opinion. This it was that gave the death
blow to the Chartist movement, and made its
leaders appear to the world and to each other
as humbugs!
Mr. Feargus O’Connor’s avowal that bis
petition was signed by upwards of five mil
lions, turns out to be a sheer fabrication ; and
the same may be said, with much truth, of
the petition itself, for of the two million sig
natures actually attached to it, hundreds
were mere forgeries, and thousands probably
as pitiful and meaningless as the following
specimens: “ Snooks,” “ Snob,” “ Pugnose,”
“ Carroty’ Poll.” The name of ‘ The Duke 1
was found in no fewer than twenty places;
and her majesty, Prince Albert and Punch,
were among the soi disant reformers!
But I shall weary you. I intended to glance
at the condition of the Continent, agitated as it
is from its very centre to its remotest extrem
ities by wars and revolutions unparalelled
in history. I must forbear, however, until
my next letter.
Business of all kinds is reviving with the
quiet succeeding to the fermentation of the
past. We have had, what is rare in London,
some very charming spring weather. The
“tenth” was a day’ of sunshine —too bright,
happily, for the consummation of the suici
dal purposes of the “ Chartists.” The intelli
gence by the 4 America 1 will doubtless pro
duce a happy effect on your side of the wa
ter —especially in the business circles; and
confidence in English funds and securities,
will be fully* restored. So may it be, and
long may England and America maintain
their respective positions, the one the model
Kingdom, and the other the model Republic
of the world.
While I write London has two Sovereigns
—Victoria reigns and it rains too. Do not
suppose I intend to punish you, but believe
me, with my best compliments to your nu
merous readers, Faithfully yours,
E. F. G.
P. S. I have sent you no literary intelli
gence in this letter, but shall endeavor in sub
sequent communications to keep you advised
of all important movements in that depart
ment. Adieu.
AFFAIRS ON THE CONTINENT.
Our London correspondent not having in
cluded in his letter any account of the move
ments in Continental Europe, we condense
from our files of papers, at present few and
incomplete, their leading items of news; from j
which it will be seen that the spirit of Revo
lution is rapidly’ progressive, and whither it
tends, or where it will stop, conjecture may
not determine.
In Paris there is still tranquility, though
we fear it is but the calm preceeding a terri
ble storm soon to burst on the heads of her
revolutionary citizens. In various parts of
France, as at Havre, Troy'es and other places,
riots and emeutes have occurred.
Denmark and Germany are in open hostil
ity, and a very fierce battle was fought on the
9th ultimo, at or near Hensburg, resulting in
the defeat of the’ Schleswig Holstein army.
The Danes took possession of the capital of
the vanquished army. Prussia is to drive
the Danes out of Schleswig, and to restore
the old dynasty, which, if resisted by Den
mark, she, in turn, will be invaded by Prus
sia.
In Poland there have been no further ri
sings. The country is overrun with Russian
troops.
The Austrians have been expelled from
northern Italy. In Bohemia, Sicily, Hunga
ry’ and many other countries, the same spirit
of revolution exhibits itself, and we ask dai
ly, what will happen next ? A question
which time must answer.
LATEST NEWS FROM MEXICO.
By the arrival of the Steamer Fashion at
N.Orleans, from Brazos, which port she left on
April 30th., we have intelligence of a battle
fought at Santa Cruz. It lasted nearly all
day and terminated, as a matter o f course,
in the total rout of the Mexican forces, which
are represented to have been 2000 in number,
while the American force was only 700. —
Forty Mexican officers and a very large
amount of arms and ammunition, were taken
by our troops.
Mr. Sevier, *our Commissioner, arrived at
the city of Mexico on the 15th ult.
The Court of Enquiry at that place, was
still in session, and it is rumored, that upon
its adjournment, another will be called, as
Government has still, serious charges to make
against General Scott.
The prospect of peace is not yet very clear-
CONGRESSIONAL ITEMS.
The Committee on Foreign Relations have
reported to Congress, a Bill for the temporary
military occupation of Yucatan—-and the
subject very naturally excites a great deal of
interest and discussion. Avery important
question is involved, and the decision of Con
gress in the question, it is difficult to deter
mine.
A bill has also been introduced by the
Committee on Naval Affairs, to provide for
the establishment of lines of Government
Steamers from Monterey in California, to
China and to the Sandwich Islands.
HOME INTELLIGENCE.
We are pleased to see that I. K. Tefft,
Esq., has been elected to the Cashiership of
the Bank of the State of Georgia, in place of
Anthony Porter, Esq., resigned, and elected
to the Presidency of the same Institution. Ac
cording to the Republican , this Bank has had
the same Cashier, Teller, Book-Keeper and
Discount Clerk, for now seventeen years; a
fact which speaks well for the ability and in
tegrity of those officers.
The Annual meeting of the Stockholders of
the Georgia Rail Road, was held in Augusta
this week. The attendance was large and
the proceedings important, but our space will
not allow us to chronicle them.
The present population of Savannah, ac
cording to the census of that city, just com
pleted by Mr. Bancroft, is stated at 13,339.
21 Column ercctci) ft Jam.
We clip the following jeu d’ esprit from
John Donkey's Report of the Acadia’s news,
recieved by his express—“ worked through by
the combined efforts of Perseverance, and
Worsdell’s Vegetable, Restorative Pills.” It
is one of the cleverest peices of humor we
have met with for many a day.—[Ed. S. L. G.
England.— ls in great commotion. The
Queen’s baby was up in arms. Collisions had
taken place—a Life Guardsman had stubbed
bis toe against the palace step; but the whole
troops were said to be Victoria’s.
France- —The French have taken complete
possession of the capital, and intend to make
capital out of it. A great’loss of of life had
taken place in the abbailoirs , where no less
than 3,000 cattle were slaughtered: but this
was considered a beef-rending of the Provision
al government. Civil war had broken out in
the Guard, between the National Guards and
the blackguards, in which the sable gentry,
notwithstanding their linen to the people, were
worsted. The departments each considered
the special province of government to be ta
king care oi its province. It was frequently
said that if Lamartine went into the street
he would line it; and that Pages must turn
over anew leaf, or leave himself.
The Minister of the Interior was Rollin’
quietly along.
Napoleon Bonaparte had opened a sau
sage-shop in the Rue du Chiens.
The Bank of France has caved in. The
bankers had all failed—to impose on the
people.
Holland. —The Hollanders had been cut
ting up High Dutch. For the one hundredth
time it had been rumored that the Dutch had
taken Holland, which is of course false, as it
would leave them Neitherland; and would
prove too much for Dutch metal. Affairs, es
pecially in the canals, were stagnant, and
many croakers were heard in the marshes.
Setting a Watcii.— One day, in the city
of Philadelphia, a fat, jolly young country
man, who looked as if he would never need
any of Schenck’s Pulmonic Syrup, dropped
into Lewis Ladomus’s, in Market near Elev
enth, and stared around him. At length he
drew from his pocket, what might be consid
ed as a sort of compromise between a small
clock and a big watch, and asked—
“ May I set my watch by your regulator?”
“ Certainly,” answered the good-natured
watchmaker, and turned to attend to a bevy
of ladies who now made their appearance.
A regular run of customers engrossed the
attention of Ladomus and his clerks, for
the rest of the day, and he forgot all about
his country customer. In the evening, how
ever, after closing time, the countryman’s
watch was found on a little shelf near the
regulator. The next day he called, de
manded the missing article, and it was re
turned to him. No more w r as then thought
about it, by any body in the store.
A week after this the countryman v'alked
in the store, evidently in a passion, and cried
out—
“ See here, Mister, gaul darn me, es you’re
any watchmaker. That there regulator’s a
nice regulator, mebbe—and then agin, mebbe
it taint.”
“ Why, what is the matter, sir ? Explain
yourself;” said Ladomus, -while customers
and others gathered around in consternation.
“Matter! matter enough!” said Johnny
Raw. “ Dad told me 1o set my watch by
your regulator when I come to town. I sot
mine by yourn a hull night; and gaul bust
me, es she goes a bit better nor she did afore
she was sot.”
What occurred after, it is difficult to say.
but over a half peck of suspender button
was found in the store, when the country
man left; from which we infer that the by
standers must have laughed some. — Donkey.
Would’t go to Paradise. —During tin
blow upon the Lakes, not very long ago, a
passenger was much frightened, and, all in re
ality, stood a very even chance of going to
Davy Jones’ locker. He believed that all was
lost, went below and offered up a feeling pray
er, after which he came on deck, but the storm
had not abated in the least. At this juncture
he met the cook, a worthy descendant of “ Af
ric’s sunny fountain,” and a wave of more
than usual force striking the boat, he exclaim
ed, and at the same time taking his hand.
“ Good bye, meet me in paradise.” The ne
gro somewhat astonished, replied, “ Thankee,
thankee—sir, but I aint g’wine. I sticks to
de boat any how.”
Colored ladies, says an exchange, may
be compared to many roses, because they
were born to “ blush unseen.”
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