BANGKOK RECORDER

A Semi-monthly Journal
Res politicae, Literatura, Scientia, Commerce, Res Loci, et in omnibus Veritas

VOL I.BANGKOK TUESDAY MAY 16TH 1865.NO. 9

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BANGKOK MAY 16th.

We have been favored with a note from
His Excellency Chow Phya Sri Surij Wong,
stating that M. Aubaret H. I. M. Consul at
this place had addressed a note to him,
inquiring if the Siamese Government sent
us on the Treaty lately concluded between
France and Siam, and which appeared in
the last issue of the Recorder. He also
requests that we will inform him for the
gratification of M. Aubaret, by what means
we obtained the Treaty. This of course
we can not do. The Siamese Government
did not send us the Treaty but had they
done so, they had a perfect right to do it,
and neither M. Aubaret, nor any one else
had any business to ask them why they
did it. We would like to see this people
manifest for once at least, a little more of
that essential element rather vulgarly de-
nominated "back bone." Their prompt
answer to M. Aubaret should have been
that they did not furnish the Treaty but
had it been published at their request they
had a perfect right to do so, without any
breach of etiquette. After all the teaching
they have had, this people have failed to
learn the important lesson, that the "bark
is often worse than the bite." True the
Treaty has not yet been ratified by France,
but there is not the slightest doubt but she
will speedily ratify it. She will readily
ratify any treaty that will give her control
of a kingdom at so little expense. It is
therefore presuming too much for M. Au-
baret to suppose that the community here
are to remain in ignorance whilst the Treaty
is going to France and returning.

We publish also in this issue another
treaty concluded between the French Con-
sul and Hluang Bawriboon Soon-ra Kawn,
the Spirit Farmer. This appeared in the
Siamese of our last issue, and was trans-
lated and sot up for the English, but by
some means it was overlooked until too late
to insert it, and it consquenlty failed to
appear. Taken from the Siamese of our
last it has since appeared in another place,
and we only now insert it because we think
it should be preserved as a diplomatic
curiosity. We don't wonder that the authors
of such a concern should desire to throw a
vail over it to keep it from the public. So
far as can be ascertained it had already
gone into effect, as far as it was possible
for such a thing to take effect, and was be-
ing copied and sent around to the different
spirit dealers. There is no doubt but the
authors of this treaty thought that it could
be a private affair between France and Siam,
without effecting other treaty powers.
Mr. Hluang Dawriboon must have been only
a passive instrument, as those very much
higher in authority had a "finger in the
pie." It of course amounts to nothing, but
did it amount to any thing the same ben-
efits would also accrue to the other treaty
powers.


AMERICAN GENERALS.

(Continued from page 73)

W. S. Rosecrans bid fair at one time to
be a star of the first magnitude in the
galaxy of American generals. Before the
rebellion broke out he had resigned his
commission in the army, and retired to
scientific pursuits. But like many others
when the Old Flag was fired at, he rushed
to the rescue. He was placed under Mc-
Clellan in Western Virginia and when the
latter was called to Washington, Rosecrans
was left in command. He did up his work
there admirably, and after a short time
was sent west to Grant's command. While
under Grant he gained two signal victories,
one at luka, and another at Corinth. For
these he was raised to the rank of Major
General of volunteers. When it was de-
cided to remove Gen. Buell from the com-
mand of the army of the Cumberland, Rose-
crans was promoted to that command. Af-
ter taking command he spent some time in
preparations, and then met the rebel army
under Bragg, at Murfreesboro Tennessee,
and after five days hard fighting he com-
pletely routed the rebels. During those
days of fighting he displayed great ability,
and great bravery. He rode into the heat
of the battle and showed a masterly ability,
in massing his troops just where they were
needed. He has few superiors any where
as a mathematician. His march from Mur-
freesboro to Chattanooga was a perfect
triumph. He also forced an evacuation
of that place with very little fighting. He
advanced his army beyond Chattanooga to
Chicamauga creek. Gen. Lee having a lit-
tle leasure in Virginia dispatched two divis-
ions of his army to join Bragg and crush
Rosecrans. They attacked Rosecrans at
Chicamauga and well nigh succeeded in
their designs. The skill and bravery exhib-
ited by him at Murfreesboro appeared on
this occasion to forsake him, and he left
the field without knowing whether the bat-
tle was gained or lost. Had it not been for
Gen. Thomas the army would have been
destroyed. When that department was in
cluded in Grant's command, Rosecrans was
removed and placed in command in Mis-
souri, but even there he was slow and has
lately been shelved.

None of the American generals has risen
more slowly, and at the same time more
surely than Lieut. Gen. U. S. Grant. He
came from that working class, which has
furnished the United States, most of her a-
blest men in all departments. About one
hundred years ago two brothers named
Grant, came from Scotland to the New
World. One of them settled in Westmore-
land county, Pennsylvania, where the
father of the present Lieut. Gen. was born
in 1794 and received the name of Jesse.
In 1799 the family moved west and set-
tled in Ohio. At that time not a single
state had yet been formed of all that vast
region lying between the Alleghany and
Rocky mountains. It formed a vast hunt-
ing ground for the Indian. The great
Tecumseh was a leading chief, and bloody
battles were fought around the dwelling
of the Grants. In 1806 when the Western
Reserve became partially settled, the Grants
removed to Deerfield where the grand fath-
er of the present general died, leaving his
father Jesse an orphan boy aged eleven
years, with no one to guide or assist him
in his way through the world.

He soon discovered however that he
must get his living by labor, and it was
necessary to select some calling that would
pay him best. He therefore learned the
tanning, which he followed until sixty years
old when he retired. Inured to pioneer life
he carved his way alone to an honorable
position in society and wealth. In 1821
Jesse Grant married Miss Hannah Simpson
and they settled at Point Pleasant, in
Clermont County, Ohio, on the Ohio River.
Here on April 27th 1822 a son was born
in an humble frame cottage still standing,
and valued before the War at about $300.
The boy's maternal grand-mother was
quite a reader of history, and had taken
quite a fancy to Ulysses the great Grecian
General who defeated the Trojans by his
strategy of the wooden horse, and she desir-
ed to have her grandson called Ulysses.
His grand-father wanted him called Hiram,
so the two names were united and he was
called Hiram Ulysses.

But when his name was handed into Con-
gress for his appointment to West Point,
by some mistake it was handed in Ulysses
and has remained so ever since. Many
stories are now told of his boyhood which,
whether true or not would never have been
thought of again, had he not attained to his
present position. It is certain however
that during his early boyhood he exhibited
nothing very brilliant, but was one of that
faithful diligent kind that slowly and surely
make their mark. He worked at the tan-
ning with his father, and it is said that he
was accustomed to rise early in the morning
make the fires,—-milk his mother's cows,
and then go to work in the yard until
breakfast time. An incident is related of
his boyhood which illustrates his present
character to a great degree.

His father one day desired some sticks
of hewn timber for a certain purpose, and
told Ulysses to harness the team, and drive
to the woods, where he would find the
timber, and men waiting to load it. The
boy ever fond of driving was soon on the
spot where he found the timber but no men.
What was he to do? Most boys would have
gone home again but such was not the case
of the tanner boy. Looking around he saw
a tree which had fallen against another so
as to form an inclined plain. He saw at
once he could make the horses do the part
of the workmen. So he hitched the team
to each of the logs and drew them near the
inclined plain. Then drawing them piece
by piece up the inclined plain and balanc-
ing them around, he managed to draw them
on the wagon and drove home in triumph.
The only school advantages Ulysses had
until seventeen years of age, were four or
five months of each year in the district
school, spending the other months of the
year in labor.


FRENCH IN COCHIN CHINA

Translated from Revue des Deux Mondes

The public feelings and opinions in these
latter years have been freely expressed and
are adverse to distant expeditions. After
out intervention in China, our war with Mexi-
co, and our occupation of Lower Cochin
China, the public became alarmed at the
great expenses that these operations
brought on the finances of the country.

Questions were made as to the National
Interest, whether they improved our in
fluence, and if the attainment of them would
secure us from the embarrassments which
were made in obtaining them. It is no
doubt the duty of great Governments to
originate great designs and to show that
they can accomplish them, thereby proving
to the world that they have the power and
resources to do so, but that they may be of
use they should be well timed, so that they
may not be followed by embarrassments to
the contrary. If this is doubted we have
only to look at what is now passing. The
capture of Algiers was a glorious Legacy
of the Restoration of 1830. Those who un-
dertook it were not aware that France was
engaged in a Revolution which gave rise
to all the difficulties that ensued to its
Government both internally and exter-
nally and which new establishments have
always to encounter. We had for a long
time to support the military operations
which the resistance of the Arabs neces-
sitated, and to display our strength to
those ill disposed European Powers whom
we had to oppose. No one can imagine
the embarrassment these caused to our
general politics, when we had to found
an independent Belgie, and later to settle
the Eastern question and to resume our
proper stand in the European States.

From its position as a great European
Power, France is more obliged to have its
forces united than to have them scattered,
and to fulfil her mission she ought ever to
be ready to meet the eventualities of Con-
tinental politics. To be wanting in these
duties, in the present state of Europe, would
be a folly which would not only compro-
mise the renown of our statesmen, but also
that which is of more importance to us, the
dignity and power of our country.

The Government however so far from be-
ing appalled, met those difficulties, and al-
though they were difficult for the ministry
they were not without glory, and gained
the good will of the public, thus becoming
Popular, they soon were National. Thus
one of the greatest achievements of the
Government of 1830 shows us what can be
gained by undertaking foreign expeditions,
with liberal discussions and publicity.

Probably some persons will be more con-
vinced after reading what has been effected
under very different conditions—That of
the expedition of Cochin China.

In 1858 the war of China, where our flag
floated with that of Great Britian, was the
first phase accomplished. The forts of Pee-
ho fell to the allied Powers, and the Treaty
of Tien-tein was signed. Peace with the
Celestial Empire appeared assured and no
one could suppose that the Pekin Court
would have by its bad faith provoked a re-
newal of hostilities, and by its conduct
rendered it imperiously necessary a few
months after to carry hostilities into the
very capital. It was between the signing
of these treaties, that the French thought
of the wrongs they had to settle with the
Kingdom of Annam. The Court of Hue.
had not only persecuted most cruelly the
inhabitants who had become Christians,
but also the foreign missionaries, without
respect to their Nationality. Mons Diaz
Bishop of Tonquin after suffering a long
imprisonment, died on the 20th July 1857
under cruel tortures, a martyr. The French
and Spanish missionaries spread over Co-
chin China, had appealed to Paris and
Madrid, making sad complaints, and claim-
ed the protection of the two Catholic Gov-
ernments, more for the religion to which
they were devoted, than for their lives
which they were ready to sacrifice, follow-
ing the example of their glorious Bishop.
We had several times made applications to
the Annam Government and demanded re-
parations for what had passed and guaran-
tees for the future, but they refused to ne-
gotiate with us, and fired at the vessel on
board of which were the French representa-
tives. It was under these circumstances
that orders were given to Admiral Rigault
de Genouilly, who commanded our naval
station in China, to proceed with his ships
against the Annamites and oblige them to
give us satisfaction. The Spaniards from Man-
illa joined our expedition with a contingent
of troops.

It is not our wish to enter into any details
of the military operations prolonged from
1858 to 1863 under the command of Ad-
mirals Rigault de Genonilly, Page, Charner,
and Bonard, who successively commanded
them. What imports us to know is not
how the war was carried on, but what
politics guided our movements.

Had Admiral Rigault de Genouilly pre-
cise instructions? Was he aware of what
he was to attain! Was the idea conceived
in Paris of profiting by the occasion thus
afforded, by the insolent obstinacy of the
King of Annam, to take from him a part of
his Kingdom, and there found an establish-
ment under the sovereignity of France!
And if such resolutions were made, had we
considered the difficulties and obstacles
which we might meet? Had we foreseen
how far our efforts were to be carried, and
the importance of the sacrifices which ac-
company such an enterprize?

The documents that we have consulted
differ in the answers which should be given
to these questions. Some say that our
Naval forces were only to go to the coasts
of Cochin China, and there to give a milit-
ary demonstration as a moral support of
the persecuted missionary cause, and to
get the Annam Government, to make a
convention guaranteeing the free propaga-
tion of the Catholic Religion, and the rights
of humanity. Other documents on the con-
trary would have us believe that the orders
given to Admiral Rigault de Genonilly,
were the result of long reflection and tended
to carry out a project wisely conceived. To
take a position in the Extreme East would
be renewing our old traditions, and make
us faithful to a National Policy transmitted
under the different Revolutions which have
taken place in France.

What then was this National policy? and
what were these traditions? It is remem-
bered that in 1787 George Pegnean de
Behain, Bishop of Adras after having saved
from the civil wars, Gra-long, the lawful
inheritor of the throne of Anam, came to
solieit the aid of the Court of Versailles,
for his Royal Protege, and that in the
quality of Minister of this claimant, he
signed with M. Montorin the Minister for
Foreign Affairs of Louis XVI, a treaty by
which the King of Cochin China, in conse-
quence of having placed at his disposal an
auxilliary corps, ceded to France the Pen-
insula of Tourane, and the island of Pulo
Condor, and gave to our commerce and
to our Mercantile Marine conditions that
no other nations or states enjoyed. The
Bishop of Adras gained by this treaty
great authority, and being assisted by
several Frenchmen whose names are
not forgotten in Cochin China, succeeded
after many adverse vicissitudes, in placing
his Protege Gra-long in triumph. Did
these however become of any impor-
tance? One thing is certain, that in 1857
the Government submitted the treaty of the
Bishop of Adras and M. Montmorin to a
commission, who after a long and patient
investigation, were forced to admit that
France being taken up and engaged by the
events of the Revolution of 1789, did not
carry out the principles of the treaty, and
in consequence they ought to consider it
null and void. It was also recollected that
in 1843 Admiral Cecil accompanying the
mission of M. Lu Grené, was ordered in
concert with him to search in the extreme
East, for a place where under the shelter of
our own flag, our commerce and our marine
should find permanant protection.

The instructions of M. Guizot then min-
ister of Foreign Affairs are cited, who said,
"It is not for France to be wanting in that
part of the world, where already the other
Nations of Europe are established. In case
of ship wreck our vessels ought not to be
without a place to repair, and not be ob-
lidged to go to the Portuguese Colony of
Macao, the English port of Hong Kong, or
the arsenal of Caviéto in the Spanish island
of Luaon.” These instructions show great
prudence, in excluding by the selection to
be made, full possession of an extensive ter-
ritory, which would bring us in constant
quarrels with these numerous populations.
They recommend to give the preference to
an island where it would be easy to remain
in peace, away from all hostile neighbors,
in a favorable situation for health and re-
victualling. M. Lagrone and Admiral Cocile,
in execution of these projects, cast their
eyes on the Isle of Basilan, situated near
Mandano, at the extremity of the Sooloo
Archipelago, they landed a force there and
obtained a cession of it from the Sultan of
Sooloo, but immediately the Governor of
the Phillippines protested, and claimed it as
part of the Spanish territories, which was
backed by the cabinet of Madrid. M.
Guizot was engaged at the time with the
very difficult and delicate negotiations of
the Spanish marriage, and considering it
best to drop the lesser question for the
greater, resigned for the time the contested
subject.

Such are the two explanations that are
given to us in regard to our first operations
in Cochin China. Without giving our
opinion on the one or the other, it is to be
believed that concerning the acts of Ad-
miral Rigaulte de Genonilly, first our aims
were not very ambitious. The Admiral
led the force under him to the bay of
Tourane, took possession of and destroyed
the two forts which defended it, and be-
came master of the Peninsula of Champ
Callao. His intention was to attack Hue
the capital of Cochin China, distant about
15 leagues from Tourane, and 6 leagues
from the sea, and to get there by the river
which was obstructed by sandy shoals.

The brave Admiral wished to take his
artillery up this river to Hue, and compel
the King Tu-due to make a treaty, but the
N. E. Monsoon then blowing rendered this
hazardous, and an expedition by land with
the small force under him was not practica-
ble. Soon he formed another project. He
was surrounded by European Jesuit mis-
sionaries, who although after so long a so-
journ in the country had but vague illusive
ideas of their power with the natives. They
confidently told him, that the Annamites
were so vexed and oppressed that they on-
ly waited the appearance of our forces when
they would rise in a body and receive us
as liberators. The combats that we had at
Tourane, ought to have guarded us from
giving any credit to such language; but they
persuaded the Admiral that on another
part of the coast we sould meet with a dif-
ferent reception, saying that the christian
population was spread about Saigon, and
we should be assisted by them. The salub-
rity of lower Cochin China, the numberless
runs of water, the facility of blockading the
city and cutting off the supplies of rice, ren-
dered the attempt altogether propitious,
and determined the Admiral to abandon
Tourane and to direct his steps towards
Lower Cochin China, which he did on the
7th Feb. 1859.
We did not find as we advanced the pro-
mised auxiliaries, as that part of the popula-
tion who had become christians were a
miserable set, without influence being both
enervated and abject; and who trembled be-
fore the mandarins; whereas the Annamites
unconverted, formed the majority of the
population; and so attached to their chiefs,
having the same faith and ideas from the
lowest to the highest.

Attached to their usages with great
submission, and having from their infancy
been taught to consider Europeans as the
most barbarious race, they were from the
first hostile and determined to consider us
as invaders of their rights.

Saigon was defended by two forts and a
formidable citadel built in the last century,
by the Frenchmen who accompanied the
Bishop of Adras. The runs of water sup-
plying the city were guarded by foots and
stockades, secured with iron bars, and defen-
ded by batteries. The Admiral did not
hesitate to attack these obstacles, and un-
der his vigorous command, our soldiers al-
though strongly resisted, soon succeeded
in destroying them. These events were
accomplished without having the least ef-
fect upon the Annamite Government.
Their army fell back and concentrated about
four miles from Saigon, at Ke-hoa, in an
attitude that showed their losses had not
discouraged them. At the same time, on
the side of Touran, Tu-due's troops made
an offensive movement, and made at the
mouth of the river, to the South of the Bay,
a series of works for the prevention of all
attempts by troops against that position.
The Admiral therefore had to give battle
in the Province of Saigon, and before Tour-
ane to force the Cochin Chinese to fight,
retreating on their capital. Once more we
had to abandon Touran, a part of the force
being recalled to China, to undertake that
second Campaign which carried our victo-
rious forces to Pekin, while we occupied
Saigon with 700 men.

During two years, until the conclusion
of peace with the Celestial Empire, this
handful of Frenchmen kept off the Annamite
army, they were obliged to be shut up in
the town, and cut off from all communic-
ations. Vice Admiral Page in the inter-
val arrived from France, to succeed Ad-
miral Rigault de Genouilly in the command.
He knew the wishes of the French Govern-
ment. There were no ideas at that time of
conquest, or of forming in Cochin China a
great establishment, although it is wished
to be believed, since that the orders to that
officer were most modest. They permitted
him to propose to the Court of Hue a
treaty without pecuniary indemnities, and
without cession of territory, but to stipulate
liberty for our Missionaries to teach their
religion in such a manner as not to trouble
the Annamite administration, and also to
stipulate for the residence of French Con-
suls in three ports of Cochin China, and an
"Envoy Charge 'd' affaire" from France
every three years.

Negotiations were commenced on these
bases, but the plenipotentiary of Tu-duc
raised all kinds of difficulties to prevent
the treaty being signed, which compromi-
ed him in the eyes of his Government, al-
though they were convinced that we would
be glad to leave and go to sea without
striking a blow. This equivocal state ex-
isted when the peace with China allowed
Admiral Charneir, who then commanded
our naval forces, to take a part of them to
Cochin China. He recommenced hostili-
ties, blockaded Saigon and took possession
of all the Province of Gra-duih, which is
the capital, and a short time after of the
Province of Mitho.

A second negotiation than ensued, but
without any better success than the first, so
Admiral Bonard who then commanded,
continued the warfare, and forwarded the
conquests, extending them to a third Pro-
vince that of Bien-hoa By the force of
circumstances (it said in an Official Re-
port) the end first proposed had been
singularly overpast, and we became con-
querors when we only went simply to re-
dress grievances.
These repeated attacks at length disquiet-
ed Tu-duc and he decided to ask for peace.
Admiral Bonard seized the occasion so long
looked for, but still being in doubt he sent
the steamer "Forbin" to Hué, to be assured
of the disposition of the Annamite Govern-
ment, whether they were serious, or only
wished to gain time to bring supplies of
rice into the capital. The King being
convinced that he had no way of carrying
on the old way of negotiating, charged the
ministers of the Rites, and of his Armies to
go to Saigon, where on the 5th June 1862
they signed a treaty with the representa-
tives of the Emperor of the French. We
subjoin the principal part of this treaty.

The subjects of France and Spain can
exercise the Christian religion in the king-
dom of Annam, and the subjects of that
kingdom without distinction, who may de-
sire to embrace the Christian religion, are
allowed to do so without restraint, but no
one is to be forced to embrace Christianity
against their will.

The three Provinces, Bien-hoa, Gra-
duih, and Duih-tuong, (Mitho) complete,
and the island af Pulo Condor, are entirely
ceded with full sovereignty to the Emperor
of the French.

The merchants of France are freely al-
lowed to trade, and send their ships into
the great river of Cambodia, and into all
the branches of that river, and the same
privilege shall be allowed to French ship-
of-war sent on duty, in that river and its
branches.

The subjects of France and Spain, can
freely trade in the three following ports,
viz—Tourane, Belat, and Quang-an.

The peace being made, should there arise
anything of importance, the three Sover-
eigns can send Representatives to treat in
any one of the three capitals.

This Deplomatic act gave us a new life
in Cochin China, and imposed new obliga-
tions upon us. By our sovereignty in
lieu of that of the King of Annam over
this extended territory, we took upon our-
selves towards our new subjects, the duties
of giving to them the blessings of a superior
civilization to that they had know; deve-
loping their resources and guaranteeing their
security.

Our first care ought to be to inspire the
Annamites, with full confidence of our re-
solution to keep forever the conquests we
have made. Our evacuation of Tourane
made them think that we only occupied
their country casually, and were ready to
abandon it on the least reverse, or embar-
rassment. They were not ignorant that the
Court of Hué in signing the treaty had
yeilded only to our menaces, and they kept
up the hope of seizing the first occasion to
retake the territory thus ceded to us. As
long as they imagined this we could not
depend upon their fidelity. Notwithstand-
ing the peace, the Christians who were sus-
pected of having called us to Cochin China,
were in their eyes guilty of rebellion to their
sovereign, and deserved the greatest of
punishments and torments, the Annamites
who witnessed the butchery of many of
those accused of treason, were impressed
with terror, and would not expose themsel-
ves to Tu-duc's vengeance.

These facts presented great difficulties
both moral and material, but before exam-
ining what was determined to be done, it
is necessary to show how France had to
display her ability and power.

The three provinces that we had, at such
a great distance, joined to the French Em-
pire, are of great importance both topograph-
ically and o : account of their rich territory.
They formed in the Annam Kingdom a sort
of viceroyalty and altogether was nominated
Gra-duih or Lower Cochin China, and es-
pecially lately it has been so called, the
chief station was Saigon. Natural bound-
ries surrounds and protects all the territory.
On the East and North, our new posessions
are surrounded by a chain of mountains,
which guards them from all attacks. The
danger can only come from the side of the
sea, where the country is flat, but here the
fire of our cannon will repel the assailants.
The West and South limits are Cambodia
and the Sea, but thanks to the rivers which
facilitates its defences, the dangers within
and without are no longer to be feared.

The total superficies of this territory may
be estimated at 1600 square leagues, and
the population about 1,000,000. Two rivers
the Dormey, and the Cambodia, and sev-
eral made canals surround the three provin-
ces. Saigon the most important part of the
Annam kingdom is the seat of our Gover-
nment. In the bay of Vin-tan where ship
can some and find excellent anchorage and
shelter, there are neither rocks, nor shoals.
Saigon is in so admirable position, it is in
communication with the sea distant about
15 leagues, and it forms a grand centre for
commercial enterprises with Indo-China
and Europe. The inhabitance are mild and
timid and easily governed—they are not
(as in supposed) plunged in ignorance and
barbarity, although they are Buddhists.

There is a regular and permanent army
recruited under certain regulations, besides
a militia which is raised in the provinces
according to the wants of the state in peace
or war, but chiefly to defend them from
the pirates and the eruptions of the people
of the mountains.

Such is the aspect of Lower Cochin
China, we should not be surprised that af-
ter these first reports of our officers, those
most interested in this distant enterprise
should take such enthusiastic view of its
future. "It is not a colony that we have
gained for France, it is a Kingdom.


RACHABUREE.

For the Bangkok Recorder.

This place is noted for being the prin-
cipal depot of Sapan-wood for the western
side of the gulf. It is situated on the Ma-
klawng river about a day’s journey from its
mouth, and nearly at the head of tide wa-
ter. At this place the river is narrow, the
banks high, and, in the dry season, the
water very low; but always navigable at
highest tides for medium sized native boats.

The river below the town is beautifully
ornamented in many places with bamboo,
tamarind and mangoe groves. Some of these
are most romantic and inviting in their ap-
pearance, especialy those on the western
bank where the delicious “mango apples
grow."

Whether Rachaburee would be called a
“walled town” or not, might be a disputed
question. There is both a wall and a town
it is true; but the town is one place, and
the wall another. Doubtless the wall did
at one time surround the town, but now
the enclosure, excepting the Governor’s
residence and a few other buildings, is either
waste land or cultivated rice fields.

The walls, towers, gateways &c, are yet in
a good state of preservation, and have the
same general appearance, and look as
though they might have been built about
the same age of the world with the forts,
walls &c, in Bangkok.

The town is now located between the
wall and the river. This change of location
has evidently been made for the purpose of
being nearer the water, and to accommodate
the Siamese who have a peculiar aversion
to any kind of wholesome and profitable
exercise.

Sapan-wood and ebony (mai muk'ka)
are brought here in large quantities from
the surrounding forests, during the dry sea-
son, whence they are taken in boats to
Bangkok. It is generally cut by the for-
esters and sold to men who make it their
business to collect and convey it in carts to
the town, where it again changes hands.
These teameasters travel in the night, and al-
ways go in companies of 20 to 50 wagons.
In the morning you will hear the sound of
their wheels long before they come in sight
—not the iron wheels, but the unpleasant
creaking sound of their unoiled wooden
axles. It is a slow and tedious process
bringing it across the country in ox-carts,
and a mere moiety is obtained compared
to what there might be if a good rail-road
or canal was constructed to these almost
inexhaustable forests of Sapan-wood. Be-
sides these, large rafts of bamboos, and
other timbers are brought down the river
from the forest above the town and taken
to Bangkok. These forests of valuable
wood, it appears, are free to any who wish
to cut. What great sources of wealth these
might become to the country if properly
worked; and how much the country needs
to be explored and surveyed to ascertain
what wealth it has.

His Excellency the Prime Minister is
making preparations to build a brick house
in a most delightful place on the opposite
side of the river from the town, which will
greatly help the appearance of the place,
and afford accommodations for visitors.

When the country is opened out and
improved, Rachaburee will become an im-
portant centre. It needs now only to be
connected with Nakawn-chaisee by a good
canal or rail-road to be in direct communica-
tion with the city, after the proposed im-
provements to the latter place are completed.
When this connection is made it will not
take much more to continue the line a very
little further to Petchaburee, where is situated
the beautiful country palace of His Majesty
the first king. In a country where canals
and rail-roads can be so easily constructed,
it it strange why His Majesty does not have
these places connected with the city by
rail, if for no other purpose than his own
accommodation in visiting the Royal coun-
try palace.

S.G.

THE SUGAR DISTRICT OF
NAKAWN-CHEISEE

The cane plantations of Nak'awn Choi-
see lie almost entirely south of the town of
this name, between it and a point not far
from ten miles from the mouth of the
Ta-cheen river. The centre of the district
is about due west from Bangkok, to which
point the Siamese government contemplate
cutting a large canal with a carriage road
on its bank in the course of the next twelve
months.

The cane fields are quite charming in the
summer months, before the cane becomes
thick and heavy making the view monoton-
ous. As the banks of the river are general-
ly cleared of trees, the fields show well
from the river in times of full tide. Inter-
spersed among them are to be seen ban-
nana orchards, and indigo fields. The in-
digo plant usually occupies the space be-
tween those of the young cane, and is
brought to perfection before the latter re-
quires much room.

The cane is propagated by means of suck-
ers from the old stock, and these are set in
little pits made in the ground about 18
inches apart in every row. The time for plant-
ing them is from the beginning to the end
of the dry season. The young cane, as
well as the indigo plants among them, are
watered by means of long handled bas-
ket dippers, from deep artificial gutters,
charmingly straight and regular, dividing
the fields into mounds or beds, from ten to
twelve feet wide and a hundred yards or
more in length. The vital element is al-
ways present, even in the dry season, as
the flood tides daily replenish the ditches
with river water, coming within convenient
reach of the workman's dipper. You will
see the Chinamen (for the work is nearly
all done by them) scattered here and there,
about the fields, both morning and evening,
diligently irrigating their plants.

In another direction, you will see the
workmen breaking up the fallow ground by
means of heavy and narrow grub hoes, at-
tached to handles six feet long. The hoe
is first lifted up as high as its handle will
admit of, is then brought down with full
fell strength, causing it to sink into the
ground some eight to ten inches. They by
a pry on the long lever, the stiff alluvial
soil is raised up, and left in lumps for the
first rain to soften and crumble.

This, but too obviously, is a hard and
tedious mode of preparing their fields for
the cane, which doubtless would be greatly
improved by some of the Western ploughs.
There is here a prodigious expenditure of
human strength where strong buffalo teams,
with suitable ploughs, would perform the
work very much quicker and equally well.
In all these plains there are neither rocks
nor stumps to interfere with the gliding of
the plough. Here among the cane plan-
tations, as well as in all the surrounding pad-
dy fields, is a fine tract for the display of
European improvements, both in the turn-
ing up of the soil, and the cultivation of
the rice and the cane. A little guano would
probably improve the latter fifty per cent,
but even without this or any other manure
than that obtained by the annual overflow-
ing of the river, the crops, in ordinary
seasons, are far from being inferior.



A TREATY

Between the French Consul and Hluang
Bawriboon Soora-kawn, the Spirit Farm-
er, translated from a Siamese Copy.

ARTICLE I. French liquors are [hereby]
permitted to be sold [in Bangkok] and
there is nothing to prevent it. The Spirit
Farmer will not interfere with any person
who has been duly licensed to traffic in
the same. Such a person shall be allowed
to sell the liquor as he pleases.

ARTICLE II. When any vessel shall ar-
rive in Bangkok having a consignment of
[French] liquors to any merchant, a report
of such consignment shall be made to the
French Consul, stating the number of cases,
and then said cases shall be delivered over
to the Consul, together with a certificate
from a proper officer in France, stating that
said cases of liquor are indeed French.

ARTICLE III. As soon as the French Con-
sul shall have heard of such consignment,
he shall inform the Spirit Farmer.

ARTICLE IV. When a merchant shall
desire to dispose of his [French] liquors to
a resident of Bangkok to retail for him or
in his place, he shall first inform the French
Consul, and then take the names of the
persons who wish to engage in said traffic,
stating how many persons there are and how
many cases the merchant would deliver to
each. And then the French Consul, in con-
cert with the Spirit Farmer, shall give to
each undertaker a written license to sell the
liquor. The licenses shall have the seals
of both the Consul and the Spirit Farmer
affixed to them, and all the cases and bot-
tles shall have the seal of the Spirit Farmer
imprinted on them so that the servants of
the Inspector of Customs shall be able to
ascertain readily what cases and bottles con-
tain French liquor, and thus avoid disputes.

ARTICLE V. Let it be distinctly under-
stood that the articles of this Treaty have
respect only to French liquors, and to no
others. And those persons who may ob-
tain licenses to sell [French liquors] shall
be careful and sure that they do not use
their licenses for the sale of any other kind
of spirits, as there are dishonest men who
might be tempted to use their licenses for
the sole of ligours that have a counterfeit
French label on the cases and bottles. Any
person of this discription, when detected,
shall be required by the French Consul, to
return his license: or if the Spirit Farmer
shall detect and arrest such a man, let him
not presume to make any complaint of it to
the French Consul for he will have no de-
sire to hear him.

ARTICLE VI. Whoever may wish to in-
form himself as to what are certainly the
lawful labels for French liquors, or what
are the counterfeits of the same, let him
hereby know that at the French Consulates
there are the several varieties of labels, and
if any one desire to go and examine them,
he is at liberty to do so.

ARTICLE VII. These articles of Treaty
have been written both in the French and
Siamese languages, and are designed to be
used within the limits of the city of Bang-
kok from this time forward.—Let every per-
son take heed to follow them.


THE RIVER TA-CHEEN

Ta-cheen river empties into the head of
the Gulf of Siam, twenty miles or more
West of the mouth of the Maa-nam Chow
Phya, and is about one fourth less in
volume than the latter. It appears to be
sufficiently deep to be navigated more than
60 miles, by any vessel of less than twelve
feet draught. But there is a sand bar a
little outside of its mouth, much like the
one at the mouth of the Chow Phya.

It is in some respects a more beautiful
stream than the latter, and one of the most
serpentine in Siam, its bends being gener-
ally quite abrupt, describing often almost
an entire circle. Persons not aware of this
fact, are liable to lose their reckoning and
bearings, in passing from place to place up-
on it. Some of the bends of the river,
have small sinuous canals across their
necks, which greatly shortens distances for
small craft at flood tide, but they are too
shallow for any use at ebb.

Ta-cheen is one of four noble rivers, all
flowing southerly, seeking the Gulf through
one common plain as level as the sea. This
assertion is so strange to some, that it is
difficult for them to believe it to be a fact.
A common belief of Europeans is, that
they are but so many mouths of one mighty
river. But the truth is, there is not any
evidence whatever that even any two of
them have the least natural connection with
each other.

All this vast plain being more than 100
miles in width, from East to West, and not
less than 150 miles in length, from North
to South, was once, in all probability, oc-
cupied by the sea, which, having gradually
retired from its ancient boundaries since
Noah's flood, has left these four great riv-
ers, to cut each its own independent chan-
nel to the Gulf, through the alluvial de-
posit left by the receding waters. As a
proof that the sea has retired, it may be
stated that marine productions are to be
found deeply imbedded in all this alluvial
deposit, and that there are hills of sea shells
at Aug-hin, and other places, from 20 to 30
feet above the present level of the sea.


Obituary Notice


Sir Robert Schomburgk.

Sir Robert Hermann Schomburgk, lately
her Majesty's consul at Bangkok, and cel-
ebrated for his many travels and his scien-
tific investigations in South America, died
at Berlin on the 11th inst. Sir Robert was
born in 1804. His first employment was
in 1831, when he was engaged in the survey
of one of the Virgin Islands of the West
Indies, and the dangerous coral reefs
surrounding them. In 1835, under the
auspices of the Royal Geographical Society,
he proceeded to Guiana and explored its
interior, which was previously unknown
land. For this service he received the gold
medal of the society on returning to Eng
land in 1839. In the subsequent year he
undertook, on the part of the British Gov-
ernment, the survey of the limits of British
Guiana, for the successful prosecution of
which mission he received the honour of
knighthood, and in the same year (1840)
he was nominated a Knight of the Prussian
Order of the Red Eagle, and received pro-
motion in the same order some years later.
Sir Robert first entered upon the consular
service of Great Britain in 1848, when he
was appointed British Consul at St. Dom-
ingo, and in the following year was accredot-
ed plenipotentiary to conclude a treaty with
that republic. He was appointed consul at
Bangkok in 1857, but retired on a pension
last year. In 1859 accompanied by Mr.
Clark, interpreter, he proceeded on an over-
land tour to Moulmein, through Changmei,
the capital of the tributary kingdom of
Laos, and returned to the seat of his con-
sulate in 1860. Sir Robert was a member
of many learned societies both in Europe
and America, and he is the author of some
clever works and many scientific papers of
great interest. Sir Robert was a Prussian,
subject by birth. Overland Mail, Mar. 18th


A. Card.

To the Editor of the Bangkok Recorder

Sir—-I wish distinctly to have it known,
that the proprietor is responsible for the
articles on "POLICE PROTECTION" and
"WHAT ARE THE POLICE BEING," which
have appeared in the "Siam Times."
They were both written by me, but were
approved of by Mr. J. H. Chandler, else
they could not have appeared in the paper.

Yours sincerely,
T. W. Smith,
Late Reporter for the "Siam Times"

Police Cases.

FROM 1ST TO 18TH MAY 1865.
REPORTED BY S. J. B. AMES
Commissioner of Police.
2Cases of Larceny, of cloth, clothes &c
2dodoDebt of Tls 33 @ 76
2dodoFighting
1dodoAssaulting the Police
3dodoContraband Opium
1dodoHighway robbery
1dodoCarrying dangerous weapons
1dodoFugitive slave
1dodoCutting & severely wounding his
wife
1dodoBreach of trust 200 Tls
1dodoCreating a disturbance in a
brothel.
2dodoCarrying goods at unreason-
able hours of the night.

ITEMS.

The Steamer Chow Phya left Singapore
May 8th, arrived at the bar 13th inst, and
and at Bangkok at 11 A.M 14th inst.

Passengers, Per Chow Phya.
Messrs. Allen, Horbey and Capt. Hicks.
H. M. St. Str. Princess Royal, Vice Admi-
ral King is on passage for this, and may be
expected to arrive about the 22nd inst.


On the 11th inst, the Opium farmer's
men assisted by Capt Amos and five or six
of the Police Force, searched the promises
of Messrs. Pickenpack, Theis, & Co., for
contraband Opium and found a large
quantity. It appears that there was scarcely
a chest opened but what contained opium
more or less, from one to two hundred
ticals worth;—that the coolies have
been carrying on a good business for some
time, and that the opium was prepared
on the premises, as the pans &c, used for
that purpose were also found and seized.
The opium not generally distributed plainly
showed that not one or two were alone
guilty, but the whole fraternity of coolies
including the head man, in whose chest
the largest quantity was found. The whole
forty or fifty men ought to have been
arrested; but it would have required the
whole Police Force to do that, Capt. Ames
wisely took four of the most guilty, and
with the opium was proceeding to the boat,
when the prisoners called on their friends
for assistance, and a general row com-
menced.

About fifty or sixty coolies (among whom
were some who claimed to belong to the
"Borneo Co. Limited") against six of the
Police, who retained two of the prisoners
and all the opium; the opium farmer's men
who had chrged the other two, let them
go to the first onset and retreated to the boat.
The coolies were armed with sticks and
bricks (which they showered about pretty
plentifully) and in spite of Mr. Finch who
did all in his power to quell the disturbance,
they followed the prisoners to the boat, and
would have probably released them, had
not Mr. Finch and his friends brought fire
arms to bear on them, at which they pre-
cipitately dispersed.

We find that the practice of assaulting
the Police, and releasing prisoners is very
common among the Chinese, and not until
a severe example is made of some of them
will a stop be put to it. The Police were
only doing their duty, and without their
assistance it would be very difficult to seize
opium; therefore as long as the Government
receive a revenue from the sale of that
drug, and the opium farmer requires the
assistance of the Police to seize smugglers,
we hope that the Government will support
and protect the Police, and punish every
one who may assault or obstruct them in
the execution of their duty.

We are sorry to find that this is the
second European establishment, on which
opium in large quantities has been found
within the last few weeks, and report says
that others are suspected; most likely the
Chinamen take advantage of the premises
of Foreigners, and are under the impression
the Police will never pay them a visit.
Much to the proprietors that was done
so twice, successively, and we hope it might
be the means of breaking up such nests
of crime, and free the proprietors from a
certain amount of suspicion, which will
naturally in some minds be attached to
them.


NOTICE TO MARINERS

A Reef near Pulo Panjang, reported by
Capt Hide Ship "Siamese Crown".

The Siamese Ship "Siamese Crown"
struck and dragged over this Reef, on her
passage from China to this Port. This
Reef is not marked on any Chart, and
consequently must be unknown by Naviga-
tors in these waters.

At the time the Ship struck, Peak
Island bore North, and White Rock S. W.
by W. the ship was drawing 15 feet
water, after crossing over the Reef, sound-
ings was got, at 30 fathoms. It being in
the night time I did not stop to examine
the Reef.



Underground Railway in New York.—

Another effort is made to obtain
from the Legislature of New York a charter
for a railroad under Broadway, to extend
from Bowling Green to the Central Park.
The project may receive an impulse from
the success of a similar enterprise in Lon-
don. The Metropolitan Underground Rail-
way of London reports : "One week in
December there were carried over the road
273,669 passengers, the receipts being £2,-
703. This is the largest weekly receipt
since the opening. This is equal to £720
per mile for the week, or at the rate of
£37,000 per mile per annum, and is very
largely in excess of the receipts per mile of
any other railway in the kingdom. When
the extension is open there is no doubt that
the traffic over the entire railway will be
enormously increased. The works are be-
ing vigorously prosecuted."


ENIGMA. No. 2.

For the Bangkok Recorder

I am composed of 20 letters.
My, 12: 17: 10: 15: 20: to appear in which is the
ambition of many people.
My, 20: 17: 7: 18: 9: 14: 19: is worthy of death.
My, 15: 7: 1: 20: 17: 18: 3: is what some powers
profess to be.
My, 4: 14: 1: is a pronoun.
My, 16: 10: 15: destroys more life than a pesti-
lence.
My, 12: 17: 4: 10: 19: is a dishonorable prac-
tice
My, 4: 18: 2: 7: is a celebrated College in the
United States.
My, 1: 8: 18: 11: is an abbreviated appellation of
a certain country.
My, 11: 18: 15: 16: 14: is a kind of fruit.
My, 9: 18: 1: 3: is the name of a tall king.
My, 12: 10: 15: 20: is a liquid measure.
My, 11: 10: 15: 20: is a unity in Siam.
My, 1: 2: 3: 4: 13: 5: 7: 8: is the name of an
illustrious Grecian general.
My, 6: 14: is the name of an Egyptian king.
My whole is an illustrious son of Jesse.

Answer To Enigma

Man—Hare—Steam—Her—Mills—TeCumseh—
Wars—Mice—Siam—Wales—Masters—Canals—Mu-
sic—William Te Cumseh, Sherman.
G.












AMERICA.

A steamer has arrived at Crookhaven
this morning, bringing advices from New
York to the 16th inst. General Lee re-
ports that the Federals, advancing on Kin-
ston, North Carolina, were attacked four
miles from that place by General Bragg
on the 8th inst, and driven back three miles,
with the loss of 1,500 prisoners, three can-
non, and many killed and wounded, which
were left on the field. The Confederate
loss was smail. General Schofield, who ar-
rived at the scene of operations on the fol-
lowing day, reports that Bragg renewed
the attack on the 10th, but was repulsed
with heavy loss in killed and wounded, and
several hundred were taken prisoners. He,
in turn, admits his loss small. Later des-
patches from Fortress Monroe state that
Schofield occupied Kingston on the 10th,
Braggs being retired towards Goldsborough.

Mr. Stanton had announced the receipt
of despatches from Sherman dated Laurel-
hill, North Carolina, of the 8th inst, which
state that he is progressing well, but, for
prudential reasons omits giving details. A
later telegram, however, states that scouts
from Sherman arrived at Wilmington on
the 11th, and reported his army encamped
at Fayetteville, North Carolina.
Richmond papers publish a correspon-
dence between Sherman and Wade Hamp-
ton, in which the former declared he will
shoot a Confederate soldier for every one
of his men killed while foraging; and the
latter replies, that for every Confederate so
executed he will retaliate by shooting two
Federal officals.
General Lee notifies to the Confederate
war department that General Wade Hamp-
ton attacked General Kilpatrick, without
mentioning at what place, on the 10th, and
drove him from his encampment, capturing
his cannon, horses, trains, several hundred
prisoners, and recapturing many Confeder-
ate prisoners. The Federal loss in killed
and wounded was heavy; that of the Con-
federates slight.
Gen. Sheridan, in a despatch to General
Grant, dated Columbia, Virginia, reports
the progress of his expedition up to the
10th inst. He alludes to a previous des-
patch, announcing his occupation of Way-
nesborough, and the defeat of Early by Cus-
ter, which had not been published. From
Waynesborough he proceeded to Charlotte-
ville, sending out detachments, which des-
troyed bridges and portions of the railways
to within twenty miles of Lynchburg, thence
to Scottsville, and destroying the locks and
cutting the banks of the James River Ca,
nal letting in the full current of the river,
and tearing up the railway along its banks.
All mills, factories and bridges on the line
of march were destroyed. Commodore
Hollins, of the Confederate navy, was re-
ported killed while attempting to escape.
capture. Sheridan adds, that he met with
no opposition after the conflict with Early,
and found food and forage in abundance.
The courier who brought Sheridan's des-
patches to Grant stated that Sheridan re-
connoitred Lynchburg, but found its gar-
rison reinforced and its defenses too strong
to attack. Sheridan was said to be endeav-
oring to reach White House on the
Pamunky.

Mobile dispatches of the 28th ult., to
the Richmond papers, state that 28 Feder-
al steamers and transports had entered the
bay, and landed large numbers of troops
upon Dauphin's Island. An early attack
upon that city was expected.

R. C. Kennedy, charged with participa-
tion in the attempt to burn the New York
Hotel last autumn, had been convicted by
a court-martial as a spy and incendiary, and
sentenced to be hanged.

The Tribune announces, from Washing-
ton, that many Federal officers, whose
term of service have expired, had proceed-
ed to Mexico and accepted command in the
Republican army.

Mr. Lincoln, under date of the 14th inst.,
orders the arrest and imprisonment during
the war of all Federal citizens or domiciled
aliens who have held intercourse with the
Confederate States by sea; he also directs
all non-resident foreigners who have been
engaged in blockade-running to leave the
country within twelve days, if on the At-
lantic side, and within forty days, if on the
Pacific side, not to return during the war,
under pain of imprisonment.

The Confederate Congress, which was to
have adjourned on the 11th inst., had ex-
tended its session to the 14th, in compliance
with a message from President Davis, which
stated that he had an important communic-
ation to submit.

The draught was commenced in New
York on the 15th inst. No opposition was
made. Provost-Marshal Frye had an-
nounced that the conscripts are not to be
called into actual service while volunteering
continues reasonably brisk.


Latest Telegrams.

London, May 6th.

Richard Cobden died yesterday in Lon-
don.

The plague is making fearful ravages in
St. Petersbergh.

Monte Video surrendered to Hores.

Brazilian troops took possession.

Peace resulted.

Hores temporarily assumed Presidency

In answer to a question put by the New
delegate relative to reports of the Pope
coming to England; Palmerston said Eng-
land offered Pope hospitality; masta (! as
to) his coming to England it would be a
political anachronism.
Great opposition about to be made to
the nomination of Bishop of Lahore.

Attempt made to form Grant's junction
with Sheridan failed.

Sherman reported to have been driven
from Goldsboro with heavy loss.

The Committee of the Commons report
a vast number of false signatures attached
to petitions in favor of Azim Jah.

The Papal Government has declared to
Foreign Ambassadors its inability to raise
an adequate force to suppress revolutionary
attempts.

Spain has stated its intention to confer
the Balaeric Isles on the Pope if obliged to
quit Rome.

Austria has declared its readiness to
abstain from voting in the Diet on Bavarian
proposals regarding Duchies, if Prussia do
so too; if not Austria will vote in favor of
Bavarian proposition.

Discussion of claim of Augustenburg fixed
for 6th April.

Papal states invaded by brigands.

French troops aent to expel them.

The Empress of the French about to
visit Algeria.

Arrivals from Calcutta,—Alumbaugh,
Nile, Queen of the South. S. S. Golden
Horn, Chiwell Abbey, and Oriana.
Discount four Consols ninety and a quarter.


(Special Telegrams for the Observer)

NEWS FROM LONDON TO
APRIL 19th.
FURTHER FAILURES.

"London, 10th April, Afternoon .—

Dhollera 10 pence ; declining .

Shirtings 9s. and 6d.

"London, 12th April; evening;—

Fair Dhollera 10 pence one farthing .

Failures:— Boll Killor & Co., Liverpool .

Charles Fore [Fox?] and Company .
Liabilities six handled thousand Pounds.

Neile Brothers, Liverpool .

T. Logan , Glasgow .

We add some items from Telegrams of
an earlier date which we find in the Mad-
ras Athenaeum .

London, 6th April-—Portugal has given
satisfaction for firing upon the Niagara,
dismissed the Governor of the Fort,
and saluted the American Flag with one
hundred and three guns . Four dismissed.
( Discount four.)

London 8th April—-The Indian Budget
has caused great surprise and dissatisfaction.
Sir Charles Wood has declared that the
Export duties are totally opposed to
everything he expected.

Oxford won the boat race.

Cotton; Dhollera ten-pence three far-
things. Bengal six-pence farthings.

New York, 30th March-—Severe battle
at Petersburg. Lee attacked-—gained tem-
porary success—afterwards repulsed, heavy
loss both sides. Sherman joined Schofield
at Goldsboro after hard fighting. Peace
Rumours renewed.

London, 10th April.—Charles Joyce
and Co., failed million. Cotton half penny
lower. India Railways higher.


London, 11th April, 10.25 a m.

New York, 1st April—A General ad-
vance of Grant’s army has commenced, and
a great battle is believed to have com-
menced.

General Thomas is advancing on Lynch-
burg.

One three-four ( ! Gold 134.)


London, Saturday morning, 13th Apr.
3.10 a. m.

New York 5th.-—After three day’s bloody
battle Grant has occupied Petersburg and
Richmond. Lee retreating on Lynchburg
closely pursued.

Lee’s losses estimated at fifteen hundred
killed and wounded, twenty-five hundred
prisoners, and one hundred to two hundred
guns. Federals lost seven hundred.

Cotton—-Dhollers, ten pence half penny;
Bengal, five pence half penny.

London, 13th April.-—Three days fight-
ing.—15000 Confederates-—7000 Federals
killed and wounded.

Lincoln in Davis’ house at Richmond.

Lee hemmed in and expected to sur-
render.

Cotton. Dhollra 9d lb.

London, 19th April, 8.50 p.m. New
York. 8th.—-Pursuit of Lee continues.
Sheridan overtook and routed him near
Burke Vally. Sheridan thinks Lee will
surrender.

Sheridan advancing. Raleigh attacked.
An attack near Mobile commenced.


Items.

Some two years since a quantity of tam-
arind was sent by a number of American
Citizens here, to New York for the use of
the Christian Commission. No news had
been received from it after it left China, and
it was supposed to be lost. By this mail
however it is learned that it was received
and appropriated to the sick soldiers and
sailors. Portions of it were sent to Norfolk
Va. New Berne N. C. Port Royal S. C. and
to New Orleans La. It was found to be ex-
cellent in cases of Camp Fever and Diar-
rhia.


On Tuesday evening 9th inst. there was
a grand illumination at wat Pra-Kao it being
the anniversary of the birth, death and in-
spiration of Buddha, it was conducted on a
much larger scale than usual. Prince and
Noblemen were represented each only by a
lantern made after his own taste and giving
his name and seal &c.
In the "Straits Times" of May 6th there
is an item referring to the "extraordinary
procedure of the French at Bangkok."
Wrong impressions will get abroad occas-
sionally. Truth demands that we state
that there was only one gun-boat viz the
Mitraille. There was no gun-boat menac-
ing Campoot so far as we know. The Mi-
traille did not anchor opposite the Royal
Palace, nor did she in any way menace the
Royal Palace. The usual friendly salute
was fired upon her arrival here. And when
the treaty between France and Siam in re-
ference to Cambodia was concluded she
left peaceably. What she would have done
had her demands not been complied with
we know not.

H. B. M. Consul was abroad during the
time the French were here, but he did not
leave on account of their coming. He held
communication daily with the city during
his absence. We believe that his advice
was asked by the Siamese, and freely given
by him.


To the Editor of the Bangkok Recorder

My Dear Sir—Some years ago I made
a note of the following law against "obtain-
ing husbands under false pretences," it was
passed by the English Parliament in 1770
and enacts " That all women of whatso-
ever age, whether virgins, maids, or widows,
who shall impose upon, seduce, and betray
into matrimony, any of H. Majesty's male
subjects by virtue of scents, paints, cos-
metics, washes, artificial teeth, false hair
spanish wool, iron, iron stays, bolstered
hips, or high heeled shoes, shall incur the
penalty of the law, now against witchcraft,
and like misdemeanors, and their marriage
under such circumstances, upon conviction
of the offending party, shall be null and
void."

Do you know if this law has been repeal
ed? I am acquainted with a few bewitching
creatures, who do not pay the slightest re-
gard to the above, and although I may not
always be proof against their witchcraft, I
should be very sorry to see any of them un
dergo the penalty of the law.

Your's &c. Silverbullet.

If you read the following verses, and are told
that they are written by a boy fifteen years old, who
saved carefully to raise money enough to buy the pa-
per and pay the postage, then wrote the lines upon
the window-sill, and with modest hesitation and
doubt sent them off, would you not augur well of
him? But if you knew that he was of foreign blood,
his parents dead, his mother, though very poor, yet
greatly educated, and careful, before dying, of his
education; and that the verses are the remembrance
of an old legend his mother used to sing,-—will you
not feel that upon this page of the Easy Chair you
have fallen upon one of those chapters of romance
which are familiar to us in Miss Braddon’s books,
say—and in older and better books than hers—and
in the best history of human life? It is remarkable
to find the rhythm and the tone of the oldest En-
glish poetry in these verses of a half-American lad
of to-day. There is a suggestion in the measure
and phraseology of the pompous richness and stiff
brocaded movement of old English verse. Imag-
ine that the Easy Chair copies from some page of
two or three centuries ago, and it will not seem
strange. "Easy Chair Harper's Monthly".


THE SUN AND NIGHT—AN ALLEGORY.

FROM THE SPANISH.
Already Night, ambitious Empress, round
This earthly orb her leaden chains had spread;
And mortals, wrapt in slumber so profound,
Seemed less enslaved in Sleep's embraces than dead.

Sol early knew her proud, insidious aim,
And, mounting hastily his car sublime
(The while his breast fierce ire and rage inflame),
Grasps his keen rays and flies to the Eastern clime.

He gained the Horizon! — When poor Night beheld
Her more than equal foe intrenched secure,
Swiftly she fled, by hurrying fears impelled,
T'escape the fury of her swift pursuer.

From side to side disconsolate she flies,
But finds, alas! no refuge, no repose;
When haply, lo! a shady grot she views,
And creeps for shelter, trembling as she goes.

In close pursuit the Sun the welkin treads,
Darting his fiery shafts on every side,
Climbs the steep vault, his piercing splendor extends,
To find what den the fugitive might hide.

A while he gazed attentive; but in vain
His penetrating eye surveyed the world;—
Outbraved! his choler 'gainst the humble plain
The fury of his blazing weapons burled.

Wistful, meanwhile, within the covert far,
'Mid the thick branches of the friendly grove,
Night hear, appalled! the rolling of his car,
Which headlong on her hot pursuer drove.

Soon as he passed from coward terrors free
She felt new life her languid powers pervade;
And freedom now and calm tranquillity
Breathed their bland influence through the realms
of shade.

First peeping through the copses of the wood,
She saw, far distant, Sol's declining flame—
Beheld him buried in the Western flood,
Then jocund forth from her asylum came.

Elate with pompous dignity she viewed
A shining troop of circling stars appear,
Then, vying in obsequious homage, strewed
Their gaudy spangles round the hemisphere.

The uncourteous Moon, deck'd in a borrowed robe,
Foremost along the dingy concave swims—
Thus Night, triumphant Mistress of the globe,
The King of Day's sublimest glory dims.

Night, Peerless! whom no rival shall assail,
What time thy foe his short career has run—
Say, who e'er fancied that thy flimsy veil
Might thus obscure the effulgence of the Sun?

So, Truth, irradiating, deigns to shine
Like the bright sun, and mists and clouds pervades;
But lo! we bow at our accustomed shrine,
And lose ourselves again in Error’s shades.

We listen not when sage instruction speaks,
Or, listening, oft her precepts we disdain;
And wavering Folly back returns and seeks
To reign once more where it was wont to reign.

A man came to the Duke of Wellington. "What
have you to offer?" "A bullet-proof jacket, your
grace." "Put it on." The inventor obeyed. The
duke rang a bell. An aide-de-camp presented him-
self. "Tell the captain of the guard to order one of
his men to load with ball cartridge." The inventor
disappeared, and was never seen again near the
Horse Guards. No money was wasted in trying that
invention.

WHAT IT WAS ABOUT.—Dr. Barnes being inclined
to sleep during a dull, prosy sermon, a friend who
was with him, jolted him on his having nodded now
end then. Barnes insisted on his having been
awake all the time. "Well, then," said his friend,
"can you tell me what the sermon was about? "
"Yes, I can," he answered, "it was about an hour
too long."




Odds and Ends.

Four gentlemen—a Baptist, Presbyterian,
Methodist, and Roman Catholic—met by
agreement to dine on a fish. Soon as grace
was said, the Catholic rose, armed with a
knife and fork, and taking about one-third
of the fish, comprehending the head, re-
moved it to his plate, exclaiming, as he sat
down, with great self-satisfaction, "Papa
est caput ecclesiæ:" the Pope is the head
of the church. Immediately the Methodist
minister arose, and, helping himself to about
one-third, embracing the tail, seated him-
self. "Finis coronat opus;" the end crowns
the work. The Presbyterian now thought
it was about time for him to move, and,
taking the remainder of the fish to his plate,
exclaimed, "In mediis est veritas;" truth lies
between the two extremes. Our Baptist
brother had nothing before him but an
empty plate, and the prospect of a slim
dinner; and, snatching up the bowl of
drawn [melted] butter, he dashed it over
them all, exclaiming, "Ego baptiso vos;" I
baptize you all.

The London Spectator concludes a late article on
Gen. Sherman’s march, written on receipt of Americ-
can news now four weeks old, with the emphatic
(now prophetic) declaration: — "There is not a
general now alive in Europe who, if Sherman suc-
ceeds, will not recognize the addition of one more
to the short but first-class leaders of armies."

Steeling Money.—The following extract from
Camden will explain the origin and use of the word
"sterling."—"In the time of King Richard I, monie
coined in the east parts of Germanie begun to be of
especiall request in England for the puritie thereof,
and was called Easterling monie, as all the inhabit-
ants of those parts were called Easterlings, and
shortly after some of that countrie, skillful in mint
matters and alloes, were sent for into the realme to
bring the coins to perfection, which since that time
were called of them sterling, for Easterling."

The Wealthiest Man—-An Annual Income of
$5,000,000.—Alexander T. Stewart, the dry goods
nabob of New York, has the largest income of any
man in America, or (probably) the world. He has
lately paid an income tax of $250,000—on a net in-
come of five million dollars!—This would be the in-
terest, at 6 per cent, of over eighty millions. We
know of no case among the wealthy men of England
that surpasses or equals this, and we suppose A. T.
Stewart is the “richest man” living—Albany Argus.

A lady's age—A lady who still prides herself on
her youth and beauty had to appear at a Paris police-
court last week. She had differences with her son,
who is old enough at least to be examined on oath.
They both had to state their age in a court of Just-
ice. "Your age, madame?" asks the courteous
justice. "Twenty-five," says audacious mother. A
little later the son is in the box. "Your age, sir?"
asks justice. "Why" answers ingenious youth,
"I had, to my astonishment, that I am a year older
than my mother."

What is fame? The advantage of being known by
people of whom you yourself know nothing, and for
whom you care as little.

Learning will accumulate wonderfully, if you add
a little every day. Pick up the book and gain one
new idea, if no more. Save that one—add another
as soon as you can.

"You labor overmuch in your composition, doc-
tor," said a flippant clergyman to a venerable divine
"I write a sermon in three hours, and make nothing
of it." "So your congregation says," quoth the
doctor.

A lady that would please herself in marrying was
warned that her intended, although a very good sort
of a man, was very singular. "Well," replied the
lady, "if he is very much unlike other men he is
much more likely to make a good husband."
A woman having occasion to visit an acquaintance
living in a neighboring town, took her seat in a
railroad carriage. Surprised at the short time in
which the journey was accomplished, she remarked,
that if she had known she could have got there so
quickly, she would have walked.

Archbishop Whateby was endeavoring to elicit a
candidate's idea on the market value of labor, with
reference to demand and supply, but being puzzled,
the prelate put a question in this simple form—"If
there are in your village two shoemakers with just
sufficient employment to enable them to live a tolera-
bly and no more, what would follow if a third shoe-
maker set up in the same village?" "What would
follow, sir?" said the candidate; "why, a fight, to
be sure!"

"It seems to me I have seen your physiognomy
somewhere before," said a swell to a stranger whom
he met the other day; "but I cannot imagine where."
"Very likely," replied the other: "I have been the
keeper of a prison for the last twenty years."

In a Scotch town lately, a man from the country
applied to a respectable lawyer for legal advice. Af-
ter detailing the circumstances of the case, he was
asked if he had stated the facts exactly as they oc-
curred. "Ou, ay, sir," rejoined the applicant, "I
thought it best to tell you the plain truth; you can
put the lees till't yourself."

A man applied to Dr. Jackson, the celebrated
chemist of Boston, with a box of specimens: "Can
you tell me what this is, sir?" Certainly I can.
sir, that is iron pyrites." "What sir?" in a voice of
thunder. "Iron pyrites." Iron pyrites! and what
is that?" "That's what it is," said the chemist, put-
ting a lot on the shovel over the hot coals, where it
disappeared. "Dross."| "And what is iron pyrites
worth?" "Nothing." "Nothing! why, there's a
man who owns a hill full of that in our town, and
I've married her!""

"What part of speech is man?" said a pedagogue
to a sailor boy pupil. "A verb sir," replied the lat-
ter. "A verb, is it?" said the teacher, with a sig-
nificant twist of his lips ; "please given an example"
"Man the yards!" was little Tarpaulins moment re-
sponse.

Never meet trouble half way, but let him have
the whole walk for his pains. Perhaps he will give
up his visit before reaching your house.

Two dull and torpid natures may be aroused by
contact with each other; even a couple of dry sticks
rubbed together, will make a flame.

Moral beauty, the reflectiou of the soul in the
countenance, is as superior to superficial comeliness
as mind is to matter. Those who look good cannot
fail to be good-looking.

A lawsuit in Glastenbury, Conn., about a grind-
stone worth $6, has just been decided at Hartford
by a verdict of that amount, after it has cost the
contending parties $400.

"Ah! Jemmy, Jemmy," said the kind-hearted
Dr. Ponsohby, bishop of Derry, to a drunken black-
smith. "I'm sorry to see you beginning your evil
course again, and, Jemmy, I am very anxious to
know what you intend to do with that fine lad, your
son?" "I intend, sir," said Jemmy, "to do for him
what you cannot do for your son"—"Eh! eh! how's
that—how's that?" To which Jemmy, with a burst
of genuine feeling, sir; I intend to make him a
better man than his father"


BANGKOK RECORDER SHIPPING LIST. MAY 16TH 1865.

Arrivals

Departures.

Date

Names

Captain

Tons

Flag & Rig

Where From

Date

Names

Captain

Tons

Flag & Rig

Where Bound

May

7

Fanny Kirchen

Rossini

760

Oldb.

Bark

Batavia

Apr

27

Noorul

Young

292

Siam.

Bark

Singapore


8

Richard Cobden

Bischoff

450

Bremen

    do

    do


"

Clio

Cargil

130

British

Schr.

Coast


9

Diamond City

Lubek

252

Siamese

    do

Cheribon


28

Hampton Court

Crawford

276

    do

Bark

Hong Kong


14

Chow Phya

Orton

353

    do

Steamer

Singapore


"

Star of Peace

Dick

445

Siam.

    do

    do










"

Denmark

Prowse

328

    do

    do

    do










29

Chow Phya

Orton

353

Siam.

Str.

Singapore









May

3

Mitraille

Oley

360

Fr.

Gunboat

Saigon










5

Costa Rica

Mouller

299

British

Bark

Sourabaya










8

Eng Bee

Hansen

730

Siamese

Ship

Hong Kong










9

Seng Tai

Demsky

483

    do

Bark

Shanghai