The Bangkok Recorder.

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"Nigger Equality."

Eighty-nine years after the procla- mation of the sublime creed of human equality, which has been an inspira- tion to humanity the wide world over, our ears are pained and our souls made sick here in our own America with the brutal and vulgar outcry of "nigger equality." Here in Christian and re- publican America, every effort of pa- triotism, liberty, justice, and huma- nity to lift the burdens imposed upon a poor race by centuries of slavery—- every effort to instruct the intellect, darkened by years of oppression—-is stigmatized by the brutal and vulgar demagogism of America as "nigger equality." "Nigger equality!" When- ever I hear a man, born in this land, educated in these free schools, taught in these Christian churches, instructed in these varied industries, prate about "nigger equality," I accept it as a confession that he instinctively feels that the negro is his superior, and de- mands legislation, to make him his inferior. "Nigger equality!" It is the language of brutality and vulgari- ty. No gentleman in America prates about "nigger equality." The crea- ture that is so base as to do so must be, and is a vulgar fellow. He may live in a fine house, he may dress in the garb of a gentleman; but a noble or manly sentiment never dwelt in his bosom. I remember on one occasion, when a senator was addressing the Senate, and indulging in calling a negro a nigger, that Mr. Seward turned to me and said: "That man will never be President; the people always mean to elect a gentleman for Presi- dent; and the man who spells negro with two g's can never be President." He is a vulgar fellow who raises an outcry about "nigger equality," and he is a poor, pitiable creature who fears it. Under just, humane, and equal laws, no man should look up to any one as his superior, nor down to any one as his inferior. The poorest man in the land is entitled to equality be- fore the law with the wealthiest citi- zen of his country. His cabin may be humble; but it is as sacred as the palace of the rich man. His wife may be clothed in rags; but she is shielded by the same equal law that protects the jeweled bride of the richest man in all the land. His child may be a little barefoot boy, but he is the peer of the son of wealth and pride. Away with the brutal, vulgar, wicked outcry about "nigger equality." It was born of the pit. Send it back to its native depths. Remember those other words that come to us from the heavens: "In- asmuch as ye did it unto the least of these, my brethren ye have done it unto me.” Walk the earth with your forehead to the skies, in the conscious dignity of the equality of humanity—- that you are men that God made and for whom Christ died—-and that it degrades not, but ennobles him who lifts up the sons and daughters of toil, misfortune, and sorrow, of all the races and kindred of men.—-Henry Wilson.

Cattle Disease.

I was happy to observe, in your is- sue of the 26th of October, a notice in the Farmers' Column of the cattle plague, which is making such terrible devastation amongst the herds in Eng- land. It is important that our far- mers should be fully apprised of the terrible character of this contagious disease, and be prepared to meet it in a decided and summary manner, should it unfortunately be brought to this country. That it will be brought to our shores, unless efficient measures are taken to prevent it, is certain. This disease, or plague-—rinderpest, or Pleuro Pneumonia, as it is variously termed—-has once been brought here, and its ravages were only stayed by the very energetic manner in which it was disposed of by the Massachusetts legislature. Three cows and one heif- er arrived in Boston from Holland on the 23d of May, 1859. Two of these cows were sick when landed. The first died in one week, the second two days after. On the 23d of June the third was found to be sick. She was kept with some twenty or thirty head of cattle. She died on the 29th of June, and on that day three calves were taken from Mr. Chenery's (the importer) farm to North Brookfield. The disease spread through the Che- nery herd, and was propagated from the calves sent to North Brookfield to such an extent that a large number of different herds were affected. The prospect became so alarming in a short time that a petition was sent to the legislature for authority to take action in the premises. Unaware of the fa- tally contagious nature of the disease, the legislature hesitated until thirty- five days of precious time was lost; but on the 4th of April, 1860, a com- mission was appointed, with authority to kill every animal that was sick or had even been exposed to the conta- gion. The commissioners entered at once upon their work, and with the utmost expedition executed the law to its very letter. The result was that in the whole 870 head of cattle were killed and buried.

The disease was entirely extermi- nated in North Brookfield and the surrounding towns, and has never made its appearance in that neigh- borhood since. In Belmont, the suc- cess of the commission was not so complete. There was a greater oppo- sition there to the operations of the officers of the law, and less faith in the contagious and dangerous charac- ter of the disease; and, consequently, less care in exposing well animals to the insidious infection. The result has been that the disease has reap- peared several times in the region around Boston; but has so far been met at once by the most decisive ac- tion on the part of the government, and exterminated so far as it could be discovered, so that at this moment we are not aware that a trace of the di- sease is known to exist.

In answer to that enquiry, made in your article referred to, I would say that all our experience leads us to one conclusion, viz.: that the most prompt and energetic measures should be adopted for its extermination as soon as a case is discovered. It is all idle to tamper with'it at all. That has been the fatal mistake in England. They have tried to cure the disease, but with no success. It is incurable. They have talked of "Sanitariums," where cattle might be treated. They have hesitated, and delayed, and dreaded to act, until the disease has got a terrible foothold, and the loss of cattle must be immense. Prevention is worth more than any attempt to cure. In the first place, our Congress should be applied to, as soon as assembled, to enact a rigid quaran- tine law, so that no foreign cattle shall be introduced, until they have passed a thorough probation on some island in the harbor to which they are brought. They should never be al- lowed to land in any town or city. Their very tracks and droppings may be infectious, as experience has abun- dantly proved, in this country and Europe.

Considering what a terrible calamity the introducing of the disease upon our prairies would be, it is a matter of grave question whether it would not be better to interdict entirely the importation of any cattle from abroad. We have all the best breeds well esta- blished in this country, and from them we can propagate in purity and safty.

In the second place, each state should enact a law which should authorize the officers of every town or city in which it appears to take immediate measures for its extermination. And, in the third place, all farmers should be on the lookout for the disease, and be especially cautious in regard to im- ported animals.

And last in order, but perhaps first in importance, the press should keep the people well informed in regard to the prevalence of the disease abroad, or any indication of its presence in this country.

The terrible extent and alarming fatality of the disease in England may be inferred from the fact that the London Star has a column, more or less, devoted in every day's issue to its progress in that country, to the ac- tion of different bodies in regard to it, and the efforts made to prevent its ex- tention. We observed that, in one case, it is stated that, of 140 cows be- longing to one nobleman, 120 had died. It seems to be the most exciting topic at present in Great Britain, as mani- fested in its press universally, and I trust the farmers of this country, es- pecially those of the West, who are most deeply interested, will not hesi- tate to call loudly for some action on the part of Congress in relation to the subject.

William Ewart Gladstone.

Mr. Gladstone is unquestionably the first practical man in England. In pre- ciseness and originality, Thomas Car- lyle and John Ruskin stand above him: but if it is of genius wedded to action, of magnificent power, engaged not in thinking or in writing, but in working, that we are in quest, the man who tow- ers above all rivals is William Ewart Gladstone. The liberals, all of them who deserve the name, regard him as their future leader, and anticipate the day when he will be Prime Minister of England. So late as 1845 Sir Ro- bert Peel was still the great protection- ist minister, and Gladstone, honored, esteemed, promoted by Peel, was his right-hand man in the House. But the fallacy of the protectionist theory dawned upon Gladstone before it be- came apparent to the mind of his lead- er. The logic of Cobden was irresis- tible to this hope of the unbending tories. To their infinite disgust he de- clared for free trade, and resigned his place in the cabinet of Peel. But Sir Robert himself soon yielded to the force of reason and to the terrible de- monstration of the Irish famine. His declaration for free trade brought Gladstone again to his side, and until the death of Peel there was not one of his lieutenants in whom he reposed confidence so implicit as in Gladstone. The tories were too stupid or too sel- fish to follow their leader in his new policy of free trade, and the old con- servative party was broken up.

In the coalition cabinet of Lord A- berdeen, which began the Russian war, Mr. Gladstone once more took office as Chancellor of the Exchequer. It speedily became evident that he had found his place, and, since the day when he first presided over the fin- ances of Great Britain, no other fi- nancial minister has had a chance a- gainst him.

Installed in the office of Chancellor of the Exchequer, and with scope given him by the appreciating though not sympathetic Palmerston, Gladstone has been engaged for a series of years in undoing that antiquated legislation by which the commercial and manu- facturing energies of Great Britain had been hedged round and bound up.

Year after year he has remitted taxes tion, but year after year he has shown a larger surplus. City men, the cold hearts and calculating heads of the Stock Exchange, were afraid of him. They called him speculative, reckless, fanciful, visionary. City men, as John Bright says, are always wrong, because they can conceive no higher motive than selfishness, have no faith in man, and think that generosity must issue in loss. * *

Those who look well into the char- acter and have accurately studied the career of Gladstone, deem it possible that he may yet appear as a reformer in connection with nobler tasks than any which have hitherto engaged him. The province of spiritual reform still lies before him. The universities of England, instead of being open on equal and honorable terms to the whole people, are tied to the skirts of the Anglican ecclesiastical establish- ment. The Church of England—all that is vital in it—groans under the bondage of the State. To an intellect like Gladstone's it seems impossible that it should not become plain that the day has arrived in England when all Churches ought to be free from state control,' and when no Church ought to receive state endowment; when parliaments and governments ought to see in the subjects of Queen Victoria, not Churchmen and dissent- ers, but Britons; and when university education ought to be trammelled by no sectarianism, monopolized by no class. Representing Oxford in the House of Commons—Oxford, the seat from time immemorial of classical pedantry and political obstruction— and surrounded by timorous, luke- warm liberals, Gladstone has as yet been compelled to maintain a certain reticence respecting the Church and the university. But he has said enough to make the old tories fear and young liberals hope. It is my clear convic- tion, besides, that the questionable or equivocal utterances of Mr. Gladstone on the subject of the American war have been indications rather of the necessities, the unavoidable influences, of his position, than the expression of his profoundest convictions. I be- lieve that, in his heart of hearts, he is rejoicingly proud to behold the brow of the great democracy rising grandly over the obscuring clouds of slavery and rebellion.

Opulence of intellectual, emotional, spiritual power—that is the idea to which one always returns in contemp- lating Gladstone. He is an athlete of the intellect, a Hercules to whom the labors of thought are as play His political toils have been sufficient to tax an ordinary or even an extraor-lin- ary man; but he is a distinguished classical scholar, has a fine taste in sculpture, and is a connoisseur in pot- tery. His speeches are a tissue of facts and figures, the multitude of them a- mazing; but they are always arrayed in order so admirable, and arrayed in eloquence so glowing, copious, and splendid, that they are as armies par- aded on a field of cloth of gold. When Lords Palmerston and Russell leave the stage, William Ewart Gladstone will be the man of men in England.— Watchman and Reflector

Ages of Modern Statesmen.

The following are the ages of some of the most celebrated public men of this country at the present time: Pre- sident Johnson, 57; Secretary Seward, 64; Chief Justice Chase, 57; Ex Sec- retary Cameron, 66; Ex-President Bu- chanan, 73; Ex-President Pierce, 60; rebel Secretary Breckinridge, 39; Sen- ator Sumner, 54; Senator Wade, 63; Senator Wilson, 54; General Banks, 49; Senator Fessenden, 59; Speaker Colfax, 42; H. Winter Davis, 48; Senator Sprague, 35; Thad. Stevens, 72; Reverdy Johnson, 69; Secretary Harlan, 45; Minister Adams, 48; Clement L. Vallandigham, 44; Fernan- do Wood, 53; Senator Morgan, 54; Senator Foster, 59; Jeff. Davis, 57; John H. Slidell, 72; John M. Mason, 57; Henry A. Wise, 59; Robert Toombs, 55; Alex. H. Stephens, 53; John A. Letcher, 54; Herschel V. Johnson, 53; Porcher Miles, 43; John A. Gilmer, 60; Wm. A. Graham, 65. Mr. Lincoln died at the age of 56 and Mr. Douglas at the age of 48.

The average age of European state- men will be found to be much greater.

Lord Palmerston is 81; Earl Russell, 73; the Lord High Chancellor of Eng- land, 65; Mr. Gladstone, 56; Lord Derby, 66; Mr. Disraeli, 66; Mr. Mil- ner Gibson, 58; Lord Clarence Paget, 54. Richard Cobden died at the age of 61; the Duke de Morney at the age of 53. The Emperor Napoleon is 57, and the Emperor of Russia and King Victor Emmanuel each 47.

How General Jackson kept
Sunday.

General Jackson went down to New Orleans upon an occasion, and met, of course, with an enthusiastic reception from his old friends and comrades in arms.—The latter appointed a com- mittee to make arrangements for a vis- it to the "battle ground," about seven miles below the city. Without con- salting the General, or thinking parti- cularly about the day of the week, they appointed Sunday as the time for the visit. The day came clear and beauti- ful. After breakfast they notified him that everything was in readiness for the contemplated visit to the scene of his conflict, his triumph, and his glory. -—He informed the gentlemen who had notified him, and in a very quiet way, that, as it was Sunday, he wished to attend church, instead of visiting the battle ground that day. The gentlemen of the committee were duly informed of this, and a consultation was had. As all the arrangements had been made for that day, and everything ready, they concluded to wait upon the Gen- eral in a body and tell him of the cir- cumstances, and hint that it would look strange and sound odd, if not Puritan- ic, for him to refuse compliance with their wishes. This was done. The General listened to what they had to say, and then, turning his keen black eyes upon them, which sparkled again with a little of their old fire, he replied with quiet dignity : "Gentlemen, this is Sunday, and I have already informed you that I am going to church." The committee subsided, rather pleased than otherwise with the response of the old hero. "What fools we were," some one said as the committee retired, "to try to change the determination of Old Hickory after he had once made up his mind."—Louisville Journal.

NEGRO VOTERS.—At present, negroes are allowed to vote in only six states, viz: Maine, New Hampshire, subject to the same condition as white men; in Massachusetts they must be able to read and write; in Rhode Island they must be worth $130 in real estate; in New York they must be worth $250 over all incumbrances; in Kansas and under the radical constitution of Mis- souri, they are allowed to vote.

MATRIMONY versus SINGLE BLES- SEDNESS.—Matrimony is hot buck- wheat cakes, warm beds, comfortable slippers, smoking coffee, round arms, real life, kind words, shirts exulting in buttons, redeemed stockings, foot jacks, happiness, etc. Hurrah!

Snug bedrooms, washouts, iron-built blue noses, frosty rooms, ice in the kitchen, ungenerous linen, holey socks, coffee sweetened with brick[?]- gutta-percha biscuits, flabby steak, dull ears, corns, coughs, cotton, thin hair, misery, etc. Ugh.

Odds and ends.

—Human existence hinges upon trifles. What would beauty be with out somp?

—A philosophical cabman in Mo- bile this speaks of the section over which his wheels make their tracks-– 'if you run over a youngster down here in this here warf,' said he, 'the folks don't say nothin'—-'kase they've got more children than wittles for 'em but you just run over a goat or a pig, and blest if a mob ain't arter you in two minutes!'

—Prentice says: "The work of grafting pardons at Washington pro- ceeds steadily but slowly. We cannot help thinking of the idea of Dr. Frank- lin, who, when a boy, got weary of standing up and listening to grace every meal, and respectfully asked his respected father whether it would not do just as well to say grace over the whole pork barrel at once."

—To teach early, is too engrave on marble; to teach late, to write [it?] in sand.

Bangkok Recorder.

In resuming our reply to our royal antagonist we hope not to weary our readers again by another four columned editorial at any single sitting. As we have to do now only with the latter part of his objections as published in “The Recorder” of the 18th ulto, we think we can make tolerably quick work of them; but there is no saying for certainty how great a flood a little breaking of the dam may produce.

The Goliath who confronts us seems to regard it as a crushing objection to the authenticity of the Bible that the preachers of its doctrines are not able to show any of the miraculous power which the Bible claims to have been exercised by the Lord Jesus and His apostles, and that believers of the gos- pel of Christ from that time to this have had no power to save any of their dear friends from death or even from any of the common diseases and conse- quent sorrows of life. Had the fol- lowers of Christ but shown during these 1800 years of the Christian era some such power, even though it were only exerted over but two or three of the great calamities to which man is heir “would not,” he enquires, “the whole world by this time have entered the christian religion”? Such as we under- stand it, is the spirit of his objection.

Most certainly he is far out of the way in supposing, that in order to prove the authenticity of a book, and sub- stantiate the record it gives, the same ev- idences which established its authentici- ty at the first must be reiterated and reim- pressed upon the book and on its teach- ers year by year. When and where in all the world’s history has ever before such a demand been made? Did ever any of the great and learned men of the Eastern or Western world require that any history of individuals or nations should be substantiated by miraculous power, much less that such power should ever attend all who believe in it? Does the king of Siam ever deny the authenti- city of the Buddhist Scriptures be- cause the present race of “ignorant” Priests have no power to work such wonders as those sacred books affirm that Buddh and his immediate followers wrought?

We are persuaded that the king, of Siam, even with all his love of the marvellous in the Buddhist religion, conjoined with the great amount of in- telligence he possesses, can have no con- fidence in the records of the more- modern Buddhist miracles like those which are said to have been wrought by Nai Pan at Paris in the middle of the 17th century. We know positively that many of the most learned and staunch Buddhists in Siam are ashamed of that record. And why? Because they know that there is not a word of proof to be found of it among all the records of the French. Now if our antagonist persist in rejecting the Bible and hence the christian religion be- cause its modern teachers possess not the power of miracles, then to be con- sistent, he should reject the Buddhist scriptures and the Buddhist religion as unworthy of confidence. Ought he not then to concede that this, ano- ther of his strong batteries against the Bible, has been silenced simply by our little blunderbuss of common sense?

Here we might safely drop the argu- ment. But we fancy that our advocate of Buddhism will turn upon us and say, that though Buddhism has not been substantiated by miracles since the time of Buddh, yet it is as strong in that regard as christianity. By no means would be our reply. We defy any friend of Buddhism to produce a word of authentic history showing that Buddh and his immediate followers ever wrought any miracles. There is not a word of profane, collateral, or concurrent history of the time when Buddh lived—about 2500 years since, that makes the least credible allusion to any miraculous powers which it is supposed he possessed. If he did in- deed live in Bengal, or Ceylon, or any where in that region of the world, a contemporary of Daniel the prophet, how is it that no proof of the wonders he wrought can be found in other histories outside of the Buddhist Scrip- tures?

But with regard to the history of Christ and his apostles as given in the New Testament there is a great amount of concurrent and collateral testimony outside of church history, wholly independent of the Bible, show- ing beyond all reasonable doubt that the record is indeed and in truth a statement of facts. And much of this outside evidence comes not only from those who neglected Christ, but from such as positively hated him. Their words and their writings have been over-ruled by the Most High, wholly without their intention, for substanti- ating the christian religion which they aimed to destroy. A great mass of such concurrent testimony to the truth- fulness of the New Testament could we cite, but our time and space will not now admit of it. Should it however, be demanded, we will hold ourselves ready to give it.

A grand design of the God of the Bible was to make a book replete with all that was needed to render it worthy of the implicit confidence of mankind as coming from the Most High, and intended by Him for man's only infa- llible guide to the knowledge and faith of Him as his maker, preserver, and redeemer. To this end God, in the plenitude of His mercy, determined to set upon it the seal of miracles, His own peculiar seal, which no man or devil could counterfeit or break. For the accomplishment of this object, it was necessary, that miraculous power should be given occasionally to the persons whom He honored as His ser- vants in preparing the Book for the great mission He had appointed for it. Having thus stamped every leaf of the Bible with this divine signet as no other book had ever or will ever be honored, God sent it forth on its mis- sion as being a complete instrument under the divine Spirit for "making men wise unto salvation." It would seem that in the divine mind there was no more need after that, that He should grant signs and wonders and miracul- ous power to His followers, for the Bible had been completed, and made the most ancient and authentic book of history—-a perfect book of faith and practice-—a complete directory to a lost world for finding the true God and eternal life. Hence it would seem reasonable to conclude a priori that not only the gift of miracles but also that of prophecy would be withheld from the teachers of Christianity about the time of the completion of the Bi- ble; and such appears to have been the fact. And how suitable and wise and good does it appear in the divine author of the Bible that it should be so? Who can have any good reason for complaining because God has thus shut up the world and the church to the Bible as it is, and to the teaching of His Holy Spirit by it? Having a perfect chart of the seas to all parts of the world what do Siamese mariners now need more in navigating them than good teachers of navigation and a careful and diligent attention to their charts. Abundant proofs of their correctness will appear in following them. In like manner, having a com- plete Bible, a book of divine make, impressed from beginning to end with the most extraordinary seals of divi- nity, and with the Almighty and all wise Spirit ever attending it, and ever ready to teach most effectually all who ask Him for teaching, what need we now of more signs and wonders than the Bible gives us? Divine wisdom speaks to the world now as it did to the rich man in his agony, "If they hear not Moses and the prophets neither will they be persuaded through one rose from the dead."

Our champion is quite mistaken in supposing that men would be conver- ted to Christ by the power of mirac- les. Miracles have never had such an influence. In Old Testament times they never converted a single heathen to the love and service of Jehovah. Those miracles performed by Moses in Egypt never converted one of her rulers or even a common person from idolatry. Not one of the hundreds who gave their hearts to Jesus and follow- ed Him in the days of His personal ministry, nor one of the 3000 con- verted to Christ on the day of Penta- cost were made willing to follow Him by the power of the miracles which they saw Him and the apostles per- form. But it was alone by the effectual teaching of the Almighty Spirit of God, through the preaching of the truths of the Bible that the hearts of men were then drawn unto Jesus; and such is the power which it pleases God now to employ as his own chosen and unchangeable plan for converting the world. Had the Lord Jesus been personally present with all the preach- ers of the gospel from the beginning until now, and had given them all the power of miracles that he gave to the apostles, there is no good reason to think that His gospel would have made greater aggressions upon heath- enism than it has done. For as in Paul's time "it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe" so has it ever since, and so doubtless it ever will be. "The gos- pel of Christ", not miracles, "is the power of God unto salvation unto every one that believeth"—that is unto every one who credits the Bible as be- ing indeed and in truth the infallible word of God and acts consistently with such credence.

The triple foundations of modern Buddhism to which our antagonist has called our attention, and the extraor- dinary attainments he thinks he has made in the science of Astronomy under the benign influences of the religion of all the sovereigns of Siam, demands special notice in some future issue.

The Sokan.

In the reign of P'râbât Sómdêtch P'ra Pooti-yâwtfa Choola-loke, Sóm- dêtch P'ra-chow p'eenang the young- er of his elder sisters gave birth to three sons. The first was born in the year of the cock, 3d of the decade, civil era 1163—-Christian era 1801, and became a Chôwfa following his mother, but he died in that same year. The 2d son was born in the year of the rat, 6th of the decade, civil era 1166, Christian era 1804. The 3d son was born in the year of the great dragon, 10th of the decade, civil era 1170 —-Christian era 1808. Both of these royal sons became Chôwfas following their royal mother. The 2nd king of that reign deceased in the year of the hog, the 5th of the decade, civil era 1165—Christian era 1803. In the year of the rabbit, 9th of the decade civil era 1167, the king was pleased to promote Sómdêtch P'ráchôw lǒǒk t'o the elder, to the honor and power of 2nd king. The two sons of this 2nd king, one of them bora be- fore his father was promoted to the throne of the Wangna, and the other after his promotion, were both titled Sómdêtch P'ráchôwlan t'õ Chôwfa.

P'râbât Sómdêtch P'ra-pôôti-yâwt- fa Choolaloke had a daughter whose mother was a child of the Rajáh of Weang Chân. (a Laos king). This daughter the king promoted only to the rank of P'râong-Chôw, being the same in rank as his sons, and royal daughters by P'râsânôms (inferior wives). The mother of that royal daughter died in the year of the hog, 5th of the decade. When the 2nd king died she was five years of age a moth- erless orphan, and hence the king felt a great tenderness for the child. One year after this, this little princess follow- ed her royal sire down to the landing to see the Lawe k'Atôngs (fireworks on the River) While running and sporting on the brink of the water, she fell in, and was for a little time lost. All pre- sent were in a great state of alarm and excitement, seeking for the child. It was but a few minutes, however, when she was found grasping the stalk of a plantain tree, and hence had not sunk into the water. They who found her very carefully conducted her back to her royal father. For this reason the king had still more compassion for the child, and issued a royal proclam- ation, saying, that the mother of this princess is a Laosian princess, and a blood relative of the present Rá- jáh of Weang Chân. It is therefore suitable that she should be promoted to the honor of Sómdêtch P'ráchôw lǒǒk t'o Chôwfa. There has been no festi- val for a Chôwfa Sókân since the be- ginning of this reign. When this Princess shall attain to the suitable age for receiving such honors, it shall be my pleasure to bestow them upon her, and thus transmit the custom on- ward in the future. Having thus de- clared his will, the king then gave her the name engraved on a gold plate or sheet—-Sómdêtch P'ráchôw lǒǒk t'o Chôwfa-kôôn-t'ôn-t'ip-wâdee. That Princess Chôwfa, when she reached the eleventh year of her age in the year of the great dragon, civil era 1170, Christian era 1808, had attained to the proper time for receiving the honors of the Sókân. At that time Princess Chôwfa P'int'awâdee, who had had the care and honor of handing the royal Sókân custom down to the succeeding generation, had been dead seven years. Nevertheless there was remaining a complete copy of the ceremonies of the original Sókân, which Princess Chôwfa P'int'awâdee had committed to writing, and there were also many persons then living who had been well versed in all that concerned the festi- val, and remembered accurately all a- bout it, and had been eye witnesses of the Sókân ceremonies on three sev- eral instances in the palace of the 2nd king. These persons were therefore appointed to prepare for the forth- coming Sókân, by the royal command that it should be of the highest grade according to the pattern, not wanting in the least. The preparations were made in the P’râmaḣâprasât being sim- ilar to the royal festival on New year’s holidays. There was the artificial mount called Krielât and all the Râchâ- wâts, the golden and silvered five and seven storied châts or standards stand- ing on either side of the way of the procession, together with all kinds of accompanying plays of the highest order. There were persons who car- ried peacock’s feathers before the Princess, women carrying all her in- signia of royalty. In the rear, were women of the bath, a procession clothed in white escorting the Princess to hear preaching by the Buddhist priests, and prayers and incantations on three successive days. On the morning of the fourth day there was a grand pro- cession to the place of hair cutting, and then the Prince ascended the mount Krielât and being there arrayed in royal habiliments, was escorted down the mount and carried in great state encircling the mount three times, and then returned into the palace before noon. In the p. m. of the same day, there was another grand proces- sion, all being clothed in red and scarlet. Sundry festivities were con- tinned on the 5th and the 6th days. On the 7th day there was a procession for bearing the P’râ kaââ (sacred hair) of the Prince down to the river and floating it away. This festival of Sô- kân for Chôwfa Kôön-t’ôn-tip-yâwâ- dee was held in the 4th month of the year of the great dragon, the 10th of the decade, civil era 1170—Christian era 1809.

Six months after that, P’râbât Sôm- detch P’râ P’ôöt’i-yâwt’a Chôôlalôke deceased. His son P’râ Chôw lûûk t’ô the 2nd king acceded to the throne. That was the 2nd reign of the present dynasty. The two Chôwfas sons of the king became Sômde[?] P’râ- chow lûûk t’ô. The king, titled P’râ- bât Sômde[?] P’râ p’ôôt’i-lôt-lâ-nâp’a- lie, held a royal counsel of all his offic- ers and nobles concerning the Sókân festival, saying that the festival had in- deed been recently observed to confer the honors of a Chôwfa and would be a pattern for the future. But there was no ceremony for bathing and for conferring the name Chôwfa in full accord with olden times when the old city of Ayuthia was the capital. The elders among the people who witnes- sed the ceremony as of old, are now aged and are quickly to pass away. The old custom will hence be lost. I desire to have the ceremony performed complete, that it may be for honor and glory and a pattern for the time to come. The great counsel were un- animously in favor of the royal pro- position. Accordingly in the year of the cock, the 5th of the decade, civil era 1175—-Christian era 1813, there was an extraordinary Sókân festival complete with the bathing rites for Somdetch P’râ Chôw lûûk t’ô, Chôw the elder. There was made a great raft of bamboos at the royal landing. A place was made for the bathing in the centre of the float. The whole was enclosed with a fence of bamboo ban- nisters and railing. Within this was a wicker-work fence of bamboos, and within this still another for the proces- sion, and still further in, was a screen made of white cloth. There were two flights of steps up the mount one on either side, one of silver and one of gold. There was also another flight lined and carpeted with long, white cloth and was called bundy kââo, or precious steps. In the bathing pool were golden cocoanuts and gold and silver prawns. These were floating in all parts of the pool. Within that enclosure on the great raft were ranged all the gold and silver standards of royalty, in three circles about the premises. Over all there was stationed the royal guard with armed boats surrounding the Sô- kan raft, which was to serve in the place of the mount Krei lat.

Other things besides those already mentioned were chiefly displayed in the P’râmaḣâ-prasât, with a proces- sions by the streets, and theatrical performances precisely like the origi- nal Sokan. There was a procession all dressed in white escorting the prince to hear preaching by the Buddhist priests in the P’râmaḣâ-prasât on three successive days. On the 4th day there was a procession to escort the prince to the royal landing to bathe in the place prepared, on the royal raft representing mount Krei-lat.

After the ceremonies of the bathing were over, the prince was escorted back into the Pràmahá-prà-ât who re- ceived his title engraved on a gold plate which was, Somdetch Prá- chôw-lôôkt'ô Chôwfa Mongkut sóm- má-ti-wongs p'ongs itaswárá krá- atriyá kátíyá rachá kooman. In the afternoon of the same day the prince was paraded in a royal procession all dressed in red and scarlet, himself clad in the highest state to a royal throne called Amarin-tara-winít-chí, where he passed through the T'ám-quan ceremonies, (that is forms for enduing the child with fortitude,) at which time magnificent presents were made to the prince. On the two following days there were a variety of performances which put a complete finish upon that festival occasion.

Having closed the ceremonies, the king made a speech in which he said, this royal custom of Sokán shall be performed only once on the Chowfa, which will be sufficient to transmit it down to the coming generation, so that this ancient festival shall not be lost, because it is a custom indispensable for all the Chowfa princes. There is no necessity that it should ever be re- peated on the same person, as the com- mon people sometimes repeat the com- mon ceremony for the top-knot cutting on their children. They do it because they feel in haste to come into possession of the money which they receive in presents for their children at such times. For this reason they will sometimes have the ceremony of T'am- quan performed before they have the top-knot cut, making two distinct sea- sons of it. But in regard to the kings of Siam, they have no occasion to be in haste to get such presents, and hence the whole of the ceremony is grouped together in one. It is a cus- tom for which there is a stern neces- sity that it should be preserved.

In the year of the rat, the 8th of the decade, civil era 1178 in the month of March, christian era 1817 there was another Chowfa Sokán for Somdetch P'rá-chôw-lôôk-t'ô Chowfa Mongkut (the present king of Siam) an extra- ordinary festival equal in splendor to the one which had been given for Chowfa-koon-t'on-t'ip'syáwadee. Four years following that there was another Chôwfa Sôkán of equal dig- nity given to Somdetch P'ra-chôw- lôôk t'ô Chowfa Itaswáráte. (the late 2nd king.) It was held in the year of the great dragon, the 8th of the decade, civil era 1182 in the month of March, christian era 1821.

We clip the following from the GA- LIGNANI'S MESSENGER, Paris, Nov. 1st 1865. It shows clearly enough how all sensible European observers must regard the extraordinary conduct to which allusion is made: ED.

A circumstance of a most extraor- dinary character in connection with the relations existing between the French Consul at Bangkok-—the Siam- ese capital—-and the KING OF SIAM will be found narrated in another column. Space unfortunately is not at our command sufficient to give the full details as they appear in the re- spectable English Journal published at Bangkok itself, enough will appear in our epitome to show that the con- duct of the French Consul has been apparently grossly reprehensible, and certainly very far removed from that far-famed politesse which has hitherto been the pride and the characteristic of French diplomacy. We cannot doubt that the Imperial Government will both disavow the acts, and repri- mand the behaviour of its official, as soon as the matter comes fully and officially under its notice.

Local Items.

The Dutch Barque Sophia Amalia which arrived in port on the 1st inst., from Hong Kong reports that she ran into a Chinese Junk off the Lema Islands—that five of the crew were drowned and the rest, 17 in number, were saved.

The Siamese Steamer Chow Phya Captain Orton left this on Friday morning the 2nd inst, and sailed from the bar at 9 o'clock P. M. of the same day. She had for passengers Messrs Vergin Blythe, and Maclean.

The weather

The month was ushered in by re- markably warm days for the season, the wind having shifted from the N. and N. E. to the South, which point of the compass it is held until it brought us, on the early morning of the 4th, a powerful rain of 7 hours. Early in the evening of the same day it commenced raining again, and continued till late in the morning of the 5th. It is a rare occurrence even in the wet season to witness half as many hours of contin- ued rain. It was withal a wonderfully cold rain, the wind being northerly.

The rain had doubtless come from the South in an upper current of clouds and was driven back upon us by the North wind in an under current. A very un- common amount of water fell for the season, and it is reported that large quantities of rice at the North, lying in scattered bundels in the fields, has been destroyed by it. Yet there is little fear that this will seriously effect the market as the general crop is so abund- ant.

The farmers had made no calculation for such a powerful rain. They had, it is true, always expected one or two gen- eral showers about the middle of Jan. and Febr.: but never any so drenching and prolonged as to injure much, any rice that might still be in the field. Indeed in the usual course of the sea- sons the rice is all gathered and thresh- ed by the middle of January. But the last crop was very remarkable for being too late by at least a month. Consequently the harvesting of it was equally behind the usual time. The showers of rain which fell in January were so light as scarcely to wet the earth to the depth of an eighth of an inch. Hence the reaped rice in great quantities, then scattered over the fields were not at all injured by it. But the Febr. rain was not only uncommonly drenching, but also came ten days sooner than is usual, and found the farmers in some quarters quite unprepared for it as above stated.

We have been informed by very reliable natives, that there seems to be in this change of the seasons an essay of nature to return to the good old fashion times, a score of years ago or more, when the February rains came earlier than of late years and more abundant, and when the threshing of rice was all over. Hence those rains were denominated fon eh'a-lan—liter- ally rain for soaking threshing floors. Such drenching rains were then re- garded as the joyful harbingers of a forth coming bountiful harvest. We are quite glad to perceive that the peo- ple, so far from being alarmed by the great amount and unseasonableness of this rain, regard it, as their fathers did similar rains, with lively hope of " a good time coming." The reader will not fail to remember, that threshing floors in Siam, as in Old Testament times, are in the open fields, and on the bare earth."

There are now in Bangkok three Steam mills for hulling rice, running night and day. The first in order of establishment is the Am. Steam Mill under the management of F. Blake,—-M. Gurvey Superintendent. The second is the Bangkok Rice Mill Company under the management of A. M. Odman. The third is A. Mark- wald & Co's Steam Rice Mill, Super- intended by P. Littlejohn.

The 1st is said to turn out 1000 piculs daily. The 2nd, 1600 or more, and the 3d, 900. We have examined the quality of their work and are pleased to see that they are about equally good, and all far better than the natives hull their rice by their hand-mills. The native mode breaks the kernel very much, the European mode but little.

If we have been correctly informed, neither of the Steam Mills attempt to polish any rice, as that renders the grain much more liable to be injured by shipment.

We are also pleased to learn that the house of Scott & Co. are now engaged in erecting a 4th Steam Mill. But by an accident which occurred to some of the machinery a few days since, the work will be delayed, it is said, several months.

During the past week an English Gunboat has visited Bangkok.

H. M. S. Coquette, which left on Tuesday morning last, arrived here on the 31st of January bringing up Thomas George Knox Esq. H. B. M. Consul from Singapore. During her stay here the Captain and officers accompanied H. B. M. Consul to a private audience with H. M. the Supreme King to pay that respect and sympathy which His Majesty’s sad bereavement entitles him to receive.

His Majesty, so we have been in- formed, was willing to grant a public audience if such had been desired; but it was felt that such a proceeding would have caused both trouble and inconvenience to the King, which in his present afflicted state it would not have been proper to subject him. On a subsequent day the Captain and officers were admitted to view the urn which now contains the remains of His deceased Majesty the Second King.

On Monday evening last a Ball was given at H. B. M. Consulate.

The officers of H. M. S. Coquette were present and a great proportion of the Foreign community. The Ball room had been very tastefully deco- rated; and His Excellency the Prime Minister’s Band, which had been very kindly lent for the occasion, played throughout the evening.

Prices Current.

Good " 68 do

Clean " 77 do

White " 85 do

Paddy " 61 do

TEELESEED " 100 do

SUGAR—No. 1. " 12½ p picul.

do 2. " 11 do

BLACK PEPPER " 10 do

BUFFALO HIDES " 11 do

do HORNS " 11½ do

COW HIDES " 15½ do

GUM BENJAMIN—Mixed " 140 do

TIN " 88 do

HEMP—No. 1. " 33½ do

do 2. " 21½ do

SILK—Korst " 820 do

GAMBOGE " 56 do

STICKLAC " 12½ do

CARDAMUMS—Best " 152 do

Bastard " 24 do

SAPANWOOD—2 @ 4 " 3 do

5 @ 6 " 8⅔ do

6 @ 7 " 2½ do

TEAKWOOD " 10 p yok

ROSEWOOD " 256 p 100 pl.

MAT-BAGS " 8 p 100

GOLD-LEAF—Tic. 16¾ p ticals weight.

America.

Perhaps the news of most interest from New York is that relating to the attitude of the Government towards Mexico, in connection with which General Grant is receiving much popu- lar attention. He has visited the Union League Club in New York, when, in reply to a speech of Mr. Beckman expressing sympathy for Mexico and a firm belief in her coming deliverance, the General said that the speaker's remarks concerning the future of Mex- ico expressed his own sentiments. The President, on the 14th ult, appointed General John A. Logan Minister, and William A. Browning, Esq., Secretary of Legation, to the "Republic of Mexico." Colonel Browning has been the private secretary of President Johnson, and is now succeeded by Colonel Robert Johnson, a son of the President, in that office. it is authori- tatively announced that the Federal Government, in order to preserve neutrality in the Mexican war, will allow no armed parties to pass the Federal frontier, nor permit munitions of war to be sent to either belligerent.

The South Carolina Legislature has adopted the Constitutional amend- ment abolishing slavery, thus securing the adhesion of the necessary number of States to make the amendment form part of the Federal Constitution.

Mr. Worth, the popular candidate, has been elected Governor of North Carolina by a large majority.

The Fenians have rented a long house in Union-square, New York, which has been fitted up for Govern- ment offices.

The States of Wisconsin and Min- nesota have voted against negro suff- rage.

The sales of Government property in Louisiana has been suspended; and according to a New Orleans journal, some troops had been ordered to the Rio Grande.

General Kilpatrick has been ap- pointed Minister to Chili. Before going to his post he will visit Spain on an official mission.

The general Conference of the Mor- mon community commenced in Great Salt Lake City on the 6th of October, and concluded on the 9th. The meet- ings were larger than have been seen for years.

"OLD BUMBLEBEE," was the cogno- men of Mr. T., or Newburyport, who gained the title from the fact of his catching a bumblebee one day, as he was shingling his barn; and in attempt- ing to destroy the insect with his hatch- et, cut off the ends of his thumb and forefinger, letting the insect go unharm- ed. Uncle T, in one of his oblivious

freaks, nailed his left arm so firmly be- tween two boards of a fence he was putting up, that he had to call for ar- sistance to get extricated from self-im- prisonment. He once put a button on a gate instead of the post. But the rarest freak of all was when he ran through the streets, with his hands about three feet asunder, high before him, begging the passers-by not to dis turb him, as he had got the measure of a doorway with him.

—Dr. Johnson used to say that a habit of looking on the best side of every event is better than a thousand pounds a year. Bishop Hall quaintly remarks: "For every bad there might be a worse; and, when a man breaks his leg, let him be thankful that it was not his neck." When Fene lon's libra ry was on fire, "God be praised !" he exclaimed, "that it was not the dwell- ing of some poor man."

—He who forbears to take revenge, I know.

Achieves the noblest conquest of his foe.

—Woman—-the first gatherer of fruit—-by picking the first apple, she caused the first pair to fall.

A NOBLE APPEAL.

We envy neither the head nor the heart of the man who can read the following extract from an appeal of the colored people of Missouri for Equal Suffrage without shame for the pre- judice which graduates human rights according to the color of the skin.

We are forced to pay taxes without representation—to submit without ap- peal to laws, however offensive, with- out a single voice in framing them—- to bear arms without the right to say whether against friend or foe, against loyalty or disloyalty. Without suf- frage we are forced in strict subjec- tion to a government whose councils are to us foreign, and are called by our own countrymen to witness a violence upon the primary principle of a republican government, as gross and outrageous as that which justly stirred patriot Americans to throw overboard the tea from English bot- toms in Boston harbor, and to wage the war for independence.

We ask not for social equality with the white man, as is often claimed by the shallow demagogue; for a law higher than human must forever govern social relations.

We ask only that privilege which is now given to the very poorest and meanest of white men who come to the ballot-box.

We demand this as those who are native born citizens of this state, and have never known other allegiance than to its authority and to these United States.

We demand this in the names of those whose bitter toil has enriched our state and brought wealth to its homes.

We demand this as those who have ever cheerfully sustained law and order, and who have, within our means, zealously promoted education and morality.

We demand this as those who have been true and loyal to our government from its foundation to the present, and who have never deserted its interests while even in the midst of treason and under subjugation to its most violent enemies.

We demand this in the honored name of the nine thousand colored troops who, with the first opportunity, enlisted under the banner of Missouri and bared their breasts to the remor- seless storms of treason, and by hun- dreds went down to death in the con- flict, while the franchised rebel-—the cowardly conservative—-the now bit- terest enemies to our right to suffrage, remained in quiet at home, safe, and fattened on the fruits of our sacrifice, toil, and blood.

We ask for a citizenship based upon a principle so broad and solid that upon it black men, white men, and every American born can equally, safe- ly, and eternally stand.

We ask that the organic law of our State shall give to suffrage irrevocable guaranties that shall know of no dis- tinction at the polls on account of color.

If those guaranties are still to be denied, and hereafter color is to mark the line which shall be drawn about the ballot-box, we ask for a statute that shall clearly define the castes and grades of complexion which shall be permitted within, or expelled from, its loyal precincts.

If wealth is to guard the portals of a free suffrage, we ask that our ac- quirements be respected and admitted to equal representation.

If intelligence shall prescribe the limits, we ask for an impartial dis- crimination, which shall affect white as well as black, and submit that the entire ignorance and stupidity of the people should not by any presumption be wholly charged to the account of ourselves.

To such an universal test of intel- ligence we are willing to submit our claims to suffrage, and believe that it would promote a most healthy spirit of emulation and prove the greatest educator of the masses.

Our asserted ignorance is not a condition from choice or disposition, as is now everywhere made evident in the zealous efforts of our people to educate themselves and their children; but arises from the black code legis- lation of our illiterate franchised mas- ters.

We ask that colored loyalty, indus- try, and intelligence shall receive as full rights, guaranties, and privileges as those accorded to white treason, arrogance, and indolence.