The Bangkok Recorder.

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The Loved and Lost.

LONDON: JULY 9—10. 1866.

THE BATTLE OF SADOWA.—The details
of a great battle like that of Koeniggratz
or Sadowa are not quickly learnt. Few
have an opportunity of seeing the gener-
al plan of attack and defence, and still
fewer can understand it. In the magni-
tude of the armies engaged as well as in
the importance of the interests at stake
the late battle has seldom been surpassed.
Nearly a quarter of a million of men
were arrayed on either side; they exten-
ded over a great expanse of country, and
were lead by Royal Generals who exer-
cised almost independent commands. As
military historians have disputed for half
a century about the incidents of Leipsic
and Waterloo, it may be that this battle,
which in magnitude equals Leipsic and
far surpasses Waterloo, will for many a
year be the subject of controversy. But
we are happy in having at the seat of
war a correspondent who is well qualified
to form a judgment on such operations,
and who has produced a description
which, considering the circumstances un-
der which it was written, is a marvel of
accurate observation. It is not too much
to say that we learn from his letter more
than was known of the action by the
great majority of those who took part in
it. The public is, indeed, well served by
those who narrate these wonderful events
of war almost before the smoke has
cleared away from the battle-field. We
learn so speedily and with such compar-
ative accuracy the general plan of an en-
gagement that we are apt to forget how
recent these advantages have been, and
to undervalue the assistance which the
narrative of a competent eye-witness,
written on the very field and on the very
day of battle, gives, not only to his con-
temporaries, but to future historians.
The grandfathers of the present genera-
tion were very differently situated with
respect to the battles which distinguished
the early part of the present century.
When Napoleon crushed the two Empe-
rors at Austerlitz or broke the power of
Prussia at Jena, there was no such clear
conception of what had been done. A
reference to the press of the period will
confirm what most of us have heard from
our elders concerning the suspense which
prevailed during the great campaigns. A
decisive victory was seldom announced
as such and accepted by all the world
within 24 hours. Still less did people
know the number of men engaged, the
dispositions of the Generals, the conduct
of the soldiers, and the various details of
the action. News came straggling home-
wards that the campaign was going a-
gainst the Austrians or the Russians; a
great firm in the City had it that Bona-
parte had won another victory, and that
an armistice, and then a peace, was like-
ly to be the result. But somebody con-
tradicted this, the public was warned not
to believe sinister rumours, and it was
shown a raison [?] how impossible it was
that the combinations of the Allies should
have failed. At last, after a week or ten
days' suspense, the worst intelligence was
fully confirmed; but even then the pub-
lic had no account of the matter more
trustworthy than Napoleon's bulletins
and scraps of letters from officers or
soldiers which might find their way into
the French papers, and then after a time
penetrate into this country. Even the
subsequent victories of the Allies were
very inadequately understood for a long
time. The campaign of 1813 was only
known as a series of tremendous battles
in and about Saxony, in which the French,
sometimes victorious and sometimes de-
feated, were at length overpowered at
Leipsic, and compelled to fall back on
the Rhine. The telegraph and the mili-
tary correspondent have changed all this.
We probably know more of the battle of
Königgrätz, which was fought this day
week, than the British public knew of
the battle of Leipsic three months after-
wards. The forces engaged, the com-
manders, the stations of the different
corps, the nature of the ground, the man-
ner of the attack, and the resistance it
met with, are all described by our cor-
respondent with an exactness which as-
sures us that we have the main incidents
of the battle. All that he saw he tells,
and his military knowledge enables him
to form a correct judgment of the oper-
ations which were beyond his own sur-
vey. And what a battle it was as here
described within a few hours after the
Austrians had been swept from the field,
and while the Prussians were still pursu-
ing their retreating legions! There has
been nothing like it in our time, and on-
ly once in the great war of the French
Empire has there been such a contest
and such a carnage. The whole Prus-
sian and Austrian armies were engaged;
all that these two military Monarchies,
fresh from the repose of a long peace,
could place in the field was there. The
delay of Benedek had enabled the two
main armies of the Prussians, each one
of them a national host in itself, to com-
bine, and, as their losses had not been
large in the previous encounters, they
confronted the enemy 240,000 strong.
The Austrians are supposed to have had
an equal number. A survey of the field
of battle with a good map will show the
extent of ground over which these im-
mense levies of men were spread. It is,
indeed, wonderful that such extensive
operations should have been begun and
completed in a single day. Where nearly
half-a-million of men and 1,500 guns are
in the field we might expect a conflict as
long as Leipsic. But the irresistible onset
of the Prussians and the skill of their
Generals decided the battle in a single
long summer's day. The narratives of its
incidents given by our correspondent
does justice to the obstinacy and courage
of the Austrians, but raises higher our
estimate of their opponents. It is evid-
ent that the Austrians were very strong-
ly posted, and that it was a work of dar-
ing and endurance to dislodge them. On-
ly Generals having complete confidence
in themselves and their troops would
have ventured on such an enterprise.
General Benedek could have little hope
of achieving the objects of the war by
taking up his "partly intrenched posi-
tion." The Austrians could not by hold-

ing their ground in Bohemia either de-
liver Hanover and the Duchies, or make
those conquests of Prussian territory
which were to enable them to cede
Venetia with grace. But if their design
had been merely to protect their own
territory, they, perhaps, could not have
done better. They had a position well
protected by slope and wood, and they
made a good use of it. Their artillery
appears to have been excellent. They
mowed down the advancing Prussians,
inflicting on them terrible losses, while
they themselves were almost uninjured.
From our correspondent's account we
must judge that the Prussians did not
win the day merely by the possession of
a superior arm. Through a great part of
their advance the needle-gun gave them
no superiority. The Austrians were pro-
tected by the nature of their position,
and musketry fire was useless against
them. The capture of the wood above
Sadowa was accomplished by real hard
fighting. The Austrians would not retire,
but waited for the struggle. "The 27th
Prussian Regiment went in nearly 3,000
strong, with 90 officers, and came out on
the further side with only two officers
and between 300 and 400 men, standing;
all the rest were killed or wounded.
Again, when a second wood opposed
their progress, "they advanced against it,
but did not at first make much impres-
sion; for, the Austrians being here again
concealed, the fire of the needle-gun did
not tell, and a whole battery placed at
the far end of the wood fired through the
trees and told on the Prussian ranks with
awful effect." These and other incidents
make it clear that the greatest battle of
the present age was won by the superior
prowess of the victors, and was not a con-
sequence of a merely mechanical advan-
tage. The needle-gun added, no doubt,
to the completeness of the victory, but if
the Prussians had possessed no such
weapon, the spirit of their onset, and the
skilful arrangements by which a part of
their army was brought on to the flank
and rear of the enemy, would have effec-
tually dislodged the Austrians from their
position.—(TIMES.)

From the L. and C. Express July 17th

The Negotiations for Peace.

—M. Benedetti, the French Ambassa-
dor, and the Count de Barral, Italian
minister at Berlin, have accompanied the
King to the Prussian headquarters at
Brunn. Negotiations are in progress
there for a truce of three days; and not
for an armistice. An attaché to M. Bene-
detti left Brunn on the 14th for Vienna.
The Berlin official STAATNANZEIGER of
yesterday says:— "The assertion of vari-
ous newspapers that Prussia has demanded
the cession of Bohemia and Moravia
as a condition of peace are entirely un-
founded. A glance at the map shows that
the possessions of these countries by
Prussia would not be a source of strength,
but of weakness ; national interests also
would render such an acquisition undesi-
rable. The aim of the policy of Prussia
is directed towards the establishment of
a new Confederation and the convocation
of a German Parliament. Connection
with countries only in part appertaining
to German nationality would place ob-
stacles in the way of the assembling of the
Parliament." The Paris CONSTITU-
TIONNEL has an article blaming certain
journals for seeking to induce the French
Government to require territorial enlarge-
ment, in order to secure territorial enlarge-
ment obtained by Prussia.

France.

—A Toulon telegram of yesterday (the
16th.) states:—-The levy which has been
ordered throughout the whole maritime
registry has been countermanded, and
the arming of the fleet has been suspen-
ded.

THE NEW RIFLE.—-The Snider Enfield
rifle can be fired fifteen times in a minute,
while the extreme rate of fire of the Prus-
sian needle-gun does not exceed six to
eight shots. The Snider principle admits
of capping being done away with, and
that the converted Enfields will be loaded
with self-igniting cartridges fired by a
pin, which having struck the cartridge is
returned by a string to its position.

THE BERLIN FEELING ON THE FRENCH
INTERCESSION.—-Referring to the proffer-
ed mediation of France, the Berlin NA-
TIONAL ZEITUNG employs rather confident
language:—-“Desirous as we are to hope
for the best from France, still we think
it necessary to prepare for the worst.
Little consideration was excercised by
Louis Napoleon in hastening to reap the
first fruits of the Prussian victories, and
procure by a sort of political farce a
seeming right to interfere. The appro-
priation of Venice in the ludicrous man-
ner concerted between the assigner and
assignee is certainly no very promising
inauguration of the new public law of
Europe, which is to replace the treaties
of 1815. If Italy is content to be held
in leading-strings by France, Prussia
cannot be expected to submit to similar
treatment. Between Prussia and France
no other relations are possible than such
as one independent State may bear to
another, and it will entirely depend on
the attitude of France whether our former
good understanding shall continue or not.
In the latter event we, and with us all
Germany, shall be forced into the policy
of 1813, against Louis Napoleon and his
whole dynasty. The less we speak of
this alternative just now the better, but
we all know what it may become our duty
to do under certain circumstances.

Anxiety is again felt for the health
of the Pope. His Holiness does not sleep
well; we should be surprised if any
potentate in Europe, secular or spiritual,
slept soundly in these times.

The TELEGRAPH or Ktau announced
that the cholera has appeared in Southern
Russia, and has fallen with great virulence
on the towns of Ouman and Krement-
chong.

The BOUDNARIES of the province of
Venetia are well known, but not very
generally the extent which it occupies on
the map of Europe. It contains 23,482
square kilometres (3,870,500 acres), and
has 2,493,068 inhabitants.

The P. and O. Company's
Mail Contract.

The last convention made between the
Government and the company is dated
Feb. 27, 1866. The following extract
gives the company's contract time. The
contract now runs subject to a year's
notice. The penalty for non-delivery in
the specified time is £50 per day and an
allowance is made of £25 per day for
early delivery:—-

HOW THE NEEDLE-GUN IS USED.-—When
firing in line the soldier does not stand
with his front to the enemy, but sideways,
like the archer when pulling the string
of his longbow. The musket is not
brought up to the shoulder, but rests the
whole time on the bent left arm. After
each shot the receptacle for the fresh
cartridge flies open of itself. The cart-
ridge pouch is fixed to the girdle, and in
a second the musket is reloaded; a slight
movement, and it is ready for firing. Dur-
ing the whole time the musket remains
in the same place, as on a rest, in the
hollow of the left arm. The right hand
only has to be occupied. And in this
way the Prussian soldier is enabled,
without the fatigue of muzzle-loading
and the many movements attendant on
grounding his piece and again bringing it
up to his shoulder, to discharge his musket
seven times in a minute.

ORDERS FOR MUSKETS.-—The Ost
DEUTSCHE POST states that the Austrian
Ministry of War has ordered 50,000 need-
le-muskets for the Austrian army. They
are in course of completion, and will be
delivered at the rate of 2,000 a day. The
Prussian Government have already given
an order for 40,000 of the newly invent-
ed American gun, which, it is said, allows
twelve shots to be fired in a minute.

THE JAMAICA COMMITTEE.—-Mr. Char-
les Buxton has resigned the chairmanship
of the Jamaica Committee in consequence
of that body having committed themselves
to the prosecution of Mr. Eyre, the late
Governor of Jamaica, for the murder of
Mr. Gordon, and a meeting was held to
choose a successor, the proceedings at
which were rather stormy. Mr. Peter
Alfred Taylor, who was in the chair pro
tem., after referring to the inconvenience
which he said Mr. Buxton's conduct had
occasioned, found fault also with Mrs.
Gordon. It seems that lady has declined
to prosecute, her opinion being that if
she could be favoured with an interview
with her deceased husband he would be
sure to forbid her doing so. Mr. Buxton
who was present at the meeting, took oc-
casion to say that he had not influenced
Mrs. Gordon in her decision; in fact he
had not seen her, and as to his differences
with the committee, if they could have
prosecuted Mr. Eyre for misgoverning
the colony he would have been ready to
take action in the matter, but he could
not look upon him as being guilty of the
wilful deliberate murder of Mr. Gordon.
Mr. Bright was very angry with Mr.
Buxton for doubting that Mr. Eyre was
a murderer, and that he ought to be
punished as such. He had himself, he said,
discussed that question with one of the
oldest and most esteemed judges in Eng-
land, who said—not in his (Mr. Bright's)
presence alone, but before several per-
sons—that in his whole life he had never
seen or known a case more distinctly of
murder than the putting of Mr. Gordon
to death. His opinion distinctly was,
that if Mrs. Gordon was willing in her
own name to commence proceedings with
a prosecution of Mr. Eyre, the committee
should undertake to collect funds and
give her such legal assistance as was in
their power. But if Mrs. Gordon was
prevented by anybody from prosecuting,
and was altogether against such a thing as
a prosecution, it would make the position
of the committee more difficult, and the
whole question would have to be re-con-
sidered. Mr. John Stuart Mill was elected
chairman, and in taking the office he said,
“I accept the post you have given me.
I do so in the full conviction that the
objects of this committee are simply to
ascertain whether there exist in this coun-
try any means for making a British func-
tionary responsible for blood unlawfully
shed, and whether that be murder or not.
I believe it to be murder. This com-
mittee ought not to rest until it obtains
from the Legislature the assurance that
men like Mr. Eyre will be made respon-
sible for these criminal actions.”

THE CAPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA.—-An im-
perial letter, the writer of which is his
Majesty Theodore of Abyssinia, has been
published. It is addressed to Dr. Beke, and
was brought By Mr. Martin Flad, one of
the missionaries so long detained in that
country, who has just arrived in England
with despatches for Her Majesty’s Go-
vernment. Mr. Flad quitted the Empe-
ror’s camp at Zagye, on the south-wes-
tern edge of Lake Tsana, on the 20th
of April last, at which place Mrs. Flad
and their three children, Consul Cameron,
and the remaining captives, together with
Mr. Rassam and his suite are detained
until Mr. Flad’s return. The following
is the letter:—-”In the name of the Father,
and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost,
one God, the King of Kings, Téoderos,
may this reach the Englishman Charles
Theodore Beke. Thou and thy wife, by
the power of God, have reached my
country. Are you well? I; God be prais-
ed, am well. What time you come?
Come by Matamma. As regards the per-
sons who were imprisoned, by the power
of God, out of friendship to the Queen
of England, I have liberated them and
given them to Mr. Hormuz Rassam. May
this give you pleasure. Written at Zagye
in the 7358th year since the creation of
the word, and the 1858th year since the
birth of Christ.” To this letter is affixed
the Emperor’s seal, bearing the device
of “the Lion of the Tribe of Judah,”
with the title, “The King of Kings,
Téoderos of Ethiopia,” and in Arabic
characters.

CURIOUS MATRIMONIAL COMPLICATIONS.
—-The Queen’s eldest son-—the Prince of
Wales—-is married to a daughter of the
King of Denmark, who has been depriv-
ed of a large portion of his territories by
the King of Prussia, uncle of the husband
of the Queen’s eldest daughter, and this
mutilation of Denmark was effected nomi-
nally in the interest of the Duke of
Augustenberg, whose younger brother,
Prince Christian, has been married to
the Queen’s third daughter, the Princess
Helena. 2. The Queen’s first cousin, the
King of Hanover, has been deprived of
his kingdom by the same King of Prussia,
in whose army the Queen’s son-in-law,
the Prince of Prussia, is a commanding
officer. 3. Prince Alexander of Hesse,
who commands the Federal army raised
to oppose the King of Prussia, is brother
to Prince Louis, the husband of Princess
Alice, the Queen’s second daughter. 4.
The Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Prince
Albert’s brother, and brother-in-law to
the Queen, holds command in the King
of Prussia’s army now invading Hanover,
which kingdom, by the way, until the
accession of Her Majesty, formed part
of the territory of the King of England.
And lastly, Prince Teck, recently mar-
ried to the Queen’s first cousin, the Prin-
cess Mary of Cambridge, holds a commis-
sion in the army of the Emperor of Aus-
tria, and may at any time have to leave
his bride for the seat of war, to fight the
King of Prussia, who has the Queen’s
son-in-law and the Queen’s brother-in-
law both officers in his army.

THE EMPEROR AND THE NEEDLE GUN.
—-The latest story about the needle-gun
and the FUKOKE it is exciting in Paris is
told by the correspondent of the STAR:—-
“The Prince Imperial asked his father
to explain the difference between the
needle-gun and the ordinary firearm to
him, Wishing to give example to theore-
tical demonstration, the Emperor went
down to the court of the Tuileries, and
calling the sentinel said to him, ‘Mon
brave, load and fire to amuse these child-
ren,’ the children being the young Prince
and l’ Espinosa. Meanwhile his Majesty,
who had a needle-gun in his hand, loaded
and fired five times before the private had
fired his single shot. The soldier was
amazed. ‘Hein,’ said the Emperor, ‘it’s
quicker work with this gun than with
yours; would you like to have one?
Certainly, sire.’ ‘Then so you shall,’
answered the Emperor.”

The largest income of a Bostonian is
that of Mr. Royal E. Robbins, treasurer
of the American Watch Company, who
is assessed for $377,000. In New York
the largest income assessment is that of
A. T. Stewart, the dry-goods merchant
—-$4,780,000.

Bangkok Recorder.

The Petchaburee Laos.

While the Laos are monopolizing
such a large share of public attention
just at this time, it might be interest-
ing to give our readers a short notice
of a small colony of the same wide
spread and numerous family located
at Petchaburee. They have an inter-
esting history handed down by tradi-
tion among themselves, the main facts
being substantially as follows.

About 89 years ago or A. D. 1777,
and probably contemporaneous with
the American revolution, there was a
civil war in their own country to the
Northeast of Siam-proper, probably
not far from Weang-chan, and the
party to which they belonged being
defeated, they took refuge in Siam, and
were assigned a home in the plains
around Petchaburee. What were their
precise numbers when they first came,
or the nature of the political revolution
that tore them from their own land,
and planted them here cannot be very
definitely ascertained from their own
statements. Only one or two of their
original colony are still living, and
must have been very young when they
left home, and are now almost in their
second childhood, so that it is very
difficult to obtain exact information
from them. So also any information
among an uneducated ignorant people,
even though a single generation inter-
vene, must be very defective.

Whether or not it was during some
of the upheavings occasioned by Phya
Tak, who conquered the Weang-chan
provinces about A. D. 1777, we are
not able to say, though it is altogether
probable that it was. We have no
doubt that the facts are in the posses-
sion of the Siamese government, and
that their archives and records would
give light on the revolution that sent
them here, and in reference to their
number at the time. We are inclined
to think that their original number
was not very large, and that their
rate of increase must have been very
great.

From all the data that we can gain,
and all the facts that we can now
gather, we think that their present
population must be more than ten
thousand, it is probably nearer twelve
than ten, counting men, women, and
children of all ages. When called out
to do Rachakan, or the king's work,
they number at a time from 500 to
800 able bodied men. Now if we
remember the rule by which they are
levied, that each man is required to
work one month out of four, and that
consequently only one fourth of their
number is on the roll at any one time,
there must be four times the above
number or somewhere between two and
three thousand working men. These
can hardly constitute more than one
fifth of the whole population including
women and superannuated men and
children, thus making the whole num-
ber somewhere between ten and fifteen
thousand souls.

If incorrect either way we would
be glad to stand corrected if there are
any reliable records.

These Laos reside in villages varying
from two or three hundred, to more
than the same number of thousand
souls, in the plain beyond and around
Petchaburee, the nearest being less
than two miles and the furthest twelve
or fifteen miles from that place.

The names of the principal of these
villages in their order are Tapan-yee
Hou, Weang-koy, Wang-tako, Hua-
tapan, Nawng-trong, Nawng-chik,
Tap k'ang, Dawn-sai and Kow-koi.

This Laos tribe partakes to a great
degree of many of the characteristics
which belong to their whole race, be-
ing an able bodied and tolerably mor-
al and frugal race. They seem to
have much less of levity of character,
and much greater stability as a whole
in all their wide dispersions than the
Siamese, though the latter are now the
governing race and they the governed,
and to some extent an oppressed peo-
ple. Being refugees originally from
their own country to this, they are
here entirely at the clemency of H.M.
the king, who uses them as serfs of
the soil, doing much of the drudgery
not only in Petchaburee, but also in
different parts of the kingdom where-
ever their services are needed. They
are generally regarded as more reliable
in doing the king's work, where only
physical strength is concerned than
the Siamese. They have a reputation
for honesty and are a quiet and peace-
able people.

Most of the brick, mortar, sand,
water, and other materials used in
building the palace on the mountain
were carried up by the Laos. They
have been, if not hewers, at least cut-
ters of wood and drawers of water.
But though their condition as an exil-
ed race is worse than that of the Sia-
mese, yet they have in return some
privileges that the latter do not have.
They are allowed to clear up and cul-
tivate their own fields anywhere in the
plain not yet under cultivation, without
the usual tax required from the Siam-
ese government. And notwithstanding
the hard service which is required of
them, they are improving their condi-
tion somewhat, especially under the
mild and just administration of the
Lieut. Governor. No class of the po-
pulation there express a deeper re-
gret than they do, that His Excellency
the Lieut. Governor is to be removed
from that place.

Any one acquainted at all with Sia-
mese laws and custom knows that their
great defect is the absence of any
just and binding authority. Every-
thing depends upon the ruler. If he
is a good and just man the people will
be exempt from oppression, but if not
there is nothing in the law to restrain
the oppressor of the people. And it
is a notorious fact, too, that much of
the oppression in Siam is the work of
the under-officials and petty officers,
of which those in authority know
nothing.

With a man of influence such as the
Phra Palat, these petty officers are
afraid to transgress the bounds of de-
cency, but now that he is gone, the
Laos begin to feel their power. We
have already heard complaints that
now while the same amount of work
is required of them as formerly, they
have to furnish their own oxen in-
stead of having the royal ones given
them as formerly. As we have always
been interested in these people since
we first became acquainted with them
we may give some other facts in re-
ference to them in a future issue of
our paper.

Laos States Tributary
to Siam.

There are six Laos States lying main-
ly North of Siam-proper which are
tributary to Siam. These are Cheang-
mai, Lamphoon, Nakawn Lampang,
P'ree, Nand, and Cheang-rai. It is
not in our power to show the geogra-
phical relations of these States to each
other, nor to speak with even an aprox-
imation to accuracy of the amount
of territory they all comprise, as there
has never been the least scientifical
survey of it, and consequently there
are no maps of the country which can
at all be relied upon. We see in a
map appended to Sir John Bowring's
work on Siam that Cheangmai is a
very little west of north from Bangkok
on the Menam River; Lamphoon about
10 miles south of Cheangmai on the
same stream; Nak'awn Lampang about
60 miles S. E. of Lamphoon, on a
tributary of the Menam River; P'ree
about 40 miles S. E. of Nak'awn on
still another tributary of the Menam;
Nand about 60 miles N. N. E of P'ree
on the same stream, and Cheangrai is
put down on a branch of the Salween
60 miles N. W. of Cheangmai. Now
this map, while it may show the gen-
eral directions of those Laos states
from Bangkok, with some degree of
accuracy, must be greatly out in
regard to giving their distances from
each other and the extent of the ter-
ritory they all comprise. As there
delineated, they do not embrace more
than a quarter of the square miles that
constitute Siam-proper. But our im-
pression is, that the Laos country is
full as extensive if not more so than
Siam, and contains full as many souls.
They are weak not for the want of
numbers, but for the want of union.

For a long time before the founding
of the old city Ayuthia, in A. D.
1351, they were independent kingdoms.
They lost their independence soon
after that time in consequence of be-
ing situated between more powerful
kingdoms that were at war with each
other. Those kingdoms were Burmah,
Pegu, and Siam. Had they enjoyed
the spirit of union in a combined con-
federacy, doubtless they could have
successfully resisted the invasions of
their country from the west and
south and S. E. But no such union
seems to have ever blessed them, and
consequently they became the prey of
their powerful neighbors for hundreds
of years, being sometimes all brought
into subjection to Burmah, sometimes
to Pegu, sometimes to Siam and some-
times, we believe, were divided among
the three dominant nations. They had
little or no rest and consequently no
prosperity until Siam became strong
enough to bring them all over to her-
self and hold them firmly as her tri-
butaries.

This appears to have been fully
accomplished at the beginning of the
reign of Somdetcb Racha P'ra P'oot's
Yawt Fa, the grand father of his pre-
sent Majesty the king of Siam. He
was the first monarch of the present
flourishing dynasty, and began to reign
A. D. 1782, which was only fifteen
years after the fall of the old capital
Ayuthia under a siege of the Burman
army three years. Many of the Sia-
mese, it is said, were at that time car-
ried captives to Burmah and most of
the remainder of the citizens fled to
the south. Consequently the Laos
States became again tributary to Bur-
mah.

It was but a short time, however,
before the scattered forces of the Sia-
mese were rallied and reorganized
under the leader-ship of a Chino-Sia-
mese general named Phya Tak Sin.
He must have been a man of extra-
ordinary abilities. Siamese History
says, that with a small force of only a
few thousand men he routed the Bur-
man troops that were still quartered
at the old city and other places, built
a walled city at Ton-booree, now the
site of H. R. H. Krom Hluang Wong-
sa's palace, and reigned as king under
the title Phya Tak Sin. In the mean
time he conquered Korat, Cambodia,
Weang-chan and virtually recovered
all the tributary states of the Laos.
He was seized with insanity A. D.
1780—-thought himself to be worthy
of adoration as a Buddh-—made most
oppressive exactions from the rich
and treated his officials with great
severity. A sedition was the conse-
quence. The populace broke into his
palace intending to assassinate him.
But he escaped and fled to a temple,
was immediately admitted into the
priesthood, and being clothed with
the sacred yellow robes, was effectually
shielded from the power of the mob.
But on the return of Phya Chakree
from the war against the Anamese the
next year, he ordered Phya Tak Sin
to be dragged from the temple and
executed, when he himself assumed
the reins of government and reigned
under the title Somdetcb Rscha P'ra
P'oot'a Yawt Fa. The walled city
which Phya Tak Sin had made, not
suiting the new king, he built a new
one on the opposite side of the river.
This was done quite early in his reign,
and the brick walls forming an irregu-
lar circle of about six miles being 15
feet high and 15 feet thick are still
standing very much as they were at
the beginning.

From some government documents,
which we have lately seen, it appears
that those Laos States above named
have been settled and peaceful in their
dependency on Siam ever since the
beginning of this dynasty, which is
now 84 years. The most northern of
those States bounds on another Laos
State called Cheang-tung which be-
longs to Burmah.

If we are correctly informed, five
of the principal Laos States above
named are in a certain sense indepen-
dent of each other, each being ruled
by its own hereditary Prince; but
that Cheang-rai is entirely dependent
on Cheang-mai and has been so from
1782. The king of Cheang-mai seems
to stand as Lord Paramount to all the
five states, while he himself is depen-
dent on His Majesty the king of Siam
as his own Suzerain.

The Needle Gun.

The article which we copied last
week from one of our Singapore Ex-
changes, on the Origins and History
of the Needle-Gun, would seem to
be in several particulars quite incor-
rect. From a very reliable source we
have since learned, that it is a great
mistake that that great invention is
due to an Englishman in Canada and
that it is a new thing. Our inform-
ant, who is remarkably well posted in
European affairs, affirms that the
needle-gun was first invented by a
German named Herr Dreyse at Soem-
merda in Germany in the year 1832,
that from that time to 1844they
were chiefly used as fowling pieces:
that in 1844 the Prussian government
made a trial of the needle-gun in-
stead of the percussion gun; that the
11th Regiment of Infantry stationed
at Glatz were the first Prussian sol-

diers who tried them as an arm of
war, and finding them quite superior
to every other for infantry and caval-
ry purposes, the Prussian govern-
ment had great numbers of them
made between the years of 1846 and
1852, so that the infantry and cav-
alry troops were supplied with them
from that time onward to the begin-
ning of the present war.

And with regard to the insinuation
that Count Bismarck has been the
chief man in having the needle-guns
made and introduced into the Prus-
sian army, our informant would have
us understand that the Count had
very little to do with that matter.
As proof of this he states that Count
Bismarck was not in position to exert
such an influence until since 1862;
because for several years up to 1860
he was Ambassador for the Prussian
government at St. Petersburg, was
Prus. plenipotentiary at Paris in 1861
and was not called to the Premier-ship
until the year 1862.

Now if the above statement be a
correct one (and we see not how to
discredit it) it is certainly very
strange that the Prussians appear to
have made little or no use of their
needle-guns in their late war with
Denmark, and that their neighbors
the Austrians and other German
States together with France and Eng-
land seem not to have heard of their
superiority over the guns that were
commonly used by infantry and cav-
alry troops, and consequently had
taken no effective measures to furnish
their own troops with that powerful
arm. It may indeed be replied that
those governments had heard much
in praise of the needle-gun but did
not credit the reports, and hence did
nothing to avail themselves of the im-
provement. But this explanation
would still leave the matter in a great
fog, for how is it that all those gov-
ernments should thus show themselves
so much more slow to catch a new
and bright idea than the Prussians?

We cannot but suspect that the
needle-guns as they were when
Count Bismarck came into power
as Premier of Prussia were too im-
perfect to command much confidence
even in the Prussian government, and
that through his keen sightedness and
great power of accomplishment the
invention has been so much im-
proved as to justify the greatest confi-
dence as an arm of war, and that
consequently the Prussian soldiers
were fully armed with them, as it
were under disguise, and hence the
wonderful power of the Prussians a-
gainst the Austrians in their late
great battles, and the astonishing ce-
lerity with which they have closed
one of the greatest campaigns Eu-
rope has ever witnessed.

If this exposition of the mystery be
in the main correct, Count Bismarck
will still have a good claim to the name
of introducing a change in modern
warfare that will greatly abridge the
term of all future wars among civilized
nations. It seems to us that if wars
must come, it is far better to have a
few short and decisive battles at the
outset like the Prussians and Austrians,
though they be with terrible destruc-
tion of life, than to have them long
protracted with scores of indecisive
battles, less bloody when individually
considered, but more so collectively,
and with vastly more destruction of
national resources, private fortunes, and
public morals. How much better is it
that the Prusso-Austrian war should
be settled quickly though it was with
tremendous slaughter, than that it
should have proceeded slowly and in-
volved as it consequently would have
done the whole of Europe, and extended
through four long years of destruction
as the Am. civil war did. Much as our
sympathy has been against Count Bis-
marck for his apparent love of war, and
inordinate love of power, we frankly
confess that we now heartily award
him our praise for his keen foresight
into the advantages of the needle-gun
and the sound judgment and good
sense he exercised in having the Prus-
sian troops so fully armed with that
powerful abridger of carnal warfare.
It appears that he had the greatest
confidence that such would be the re-
sult, if the war should break out, and
often spoke of it while concealing the
means by which it would be accomp-
lished.

We have recently heard that the
needle-gun was introduced into the
Union army of the U. S. in the late
civil war, and that a few regiments
were armed with it, and demonstrated
its great superiority over all other small
arms as early as 1862. But why the
improvement did not come into general
use in the Union Army after that, is to
us as great a mystery as any we have
above noted concerning the stupidity
of European powers in regard to the
needle-gun.

It appears that since then there has
been another great improvement made
by some American in the needle-gun
by which it can discharge 16 shots
every minute.

LOCAL.

We can scarcely go out in any di-
rection without the afflicting sight of
large amounts of property, both pub-
lic and private, rapidly going to ruin
for the want of proper care. In pas-
sing a government dockyard a few mor-
nings since we could not but be op-
pressed with the view of sailing ves-
sels, steamboats, dredging machines,
engine boilers etc. laid up, but too
generally very imperfectly covered
and consequently cracking open, rot-
ting, and rusting away as though
there was not money enough in the
kingdom to keep them well housed,
in good repair and in some profitable
use. It looks as if they had been
ridden as hobbies until they have lost
nearly all their power to interest their
owners, and that now some new play
things are engaging their attention.
We do not say that such is their
childishness, but only that such views
as we have of them has too much of
that appearance for a people that
would rise in power and true great-
ness.

In our morning walk to day we
saw heaps of iron frames for bridges,
and large iron cylinders once neatly
polished but now all exposed to rain
and rusting out in utter uselessness.
These iron works must have cost the
government large sums of money to
import from Europe. We have seen
these costly goods lying where they
now are a long time. Why is it that
they cannot at the least be put under
some suitable shed? What a pity it
is that iron bridges, so much needed
in Bangkok, procured at so much
expense, and all prepared for use, can-
not be put into service at once? If
set up and well painted they certainly
would last longer than they will as
they now are.

Mr. T. Appleing, an Exhibiter of
Dissolving Views, and of whose ac-
ceptable performances at Penang we
have had reports in our Penang ex-
changes for May last, arrived here on
the 4th inst.—-coming from Penang
overland. He has been three months and
seventeen days making the passage, spen-
ding some time in exhibiting his views
on a small scale in several of the prin-
cipal towns through which he passed,
and much more in waiting the slow
movements of the different Rajah's to
whom he had letters requesting facili-
ties for travelling from one to the other.
With the exception of their tardiness
Mr. A. brings good reports from them
all as having been truly kind to him,
not willing even to take any pay for his
board, or for use of elephants or escorts.
And he would hereby return thanks
to them all for their gentlemanly treat-
ment of him. He left Penang in a small
sail boat and stopped at Quedah.
From Quedah he went to Tonga, thence
to Ponga, and thence to Kopa. Here
he left the boat and traveled elephant-
back across the Peninsula to Bandan,
thence to Chiya, and thence to Chum-
pon. From the latter place he came
in a small sailing boat to Taschoen and
finally to Bangkok.

He reports that large portions of
the country through which he passed
in this journey are yet but a “howling
wilderness”, that the mountain passes
are highly romantic and exciting, that
human beings seemed quite sparse,
the soil generally excellent, and that
there is no want of any physical element
to make the country a delightful one
under a thorough Christian govern-
ment.

Mr. Appleing expects to remain in
town several weeks during which time
he hopes to have many exhibitions of
his Dissolving Views.

The king of Cheangmai took a Steam
Boat excursion on Monday the 3d inst.
on board the Rapidity belonging to
Phya Sooriwongs Weiyawat and return-
ed the same day. It was, we learn, his
intention to go down the Gulf some
distance But finding himself a poorer
seaman than he anticipated, and that
old Neptune was dreadfully disgusting
in his influences on himself and familly,
he turned back at the anchorage and
hastened to quieter times. About 100
Laos accompanied the king including
the royal familly, and Mr. J. G. Cox
English secretary to the prince. His
E. Phya Sooriwongs Weiyawat went
as Captain of his own Boat.

THE WEATHER appears to be as
good as could be wished for in regard
to the next rice crop. Reports from
all quarters concerning it are the most
favorable. It is probable that the
tedious work of transplanting all
the rice fields is now done.

We hear, too, that the price of rice
has fallen a little within a few days,
which is another evidence that rice
dealers are expecting an abundant
crop.

HEALTH—-It appears to be a time
of usual health among the native citi-
zens of Bangkok; but there is at pre-
sent an unusual number of the Foreign
residents reported as being on the in-
valid list. Some are at the Sanitarium
at Anghin and report well of the place
as a health-recruiting station.

Passenger per British steamer
“Seewoon” which sailed for Singa-
pore on the 5th inst. Captain Shan-
non.

News Items.

From the "Overland Trade Report"
of July 29th we glean the following
items.

H. B. M. Gunboats Osprey and
Opossum of 3 gun each, struck a
severe blow at piracy on the 20th
July in Sa-ma bay in the island of
Hainan, at this place they fell in with
and captured after two hours fighting,
a fleet consisting of 22 regular pirati-
cal junks carrying 240 guns. The
junks were all burned notwithstanding
the fact that some of them contained
opium and other valuable cargo.

COMMERCIAL BANK—-On the suspen-
sion of the the Bank, the assets had
been placed in the Hong Kong and
Shanghai Bank, in the name of the
Manager of the Commercial Bank,
with the understanding that the bank
was not to make use of any of the
money, nor the creditors institute pro-
ceedings against the Bank, until fur-
ther information arrived from London.
But some of the creditors instituted
proceedings against the Bank, and
when the adverse judgment of the Act-
ing Chief Justice was pronounced on the
eve of the departure of the mail, the
manager of the Commercial Bank
availed himself of the power so strange-
ly left in his hands, and transmitted
every dollar of the money belonging
to the Bank home to England, endos-
ing all the bills to the official Liquid-
ator in London, although the name of
that officer was still unknown.

AGRA AND MASTERMAN'S BANK—-en-
gaged in arranging its affairs conse-
quent on its suspension, sent to the
Hongkong and Shanghai Bank $50,000
worth of notes on that bank for pay-
ment. The notes however were no
sooner in the custody of the local Bank
than it refused either to pay or return
them.

The manager of the Agra Bank at
once summoned the manager of the
Hongkong Bank to the Police court
for the illegal detention of his pro-
perty. The manager at first offered
to return the notes to the Agra Bank
endorsed with an explanation of the
circumstances under which they had
been refused payment, but this was
naturally declined. Then they were
offered on condition that their numbers
should be taken in presence of a notary
public. This also was declined, and
finally in the morning when the case
was appointed to come on at the police
court, the local Bank offered to pay
the notes in dollars. This offer came
at so late an hour that there was no
time to stop the case, which proceeded
and was dismissed by the magistrate
on the ground that he had no jurisdic-
tion. On the following day however,
the notes were returned to the Agra
Bank unconditionally.

THE NEW PIRACY COURT—-is to be
called "the High Court of Hongkong
for the suppression of Piracy," and is
to consist of the Chief Justice, the
Admiral of the station, the senior
naval officer, the Judge of the court
of Summary Jurisdiction and two
unofficial members appointed by the
Governor.

To be brought within the jurisdic-
tion of the new Court the acts of piracy
must have been committed "On the
High Seas, or waters where the su-

preme Court of this Colony, or the
Court to be hereby constituted hath,
or here after may by Imperial enact-
ment, Order in Council, Treaty or
otherwise, aquire any jurisdiction,
other than within the harbor of Vic-
tory in this Colony."

Under the new ordinance "the act
of cruising without a commission and
with intent to rob," will bring a junk
under the operation of the law, so that
it is no longer necessary that a pirate
should be caught red handed in order
to be amendable to punishment.

THE HARBORS AND COASTS ORDINANCE
is directed to the regulation of all
junks trading with this harbor, on the
same principles which govern the re-
gulation of all other Mercantile traffic.
Fines varying from $20 to $200, im-
prisonment from one to twelve months
and the forfeiture of the junk, are
among the penilties that can be inflict-
ed under this ordinance. This is en-
ough to give the partners in the pirate
firms in Hongkong a sun stroke, or
the Hongkong fever on the spot

JAPAN.—The Belgian Treaty will
be concluded in a few days. An Ita-
lian frigate—the Magenta has arrived
in the harbor, the Captain of which is
accredited with powers from Victor
Emanuel to enter into treaty with
Japan.

Death of Mrs Carlyle.

The wife of Mr. Thomas Carlyle, the
eminent English author, died on the 24th
April, under very peculiar circumstances.
She was taking her usual drive in Hyde
Park, London, when her little favourite
dog, which was running beside the
brougham, was run over by a carriage.
She was greatly alarmed, though the dog
was not seriously hurt. She lifted the
dog into the carriage, and the man drove
on. Not receiving any call or direction
from his mistress, as was usual, he stop-
ped the carriage, and discovered her, as
he thought, in a fit or ill, and drove to
St. George's Hospital. When there, it
was discovered that she must have been
dead for some time. Mrs. Carlyle's
health had been for several months fee-
ble, but not in a state to excite anxiety
or alarm. Mr. Carlyle was still in Scot-
land. Mrs. Carlyle was the daughter-of
Dr. Welch, of Haddington, and a lineal
descendant of John Knox.—PRESBYTER-
IAN.

The Death of Mrs. Thomas

Carlyle is thus alluded to by the Lon-
don correspondent of THE ROUND TA-
BLE:

"The death of Mrs. Carlyle has strick-
en a wide circle with sorrow. She was
with those who knew her as marked a
character in her way as her husband in
his. Humorous, cultivated, witty, kind-
ly, she suggested a chapter on the domes-
tic relations of men of genius in contrast
with the many sad ones. When Carlyle
heard of his wife's death, he was in Scot-
land. Friends tried hard to dissuade him
from coming to London, as it was known
that his wife's body was to be taken for
burial to her birth-place, Haddington,
not far from Ecclefechan, where Mr.
Carlyle was staying. But the old man
persisted in taking the long journey both
ways, and so came down with Dr. Carl-
yle, and returned again to Scotland with
the corpse. The funeral took place on
Thursday. The remains were laid with-
in the choir of the ruined cathedral at
Haddington, in the same grave as her
father, Dr. Welsh. According to the
Quaker-like custom of the Scottish
Church, there was no ceremony or ser-
vice over the grave. But Mr. Carlyle,
much bowed with suffering, came forward
and threw a single handful of dust upon
the lowered coffin. There is much ap-
prehension among Mr. Carlyle's friends
as to the effect of this blow upon him."

To Remove Dust from the
Eye.

Take firmly hold of the upper lid, and,
drawing it forward, press the under lid
up so as to wash the ball of the eye with
the under lash. The relief is instant and
entire.-—Boston Recorder.

Different Styles.

There is no model style. What is pleas-
ing in the diction of one author disgusts
us in a copyist. Every writer is his own
standard. The tread of Johnson's style is
heavy and sonorous, resembling that of an
elephant or a mail-clad warrior. He is
fond of leveling an obstacle, by a polysyl-
labic battering-ram. Burke's words are
continually practicing the broad-sword
exercise, and sweeping down adversaries
at every stroke. Addison draws up his
infantry in orderly array, and marches
through sentence after sentence without
having his ranks disordered or his line
broken. Luther's words are "half battle;"
his "uniting idiomatic phrases seem to
cleave into the very secret of the matter."
Gibbon's legions are heavily armed, and
march with precision and dignity to the
music of their own tramp. They are splen-
didly equipped; but a nice eye can discern
a little rust beneath their fine apparel.
Macaulay, brisk, keen, lively, and ener-
getic, runs his thoughts rapidly through
his sentence, and kicks out of the way
every word that obstructs his passage.
He reins in his steed only when he has
reached his goal, and then does it with
such celerity that he is nearly thrown
backwards by the suddenness of his stop-
page. Jeffrey is a fine lance, with a sort
of Arab swiftness in his movements, and
runs an iron-clad horseman through the
eye before he has had time to close his
helmet. Talfourd's forces are orderly and
disciplined, and march to the music of the
Dorian flute. Those of Keats keep time
to the tones of the pipe Phoebus. Willis'
words are often tipsy with champagne of
the fancy: but even when they reel and
stagger they keep the line of grace and
beauty. Webster's words are thunderbolts,
which sometimes miss the Titan at whom
they are hurled, but always leave enduring
marks were they strike. Words are not,
when used by a master, the mere dress of
thought. They are, as Wadsworth
happily said, the incarnation of thought.
A thought. A thought embodied and
embrained in fit words, walks the earth a
living being.-—E. P. WHIPPLE.

The New Proposition.

The following is the text of the Joint
Resolution adopted by the Senate last
week. It will be seen that it materially
modifies the Report of the Reconstruction
Committee, especially in the 3d Section,
and it doubtless is the most satisfactory
amendment which there is any prospect of
getting adopted. It passed the Senate by
just a threefourthe majority—a handsome
margin over the desired two-thirds in the
contingency of a Presidential veto.

A Joint Resolution proposing an am-

That the following article be proposed
to the Legislatures of the several States as
an amendment to the Constitution of the
United States, which, when, ratified by
three-fourths of said Legislatures shall be
valid as part of the Constitution.

ARTICLE—Sec. 1. All persons born or
naturalized in the United States, and sub-
ject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens
of the United States and of the State
wherein they reside. No State shall make
or enforce any laws which shall abridge the
privileges or immunities of citizens of the
United States, nor shall any State deprive
any person of life, liberty or property
without due process of law, nor deny to
any person within its jurisdiction the
equal protection of the laws.

Sec. 2. Representatives shall be ap-
portioned among the several States accor-
ding to their respective numbers, counting
the whole number of persons in each State,
excluding Indians not taxed, but whenever
the right to vote at any election for elec-
tors of President and Vice President of
the United States, Representatives in
Congress, Executive and Judicial officers,
or the members of the Legislature thereof,
is denied to any of the male citizens being
twenty-one years of age, and citizens of
the United States, or in any way abridged,
except for participation in the rebellion
or other crime, the basis of representation
therein shall be reduced in the proportion
which the number of such male citizens
shall bear to the whole number of male
citizens twenty-one years of age in such
State.

Sec. 3. No person shall be Senator or
Representative in Congress, or Elector of
President and Vice President, or hold any
office, civil or military, within the United
States, or under any State, who, having
taken an oath as a member of Congress, or
as an officer of the United States, or as a
member of any State Legislature, or as an
Executive or Judicial officer of any State,
to support the Constitution of the United
States, shall have engaged in insurrection
or rebellion against the same, or given aid
or comfort to the enemies thereof; but
Congress may, by a vote of two-thirds of
each house, remove such disability.

Sec. 4. The validity of the public debt
of the United States, authorized by law
including debts incurred for the payment
of pensions and bounties for services in
suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall
not be questioned, but neither the United
States nor any State shall assume or pay
any debt incurred in aid of insurrection
or rebellion against the United States, or
any claim for loss or emancipation of any
slave, but all such debts, obligations and
claims shall be held illegal and void.

Different Species
of Elephants.

Dr. Livingstone in his last work on Af-
rica says:-—A considerable difference is
observed between African and Asiatic
elephants. Of the latter, only the males
have tusks, and this not invariably; while
in the former, they are found both in
males and females. The African male
elephant, moreover, is distinguished by
the convex shape of his forehead, and
the enormous size of his ears, resembling
those found upon Roman coins. Another
very remarkable peculiarity is, that in
the part of the jaw corresponding with
the place in which the wisdom tooth ap-
pears in man, there is a succession of new
teeth, each of which, as it comes up,
pushes "the others along, and out at the
front end of the jaws, thus keeping the
molars sound by renewal, till the animal
attains a very great age." Locality, it
appears, very much affects the character
of the tusks: those of animals from
marshy districts being the largest,
those from dry districts the densest and
heaviest. In the great marshes on the
Shire, near the Ruo, there is one called
the Elephant Marsh, in which a vast num-
ber of these animals are found; eight
hundred were counted in one herd. But
elephants must soon disappear from the
country, as thirty thousand are said to be
annually killed for the sake of their tusks.

A Maine Colony for Palestine.

A vessel will sail from Jonesport, Maine,
for Jaffa, by the way of Malta, about the
middle of next July, loaded with lumber
and other building materials, furniture,
agricultural implements, and about twen-
tyfive or thirty families, numbering in all
about one hundred and twenty persons.
Their new home is near Jaffa (the ancient
Joppa.) It is situated in the midst of
orange groves, lemon groves, pomegranate
groves, fig trees, grape vines, date trees,
and almost every description of Oriental
fruit and shade trees.—-PRESBYTERIAN.

Mortality in the Army.

The statistical tables prepared at the
war office show that of the: 2,154,311
men in the service during the war, 280,-
420 died—-184,381 of disease, 96,089 in
battle or of wounds. The officers con-
stituted about one-twenty-fifth of the
army, but one officer died in battle or of
wounds to every eighteen enlisted men,
showing greater exposure of officers than
of men in battle; while a less proportion
in officers than of men died of disease,
doubtless because they were better shel-
tered and fed than the rank and file.
The mortality from disease among the
colored troops was extraordinary. As
they were in a climate to which they
were accustomed, and were at least as
well cared for as when slaves, it was sup-
posed that camp life would not unfavor-
ably affect them. But while of the 180,-
000 negroes enlisted during the war,
2,997 died in battle or of wounds, 26,301
died of disease, or nearly one-seventh of
the whole number. Perhaps this great
mortality is to be attributed in part to
their inaction in camp, for a very small
proportion of the whole number were
ever called into active service, and these
on only a few widely separated occasions.
It also appears that more than half the
colored troops were constantly on the
sick list.—-These singular facts are yet to
be accounted for. Physicians say that
one reason for them is the lower mental
and moral tone of the black soldier, as
compared with the white.

The mortality from battle ranged
highest in the northern states. The pro-
portion of deaths from battle to each
thousand soldiers was in the New Eng-
land states, 44.75 ; in the middle states,
31.79 ; in the western states, 36.81 ; and
in the border states, 25.32. If those
figures do not accurately measure the
comparative courage of the men of dif-
ferent sections, they do at least show that
the New Englanders are not inferior to
any other in fighting qualities.

Words in Use.

The peasants of England have not
more than 300 words in their vocabulary.
The ancient sages of Egypt, so far as we
know from their hieroglyphic inscrip-
tions, used but 685 words. A well edu-
cated person in England seldom uses
more than 3,000 or 4,000 words in actu-
al conversation. Accurate thinkers and
close reasoners, who avoid general and
vague expressions and choose the words
that exactly fit their meaning, employ a
large stock, and eloquent speakers may
rise to the command of 10,000. Shake-
speare, who probably displayed a greater
variety of expression than any other
writer in any language, produced all his
plays with about 15,000 words. Milton's
works employ 8,000 words ; and the Old
Tes tament has but 5,642.

LAST year 365,000,000 eggs were im-
ported from the Continent and from
Ireland into Great Britain. During the
current year the number imported has
been daily on the increase. In May last
it exceeded 56,000,000. Estimating the
value of imported eggs at 6s. per 120,
those imported in 1865 must have sold
for upwards of three millions sterling.

THE tax upon dogs, or upon dogs'
friends for keeping them, is returned in
the financial accounts for the year ending
with March, 1866, as amounting in Great
Britain to £219,313, an increase of £8,
984 over the previous year.

PRINCESS HELENA'S WEDDING PRE-
SENT.-—The list of costly gifts presented
to the Princess by the Queen, the other
members of the Royal Family, the Bride-
groom, and his relatives, is so lengthy
that it occupies two-thirds of a column
in THE TIMES. The Tumongong of
Johore presented her Royal Highness
with a magnificent enamel antique neck-
lace, richly set with precious stones.

PIE-PLANT.—-A horticulturist adver-
tised that he would supply all sorts of
trees and plants, especially "pie plants
of "all kinds." A gentleman thereupon
sent him an order for "one package of
of custard-pie seed, and a dozen of
mince-pie plants." The gardener promp-

tly filled the order by sending him four
goose eggs and a small dog.

The official STAATS-ANZEIGER of Ber-
lin says:

"We are authorised to declare that
during the recent fighting in Bohemia
not a single Prussian cannon has been
captured by the enemy. If, therefore, a
piece of Prussian artillery has recently
been drawn through the streets of V ein-
na, as asserted by some journals, it can
only be the field-piece presented to the
Emperor by the King of Prussia at the
time of their alliance."

Gov. ORR, of South Carolina, has ex-
pressed his opinion respecting the teach-
ing of freed people, that it is good for
them and good for the State. He says
the teachers shall be protected in their
duties, and that the prejudice against
them and their occupation is disappear-
ing.

THE NUMBER of Americans visiting
Europe is shown by the amount of pass-
ports issued by the Department of State
to be largely increasing. More have
been issued in 1866 than in any previous
year, sometimes as many as 40 in a single
day.

Mr. GEORGE PEABODY, who is now
sojourning with his friends in Essex
country, Mass., has been notified to make
a return of his income since September,
1862, for the purpose of taxation under
the revenue laws of the United States.

Gen. SCOTT died at West Point on
the 29th ult. His funeral was attended
by leading officers of the army and dis-
tinguished officials from the Capital. The
events of the late war have overshadowed
those that made him famous, but he will
find his place in history as one of the
most distinguished of Americans.

THERE is a pump near Pittsburgh
which produces ten thousand gallons of
milk in one year. The milkmen stop
there on their way to the city.

THE NEW—YORK Board of Health
have decided that sprinkling the streets
is injurious to the public health. It is
said that by dampening the dust a nuis-
ance is evolved by the heat of the sun,
which is poisonous.

A LATE Richmond (Ind.) paper says
that the latest style of bonnets received
there from the East consists of two rye
straws, tied together with a blue ribbon
on the top of the head, and red tassels
suspended at each of the four ends of
the straws. It is a "love of a bonnet;"
price only $10.

Odds and Ends.

-—Sunday is the core of our civiliza-
tion.

—-Ambition travels on a road too nar-
row for friendship, too steep for safety.

-—An exchange says: “Lovers, like
armies, generally get along well enough
till they are engaged.”

—-Many run about after happiness,
like an absent minded man hunting for
his hat while it is on his head.

—-The best way to meet just, but ad-
verse comments upon character is, not to
fight the comments, but to mend the
character.

—-The facility of genius is the power
of lighting its own fire.

—-An Irishman observing a dandy tak-
ing his usual strut in Broadway, stepped
up to him and inquired, “How much
rent do you ask for those houses?”—-
“What do you ask me that for?”—
“Faith, and I thought the whole street
belonged to ye.”

—-It is not TALKING, but WALKING with
God, that MARKS a man a Christian.

—-It is safer to be humble with one
talent than to be proud with ten.

—-That was a pleasant and instructive
reply made by the chief manager of the
immense corporation known as Wells,
Fargo & Co.’s California Express, when
asked what new lessons his great experi-
ence had taught him. “It has taught me,”
said he, “to trust men. Show confidence
in them, and they will prove worthy of it.”

—-A soldier who, in going from Bal-
timore to Rock Island, had met with
four accidents, was on the fifth occasion
in a car that completely turned over.
Making his way through a window, and
gaining an upright position, he looked
around him and coolly inquired:—-
“What station is this?” He thought
this was a way they had of stopping.

—-As a surgeon in the army was going
his rounds examining his patients, he
came to a sergeant who had been hit by
a bullet in the left breast, right over
the region of the heart. The doctor,
surprised at the narrow escape of the
man, exclaimed, “Why, my man, where
in the name of goodness could your heart
have been?” “I guess it must have been
in my mouth just then, doctor,” replied
the poor fellow, with a faint and sickly
smile.

—-“I should think these omnibus
wheels would be fatigued, after running
all day,” observed John. “Well, yes,
replied Tommy, taking a squint at them,
they appear to be tired.”

—-The truest Christian politeness is
cheerfuluess. It is graceful, and sits well
on old as well as young. It is the best
of all company, and adorns the wearer of
it more than rubies and diamonds set in
gold. It costs nothing, and yet is valua-
ble.

The Uses of Sunshine.

By the use of this term we do not
mean merely sunlight, but the direct rays
or shine of the sun. Mankind are dying
for want of it. We build our houses to
be sure, with a world of windows, but
they are chiefly put in to make a hand-
some display outside. We are careful to
curtain them inside, so as to shut out the
rays of the sun. It is a good argument
in favor of curtains and blinds, that if
the light be let in too strongly it will fade
the carpet. So far as carpets are con-
cerned this is true, as they are generally
made, but can we have colors in carpets
which the light will not seriously effect [?]
If carpets fade by letting the light in,
there is another thing that fades by keep-
ing the light out, viz: the human being.
On the shady side of the street, the hos-
pital, and prison, cholera, scrofula, bili-
ous complaints, and nervous diseases are
more frequent and fatal than on the sun-
ny side.

We advise everybody to live on the
sunny side of their house. The room in
which the family spends most of its time
should be on the side in which the sun
can find its way into it. Let the parlor,
if it be seldom used, be on the shady side.
We observe that there is not a cottager
so ignorant that will not set her plants,
if she has taste enough to grow them, in
the east window in the morning, and at
noon carry them to a south window, and
in the afternoon put them in a west win-
dow. But perhaps she is careful to keep
her children in the shade, and her preci-
ous self, so far as possible, out of the rays
of the sun. The plants, in obedience to
natural law, are kept healthy while the
children and mother, being kept in the
shade, suffer in consequence.

Light is beginning to be considered a
great curative agent, and we apprehend
that the time is not far distant when
there will be sun baths. Corridors with
glass roofs will be so adjusted that per-
sons can properly remove their clothing
and take a bath in the sun for an hour
or two, much to the improvement of their
health. The chief advantage in going to
the country is to get into the sunshine,
and to be in the pure breezes. If we
desire merely to keep cool, we should stay
in the shady city. People talk of "hot
walls" "burning pavements;" it is much
hotter in the country, for the breezes that
play there in mid-day bring only heated
air in from outdoors. But in the city the
breeze brings air in from the shady side
of the street, and the lower rooms of a
city house are much cooler in mid-day
than the exposed houses of the country.

Our soldiers, who were able to bear
the labor and fatigue of war, are inviger-
ated by the out door life they lived. We
knew a young man in New York who
came back from the war and resumed his
former occupation of book-keeping; and
lost 30 pounds weight in six weeks It
would do him good to be a farmer.

Parents can do nothing better for their
puny sick boys than to put them on a
farm for two or three summers and let
the sun bathe them the livelong day.
They will, by such a life, grow rapidly,
and become tough, brawny, and broad.
We have seen this tried to the highest
advantage in more than one instance un-
der our advice.—-PHRENOLOGICAL JOUR-
NAL.

National Debts.

Scientific men have been telling for
sometime that the coal beds of England
would become exhausted in the course of
time-—a hundred years or so—-or would be
dug so low that the coast of coal would be
so increased that England would lose her
advantage and supremacy as a great man-
ufacturing nation ; but the people of that
country did not really believe it, or have
not stopped to think of and realize it, till
John Stuart Mill, the eminent political
economist, took up the matter in parlia-
ment the other day, announced his full be-
lief in the early exhaustion of the coal
beds, and the approach of a day when
England will not be able to bear so heavy
burdens as now, and solemnly warned his
countrymen that if the national debt is
ever to be paid, this generation must take
held of the work. And Mr. Gladstone, in
presenting his annual budget, on the 3d,
reiterated the same views, and fully com-
mitted himself to the policy of beginning
in earnest and at once the work of reducing
the national debt.

Mr. Gladstone also entered quite large-
ly, in his peculiarly clear and interesting
style, into the general subject of national
debts, and the stealthy borrowing of money
which, he declares, has become the stand-
ing vice of almost every government in
Europe. “There is nothing,” said the
chancellor, “so insidious as financial dif-
ficulty. It approaches with smiles and
caresses. Borrowing for the first time
appears open to no objection. There is
nothing in it alarming or menacing. It is
like the cup of the lioness, spoken of by
one of the Greek poets, which was rashly
taken by the hunter into his house. When
it was young it was reared with his dogs
and placed among his children. But when
it grew up and felt its strength it deluged
the house with gore.” The debts of nine
European countries now amount to $7,500,
000,000, all accumulated within the pres-
ent century, and the greater part in the
last twenty years. The English debt is
$8,994,545,000, a little larger than our own,
but as the rate of interest is less, not so
much of a public burden. This debt is
$8,000,000 less than just before the Crim-
ean war, showing that in twelve years
England has repaired the losses of that
campaign and commenced the work of re-
duction again, but not fast enough, as the
chancellor of the exchequer seems to think,
and he proposes a plan, which, by 1885,
will extinguish about fifty millions of the
capital of the debt. In his speeches on the
reform question Mr. Gladstone has alluded
to this country in very complimentary
terms, and it is pleasant to see that in the
matter of a national debt, also, he finds the
most satisfactory example in the United
States. He declared that he contemplates
our debt with the least anxiety of any, and
said that if our people show the resolution
in finance that they exhibited during the
war, it may be extinguished in a genera-
tion, and without constituting any difficul-
ty to the American people.—-SPRINGFIELD
REPUBLICAN.

PURCHASING LOWER CALIFORNIA.—-It
is stated that a negotiation of considera-
ble magnitude has just been concluded
with the Republican Mexican Minister
at Washington, which involves the cession
to certain American capitalists, of nearly
the entire peninsular of Lower California
for colonization purposes, and to secure
the development of the extraordinary
mineral wealth of that territory. The
Mexican Republican Government retains
an interest in the proceeds of the enter-
prise, but it is understood that the sum
advanced by the parties who have secured
the grant is upwards of a million of dol-
lars. The names of the following per-
sons appear in the conveyance as holding
the privileges in trust for the parties:
Jacob B. Leese, Benjamin F. Butler,
John Anderson, George Wilkes, William
G. Fargo, William R. Travers, S. L. M.
Barlow, Francis Morris and Edward S.
Sandford.

REPORTED MASSACRE AT GOODWIN,
ARIZONA.—-A despatch from San Fran-
cisco, May 6th, says : A messenger arriv-
ed yesterday at Los Angeles, bringing a
despatch from the commander of Fort
Grant to Gen. Mason, announcing that
Fort Goodwin, Arizona, had been taken
by two thousand Indians, and twenty-
four men massacred, with one exception,
and the fort burned. The man who es-
caped was out hunting at the time, and
witnessed the commotion from a distance.
He saw the fort burning, and heard firing
of guns during the fight, which lasted
nearly an hour.

CONDITION OF THE FREEDMEN.—-The
official reports of the Assistant Commis-
sioners of the Freedmen’s Bureau to the
Commissioner at Washington, for the
month of April, show a continued im-
provement in the relations between the
white and black races in the States re-
cently in rebellion. The freedmen seem
to be gaining more correct notions of
their responsibilities as well as privileges
in their new character as freedmen, and
where they conduct themselves inoffen-
sively the whites are becoming more dis-
posed to treat them civilly and deal just-
ly with them.

THE ANNIVERSARY of the death of
Stonewall Jackson was observed at Rich-
mond on the 10th by floral decorations
of the graves of Confederate soldiers at
Holyrood and Oakwood. Both cemeteries
were thronged with ladies and their es-
corts. Several brief addresses were made
at each place. The Richmond Inquirer
had its columns in mourning.

GEN. SANTA ANNA, of Mexican fame,
arrived in this city on Saturday last and
went to Elizabeth, N. J., to stay with a
friend. The object of his visit is not
made known. He favors the liberal
Government and is probably here in that
interest. Arrangements are reported for
a mass meeting of the friends of the
Mexican Republic at Cooper Institute.

MENAM ROADS, PAKNAM

AND BANGKOK, MAIL

REPORT BOAT:

THE Mail and Report Boat leaves UNION

HOTEL Daily and returns from Paknam, with

Passengers and Mails from outside the Bar the

same day.

Terms:

Letters for non-subscribers...... $ 1.00

Passage to or from the Bar...... $ 5.00

Special boats to or from the Bar, $ 10.00

Ships supplied with stock at

short notice.

DYER & CO.

Bangkok, 3rd Aug. 1865. (L. F.)

CORRECTION.

In the Tide Table of the
Bangkok Calendar for
1866 for May, June, Au-
gust, and October, for High
read Low, and for Low
read HIGH.