The Bangkok Recorder.

A Weekly journal will be issued from the printing office of the American Missionary Association, at the mouth of the Canal, "Klong Bangkok Yai." It will contain such Political, Literary, Scientific, Commercial, and Local Intelligence, as shall render it worthy of the general patronage.

The Recorder will be open to Correspon- dents subject to the usual restrictions.

The Proprietor will not be responsible for the sentiments of his correspondents.

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D. B. BRADLEY, PUBLISHER & PROPRIETOR.

The Rain upon Roof.

And far through her dark dominions

Ring tinkling tones of mirth.

The moon is no longer beaming,

And the clouds are all star-proof,

As I sit in my chamber, dreaming

Of the rain upon the roof.

The night, with her sable pinions,

As the step of the soft rain vernal

On the rattling roof at night;

I am wrapt in pleasant fancies,

While slumber is far aloof,

As I list to the dainty dances

Of the rain upon the roof.

There is no sound diurnal

And the leaves, like cymbals clashing,

Keep time with the rhythmic rain;

But no discordant clatter

Of a solitary hoof

Comes now to mar the patter

Of the rain upon the roof.

The wind is awake and dashing

With myriad forms of beauty

To glad our wondering eyes;

For the spirit of Spring is working

With her marvelous web and woof,

And a part of her spell is lurking

In the rain upon the roof.

From the night so grim and sooty

In a land that seems elysian,

All alive with birds and bees;

Where sweetest songs are gushing

Aloud, without reproof,

And the rippling rills are rushing,

Like the rain upon the roof.

It brings no me a vision

That makes man’s face serener,

And lights with joy his eyes.

I anticipate the pleasure

Heaven grants for his behoof,

And my heart leaps to the measure

Of the rain upon the roof.

I see the grain grow greener

Whose drops, innumerous, glisten

Like diamonds, through the pane;

And I’m wrapt in pleasant fancies

While slumber is far aloof,

As I list to the dainty dances,

Of the rain upon the roof.

Thus do I muse and listen

The San Francisco, Japan
and China Line.

The long-talked of line of steam com- munication between New York and China, VIA Panama and San Francisco, is at last to become an accomplished fact. When California was settled into one of the United States it was believed that our monopoly of American correspondence to China would soon cease. Ever since 1850 has the question been agitated, but vari- ous influences at Washington have suc- ceeded in preventing a subsidy being granted to this line. It is the greatest anomaly on record that our American colonies should have talked so long over a thing so practical and useful; no scheme could be more legitimate, it was palpable, and yet there has been sixteen years' talk over it. It may be that we Britishers have had a share in that talk, and done all we could to prevent what was so injurious to our own supremacy as the ocean carriers of the world from being carried into effect; however, talking is now over, and action is in the order of the day. We announced in our last issue that the line would be opened by the despatch of the Pacific Mail Company's steamer COLORADO on the 1st January next. This vessel will be follow- ed by other steamers of about 4,000 tons, built specially for the service, with large accommodation for European and Chinese passengers. The question as to calling at the Sandwich Islands EN ROUTE is still in abeyance. It has been decided that the terminus in China should be at Hong- Kong, with a smaller steamer running be- tween Yokohamna, Nagasaki, and Shanghai, to connect it with main line. The service is arranged to be a monthly one, but as the connecting links with Panama and New York are three times a month, and between Panama and Southampton twice a month, we believe the company will soon find sufficient inducement to make the China line twice a month. For the monthly service we understand the Gov- ernment subsidy is $500,000 per annum. Until the Company's vessels built for this line arrive at San Francisco from New York the service will be once in three months. The Company's steamers leave New York on the 1st, 11th, and 21st, but the one to correspond with the departure from San Francisco for China will be that of the 11th, and the route will stand thus:

From New York on the 11th, arriving at Aspinwall on the morning of the 19th, and in the evening at Panama, say 9 days

From Panama to San Francisco, arriving on the 1st or 2nd ... 12 "

From San Francisco to Yokoha- ma, arriving on the 18th or 19th... 17 "

Stop at Yokohamna ... 1 "

From Yokohamna to Hong Kong, arriving about the 25th ... 6 "

Total ... 45

The present route from New York to Hong Kong VIA Liverpool and the Red Sea occupies 54 to 57 days. The journey from England by this route will be as follows:—

Leaving Southampton by the Royal Mail (West India) on the 17th of the month, arriving at Aspinwall on the 8th, and across to Panama, leaving that port on the 9th ... 22 days

From Panama to San Francisco, arriving about the 21st ... 12 "

Stop at San Francisco until the 1st of the month ... 9 "

From San Francisco to Yokoha- ma, arriving on 18th or 19th ... 17 "

Total ... 60

From Yokohama to Shanghai or Hong- Kong this passage is four and six days respectively. The time will of course be greatly shortened when the Pacific Rail- way shall have been completed, so as to form a direct line between New York and San Francisco.

Although the route VIA Panama, as it at present exist, effects no saving of time for passengers to England, it will make a material difference in the conveyance of telegraphic news, San Francisco being in telegraphic communication with New York, and New York by the Atlantic cable with London. We have only to allow the sea passage of seventeen days from Yoko- hama to San Francisco, or twenty-one days from Shanghai, while our service by Galle occupies twenty-seven from Yokohama and twenty-three from Shanghai, allowing that the lines to India are in good work- ing order, which unfortunately is the ex- ception, and consequently the time of transit is indefinite. At all events there will then be two distinct channels for the conveyance of telegrams between Ameri- ca and China, with the certainty of a third at no very distant date, since the Russo-American telegraph will be com- pleted in about two years.

The rates of passage money fixed by the Company are $300 between San Fran- cisco and Shanghai or Hong Kong for chief cabin, $200 second, and $100 steer- age. From Yokohamna, $250, $175, and $95 for the respective classes. These prices include all requisites, except wines and liquors, and we consider them moderate —at least as a commencement. The rates freight have not yet been announced. As regards the accommodation for pas- sengers and the exact measure of comfort they may expect to enjoy we are of course not in a position to speak. As soon how- ever as the line is open we purpose taking steps to furnish a special report on it, as we are quite sure that as a change of route it will be availed of to a great extent, even by residents in China and Japan, who have no business with San Francisco, and we need not tell our readers that a considerable business is conducted between Hong Kong and San Francisco.

The following comments on the new line are from the NEW YORK SHIPPING LIST:—

"We understand that the Pacific Mail Steamship Company, to whom Govern- ment awarded the contract for carrying the mails between San Francisco and Hong Kong VIA Kanagawa, have lately added to their line the new steamship KINAU OTAN, and that they have on the stocks, in this City, two more steamers of greater tonnage than any vessels belong- ing to the Company. The first steamer (the COLORADO) will be despatched from San Francisco in January next, and be followed by the MONTANA, now on the way from this port to California. The establishment of this line, in connection with the direct line recently established between New Zealand and Panama, it is expected will create a new era in the com- merce of the Pacific. The Australasian trade will be controlled by the British line, but, as an offset to that, we shall have the vastly greater and richer traffic of China and Japan. The inhabitants of the colonies, including Australia, are few in number compared with those who will be brought into direct commercial intercourse with us by means of our steamship line across that ocean. Many of the most valuable commodities which the world af- fords are produced by the people who dwell upon the borders of the China sea. The silk, tea, and cotton which seek a market from that densely populated region make it certain that this country will come into possession of a great trade from beyond the Pacific, as soon as the mail steamship line commences its work. Steam to China will cause our country to realize more forcibly than ever the necessity of a Pacific railroad. That the construction of this great thoroughfare will be hastened by the increase of trade which will be of- fered by means of a steamship line from the Pacific coast to China, at once appears evident. Not only is the commerce be- tween China and Japan and our Pacific possessions expected to be greatly enlarged, but a large passenger traffic is confidently looked for. A few years ago China fur- nished no passengers. Now large numbers travel to and fro by sail, and it is esti- mated that at least 5,000 Chinese will travel each way by the steamers. Restric- tions upon travel have already been re- moved by the Japanese authorities, and the time may not be far distant when that curious and inquisitive people, availing themselves of their newly-granted privi- leges, will travel extensively, and their patronage in this way may become of great importance to California."—LON.& CHINA KK.

The Spirit of Austria.

Austria is a conventional not a real state. There is no Austrian people. What is called Austria is a certain ex- tent of recruiting ground on which ar- mies are raised. She represents a totally different order of ideas from Prussia, and notably the feudal idea of territorial sovereignty, of which she may be said to be now the last embodiment. She is the result of the doctrine on which all poli- tical arrangements have been based in Europe for a thousand years that the land belongs to the princes and not the peo- ple, and that any-divisions of it, how- ever arbitrary, on which sovereigns may decide, may be made for the benefit of particular families. With the disappear- ance of the Austrian empire the last trace of this doctrine would have disap- peared, and we should have entered on a new era, in which governments would rest on nations, and in which the mon- strosity of armies like Benedek's with- out a country, and compelled to fight for the mere purpose of keeping one man and his near kindred in the enjoyment of a certain amount of luxury and power; would no more be seen.

We, therefore, honestly confess that we hope that the Prussians will make a clean sweep now that they are about it, and we think it very likely that Bismark, after ten days victory, will not quietly ac- cept, through a French mediation, what he might have had a month ago without fight- ing at all. Austria has not a single claim on the sympathy of any human being. The house of Hapsburg has done nothing for literature, nothing for science, little for art, and has probably inflicted more misery on the world than any race with which it has pleased God to curse it. For six hundred years its sword has been a very present help to all forms of bigot- ry and tyranny.-—NATION

Exploration of Cambodia.

The French Minister of Marine and the Colonies a few months since appoin- ted a commission to explore the great river, the lower part of which rounds the three French provinces of Cochin China. The expedition left Saigon on the 5th of June last. and consisted of Captain Lagree, the director, a naval lieutenant and ensign, two surgeons, an attache of the Foreign office, and two interpreters, one French and the other a Cambodian. The escort consisted of a sergeant and private of marines, four sailors, and six Annamite soldiers. The avowed object of the expedition is to ascertain the physical geography of the Mekong as well as the history, philology and ethno- graphy of the vast country refreshed by its waters. The various names given to this river have been the cause of much error and confusion; thus not long since Vincendon-Dumaulin described it as be- ing an arm of the Meinam river of Siam, while Bluteau, Berghaus, and Balbi declar- ed the two to be perfectly distinct from each other. It is considered as settled now beyond all question that the great river Mekong has its source in the moun- tains of Thibet, a very important fact. If this be so, these mountains give birth to the Caou-kiang, Yang-tse-Kiang, and Hoang-Ho, which fall into the China Sea, to the Brahmapoutra, Ganges, and the Indus which pass, by the Himalayas, into the Indian Sea, and lastly, by a third outlet not yet well defined, to the Mekong, the Meinam, and the Irawaddy which fall into the Indo-Chinese Sea.

The lower part of the river, that which waters Cambodia, is pretty well known; the hydrography of the river of Noong, which connects the principal stream with the Lake of Angcor, has been completed and the course of the Mekong has been explored as far as the rapids of Sambor, in latitude 12° and 13°. Here then com- mence the labours of the expedition in question. One of the great practical points to be decided is whether these rapids are always impracticable or only during a certain portion of the year, and consequently if transhipment be neces- sary during a part or the whole of the year. It is believed, though not known for certain, that only one arm of the river at Khong is affected by the rapids, and that the other is open to navigation.

Above this point all that is known posit- ively is from the observations of M. Mouhot, who lost his life there in the autumn of 1861, and his discoveries re- main incomplete. He described the Me- kong, in the Laos between 19° and 20° latitude, as being more by high mountains covered with rich verdure; he declares absolutely that there is no con- nection whatever between the Mekong and the Meinam, but his exploration on- ly extended to Luang-Prabaag, one of the principal towns in the kingdom of Laos, and containing from 7,800 to 8,000 inhabitants, and not 80,000 inhabitants, as stated by Pallegoix. Below Laos the Mekong penetrates the vast and populous Chinese province of Yun-nam, where it takes the name of the Lau-tsen- kiang, which is applied to all its upper portion. It is there separated by a small distance only from the celebrated Yang- tse-kiang, and from the Lo-kiang which forms the boundary of the Birman em- pire, of Tenasserim and Siam, and falls into the gulf of Martaban at the English port of Maulmein near Rangoon. The proximity of the Mekong to the Yang- tse-kiang (called in Yun-nam the Kincha-kiang) if a fact is an extremely important one, as the latter river serves the three great towns of Hankow, Nank- ing, and Shanghai.—Lon. & C. Express.

The Atlantic Cables.

The contents of a lady's thimble would hardly be expected to constitute a very powerful instrument. They would scarcely have been thought capable of one of the most astonishing feats ever performed by science. The chairman, however, of the Atlantic Telegraph Company informs us that this little instrument has actually achieved such a feat. By way of experi- ment, the engineers of the company joined the extremities of the two cables which now stretch across the Atlantic, thus for- ming an immense loop-line of 3,700 miles. He then put some acid in a lady's silver thimble with bits of zine and copper, and by this simple agency he succeeded in pas- sing signals through the whole length in little more than a second of time. A few years ago how incredible such a statement would have sounded! It seems, indeed, that the simplicity of the fact has taken even electricians by surprise. When a cable was first laid across the whole breadth of the Atlantic it was anticipated that an unusually high power would be requisite to drive the current in sufficient force through such a length. In the first in- stance, therefore, they used a battery with 50 cells, and afterwards employed 300 cells. But this extraordinary power only injured the cable, and the company are now work- ing between Valentia and Heart's Content with a battery of only 20 cells. It is, in fact, remarkable how greatly the success of the present year has dissipated the sup- posed difficulties of distant or deep-sea telegraph. So long as a cable broken was a cable lost, it could not but appear a most heavy loss speculation to venture half a million upon that continuity of a rope 2,000 miles long. This element of hazard is now almost wholly removed. It was no mere chance by which the 1865 cable was recovered. The success was accomplished by a month’s steady work, according to well-understood principles, and the same method may at any time be repeated. For the future, therefore, it will be a matter of plain business, not of speculation, to lay deep-sea cables. The distance and the extent of submersion create no difficulties at all. On the contrary, they seem rather to have a favourable effect than otherwise. The new cable has steadily improved since it has been laid down, and the old cable is better than the new. Up to the present time the cables have been working under great disadvantages. The breakdown of the land lines on the American side has seriously checked the dispatch of messages, and, moreover, by refusing to send any messages for a less sum than £20 the com- pany have greatly restricted their business. Nevertheless, under all these disadvan- tages, the receipts have amounted on an average to nearly £1,000 a day. On one day they reached £2,000. Two very long messages were sent, and it is curious to learn that one was the speech of the King of Prussia, the other the account of some sporting match. The speech made by Prince Gortschakoff, at the banquet given to the American naval officers was tele- graphed to the NEW YORK HERALD at cost of £1,400. An arrangement has been made by which the telegraphic news from Europe over the Atlantic Cable is furnish- ed to the American newspapers at the rate of $100 a week for each journal desiring it. Some twenty papers have thus far entered into the agreement, and about 100 words a day will be transmitted, including the commercial reports. This has made necessary an advance in the charge for advertising in many offices, about 25 per cent, having been added to the former rate.—LONDON & CHINA EXPRESS.

The Real Trouble.

Putting together the many conflicting reports that fill our exchanges, and glean- ing all we have been able from private parties, we are satisfied that the real state of affairs at the South is about this :

The majority of the people are dis- posed to accept the situation quietly and resignedly. They must have time, it is true, for the feverish feelings that the war engendered to cool down. A certain suavity and cordiality toward the Yankees can hardly be expected just yet. But an unrestrained expression of opinion would doubtless develop a purpose to make the best of the new state of things, and to get along amicably with the Freedmen. Secessionists they are yet, but with no hope for the “lost cause.” If this were all, the task of reconstruction would be more one of time than difficulty.

But it is not all. In every State there is a dominant minority who overawe and override this peaceable majority. Men ruined by the war, in property, or char- acter, or both ; men who fell into a guer- rilla life a great deal more readily than they fall out ; men of the passionate, lawless natures that slavery was so well calculated to nurse, compose this factious element. They may be but a few in a parish or a county, but in most sections they rule, and with a high hand. It is they who shoot the Bureau officers, mob the colored schools, persecute Unionists, and make so many places too “hot” for Northern men. They hold a rod of ter- ror over peaceable citizens. The weal- thiest and most influential of the latter dare not set themselves against them. No one will act as Sheriff to arrest, as wit- ness to identify, as jury to convict, or judge to sentence them for their outrages. It would be at a risk of property or life that few men care to take.

It is the existence of this troublesome element that makes the necessity for the Freedmen’s Bureau and a standing army, and that justifies the Republican opposi- tion to President Johnson’s plans of pre- cipitate reconstruction.

We have no doubt of the fact as we have represented it. We wish we could be as sure of the right remedy for the evil.-—Lo. Co. News.

No Silent Partners.

A minister in Brooklyn was recently called upon by a business man, who said:

“I come, sir, to inquire if Jesus Christ will take me into the concern as a silent partner?”

“Why do you ask?” said the minister.

“Because I wish to be a member of the firm, and do not want anybody to know it,” said the man.

The reply was, “Christ takes no silent partners! The firm must be ‘Jesus Christ & Co.,’ and the names of the ‘Co.,’ though they may occupy a subordinate place, must all be written out on the sign-board.”

Reader, are you trying to be a secret Christian? Jesus Christ takes no silent partners!—THE CONGREGATIONALIST.

Diogenes being once asked the bite of which beast was the worst, answered, “If you mean of wild beasts, ‘tis the slanderer, if tame, the flatterer.”

Bangkok Recorder.

Royal Criticisms.

We have quite recently received a paper from the king's chief scribe cr- iticising severely, in his master's name our use of Pali words such as the pri- ests of the temples employ. He af- firms that our writings are full of words such as a hundred Siamese of whatever classes, aside from the priest- hood, speaking from morning till evening would not once use. As ex- amples he instances the words haang Pra-ung of a sign of the possessive case, and the word or rather phrase Ahpai in the sense of beg pardon. He says these words which neither man nor woman of a company of 100 persons outside of the priesthood would employ once in talking all day, we are continually lugging into our Siamese compositions.

Now in reply we beg to say, that our teachers have generally been from among the best educated of the Siam- ese-—educated at the Temples—the highest seminaries which the kingdom of Siam enjoys. Some of them have had as good a knowledge, we think, of the Pali even, as our critic himself and certainly of the Siamese not un- equal. Some of them have been even honored by having conferred on them the literary degree of-—Parcan[?]. Was it unwise, then, for us to confide in such teachers as to the best use of the words we found in Siamese book—-for example the Records of the kings of Siam? In speaking to us, they some- times employed such words as our critic now condemns as being obso- lete. They have used these words frequently in the books they have written for us. We see the same words used in Siamese books that have been generally acknowledged to be written in good Siamese. We know without a doubt that the common peo- ple are at no loss to understand them, and we have thought it well, as the pure Siamese language is quite mea- gre, to exert our influence by the press and every other laudable means to amplify it, and hence have used such words, we confess, more freely, than we have heard them spoken or seen them employed in Siamese books.

Our critic next inquires, why, in reporting the king's visits to the tem- ples, as we did three weeks since, we followed the old obsolete language of the priests in giving the names of the temples, and not the common names by which the people speak of them? Our answer is, that we took the names just as the king's chief scribe dictated them to us for the article we wrote, thinking that that style would be con- sidered the most appropriate in report- ing these pompous visits of the king. And for a similar reason we frequently employ the phrase His Majesty in- stead of the common one,—-the king Our critic asks, who among all the in- habitants of this city ever speak of the royal temples by those old obso- lete names? So might he as well cri- ticize our frequent use of the phrase His Majesty for the people scarcely never use the term in Siamese. Why does he not ridicule our Siamese arti- cles in which the phrase Pra-bat Somdetsh Pra chaoem klow now and then occurs? Who of the people or princes or Lords ever use it in com- mon conversation? Who is ever heard to speak of a royal procession by the terms P'a yuhd bat tra? Do not the people always employ the simple word Sadet pei Sadet ma—the king goes and the king comes? Why then does our critic in his paper to us on this subject employ such pompous words? Simply because it was the book language from time immemorial, and for the same reason we have used those high flown names for the tem- ples. It is very true they are not colloquial names, but it is equally true that they are such names as we find in the standard books of the country.

The truth is the papers of our cri- tic and his master are full of words which are not commonly used by the people. And is it right that we should be ridiculed for a similar freedom— saying that we are forever raking up obsolete words which only men who died 70 and 80 years ago employed? Our critic does not deny that such names as we have employed were us- ed freely by the last generation. But he says that the king does not now use them in any of his messages or edicts. We suspect that this is a piece of the same singular ambition which the king has to distinguish himself by coining and rejecting words and phra- se according to his own notions, and thus endeavoring to create a modern style that shall distinguish his reign above all that have preceded it. We will frankly confess that we have been pleased with parts of this his literary reformation, but must protest that if he means to carry it so far as to make a host of the book words of the last generation obsolete, and radically change the style of writing, that our sympathies cannot follow him. The truth is the Siamese language is en- larged and enriched by that class of words which our critic would seem now to wish to have cast over board, as the English language is amplified and improved by her many words of Latin derivation. What would be thought of an English monarch who should arise and attempt to reject thousands of English words that were used in the last generation, and es- pecially such as are of Latin and Greek origin?

It will be recollected by some of our readers that but little more than a year ago, this same critic overhaul- ed us repeatedly for not Romanizing proper words in the Pali according as they were originally spoken, or as the most learned Pali scholars speak them now. And to this day he does not cease a ch. criticisms continually reite- rating that the people and nearly all the priests are universally ignorant, and do not know how to speak Pali, but that we ought to avail ourselves of the very best Pali scholars that can be found to direct us aright, and to spell all Pali words, especially Pali proper names, so that good Pali schol- ars in India and Europe will see that we and our teachers are not ignora- muses in the Pali language. Our rea- ders can find a fair sample of that system as understood and loved by the king in the catalogue of the names of His Majesty's children as published in the Bangkok Calendar for 1865 or 6. Why, we would beg leave to ask our critic, among all the princes, or no- bles, or lords, or people ever speak any of those names as indicated by that orthography? Why then is it insisted upon and the names of the princes and princesses be made such as no European can utter?

A Siamese Ox Cart

A native ox cart is a very singular piece of mechanism—-so odd and primeval in its style as to claim a de- scription from some pen. And as no one else appears to have attempted it, we propose now to try our pen at it. We regard it as a very difficult work-—so much so that for many years we have looked upon the instrument and wish- ed to describe it to our friends abroad, but have not felt able to do so until now. If we are successful we may perhaps flatter ourselves that we are growing stronger rather than weaker as years multiply upon us.

The Siamese ox cart is only about half the size of the buffalo cart, and yet it is enormously heavy for the little creatures that have to draw it. The wheels are about four feet in diameter—-made of iron-wood, and yet with large hubs, spokes, and fellies. The hubs are 30 inches long and 8 inches in diameter where the spokes enter them, They are rather neatly turned with tasty mouldings. There are no iron boxes in them or bands about them. The hole for the axle- tree is but an inch and a half, or two in- ches in diameter, and of equal size at both ends of the hubs. The spokes are thickly set and rather neatly wrought, but very heavy. They are trammelled in- to the fellies by a dove tailed mortice, and kept in their places by wooden wedges driven from without inward towards the hub in a part of the mor- tices left open designedly for them, so that they keep the dove tailed tenons in the dove tailed part of the mortices. There is nothing to keep the wedges in but the rolling of the wheels upon their heads. No kind of tire is ever used, and not a particle of iron or steel about them-—You will see the fellies of an old cart wheel worn quite sharp, which an iron tire would have prevented. You will see all the tenons with their wedges directly on the superfices of the fellies.

The axletree is simply a little round rod of hard timber an inch and a half in diameter, of the same size from end to end. Often times it is only a small bamboo rod. The wheels revolve on this, which is connected with the frame above it and kept from turning by the primeval means of withes.

The base of the cart box which sits upon the axletree is a frame of hard wood two by three inches in size and six feet long and five feet wide. Into each side of this frame, about midway, the two ends of the axletree pass by a hole of the same size as that through the hubs. The outer ends of the hubs come into quite close contact with the sides of this frame, and by them the wheels are kept from running off from the axletree, and this supersedes the necessity of linchpins. The four corners of this frame are neatly framed and kept together, not by pins as is usual in frame-work, nor by wedges or nails, but by withes which can readily be untwisted and the frame taken to pieces whenever circumstances may require it

The cart box is built directly over the two arms of the tongue and but a little wider or longer than those arms; Consequently it is much nar- rower in front than in the rear—the hinder part being about 2½ feet wide, and the fore part less than one foot. The frame work of the box is of hard wood framed into posts two feet high and kept together by withes. The walls and floor of the cart box are made of bamboo slats, and when grain is hauled by the carts, matting is spread all about on the inside of the box. The box is strengthened by wooden braces passing from each corner to the four corners of the general frame which embraces the wheels, and these braces, like all other parts of the cart, are confined in their places by means of withes.

Hence it may be truly said that there is not a wooden pin or nail or iron band in the whole concern. The instrument used for yoking oxen to the carts is simply a round stick four feet in length, and fixed to the tongue of the cart by withes or cords. In the place of bows, ropes are employ- ed, which pass through auger holes in the round stick as bows do in a European ox-yoke, or are tied to pins which occupy the places of the bow- holes, extending two or three inches above and six or eight below the yoke. When the cattle are unyoked you will always see the yoke fixed to the tongue, and the tongue resting on a crotch of wood.

These carts being heavy, and hav- ing nothing but wood in the places where all the friction comes, are very unwieldy things, especially for the small oxen which are yoked to them. These creatures will not, on average, weigh more than 4 or 500 lbs. and are able to haul by these carts only about the same weight of goods. As there is no place for the use of tar or grease to relieve the friction, they almost always make a great groaning as they roll along.

Buffalo-carts, as before intimated, are as much heavier than ox-carts as buffaloes are heavier than oxen. They are always made after the same fa- shion, and a smart yoke of buffaloes can usually haul about eight or nine hundred weight.

The oxen yoked to these carts are always driven by means of reins fasted to loops in the nostrils of the cattle, and the driver always sits on the cart holding the reins with his left hand, and an ox-goad in his right.

Shan Land of Siam.

Siam or Shan Land has, like all other countries, become exceedingly modified by emigration, revolution, and varied policy. Almost within the age of the old men, of the present day, the present capital of the coun- try, was a wilderness, with gardeners scatte[r]ed here and there, seeking a quiet livelihood, and during the pre- sent generation, the villages, on the coast of Siam, have become entirely modified and greatly enlarged. Siam is a growing country.

The original stock of Siam, came out from the Laos or Shans, as the Burmans call them; rallying from Cheangmai and vicinity. To this day, the language is identical modified only, by such incidental effects, as adopting a different alphabet, and surrounded by different influences would naturally induce. Cheangmai identifies itself with Siam, and pro- perly so. They may well esteem it the country of which they themselves are parent, though as often happens, the child has out-striped the mother country.

The original Shans or Laoa live in up-land country, seeking their living by agriculture, and the mechanic arts. That branch of them, which wander- ed away to the coasts and rivers of Siam, took a modified type, and be- came more commercial, in their cha- racter. Yet they have been more mo- dified by revolution and inter-marri- ages with other nations, than by a location communicating readily with the sea.

The last Barman war with Siam laid waste the old capital at Ayuthia, and sent the people terror stricken and homeless seeking an asylum in dens and caves and trackless forests—broke up old Siam almost entirely, except in its religion, and when it started again, it was with a new policy and new laws.

The honor of bringing order out of chaos belongs to P'UYA TAK, a Siamo- Chinese, who gradually collected a band of braves, in the western part of Siam, and came along as he could, ap- pearing on the coast at Bangplassoi, and from thence, after varied daring deeds, he made a stand at Bangkok, at what is now called the old fort. On the western shore of the river, nearly opposite the present royal palace P'UYA TAK ruled the country as a sort of Cromwell. But he was considered a usurper. After a few years, e'er he was permitted to establish a decided policy, and make customs and usages permanent, an old general of his, a Siamese, trained in war to daring deeds, of royal lineage and pleasing to the Siamese because of their own blood, was placed upon the throne of Siam, and hailed as the great king of Siam, and its dependencies.

This king has left many proofs, that he was a man of great efficiency, and justly popular among all his people. He was the first of the present dinas- ty, and bore the title of P'UYA P'UTTI YAWT FA. He made the laws by which Siam is now governed. The Siamese, respect him as a wonder of efficiency, who trained all the people to mighty works and deeds. As a man said to me the other day, while inquiring about him, now when the king orders out a thousand men, one hundred do the work and nine hun- dred look on; but when P'UYA P'UTTI YAWT FA called out a thousand men, a thousand men worked.

P'RA P'UTTI YAWT FA founded the city of Bangkok. He built the pa- laces on the east side of the river. He surrounded the city by a wall, built the fort at the mouth of the river, dug numerous canals. Indeed he was a very wonderful man, if we may credit Sia- mese annals. In his day the Siamese were a brave, efficient, industrious, working people. The king applied himself to the real progress of the country, and stimulated the people, to do works of a permanent character.

P'ra P'utti Lert La, his own son, did not emulate the father in this res- pect. His object was to amuse, rath- er than develop the people, and the resources of the country. He gave himself to glorify the customs, that had been handed down with the Buddhist religion. Holidays were his delight, and to make a show on those occasions, to delight and fascinate the people, the joy of his heart. Of course he had many wives, and lived for pleasure rather than usefulness.

His first son, that came to the throne, the predecessor of the present Siamese king, seemed to make it the end of his life to exalt Buddhism, and shut- ting his ears to all that was told him of western nations, insisted that Siam was the great nation of the earth, and the Siamese the great people. The most bombastic style was assumed in all state documents, and he seemed to think that Siam was well enough as it was. For all things foreign he had but one phrase, "away with them, away with them".

He made himself the god of the people. Living himself, in his heaven of three hundred wives, he seemed to make all believe, that all things were made for his use, and that all the use of the common people was to serve the king, and fear before him. And certainly he had one quality of a great man. He could use a great many people, and consume a great deal of worldly goods. But all was to little purpose, if we may except those ques- tionable good deeds, in building many large "Wats" which made a home for a large number of men, to laze away a life of celibacy, while the king could surrounded himself with the wives, they ought to have had, to raise up children to the nation, making strong vigorous people, based on the principles of Him, who instituted all things.

When this king sat upon the throne, every thing seemed stereotyped. There was no such thing as making an in- road upon established customs. The great centre was Bangkok. The king was the end and aim of all thought and effort. All the kingdom, com- pared with the city of the great king, was as nothing. Taxes came to the capital to be there disbursed or con- sumed; but consumed there to a very great extent.

When customs become fixed, we do not expect them to be overturned in a day. As great an advance has been made during the present reign as could possibly have been expected. The morning light is breaking. The king has welcomed and recognized as pre-eminent the arts of the west. He feels and acknowledges, that Siam is but a small kingdom among the na- tions. What we now want is to make Siam a strong learned people. If P'ra P'utü Yawt P'a, when he called forth a thousand men, found in them a thousand workers, this thing can be done again.

The Siamese are susceptible of high inspiration. They respect their rulers. When there comes forth from the throne energy and might-—a will to devise liberal things, and a heart to carry them out, the nation loves to rally around the royal standard, and asks to be led on to brave and noble deeds. Let the king patronize a sound religion, and deep learning, and the whole country, with ears open and heart aroused, will listen, believe, and awake to the real end of their being and the proper objects of effort.

What is needed in Siam is to grasp the country as a whole, make the kingdom a great family of equal rights —-equal protection—-equal love—-and welcome assimilation in all its borders. Let the Shans of the north have the fostering care of a daughter strong and able to protect. Let the Karens wandering upon the mountains, have inducements to make for themselves a home, and be assured of a father’s care, and the people already assim- ilated by contiguity and the most in- timate relationships together devise liberal things, to make the country every where distinguished for good laws, good protection and hearty pro- gressive policy.

A mission among the Shans is most opportune. Perhaps this people may become the leavening element that shall make Siam a christian nation. It being a border province between Siam and Burmah, the religion that has already been freely received in the sister kingdom, may thus come to us, in Shan land, who seem as yet to be sitting in the valley and shadow of death, in our religious surroundings, though the gospel has been freely preached in all those regions border- ing on the sea. God speed the mission- ary that now goes forth from Siam, and may he find a brother’s fellow- ship from the missionary of Burmah, who has already found willing hearers among this people, and the time come in our day when the same God shall be adored through these eastern coun- tries, and the true basis of progress be every where established.

Sandwioh Islands No. 8.

The government of the Sandwich Islands up to the time of the conver- tion of the principal chiefs, sometime before the year 1830, was a despotism of the worst kind. "The will of the king was law, his power absolute; and this was true of the chiefs also, in their separate spheres, so far as the common people were concerned. All right of property, in the lastresort, was with the king." But from an early period in the mission, a happy change began to appear in the government, and steadily increased until the 7th of June 1837, when the monarch signed the following Bill of Rights.

"God has made of one blood all na- tions of men, to dwell on the face of the earth with unity and blessedness. God has also bestowed certain rights alike on all men, and all chiefs, and all people, of all lands.

"These are some of the rights which he has given alike to every man, and every chief, namely, life, limb, liber- ty, the labor of his hands, and the pro- duction of his mind.

"God has also established govern- ments and rulers for the purpose of of peace; but, in making laws for a nation, it is by no means proper to enact laws for the protection of rulers only, without also providing protec- tion for their subjects; neither is it proper to enact laws to enrich the chiefs only, and hereafter there shall by no means be any law enacted which is inconsistent with what is above expressed; neither shall any tax be assessed, nor any service of labor required of any man, in any manner at variance with the above sentiments.

"These sentiments are hereby pro- claimed for the purpose of protecting all alike, both the people and the chiefs of all these islands, that no chief may be able to oppress any sub- ject, but that the chiefs and the peo- ple may enjoy the same protection under the same law."

"Protection is hereby secured to the persons of all the people, together with their lands, their building lots and all their property; and nothing whatever shall be taken from any in- dividual except by express provision of the laws. Whatever chief shall perseveringly act in violation of this Constitution, shall no longer remain a chief of the Sandwich Islands; and the same shall be true of the govern- ors, officers, and all law agents."

What a glorious bound was that from the ancient despotism of the Islands! It appears that king Kame- hameha IV then the reigning monarch, having a full understanding of the import of this magna charta, and a strong conviction that it would re- dound to the good of his people, and a pure desire that the welfare and happiness of his subjects might be enhanced by it, cheerfully signed it, thus surrendering most voluntarily all further arbitrary power, which rulers all naturally love, for the best good of his kingdom. There was nothing like "an intervention of armed nations and their retainers" to make him will- ing to do that sublime deed. It would be difficult to find in the acts of any of the kings which Europe has ever had, a deed so truly noble, one ex-ec- uted with so pure a desire for the good of the subjects.

The next grand step in that up- ward march was to frame a constitu- tion and confer it on the people. This was done on the 8th of Oct. 1840. The constitution recognizes "the three grand divisions of a civilized mon- archy, king, legislature, and judges, and defining, in some respects, the duties of each." It is interesting to notice in that constitution the follow- ing clause viz: "no law shall be enact- ed which is at variance with the word of the Lord Jehovah, or with the gen- eral spirit of his word," and that all laws of the Islands shall be in consis- tency with the general spirit of God's law.

It appears that the laws framed in accordance with this spirit were es- pecially severe upon the vices of in- temperance and licentiousness and were remarkably successful in driving them into concealment.

As the great reformation progress- ed, and the relations of government multiplied, it felt its need of the ser- vices of a man who had received a thorough legal education. Hence Mr. John Ricord an American lawyer was called to sustain the relation of legal adviser to the government as At- torney General. In June 1845 Mr. Ricord, was requested by government to make a digest of the existing laws of the Islands, with such improve- ments as it was wrought the circum- stances of the people required. The work was promptly and well done, and that code was adopted April 27th 1846 by the legislative council assembled. The following are some of the statutes con- cerning religious matters.

1. The religion of the Lord Jesus Christ shall continue to be the esta- blished national religion of the Haw- aiian Islands. The laws of Kame- hameha III, orally abolishing all idol worship and ancient heathen customs, are hereby continued in force, and said worship and customs are forbid- den.

2. Although the Protestant religion

This gentleman subsequently came to Siam and offered himself to the Siamese government in the capacity of legal coun- selor. But the government did not then feel its need of such service, and decli-ned the application. M. R. then turned his thoughts to the gold mines on the western coast of the gulf and came near losing his life in fruitless efforts at mining. He re- turned to this city an invalid, having had two strokes of paralysis. He left the country, we think in 1867, and finally died as we have been informed at the residence of a distinguished uncle, a physician in Paris.

in the religion of the government, heretofore proclaimed, nothing in the last preceeding section shall be con- strued as requiring any particular form of worship, neither is anything therein contained to be construed as connec- ting the ecclesiastical with the body politic. All men residing in this king- dom shall be allowed to worship the God of the christian Bible, according to the dictates of their consciences, and this sacred privilege shall never be infringed upon. * * * * *

"3. It shall not be lawful to violate the Christian Sabbath by the transac- tion of worldly business. The Sab- bath shall be considered no day in law. All documents and other evi- dences of worldly transactions dated on the Sabbath shall be deemed to have no date, and to be void for not having legal existence. It shall not on that day be lawful to entertain any civil cause in the courts of this kingdom. Every attempt to serve civil process on that day, shall be deemed a trespass by the officer at- tempting, and shall subject such officer to the private civil suit of the party aggrieved. Provided however, that it shall, in criminal, fraudulent, and tor- tious cases be lawful to issue com- pulsory process for the arrest of wrong doers, and it shall without such pro- cess, be lawful on that day for any conservator of the public peace and morality, to arrest, commit and detain for examination a wrong-doer."

While the Sandwich Islands have adopted the christian religion for the national religion and the Protestant form of it as the religion of the govern- ment, the union is not that of Church and State, inasmuch as no sect derives its support from the government, and all are free to worship the God of the Bible as they please.

It appears that the government of the Sandwich Islands is a limited mon- archy quite similar to that of Great Bri- tain. The crown was perpetually con- fined to Kamehameha IV., and the heirs of his body lawfully begotten and to their lawful descendents in a direct line. Next to him was His Royal Highness, Prince Lot Kamehameha now on the throne, and next their sister, the Princess Victoria. In the failure of all these, and of the king and House of Nobles to designate and proclaim some person during the king's life, a successor to the throne is to be elected by joint ballot of both Houses of the legislature. To the King belongs the executive power, and his person is in- violable and sacred. His ministers are responsible. Laws passed by both hou- ses of the Legislature must be signed by His Majesty, and also by the Kuhina Nui, as the premier is called.

"The House of Nobles is restricted by the constitution to thirty members. * * * The popular branch of the legislature consists of twenty-seven members who are chosen biennially by the people, and the representation is proportioned to the population. Less than one fourth of the representatives elected at the opening of the year 1864 were of foreign origin.

"The supreme Court has a chief jus- tice and two associate justices. There are also Circuit Courts, with judges not to exceed three; and these two classes of judges hold office during good behavior. There are besides, district judges, whose commissions expire at the end of two years.

"The independence of the Hawai- ian nation was formerly recognized by England and France on the 28th of November, 1843. Her independence was acknowledged by the U. S. as early as Dec. 20th 1842.

LOCAL.

We learn that Hon. R. Marsham, who arrived here from Singapore by the last Chow Phya, left on the 5th for Maulmain by the overland route via Kankuroo. The object of this tour has not been made public, but is surmised to have some connection with the Telegraph line or Railways.

A part of the company connected with the Boundary survey between the Tenasserim Provinces and Siam, arri- ved from Singapore per Chow Phya on the 26th ult. Lieut. Bragg, who is at the head of the expedition, is ex- pected to come by the next Steamer, when the company will quickly leave for their important work on the boun- dary South of the latitude of Tavoy. All north of that parallel, has, we think been surveyed, and all South remains to be done.

His Majesty the king is reported to have left town on the 5th inst. for a trip to PRA PRATOM CHADES where he and H. B. the Pra’klung are lavishing their money on an immense pagoda in honor of Buddi.

We have just now learned that His Royal Highness Somdetah Chowfah Chulalongkorn took a trip to Pe-cha- buree on the 18th inst. in H. S. M. gun boat Impregnable, for the purpose of distributing priests robes at several of the royal temples in that city, and that he returned on the 20th ult. We have been informed that His Royal Highness is to come out of the manhood some time in the course of the present month.

We are credibly informed that the loss of the four large spars for the Pra- mane in the gulf some weeks since will not at all delay the funeral obse- quies for the late second king, and that it is intended to have the crema- tion come off about the 20th of Feb- ruary.

WEATHER—-Never could there be more delightful weather than is now enjoyed in this city and throughout this entire kingdom. We are having many more cold invigorating days this year than we did last year at this season.

RICE—-It is now certain that the new rice crop is past all further dan- ger, and will be much more abund- ant than the crop of last year. It ap- pears from reports from Petchaburi that there will be some failures of the crop on the most elevated fields in that vicinity from too little water in the latter part of the rainy season, but that the crop on all the lower grades will be excellent. It is probable that the higher fields in other quarters will suffer somewhat from the same cause, but inasmuch as such localities are comparatively few, and as much more rice has been planted this season than ever before, the harvest will in all probability be much greater than has ever before been gathered in Siam.

LAGOOR.—-A Siamese friend of ours, having recently returned from the Province of Lagoor, whence he went to purchase rice, reports that it is a good rice country and a beautiful land naturally, with splendid mountain scenery; but that the people suffer greatly from oppression and fraud by their rulers and that they are con- sequently miserably poor and wretched. The mountains abound with tin, and the mines are worked almost entirely by a company of Chinese from Hongkong. The people cannot be prevailed upon to take the flat coin from the royal treasury for more than three quarters their true value. Mexican dollars and rupees pass at par.

REV. CAPT. BASKET preached the second time in the Prot. Church last sabbath day, from Matth. 11: 28th—- "Come unto me al ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest". His discourse was "a feast of fat things—-full of marrow—-of wines on the lees well refined,"—-unto all his hearers, certainly, to those who were at all spiritually minded", wi a ever others might have thought of it His dic- tion was most chaste, his style of de- livery, though with but little ges- ticulation was quite agreeable. In a word his preaching was what we would term "to the tune of old hundred."

We are sorry to learn that there is much complaining among the trai- ders in small boats coming in from all parts of the country of unlawful exac- tions of boat taxes by the farmer of this monopoly. By a government notification issued on the 14th of last March all small boats as trade in the river, from the inner provinces and come and go without making trading shops of themselves in the city, shall be exempted from all taxation. The law was put into force for a little time, and such traders were happy in the enjoyment of their privileges. But, now, if the reports be true, the farmer has found a loop hole in the new law by which he has been evading it for several months. It is this. If he finds these traders moored at any place for a day or a night, he accounts them as belonging to the class of boats that make trading shops of themselves in the city, and exacts the usual taxes for all such trading boats, which is a salung (15 cts.) per cubit in length of boat. We would beg the government to look into this matter thoroughly, for we fear there is great injustice be- ing done the people by this farm as well as many others.

The Steamer Chow Phya left the anchorage at 6. A. M on the 4th inst. having the following passengers, Mes- srs Virgin, Crum, Maclean, Kennedy, Wood, & Mrs. Hewetson and child.

To the readers of the
BANGKOK RECORDER.

I am commissioned by the ladies of the Bangkok Bazar Association, and instructed specially with many pleas- ant Christmas greetings, to inform you, that they intend, D. V. to hold a Bazar on the 24th instant, at the Protestant church, kindly placed at their disposal, by our much esteemed B. Consul T. G. Knox Esq. for the purpose of disposing of a few fancy articles, worked conjointly by the la- dies here, for the aid and benefit of the new Mission about to be opened at Cheangmai. The hours will be from 2 to 6 p. m.

Prices Current.

EXCHANGE—On Hong Kong 30 d. s. at par. On Singapore 10 d. s. 3 p c. pre- mium

Freights.—The following charters have been made since the 15th ulto.

PRUS. “Mathilde” 65 cents inside, 60 cents per pic. outside to Ningpo.

SIAM. “Kamarye” 8$ per ton teak to Singapore.

HAM. “Albert” 45 cents per pic. in- side to Hongkong.

HAM. “Edgar Ross” 45 cents per pic. inside to Hongkong.

BRIT. “Omrad” 43 cents per pic. out- side to Hongkong.

BRIT. “Evangeline” 40 cents inside 35 cents per pic. outside to Hongkong.

AMER. “D. Marcy” 30 cents inside 44 cents per pic. outside to Ningpo.

The following vessels have sailed for China since the 15th ulto

“Gold n Fleece” with 6390 pls. rice, 167 sapanwood, 67 hids., 415 teakwood.

“New York” with 7570 pls. rice, 118 sapanwood.

“Hera” with 9119 pls. rice.

“Abbotsford” with 12, 391 pls. rice, 157 sapanwood, 425 pepper.

“Fezia” with 5720 pls. rice.

“Cutty Sark” with 9500 pls. rice.

“Lark” with 10, 464 pls. rice, 200 sa- panwood, 23 horns.

“Albert” with 4930 pls. rice.

“Edgar Ross” with 4900 pls. rice.

“Lyemoon” with 10, 000 ps. rice

“Amazone” with 4300 pls. rice.

The following have sailed for Batavia with fish.

"Railway," "Brilliant," "Fling II ett & Elise.

The following have sailed for Singa- pore.

"Chow Phya" with 4251 pls. rice 200 sugar 62 horns, 28 teelseed.

"Mathilde" with 7000 pls. rice.

CHLORIDE OR LIME FOR VARMIN.—A correspondent of the builder says : "Four years since I took an old country house infested with rats, mice, and flies. I stuffed every rat and mouse hole with the chloride. I threw it on the quarry floors of the dairy and cellars. I kept saucers of it under the chests of drawers, or some other convenient piece of furniture; in every nursery, bedroom or drawing- room. An ornamental glass vase held a quantity at the foot of each staircase. Stables, cow-sheds, pig-sties, all had their dose, and the result was that I thoroughly routed my enemies. Last year was a great one for wasps; they wouldn't face the chloride; though in the dining-room, in which we had none—as its smell, to me most refreshing and wholesome, is not approved by all per- sons—we had a perpetual warfare. And all the comfort for eightpence !"

WEEDS. The microscope reveals the fact that every stem and twig as large as a quill contains some ten thousand little tubes, through which the water or sap is constantly passing upward during growth, to the leaves above, which spread it out by means of their fine net-work, and give it in the form of vapor to the air. With ten weeds upon a square foot, an ex- change estimates that the careless farmer has forty four million pumps at work on every acre, dissipating the moisture and drying up the soil at the expense of the crops. Friends, are the weeds pumping your fields at this rate?

GAPES IN CHICKENS.—-The NEW ENG- LAND FARMER pronounces the common opinion about this malady being produc- ed by some worm which is generated in the throat as incorrect. It says the cause is colds and sore throats, which the chickens get by wandering in the wet grass. It asks how many chickens' lives are bodies ever saved by running feathers down their throats to scoop out the worms. It says the true remedy is ad- ministered before the disease makes its appearance, and that is to confine the chickens away from the early morning grass.

HOW TO COOK A BEEFSTEAK.—-A beef- steak ought always to be broiling and never fried; but the following method of cooking is recommended by Mrs. Hutton, which even those who are ac- customed to frying may be willing to try: "The frying pan being wiped very dry, place it upon the stove and let it become hot—very hot. In the meantime mangle the steak—pepper and salt it, then lay it in the hot, dry pan, which instantly covers as tightly as possible. When the raw flesh touches the heated pan, of course it sizzles and adheres to it, but in a few seconds it becomes browned and juicy. Every half minute turn the steak; but be careful to keep it as much as possible un- der cover. When nearly done, lay a small piece of butter upon it, and, if you want much gravy, add a tablespoonful of strong coffee. In three minutes from the time the steak first goes into the pan it is ready for the table. This method of cooking makes the most delicious, delic- ately broiled steak, full of juice, yet retaining the healthful beefy flavor that any John Bull could require. The same method may be applied to mutton chops, only they need a little longer cooking to prevent them from being rare. An ex- cellent gravy may be made for them by adding a little cream, thickened with a pinch of flour, into which, when off the fire and partly cool, stir in the yolk of an egg, well beaten.

FRESHENING FISH.—-Many persons who are in the habit of freshening mackerel, or other salt fish, never dream that there is a right and a wrong way to do it. Any person who has seen the process of evaporation going on at the salt works knows that the salt falls to the bottom. Just so it is in the pan where your mack- erel or white fish lies soaking, and if it lies with the skin side down the salt will fall to the skin and remain there, when, if placed with the flesh side down the salt falls to the bottom of the pan, and the fish comes out freshened as it should in the other case it is nearly as salty as when put in. If you do not believe this test it for yourself.

Doctor Macgowan on China.

Want of space will not admit of review- ing the whole of Doctor Macgowan's in- teresting address to the mayor and board of supervisors, on Monday evening of last week. But there are a few points to which we would call especial attention, as they deserve more than a mere passing notice. The first of these is his recom- mendation that the Government of the United States should follow the example of other great Powers and establish, at the earliest possible moment, a naval sta- tion on the coast of China or Japan. In the event of a war between the United States and any other maritime Power, one of the most important points where- in the commerce of that Power could be seriously annoyed, would be the Indian Ocean and China Seas, but to do this a powerful squadron would have to be em- ployed; and this could not be done if we possessed no base of supplies nearer than our nearest home port, which port would be San Francisco. Had we, a port where- at our vessels could be refitted and repaired without the necessity of returning to the distant coast of the United States, we could maintain a fleet in those waters that would harass and annoy the enemy constantly, without the certainty of the vessels composing it being compelled, sooner or later, to leave their cruising ground to make good deficiencies. Even as a peace establishment, its importance and its great economy will be manifest to every one. Our squadron in the East Indies is now larger than it ever has been, and there is no probability of its being diminished in size. A proper naval depot will have always on hand the means of supplying this squadron with everything required, and if located far enough north, the port will answer admirably wherein to give the crews liberty, and enable them to recruit health and strength after an extended cruise within the tropics. Of course a hospital would form a portion of the establishment. Again, after the vessel's commission had expired, or the time had arrived to relieve the officers and crew, instead of the vessel going home, and another coming to take her place, she could be overhauled and refitt- ed, and a new set of officers and new crew could be sent out, thus avoiding the necessity and heavy additional expense of taking the vessel from the station. We cannot now speak of all the advantages to accrue if the recommendation of Dr. Macgowan be acted upon, but we are of the opinion, if the matter is properly laid before our Government, it will receive the attention it deserves. The second point to which we will refer, and which we deem the most important, is that wherein the Doctor makes suggestions as to the kind of men we should have for consuls in China, and his remarks upon the men who have heretofore held those important positions. His remarks ap- plied only to consuls in China, but he might with great propriety have extended them so as to apply to nearly every point whereat we have a consul. In no way does the United States suffer so much abroad as by the conduct, character and ability of the majority of those men who are sent to represent us as consuls in foreign parts. In their appointment no effort whatever is made to examine into their fitness for the position. Senator this, or Represen- tative that, recommends John Smith or William Jones as a man who has done much to further the political interests of the party in power, and one who for this service should be properly rewarded. No pains are taken to find out who John Smith or William Jones are, or if they possess in the slightest degree qualifica- tions for the office, but, for the want of a vacancy at home, or to get them out of the way, they are sent abroad as consuls. On arriving at their destinations, without any knowledge of the duties of a consul, or the ability to speak the first word of the language of the people among whom they are to reside, and with whom they are to be thrown in constant intercourse, they are generally like lost sheep. Then in many instances they imagine that to be a big drinker, a proficient swearer and to have a good political swagger, impresses foreigners with the importance of a con- sul of the United States, and they act accordingly, until foreigners, judging from their conduct, imagine us to be a nation of ignorant fools, of blackguards, or both, from which no better selection could be made than the one amongst them. In this way we lose all respect abroad, and the State Department be- comes involved in a lot of trouble and annoyance that would be entirely avoided were some care taken in selecting men for consular appointments. The remedy, as suggested by Doctor Macgowan for this evil, is the only feasible one, but we very much fear that in the present con- dition of politics in the United States there is but little hope of a change from the present system. And lastly, the Doctor's remarks on the great benefit to be derived from the new steamship line to Japan and China, the importance of the establishment of the electric telegraph in China, and the benefit to agriculture in this State from the acclimatisation of the plants of India, China, and Japan, are all worthy of extended notice, and we regret not being able to go over the en- tire ground taken by him, Not that we could say more upon the point he has handled so well, but in order that we might add our mite in aid of the good work he is engaged upon, of bringing to the notice of our people how much our country can be benefited by a closer rela- tionship with the great Celestial Empire and its neighbour, Japan. Dr. Macowan's mission to Peking as Commissioner of the East India Telegraph Company is a most important one; that he will be successful we have no doubt. His knowledge of the people, their manners, customs, and language render him the best selection that could be made, not only for the interests of the company by whom he is employed, but for the interests of our people generally.—-Los. & C. Express.

Southern Loyalists.

The convention of Southern Union- ists held in Philadelphia last week, Sept. was one of the most remarkable assemblies that ever met in that city, or any other, the circumstances the men, their charac- ter, their trials, their spirit, their states- manship, their magnanimity, and their lof- tiness of bearing, combine to give an im- portance to their proceedings, just now immeasurable.

Not only were the Southern men themselves men of mark, but the dele- gates from the Northern States, who were there to counsel, sympathize, and congratulate, were men of the very high- est rank—-governors, senators, members of congress, and others of good position and commanding abilities. So much brain power, so much manly culture, so much strength of principle, so in such breast of patriotism, and so much high souled courage have rarely met together in the world. No convention has ever before received so much attention from Philadelphia, from the best people, as was one, and none has ever before made so profound an impression on the whole population.

The convention, of August, mutely met in the same city, and adopted an elaborate address in support of Presi- dent Johnson, which the masses will neither read nor appreciate, was but a feeble and flat affair in comparison with this of September. That was a nine days wonder; this will prove a stimula- ting and perpetual power.

The resolutions and address put forth by this convention ring out like trump- ets. They are heartily and unanimous- ly in favor of the Congressional method of reconstruction, and very radical. They are able, broad, generous, and noble. Their principles are just, their tone is manly, and their spirit is admirable. As was to have been expected, the address condemns the course of President John- son severely; and he is indicted on sev- eral charges, in language that is almost terrific, and yet all too true. Governor Brownlow, of Tennessee, never spares a traitor; and he made some characteristic speeches; while many other members were as bitter in the denunciation of President Johnson and his policy, as was that famous patriot.

All the members of the Convention were agreed, heart and hand, in favor of Congress and its policy, endorsing Con- gress without limitations, and in all di- rections. On the subject of enfranchis- ing the colored population there was a division of sentiment. The delegates from the states further South were desi- dedly in favor of giving the negroes the privilege of voting! Governor Brown- low made a speech in favor of it. Most of the delegates from the border States were open to negro suffrage, but not all of them. It has become evident to all observing persons, that most of the Southern states will be kept in the hands of the rebels, and friends of the old oligarchy, unless the negroes, loyal to a man, are allowed to vote with the Union- ists.

We sympathize with the delegates from the far South. We are in favor of giv- ing the ballot to every loyal man, that can read and write in English, whatever his race and color. We hope this may yet be done. We shall not be sure of peace, amity and perpetual allegiance, till it is done.

But, for the time; that must be at- tempted in which the masses of the Un- ion party are agreed; and the amend- ments to the Constitution, proposed by Congress, must be ratified by twenty- eight of the states. Unless this be done speedily, the miseries of the Southern loyalists will be prolonged, increased, and intensified: and the nation be again deeply agitated and convulsed.-—PACIFIC

The Corea.

From Chefoo we learn that the news of the burning of the General Sherman by the Coreans and the consequent death of all on board is confirmed under date of October 23rd. The French fleet con- sisting of one frigate, 3 corvettes, and 4 gunboats left for Corea on the 11th ul- timo, and on the 15th entered the town of Kanghon, some distance up a river, described as a small place of only 10,000 inhabitants, nearly all of whom deser- ted the town on the French approach. The fact of the murder of the missiona- ries is fully admitted by the Coreans, and a mandarin who was captured and taken on board the admiral's ship seemed to glory in the fact. The King invited the French admiral to proceed to the capital to negociate; but this was declined, as a trap was suspected, and a despatch was sent instead, in which demands were made for punishment of the mandarins who had instigated the murders, and for the ap- pointment of a plenipotentiary. News had been brought to the French by a Co- rean convert that junks containing stones had been sunk in the River Seoul, be- tween Kanghon and the capital; and that the Viceroy had despatched an army 15,- 000 strong to attack them.—-Ov C. MAIL.

Butter without Churning.

At a late meeting of the American In- stitute Farmer's Club, Dr. Sylvester stated that he had tried the experiment of niak- ing butter by burying the cream in a linen bag and that in another bag to keep it clean, which he buried about eighteen inches deep, and after twenty-four hours took it up and found the cream thoroughly converted into butter as it is by churning. It is just in the condition that butter is when it is "come" without being gather- ed by the dasher. It was worked in the usual way, and made as good butter as ever was churned.

A SUBSCRIBER asks how warts can be most readily removed-—with caustic, lunar, or potash. Five cents worth, of either lu- nar caustic, or caustic of potash, will suf- fice. Keep the caustic in a vial, take a stick of it, wet the end with water or spat- tle, and rub it on the warts. Two or three applications will suffice. Be very careful with the caustic of potash, or it will eat too deep and make a sore.-—N. H. FARM- ER.

IT APPEARS, by the proceedings at a late meeting of an agricultural society in France, that certain learned cultivators there have met with great success in the use of coal tar and phenic acid, in protect- ing plants and vegetables from insects. Three per cent of the tar, mixed with earth, and placed about grape vines, had caused abundant crops, when, without it, the fruit was certainly destroyed.

UP TO March 3d, the cattle plague had appeared on 16,415 farms in England ; 8,396 in Scotland ; and 688 in Wales ; to- tal, 20,499 farms. There was on these farms a grand total of 342,712 head of cat- tle ; of these 187,069 had been attacked ; 26,35 killed for security ; 39,081 slaugh- tered healthy ; 117,664 died of the disease; recovered, 26,166.