being induced by somewhat peculiar circumstances to reflect upon the
condition of this country, he was, he tells us, driven to the conclusion
that we are a declining people, destined in no short period to exhibit
to mankind a fearful spectacle of misery and ruin. Some persons have
thought, that the many manifestations of material wealth and power which
must have presented themselves to the eyes and mind of M. Ledru Rollin,
even on the most casual observation, should have induced him in his
character of philosoper to hesitate in deciding so hastily, and with
such emphasis, that our destruction is imminent. But in our opinion
there are events of everyday occurrence connected with our social habits
and customs--events which from their frequency cease to excite our
attention--which should be deemed still more important and significant,
and which to one really deserving the name of a philosopher would appear
more powerful guarantees for the future happiness of a people among whom
they occur than any afforded by mere proofs of great wealth, power, or
skill. It is much the fashion with those who delight to deal in doleful
vaticinations as to the future destiny of England, to dwell with great
emphasis upon the amazing diversity of conditions to be seen here--to
exaggerate the suffering of the millions of our poor, and to place them
in a sort of rhetorical contrast with the extravagant wealth of a
favored few. But there is still something in the mutual relations of all
classes of society in this country that proves a healthy condition to
exist in our body politic, that shows that we are really brethren, and
that whether interest or kind sympathies govern us we are still one
people--with great differences of opinion among us indeed, openly
expressed by all, but still with a feeling prevalent in all classes of
the community that we form one people, and that we are, from the most
powerful to the most weak, bound together by ties of great regard as
well as national brotherhood."
* * * * *
THE LATE CATASTROPHE ON LAKE ERIE.--Our whole country has been once more
shocked by an appalling and unnecessary loss of life, from the burning
of the steamer Griffith. We use the expression, _unnecessary loss of
life_, not from any hasty impulse, or undue excitement, but in view of
the evident and undeniable fact, that two hundred and fifty human beings
have been sacrificed for a culpable neglect on the part of the
proprietors of the steamer to furnish suitable protection. No one
competent to judge will doubt that every individual on the Griffith
might have been saved had she been provided with life-boats. The avarice
of proprietors has generally prevented their use, though the cost of a
sufficient number for each steamer would not exceed _one thousand
dollars_. The lives of hundreds of men, women and children are of little
account to a corporation, when weighed against a thousand dollars of
their capital stock. Life-boats cannot save their _burning property_,
and why impair their own interests for the saving a few hundred lives
now and then? We have the approbation of every _disinterested_ citizen,
when we suggest to Congress some law which shall compel steamboat owners
to protect their passengers in case of accident, by suitable life-saving
apparatus. Fire-proof paints and other incombustible materials are very
wisely demanded, but our navigation is exposed to a thousand other
dangers, which can be guarded against by no other means so effectually
as by life-boats; and it should be within the duties of the inspectors
to see that steamers are in all instances furnished with a sufficient
number of them to contain their full complement of passengers.
* * * * *
M. LAMARTINE has left Paris to visit his estate in the East.
_RECENT DEATHS._
JANE PORTER.--As in the case of the recent death of Miss Edgeworth, it
is singular that so little notice has been taken of the demise of Jane
Porter, one of the most distinguished novelists which England has
produced. Miss Porter may be said to have been the first who introduced
that beautiful kind of fiction, the historical romance, which has added
such amusement and interest to English literature. The author of
"Thaddeus of Warsaw" and "The Scottish Chiefs" has done much to deserve
the lasting respect and gratitude of her country.
The family of this excellent woman and able writer, according to the
_Illustrated News_, is of Irish descent. Her father was an officer of
dragoons in the British service; he married a Miss Blenkinsopp, of the
Northumbrian house of Blenkinsopp, which Camden styles "a right ancient
and generous family." Miss Porter's father died in the prime of life,
and left his widow with five almost infant children, in slender
circumstances. The great talents of this orphan family raised them to
affluence and distinction. Three of the children were sons; of these,
the eldest perished in a dangerous climate abroad, at the commencement
of a promising career; the second (the present Dr. William Ogilvie
Porter, of Bristol) became a physician, and practiced successfully. The
third was the late Sir Robert Ker Porter, K.C.H., distinguished as an
author, a painter, and a soldier: some of our finest battle-pieces are
the work of his pencil, and he himself followed heroes to the field; he
was with Sir John Moore when he fell victoriously at Corunna, and he
earned a high reputation throughout the Peninsular war. He afterward
became a diplomatist, and was latterly consul at Venezuela. His
"Traveling Sketches in Russia and Egypt" procured him also an author's
fame. Sir Robert Ken Porter died suddenly about seven years ago; he left
by his wife, a Russian lady, an only daughter, who is married, and
resides in Russia. The two sisters of these brothers Porter were even
more distinguished. The younger of them, Miss Anna Maria Porter, became
an authoress at twelve years of age; she wrote many successful novels,
of which the most popular were the "Hungarian Brothers," the "Recluse of
Norway," and the "Village of Mariendorpt." She died at her brother's
residence at Bristol, on the 6th of June, 1832. The elder sister, Miss
Jane Porter, the subject of this notice, was born at Durham, where her
father's regiment was quartered at the time. She, with her sister, Anna
Maria, received her education under a famous Scotch tutor, Mr. Fulton,
at Edinburgh, where her widowed mother lived with her children in their
early years. The family afterward removed, first to Ditton, and thence
to Esher, in Surrey, where Mrs. Porter, a most intelligent and agreeable
lady, resided with her daughters for many years, until her death, in
1831. Mrs. Porter was buried in the churchyard at Esher; and on her tomb
the passer-by may read this inscription, "Here lies Jane Porter, a
Christian widow." As a novelist Miss Jane Porter obtained the highest
celebrity. Her three most renowned productions were her "Thaddeus of
Warsaw," written when she was about twenty years of age, her "Scottish
Chiefs," and her "Pastor's Fireside." "Thaddeus of Warsaw" had immense
popularity; it was translated into most of the Continental languages,
and Poland was loud in its praise. Kosciusko sent the author a ring
containing his portrait. General Gardiner, the British Minister at
Warsaw, could not believe that any other than an eye-witness had written
the story, so accurate were the descriptions, although Miss Porter had
not then been in Poland. The "Scottish Chiefs" was equally successful.
With regard to this romance, it is known that Sir Walter Scott admitted
to George IV., one day, in the library at Carlton Palace, that the
"Scottish Chiefs" was the parent in his mind of the Waverley Novels. In
a letter written to her friend Mr. Litchfield, about three months ago,
Miss Porter, speaking of these novels, said:--"I own I feel myself a
kind of sybil in these things; it being full fifty years ago since my
'Scottish Chiefs' and 'Thaddeus of Warsaw' came into the then untrodden
field. And what a splendid race of the like chroniclers of generous
deeds have followed, brightening the track as they have advanced! The
author of 'Waverley,' and all his soul-stirring 'Tales of my Landlord,'
&c. Then comes Mr. James, with his historical romances, on British and
French subjects, so admirably uniting the exquisite fiction with the
fact, that the whole seems equally verity. But my feeble hand" (Miss
Porter was ailing when she wrote the letter) "will not obey my wish to
add more to this host of worthies. I can only find power to say with my
trembling pen that I cannot but esteem them as a respected link with my
past days of lively interest in all that might promote the virtue and
true honor of my contemporaries from youth to age." These eloquent words
become the more touching, when we consider that within three months
after they were written, this admirable lady quitted this life in the
honored maturity of her fame.
Miss Porter wrote, in conjunction with her sister, "Tales round a
Winter's Hearth." She was also an indefatigable contributor to the
periodicals of the day. Her biographical sketch of Colonel Denham, the
African traveler, in the _Naval and Military Journal_, was much admired
as one of the most affecting tributes ever paid to departed merit. Miss
Porter was a Chanoiness of the Polish order of St. Joachim, which honor
was conferred upon her after the publication of "Thaddeus of Warsaw."
She is, in her portraits, generally represented in the habit of this
order. Miss Porter died on the 24th ult., at the residence of her
brother, Dr. Porter, in Portland-square, Bristol. That brother, so
tenderly beloved by her, and so justly respected by all who know him, is
now the last survivor of this brilliant company of brothers and sisters;
and he, too, we are sorry to say, is in an enfeebled state from
paralysis, aggravated by the recent shock of his gifted relative's
demise. Except himself and his married niece in Russia, there remains no
representative of a family which England has good cause to hold in
grateful remembrance.
* * * * *
THE COUNT DE VITTRÉ.--The Paris journals announce the death of one of
the most distinguished officers of the French army, General Count de
Vittré, Grand Officer of the Legion of Honor, &c. Charles de Raity de
Villeneuve, Count de Vittré, was descended from an old and noble family
of Poitou, was the comrade of Napoleon at the Military School, and took
a glorious part in the campaign of Russia, where he was severely
wounded. He also distinguished himself in the Spanish expedition in
1823, where he had under his orders General Changarnier, the Duke de
Crillon, and M.A. Carrel, who, on account of his valor, gave him the
surname of the Bayard of the 19th Century. General Count de Vittré was
uncle to M. Hugues de Coval, a distinguished political writer of Paris.
* * * * *
GLOVER, THE PAINTER.--A Van Diemen's Land newspaper announces the death,
at the advanced age of eighty-two, of Mr. Glover, the painter, whose
pictures of English scenery are well known to lovers of landscape art.
* * * * *
MATTHEW L. DAVIS died on the 15th June, at the age of 84. He had been
for two or three years enfeebled, and for the last year confined to his
room, but he retained his mental faculties and his physical powers until
after his eightieth year, owing, in great measure, to the temperance of
his habits, his fondness for exercise, and his elastic, hopeful
temperament. Mr. Davis was preëminently a politician through life, and
aided to organize and give triumph to "the Republican party," so called,
more than half a century ago, when the Federal or Washingtonian party
was prostrated not more by its own follies than by the ability and tact
of its leading adversaries. Half the good management and efficient
activity that served to elect Jefferson would have sufficed to defeat
him. And nowhere was the battle of Democracy fought with greater address
or against more formidable odds than in this State and City, under the
consummate generalship of Aaron Burr, of whom Davis was the untiring
lieutenant and confidential friend.
Though so long and so deeply immersed in Politics, possessing decided
talents and a thorough knowledge of public affairs, Mr. Davis never held
any prominent office. He did not seem to be an ambitious man. He was
once wealthy, and became poor, but he never seemed elated by prosperity
nor humbled by adversity. He was not a fortunate politician, and he
seemed to love the smoke of the battle more than the plunder of the
field. He was quite often on the unlucky side--for Crawford in '24--for
Adams in '28--for Clay in '32,--and so on. His side was taken from
impulse and personal liking, not from selfish calculation. He had known
almost every man who figures in the history of our country since the
Revolutionary era, and, while his faculties remained, his conversation
was remarkably instructive and entertaining. In early life Mr. Davis was
engaged in trade, and was moderately successful, but he gave up business
to devote himself more entirely to politics, He reëntered commercial
life before the last war with England, and his house (Davis & Strong)
was fortunate in South American speculations, of the profits of which he
himself received some $50,000, which, however, was soon lost. For half a
century he was an industrious writer. He produced several very clever
pamphlets upon men and affairs, and was for many years known as "The Spy
in Washington" for the _Courier and Enquirer_, and "The Genevese
Traveler" for the _London Times_. Burr bequeathed to him all his papers,
and from these and his memoranda and recollections he prepared and
published, in 1838, "Memoirs of Aaron Burr, with Miscellaneous
Selections from his Correspondence," in 2 vols. 8vo., and "The Private
Journal of Aaron Burr during his Residence of Four Years in Europe, with
Selections from his Correspondence," 2 vols. 8vo.
* * * * *
REV. JOSEPH SAMUEL C. F. FREY, a well-known Baptist clergyman, died at
Pontiac, Michigan, in the 79th year of his age, on the 5th of June. He
was born of Jewish parents, in Germany, and was for several years reader
in a Synagogue. When about twenty-five years old, he became a Christian,
and soon after a student of divinity at Berlin. He was subsequently
engaged nearly all the time in efforts to convert the Jews. It was at
his suggestion that the London Missionary Society for Promoting
Christianity among the Jews, was founded, in 1808. In 1816 he came to
the United States, and was for a time pastor of a Presbyterian Church in
this city, but changing his views upon the subject of baptism, he joined
the Baptist Church, and was settled over congregations at Newark and at
Sing Sing, until, through his means, the Society for Meliorating the
Condition of the Jews was founded, and he became its missionary. He
wrote several books, which display considerable learning and an amiable
and honorable temper. The most popular of his productions is one
entitled "Joseph and Benjamin," designed to illustrate the points of
difference between the Jews and Christians.
_SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANIES._
MR. PAINE'S HYDRO-ELECTRIC LIGHT.--All the past eras that are marked by
especial characteristics and glories must yield before our own, the AGE
OF DISCOVERY, which bequeaths to the new generations so many
applications of steam and electricity, so many inventions in all the
arts, and such vast enterprises undertaken and accomplished for the good
of mankind. These, as the _Tribune_ eloquently says, are the immortal
monuments of our times, and dwarf earlier performances into a very
inferior position. What are the pyramids to a line of steamships? What
is there in Homer or Plato worthy to be mentioned on the day when
Professor Morse sets up his telegraph, and mightier than Jupiter, the
cloud-compeller, with the lightnings of Heaven flashes intelligence from
Halifax to New Orleans, as rapidly as the behests of the mind reach the
fingers? How petty and narrow seem the ambition and desires of Alexander
or Napoleon when the bold and prophetic genius of Whitney, dealing with
continents and nations as with parishes and neighborhoods, stretches his
iron road around half the globe and shows you, moving forward and
backward over its rails, the flux and reflux of a world's commerce and
intercourse, a sublime tide of benefits and universal relations! What
poet, what artist, what philosopher, what statesman, has equalled in
grandeur these conceptions of science, or the splendid results which
have followed their practical realization? Not one. And the reason of
this is plain. These things are filled with the spirit of future
centuries, while our Art, Literature, Statesmanship, Philosophy, are
either mere dead relics of the past, or the poor makeshifts of a
present, not yet equal to the business Providence has given it to
perform.
It is claimed for Mr. Paine that he has found out the means of producing
the greatest revolution which physical science can well be supposed to
make in the business and comfort of society. As far as we apprehend his
claim, it is that he has established as a new principle of science that
electricity possesses the qualities of weight, compressibility and
gravitation; that he has proved water to be in reality a simple
elemental substance, which he can decompose or transform into either
hydrogen or oxygen gas according to its electrical condition, and
according as positive or negative electricity is applied to it; and that
he has invented the means whereby from water he can produce at will
either of these gases without any other than mechanical agency and with
no expense save that of the machine, which will cost at the outset $400
or $500, and last for an indefinite period. If this is true, it is
unquestionably the greatest discovery of modern times, and will produce
a change in affairs of all sorts so profound and extensive as to surpass
and bewilder the mind which seeks to imagine it. When with a pail of
water you can without expense light and heat your house; when coal mines
are useless, and steamships draw their fuel from the waves they
traverse; then the comforts and luxuries of life, and the means of
traveling will be diminished in price so as to come within the ability
of every man; a great deal of the most toilsome and disagreeable work
now performed will become unnecessary; and a vast step will be made
toward a more just and equal distribution of social advantages. Mr.
Paine is now engaged at the Astor House in preparations to light that
immense hotel with his hydro-electric gas, and the result of his
experiment is looked for with profound interest. We confess little faith
in his success.
* * * * *
The story of an American inventor named REMINGTON--who a year or two
since addressed to the late Mr. Senator Lewis, of Alabama, a history of
his adventures, which was published in the _Merchant's Magazine_--must
be well-remembered, for its intrinsic interest, and on account of the
denials and refutations of portions of it by certain persons in London
to whom allusion was made in Mr. Remington's letter. The invention, the
Remington Bridge, seems now to be exciting no little attention both in
England and in this country. The principle which gives to it its great
strength, is the peculiar construction of its longitudinal supporters,
investing them with all the tenacity that wood has when it is sought to
be drawn apart. Thus it is capable of sustaining as great weight as
would be required to _pull asunder the fibres_ of the longitudinal
supporters. No wooden bridge can be built of so great a span. Mr.
Remington believes that he can build a span at least 1320 feet in
length, while the span of the old wooden bridge at Fairmount, near
Philadelphia, which was one of the largest in the world, was but little
over 300 feet. The annals of mechanical art afford few instances where a
great invention has been developed and prosecuted under apparently more
adverse circumstances.
* * * * *
NEW PLANET.--The _Tempo_, of Naples, publishes a letter from M. Leopold
Del Re, Director of the Observatory at Naples, announcing that the
celebrated astronomer, Don Annibale de Gasparin, late discoverer of the
_Igea Borbonica_, has discovered a new telescope planet, being the ninth
between Mars and Jupiter. It is a star of the ninth magnitude, and is at
present in apposition with the sun.
* * * * *
IN SURGERY.--A correspondent of the _Lowell Courier_ claims for the late
Dr. Twitchell, of Keene, the honor of successfully tying the carotid
artery several months before Sir Astley Cooper made the attempt. The
latter has always had the credit of being the first to achieve this
extremely difficult and dangerous process.
AUTHORS AND BOOKS.
The Rev. THOMAS H. SMYTH, D.D. of South Carolina, whose work upon the
Unity of the Human Races, suggested by the recent declarations of
infidelity, by Professor Agassiz of Harvard College and others, has been
published by Putnam, and received with a hearty applause by Christians
and scholars, is not, as is commonly supposed, an American author,
though he has long resided in this country. He was born in Belfast, in
the North of Ireland, and educated at the Royal College in that city,
pursuing afterward his theological studies in London, and at Princeton
in New Jersey. He has been eighteen years minister of the Presbyterian
church in Charleston, where he was married, and where he will probably
always reside, while in this country; but his liberal fortune and
inquiring spirit tempt him to frequent travel, and he is now absent upon
a tour which will probably be extended to Nineveh and all the most
interesting scenes connected with the history of religion in the eastern
world. Dr. Smyth possesses one of the largest and most valuable private
libraries in the United States, and has therefore been able to compose
his learned works in theology, history, &c. under advantages but seldom
enjoyed by our authors. His chief productions are, Apostolical
Succession, 1842; Presbytery and not Prelacy the Scriptural and
Primitive Polity of the Church, 1843; Ecclesiastical Republicanism;
Ecclesiastical Catechism; Claims of the Free Church of Scotland; Life
and Character of Thomas Chalmers, with Personal Recollections; Nature
and Functions of Ruling Elders; Nature and Functions of Deacons; The
Rite of Confirmation examined; Bereaved Parents Consoled; Union to
Christ and His Church; The True Origin and Source of the Mecklenburg
Declaration of Independence, with a Continuation on Presbyterianism, the
National Declaration, and the Revolution; Denominational Education;
Pastoral Memento; Life and Character of Calvin; The Westminster
Assembly; and the Unity of the Human Races proved to be the Doctrine of
Scripture, Reason, and Science. Dr. Smyth has also written largely in
the Biblical Repertory, the Southern Presbyterian Review, and other
Periodicals.
* * * * *
THE VETERAN ITALIAN GENERAL PEPE, known in the book-world heretofore by
his Personal Memoirs, has just published a Narrative of Scenes and
Events in Italy, from 1847 to 1849. It comprises the most interesting
particulars respecting the Revolutions in Naples, Sicily, and Rome; the
Military Operations of Charles Albert; and the Siege of Venice, of which
city General Pepe held the command. It also includes the details of the
General's confidential communications and interviews with the Italian
Sovereigns, &c. &c.
* * * * *