Our latest files are to April 21st, inclusive. Sydney was at that time
in high spirits over the recent visit of the Prince Captain of H. M. S.
_Gallatea_. The most noteworthy action of whom was the laying of the
corner-stone of the testimonial to the hardy navigator and discoverer,
Captain Cook. We extract the remarks of the leading journal of Sydney.
“THE CAPTAIN COOK MEMORIAL.—A monument to the memory of Captain Cook
will be rather an expression of our admiration for his character and
services than an enhancement of his fame. The last generation was
filled with wonder at the narrative of his discoveries. The first
quartos that record them display in most striking forms the scenes and
objects he made known to the world. He visited many islands of the
Southern seas, whose voluptuous and animated social life attracted as
to a new-found Paradise. Subsequent experience scattered the illusions
of fancy, but brought out more clearly the value of his labors. New
South Wales presented to his view a land of savages, lowest in the
scale of civilization, but it also offered a noble field for British
colonization, perhaps less appreciated while America was still a
dependency of England, but brought into notice a few years after that
country ceased to belong to the Crown.
“COOK first landed at Botany Bay, on the 19th of April, and on the
23d of August, he took possession of the entire country in the name
of the SOVEREIGN of England. The precise spot where he anchored is
marked in the charts by a nautical symbol, and can thus be identified.
On reaching the shore he found a spring of water ample for the wants
of the ship, and tradition has reported that he bent his knees in
adoration of the Supreme Being.
“The character of COOK as a navigator occupies the first rank in
nautical sciences. It is to his high honor, that modern times,
though they have added to his discoveries, have been rarely able to
dispute them. Nothing is superfluous—nothing is obscure. The modern
investigator starts from the observations made by COOK as undoubted
facts. Every year displays more strikingly, not only the results of his
discoveries and their value, but the almost prophetic foresight which
presided over them.
“The history of Captain COOK is an example of the lofty position
which may be taken by the humblest ranks when attended with high
intelligence and superior moral qualities. The first step of his naval
career was as a cabin boy. He rose to the command of an expedition
which was suggested by scientific men, and their warmest hopes were
more than fulfilled. They had seen with regret the blanks in the
map of the world, and the ignorance which prevailed in reference to
the true character and capabilities of countries partially known.
The men of science who accompanied him on his voyage acquired for a
time a scarcely inferior fame. Mr. BANKS and Dr. SOLANDER are names
familiar to the readers of COOK’S Voyages, but the magnificence of his
achievements leaves in the shade every inferior merit. He stands forth
as the founder of a new era in nautical discovery, and as the revealer
of a new world.
“Could Captain COOK have seen the spot on which it is proposed to erect
his monument, and from thence, with superhuman knowledge, anticipated
the events of this day, he would have been overwhelmed with awe.
“EDMUND BURKE delineated, while the struggle with America was still
transpiring, the emotions of astonishment with which he supposes Lord
BATHURST, then an aged statesman, might in the days of his youth have
looked forward, under the guidance of some celestial instructor, to the
events which had raised American colonization from insignificance to
greatness. But what emotions would have stirred the heart of COOK, if,
standing on this spot, he had foreseen the progress of colonization,
the painful labors included in the first fifty years, and the immense
prosperity of the last.
“Had such heavenly anointing enabled him to foresee all this, his
grateful spirit would have been filled—with—what sacred joy! Still
further extending his intellectual prospect, he might have foreseen
the arrival of a vessel furnished with the results of science then
unattained, advancing like some being, instinct with intelligence, from
port to port, through billows over which he was tossed, and independent
of winds for which he had to wait, arrived at a fixed hour at the haven
of its destination. And still farther, he might have seen the great
grandson of that monarch whose name he proclaimed as the lord of this
territory—the son of a royal woman who has inherited all the virtues
of her race, without its faults; and he might have seen that son,
surrounded with a multitude of her subjects, standing over the first
stone of an edifice to do honor to his memory.”—_Sydney Morning Herald,
March 27._
“THE NEW POST OFFICE, SYDNEY.—The keystone of the central arch of the
new Post Office, George street, was laid by His Royal Highness the Duke
of Edinburgh, on the 1st instant, in the presence of a vast concourse
of spectators. A large platform was erected behind the arch, and on a
level with the stone, access to which was obtained by carpeted stairs,
springing from the northern side of the building.
“The stone laid by the Prince forms the keystone, archivolts and two
spandrils of the central archway of the George street front. Upon the
face are to be carved the Royal arms, and upon the coffered soffits
the arms of the Duke. The dimensions of the stone are:—Length 13 feet
6 inches, width 4 feet 6 inches, and height 6 feet 6 inches—the whole
being equal to 394 cubic feet. The weight is twenty-six tons. This
stone is doubtless the largest yet laid by his Royal Highness, and it
is probably the largest block of sandstone he will ever lay, for it
would be difficult, if not indeed impossible, to get _sound_ blocks of
sandstone of equal size from any quarry in England, or elsewhere. Few
cities are so favorably situated for sandstone as Sydney, for in almost
every direction blocks of this description of freestone may be obtained
of almost unlimited dimensions, and without a flaw. The most casual
observer of the new Post Office cannot fail to notice the massiveness
of the stones used in the building, and the solidity of the structure
is unequalled by any other erection in the city. The contractor has
placed very powerful cranes in his quarries at Pyrmont, whence these
immense blocks of stone are obtained, and great credit is due to Mr.
C. Saunders for the workmanlike manner in which these blocks—far
exceeding in size anything previously attempted in the colony—have
been quarried. The difficulty of removing these heavy blocks of stone
must be very considerable; and the stone laid by the Duke of Edinburgh
was equal to the force of twenty-one horses, calculating a horse to
draw about twenty-five cwt. Ordinary wagons or trucks usually carry
weight not exceeding 5, or, at most, 6 tons; and as there are in this
building many blocks of granite and freestone of 10 to 20 tons, the
difficulty of carriage can easily be seen. In hoisting and fixing these
large stones ‘travellers’ are used, which can move longitudinally and
crossways; and as the lift is directly over the stone to be fixed,
there is less liability of accident than by the use of cranes or other
contrivances.
“The building progresses as rapidly as the elaborate nature of
such work will admit. It is now to the height of the first story,
twenty-five feet from the floor line, which is three feet above the
causeway in George street. The works are being carried on under the
superintendence of the Colonial Architect, Mr. James Barnet. The
contractor has fixed all the polished granite columns on the work front
facing the street, which is to be taken through from George street to
Pitt street. They are exceedingly beautiful, and are resplendent with a
lustre brighter than that of marble. The polish has been brought out by
an elaborate process, and is, we believe, ineffaceable by atmospheric
influences. Each column is polished by machinery—incessant friction
continued for a fortnight being requisite to bring out the lustre.
There are to be twenty-seven columns in the George street front, which
the Government have also decided shall be of polished granite, material
which for beauty and durability cannot be surpassed even in Europe. The
building, when completed, will compare favorably with any structure
erected for a similar purpose elsewhere.
“The blue granite used in the edifice is obtained by Mr. Young from his
quarries at Moruya, about one hundred and sixty miles to the south of
Sydney. The quarries are opened in the side of the hill—a mountain of
granite in fact—and about half a mile of railway constructed across the
swamp carries it to a granite jetty, which has been built in the river,
into water deep enough to admit of vessels drawing fifteen feet of
water loading alongside. The granite is sound—sufficiently so, indeed,
to admit of two hundred feet lengths being quarried. A block has been
got out for the front columns of the Post Office, which weighs nearly
three hundred tons, and the dimensions of which are:—Length, 22 feet;
breadth, 22 feet; thickness, 8 feet; total contents being 3,520 feet.”