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their mutual interests, they would most willingly have maintained for the public.

We feel confident that in this unfortunate, shortsighted, narrow-minded conflict the British nation is discreditably warring against itself; and having not inattentively watched the practical working of

NEW REMEDY FOR DEAFNESS.-Glycerine has been highly successful in its results on diseases of the ear, from its possessing the peculiar property of attracting from the atmospheric air moisture, and consequently, never drying or hardening.

COLOR OF TREE-FROGS.-In the newly erected the system, it has been our humble endeavor-by a in the Regent's Park, is a glazed case of the TreeReptile House in the Zoological Society's gardens few pen-and-ink-sketches, which we now conclude Frogs of Europe. Although of a bright green -to attract the attention of the public to the mag- when exposed to light, these creatures become nitude of the works of our arterial railways, in almost black in the dark; and for some time after order that from the good sense and good feelings of their new location, the specimens in the gardens the community these new highways may receive presented every possible shade between a dark that fostering protection and genial support with-brown and bright green, owing to their having been out which the fruits of Science cannot be matured. recently kept in a dark place.

CURIOSITIES OF SCIENCE.

MOLECULAR ACTION.-M. Niepce has discovered that, when a print is held over the vapor of iodine, the iodine is attracted almost exclusively by the ink. By applying an engraving thus saturated with iodine particles to a film of starch spread on a glass surface, he thus obtained, in iodide of starch, a perfect transcript of the original_design.-Communicated by Prof. Dumas to Mr. Faraday.

DANGER FROM STORMS.-We are often told that there is no danger if a certain interval of time can be counted between the flash of the lightning and the report of the thunder; but it is equally true, that if we can count at all, we are safe.

ECONOMY OF ELECTRIC LIGHT.-The notion of electricity as a source of illumination was suggested by Davy nearly half a century ago; and the application is, in all respects, practical, save in the matter of expense. Mr. Brande tells us that a mode of procuring cheap electricity must precede the economical use of such illumination; and that, were this obtained, water might be decomposed, and its hydrogen naphthalized, burnt, so as to produce a vivid, bright, and steady flame in its other element, oxygen. MANUFACTURE OF GLASS.-It is a curious fact in ELECTRICITY OF GRAVE-YARDS.-Sir James the history of discovery, that the manufacture of Murray recommends the advocates of intramural glass was, a few years since, unknown at Sidon, interments to employ accurate electricians, with where it is reputed to have been first invented.delicate instruments, to measure the terrible gal-Pellatt's Curiosities of Glass-making. vanic derangements of fermenting church-yards as TO DETECT IMPOSITION IN GOLD-DUST.-Place the best proof of the fatality of the practice. Sir a little gold-dust in a glass tube or earthen-ware James refers to an effervescing golgotha, long kept saucer, and pour nitric acid upon it; then hold the in active fermentation in Belfast, near the quays, glass or saucer over a flame, or upon a few embers, and on a level with low-water mark. During until red flames (nitric vapors) arise: if it be many years, Sir James had proofs demonstrating pure gold, the liquid will not become discolored; that persons residing in tenements opening into this but if pyrites, or brass filings, should have been Belfast grave-yard could not be efficiently elec-mixed with it, the acid will become turbid, green, trified, because the best machines could seldom and black, discharging bubbles of gas. After the produce sparks of any intensity. He often noticed ebullition has ceased, the residue should be that a magnet capable of sustaining fifty pounds washed with water, and acid again poured upon with ease in other situations, could not for a mo-it, when the same effect may be observed, but in a ment suspend an iron of ten pounds in the habita- less degree; and if the experiment be repeated till tions built close to this devastating place of inter-all the effervescence ceases, it will finally leave the ment. From these and many other observations, gold-dust pure.-Professor Ansted, M.A. F.R.S. Sir James proved that negative electricity pervaded this vast swamp, and drew away the positive electricity from the living creatures in immediate contact with the damp earth and air of that fatal and extended trough, or galvanic pile.

VAST HYDRAULIC PRESS.-The largest of the Bramah's hydraulic presses, (the hoisting apparatus in the construction of the Britannia railway bridge,) is a noble instrument. It has a cylinder eleven inches thick, with a piston or ram twenty inches in diameter, and the lift a span of six feet. The weight of the cylinder is sixteen tons of the whole machine forty tons. This one alone has power enough to lift the whole, a weight, it is estimated, equivalent to that of 30,000 men. It would spout the water pressed into its cylinder to a height of nearly 20,000 feet, according to Mr. Clark, the engineer, or more than five times the height of Snowdon, or 5,000 feet higher than Mont Blanc. And yet, any one man can put a hook into the nose of this leviathan," and, alone with him, with the utmost facility and precision, guide and control his stupendous action.

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CHARACTERISTICS OF GOLD.-Gold can be distinguished by its relative weight or specific gravity, and by its relative hardness, from other bodies which resemble it. It is described generally as soft, completely malleable and flexible, but more harder than tin and lead. It is useful to know accurately as softer than iron, copper, or silver, but facts of this kind, as a simple experiment, that can be made with instruments at hand, is often more valuable than a much more accurate examination Thus, if it is found that a specimen (perhaps a small requiring materials not immediately available. scale or spangle) is readily scratched by silver, copper, or iron, and scratches tin and lead, it may, be fairly assumed to be gold.-Professor Ansted. if of the right color and sinking rapidly in water,

THE LARGEST LUMP OF GOLD.-We believe the largest lump of gold ever found, to be that obtained in 1843, in the mines south of Miask, and now at St. Petersburg, the weight of which is no less than seventy-eight pounds avoirdupois-its value, therefore, about 3,000l.-Professor Ansted.

From the Maryland Colonization Journal.

ABOLITION OF The slave trade OF GALLINAS. THE advices from Africa, published in our last number, contain the gratifying and important intelligence, that the long blockade of Gallinas by the British cruisers has induced the slavers at that place to break up their barricoons, deliver up their slaves to the commodore, and to take passage for themselves and effects on board her majesty's vessels for Sierra Leone. This is the initiative step to the entire abolition of that traffic on the windward coast; the next, and not less important, is the purchase of the territory by the government of Liberia. That the slaves are given up, the barricoons destroyed, the slavers themselves removed, and every vestige of this accursed traffic obliterated, avails nothing, unless proper and sure measures are taken to prevent a reëstablishment of the business the moment the coast guard is abandoned; and we doubt not, from the tenor of the advices above referred to, that ere this, either by purchase or conquest, Gallinas and its dependencies are a part and parcel of the commonwealth of Liberia this measure, only, will ensure it against a reenactment of the scenes of distress and horror which have heretofore rendered that place so infa

mous.

were much interrupted by the colonies, and finally extirpated by the purchase of Grand Bassa in 1832; while those at New Cesters and Trade Town were more or less connected with and dependent upon those at Gallinas.

The Gallinas river enters the Atlantic in latitude about 71°, between Grand Cape Mount and Cape St. Ann, near one hundred miles north-west of Cape Messurado or Monrovia. The name of the river is given to the cluster of slave factories near its mouth. This place possesses no peculiar advantages for any species of commerce, and derives its importance, exclusively, from the establishmen of the slave factories there. The land in the vicinity is very low and marshy, the river winds sluggishly through an alluvion of Mangrove marsh, forming innumerable small islands. The bar at its mouth is one of the most dangerous on the coast, being impassable at times in the rainy season. It is located in what is termed the Vey Country, the people of which are distinguished for their cleanliness, intelligence, and enterprise in trade. How long Gallinas has maintained its importance as a slave mart, we are unable to say, but at the time of our first visit to Liberia, in 1831, its reputation was very extended and its influence most deeply felt in the colony. It was estimated that near 10,000 slaves were, about that period, annually shipped from this place alone. The business was done, mainly, through the agency of several merchants or factors established there, the principal of which was Pedro Blanco, a Spaniard. This man's influence was unbounded among the native tribes on that section of the coast, and we fear, at one time, extended to members of the colony of considerable respectability. He was a man of education, having the bearing and address of a Spanish Grandee or Don, which was his usual appellation. He lived in a semi-barbarous manner, at once as a private gentleman and an African prince. He had at one time a sister residing with him. He maintained several establishments, one on an island near the river's mouth, which was his place of business or of trade with foreign vessels that came to Gallinas to dispose of merchandise; on another island, more remote, was his

To enable those, not familiar with the slave marts on the west coast of Africa, to estimate the importance of the annexation of Gallinas to Liberia, it is necessary to give a brief sketch of their location and extent, and of the late history of Gallinas. Previous to the founding of the colonies of Liberia, the slave trade was rife throughout the whole of what is termed the Grain Coast; in fact, from the Gambia to Cape Palmas, an extent of over 1,500 miles of coast line, excepting only Sierra Leone and its immediate dependencies. The very heart of this extensive slave mart was Gallinas, to which only Cape Messurado was second in importance. That the small band of colonists, which boldly located themselves on this beautiful headland in 1821, should have been able to maintain their position amidst the powerful combined influence and action of slavers' gold and savage natives, will ever remain a marvel in the history of that colony. But dwelling-house, where he kept his private office, they did maintain, not only their existence, but their integrity and fair fame, and although it required many years in its accomplishment, and all of blood and treasure which they had to give, the Liberians succeeded effectually in eradicating this traffic from the limits of their territory. After the firm establishment of the colony, the slave trade on the windward coast, or to the north and west of Cape Palmas, was mainly confined to some Portuguese settlements at Bissaos, the Rio Grande, the Nuez and Pongos, Gallinas and its vicinity, Grand and Little Bassa, New Cesters and Trade Town. The Bissaos and the river factories to the windward of Sierra Leone were never very prosperous, the slavers finding it extremely difficult to escape from them without being intercepted by the British cruisers. The small factories at the Bassas

his books, dined, took his siesta, slept, &c.; here, we believe, his sister also resided. On a third was his seraglio of native wives, each in their several dwellings, after the manner of native chiefs. Independent of all these were his barricoons of slaves, of greater or less extent, as circumstances required. It may readily be supposed that with the wealth accruing from a long and successful prosecution of the slave trade, his power among the natives was equal to that of any despot; and the following incident, related to us by one of his partners, proves that he occasionally exercised it. Having occasion one day to travel on the sea beach some distance from Gallinas, near the island of Sherbro, where he was unknown, he approached the hut of a native, with the view of taking rest and refreshment. He asked the owner of the

We have ever understood that Blanco was one of the kindest masters to his slaves, taking every care of their health and comfort, never suffering any improper intimacy between his numerous agents and the females, and permitting no flogging or harsh treatment.

We first visited Gallinas in 1837, at a time when the trade at this place was on the decline and Blanco was about leaving the coast. The first peculiarity we noticed, in entering the river, was the arrangement of watch-boxes, or look-outs, consisting of seats protected from the sun and rain, erected some fifty or one hundred feet from the ground, either on poles fixed in the earth, or on some insulated, high tree; from one of which the horizon was constantly swept by a good telescope, to give prompt notice of the approach of any vessel, and long experience rendered these men very expert in determining the character of any visitor, whether neutral, friend or foe.

house, who was squatted in the door, to hand him gether in squads of twenty or thirty. We never fire to light his cigar. The man bluntly refused, saw a more painfully interesting sight than the upon which, Blanco drew back, took a carbine long rows of these bright-eyed little fellows from one of his attendants, and shot him dead upon doomed to the horrors of a middle latitude pasthe spot. The narrator of the story apologized for sage, probably in a three and a half feet between Blanco by saying, that to deny a Spaniard fire decks. Another peculiar feature of the place for lighting his cigar or pipe is the grossest insult was the collection of long canoes and boats, all that can be offered him. kept ready for the dispatch of slaves the moment an opportunity should occur. Probably 1,000 slaves could be shipped in four hours, all things favorable. In case the coast is clear of armed vessels, and a slaver appears in the offing, her signal is at once recognized. She is signalized, in return, to come in, and if she is watered and provisioned for the voyage, and deck laid, which is usually the case, she does not even come to anchor, but stands close in to the bar, where she is met oy the whole fleet of canoes and boats, the contents of which are speedily put on board; she then stands off or up the coast again, the canoes return to the barricoon for more slaves, again to meet outside the bar as before. Sometimes, however, they are not so fortunate, even when not molested by a man-of-war. The bar at the river mouth is not unfrequently dangerous, even in the dry season, and in the anxiety to ship the slaves they run great hazards, and many a boat-load of poor wretches becomes food for sharks, who always About a mile from the river's mouth we found follow such boats and canoes in great numbers. ourselves among a cluster of islands, on each of We have heard from Kroomen, who perform the which was located the factory of some particular boat-work at Gallinas, many harrowing tales of slave merchant. The buildings generally con- shipping slaves from that place, too painful to sisted of a business-room, with warehouse attached, report, or even to recall to memory. In fact, all filled with merchandise and provisions, and a bar-connected with this trade is painful and distressing ricoon for the slaves; the whole built by setting to humanity, and this Gallinas, of all other places rough stakes or small trees into the ground, these on the coast of Africa with which we have been being wattled together with withes and covered acquainted, has been the scene of its greatest horwith thatch; that containing the slaves being rors. What imagination can conceive the thoumuch the strongest and generally surrounded by, sandth part of the misery that has been endured or connected with, a yard, in which the slaves were by human beings on this little cluster of bushy permitted to exercise daily. We think there islands? Of the five or ten thousand, who are were some ten or twelve of these establishments annually brought to this place, each and every at that time, each containing from 100 to 500 one has to mourn a home made desolate, a family slaves. We believe one contained near 1,000, dismembered, the blood of kindred flowing. Of which, it was expected, would be shipped daily. this number, how many sink in these wretched Each barricoon was in charge of from two to four barricoons from distress of mind at their wretched white men, Spanish or Portuguese, and a more condition, from disease and famine; how many pitiable looking set of men we never met with. are sacrificed in their hurried shipment by the ravThey had all suffered more or less from the fever, enous sharks; how many sink under the most were very weak, much emaciated or swollen by protracted agonies in that confinement between dropsy or diseased spleens, and none of them par-decks, the air of which is putridity itself; and, ticularly clean. The slaves were as well taken of the miserable survivors, the attenuated, excocare of as could be expected, when provisions riated wretches, who are still destined for the were plenty in the country; but, in case of shambles, how few but would exclaim, "Thrice scarcity, they suffered severely. Many instances and four times happy are those who sink under the have occurred wherein whole barricoons of slaves knife of the midnight assassin, or were consumed have been let loose for want of food; and it may in the conflagration of their palm-covered cotwell be supposed their owners would allow them tages!" to suffer severely before giving them up. For But Gallinas is destroyed; as a slave-mart it this reason, and because they can be stowed more has ceased to exist; from its marshy islets the closely in a vessel, children are generally preferred fiat shall no more go forth to spread fire and to adults. We recollect going into one yard sword throughout a peaceful land; the marauding where there were some 300 boys, all apparently chief has bound his last victim; the haggard, between ten and fifteen years of age, linked to- Lazarone slaver has riveted his last fetter; the

1849 AND 1850.

From the Spectator.

CLOSING in peace, as it opened in war, the year 1849 has witnessed events second in importance only to those of 1848; though it has not brought us to that European settlement which the tumult of last year seemed to necessitate.

shark at the bar mouth has fed on his last slave- | longer period, or had it been even in its presgang; and this land, heretofore, detested and sure; but pressed into a single season, it struck detestable, is henceforth to form a part of the free the imagination and stimulated exertion. The and independent republic of Liberia. In the fall two kinds of political agitation that are going of Gallinas and the annexation of its territory to on as we take our farewell of 1849 accord with the Liberian republic, we see the absolute extinc- the actual state of the people. Agricultural distion of the slave trade from Sierra Leone to the tress combines with the natural tendency to reCape Palmas. That the Liberian government is action in bringing about the movement for renewed competent to prevent its reëstablishment now, in " 'protection." In vain Earl Fitzwilliam argues the day of her strength and independence, fostered at Huntingdon that renewed protection is imposby powerful nations, we have a sufficient guaranty, sible; the farmers who find it difficult to pay by what she has done at Messurado, Bassa and rents out of current prices wish to believe Earl Trade Town in time of her infancy and weakness. Stanhope, and to think that prices may be made higher. They prefer that even to Mr. Disraeli's ingenious invention of an agricultural agitation for the juncture to obtain a diminution of the local burdens: Mr. Disraeli's notion is too much of a refinement for the agricultural mind; and so it remains a sort of literary project, to which the agricultural ear listens with a polite disguise of its inattention. Sir Robert Peel has just come forth with a letter to his tenants, backing up his policy by proposals for equitable adjustment of relations between landlord and tenant, on the basis of a lower level of prices-though not so low a level as the present, which is brought about not only by the removal of restrictions, but by the undue stimulus of high prices in the years of scarcity. To landlords he furnishes a sensible example in the fulfilment of duties towards wellconducted tenants; to tenants he conveys an intelligible hint on the manner in which farming at a profit may be reconciled with the altered commercial polity of the nation. The other of the two political agitations corresponds with the rising wages and quiescent politics of the working class, and with the ascendency of the middle class it is the movement for creating a new county freehold constituency, to be purchased out of the savings of the working class, and to be used for the objects of the middle class, especially that

If

At home, quiet has been unbroken, save by the growing cry of “ agricultural distress," and some winter indications of maddening wretchedness among the rural laborers: politically, the quiet amounts to dulness. In many respects the period bears the marks of a transition state-the suspense, the conflicting hopes, the doubts. Free trade has had its swing; the promised "prosperity" has not yet fully come, but it is still said to be coming; and several signs of it are tangible enough. In the factory districts all is bustle and activity; mills are constantly at work, stocks are low, wages are up, and speculation is looking forward to a harvest of affluence next year. California has not sent heavy cargoes to swell the immense store of bullion in the Bank of England, it may have helped to spare American demands upon that establishment; the insecurity of the European Continent has contributed to turn the golden stream to London; the depression and hesitation of the two years now closing have checked" financial reform" to some success in which Mr. investment, and aided to heap up the hoard; there Cobden's reputation has been so openly pledged. it lies, more gold than the moneyed wisdom of the That Cobden is an indefatigable man, witness his eity knows what to do withal; and speculation agitating speeches at Leeds and Bradford last week. fastens its greedy eyes upon the mass, seeking The two agitations have a marked and characterwhat it may devour. We might forget that there istic distinction. The Cobden movement essenwas such a thing as distress, were it not that tially belongs to the trading towns, is based upon the agricultural meetings, like that at Bland- material realities, accords with the tendency of ford, still repeat the complaint of farmers and the times, is calculated to force official attention to landowners; and that recent inquiries have laid its subject, and is by its nature likely to have bare the existence of a chronic poverty which some result which may pass for success. seems to lie beyond the reach of "prosperity." other agitation is a shadow of the past, belongs to In that respect the deadly epidemic of the year a declining or evanished influence, and can have has worked a permanent good, by forcing atten- no result. And so the year closes, not without tion to the state not only of our sanatory regu- anticipation of some dire portents; for a prophet lations but of our poor: hence the two social not yet extinct has foretold extraordinary tides in movements that especially distinguish the year the Straits between Great Britain and the Continow closing the broad inquiry into the con-nent; and the rationalizers of the day have predition of the poor, and the general effort at san-sumed some sanction for astrology in practical atory reform. The victims of pestilence have science, insomuch, it is said, that officials have fornot perished in vain an equal number might|tified the lowlying public offices against the exhave died from similar causes, without attracting | pected floods. But Sir William Hamilton, the attention, had the mortality been spread over a Astronomer-Royal at Dublin, has declared that

The

there is no scientific reason to expect a rising of | Lord Grey is the blister of colonies-he makes the waters; and so the portent of the day must be due to non-natural causes, unless it prove nonexistent.

them all rise, and detach themselves from the body of the empire; which is at the same time put into a state of hot water by the operation.

Europe is more tranquil-on the surface-than it was at the commencement of the year. In England and the United States of America are France, Prince Louis Napoleon has maintained at issue about the island of Tigre; and if the his seat as president, and has thus far successfully dispute is to go forward according to rule, those coquetted with events and parties. If he is a great countries must come to war. What is the puppet in the hands of others, he makes a profit island of Tigre to them?-Properly nothing. out of that function. Some things indicate that Who then brought about the quarrel?-Mr. Squier he is in that state the only view at all original and Mr. Chatfield. Who are they, that they which he has exhibited has been his inclination should have it in their power to embroil two towards an associative organization of labor; but mighty nations?-Mr. Chatfield is a very respeche seems free to indulge that disposition only in table person, consular representative of England trifling efforts. He is reported to have promised to the government of Nicaragua. Mr. Squier is the other day the abolition of passports; but pass-an American citizen, of more than American literports are not abolished. His indiscreet tongue re-ary tastes, a descendant of that Squier to whom ceives some private castigation and correction. Cromwell wrote the letters of which Mr. Carlyle However, he has made both ends meet, and France | published interesting fragments in a popular magis not more unsettled in December, 1849, than she azine: he has done his state good service, by very was in December, 1848, perhaps less so. Germany fruitful antiquarian aid to exploring expeditions; is not more settled-her federal condition still a and he has been repaid by his grateful country theory, Prussia and Austria still at loggerheads, with a sort of honorable exile to Nicaragua. Schleswig-Holstein still provisionally governed. Here, instead of devoting himself to the composiKing Frederick William seems just now to be tion of " Tristia," he magnanimously displays his stealing a march upon Austria in the most cun- diplomatic zeal; and we all know into what desning manner, by developing truly "constitutional" perate courses literary men may be hurried when government in his own territories; a policy which, they are called to action. They take history to be if carried out, must in the end compel Austria to the reflex of events, and, è converso, imagine that follow his lead. Italy has been reconquered, and events must exhibit the concentrated force of hisis still unsettled but here also Victor Emmanuel tory-that they must do a chapter in the time that is pursuing a similiar course; he opens his Par- it would take to write one. So Mr. Squier has liament under an escort of armed national been doing a Yankee-Cromwellian chapter on the guards, and delivers a royal speech in which Eng-shores of Central America.

lish commonplaces assume an aspect of startling The precise points and facts of the dispute are innovation, considering the geographical point: not yet explained beyond doubt; but it appears to Victor Emmanuel therefore seems to be raising up in Italy that power which is so peculiarly fitted to the age, and is so much stronger than despotism-constitutional monarchy. Hungary is reconquered, but sulky, and evidently unsubdued in spirit. Russia helped to conquer her, but has done nothing further to consolidate Austrian power; which remains where it was, unaugmented amid growing powers. The conflict of Despotism and Constitutionism has been extended to Turkey, not as an internal but as an external question: Russia is pressing unjustifiable demands for the betrayal or expulsion of refugees, and England is said to have committed a breach of treaty in her zeal on the other side, by invading the neutral waters of the Dardanelles. Through all these conflicts Russia keeps up a prudent reserve-by some ascribed to wisdom, by more to timidity, and by others with greater reason to an astute cunning bent on ulterior projects of aggrandizement.

be all along of the Panamà canal. Indeed, there is no reason why that unsubstantiated project should not serve for starting-point as well as any other. Manifestly, Mr. Squier is bitten with the Jeffersonian idea of blocking out European monarchism by a republican process of squatting. The patronage of the future canal is not yet filled up the European idea, shared by Mr. Abbott Lawrence, American minister at London, is to secure the neutrality of the canal by a great international act of comity: Mr. Squier wishes to establish a powerful local influence for his republic, and obtains the island of Tigre; the republic of Nicaragua playing into his hands, as the quid pro quo for his support against England's client the King of Mosquito. Mr. Chatfield raises claims for compensation to certain "British subjects," and seizes the ceded island by force of British arms. The two diplomatists fall to disputing who had hold of the island first, and call upon their respective governments to back them.

The British colonies are in that disaffected condition which the year has rendered so familiar: Will those august bodies do so? Personal and Sir Charles Grey still shilly-shallies in Jamaica; political grounds may conspire to procure support Lord Elgin still skulks in contumacious Canada; in Washington for the excellent antiquarian ; from the Cape, this last week of the year brings Lord Palmerston has earned the reputation of standus news how Sir Henry Smith still holds outing manfully by his subordinates. This foolish against the domestic blockade of the official larder. I squabble is one result of that secret diplomacy

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