The New York Herald Newspaper, November 13, 1859, Page 2

NEW YORK HERALD, SUNDAY NOVEMBER 13, 1860. THE CHEEVER AND SPURGEON CORRESPONDENCE, Ay to English Abolitionists for Pe- en Aid? in the Crusade Against the Devil and Southern Slaveh: ri Spicy, Elegant and Most Christian rey te estement smeng. the Reii- and Fashionable ircles Up win, dke., de. {From the British (London) Standard. Oct. 7, 1859.) . Cheever, as many of our are aware, is one of tho most able and solf-sacrideing friends of the slave in the Now World. It was scarcely possible for a minis- ter of the Gospel in the Empire City to pursue a course 80 strdightforward, and to make war with so strong a hand gre the slaveholder, without exposing himself ou every’ le to hostile influences. The wonder, therefore, is, not ‘that Dr. Cheever suffered so much, but that he has main- tained his 80 poteuniully. Tt stands to reason, however, that the first to take offence, and the most for: ‘ward to resent fidelity, are the opulent portion of a con- gregation, many of whom, in a variety of ways, may be moro or less identified with or related to the slaveocracy. ‘The following letter from his own eloquent pen, addressed to Rev. ©. H. Spurgeon, and by that gentleman handed to ‘us for publication, will speak for itself: ‘21 ease Forrmierat Sraeet, New YoRk, Sept, 1, 1959. My Drak Sin—On my return to the city I tnd letters from England, making inquiries with regard to Miss Johu- stone, a member of my church, now endeavoring to pro- ‘cure Some aid for us in the conilict in which we are en- ‘against slavery and the slave power in this coun- a ‘number of individuals have Deen suggested as imn- it to be addressed and put in possession of the facts A regard to the appeal; but as 1 am compelled immedi- ately to leayo the city again for a little season, and am ‘overwhelmed with engagements, it is quite impossible to meet these suggestions. I have’ therofore taken the lib- erty of sending you a copy in part of a letter written to a wn in England, in reply to inquirics on this sul Jetibis in order that, wlcther any material aid through ‘Miss Johnstone's effort on our behalf should have ‘Deen gained or not, it may be seen and known that her appeal is authentic, and that some of the unds may be made manifest on which such an ef- ‘t has become necessary. In answer to an individual making inquiries from Kogland, I have written as fol- Jows:—Your inquiries as tw Miss Johnstone's effort, and the necessity of it, are natural and just. We did not anticipate or intend the publicity given to her mission, if it can be so called, but supposed She would, in a quiet and private way, present our cause, she herscli’ possess- ing the greatest possible confidence of success. From the very urgency of the case and the greatness of our danger, being not only surrounded by enemies without, but beset by foes within, we could not ourselves take any churoh action concerning this appeal; but a few of us, convinced that we must have aid from some quarter or be conquer- ed, consented that Miss Johnstone should make what effort she could in G: Britain, and gave her our authen- lication. At the same time, very ellort from friends here ontsiie our own chureh blessing, met with such success that w Safely rough the fnaucial year, and entered on the ne- ceasary arrangements for another. By the entire dis- missa! of the disaffected party in our church, we stronger in the spirit and strength of harmony and unity, but much weakened in pecuniary ability, so that the same appeal for aid must be renewed, and eilicient aid must be given, in order that we inay be enabled to maintain this citadel of Christ's free Gospel amidst such continued and strenuous efforts for our defeat. I assure you that we do greatly need whatever aid we can get. If it please God to keep us, we shall be kept, and He will provide the way, whether through friends here or abroad. But the conilict is terrible, and the pressure of prejudice, fashion, wealth, power, anger, wrath and malice against us, with the weight of all the Christian conservatism of denouncing our course and slandering us as Robespierres and fanatics, render it next to impossible for us to increase in numbers or ability, for men will not join us, except it be here and there a true hearted abolitionist whom God sends. God has stirred up some suen, and brought them from other churches to ours, and this due thing sas been ‘our preservation, for without such aid we must have gone down. But at present no new friends come to our support, while yet the battle waxes hotter and more des- perate; and, what is exocedingly depressing and discour. aging, the moment we begin to be in arrears financially, the timid and half-hearted ones among ns, perhaps fear- ful lest the whole burden may fall upon thom, begin to declare that we must give up ail idea of sustaining our- selves; that it is useless to attempt doing this any longer: ‘that it is manifest that preaching against the sin ofslaver: is so horribly unpopular that if any man or pesete 4 undertake it thoy cannot be supperted, bat must fail; that we had better give up when we ean do #0 with Some dignity, and not be starved out. This cowar and the croakings that grow out of it, are most injurious to our cause. We can depend only on a very few. Mean- time there is greater need than ever of just such sermons against slavery as I have been preaching, only a thousand times more able and energetic; and to give up my pulpit now would be disastrous in the exteeme to the cause of Christian abolitionism. It would put an end to any free- dom of the pulpit and of God’s word against this gigantic sin; but our expenses are so heavy, in consequence of $1,500 ground rent, in addition to all the ordinary charges of a prominent church in the city, that we cannot our- selves mect them; and my course in proclaiming God's word 80 freely and fully against slavery and slaveholding as the sin of man stealing, set by God in the same cata- logue with murder, is so unpopular, arrays all the Chris. tian expediency of all the churches against us with so much bitterness, that it would be quite impossible to make any appeal for aid with any hope of success, even to the churches of our own denomination. ‘Too many of them heartily desire our downfall, and I suppose expect, year after year, tosee it. That we have been sustained ‘a8 wo have is wonder, and to maintain the miracle, if it Please God to maintain it, we must still have pecuniary aid. My church will keep united, and will rally round me imcfence of my preaching against slavery only while ‘the few who do not intend to relinquish the etruggie are enabled to provide the ways and means of meeting our deficiencies. While we can do that. we can with a to- lerable degree of confidence rely on a good majority in our favor, and can keep the church; but the moment we are swamped in money matters, that moment we are overthrown. While God gives me grace, health and strength, and continues the opportunity, I mean to re- iterate my efforts with the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. I am endeavoring to reach the con- science of the churches and the ministry in regard this sin, and to rouse up both to united action against it. If it please God that His Word shall once be freely and generally proclaimed against it, it cannot stand. If He add His Spirit, and really set His church on fire against the iniquity of making merchandise of mon, then we shall sce a greater moral und spiritual triumph than the world has ever witnessed since the first age of the Gospel. The mauifest abolition of this gigantic and infernal wickedness by the Word and Spirit of God, even ufter it had been enthroned as the supreme law and policy of our nation, the dictate of our justice, the fruit of our religion, would be so glorious a con- quest, s0 full of praise to God and of shame to wicked men and unbelievers and sooffers, that it isto be in- finitely desired and ceaselessly labored aft been tried in the conflict, but excluded from it, muzzled, Buflocated, buried m silence, or perverted into sanction of the sin, 80 that ita omnipotence is a power yet inre- | serve, we cannot but hope that God intends this mighty | and glorious demonstration, and that, when we are driven | more despairingly to Him, and it is perfectly roanitest that neither politics, nor statistics, nor theories of free soil, nor free labor, even the profit of freedom, nor any politi- | cal party, nor any demoustrations of science or philan- throphy, can save us, then ie will set souls on tire, | and let loose the thund i = of His word, as in the first great Reform: overwhelming majesty that nothing can poor hand to make a beg for such fire, and yet I am constrained into it, and cannot draw buck; and as there must be a beginuing n some quarter, or there can be no conflagration or anding | at all, it may as well begin in our church and my miois- ‘The Hon, Joderson Brick was much oxercised at tais ap peal, and apluttered about it a good deal,so as to draw upon himself the phials of Dr. Cheever's wrath. Over the signature of ‘One who authorized the appeal,’ the pastor of the Church of the Puritans thus poliahes off the hero of Solferiuo:— But it is not singular that Mr. Raymond should thus go out of his character a3 a conservative to ‘denounce’ Dr. Cheever. Does be not rup a fearful risk of incurring agi- tation, and involving the community in “turn and strife.”’ Everybody knows that, should Dr. Cheever be- come popular, no one would fawn about him and his friends eo servilely as the Hon, Henry J. Raymond. If every body shouted “Cheever,” Mr. Raymond would want to ‘reflect public sentiment,” and there would be a sorry’ mess of it, after what he has just said. The 2imes should take care. The time may come when Mr, Raymond will have occasion to apologise and explain and worm and sneak around, and he can hardly aifurd to invest further in that line, A Now we come to a dirty and ambiguous little fib, which reminds us heartily of the Hon. H. J. Raymond. Listen:— But there are other preachers who denounce savery quite as zealously, i not with ag much intemperance and malignant passion as Or. Cheever, who yet have com to Seud abroad for pecuniary support, nor would have stooped to that degrading alternative, even if they hud heen compelted to remove to some more congenial field of labor. And there is another, even more Raymondish than the above:— ‘The secession from Dr, Cheever's church, which occurred two years ago, was pot ihe consequence of his aati-slaver; Spintona pe tersnone, talf'ao mcahe bene acrid, maliguant, intolerant temper which be infuaes into his public effura, and which alienates the sympathies even of those who agree’ with him in sentiment, ‘These will be recognized [by every one at all familiar with the case, as a pair of whoppers—tery meaking and nasty for even Mr. Raymond himself to tell.” It is false to charge Dr. Cheever with acrid malignant and intolerant temper, as much sofas it would be to call the Hon. H. J. Raymond, noble, honest and true. What preacher in this country but Dr. Checver has lifted up the standard of God's Word aguinst the sin of slavery? Has the fpastor where Mr. Raymond has the honor to attend done so’ Can even one other be designated who has done so? But why shonid The Times spring to resent what it calls the “personal character of this appeal?’ Did Dr. Cheever personally implicate its editor and designate bim as a lead- ing tlunkey and doughface, as a ‘trimmer’ whom Halifax himself would have heartily despised, as a sneuk, @ “It- tle villain,” a ‘Jofferson Brick,” « parasite upon snobbish respectability, as one of the thousand and one vermin of the press who never approach God's truth except to bleed or defile itY Surely, what excuse has Mr. Raymond for ing what is false about Dr. Cheever, when Dr. Cheever never went so much into details as to say what is true about him’ ‘Then comes a rejoinder from another churchman, signing himself “A Congregationalist,”” in which the pastor and the Church of the Puritans are dressed up in this fashion:— Again, Task to express both the sorrow and mortifica- tion I feel that there is in any Christian church in this city & man so ignorant of what Appears to me the common proprieties of life, or else go utterly devoid of all sense of shame, as to write vauntingly that which only wants the oaths superadded to make it @ fit emanation of the “Pew- ter Mug” or “Cow Bay.” Is this the legitimate fruit of the instructions from the pulpit of the Church of the Puritans? Will its teacher sanction this manifesto of his eager disci- ple? [think I cannot be mistaken when I gay there mast De many men in that church, some of its office bearers at least (aS much as they may sympathize with their pastor in his course), who will not, cannot sanction this; who must be grieved and ashamed that one who sits with them at the tabie of our common Lord was capable of sinking so low. If not a proper case for discipline, it appears to me it cannot demand less than expostulation or remon- strace. Supposing the writer to arise in the next confer- ence meeting at the Church of the Puritans, aud in an ad- dress, say to Dr. Cheever, or any member of that church (uo matter what provocation he might have), in precisely the same language, what he says in this morning’s Tribune, would the Church remonstrate—would there be labor with ” How much more, when the pitiable expose is made where, instead oi thirty persons to isten to it, it is thrown before 100,000 eyes! i very well remember, inthe early days of the anti. slay excitement, that it gost something in New York to be an abolitionist. I remember that then (now some twenty-five years since) there were several ministers in this cxy who not only “lifted up the standard of God's word against the sin of slavery,’ but did so at the peril of their property and their lives. Their churches wero torn to pieces, the duors and windows of their dwellings were broken, and they hooted, pelted and mobbed through the streets, and there was thea hardly a press that sympathized with them; while nearly all denounced them, and almost juatitied the mobs in their attacks upon these fearless pobie men of God—men who certainly were the peers of the pastor of the Church of the Puritans in everything but denunciation and intolerance. It was my privilege to know these meu intimately; to witness the scones through which they passed, and to know the scorn to which they were subjected;and I count it among the chief honors of my life that I was permitted in my humble position to share the early odium which came al- most like a whirlwind on the anti-slavery men of New York. Aud where, I would ask, was the abolitionis! of this modern anti-slavery Goliah (the man that has dared to “lift up the dard of God's word against the sin of slavy ) when these men were “hunted like partridges,”” and where has it been for more than twenty years since they bore their testimony so faithfully in the face of the bludgeon and the fa; lt is to me both mortifying and amusing to see a mere in abolitionism assuming the airs, or, perhaps I si y., the credit of being the only proper ov faithful expourder oF Gots Word. Brive ton | to Speak after others have fought through long years, and “by ‘patient contin therein’ made it perfectly safe to say anything, it is well eoough for the writer in the Tritune to talk in this manner, but Dr. Cheever ought ‘© have known better uh. ‘er to have allowed the credit 10 be awarded to him, which some are so ready to accord, and which in the Spurgeon letter he so modestly appro- priates to himself. Tam more an anti-slavery man to-day than when twenty-five years since (perhaps imprudently) i 3ared the miserable contempt of men who hated my views and despised me; yet I believe that Dr. Cheever has ustly forfeited the sympathy he has so certainly lost, and made it as certain that he cannot be sustained except by the ephemeral help of aid from abroad. There are hun- dreds of men in the pulpits of all our denominations who have preached jast as plainly against slavery, and long before Dr. Cheever did. I believe that the course of Dr. Cheever and his church, and their being endorsed as they were by some other Con- gregational ministers, has inflicted a damage on the inte. rests of Congregationalism in this city that it will take long years to wipe out. ‘New York, Nov. 11, 1859. Sabbath Observances. [From a sermon preached recently in Philadelphia by Mr. Cathcart, pastor of the Second Baptist church.] If itis right to punish the desecration of the Lord's ay it must be scriptural to punish the breach of every divine command; and hence what a harvest of perseci- tions this principle will summon up and whiten. A harvest more extensive than the one over which Nero presided, or than any whose fires the Inquisition kindled. Jesus repeats no injunction more frequently than the one presented in these words, “Love your eno- mies; bless them that curse you; do good to them that hate and pray for them that despitefully use and perse- you.’ The Apostles catch his spirit, and repeat his comtuand in every variety of method. ‘Neither He nor they ever ay: “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy;”” and if it be right on Christ’s authority to punish abbath breaking, then it must be right to seize every vindictive man, and, instead of permitting him to go with- out a judicial frown, to compel him to visit the seats of Justice and the cells of continement. ‘Then, what shail we do with the Universalist, who repudiates pardon through try as anywhere else, if God pleases, And it is a solemn fact that almost nowhere the word of God proclaimed freely, fully, persistently, on the Sabbath | against this sin. A’ paragraph ’ is someti off, or a sermon on a fast day; and, if this is not f lowed by disturbance and wrath’ henceforward, score of that solitary demonstration, the ministe! Church profess to be sufliciently anti-slavery, and opposing any Church or minister that will go much fur ther; there is no purpose whatever for the abolition of th sin. Tndeed, the very men who boast of being anti slave are opposed to abolitionism and denounce the abo! So that really in some respects things are in aby astate as they can be, and in many quarters the most diabolical pro-slavery spirit is conjoined with the highest profession of piety and, orthodoxy. It is a perfectly won- derful thing that a real, thorough abolition orthodox unite in | Church, such as mine to a’good degree is, can have been | trained and supported so long in the heart of a cit as New York, s0 large a portion both of the ccc! eal and mercantile community being in league slaveholders for the protection of their sin time, we get no aid from visitors who eome to abroad, trom your own country or elsewh: they are always persuaded into a most polit! Jence, and having generally some object to plish, they desire to keep on the best terms with » and, on the whole, generally are persuaded into the impression that the abolitionists are a Snjudicious and fanatical set of men, and that the sin of slavery has more to be said in for si aif than abolitionists are “ wapnot think that so many good meet with in connection with this mistaken or wholly guilty in sanc' in some degree. Thus their iniluen power, not against it, and they thems after traveling South, lose their horrortof the crime, and begin to think there guilt inbering in it, but that the t guilt course of these radical men, who do uot ceas: thority of God, to proclaim ‘slavery and slave sin, and only gin, continually. 1 wish, with all my heart, ‘that I could come to England, but that is impossible just ‘now; I cannot leave my post, if God gives me strength aud ‘the possibility to continue in it. The people of Eogland have very little idea of the terrible extent to which the Ranction of slavery and opposition against all agitation ‘about it as asin have got possession of the churches, 50 ‘that the revivals of religion and the revival of the slave trade may go together without any quarrel. Or, if there be any outcry against the foreign slave trade, adhere’ is an ‘equally earnest outcry, and much more bitter, against all those who denounced the domestic slave trade and Amorican glavery. Of @ truth, we are in a dreadful state, and I do ot see any avoiding of the wrath of God, or ‘any escape from ruin except by His word and spirit—His word pro- claimed the reigning guilt, and His spirit in ac- wompanying the proclamation. Pardon this long letter; be assured that whatever aid you may be able to gain for ws, ie ee, Ost Kenna to Miss Jobnstone in p eatly needed, and will be inc asi received. Greatly and will be most tovhear that Frederick Dougiase is to | England this winter. He is aromarkabje man. [ h -of listening to an widress from him on the r annive of West India emancipation—a most cl and. por speech, that would have done Weber, had he been capable of its moral elev I about pablishing a new work on the Blayery’ and: the Crime'of Slavehoiding demonstrated by Old and New Testament Scripture, and such is the un- of'the subject that my publishers will not issue and Tam obliged to publish by subscription, on my ein the respousibility. ~ Withrthe higtiest resport,y Seat, Ty eee ORORGE D, deve - | ciple would revive th nt | the blood of Christ; the Unitarian, who rejects h the Roman Catholic, who wor sand the wood of the tre ; the ORS the whole of Christianity; and the ghs with scorn at the very thought Goo? living Surely ought to be ff the Sabbath breaker y secular law, these gigantic ng Jehovah's Gospel and — existence to have an appropriate doom meted out to them. Christians are to be turned into familiars of the In- | quisition, our courts of justice into inquisitorial tribunals, ities Into Golgothas filled with the slain bodies of the x ountry into one vast Aceldama, overflowing with the blood of impenitent men. If it is ut to punish Sabbath degceration by legai penaltic be right to dig up the bones of the Sage of Monti- cello and burn them with every mark of ignominy, as vere the bc liffs. Nay, it would be right to pe le h, should reach ey . ‘Thus thie prin. 1 of Romish perse- cution, rend into ribbons and shreds the glorious robe of freedom, and plant within the servants of the loving Jesus a thirst for suffering and the spirit of cruelty. Such a principle could never come from the author of my text, “If my kingdom were of this world, then would my ser- vaults ight." This principle would justify every idoia- trous government in punishing Christians for not con forming to its practices. Leta pious Philadelphian who has no faith in Good Friday determine to travel exten- seon he finds himself in the Eternal City, and riday he actsas he would on avy other Friday, sults the prejudices of the people, and is quickly dragred a Inagistrate, and told’ his o} and the (The preacher merely supposes the existence of such laws.) “J have committ»d no offence,” he replies; “Good Friday is no more to me than any other day.” says the magistrate, “your opinion of the day is of bo consequence. Our law prescribes a penalty for the offence you Lave committed, and we care not what you reference to the day.” “What an unjust law!”” ys our fellow citizen. “J do not believe in Good Friday, and yet Iam tobe flned for not keeping it!” ‘Have I not read.” says the magistrate, “of your Puritan Sabbath in “Yes,” responds our Philadelphian. «we have a Sabbath in old Pennsylvania, and one protected the law, too.” ve you any citizeas who do not believe in your Sabbath? ‘Yes,’ replies our friend, ‘the Seventh Day Baptists, Jews, and others."? “When one of those not believing in your Sabbath breaks the Sabbath law, do you punish him just the same ‘as if he thought it right to observe the Sabbath?” “Certainly,” answers our neighbor: “our law has nothing | to do with the convictions of men; he who breaks it must be punished.” Then,” says the magistrate, “you do { th rey thing there which you exclaiin against ag unjust here. You punish men for breaking a day which they do | not feel called upon to observe; pay your tine, sir, and be- | gone; your own practice justifies me in punishing yon.’? | Next day our Philadelphian meets a procession of priests | and monks, and men and women, carrying the “host.’? | mad as he sees it, the blood of his Protestant fathers leaps | to his temples; indignation against Romanism, cherishod | through several gonerations, and like some old liquor, maddening, grasps all his soul; he stands erect, his face is stern, his body is unyielding to the pressing crowd; he does not uncover his head or do the least obeisance to the passing god; he is soon noticed and quickly dragged before the same magistrate, and charged with biaspheming the body of Christ, and asked if he has any reason to offer why, in obedience to the law, he should not lie six months in prigon. “Reason,” responds our neighbor, “I don't believe in your wafer gods; it s iniquitous to’ punish a man for doing what he believes to be uo crime.” “Sir,” says the magistrate, “you told me that your law pa- nished Jews and Seventh Day Baptists, for breaking a Sabbath in which they ery | pt did not believe, and you broadly * intimated your approval of it, and, according to your own od on deserve to be punished. Officer, imprison this blasphemer for six months.” Our friend, atter qui ting Rome. visits the former cartel o fthe Fastern Cwsars, and on Friday, forgetful of Mohammedan Sabbuth obser: vances, he acts as if he were at his home in the Keystoue State, aud be is quickly constrained to visit the Cadi for breaking the Sabbath day. ‘This is not my Sabbath,” he loudly protests. **No matter,’ says the Cadi, ‘it 1 aud you have broken it; aud by the law you’ mu for the act.” “The outrage is insufforabie,” says our pious friend, “that I should be punished for deaeorating & day Tdo not feel called upon religiously to observe.’? “Ab,” says tho Cadi, “insufferable, 1 it? “Ihave learned from your countrymen im our arsonal that you keep the Sabbath by Jaw, and you punish men who do not be lieve in a Sabbath for desecrating it; is it so?” “You are correct,’’ responds our countryman, ‘“and | ap- prove of it.” And the Cadi becoming somewhat sai nant, addressing his police, says, “Away with this infidel, and give him twenty strokes with a stick for breaking the Sabbath, and nineteen for having the ingolence to suppose that in his country it was lawful to beat Sabbath-breakers who did not believe in the Sabbath, but that here, in the land of the Prophet, we dare not do it.” Thus’a man might be persecuted, according to this principle, in various countries, for not keeping every day in the weok asa Sabbath, and for not worshipping everything, however puerile, horrible or diabolical. Such a principle could not come from Him who said, “If my kingdom wore of this world, then would my servants fight.’” ADDITIONAL FROM EUROPE. Extension of the Municipal Limits of Paris. - THE WALLS OF THE OLD crty. [From the London Building News, Sept. 26.} : ‘The end of the present year is to see the limits of Paris again extended, and the capital of France considerably augmented both in area and population, The old octroi walls are to be levelled down, and all the districts lyin, between them and the line of fortifications are to be unite with tbe city under one pee government. At the present time, then, it will be interesting and apposite to glance backwards at the successive stages of the growth of Paris, and at the gradual extension given to its area, marked by the pulling down and rebuilding of its walls, which we are enabled to do by the opportune publica tion of a distinguished French archwologist—M. Leon Michel. Sauval called the Paris of 2,000 years ago a vesse! sunk in the Seine and stranded in astream. (The city arms, it may be remarked, are a ship.) At the period referred to the capital was confined to the Isle de la Cité, whereon stands Notre Dame, and its limits were the waters of the two eucireling arms of the Seine. What is appropriately gh called the city island does not represent the ancient area, since it was much smaller, being composed of three islands united into one. ‘The additions were the Tie des id ilot du Passeur-aux-Vaches, on bg he whereon stands the statue of Henri IV. ‘—nothing but a village of barbarians and a re! vages—was designated Loretorehezi, the dwelling amid the waters. Its inhabitants were boatmen, fisher?, and wanderers from other districts. Its means of com: munication with either bank was a clumsy bridge, com: posed of the trunks of trees, roughly formed into a kind of scaffold, easily destroyed’ by an’ inundation, or when an enemy attempted an invasion. When the Roman legions made their appearance to subdue those who re. fused to accept their yoke, they met with determined re- sistance. The inhabitants of Lutéce—a softer form of the original appellation—were asfloth then as they are to-day to receive a master. It is not probable that when they had acquired posses- sion of the island the Romans fortified it by a surround- ing wall. They may have deemed the watery one suff cient. Perhaps they erected wooden towers to command the bridges, but their existence is extremely probiemati cal, and rests on no incor testable authority, The existence of encircling walls to protect the city can only be ascer- tained with any degree of certainty towards the end of the fourth or beginning of the Ofth century, under the kings of the Merovingian dynasty. The charter of the foundation of the church of St. Vincent and Sainte Croix—actually Saint Germain des Prés—proves the existence of this forti- fication. Childebert declares in the document that he had undertaken to build a church in Paris, prope muros civi- taéés, and that he bestowed upon the fabric the mills situ- ated between the gate of the oity and the tower; cum mo- lendinis inter portam civitatis e turrim positis. In 615, Bertrand, Bishop of Mans, gave to the chureh of this town a house built by Eusebius, situated intra muros civitatis Parisiorum, whieh he bad received in gift from the King. After such evidenoe, the existence of enclosing and even fortified walls cau no longer be doubted. Moreover, a por- tion of the wall was brought to light just thirty years ago, and the style of its construction gives reason to believe that it was built by the vanquishers of tho Romans. ‘With the invasions of the Franks, Christianity was esta- blished in Gaul. During a period religious establish- ments favored the developemeni of the capital. The priests prayed for the grant of unoccupied lands within the city walls, and go obtained from the piety of the kings the foundation of several religious edifices. Saint Denis de la Charte was within the city, at the southern extremi- ty of the bridge of Notre Dame. In 856:it ransomed itself from pilage by the Northmen. Saint Catherine, which subsequently became Saint Symporien, stood beside Saint Denis de la Charte. The oratory of Saint Martial and ts dependencies occupied the site of the present streets de la Barrillerie, de la Calandrie, Aux Feéres, and de la Viville Draperie. It was given to Eligius or Eloi, goldsmith to Dagobert, who erected thereon a convent Yor 300 virgins. Saint Chris- tophe existed in the seventh century, and perhaps earlier. Soint Jean de la Rond occupied gthe present site of Notr Dame. The palace of the kings of the first race was built on the ground where now stands the Palais de Jus tice. The clergy, when there was no more land in the city to given away,cast their eyes upon the surroanding ‘Loorhood, and petitioned for granta of lands ou both ereon they erected churches that soon changed i sing rights, round which Pa- risians came glad escape from the over- peopled city. The Cwsar had previously built the Patace of the Thermes, outside {Lutece, “whose ad- mirable remains may be seen from the new Boulevart Sebastopol. The officers of the legions and the citizens of Rome, tarned colonists, had erected their dwellings on either bank, in the country, in the woods and nar the marshes. ‘The kings were compelled afterwards to buy back, and very dearly, the grants extorted from their piety. Thoabbeys and their dependent boroughs grew into fiefs, and subsequent. ly struggled vigorously against the powers of the crown and would not consent to incorporation with the city until after a most obstinate resistance. On the left bank the basi'ica of the Apostles Saint Peter and Saint Paul was founded in 508 by Clovis and Clotilda. It subsequently became the Abbey Sainte Génevieve. The basi of Saint Vincent and Saintt Croix, which became afterward the church and abbey of Saict Germain des Pres, was established by Childebert, 542, and iu 658 he endowed it with the flef of Iceac, or Issy, and all belonging to it. With respect to Saint Julian le Pauvre, it isso an- cient that the date of its origin is unknown; but it existed in the seventh century. A will of 700, by which Ermine- thrade,a lady of Paris, bequeathed a legacy to Saint Etinne des Gres of an enamelled gold ring, worth four fous, proves the existence of this church then, which afterwards became a collegiate one. ‘The date of the foundation of Saint Benoit and of Notre Dame des Champs are lost in the night of ages. On Mount Cetard, now cor- rupted into Mouffetard, where Saint Marcel, Bishop of Paris, was buried, rose under the last Merovingian or ear- lier Capiain Kings the church of Saint Mai were the ancient churches on the left bank, whi foundation for the future faubourgs. Germain and Saint Marcel. On the right bank were established fewer re! fices, and a greater number of secular structare 5 town began to be already formed. The churches were Saint Germain, founded ‘by Childeric, which, under the ‘second race, became St. Germain le Rond, because of its cireular for int Paul, an oratory, founded by Saiz Eloi, Saint Laurent, where yw Saint Lazare, an later became subjected to the powerful Abbey of Martin des Champs—a simple basilica, prior to t sion of the Northmen; and Saint Piet z At this ume the borough did not e: along the Seine f he nucleus of the to Under the incurred by living in the open city, aud The abbeye became defensively form The Jaity b their ‘lings under the lofty walls of ecclesiastical ready to seek shelter within them at the first alarm, and to defend them at t ault. It was thus the boroughs were forme interchange of ser- vices between clerks and laity wus soon transformed into dominion by t rst and servitude by the last. The ab- bots became lords, and the laity who sought their protec- tion vas The count, bishop and wdbots of Paris exer- authority in their respective fief, and n conceded tothem. They “court, officers and soldiers like the King, aud fevaality arose. The jans who bad not assembled their dwellings round the abbeys, the ingénus or free men who had fixed their abodes in front of Paris on the right bank, were nu- merous and required to be protected from invasions. They had the more want of this as they were mostly merchants. ‘They had ail the commercial wealth of the town in their hands from the trade on the ri y umentary se Wants were taken into con- of Louis le Gros, without the in- habitants of the r ¢ intothe » Whose walis, Strengthened under Eades, at of Paris, placed their lives, if not their riches, in securit- The second wall of Paris was built by Louis V1., surnamed the Fat, not only to protect the city ay invasions, but also to pro- tect the King against his vaseals, who had become morefor. midable than even the enemy. "The information reiative to this construction is very uncertain. The wooden tower at the end of the bridge on the north bank was replaced by astrong fortress, le Grand Chatelet,and the tower at the end of the bridge on the other bank b At this ny sideration unt! ay, and Saint La: longing to it’Saint Lentr: Opportune, Saint Merry, and numbers of houses which oc. cupied the spaces between the chur On the other bank, thanks to Pierre le Mango du Petit Pont, Michael de Corbeil, Jaime de Champeaux, and Abelard, prohended a constderable number’ of sci neighborhood gre Saree of the Therme with colleges and dwollings to ate the you different nations. The fortifications I aie to protect the town started on the left bank from noar cunt’ as be- ; hear the Grand Chatete lars, and the was covered te Saint Gerinain de l’Auxerois; the yall ed the ditches which surrounded the church eded by the Rue Betlizol to the Place du Chevalier Arrivod at the Rue Saint Denis, ft had an opening in front of the Grand . which ‘was called. the ri gate, after the hanger Gucher!, who by a strange reaction was himself called thence afterwards Guchor! de la Porte (of the gate). From this point the wall followed the church of SaintJacques, and hada gate on the rue Arcis or des Arcaties,to admit of communication with Saint Merry, whence it was designated the gate of Saint Mercy; under the reign of Charles V. its remains were visible’ After this the wall proceeded to the Place de ¢ d termi nated at the river side. The rising ground at Saint Ger- vais was not included in Paris; but later it was, with its dependent borough, which was overlooked by the tower of the Pet au Diable. The left bank remained for twenty years longer without defences other than those eup- plied by the abbeys. Doubtless the kings did not care wuch for the scholars being pillaged. They were poor, mostly beguars, and had nothing to lose. ‘They were valiant and gould defcud themselves, Many were clerks, and the abbeys were open tothem. How- ever, at the end of these twenty years, it was deter- mined to do something tor the bank. An enclosing wall was built, which leftthe Seine near the site of the Grands Augustins, reached the Rue Siint Andre dea Arts, where was the bar gate, 80 called because of the existence of a bar where the right to evter or toll was paid; crossod the Rue de la Herpe, or de la Harpe, at its intersection by the Rue Pierre Surrazin, proceeded by the Rue des Me- thurins, the Rue du Foin, where was a gate; followed the direction of the Rue des Noyers w the Place Maubert, where was another gate, and terminated at the Seine, in the Rue de Bieree, where was the Tournelle des Ber- nardins. Louis VIL, at the commencement of the 12th there were on the south bank, extra muros, the Abbey Saint Germain, and around it a bamlet al- ready of somo importance ; the Abbey of Saint Vic- tor and its hamlet, and the Church of Saint Marcel and its bamiet. On the other bank were the ham- let of Saimt Kioi, near the church of that name; the hamlet Teboust, near Saint Gervais; the Beau- bourg (hamiet), pear’ Saint Magloire; Bourg Abbé, be- tween Suint Martin and Beau-bourg, and the new hamlet Saint Germains, around Saint Germain de 1’ Auxeros. Further off were Saint Lazare, the Temple, Montmartre, Ville VEveque on one bank;’ the Maladrier and Hotel Vauvert on the other bank, and on all sides flelds and guste resolved to enclose a portion of the faubourgs with- in Paris, This measure was, at that period, more impor- tant than may appear at first glance. On the one hand, the King was anxious about the faubourgs, which had no defence against the atiacks of foreign nations or of the grcat vassals; on the other hand, he feared the faubourgs more important even than the city. Moreover, 80 far from bemg a source of revenue to Crown, they were dependent on loras who contributed nothing to the royal purse, and who Romenalis revolted against the authority of thelr liege, the King. ‘Trades were freely exercised, or rather the right of artisanship was bought from the pos- sessors of flefs instead of from the King, and produced a redoubtable competition to the advantage of the arti- sans of Paris. The lords of the hamlets had the right to execute justice of both kinds—haute and basse—and re- plenished their treasury from the produce of fines and contiscations. ‘The lieges lovied taxes of all sorts, and made no scruple to exact more and more from the poor. The King, by enclosing the faubourgs with bis good town of Paris, became thoir sole liege, and, while reducing taxes of all sorts, enriched the royal treasury. Moreover, the town was now perfectly organized, It possessed @ muni- cipality, a bourgeoisie and trades; and the King had begun to perceive that the bourgeoisie and trades were more cal- culated to serve the interests of the crown than a feudal clergy and nobility, which sought to attract to themselves authority, and disputed it with the sovereign. He dusired, therefore, to extend the municipal organizations which were £0 advantageous to the inhabitants and to royalty. Feeides, Philippe Auguste well understood that witho Taris he was no longer King. He was fearfal that by de priving him of, or devastating his capital, his foes should annihilate his Sovereign power. Whenoe he often said, “shall not believe myself to be truly King of France until the day that my capital is protected from all insult by good and golid walls.”” This monarch, who had united to the crown Normandy, Maine, Touraine, and Poitou, who paid attention to his capital by improving, embellish- ing, and fortifying, commenced the work which Louis XI. continued, and was the first Parisian King. The Kiag de- cided accordingly tbat the bourgeoisie of Paris should promptly build, at their expense, an encircling wall, which should take in the greaicr part of the faubourgs. The wall was to be thick, provided with turrets, and capable of resisting the most dariug assaults, Rigord says that it was raised in a short space of time; nevertheless it took fifteen years to build the "he nortbern wall, which was commenced the first. faubourgs of the town suffered less from the feudal tem than those of the university; they increased more pidly, and had a more pressing’ necessity to be incorpo- rated with the city. They were also the richest. The site of the wall is not at all dubious, aud Dulavre traced its course very exactly. In 1190 it was commenced, on the right bank of the Seine, proceeding from the spot where for a long time ‘stood a tower that was called Tour-qui-fait-le-Coin, and a little on this side of the Louvre of Philippe Auguste. ‘Throughout its entire length it passed through fields, ex- ceptat Bourg l’Abbé, which it separated intwo, The Gute Saint Honoré, fortified by two round towers, was opened in the wall, where the road passed leading to the Church of Saint Honoré, situatea at some distance outside, and to Ville VEveque, still further off. This entrance was also caked Blindman’s Gate, from its being near to the hospital of the Quinze ‘Vingtg which was first erected on the ground of Cham- pouria, ynd afterwards en the side of the Rue Rohan and the rue Richelieu. Thence the wall proceeded to the sites of the rue de Grenelle and rue d’Alcans, up to the square Bohargne or Bohemia, subsequently called Coqee!- ler, after the name of the financier, whose hotel stood there. Passing afterwards between the rue Jean Jacques Rousseau and the rue Dufour, it was provided with an opening, Montmarte or Saint Eustache gate. Next the wall followed the rue Manconseil, crossed by the rue de rue de Bourgoyne or rue Francaise, and opened for the gate Saint{Dennis or Painters’ gate. ‘Then it crossed in front of the site of the rue aux Ques, now corrupted into rue aux Ours, the Bourg l’Abbé, dependence of the Abbot of Saint Martin, and had there the gate of Nicholas Hui- deion. At the rue de Braque, or du Chamne, was the Braque gate, also called New gate, or New postern, and which was, perhaps, not opened until the reign of Philip ihe Fair. After this gate the wall continued in the direc- tion of the rue Parades, and by the rue des Blanc Man- teaux it came into the vicille rue du Temple, between the rue des Francs Bourgeois and the rue des Ro- siers. At the rue du Temple was Barbette gate or postern, so pamed by reason of being near the Hotel Barbette- By a slight curve the wall arrived at the site of the Market Saint Antoine, where was the Baudet or *Beaudeyer gate, which was the rendezvous of idlers and loungers in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. ‘The wall proceeded thence to the site of the Convent of Ave Maria, now changed into barracks, crossed the Rue des Barrez, where later was a gate called Saint Paul's false postern, and on the banks of the river was another gate, named Barbelle or Barbéel-sur-l’Yeau. In 1208 was commenced the wall on the south bank. In front of the Louvre, where now stands the Institute, was the Tower of Nesle, first called Turret of Philip Amelin. Later Nesle gate was opened close to it. From this tower the wall proceeded to the Rue Dauphine and the Rue Con- trescarpe. which owes its name to this fortification, and where was a gate, which took the name of Bucé, when the monks of Saint Germain des Prés, after having proprietors of the gates, in compensation for the loss of ground which the construction of the wall had caused them, sold the gate to the President of the Parliament, Bucé, in 1550. ‘The walls had another gate on the site of the Medical School called the gate of the Cordeles, or the Cordetiers, of the Minor Brethren, whose monastery was close by. Later it took the name of Saint Germain, which it kept. The wall next proceeded over the ground sccupied by the Clinical School up to the Place Saint Michel, then cailed Gibert or Gibard, and had an opening on the site of the fountain, called Gibert or Gibard gate; later Gate of Fert, Ostium Ferte, subsequently corrupted into Enter; ‘Porta inferni que: antiquitas volebat nominari de Ferto,”” says Jailot, in his “Recherches sur Paris.’’ Charles VI., in 1894. gave the name of his daughter, Michello, to the gate which has been trausmitted to the place which oczupies. its site. Afterwards the wall passed along the monastery of the Jacobins, serving to enclose it on the southwest Ithad an opening on the Rue Saint Jacques, called t Jacques’ Gate, called subsequently of Notre ie des Champs, because it conducted to the monastery of that name;’ then it passed close to house, church and gardens ef Sainte Genevieve, crossed the Rue Bordet, Bordel, or Borddle, where was a street of that name. It was also called the Gate of Saint Marcel, be- cause it led to the faubourg of that name. Crossing the field of Navarre, where now stands the Polyteclinic Scho 1, the wall extended to the Rue saint Victor, and was pierced with a gate that took the name of the abbey, and, follow- lowing the Rue des Fosses Saint Bernard, came to the Tournelle, where there was a gate. ra- The British Steam Navy. [From the Loudon Steam Shipping Chronicle, Oct. 26.) The royal navy now consists of more than 800 ships in comnuission, three-fourths of which are steamers. This lect, carrying between 5,000 and 6,000 guns, is manned by upwards of 60,000 men, nearly 50,000 of whom aro borne in steam vessels; and of those that remain, more than 6,060 are borne in stationary flag sbips and guard ships—siich as the Victory, Asia and Britannia, at Ports- mouth; the Impregnable and Wellington, at Plymouth, and the Fisgard, Queea Charlotte and Minotaur, at Wool- wich and Sheerness; the proper complements of all the sailing veee we exclide the Excellent and Cam. els—if bridge training ships for guonery exercise—do not, pro- bably, amount to 8,600 men, the remainder being ‘made up of supernuineraries, engaged in fitting out vessels, or waiting to be drafted into seagoing ships whenever they are ready to receive their complements. Even these sail- ing vessels have steam tenders attached to them, the crews of which are included in the 3,000 men just men- tione id the 1,500 men, or thereabouts, which are under training in the gunnery ships, are ovly there till they are qualified to enter seagoing ships as ‘seamen gun ners,” i. e., perfected man-o.-war’s men,” From these few figures it will be seen that the royal navy is, in its strength, to all intents and purposes, and withont any reservation whatever, a steamnayy. To substitute steamers for the sailing stationary ships, would be only a waste of strength; for, alongside these flagehips, which are not intended to leave their ports to encounter an enemy, we haye such powerful screw veasels as the Duke of Wellington, Royal George, Majestic and Colossus, currying a total of 400 guns, perfectly ready for sea in all respects. into which the supernumaries of the stationary ships have only to be drafted, and their comploments com pleted from the Coast Guard Reserve. to ennble them to proceed to sea, literally at a moment's notice, We have in like manner a perfect fleet of steam frigates, corvettes, sloops and gunboats in reserve—all standing—numbering about twetry-tive vessels; exclusive altogether of the second and third divisions of the steam reserve, num- bering about 100 veesels, aiso of the 60 gunboats hauled Jaslar, and omitting altogether yeasela which are ly converting or receiving their machinery on board. The Channel squadron is exclusively a steam fleet. It numbers 15 vesseis, with 1,000 guns and 10,000 men. ‘The 20 vessels in port last commissioned, and now pre- paring for sea, are all steamers, carrying nearly 760 gun, to be manned with 7,000 men. Of the Coast Guard ships, all are steamers save one—the Eagle, at Milford; and attached to these a3 tendors are 15 gunboats, and 4% of the old revenue cutters or cruisers; but in the cratsers, which carry no guns, and the Eagle, which carries but six, only 900 men are employed, while in the steam guardships and gunboats are borne, 3,800, with upwards of 600 vune: and all round the coast we have an auxiliary force already organized, of Coast Guard mep and volun teers, to complete the manning of tue steam force thus appropriated for our home defences. itis much the same abroad. In the Mediterranean we have 40 ships, carrying nearly 1,509 guns and upwards of 15,000 men, All thesé are steamers, except the receiving ship at Malta, which, like the stationary ships at home, israther a rendezvous for the others than a part of the fors king on board the drafts of men from England for other ships, and relieving them of their invalids on their way to hospital. Again, out of nearly 50 ships now or lately in the East Indies and China, with 400 gans and up- ds of 5,000 men, only 6 vessels carrying guns, and ox- cepting the receiving ship, are not steamers.” In tne West Indies it is the same: 2) ships, and only the flag ship and 3 vessels with guns without steam power, oat of a fleet representing 200 guns and upwards of 2,000 men, At the Cape station and west coast of Africa, of 26 ships, with more than 200 gnng and 3,000 meu, ouly % ships carrying guna are nearly equal, 2,000 men, are reported ag will doubticas be taken by steamers of a similar clase; 90 that only 4 sailing vessels and the store ships will remai: bearing altogether 700 mou and under 40 guns, in a fleet ot 20 vessels, with between 400 and 500 guns, and between 4,000 and 5,000 men. ‘The remainder of ber Majest sbips im commission consist of screw steamers for the conveyance of troops, such as the Himalaya, Simoom, Urgent, and Perseverance, and a few smaller vessels for the conveyance of stores, or employed in surveying at home und abroad, all of which also are steamers. The New British Naval Commender for China. {From the London Times.] Rear Admiral Lewis Tobias Jones, C. B., has been ap- pomted second in command on the East Iudia and China station, He entered the navy at an early age, and was en- gaged in the Walcheren expedition in 1809, He captured the American sloop-of-war Syren, He served in the Granicus at the memorable battle of Algiers, in which be was wounded in both knees. He became Licutenant in 1816, Commander in 1838, and as such commanded the Princess Charlotte at the bombardment of St. Jean d'Acre, and for his excellent services on that occasion he was re- warded with a post commission. He was appointed cap- tain of the Penelope, and personally commanded the boats of that sbip at the destruction of slave barracoons at the Gallinas, under Sir C. Hotham, in 1849. He was appointed to the Sampson in December, 1860, and commanded the expedition at the destruction of Lagos im 1851. In consi- deration of bis eminent services he was honorably men- tioned in the gazetted desputches. He commanded the same vessel at tho bombardment of Odessa, operations on ‘the coast of Circassia and at the attack on Sebastopol, for which services ho was repeatedly thanked by Admirals Dundas and the late Lord Lyons, and was likewise created a Companion of the Bath, an officer of the Legion of Honor and of the Medjidie of the third class. Ho obtained his flag rank in June, 1859. Sketch of the French Commander-in- Chiefs, Geveral Wimpiten, who is spoken of for the command of the French expedition to China, and who is at present in command of a division of the Army of Lyons, is the son of a German who came to France in 1789, and got himself naturalized a Frenchman. His family has several branches in Austria aud Bavaria, and a member of it, a General in the Austrian army, commanded a 3 @armiée in the late Italian war. At the beginning of tho hostilities the austrian General and the Freuch one, who are cousins, sent each other their portraits in photogra- phy, and promised, in the event of meeting in the field of battle, not to attack each other. They did not meet, but might have done so, inasmuch as the Austrian General commanded at Venice. and the French officer was in command of the troops which were destined to disembark there. Progress of the Electric Telograph. {From the London Steam Shipping Chronicle, Ost. ‘An estimate made of the cost of laying down an clectrie telegraph between Cape Town and Grabam’s Town, via Swellendam, George Town and Fort Elizabeth, Cape of Good Hope, was laid before the Legislative Council. It states that assuming the total distance to be seven hun- dred and twenty miles, and that ten stations would pro- bably be required, the cost in round numbers would not exceed £30,000, : Another ‘offer has been made to construct a two wire telegraph between Cape Town and Grabam’s Town for £40 per mile, and to Keep it in repair for £1 per mile per annum, the contractor to be allowed to cut posts free of charge in the government forests, and to make use of tho road-boards’ laborers when near any of its stations. A letter from the British Colonial Minister at the Hague to the Governor of the Straits Settlements, announces the despateh of telegraph cable to unite Batavia with Singa- pore. He trusts that it will soon be completed between Singapore and Rangoon, and be continued from Java to ‘Australia. The Australian colonies, with their wealth and public spirit, are likely to accomplish the latter long be- fore Calcutta’ is in communication with Singapore. ‘They are plauning to lay their cable to Ceylon via the Cocos Islands. Captain Pullen, of the Cyclops, has fixed on Hailania, one of the Kooria Mooria islands, as a station for the Red Sea telegraph. The island has two good wells and a safe harbor. The electgic cable will probably be taken direct from Haliania to Kurrachee, being buoyed at Ras-el-Had. Recent successiul experiments have been made at the factory & Messrs. Siver & Co. ,at Silvertown, on the North Woolwich line, in insulating telegraphic wire by covering it with India rubber. ‘The difliculty of bringing India rubber into a sufliciently plastic state to act as a homoge- neous covering to the wire has been overcome, so that even in bolling water the insulation of the wire was per: fect. This is of importance for telegraphic wires in shal- low tropical waters, but the gutta percha coated wire in the Red Sea, from the depth at which it is laid, is tkely to retain its perfect insulatior ‘The rate of charges for the transmission of messages by the Victoria (Australia) telegraphs has been fixed at the foliowing rates, and sanctioued by the government:— Ten Each add. Words. Word. - Is. 1d. 2s. 2d. Under ten miles. Ten to fifty miles. Over tifty’ . 88, 3d. The length of the telegraph line from Boston to Trinity Bay is about 1,600 miles—nearly the length of the Atlan- tic cable. Inthe course of the route there are two sub- marine wires, both of which, however, have always worked admirably. ‘The telegraphic submarine cable from St. Bees, near Whitehaven, to Point of Ayr, near Ransey, Isle of ‘Man, was laid successfuily by the Liverpool steam tug Resolute in about six hours on the 2tth ult. ‘The end-of the Malta cable has been landed at Marsala; eonsequently the communication between London and Malta is complete via Sicily. The duplicate line, via Sici. ly to Malta, has been just despatched in the steamer Ber- wick, and will be laid by Messrs. Glass, Elliot & Co., tor the Mediterranean Extension Telegraph Company. Messrs. Newall & Co.’s steamer Elba, with Mr. Liddell on board, bas arrived at Constantinople, after having suc- cessfully laid the submarine cable which establishes tele- graphic ‘communication between the capital and Smyrna. ie staf for working this line, which will transmit des- patches either in Turkish or in’French, have already left for their posts, with the exception of the French superin- tendent, and the line will very shortly be opened to the ublic. i Complete telegraphic communication between Aden and London ought, by this time, to havo been established. Messrs. Newall and Co.’s steamer Elba reached Syra about the 11th May, to commence laying the submarine cable between Crete and Aiexandria, piloted and escorted by a Turkish vessel. Constantinople will also be in direct communication with Aden by means of branch lines be- tween Crete, Chio and the Dardanelles, and between Chio, Spra and Cape Hellas, The first consignment of telegraphic wire to connect Bagdad with Constantinople recently arrived at Mosul. e telegraph line from Colombo to Galle, Ceylon, 72 miles long, has cost £3.000, or £42 a mile, a very low average. ‘The 72 miles from Colombo to’ Kandy have been finished at about the same price, but it is su) that the section from Kandy to Manaar, the point of junc- tion with the Indian lines, will prove more expensive. The New South Wales government have advertised for tenders for contracts for supplying the wire, insulators, &c., for the erection of a second telegi ic wire from Sydney to Albury, the work to be completed within three months from the notification of acceptance of the tender. ‘The Launceston (New Zealand) Examiner says:—Tho posts aud wire are placed on the Hummock’s and Hun- ter’s Islands, and at Circular Head, ready for connection with the submarine wire daily expected from England. Jn a few months we shall thus be en rapport with the three colonies on the continental island. Supplement to the Fourth Annual Re- Ee of the Insurance Commissioners of Massachusetts. To tne Honoranse Tux § SENTATIVES:— Tn the report in relation to insurance companies, which we bad the honor to lay before you previous to your ad- journmert, it was stated that the International Life As- surance Society of London had made the othor returns required by chapter 252 of the Acts of 1856, but had not furnished the data requisite for the valuation of their policies, as required by section 10 of said chapter, and by chapter 177 of the Acts of 1858, and that in consequence of this the operation of its agents had been suspended till such time as it should fully comply with the law. On the 26th of May its general agent filed in this office a duly attested statement ef the data of all its policies outstand- ing on tbe firstof November last. We have carefully computed the indebtedness, or matured liability of the society on each policy, at that date, according to the “ combined experience,” or Actuaries’ Rate of Mortality, assuming interest at four per cent per annum. Changing ‘ND THE Hoveg or Rerre sterling into federal moncy. at $4 84 to the pound, the results of our valuation are as follows:— ASSURANCES, Spe: Nanmber. Amount Net value. Whole if 4,288 $1,405,090 76 rm. : 1,813 04 Endowment assurance, 2,749 02 Children’s endowment. 2)344 30 Surgivorship 1,389 08 Total... Ceties 4,453 $10,334,315 $1,418,336 20 Immediate $30,174 $209,941 93 Deferred. 13,908 59,927 86 Totals....... 4 ou $44,082 $260,860 82 Grand totai.:: 80 10,378,397 1,683,256 02 That the f the principal claims against the society may ance, we classify the whole life policics according to the years, each ending Novem- ber 1, in which they were issued, giving the amounts and values of each class, as follo-vs-— Noat ¢ NetValue. $4,133 69 76,875 63 96,119 88 63,933 60 51,160 05 31,710 51 17,352 80 14,114 26 $0,975,431 $1,405,000 76 By reference to the report, page 198, it will be seen that the total sum of the assets on the Ist November, 1358, $871,617 00 —_ Py * Atthe annnal meoting of the shareholders in Lond a 11, 1859, the total nesets, on the 80th November, Tae ty slated to have been $62 545, If this is to be taken’ ag the cor reet amount, Instead of that in the return to thig odige, tt quakes tho coudition of the compauy beter by $90,023, Sa REEEERSeeemeeeeeeeee or last return of that sten, a ‘August 31, Rela + 8255,382 And other debts and lowses due.. 6,602 93 963,086 45 We have the net assets... 007,09) 67 rancous indebtedness on the policies and annuities, as found above, we have the matured Net assets........ Balance against the society. ‘The sum of $1,683,256, be it understood, minimum which the goeivty ought to have "had wed hand on the Ist of November, 1858, as the accu- mulation from premiums received, beyond losses, ae- nuities, dividends. and oxpenses paid out. The future probable premiums, discounted at four per cent, with = proper allowance for future expenses and contingencies, will be insuflicient to meet all the payments near aud far, ou tho various contracts, by the sum of $1,083,256 and its interest at 4 per cent por annum till it is exhausted. An insurance company which ixeues whole life p either at single or equal annual premiums, is in facta aa. vings bank, which takes money iu trust for a certain pur- pose and to bedrawn out at certien times contingent im taithtul detail, but calculable as to the average. It is not tothat trust if it does not reserve from division or appro- priation as profits, at least the net value of its Policies, calculated at the minimum of interest on its investmonts. ‘This is the imperative law of life insurance, demonstrated by theory and contirmed by experience, and no can violate it and cscapo ultimate bankruptey, unless it be by some course of successful gambling and trickery. Any company, situated like the one under which has let a million of dollars too much leak its sieve, must cither seasopably replace the funds, or ite licy holders must be defrauded by it to that amoung. They may be frightened into forfeiting their polictes as once, and in that case their loss is immediate and certain. Or they may go on putting more money into the sieve, and in thas case their loss will be more remote and greag- or. If policies should be at once forfeited, having the ~ gate net value of about eleven hundred thougand 18, this society would be placed by that good luck in a sound condition, with business to a very respectable amount left. Wisdom enough to render this possible ia contained in its policies as in most life insurance contracts. ‘They are usually bets in regard to the punctuality of the periodical premiums, iu which the party insured stakes the value of his policy, whatever it may become, om his paying each instalment promplly, and the company, ‘on its part, stakes nothing. If the policy holders become doubtlul of the ultimate solvency of the company, they will be strongly inclined to forfeit their stakes, and through Us ingenious species of gambling @ life insurance company may absolutely enrich itself by the badness of its credit. We would be far from saying that the gentlemen who have the direction of the Interma- tional Life Assurance Socicty, either in this country or im England, have any such intention, ‘The manner in which the data of their policies were finally placed before ws de- monstrates that the ultimate authority at the parent office, in London, is honest enough to face a rigid investigation: They have probably been misled by the way in which their executive oflicers have misrepresented their affairs. From what we know of the characier and meana of some of them, we are not without the hope thatthe shareholders will, on learning the true state of the case, cither repair the accumulation or do justice to each policy holder by equitable surrender or reinsurance. in this hope we would strongly advise policy holders, especially those whose policies have attained considerable value, (by com sulting the Life Insurance Registry in this office, the vatue of avy policy issued prior to November last may'be found, if its distinctive number be known,) not toallow them to be forfeited by the non-payment of preminm till it is knowm that the responsibility of the shareholders will not make good the deficiency of the fund. Those who have heretofore. paid a part of their premium in notes will have the advan- tage in case of forfeiture, because premium notes in the hands of such a company will not be easily collectable. For the same reason, any one having occasion to pay pre- mium had better give his note for as large a part of it as he can, till the society’s assets are made to bear the pre- per ratio to the aggregate value of the policies. It is not, perhaps, within our province, if we had the means of doing it, to account for the disappearance of more than a million of dollars from the treasury of this institution, beyond what has been legitimately withdrawn by mortality or absorbed by necessary expenses. Yet it may be proper to see how far documents on file in this office go to coroborate or debilitate the conclusion we have arrived at above. ‘This company was chartered by act of Parliament, im 1837, us the “National Loan Fund Life Aseurauce Socie- ty,” with a guarantee capital stock of £500,000 in 50,000 shares of £10 each. Nearly all the capital seems to bave been subscribed at the start, but only about £50,000 appears ever to have been paid in. By another act of Parliament, which received the royal assent July 2, 1855, the name was changed to ‘ The International Life Assurance Soci ”’ and this act has been deposited in this office as its charter. This act of Parliament makes each and every stockholder, past and present, liable to the last farthing of his property for every claita against the company, oxcept such as may have’ been inourred since he ceased to be the proprietor of any stock. A claim is made recoverable by suit against any one who was proprietor of guarantee stock at the time the policy” was issued, and, if recovered, the defendant must look to the society to be reimbursed. What could be more ominous of a high per centage of expense than such an array of professional regres a say nothing of the financial genius included in the destined as it was to a remarkable development before our day? The deed still further indicates a high style of expensiveness by actually settling on Thomas Lamie Mur- ray, his heirs, abd assigus for twenty-eight years and for his natural life if he should live longer than that term, as a perquisite over and aboveany salary or compensation he might receive as chairman or director, five per cent per an- num of the “net profits.”? This was in addition to Lng i share on all the shares of capital stock subscribed ° which was also settled upon him in consideration of his services and ‘the preliminary expenses” attending the formation of the society, (“except the expenses ol, and attending the preparation of, this deed of settlement’? which must have been something handsome, or so pon- derous a document would not have deemed them worth excepting.) The deed moreover provides that during the pendency of Mr. Murray’s claim to five per cent of the “net profits,” be could not (if ative, we suppose), be ex- truded from his seat in the “Court of Directors,’’ even a vote of the society—that is, of the stockholders ap- pointing another director in his place. How much Mr. Murray's salary as Chairman of the Court of Directors was, does not appear from any document in our posses- sion; but at the annual mecting of the society in May, 1861, he said, in reply to the question of a shareholder, “that although by the deed the directors were all $7,500 for their expenses, they had seldom drawn more than $6,000 or $7,000, and that included his own salary as chairman. The new directors would only be allowed the usual fee of one guinea whenever they might be present at the board; and as for travelling expenses, the society would not pay those expenses except they bad been Specially summoned to town on business of the society. No doubt, however, the number of policies which they would be the means of effecting would compensate ten times over for any increase u the expenses which their fees would create, (hear, hear,) &c.’” is was gaid on the occasion of elecung five additional directors and an additional auditor, and appears to have settled the objec- tions on the score of the expense of such an increase of the official staff. The object of adding directors out of town wag, “¢ to exercice a local influence,” and it is plaine that’ the chairman would and always did get the lion's share of the $6,000 or . By the thirteenth annuat report of the society we learn that the debt contracted in its formation, which the society was congratulated on just then having “eliminated,” and which we suppose’ in- cluded what was to be paid to Mr. Murray, on thie 6s, per share arrangement, amounted to £21,000 or $101,640. In addition to this, it may be remarked, that the annual reports of late years constantly con- gratulate the society on the diminution of the ex- penses for “the presont year.” It appears, therefore, that the annual expenses have been continually decreas: ing, till in 1858 they amounted to only $87,011 06, or 20.7 por cent of the revenue feom premiums and inte- rest exclusive of that on guarantee stock. This is per- haps sufficient to indicate the style of expensiveness which must bave becn maintained from the first, and especially during the chairmanship of ‘Thomas amie Murray. That gentleman, though so firmly and pro- fitably settled on the society, appears to have resigned his place as chairman voluntarily in 1862, assigning as hig reason the exigencies of his health, and boasting magni- ficently of the success of his unremitting labors “for the last fifteen years,” as ‘founder of the society.”’ Cotem- porancously with this letter of resignation, was published the report of an investigating committee of three share- holders, which, after laying on a general and liberal coat of whitewash, closes significantly as follows:— We are imperiously called upon fn all fidelity to admit that considerable defect has evidently hitherto existed in the want of proper discipline and regularity of system in carrying for- Ward the extensive and important operations of the society. We cannot close our report without referring with infinite ga- tisfaction to the beautiful and admirably systematic manner in which the large and important American branct that of Scotland, hag been conducted and carried ly, we heartily congratulate you in common with’ ourselves ES the clear course of incréased success now open to the so- iety,and the hoppy, results which caunot but follow the re- ‘alterations that have taken vier, ‘We are, gentlemen, D, cent gs your faithful servants, . W. HILLARY, L. M. GODDAR 2% Connutts, June 32, 1852. CHARLES BENNETT. ‘This Committee of Investigation does not seem to have directed its attention at all to ascertain the liabilities of the society, but only to find whether the report of tha di- rectors was correct as to the amount and security of the assets; and itreported that the said report was correct, “with the exception of some comparatively (as to the whole) immaterial assets. For the liabilities of the society on its policies, the directors and shareholders appear to have relied always, with undoubting confidence, on the ra. ports of their Actuary. These were mado annually, asap- Pears, till 1854, at ‘which time it was decided to have them only once in five years, probably to save the great expense of preparing one évery year, for we notice in that of 1851, the Actuary says he had “been engaged upon the same for the last four months.” From the three specimens, viz: those of 1851, °52 and 53. on file in this office, we are ourselves of opinion that nothing could be lost or endangered by their infrequency. They are welt worthy of careful study, but being substantially alike im construction, principle and result, we may learn ail from one. A candid consideration of the documents on file in this office, and of others which have been oilered and rejected as uvsatisfactory, compel us to conclude that there are rties counected with the parent office in London, who ave endeavored to deceive the people of Massachusetts, and have succeeded in deceiving a large body of respect: able shareholders in England, making them believe that the society had been earning large profits while it has really been squandering sacred funds, and that receiving handsome dividends out of the premiums for the use of a Guarantee capital which should long since have become neediess, is a perfectly legitimate business, We well know that the gentlemen who have acted as the * Local Board of Directors” in New York, of “ American Branch’ — where $100,000 of the assets are invested—are many of them of the highest respectability and of such responsibility that they could probably make up the detic of the society's funds themselves and still remain rich. We cannot but hope when they become aware of tho real state of the case they will at least use their powerful infla- ence to protect from loss and relieve from all * the hundreds of persons among us who have taken policies from this society on the strength of such names, rather than from any conviction of their own of its merits. ‘The General Agentof the Taternational Assurance K. of London, haying agw Cully complied with our: