the waters of the Gulf of California is not more than five or six hundred miles; let that distance be overcome by a railroad, and what a vista is opened to the prosperity and power of our country. I have no doubt that the time will come when New Orleans will be the greatest city in the world. That period would be incalculably hastened by the measures which I have indicated, which would throw into her lap the vast commerce of China and of India. Great Britain, with that wise and far-power, than to have any connection or depenseeing policy for which she is more remarkable than any other government, has already the practical possession of most of the ports of the Pacific ocean-New Zealand and the Sandwich Islands, and very soon the Society Islands also. We have a commerce in that ocean of more than fifty millions of dollars, and not a single place of refuge for our ships. towards the English is unfriendly. They have a well-grounded jealousy of the great and increasing power which their large capital gives them; and, if the feelings of the Mexican people were consulted, or the opinions of their most enlightened men, England is the very last power to which the Mexicans would transfer California, or any other portion of their territory. I am quite sure that they would prefer that it should be an independent dence of any sort upon England. The most valuable of the Mexican mines are owned and worked by English companies, and at least twothirds of the specie which is exported goes into the hands of the English. The British government keeps two officers, or agents, in Mexico, with high salaries, to attend to this interest alone. It is with the money thus derived that the English establishments on this continent and in the West Indies are supported. I will not say what is our policy in regard to California. Perhaps it is that it remain in the hands of a weak power like Mexico, and that all the maritime powers may have the advantage of its ports. But one thing I will say, that it will be worth a war of twenty years to prevent England acquiring it, which I have the best reasons for believing she desires to do, and just as good reasons for believing that she will not do if it cost a war with this country. It is, perhaps, too remote from us to become a member of the Union. It is yet doubtful whether the increase of our territory will have a federal or a centralizing tendency. If the latter, we have too much territory; and I am by no means sure that another sister republic there, with the same language, liberty and laws, will not, upon the whole, be the best for us. If united in one government, the extremities may be so remote as not to receive a proper heat from the centre-so, at least, thought Mr. Jefferson, who was inspired on political questions if mortal man ever was. I am not one of those who have a rabid craving for more territory; on the contrary, I believe that we have enough. I know of no great people who have not been crowded into a small space-the Egyptians, the Romans, the Greeks, and another people who have exercised a greater influence upon man and his destiny than all others, the Jews; and, in our time, the English. I want no more territory, for we have already too much. If I were to make an exception to this remark, it would be to acquire California. But I should grieve to see that country pass into the hands of England, orturing, and all other industrial pursuits. any other of the great powers. The amount of the specie annually obtained from Mexico is more than half as great as that which is kept at one time in the Bank of England. The stoppage of this supply would very much derange the whole monetary system of England; on this account, it is to be apprehended that in the event of a war between the United States and Mexico, that England would very soon be involved in it. If the coast of Mexico should be blockaded, England will demand that the line of steam-packets to Vera Cruz should be exempted from its operations. These packets, although commercial vessels, possess a sort of quasi government character. This, of course, our government could not concede; and the interruption of the regular supply of the precious metals from Mexico would be most disastrously felt in England. Knowing all this, I was well satisfied that all that we have heard about England stimulating Mexico to declare war against this country was ridiculously absurd. Such a war would injure England more than either of the belligerents. All her interests are opposed to it, unless, indeed, she intended to participate in that war. I have the best reasons for saying, that there is no other power in the world with which England would not prefer to engage in a war; not that she fears us, for England fears no nation, nor combination of nations, as all her history proves; but such a war would be, more than any other, disastrous to her commercial, manufac England has no single motive of a war with us. Whenever the foreigners in California make the It is not of this country that she is jealous, but of movement of separation, it must succeed. The the northern despotisms of Europe, and mainly of department of Sonora, not half the distance from Russia, and has been so since the seizure of the Mexico, has been in a state of revolt for the last fortress of Aczaco, in 1788. And well may Engfour years, and the government has been unable to land and all Europe tremble under the shadow of suppress it. The civil war there has been marked that terrible military despotism now holding one. by acts of horrible atrocity, which are almost with-eighth of the territory of the globe, and continually out precedent in any country. It is true that they do not eat the flesh of their enemies, but they leave them hanging on the trees to feast the birds of prey. There is scarcely a road in the whole department where such spectacles are not daily exhibited. extending its limits and its power. All the wars of the present century which have weakened other European powers have resulted in the aggrandizement of Russia. The government is not only a despotism, but essentially a military despotism. The studies in which her people are educated are There is a great mistake, I think, in the opinion principally those of war and diplomacy. Russia which is general in this country of the great and the United States are antipodes and antagoascendency of English influence in Mexico. It is nists. The wise and far seeing statesmen of true that Mr. Pakenham had much influence there, England see this and calculate as well they may, which his great worth and frank and honorable upon our sympathy, in a conflict with Russia. I character will give him anywhere; but my opinion repeat, England wants no war with us, although is, that the general feeling of the Mexicans we may force her into one. "That old and haughty nation proud in arms" will never submit to injustice or insult. But to return from this perhaps uncalled-for digression to the jealousy of England which is felt in Mexico. A leading member of the Mexican cabinet once said to me that he believed that the tendency of things was towards the annexation of Texas to the United States, and that he greatly preferred that result either to the separate independence of Texas or any connection or dependence of Texas upon England; that if Texas was an independent power, other departments of Mexico would unite with it either voluntarily or by conquest, and that if there was any connection between Texas and England, that English manufactures and merchandise would be smuggled into Mexico through Texas to the utter ruin of the Mexican manufactures and revenue. all Mexicans towards us, until the revolution in Texas, was one of unmixed admiration; and it is our high position amongst the nations, and makes our mission all the more responsible, that every people, struggling to be free, regard us with the same feelings-we are indeed the "looking-glass in which they dress themselves." As a philanthropist, I have deeply deplored the effects of the annexation of Texas upon the feelings of the people of all classes in Mexico, towards this country, as diminishing their devotion to republican institutions; this should not be so, but it will be. Ours is regarded as the great exemplar Republic in Mexico, as everywhere else, and the act which they regard as such an outrage, must have the prejudicial effect which I have indicated-still more will that effect be to be deprecated, if it should throw Mexico into the arms of any great European power. In one of my last interviews with Santa Anna I mentioned this conversation. He said with great | The northern departments of Mexico contain all vehemence, that he "would war forever for the the mines, and more of the wealth of the country reconquest of Texas, and that if he died in his than any others; and they all hang very loosely senses his last words should be an exhortation to to the confederacy-they receive no earthly benehis countrymen never to abandon the effort to re-fit from the central government, which in truth conquer the country;" and added, "You, sir, they only know in its exactions. All the money know very well that to sign a treaty for the alienation of Texas would be the same thing as signing the death-warrant of Mexico," and went on to say that "by the same process we would take one after the other of the Mexican provinces until we had them all." I could not, in sincerity, say that I thought otherwise; but I do not know that the annexation of Texas will hasten that event. That our language and laws are destined to pervade this continent, I regard as more certain than any other event which is in the future. Our race has never yet put its foot upon a soil which it has not only kept but has advanced. I mean not our English ancestors only, but that good Teuton race from which we have both descended. collected from them is expended in the city and elsewhere, and they have not even the satisfaction of knowing that it is beneficially or even honestly used. The security which would be given to property, as well as its great enhancement in value, would be powerful inducements with all the owners of large estates which are now comparatively valueless. The only obstacle that I know of to such a consummation, infinitely desirable in my judgment, to the people of those departments, less so to us, would be in the influence of the priesthood. They are well aware that such a measure might very soon be fatal, not only to their own supremacy, but that of the Catholic religion also-but they would have on the other hand a powerful motive in the security which it would give them to their large church property-no motive but interest would have any influence with the people of Mexico, for they certainly do not like us. Their feelings towards us may he summed up in two words, jealousy and admiration There seems to be a wonderful adaptation of the English people to the purpose of colonization. The English colony of convicts at New South Wales is a more prosperous community than any colony of any other country. That the Indian race of Mexico must recede before us, is quite as certain as that that is the destiny of our Indians, they are not going to declare war against us, I who in a military point of view, if in no other, are have never doubted for a moment about that. superior to them. I do not know what feelings Public opinion in Mexico, to all practical purposes, towards us in Mexico may have been produced by means the opinion of the army, and the very last recent events, but whatever they may be, they thing in the world which the army desires, is such will not last long; and I believe that the time is a war-nor do I believe that one Mexican in a not at all distant, when all the northern depart-thousand does, however they may vaunt and blusments of Mexico, within a hundred miles of the ter-just as a frightened school-boy whistles as he city, will gladly take refuge under our more stable passes a grave-yard in the night. I have just as institutions from the constant succession of civil little idea they will negotiate now, or until matwars to which that country seems to be destined. ters are adjusted between England and this counThe feeling is becoming a pretty general one try. I doubt whether they will do so even then, amongst the enlightened and patriotic, that they for the government of Mexico owes our citizens as are not prepared for free institutions, and are in- much money as they could expect to get from us capable themselves of maintaining them. There for their quit claim to Texas, and Mexico, thereis very great danger that the drama may close there, as it has so often done in other countries, with anarchy ending in despotism-such is the natural swing of the pendulum. The feeling of fore, will have no motive to negotiate as long as she is not pressed for these claims; and the restoration of official intercourse is not of the slightest consequence to her. The few Mexicans who would come here, would be in no danger of being oppressed, and nothing would be more convenient to Mexico than that we should have no minister there to trouble the government with complaints. PATRIOTISM OF SANTA ANNA. Another, and a very important one to many Americans in Mexico, was that which prohibited NICHOLAS' WIFE IN ITALY. the privilege of the retail trade to all foreignersall my efforts to procure a recision of this order were ineffectual, and this is the one exception to TAKE heart, poor milliner girls! and, though which I have alluded. One of the members of the poorly paid, and sadly overworked, thank Heaven diplomatic corps, the French minister, had felt it you are not the empress of Russia. Though you his duty to write a note on the subject, which are fagged, you are not dehumanized by adulation Santa Anna regarded as very harsh in its terms-you are not flattered into insanity-you are not and spirit. After I had discussed the matter with made one fester of human pride by the abasement him for some time he said, "I know nothing and adoration of millions. The hearts in your about these questions of international law, I am bosoms are not petrified by imperial blood; they only a soldier, and have spent my life in the camp may yet bound with kindly impulses; they may -but eminent Mexican lawyers tell me that we yet thrill with a sympathy that the wife of Nicho have the right to enforce such an order, and if we las-poor victim of state!-can never know. Late have I know that it will be beneficial to Mexico. accounts from Italy present a sad picture of the These foreigners come here and make fortunes and unfortunate woman. It appears that she is very go away; let them marry here, or become Mexi- sick-but not nearly so sick as arrogant. Could can citizens, and they may enjoy this and all other pride have killed her, she would have died long privileges." He added that if all the other minis-ago-every one of her nine lives been rendered ters had taken the same course that I had, that he "P; might have consented to rescind the order, but that whilst he was the president he would cut his throat (suiting the action to the word with great vehemence) before he would yield anything to insult or menaces-alluding to the note of the French minister. He became very much excited, and with his fine eye flashing fire, went on in a strain of real eloquence." What," said he, "has Mexico gained by her revolution, if she is thus to be dictated to by every despot in Europe; before, we had but one master-but if this is permitted we shall have twenty. We cannot fight on the water; but let them land, and I will drive them to their boats a little faster than I did in 1839"-and then casting his eye to his mutilated leg, with that tiger "These were his very words. If he did not feel what he said, I have never seen the hero and patriot better acted. Again I thought of General Jackson. The reader may be assured that whatever may be the faults of Santa Anna, he has many points which mark him "as not in the roll of common men." It seems that the King of Naples has beggared himself for a year or two, to do the handsome thing for his Russian guest; and she did little other than turn the poor man out of his own house. "On the first day of her arrival, the empress sent her chamberlain to invite the King and Queen of Naples to dine with her in his own dining-room, which meant-to-morrow I shall dine alone.' The poor King of Naples understood it immehe should dine with his family, or receive his diately, and was in great trouble to know where court." And these are the folks who-according to the tribe of Jenkins-are the patent manner-mongers for the rest of mankind! At Florence, she refused to take the arm of her host, the Grand Duke, and took that of the Russian Admiral. It is said that in one of her letters to the emperor, she wrote "Since our marriage I have never asked you a favor, but now I have a request to make, which I hope you will not refuse, since it is of consequence to my health, and probably my life may depend upon it-make me a present of Sicily;" with Etna to boil the royal tea-kettle! What a pity that the emperor could not, by a ukase, give her the man in the moon as a little flunkey! Still, we have some compassion for the empress. She is the wife of Nicholas, and that may account for much. Nevertheless, milliners, Punch says, again When I first visited him at Encerro, he was examining his chicken cocks, having a large wager then depending-he went round the coops and again-thank Heaven you are not the Empress and examined every fowl, and gave directions as to his feed; some to have a little more, others to of Russia. Surely, it is better to feel want and be stinted. There was one of very great beauty, oppression, than to be educated out of the feeling of the color of the partridge, only with the of all human sympathy.-Punch. feathers tipped with black, instead of yellow or white; and the male in all respects like the CHINESE BENEVOLENCE TO A BRITISH CHARITY. female, except in size. He asked me if we had-The governors and friends of the Seamen's : any such in this country, and when I told him that we had not, he said that if that one gained his fight he would send him to me-he was the only one of fifteen which did not lose his fight and shortly after my return, when I visited New York, I found the fowl there. I had thought no more about it, and had no idea that he would. Floating Hospital will be highly gratified to learn that the universal principle which governs that. charity (the relief of sick seamen of all nations) has not escaped the observation of that enlightened and distinguished personage, Keying, the High. Commissioner to his imperial majesty the Emperor of China, who has requested Rear Admiral, Sir After examining his chicken cocks we returned Thomas Cochrane, commander-in-chief there, to to the house, and then he was all the president-record his name as a donor of $900 (about and to have listened to the eloquent conversa- £190) in aid of this benevolent object. Well tion which I have sketched, one would not have might Sir Henry Pottinger eulogize the high char-supposed that he had ever witnessed a cock-fight. acter of this eminent Chinaman, since he has shown, The taste for this amusement, which amongst by this uninvited display of beneficence, that he can us is regarded as barbarous and vulgar, is in feel for the possible necessities of his countrymen Mexico by no means peculiar to Santa Anna. It in a far distant land, and can so munificently mark: is universal, and stands scarcely second to the his gratitude to foreigners for the care taken off bull-fight. them.-Times. 64 speculating about untried enjoyments, let us imFrom the Canada Temperance Advocate. prove those which the present time presents. The STUDIES ON THE SEA-SHORE. storm of yesterday has been at work for our gratiTHERE are few young people who have been fication; the beach is strewed with the treasures brought up in an inland district, to whom their first of the deep: marine plants have been torn up and visit to the ocean does not form a remarkable era drifted along the shore; shells and marine animals in their juvenile life. The scene is so perfectly have been scooped from their caves and hiding new, everything is so strange, the shores abound places; and all are now exposed to view, and with so many glittering pleasures, while the pros-await our inspection. You see those piles of seapect of the vast expanse does at the same time in- wreck?-that is the vegetation of the deep; and spire a kind of solemn awe, that the youthful mind though differing greatly in form and appearance is filled and impressed with recollections that never from land plants, yet they are not without their afterwards fade. A long-promised visit to the sea-importance, nor are they without their admirers." "Do trees, then, grow in the sea?" inquired coast was at last accomplished, and a beautiful autumn evening found us for the second time Mary. wandering on the smooth white sands of the shore. The receding tide had left dry the far-sloping beach; the sea was still and placid, with now and then a slight ripple glittering in the sun a few boats and distant ships glided with their white sails on the deep, nearly as like things of life as the agile sea-birds that dipped and sported in the shallow water. The hearts of the young people bounded with an exquisite and new joy; and after skipping about for some time in many circles over the sands, they returned to me to give words to their novel delight. "How lovely is everything to-night!" said Elizabeth. "I have now got familiar with the great ocean. I confess my mind yesterday was filled with a strange dread; those noisy and foaming breakers seemed so angry like; the waves came one after the other, rolling up to us like so many coiling serpents; and my heart shuddered as I looked far, far onward, and saw nothing but one dim expanse of green water; but now the waves, All instead of menacing us, have retired far out. is lulled and quiet, and such a beautiful beach is left us, that I never shall tire wandering over it, and exploring its curious productions." "We have been fortunate, my dears, in this our first and short visit, to witness the ocean in its two extreme phases. Yesterday was indeed a storm; less, however, in its violence in this locality than it must have been seaward; for the swelling waves and high surf extending in that vast circular line which you witnessed with such astonishment, indicated that a high wind at a distance had raised the commotion." "Not exactly trees," I replied, "but a kind of simple plants called fuci, having stems and broad leaves of a soft leathery structure, nearly resembling the lichens which I have shown you on our rocks, and bearing seeds of a very simple kind like them. You see they are of all sizes, from this small delicate tufted plant to those large-leaved tangles of many feet in length. Indeed many parts of the ocean, to the depth of several hundred feet, are clothed with a vegetation as luxuriant as that on land, the tangled stems and leaves of which form the abiding places of myriads of fishes and marine animals of various kinds. We shall now pause at this spot, and examine a few of the plants. That long cord-like specimen which Henry draws out to the length of ten or twelve feet, is very common in the northern seas; in Orkney it is called sea-catgut, with us sea-lace. It grows in large patches, just like long grass in a meadow, attaining a length of from 20 to 30 feet. This other plant, with the tall round stem, terminated by a broad and long leaf, is a very common one, called the laminaria, or sea tangle, of which there are several species, those of warm growing to the height of 25 feet, with a stem as thick as that of a small-sized tree. The gigantic fucus of South America attains a height much greater than this, but with a diameter of stem not more than an inch. Captain Cook describes these fuci as attaining the astonishing length of 360 feet. They flourish in immense groves throughout the Southern Ocean, and are all alive with innumerable animals, that take shelter among and derive their sustenance from them." seas "The sea, then," said Henry, "can boast of taller vegetables than the land; for, if I recollect rightly, the tallest palms do not exceed 150 feet, and the araucaria of New Holland is not above 60 feet more." "I had many strange dreams last night," said Henry, "about vessels foundering, and the cries of sailors clinging to the broken masts, or dashed among the rocks, and dying without any to help them. Nor shall I forget the appearance of last "You are quite correct, Henry; and I may night's sun, as it set redly amid dark purplelooking clouds, which came in huge masses career-mention another sea-plant, which is said to reach ing with the wind, while the frothy spray dashed 500 to 1500 feet in length. It is a slender weed,' up among the hollow rocks. Beautiful as the called macrocystes; "the leaves are long and narscene before us now is, I almost regret that it is so changed. I hope we shall have another storm before we go; for I delight to watch the turmoil of the waters, the screaming of the sea-birds, and the roar of the surf against the rocks. What, after all, is our lake, and hills, and green fields at home, compared to this magnificent scene? I long to launch upon those waters, and explore them to their uttermost boundaries." "So Henry is become a sailor at once," cries Mary; "but he shall never speak ill of our loved home; and instead of sailing over the seas, let us go and collect beautiful shells and pebbles to carry home with us." "Mary is right," we exclaimed; "instead of row, and at the base of each is placed a vesicle, which is filled with air, and which serves to buoy up and float the plant near the surface of the water, otherwise, from its weight, it would sink to the bottom." "And what is the use of all these plants?" inquired Elizabeth. "Like land vegetation, they fulfil the important office of affording food and shelter for the myriads of animals with which the sea, like the land, is peopled. They are also not without their uses to man. These heaps of drifted weed form the best of manures for the soil. In some countries sea-weed is collected and burnt, and the ash, which is called kelp, produces soda. Several kinds are also capa Its polished lips to your attentive ear, ble of being boiled down into a sort of glue; and His chariot wheel stands midway on the wave. here is the little rock-weed, which is erroneously Shake one, and it awakens then apply termed Irish moss, but which is, in fact, a seaplant (chondrus crispus.) This plant, when well washed, so as to free it of its salt, and then slowly boiled in water, forms a light and nutritious jelly, of which, I think, you have often partaken when made up with milk and sugar." "Sure enough it murmurs," cries Mary; "but if we carry it away with us, will it still preserve this mysterious union with the ocean?" "It will still continue to sound when applied to your ear wherever you carry it; but so will any other hollow thing-a tin box, a cup, an empty tumbler, or any such-and yet I am sorry thus to dissipate with plain matter of fact the beautiful fancy of the poet. "What is the real matter of fact, then?" inquired Henry.. "But look here," said I, pointing to a small object lying under the heap of wreck which we had just been examining; "what do you take that to be?" They all pronounced it to be a small marine plant just like many of the others strewed round. "Now, scrutinize it particularly," said I. Henry took it up with his hand, and laid it on a piece of paper prepared to receive some other plants. To their surprise the object made several movements; it again moved, and again was still; "It is simply that the concave sides of the shell reverberate the current of warm air which is they watched it with some eagerness, and not without some dread. At last I picked off two or always passing off and upwards from the surface three of the branches of the apparent plant; a claw of our bodies, its place being as constantly taken by of an animal now was visible; I continued to pick a fresh supply from the surrounding atmosphere. off more; a head of a crab-like creature was dis- The hollow murmuring is the slight sound propayed; and finally, clearing off the whole, a small duced by the air-current striking against the sides but complete and living creature of the crustaceous of the shell, and being echoed, as it were, from family was exhibited to their wondering gaze. A every point, and returned again to the ear." flood of questions now assailed me. This little "I am almost vexed you have explained this to crab (macropodia phalangium) is an inhabitant of me," said Mary," for at home I have often pleased our sea-shores, and is remarkable for its instinctive myself with the thoughts that the shell roared or propensity of adopting the disguise of a vegetable. murmured when the tides of its parent ocean It, in short, lives a continued life of masquerade. flowed in, and that it was silent until the time of For this purpose it selects the branches of a small the flowing tide returned. So bewitching is fancy! fucus just about its own size, and sticks them so art- And yet, after all, I believe I shall be more satisfully over its limbs and body, that the whole is fied with truth. I shall carry this shell home with masked, so as to represent exactly the plant which it me, however; and when I wish to recall the dashhas selected. Whether the pieces of plant adhere by ing of the sea-waves and the roar of the surf along their own glutinous juices, or whether the animal the sands, and up among the rocks, I will have spreads over its body a juice peculiar to itself, I only to apply this talisman to my ear. cannot tell, but certain it is the animal is found respect it will be to me still the shell of the poet." always thus dressed; and it would appear to As we continued our walk, several little tracks change its coat whenever it becomes old, for the in the sand attracted our attention. Henry deterleaves are always fresh and unshrivelled. The mined to follow up one of them, in order to ascerreason of this disguise is evidently concealment-tain their cause: he continued to trace one for either to conceal itself from its own foes, or to more than ten yards, and at last stopped almost We hastened to the enable it the better to pursue its prey, or, perhaps, at the brink of the water. In this for both these purposes. At all events, the instinct spot, and perceived that the trail was made by the is a very singular one. common cockle. It was curious to mark the creaThere is another crustacean, and a better known one than the other-ture pushing out its single foot from between its the hermit crab. This fellow likes a good comfort- two-valved shell, and pressing it against the soft able house, but he will not build one for himself, sand, thus pushing itself onward step by step. so he looks about for the first empty shell that will It had thus travelled at least ten to fifteen yards fit him, and in he walks back foremost. You see in the few hours since it had been left on the beach how he looks out at his door, and now he at high water, and now it seemed to be returning off with his house upon his back. To convince to the sea to feed. A little onwards we came to you that the creature takes up its abode in a chance two other well-known edible shell animals-the shell, here are several more of them, and all the oyster and mussel. Unlike the cockle, both these shells you see are of different forms. As the were stationary animals. They were securely young animal increases in bulk, it leaves its first anchored to stones, and we spent some time in exsmall shell and takes to a larger. You see this amining the fine silken fibres (the byssus) which well exemplified in the various sizes of the ani- proceeded from their bodies, and were fixed by the mals before us.' 99 other end to the rocks, thus forming a secure cable. scampers Mary had now got hold of a large shell, the waved buccinum, and had applied it to her ear, listening to the hollow sound which it thus emitted. She had been prompted to this from having practised the same thing with shells at home, and now asked Henry if he recollected Landor's verses in allusion to this circumstance. He promptly called to mind those shells "Of pearly hue 'Within, for they that lustre have imbibed In the sun's palace porch, where, when unyoked, The frequent lash of the returning tide, and the rapidly descending sun, now warned us that it was time to return home. We did so reluctantly, and paused for a moment to take a look at the descending luminary. How different was the sunset from last evening. The sky was one sea of soft mellow light, curtained above by stripes of filmy clouds of the brightest hues. The sun was just dipping its orb into the deep, and sent a long line of flickering rays athwart the glassy mirror, even reaching to our feet. Sea-birds were speeding along on swift wing |