Caledonia Good Success Sir Walter Scott Ariel Tons. 1000 500 Guns. 22 10 Captains. Middleton Figgs De Luz 150. Eglen 6 | These were fine, fast-sailing vessels, upon the European model. In addition to the In addition to the government dockyard, there are dry-docks by the side of the river, in which any merchant vessel can have repairs done by the king's shipwrights. No doubt the fleet since this date is much increased, as the reigning prince's brother has, for many years, taken a great interest in navigation; and, like Peter the Great, has made himself practically acquainted with the art of ship-building. The intimate connection which has long existed between the court of Siam and the English consul, Mr. Hunter, probably led to the introduction of European ideas among this semi-barbarous people-Mr. Hunter was the confidant of the late monarch, and of the Prince Chou Fau Noi, and it was, in fact, through his vigorous action during a formidable rebellion of one of the chiefs, that the throne itself was saved. In addition to the English influence, the mass of Siamese court prejudices must have in some measure been leavened by the residence of an intelligent Portuguese consul, and by the presence of American Protestant and French Catholic missionaries. Whilst these influences have all been powerful levers in helping to raise the Siam rulers and nobles a little nearer to the European level, all attempts to Christianize people or princes have utterly failed. And this is the more remarkable, as the state religion, Buddhism, is without a god-the last god of the Buddhists having, according to their own account, died B.C. 543. One would have imagined that a religion without a chief would be sure to fall before the first assailant; but the purest and best of faiths has scarcely made a single convert as yet. Godama, the last god of the Buddhists, was, they say, absorbed into the bosom of nature; and since this occurred, they know of no deity who has any part in managing the affairs of the world, and awarding premiums and penalties due to their deeds; but merit and malice are followed by punishments and rewards as a necessary sequence; the former consisting of sufferings endured during a series of transmigration through the various existences, from the lowest insect up to the highest divinity, whilst the greatest reward is made to consist in annihilation. The original faith is still the living faith of the country. The footprint of Buddha, which is shown a few miles from the old capital, is the object of the greatest veneration, and is the scene of an imposing festival once a year, when the king and a vast number of pilgrims go up the river and visit the spot. Mr. Neale says he saw upwards of 70,000 canoes paddle up the stream in grand procession on one of these occasions. A part of the ceremony is to enter a cave, and cast offerings in money down a deep hole. We should fear the priests were possessed of some "Open Sesame !" to obtain an entrance into this secret treasure-house. The great sanctity of the white elephan in Siam is not difficult to understand, wher we consider that the doctrine of the trans migration of souls is so vital a part of thei national religion; still more easy is th explanation, when we learn that white ele phants are supposed to be tenanted by th souls of deceased kings. Well might hi majesty of Siam pay every attention to an blanched monarch of the forest he might b fortunate enough to capture, when he con siders that his own time will come to animat the like ponderous body, and to flourish prehensile trunk. There were, a short tim since, two of these revered animals under th safe-keeping of the priest. They have fo their habitations two of the most splendi batis or temples in the empire, situated the midst of gardens filled with the tub rose, the yellow honeysuckle, and a passio flower of a very beautiful form, called by tl Siamese the bell-flower. In these garden when Mr. Neale visited the elephants, posse of priests, dressed in gamboge-dy dresses, were chanting laudatory vers about the great white elephant. This tra eller's description of the beast is in t highest degree interesting :— "We closely followed our guide, and w admitted into the presence of this noble animal. have never before seen so large an elephant ; skin was as smooth and spotless and white as driven snow, with the exception of a large sca rim round the eyes. The brute was too digni and accustomed to homage to pay the sligh visitors as ourselves, but went on calmly help attention to the intrusion of such unpresum himself to leaves and branches from the mig piles that were heaped up before him. The r itself was an unpresuming one, exceedingly lo with windows all round the loftiest part; but flooring was covered with a mat-work, wrot of pure chaste gold, each interwoven seam be about half an inch wide, and about the thick of a half sovereign!!! If this was not si snakes, as the Yankee says, I don't know was. The idea of a great, unwieldy brute, 259 out more gold in one year than many hard-prince was looked upon as the heir-apparent working people gain in ten! And then the soiled mess that this costly carpeting was in, in many entertained of him when he should have to the throne, and high expectations were parts, would have been sufficient to cause a miser to go off instantly into a fit of insanity. ascended the throne. Dr. Richardson, who Several priests were busily engaged in different visited the court of Siam in 1839,* gives parts of the room, polishing up tarnished spots; the following interesting account of the others, professionally goldsmiths, were extracting reception-room of the prince, which shows at the worn strips, and replacing them with new nes, so heavy and so bright, that it made our brought up, as he has been, among a nation a glance the style of man Chou Fau must be, eyes and mouths water to see such infamous waste. Every one to his liking, however. The of semi-savages. "The room, sovereigns and potentates of Europe manage to Richardson, "wherein we were received was says Dr. make millions slip through their fingers in the fitted up in the English style, and on the pursuits of the pomps and vanities of this wicked table was a splendid gilt lamp, with cutworld, and in indulging every appetite that vicious glass shades, which was made for William nature can give birth to. The King of Siam IV.; the walls were decorated with English would, doubtless, do the same if he could; but prints, and he had a small library of English he can't, for this simple reason, that so limited books, of which the Encyclopædia Britannica are the resources for gratification and pleasure, and so cheaply obtainable these few, that his formed a part." majesty, who does not spend much in wearing apparel, turns his treasures into mats for his favorite doll or deity to tread upon. "The man who was so fortunate as to intrap the elephant, got from the King of Siam a pension of one thousand tikols per annum, which pension is hereditary; besides this, he was raised to a very high office in the kingdom-that of carrying water for the elephant to slake his thirst with; and the jars with which the water is transported, and the trough from which this leviathan drinks, are both more or less filagreed and worked with gold. "The white elephant, junior, differed from the white elephant, senior, considerably, in size and appearance, and consequently, luxuriated in silver instead of gold. He was evidently the younger son of a junior branch of the family, and was accordingly neglected and ill treated. Even the priests neglected to repair the rents in his silver matting, which was fast going to pieces, and if one might judge from the meagre and sickly look of the poor animal, it was not likely to live long enough to tread upon a new. in which this poor brute was confined was also The vault insignificant in comparison with the other, and the garden, though abounding in flowers, was evidently ill looked after and neglected." The late king was a mere bloated sensualist, with just sense enough to see that he could depend better upon the advice of Europeans than upon that of his own nobles; and, in consequence, foreign influence has predominated for many years at Siam, and the notions of the higher nobility have been very much influenced thereby. Many of the Ministers of State speak very good English, and have adopted semi- English fashions in their houses. The example of the late king's youngest half-brother gave a great impulse to this monarch, for he was an admirer of our nation, and treated all Englishmen with the greatest ross scientific turn of the prince's mind. Chou The possession of this work points to the of mathematics, as a preliminary to a study Fau Noi acquired a respectable knowledge of fortification and gunnery, in both of which arts he is reported to be "well up." Mr. Neale, who visited Chou Fau later than Dr. Richardson, gives us a fuller view of the habits and occupations of the prince. He says: greater than ever; all the latest publications, he, "His thirst for literature was then (1840) I have seen him laugh as heartily over Dickens' by means of agents, procured from Singapore, and Pickwick as though he had been accustomed to youth. . . . The prince had some favorites that the scenes that book depicts from his earliest had picked up a little smattering of English, and assisted him in his more scientific amusements. Opposite the armory, and just on the threshold of his palace, was a very pretty little farm-house, entrance-door of which was placed a board with surrounded with glass windows, and over the repaired here,' written in large letters of gold; the inscription of Watches and clocks made and and here he would be seen, seated at a table mites of wheels, pursuing his favorite occupation liberally bestrewed with fragments and little of watch-making. such an out-of-the-way place as Bangkok, and It was a strange sight, in among such a set of uncouth beings as the Siamthe prince presented, with a pair of huge goggles ese, to come suddenly upon the strange figure protruding from his eyes, and surrounded by a group of curious and inquisitive favorites." chief agent in sowing the good seed of enMr. Hunter, the English consul, was the lightenment in the prince's mind. He taught * Journal of a Mission from the Supreme Government of India to the Court of Siam. By Dr. Richardson Publish 260 him English, and pointed out the chief works that he should study, and the result here, as at Sarawak, has shown what a centre of civilization an Anglo-Saxon consul might become in the midst of a barbarous people. Of late years, a still greater advance has been made in Bangkok towards introducing the domestic influences of our race among the people, the ladies of the American Protestant Mission having free access to the ladies of the harem, and of course imperceptibly imparting to them European ideas. The latest information we have received from this little-visited country, tends to increase still more the interest Europeans must feel in it. The old king, a man of narrow intellect, having died in April, 1851, his eldest half-brother, Prince Chou Fa Yai, was, contrary to general expectation, called by the nobles from his seclusion, and placed upon the throne. This prince had long buried himself in a convent, and, apparently, was wholly taken up with the performance of his office as a priest; whilst, however, wearing the yellow badge of his order, and in consequence excluded from political affairs, this sagacious man was forming opinions of men and things, and acquiring a knowledge of European affairs and arts and sciences, which appears to have been little guessed by the European residents, from whom we have acquired what knowledge we have of the march They of civilization at the Siamese Court. universally believed that Chou Fau Noi, the younger brother, would succeed the old king. Able, however, as we have shown this prince to be, he is still inferior to the king, of whom Dr. Bowring, in a letter to a friend of the writer, makes mention in the highest terms, speaking of him, indeed, as one of those extraordinary men that at rare intervals suddenly rise up in all parts of the world. "I am," he says," in communication with one of the most extraordinary men of the age-the King of Siam. His letters would astonish you, so well written (in English), so inquisitive, so tolerant, so sagacious." An extract from one of these letters, writ ten by his Siamese majesty, in acknowledg ment for a present of some philosophical toys and instruments, which we give verbatim et literatim, will, however, speak more clearly in his behalf than we can do. "Your various presents," writes the royal scribe to Sir John Bowring, "you had been so kind to send me, by care of Honorable Thomas Church, ere, with letters addressed me. I found but m name on back of the parcil, and little bok contai but direction for use, and adjustment of the in struments, and the printed tracts regarding philo sophic observations upon the same. Now I beg to return my thanks for your s valuable various presents, which many of m visitors, who have witnessed the same at my res dence, praised muchly for such the wonderf and finest European manufacture; but I am sor that I do not understand its use with all pains I shall be ve pictures contain in the cases. glad if you give me another direction for use all pictures, or figures, or pairs, exactly more.' of The freedom from prejudice, and the la ness of the views, of this sagacious prince once proclaim the depth and power understanding. The King of Siam is a stant contributor to the Calcutta periodic and a very singular paper, which appe in one of them in 1852, giving an accou his coronation, and making excuses for s of the ceremonies used on that occasio generally understood to have been writte him. In this communication, he seek shield himself from the ridicule which fears will be heaped upon him by Europ by stating that, however absurd they yet the people believe in them, and any den departure from the established usag such occasions would only lead to a re tion, without advancing the aim of his the of civilization among his progress alone would be sufficient to s paper the character of the man. The king, v upwards of fifty years of age, is tal spare in person, This pe with a look and manne cating that he was born to command. he has come to the throne, he has himself in opening roads in his terri and in extending the metropolis upo banks of the river. The Prince Cho younger brother according singular custom of the country, has been, created "Second King," or reserve monarch. With two such rulers, we may reasonably hope to see the kingdom of Siam entering into closer connection with the maritime countries of the West. Hitherto, commerce has been so shackled by the absurd restrictions imposed by the laws of the country, that it has been little better than a second Japan, and all our political missions to obtain a modification of them have come to nothing; even the attempts of Sir James Brooke, in 1850, were fruitless. The accession, however, to the throne, of the present wise prince, whose attachment to Europeans, and especially to the English, is well known, presents a most favorable opportunity for opening the flowing cornucopia of one of the most productive countries of the East to our commerce, and we should be delighted to learn that the mission of Sir John Bowring, appointed to open negotiations with the King of Siam for this purpose, has proved successful. The flood of Europeans at the present moment pouring into the Pacific, is day by day spreading its fertilizing influence among the stagnant nations of the East. China is fast entering into more intimate relations with Europe, Japan promises to come forth into the world, and Siam without doubt will see the necessity of abolishing the last remnants of that system of commercial restriction which suited her well enough before she had British India bounding her like a wall on the West, and a new empire of restless AngloSaxons watching her from the not far distant shores of the American Continent. From the Biographical Magazine, LUCRETIA AND MARGARET DAVIDSON. IF the spirit of poetry, infused into the soul with the very breath of life, and brightening from infancy to dawning girlhood, till its flame, too powerful for the frail tenement in which it glows, destroy it-if versatile fancy, delicate sensibility, exquisite tenderness, and purity and grace-if these give their possessors any claim to rank with the illustrious, then Lucretia and Margaret Davidson enjoy it. Yet a melancholy overclouds their short career, and deepens with our admiration of them. We are made sensible at every step that intellect adorned them, not in Barry Cornwall's words To light them like a star, but as the wreathing flame which consumed whilst it heightened their loveliness. They were daughters of the New World, where Poetry breathes among the forests and the mountains, and gives its everlasting voice to the majestic rivers. LUCRETIA DAVIDSON, the elder of these two sisters, was born in 1808, in the State of New York. Her father, Dr. Oliver Davidson, mother, notwithstanding many household cares and anxieties, and often much sickness, retained her imaginative and ardent feelings, and appreciated the marvellous mental gifts and dawning genius of her child. As soon as Lucretia could speak, it was discovered that her thoughts were of a deeper nature than those of the children around her; and when she could read, she was continually busy with the little books she received as gifts from her father. Long before she could write, she gave her thoughts to paper in awkward Roman characters. In infancy, she had her favorite birds and flowers; to these she would address odes, irregular, indeed, and very imperfect, but all tinted by true poetic thought. Occasionally she indited a sonnet to her mother, and at such times a look of grave reflection rested on her face which would have been altogether out of place there, had it not, by frequent and sudden expressions of the most brilliant animation, been rendered by contrast positively beautiful. When only ten years of age, she wrote the following acrostic upon her own THE MOON. Lo, yonder rides the empress of the night! But it was not till she was about twelve years of age, that her poems exhibited that simplicity and beauty, that morning freshness, which is their chief characteristic. She was at this time conversant with all the English poets; she had studied sacred and profane history, and some of the novels of the day were familiar to her; yet it was only those which in any way depicted life that she enjoyed. Romances, in spite of her imaginative mind, she rejected, as being too unreal. Dramatic works delighted her, and when only eleven years of age, she thus expressed herself about Shakspeare: Heaven in compassion to man's erring heart, thee ! There was no such thing as monotony in life for Lucretia. Those dull days which sometimes fall heavily even on childhood, were unknown to her; the glowing hues of her own earnest heart gave their bright coloring to all with which she came in contact; and, whilst even the youthful around her were cumbered about many things, she thus speaks of the visitations of her Muse: Enchanted when thy voice I hear, I feel as wafted from the world Sometimes, even in the midst of her family, she had the power of absorbing herself in her own thoughts, and would occasionally even commit them to paper, standing at the table whilst thus engaged, and altogether heedless of the merry converse carried on around her; but when she composed her longer and more complicated poems, she retired to her chamber; and from her mother we have a graphic description of her whilst thus engaged:-"I entered her room," she Says; "she was sitting with scarcely light enough to discern the characters she was tracing; her Æolian harp was in the window, touched by a breeze just sufficient to rouse the spirit of harmon fallen on the floor, and her lets hung in rich profusi and shoulders; her cheeks mation; her lips were half dark eye was radiant with t and beaming with sensi rested on her left hand, w pen in her right. She lo habitant of another spher wholly absorbed, that she my entrance; I looked ov and read some spirited lin harp." The retiring modesty whi culiar to her from infancy, a painfully nervous reserve stranger would send the ros ment into her cheeks, and won, against her will, by face, was distressing to her enjoyed a dance, and as sh teen when she went to h took the buoyant spirit of t etiquette of the large assem with the gladsome smile, in no heaviness, through the m drille. Then she returned and though she had been of the evening, she was ign at the time she had been ning any admiration, she wa with other feelings, as app lines she wrote shortly after to another star than her even the star of liberty: |