Our globe : a universal picturesque album
North American Bibliographic Institution
(C) ■^'^iSi!?^^''^ .JS c i; fa iK-'r., ;.»■,;;„„„ >'' /?<;// /.;'<y^ trn« iSKi^jci StJ>:„'L*r, ;;:i.-lt3r 'i'i^ls :2? flf SastviiaticrKj \ '■■ ''Si;, !'l,.ln.l -pi":. Ril.lin^:riiph.. ]r«.,l..>. .1 I. THE FORUM K\ KOillE. We stood upon the Forum. Two long rows of huge and magnificent ruins designate the spot chosen by ancient lElome for the lofty purposes of national conventions, public justice, and the most solemn acts of government. _ Even the first centuries after the building of Rome were here witnesses of the festive plays and other assembhes "? of the citizens. As early as Tarquinius Priscus, the Forum was encompassed with colonnades, for protection against the inclemencies of the weather. When the power of Rome was extending itself, first over Italy, and subsequently over half the globe, within this spot were concentrated all that was capable of producing the eflectual idea of the grandeur and majesty of the commonwealth — all that could possibly be thought of by absolute power, illimiled riches, and a luxury almost fabulous: — here were situated the palaces of the consuls and emperors, and the temples of the gods ; triumphal arcs adorned its avenues ; baths, circuses, race-courses, museums and public libraries surrounded it on all sides. All the most admirable master-pieces of the arts, possessed by Greece, Italy, Ionia and Eg\-pt were procured by the order of universal Rome, to adorn its Forum. All this has passed away long since, or lies in dust, less through the power of time, than through that of man and the elements — of wasting Barbarians and numberless conflagrations. Herds arc now bellowing were Cicero and the Grachi poured forth the fire of their eloquence before a numberless people ; where emperors resided, the vine is blooming. Innumerable ruins, however, still prove to future centuries this by-gone magnificence. The Forum was bounded on the southwest by the Palatine, — and on the north by the Capitoline mounts ; and formed an oblong rectangle of about half a million square feet. The most splendid roads, as well as the triumphal arcs of Constantine, Septimius Severus and Titus, gave entrance to it. Turning towards the capitol, resplendent with the fairest works of architecture, up to which a flight of marble steps led, on the left was seen the imperial palaces covering the whole mount Palatine, and on the right a hnc of magnificent temples,of which those of Peace, of Antonine and of 1 3 Faustine, of Mars and of Saturn, are still furnishing their precious fragments. In the background rose high the amphi- theatre of Flavius (called colosseum from a gigantic statue of the god of the sun, 150 feet high, once placed before it), excitin'' the highest admiration by the immensity of its mass and the plain elegance of its structure. Of this miracle of architecture, the northern half of it, and the substructions of the southern, are entirely preserved. Its exterior form was that of a rather oval rotunda, 160 feet iiigh, and nearly 1800 in circumference, surrounded by three colonnades supporting each other. The columns and outer walls are wholly of white Tiburtine marble. The area in the centre of the interior had 600 feet in circumference, and would admit 10,000 combatants at once. The whole interval between the area and the exterior wall was filled up with stone benches, rising like an amphitheatre, that would accommodate more than 110,000 spectators; the lowest rounds were for the vestals and the senators, those next above them for the knights ; then followed those for the citizens, and upon the highest were seated the matrons ; all above these were stationed 10,000 slaves, holding, extended overalltheseats,ashelteringcarpet of themost precious 'workmanship, either embroidered with gold and pearls, or decorated with the most splendid pictures. The vaulted spaces below the seats contained the wild animals chosen for combat, the men devoted to them as victims, the gladiators, and part of the life-guard of the emperor, whose palace was connected with the colosseum by a portico. This theatre was built by Vespasian, at the expense of more than fourteen millions of dollars; 12,000 Jews, taken prisoners, were employed at it, of whom one half died by hard labour and other fatal accidents. Titus consecrated it, and his brother and successor, Domitian, exhibited here the greatest combats which at any time were ever witnessed bv that bloody-minded Rome, which perpetually rioted in cruelties ; thousands of the first Christians, thrown a prey before wild beasts, suffered here the martjTdom. The then degenerate Roman people were at last so accustomed to the blood-shedding spectacle, that they would no more do without it ; people of quaUty kept slaves for the mere purpose of seeing them kill each other, at domestic and private festivals ; even knights and senators, seized with the fiiT)- of blood-mindedness, often precipitated themselves into the area, and of their own accord expired under the claws of wild animals, or the swords of gladiators ; — the emperor Commodus performed several times the part of a public gladiator. Trajan ordered gladiatorial spectacles to be given for 120 successive days, and each day appeared 10,000 combatants. — Thus was wasted the flower of the subjugated nations ! Thus the world was exhausted, and whole pro- vinces were depopulated, in order to satisfy the daily cry after bread and play (panis et circenses !) of the Roman people, then degenerated into a gang of slothful hyenas. Within this frightful place, once overflowing with foaming torrents of conquered blood, and resounding with bestial shouts at the tearing into pieces of Christians by lions and panthers, naught now strikes the ear, except the 3 barking of the dog of an aged hermit — the guardian of these sad relics, — or, on holy-days, the ringing of the little bell of the mass-saying Capuchin; — for all around the interior of the area, penitential altars are erected, with a small bell, suspended over each one, for the purpose of inviting passers-by, or those visiting the colosseuni, to join in prayer. — Here how strangely are the heathen past and the Christian present linked togetlicr! What a subject for meditation ! Our fine print presents the prospect from the triumphal arc of Titus, across the Forum, toward the splendid frag- ments of the temple of Concordia, the portico of which, with seven erect standing marble columns, furnishes one of the most beautiful and picturesque remains of Roman architecture. — The tricolumnar ruin, to the right, belonged, together with the fragments lying on the ground, to a temple of Jupiter Tonans, which Augustus ordered to be raised upon the spot where, during a tempest, one of his companions was struck by lightning, and killed. — All these ruins are wholly of marble. — They were, only a few years since, buried under ground to half their height, but are now freed to the very foundation. The marble pavement of the triumphal road, covered twenty feet high with the rubbish of a 1500 j-ears' devastation, has likewise been completely cleared. n. COI\STA]\TII¥OPLE. Mankind is moving over the whole earth, like a flood : nations — its billows — arp rising, and falling ; the lives of great men glisten, in the light of the sun, like clear drops, and often but as mere frothy bubbles — radiating, or twinkling, for a moment — and then disappear ; — yet eternity, grave and silent, is hovering over the universal deluge, holding forth the balance and sword of the all-judging Deity. Seldom in tranquillity often wrought to a state of boisterous fury, the flood of tlie human race has rolled two thousand years over Constantinople's Hesperidian hills: nations appeared — thronged in — conquered — subdued — expelled or exterminated, stayed and ruled for a time; were in their turn crowded out — subdued, and also vanished. — Even the name of the place underwent a change; what was called Byzantium (from its first founder, Byzas of Megara) was at a later period named Constantinople. 1* The city arose first on tlie Thracian Bosphorus (which divides Europe from Asia) upon a triangular promontory, in the spot now occupied by the seraglio. — Its position, extremely favorable to commerce, was soon duly appreciated by the neighbouring colonies of Greece: multitudes of emigrants from all parts of old Hellas were thronging into it; especially numerous were the rich Milesians, whose influence, although limited by republican institutions, soon became decisive. About the time of the Peloponnesian war, the city grew in a manner, so as to occupy almost half of the ground, which at present is covered by Constantinople ; even at that period was Byzantium numbered among the most powerful, the richest, and finest colonial cities of Greece. Its situation, in some measure unprotected, together with its wealth, exposed it to the rapacious and warlike nations of Thracia and Bythinia; it was frequently involved in war with them, and not always successfully. — Several times subdued and put under contribution, and in the Peloponnesian war taken and destroyed, it as often again arose to power and authority. — In the conflicts, however, terminating in the entire subjugation of Greece under the Roman universal sway, it shared the common fate ; it became a provincial city. Yet this, by opening to its commerce the whole immense universal empire, became the foundation of its future grandeur: it was growing from year to yeaf in wealth and extent; under the emperors originated its highest flourishing state; in the time of Constantine, Byzantium counted beyond a million inhabitants, and was the largest and finest city of the Roman East. The emperor just named chose old Byzantium for his residence. He ordered whole wards to be torn down and built anew — others to be embellished by palaces, theatres and public baths — numberless artificial works to be trans- ferred into it from all parts of Greece and Italy, even from Rome — the richest families of Italy to emigrate hither, thus procuring for it in a few years a splendor by which even that of gorgeous Rome was tarnished ; he created, as it were, a new city, by far more splendid than it had been before, and called it, from himself, Constantinopolis (the city of Conslantine). Too soon, however, with the decline of the Roman empire under his successors, began also that of the imperial city. The western empire fell under the blows of the Barbarians ; that of the East was repeatedly pillaged and wasted by the Huns, Avarians and Persians ; internal wars were lacerating the whole. — Thus multifariously weakened, the 800 years' struggle which began about the year 630 with the Arabs, who were then rising into notice under Mahomet and his successors as a conquering people, could only be sustained under multiplying difficulties : as early as in the first eleven years of the war, the fairest provinces in Asia and Africa — Phoenicia — the lands on the Euphrates — Judea — SjTia — and whole Egj^pt were lost in favor of the Mahometans : thirty years after, the whole North-Africa, and Sicily. Even then the Turks were besieging Constantinople for six years ; but for once in vain." — Within one century afterward, all remaining provinces in Asia (except only Asia Minor) became the hard-earned prey of the Arabians ; Italy that of the LongobardL — Thracia was alternately ravaged by Turks, and the nortliern depredatory nations. Constantinople was frequently forced to defend itself; its mercantile fleets were burnt or ransacked. Emigration and war reduced the number of its inhabitants to one half: insurrections — expulsions from the throne — capital executions were dying the streets of the city for years with everfoaming blood. — The innumerable savage hordes of crusades laid taxes — raised and deposed emperors at pleasure — and exercised a lawless sovereign authority. Constantinople was at length (1204) effectively taken possession of by those whom the Romans of the East called Latini ; a Flemish earl (Baldwin) ruled in it as emperor, while in the provinces a complete anarchy prevailed : in Nicia — Trapezus — offsprings of the expelled reigning family were acting the part of emperors ; in smaller places, usurpers that of kinf^s. Constantinople was sinking more and more, principally after the expulsion of the Latini andBjrzantini from Palestine and the whole Orient, by the Turks. — In the year 1357 they entered Europe, to complete the subjugation of the eastern Roman empire : sultan Murat conquered Adrianople 1361 ; and the former universal empire was henceforth bounded within the walls of Constantinople. Yet almost a hundred years did this shadowy empire vegetate under the tutorage of the Genovese or Venetians, alternately lording it, until finally it was for ever silenced with the storming of Constantinople on the 29th of May 1453 by the Turks under Mahomed II. — Its last sovereign — emperor Constantino, fortified for the desperate deadly strugf^Ie by receiving the blessed sacrament in St. Sophia church, died upon its walls while defending the city with the greatest heroism,in a manner worthy of an ancient Roman. All the hon-ors of barbarian fury prevailed over the city, thus taken by storm. — Mahomet, to encourage his warriors, had promised them the pillaging of it : thirsting after blood and booty, the Turks rushed upon the defenceless citizens; neither sex — nor age — nor rank was spared, blood flowed on all sides; great multitudes of inhabitants were dragged into far-distant slavery; all moveables were wasted or robbed. — Immense treasures fell into the hands of the Barbarians, intoxicated with victory. The third day, at length, of the general slaughter and devastation, the storm grew less, — and Mahomet, the destroyer, with an iron mace in his hand, held his solemn entrance into the imperial city, bathed in blood. — Upon entering, however, the sumptuous palace of the emperors, and observing its desolation, he felt his mind grow less with a solemn meditation on the fate that disposes of all human things: mercy was granted to all yet spared by the flame or sword; and the cityof Constantine proclaimed the perpetual seat of the sultans, henceforth called Istambol. This, indeed, covers with its 80,000 houses the whole area of old Constantinople ; with respect to beauty, however, and the number of inhabitants, it will not bear any comparison with the latter. Upon the rubbish of the Roman roads — the amphitheatres — the temples — the public baths, the Turks built up, with a contra-distinguished irregularity, the narrow streets of cottages of clay, out of which arise now and tiicn a palace — a mosque — a fine architectural fragment of antiquity. Its amphi-theatrical position on both sides of a hill of six miles in length, gradually extending in breadth towards the land, and surrounded by the sea, imparts to it, at a distance, an imposing appearance, finer, perhaps, than that of any city in the world; yet in the interior prevail filth and poverty. The city itself, without the suburbs, has 12 miles in circumference ; and including the latter, about 72 miles. — The number of inliabitants, during the Turkish government, has never been beyond 700,000 ; it is now below half a million. — About one half are Turks; 150,000 Greek — and 30,000 Armenian-Christians; and above 60,000 Jews. — The fortification of Constantinople consists, towards the continent, of trenches and a double wall, surmounted with 500 turrets ; it is, however, not qualified to resist a regular siege. On the west side of the city, at the entrance from the sea of Marmora, arises a castle, which is still within the wall that surrounds the city — the castle of the seven towers ; opposite to this, on the Asiatic side, at the west end of Scutari, lies a similar one ; between both, in midst of the Bosphorus, a third one — the tower of Leander. — The harbour is formed by an arm of the . Bosphorus, about three quarters of a mile broad and six miles long, making its way between two hills, of which that to the left is Constantinople properly so called, and that on the right suburbs of Galata, Tophana,and, upon its summit, Pera, the abode of the foreign Europeans (Franks). The most remarkable and stately buildings of the city are to be found upon the broad rounded extremity of the cape, which juts out into the sea ; the greater part of it is occupied by the seraglio (residence of the sultan).— The cupolas and minarets, upon the right of our print, are part of this immense irregular mass of buildings, interrupted by gardens, cypress-groves, yards, and encompassed by a wall surmounted with turrets and cannons, of nearly 12 miles in circumference.— The principal entrance to it is a high-vaulted gate of marble blocks, guarded by fifty imperial keepers (kapidshis), called the High-Gate, a name symbolically used by the Turks for the whole empire ;— upon both sides of it are commonly to be seen, often in frightful numbers, the newly cut-off heads of men, victims of the humour of the sultan, or of imperial justice. The interior is not calculated to remove the horror produced by this sight : on all sides armed people— eunuchs, black, yellow and white— thousands of slaves of the will of one man whom no law restricts. The several buildings are isolated by thick dark walls, the gates of which are moreover lined with numerous life-guards.— rail* J'lsSijL N A H.tti»»rfc^i,- ;T,t-iti.l.wa adladdpaiAjJ. ,\ iVblirtilr,.!.!,.,- :..(-„l^!iBB The charm, indeed, created by the aspect, from the sea-side, of this mountain of palaces with their gilded cupolas and minarets, vanislies here all of a sudden in disappointment. In the hindmost part of the seraglio — consisting of several separate structures exceedingly large, very high, and on the outside almost destitute of windows, environed by beautiful gardens, is the harem, the abode of the seven lawful wives of the sultan, each of whom has her own household, and 200 young slaves (Odahsques), to attend her. The largest of all these buildings contains the 1400 concubines of the sovereign, again attended by as many slaves, and watched by 300 black and as many white eunuchs. — The inmates of the harem have no relation with the world without ; the wives of the sultan do not even know, or ever see, each other. The proper domicil of the sultan is, to all mortals, except the domestics of the prince — the chamberlain (Kapidshi- Bashis) — and page in ordinary, an inaccessible mysterious sanctuary, which nobody, not even the vizier (prime- minister), dares enter. — Crowds of dumb and dwarfish persons, strangely dressed, are the attendants of the antichambers ; the former often the executors of orders of capital punishment within the interior of the palace. — The edifice towering high over the whole mass of houses all around it, in the middle of our print, is the former church of St. Sophia, now the capital mosque of the ruling Mahometans. The foundation of this lofty temple was laid during the reign of the emperor Justinian, in the sixth century ; twenty years after its first erection, it was brought down by earthquakes ; yet it arose again from its ruins, in the form of a Greek cross, as a house of the Lord, and was then the most sublime in whole Christendom. — Its outside was in later years deformed by heterogeneous additions, giving the whole a heav}-, unpleasing appear- ance ; the cupola alone arises high above the artless stone masses, in all its original majesty. — The interior is extremely sumptuous, and of the greatest effect : nine large antique doors of brass through a lofty vestibule form its entrance ; the floor consists entirely of skilfully wrought mosaic-work of precious porphyry and verdantique ; the walls are all Hned with marble ; — with the large cupola, the inner vault of which is wholly inlaid with gold and a transparent mosaic, are moreover united two semi-cupolas and six smaller ones, in such a manner as admirably to raise the effect of the whole ; round about the inner vault, measuring 109 foot in diameter, winds a marble gallery supported by G7 antique columns, taken of the fragments of the fairest architectural works of antiquity, — six of them belonged to the far- renowned temple of Diana in Ephesus, eight to that of the sun in Rome;— the whole fabric within is 270 foot lonsr, and 200 foot wide; the principal dome 170 foot high. — Without leave of the grand-seignior, no Christian is allowed to enter the temple. — The four columnar towers (minarets), rectangularly surrounding it, stand isolated — an addhion of the Turks. 8 To the left of St. Sophia arises a mass of buildings, covered with cupolas and encompassed with minarets — it is the larse mosque of sultan Achmct. To decorate tiie same, the most splendid stvuctures of the Ancients were once more deprived of many columns. Besidesthis, Constantinople numbers yet a multitude of other inferior mosques — 5000 Mahometan prayer-houses — 36 Christian churches of all denominations — 11 institutions preparatory to the service of government for 1600 pupils — besides 1800 public schools. In 5000 coflee-houses and opium-shops, the indolent Turks — unwilling to work — indulge in the enjoyment of repose — fancy — and unconsciousness. The bazars are large ware-houses of stone with arcades, below which the shops open ; these markets form the commerce of the whole Turkish empire : almost each kind of merchandise has its own bazar ; the slaves even have their own — a daily scene of the utmost degradation of mankind, and of nameless misery. The arsenal — factories of arms — and other buildings devoted to purposes of government, are enclosed with high walls — invisible to the eye — inaccessible to foreigners. Remarkable ruins of past ages, which have been mostly consumed in building up the Turkish cots, are not easily met with in the interior of the city ; Constantinople, however, is not less rich in them. Here, the antiquarian is every- where, in fragments and monuments, harangued by nations, from whom for the most part no human voice re-echoes any longer. Of the very ancient Megaris, more than 2500 years ago the founder of Byzantium, hardly its place is known ; but here Cyclopean substructions bear witness still of its aboriginal builders. The accomplished, noble sense of the Milesians" for the arts is even yet perceptible in many a fragment. The world-conquering Roman eagle is still hovering over a thousand monuments of its dominion. The sliort existence of the Thracians, Bythinians,and Gallians vanished, without leaving a trace ; of the rulers, however, from the Occident — the Latini — Venetians — Genovese, most of the works yet extant, both offensive and defensive, bear witness. — The crescent, finally, upon all Turkish pinnacles, as well as upon the temples of the Romans and the churches of the Christians — emblem of the present ruling people — is likewise but a pale, setting star on the horizon of mankind — soon to disappear. Byzantium — Constantinople — Istambol ! Before thy trinal name's unity, the ."ontemplative mind casts its look into the deepness of the night — wherein the veiled servant of the universal spirit is taking up, from out the dark urn of eternity, the lots of nations and men — and distinctly perceives the hand of the forbearing, yet awfully avenging,Deity, with its flashing lightning, leading fate to judge with justice according to the eternal law of retaliation, the deeds both of nations and princes. m. THE i\IAOARA-FAL.L. The interior of North America is an immense highland platform, with numberless rivers descending from it. — Those running eastward gather, in and about Canada, in five large abysses, forming the greatest lakes upon earth : the Superior, Huron, Michigan, Erie and Ontario. These are linked together by one discharging current, at its egress from the Ontario called St. Lawrence, majestically rolling its floods, like a waving sea, over a tract of 200 miles into the Atlantic. The channel uniting the Erie with the Ontario, of which the former is of 500 feet higher elevation than the latter, is called the Niagara. The isthmus between both is a ridge now gently inclining towards the plain, but at once terminating in a perpendicular rocky wall, of from 200 to 300 feet in height. Through this bank the Niagara has dug its bed, and by its fall over the extremity of the breadth of 200 feet into the gulph below is formed, 18 miles from Niagara-fort, the most splendid of all cataracts of the known world. About three quarters of a mile even from the fall the channel is so much inclined that, looking up the current, you would suppose a mountain of water to be forcing its hundred thousand waves, with unspeakable swiftness and violence, towards the gaping mouth of a deep abyss. Before it has yet reached the wall, its waters arc dissolved into a white foam, appearing, however, solid and bright like crystal. The fall of water is parted into two arms of unequal breadth by a black cliff, bending its broad forest-grown peak threatening far over the chaos of waters. For a long time this island was considered inaccessible : a trial, however, to save some shipwrecked Indians, who had climbed up the rock and were exposed to starvation, led to the discovery that the river has on one side a shallow bottom; after incredible pains, the garrison of Niagara-fort succeeded in driving into its bed iron posts from shore to shore, and laying planks,over them, attained the purpose of their humane exertions. This small bridge was afterwards strengthened, and is now passed over with safety, by those desirous to behold in the very midst this magnificent, yet awful, spectacle of the conflict of waters. From the top of the cliff a winding path led formerly downward under a far-projecting rocky portal, over which the flood rolled in a wide-expanded arch; a few years ago, however, the violence of the waters tore off" this part of the island. 2 10 The mass of water, rushing down on the southern side, is arching and rounding itself into an immense cylinder in the very instant of its bursting over the brink, and then rolling down like an ice-berg, shining in the rays of the sun with all the colours of the rainbow. The by far broader fall on the northern side is like a water-column of the deluge, perpendicularly descending into the frightful shadowy abyss. For miles the earth trembles with the dashing of the monstrous wave upon the bottom of the depth, which as it rebounds dissolved into foaming whirlpools, rises above the woods, resembling the smoky columns of a conllagration of many towns. The walls of this formidable cataract consist of blackish-grey rocky indentations, looking under the white wavy veil like dreadful spectres, that seem every moment to change their form. Above and below the cataract the banks are overgrown with wild nut and pine-trees, the summits of which are severed by age and storms, and to the right and left far into the inland form but one dismal highland forest. No living creature is seen near at hand, except eagles and vult- ures hovering in search of prey about the gulph, into which the perpetual whirl of the waters is irresistibly drawing every thing that comes within their grasp. At all times of the year the banks of the river, below the fall, are covered with corpses of bears, deer and other animals, which in trying to cross the current above, yet too weak to resist the pressure of the flood, are carried down the fall. In autumn the quantity of wild fowls and deer, thus carried down, is so great as to suffice to supply with fresh meat the garrison of Niagara-fort, who gather it every morning ; even eagles, when seized in their flight by the whirling foam, are often hurried down into this abyss. The anxious desire, to behold the greatest wonder of nature of the new world, is annually conveying hither above 30,000 visitors. Since a few years the speculators of New-York and Boston are rapidly settling here quite near the fall, building up inns and embellishing the environs, which of themselves are so romantic : turnpike-roads are now leading whither, but a few years ago, the guidance of an Indian was needed through a pathless desert. The splendid success of these enterprises has caused the grand idea, actually in operation, to be started, to lay on the United States' side, immediately at the fall, the foundation, upon stocks, of a magnificent city, encompassed by 400 country-seats with extensive parks. Something similar is also to be done by rich Britains on the Canadian side ; and thus will the most splendid work of nature, ere long, be the very heart of a city of palaces environed by a park, the splendor of which baflSes imagination. 11 IV. THE BAI\K OF Ei\GLA.\D. Of the financial institutions which, as chief levers of the whole commerce of the world, excite interest and admiration, the bank of England ranks eminently first. It is the very heart of the money circulation over the entire earth. This estatlishment is, indeed, but one of about 4500 of a similar nature, enuineratcd by the mercantile world ; but in regard to gfeatness and extent of business, it is to any other bank as a vessel of the line to a cockboat. The bank of England is neither a state institution nor dependent upon government, as are the banks of France, Petersburgh, Vieni^ and Naples. It is a free — independent — private establishment in relation to both its foundation and administration. It commenced business in the year 1694 with a capital fund of 1,200,000 pound sterling upon stocks, by virtue ot a charter of govermient : emitting notes payable to the bearer, at any time exchangeable at their counter into ready money, which were loon valued as such throughout the whole country ; it also discounted bills of exchange, and lent money upon mortgak In consequence of the gradual aggrandizement of its transactions, it continued to increase its primary capital stocBby repeatedly creating new actions, until the year 1816, when it amounted to 14,555,000 pound sterling ; it has sincaremained stationary. The bank has still at its disposal, however, a fund of reserve of many millions pound sterlini resulting from a gradual accumulated profit. Both the adminiaation of the bank of England and its method of transacting business are founded upon the most approved and rigid jinciples of mercantile forecast and precaution. Like an immutable compass, it has during an existence of almost lb years — a period full of the most dreadful catastrophes of commerce and revolutions of the circulating medium — id under commotions withstood by no kindred institution upon earth, not only preserved it tVom ruin, but carried even b a degree of prosperity and authority beyond the ambition of mortal rivals. The periods of the greatest danger tole establishment were the years 1745 — 1780 — 1793 — 1797 — 1815 and 1825. The first of these Htical epochs — that of 1745 — was caused by the pretender of the Stuarts descending upon tiie English shore: he had lomised his soldiers the pillage of the bank. All possessed of bank-notes crowded at once round its counter, to have the^ exchanged into hard cash. When its coffers were almost cleared of large coin, it extricated 2* 12 itself from the danger of an imminent insolvency by paying all amounts of notes, indiscriminately, in small change only ; the delay, necessarily attending the paying down and counting over of large sums, rendered the task of exchange so fatiguing and troublesome to the bearers of notes, that the press yielded merely on that account, while the first success of the English arms against the pretender gave immediate relief, and removed all further danger. One by far greater was experienced during the London tumult in 1780. The mob of London was for a moment possessed of the supreme authority within the city. The bank was, indeed, occupied with its own members — an armed corps of 600 men — keeping the pressing multitude at a distance ; yet it would, nevertheless, have been lost past help, but for the coward mutineers happily delaying, for 24 hours, the appointed storming and pillaging of the same : through this delay time was afforded to the bank for strengthening its own dispositions of defence, and it was even entirely reUeved by the royal guards, who penetrated the following night into the city. In the year 1792 and 1793,England, then imder the yoke of a Tory ministiy, made, notoriously, gantlike exertions for the purpose of crushing republican France. Against this country all Europe waged war wit! English money : gold and silver were exported as subsidies ; — for want of a sufficient medium of circulation a multiude of new banks arose, the notes of which, although founded upon but moderate capital stocks, went forth delugin; the whole world. The war took an unfortunate turn : new subsidies vrere needed by the foreign powers. The increasing want of gold and silver conveyed great masses of paper money to the counters of the banks for exchange— severJ of these establish- ments got embarrassed — some of them broke : thus distrust increased — a general rush for exchage then succeeded upon the English banks, of which one third were obliged to stop payment within the first month. Te bank of England, in order to prevent a still greater calamity, supported most generously those of its fellow-institutios which had a solid foundation; it was, however, itself exposed to great imminent danger when, in the very height of he crisis — probably at the instigation of the French government, its notes were on a sudden all as in one body thrown pon it for exchange. This circumstance was the more striking as its credit in its own country remained unshaken. The subsidiary system so obstinately adhered to by the English government — running froi 1793 until 1797 but one boundless race of fury — finaUy plunging the kingdom into a fathomless debt — produced in th circulating medium,'' constantly, the most violent disturbances. The bank of England, struggUng to equipoise such;ommotions either by mediation or direct assistance, emitted a larger body of notes than it could possibly control ; in 795 even the dispro- portion of the quantity of paper in circulation to that of hard coin plainly appeared by a consnt fall of the English course of exchange. At that critical time large sums were drawn from the bank to be sent froad. The evil grew' worse and worse: the unhappy change of the continental war against France contributed rt a little to lessen the' 13 credit of England in the public opinion; but when France began seriously to prepare for a landing expedition, the anxiety about a national bankruptcy became general, by which, if it had happened, the banks would first have gone to a wreck. In the first two months of the year 1797 a terror prevailed, until then unexampled : on all sides hard coin was cried after instead of paper — on the 25th of February the bank had hardly l'/^ million pound sterling left in metal coin for exchange — the directors in secret meeting calculated the duration of its solvency to but 6 days more. In this desperate situation government seized upon the last expedient, and on the same 25th of February appeared an order of the king, prohibiting any further exchange of notes by the bank until after a definite conclusion of the universal peace. In every other country, perhaps, such a measure would have been followed by the most dreadful consequences — rendering the said paper valueless — accelerating the ruin of the very institution which it was intended to save ; the patriotism of the British, how^ever, checked the evil effectually : the bankers and merchants, both of London and the principal mercantile places of the countrj% of their own accord, unanimously resolved, to receive the notes of the bank, henceforth as before, like ready money — to continue to accept them in all accounts for full, so long as the royal act of restriction remain in force ; and, to the astonishment of the w^hole world, the notes of the bank kept up at par. It was not until the year 1808 that the doubtful consequences of this violent condition became apparent in Eng- land's money circulation. Paper coin lost in its value to gold from 6 to 12 per cent. The commercial perplexities, resulting thereof, led to a catastrophe: 1600 first-rate mercantile houses and 240 banks were, within 1814 to 1815, com- pletely lost. Finally in the year 1819 the bank of England declared itself actually ready to exchange upon presentation, pre- cisly as had been done before 1797, all its notes into gold coin: then did the value of notes no longer fluctuate, as it be- came again stationary at par. In 1824 and 1825 extravagant speculations excited new disturbances: 80 banks broke — above 200 were saved from insolvency by the exertions only of the bank of England. Out of this crisis arose the universal benefit of the bank of England wisely resolving upon establishing its branch-banks in all the principal cities of the kingdom — thus ridding the pubUc of the necessity of trusting any property to estabhshments, lacking either a solid foundation or the touchstone of management. This measure has proved exceedingly beneficial by turning off" infinite mischief, especially in our time when, by withdrawing uncommonly large masses of coin for North America and from other causes, a very sensible want of money is evermore experienced by the European wholesale commercial community. So much in a historical respect as to the bank of England. Concerning its affairs, we add what foUows. The bank, long since, assumed the care of the fiscal affairs of the government in the manner most convenient 14 - for the latter, at comparatively little expense : it pays all pensions, as also the interest of the national debt — receiv- ing in return the residue of tlie public revenue. This business branch is the most important of all : the annual exchange with government amounts to 30,000.000 pound sterling ; — although but a small percentage is taken by the bank for its attorneyship, yet a considerable profit results from it. It, moreover, draws from government a valuable profit by placing, at interest, a large proportion of its property upon floating bonds of government (exchequer certificates). The second branch of business, according to extent, is the discount : the bank discounts, conformably to the strictest principles, the bills of exchange of private individuals at a standard rate of interest, which was until 1824 constantly 5 per cent — from then till 1828 varying from 4 to 5 — then firm again at 4 per cent — in 1836, in consequence of the general want of money, raised to the old standard of 5 per cent. The bank receives also money on deposit, of which the owner may at any time dispose, but allows no interest whatever. The annual profit resulting from the circulation of its notes amounts upon an average to 500,000 pound sterling. Their notes are from 5 to a 1000 pound sterUng, everj'where supplying the place of hard coin. The fundamental capital stock of the bank is parsonal property, changing owners by mutual transfers in the books of the bank. The course is given out in parcels of 100 pound sterling each. Since 1823 the bank has invariably paid to its stock-holders 8 per cent dividend ; the prices of its stocks vary from 200 to 230 per cent : this is of itself sufficient to prove the flourishing state of the institution. The administration is confided to a board of directors freely chosen by and of the stock-holders, under a governor assisted by a vice-governor. The body of bank officers consists of from 500 to 600 persons, all obliged, respectively, to give large security, but receiving considerable salaries. They form at once a guard for protecting and defending the property of the bank in times of danger. The immense palace of the bank of England represented in our fine steel engraving — forming together with the buildings, separated from it by only two narrow streets, of the great and funds exchanges — Lloyd's coffee-house and others the very focus of the world's commerce — is situate in the centre of the city. The bank alone covers the immense area of about 13 acres — a larger space than that of any royal residence in Europe : it stands entirely open formin<^ an irregular quadrangle, with 4 entrances and 8 inner-courts. The number of the halls — saloons (some with dome-like roof-works) — counting-rooms — cash-vaults — dwellings for the officers and shot and fire proof magazines for securing gold and silver, amounts to about 700. The frontispieces are all of a grand style, and many parts of the structure are faithful imitations of Roman and Greek temples and triumphal arches. On stirring business days the number of those coming and going is beyond 20,000, and an indescribable impres- fsilarfs R^^ JJumtfroBa c^f fiip I-^rj-nilal^-^rizs I%il),'t(>1>h.l X A Bi>>U^tfr, '♦, iY^iifiCiJis; -tiivij xdO'iijxa.' 'r js^-irvic-iya fLUd^lfthj X A * '*■' 15 sion is caused upon the foreigner not accustomed to such scenes of the great drama of business life, as he hurries along with his cicerone through these numberless spaces, constantly pursued with that singular noise arising from the scraping of innumerable quills — the low busy whispering — the perpetual hum of numbers — the hissing turning over of leaves in numbering notes — the jingling and ringing of the gold and silver coins — the clattering and rattling of the gold and silver bars, while he is absorbed in considering that here is often done, in one day, business of a greater amount than in many a kingdom in a whole year. The bullion-office — the vaulted stores for preserving the gold and silver-bars, more particularly attracts the interest of the common visitor: here the precious metals are seen, disposed in the fairest order, in layers reaching up to the ceiling, and in other vaults masses of quite new gold and silver coins so prodigious as to bewilder one's senses — recalling to memory the happy imaginations created by the enchanting tales of the nursery time. Now and then these stocks of ready cash amount to about 30,000,000 pound sterhng : the amount of notes in circulation, when highest, was 54,000,000 pound sterling; it is, however, upon an average, below one half of it. The manufactory of the bank-notes is very ingenious : it is done within the banking-house by means of an engine, to which the directors have the key in common ; this is a master-piece of mechanics of modern times — its product is absolutely inimitable. Before the introduction of these new notes in the year 1821, falsifying and counterfeiting of the bank-paper was carried on to an almost incredible extent: there were societies for this purpose both in England and abroad, systematically dividing among themselves the functions of preparing, and issuing notes ; in one year (1819) appeared at the bank 67,000 false notes for exchange. The severity of the penalty — to be hanged upon any proven falsification — did not prevent the crime : within the short time of 8 years were capitally condemned about 700 counterfeiters — 240 actually executed ; since the introduction of the engine, however, this criminal trade is entirely done away — the best proof of their inimitability. 16 V. CORDOVA m SPAE\. Few cities on earth are so remarkable by the vicissitudes of their fate — so worth seeing because of the splendor of their monuments — so attractive by the stateliness of their position, as the royal Cordova. 