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86 



TEEE ILLIISrOIS F^HIVEER. 



EFcnts, Speculations on the Fntnre, &c. 



The Leviathan steamship, judging 

 from present indications, ■svill not be 

 ready for sea this season. The equip- 

 ments of such a ship are so varied and 

 extensive, embracing wants and demands 

 common to us all, as well as those pecu- 

 liar to the sea, that anything like haste 

 or hurry is necessarily discarded. That 

 she will commence a new era in com- 

 merce, is our opinion. Subject to all 

 the vicissitudes incident to new under- 

 takings, the principle of size in vessels 

 will yet succeed. Largeness of view 

 and execution characterizes this centu- 

 ry. In floating bodies give us size for 

 safety, for speed, for the conveyance of 

 passengers, troops, or cargo. If we are 

 to drown, or sink, or be submerged in 

 the ice, let us do it on a big scale, with 

 plenty of company to share the fate ! 

 But this contingency will be avoided in 

 proportion to the size that vessels are 

 built. Compartments, so difficult in 

 small vessels, are an acknowledged part 

 of the structure in large ones, and add 

 to safety, as well as strength. They 

 are made water-tight, and it is clear 

 that injury sustained in one of them, 

 will not peril the whole mass ; that its 

 whereabouts will be known ; and further- 

 more, that cargo or baggage can be re- 

 moved from the disabled section, with- 

 out disarranging the other portions. 



This solidity of construction can stand 

 gi'eater injury, can run over common 

 vessels and other bodies without much 

 of a scratch, can meet an iceberg and 

 beat its bow out, Avith the stern portions 

 still continuing a rock of safety. These 

 enormous vessels will be swifter than 

 the small ones. Friction daes not in- 

 creaoc in the same ratio with length ; the 

 momentum once given can be more easi- 

 ly maintained; the "pitching" we may 

 consider as entirely obviated, the " rol- 

 ling" to a very great extent, both of 

 which obstruct speed. 



In the theatre of migration and 

 change that the world presents to us, in 

 the journeyi;igs thr.t have become so im- 

 portant an element in human life, whole 

 colonies can move in these arks, under 

 control more exclusively devoted to 

 purposes of safety than smaller vessels 

 are ever likely to attain. We, there- 

 fore, hail v.ith satisfaction the advent of 

 this new steamer ; care very little what 

 country claims the honor of its origin ; 

 hope its projectors will succeed in their 

 every anticipation ; have always regret- 



ted as a universal loss the misfortune 

 attendant on the launching, and hope 

 the inquisitive of this country will see 

 her in one of our harbors ere many 

 months, or certainly by the time a year 

 has passed away. 



A Rotary Steam Engine appears at 

 length to be in successful operation on 

 our side of the water. From the re- 

 marks made, we should judge that the 

 principle has long been a desideratum 

 in motive power. The " Double Rotary 

 Steam Engine," invented by Mr. Bar- 

 rows, of New York City, is now placed 

 on board the propellor "Dawn," running 

 between New York and Fairhaven, (near 

 New Bedford) and proves a perfect suc- 

 cess. It is the opinion of gentlemen 

 who have investigated the subject, that 

 this engine will supercede all others for 

 locomotives, and for general use. The 

 company, who have this thing in hand, 

 are men of great prudence ; they have 

 suppressed any undue anticipation, and 

 now present their invention to the world 

 as a full and perfect result in mechan- 

 ics. The vessel made ten knots per 

 hour, under considerable disadvantage, 

 being in light ballast, with the propellor 

 not more than three quarters sub- 

 merged. This engine can be construct- 

 ed at one-half the cost of the old ones ; 

 it consumes less than half the fuel ; it 

 occupies less than half the space of the 

 engines on the old principle, and with 

 similar power ; does not create that dis- 

 agreeable jarring observed in our river 

 steamers, and hence may be considered 

 as a very important invention. 



The Kansas Bill is at length passed, 

 the government resorting to measures 

 that its enemies will take advantage of, 

 and its friends cannot praise. Whether 

 the proposition will be accepted by the 

 people of Kansas, remains yet to be de- 

 termined ; but as a friend observed, 

 "white man is very uncertain," es- 

 pecially when an appeal is made to his 

 selfishness. When great changes are 

 maturing in the hearts of nations, gov- 

 ernments are always the last to give 

 way. Our own should not certainly lag 

 behind the convictions of the people, but 

 keep in advance of them. 



The revival movement in religion con- 

 tinues unabated, the laymen in the com- 

 munity being the more active partici- 

 pants, as we think they should be. We 

 hopt the salvation sought after will be 

 from fin, from actual, tangible wrong- 

 doing, so that we may have an essential- 

 ly better Avorld to live in — not in any 

 merely mythic sense, but in some efiect- 

 ive sense, and we are constrained to be- 

 heve that the present movement is in 

 that direction, and trust that succeeding 

 ones will become more efficacious to 

 good works, until in time, deeds and 

 thoughts will form our best prayers, and 



reference to God underlay every act of 

 the life. 



Immigration from foreign countries 

 has very largely fallen oflF this season, 

 in comparison to former years. In the 

 early months, business in the eastern 

 factories was suspended, and the Scotch, 

 and Irish from the north of Ireland, who 

 are mostly manufacturers, returned 

 home; thus checking the zeal of those 

 who were about to embark for this coun- 

 try. In Germany, also, unfavorable re- 

 ports of employment were circulated, 

 producing a like result. AVe believe, 

 however, that nothing can substantially, 

 or for a length of time, check the mi- 

 gration to America. The great tides of 

 human movement are Avestward. Gov- 

 ernments and people are becoming more 

 free, and this is the land where the 

 practical results are best attained, 

 where the chronic power of old institu- 

 tions is removed and obliterated. We 

 have untold millions of aci*es of land, 

 where the human foot scarcely ever trod. 

 New States springing up to the base of 

 the Rocky Mountains, with all the ideal, 

 if not positive value attached to such 

 scenes to make them attractive ; and we 

 have, better still, a ridge of old States, 

 with Maryland on the East, including 

 the " Old Dominion," and Missouri on 

 the West, ready to abandon exclusive la- 

 bor, not in consequence of the noise of 

 politicians, but from its OAvn inherent in- 

 ability to produce the fullest prosperity 

 or happiness. 



In the Southern Hemisphere, Buenos 

 Ayres, and the contiguous territory sur- 

 rounding the great river La Plata, is as 

 magnificent a country as the sun ever 

 shone upon; and but cross the Andes, 

 and you come upon Chili, very similar 

 in its topography and configuration to 

 California, whose valleys teem in rich- 

 ness, and the temperature of whose cli- 

 mate is unrivalled, putting forth in law- 

 lessness both temperate and tropical 

 vegetation, the grape and the olive of 

 the latter, being presented side by side 

 in the markets of Valparaiso and Co- 

 quimbo, with vegetable products similar 

 to our own, that we have never seen ex- 

 celled, if Ave have seen them equalled. 

 In these tAVo regions of South America 

 Avill the nations of Europe ultimately 

 pour the excess of their population, and 

 the density of our OAvn may find an out- 

 let in the same direction. 



We trust our Government will not be 

 slow to look after its interests, commer- 

 cial and other Avise, in tlj.ose growing 

 States, especially Avith Buenos Ayres. 

 Brazil is another fine country ; an em- 

 pire of liberal tendency ; and New 

 Grenada is thrown into the arena of 

 great and increasing intercourse with 

 the other nations of the world, that 

 should enure to her benefit. Mexico, to 

 all intents and purposes, belongs to thg 



