erittroftOrna.
FROM OUR,SPZCIAL EUROPEAN CORRES
PONDENT.
EDINBURGH; Aug. 23, 1867.
DEAR EDITOR: From Leamington, a ride of
twelve hours brings us to this, the most beauti
ful city we have yet seen in Europe. It is a city
of hills and vallies, of fine edifices, splendid parks
and beautiful monuments. It is built on three
ridges or hills, with two deep yanks between
them. 'hie general course of the ridges is-par
allel, running east and west. These hills'and ra
vines enable you• to see an immense variety of
buildings, parks, monuments, &c., at a single
I am standing on one ridge looking at the par
allel one beyond. At my feet is "a beautiful park
with winding walks'and grass and trees, covering
the deep valley. At the bottom of the depres
sion ruiisihe raiiroid, dividing the parkin two.
To
( ray left rises the Scott monument, certainty
the indit beintiftir architectural deSign'we have
seen in Europe. Four Gothic arches unite over
the head of Soca, who sits on a raised` platform
in the Centre. Above, the arches and turrets rise
in pyramidal form, and terminate in a central
spire, 180 feet from the ground. The monument
is of brofvn stone and the statue of marble. Be
yond the monunient on the opposite side - of the
valley, rise high stone houses, forming, the oldest
part of the city, and near them is seen the steeple
of St. Giles' cathedral, in which John Knox
preached in stormylays. The house he lived in
is in the same *street. Directly opposite me,
across the valley, rises the Bank of Scotland; an
immense building in ornamental style, with dome.
To the.right , of it is the Free Church Assembly
Hall, with double tower, a commanding-looking
buildifig, splendidly located; below it, with fine
colonnade, is the national gallery of paintings,
stretching ; across the valley, being built on a
high Mound. Nearer to us, on this side the val
ley, is the national gallery of antiquities, with
pretty Corinthian colonnade; above the last two
buildings rises in the background, the Castle,
built on its mighty rock foundation
For natural beauty, with fine architectural de
coration,we have nowhere seen this view, in the
heart of Edinburg surpassed—all within half a
mile and taken in at a glance,
Now looking eastward, on the same street upon
which I stand, we see Calton hill rising abruptly
at the end of the street, half a mile off. On it
stand a high monument to Nelson, a monument
to Dugald Stewart, another to Burns—a beau
tiful colonnade forming part of an unfinished Na
tional Monument, while at the base of the hill to
the right stands the jail, which, to catiy_ out the
prevailing idea - of architectural effect, must
needs be built as a collection of towers of all
sizes and shapes, to resemble a castle of the feu
dal ages. We counted in this pile'fifteen round
towers and half a dozen square ones, all turreted.
Just beyond the jail is the high-school, consisting
of several buildings whose fine Grecian facades
and colonnades remind one of the pictures of the
Acropolis at Athens, and furnish one of the rea
sons why they call this city the modern Athens.
Waterloo place, the terminus of the street near
Calton hill, is filled with fine buildings, among
which is the Post Office; near by are other pub
lic buildings of architectural beauty, in front of
which is a fine bronze equestrian statue of Well
ington. A short distance back of this is a col
umn 150 feet high, surmounted by a colossal
statue of Lord Melville. It stands in the centre
of the beautiful square of St. Andrew, laid out
in- grass and shade trees; and around.the square
are very fine buildings, among which are several
banks of beautiful architectural design. The
British Linen Company's Bank particularly has
six tall columns in front, each surmounted by
colossal figures representing science, mannfac
tures, commerce, Ac. The public squares and
circles filled with gram& and shade-trees are very
numerous in the city, giving it an air of comfort
and 'elegance we had not expected.
At the west end of the city, is a beautiful pile
of buildings, known as Donaldson's hospital. The
style is unique and very beautiful—with numer
ous square towers at the corners and fine octa
gonal•ones at the entrance door. The spires on
all these towers impart a fine effect to the whole.
James Donaldson, a printer, died more than
thirty years ago leaving over one million dollars
to build•anid endow the institution for the educe
cation and maintenance of poor children. Some
180 are in it now, between six and fourteen years
of age.
Another similar institution is Heriot's Hospi
tal, also for educating poor boys, which was
founded by George Heriot, goldsmith to Queen
Anne. The endowment has now grown so large
that 3000 children are taught under it. Few of
them, however, are in the main building, which
is a splendid pile, built, in the style prevalent in
1600, with square towers, each one having a little
round tower jutting out from its four corners at
the top.
There are other fine public buildings and miles
of handsome residences, most of them, built of
granite and presenting a very substantial appear
pee, with an eye to good architectural effect
everywhere, evident. The, Old. Town, as it is
called, is in
. grcat.coßkr,94,,kowever, With the
new—for there the buildings often rise to the
THE AMERICAN PRESBYTERIAN, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 1867.
height of nine, ten, and sometimes fourteen
storieß, with different families occupying each
flat. A dense poliulation is crow4d into the
Old Town, which contains allies, courts and closes,
which swarm%wi„kh the poor and the destitute,
and are almost, as repulsive in appearance as the
new town is inviting.
EDINBURGH CASTLE
Overlooks'the whole city, its fine location making
it a prominent object for many miles around.
Passing through the Old Town, ytni
dually. the Castle hill, and when you look out
over the battlements a fine view presents itself in
every direetien. Due west, rises Arthur's seat,
a grand eminence, also overlooking the city, and
equallyas high as the :hill on which the castle
stands. It is just outside the eastern edge of the
town. To the left of it, is Calton Hill with its
monuments, while the city lies between it and
the ; Castle , and spreads out on each , You
loOk down on all its open squares, its bridges
across the ravine: . its 'Aria; its fine buildings
and monuments L--a Ifeitutiful4inbraina. To the
northward, the Frith of Forth stretches far as the
eye can reach, penetrating into the country to
the west, and op,ening : lide toward, the, sea. „past
wardly. Around you to the
,westward, lie fields
and farms, rolling laud, hills,and vallies,a love
ly prospect. , - ,
The Castle! is memorable in ,Soottith history.
It 'dates back to. the 11th century,and` has been
taken and retaken in various. attacks and sieges.
On the Hill stands an old iron basket as large , as, half
a hogshead, in which ‘the - bale , fires, were burned
in oldeu, times, to, notify, the Scotch that the old
enemy the English- were coming, while' in answer
to it beacon fires were lighted 'from bill, to hill
all over Scotland. .An immense old cannon is
mounted on the wall, which was forged, about
the time Columbus first - crossed the Atlantic, one
of the first large cannon, ever. made. It is thir
teen feet long and twenty• inch es calibre, with
some of the old, stone balls lying by, whkh were
made for. it. It is said to have thrown a ball two
miles. It is made of latitudinal bars of iron
welded together, with heavy rings shrunk around
them from one end to the, other. One• of the
rings near the breech burst when, 'it was last
fired, 200 years ago.
The old crown-jewels are shown in the crown
room. They are surrounded by a large iron
cage, and consist of the crown made in the time
of Robert Bruce, a sceptre made -at a later, date,
and sword of state five feet long, presented by
Pope Julius 11. to James IV., in 1507, a golden
collar given by Queen Elizabeth, to James VI.,
a ring worn by Charles. I. at his coronation, and
several other articles. Rooms are shown which
were occupied by Mary Queen of Scots; also a
little chapel . , on the very summit of the rock . ,
called Saint Margaret's - Chapel, only - ten feet by
sixteen, which was built in, the 12th.century and
is the oldest building of any kind in Edinburgh;
the rest of the Castle having all been removed, or
rebuilt at some later period.
About a mile to the eastward, directly through
he Old Town, is
HOLYROOD PALACE,
with the ruins of the Abbey adjoining. The
palace was the home of Mary Queen of Scots.
Her bed-room is shown, with bed and other: fur
niture. The curtains were of rich satin damask
with heavy fringes. A piece of her needle-work
lies on-fer work-stand. It is a representation of
Jacob's dream, in which the sheep lying about
are nearly as large as Jacob himself or the angels
on the ladder. In this room John Knox 'had
his memorable interview with the Queen, in
which his eloquent appeals frequently wrought
her to tears. The room in which Rizzio was
murdered still shows marks of his blood. The
palace =was occupied by the unfortunate queen
just three hundred years ago, her removal to her
long prison in Loch Leven Castle having taken
place in 1567.
The old Abbey adjoining is a beautiful ruin.
-It was founded in 1128, and accommodated the
Parliament under King John Baliol and his son
Edward.
Near the palace rises Arthur's Seat, a bold pre
cipitous hill overlooking the city. A fine carriage
'road winds round the hill, from which a beautiful
landscape opens, including the Frith of Forth
With Leith, Musselburgh and other towns on its
.shores. On the plain below can be seen the resi
dence of the Marquis of Abercorn, Dedestill
Park—a fine picture of green meadow and dark
forest—the Craig Miller Castle, whither Mary
Queen of Scots fled before being taken to Loch
Leven. -The red stone walls, the little lakes with
wooded margin, all forma pretty pictuie, bound
ed in the distance by Midlothianshire, the Pent
land and the LaMmermoor hills.'
With regret we turned from these lovely sights,
only wishing we had a month to spend in Edin
burg and its neighborhood, where every hill and
every plain has its thrilling historic reminiscdn
ce, or its legend of poetic fancy. The people are
a busy, thrifty race, with but little show of desti
tution or poverty in the streeti
The Sabbath is a peculiarly quiet, home-like
day—stores all closed, no railroad trains running,
and' well-dressed people filling the churches.
IT becomes a soldier to die fighting, and a
minister to diepreaching, and a Christian to' dig,
praying.
FROM OUR TRAVELLING CORRESPONDENT
IN THE WEST.
EDEN, 11.11., Oct. 23,18b"5.
DEAR EDITOR: I believe that lan in "Egypt"
wheiN4l4e....omtfital is Cairo, though that district
seems to fly like the mirage before the advancing
traveller. It may be called a variable—a van
ishing quantity. Few people in Southern Illi
nois will acknowledge that they live in "Egypt,"
though , they acknowledge that it • is " just
about ten miles farther South." And yet'
this name of " Egypt" is not primarily one of
reproach. - It was not taken from Egyptian dark
ness nor from Cairo, but from the fact that in
days gone by, the people to' the North of it
"came down" hither "to buy bread." Its polit
ical complexion has indeed given a new signifi
cance to the name, but even here there are many
highly favored " Lands' of Goshen," where the
light of gospel and political truth reigns. Elec
tion returns are not the surest gnide to the pre_
va. .
quality of society,'. for universal suffrage
only 'counts Inca instead *of weighing them:
The substrata o?`society liericare'of.Southern
Origin, and divide themselves into classes,—the
poor- whites' 'who caind hither for - land, and 'the
conscientious whites who came to escape from the
contamination of slavery. -The latter are mainly
PresbyterianB of the , Psaltn-ainging denOmina
tions—Reformed Presbyteriana Or Covenanters
(of the two kinds). from Tennessee and`South
Carolina, and Associate Reformed from Kentucky,
&c. These people are characterized 'by the high
degree of intelligence, which -generally charao
izes those who have made" sacrifices for con=
'science' sake, higher 'than one born and reared in
a great city is likely to have any idea of. They
would have a'much greater united influence in
politics, did all these denoniinations feel at liber
ty to vote, but the Old Side Covenanters will not
swear to support any constitution Which does not
acknowledge " the crowned rights'of king Eman
uel." Hence it is that the- constitutional amend
ments proposed by the "'National Refortn 'Asso
ciation," and advocated by your neighbors of the
Christian Stateman, are much more widely and
cordially supported by Republicans of allidenomi
nations than they are in the East ;—partly, I pre
sinne, in the hope that their adoption will leave
these Covenanters conscience-free to vote, and so
turn the balance of power in several- 'counties.
While the =members of the other denominations
vote, it is not to be supposed that their churches
are indifferent to the way in which this right is
exercised. When the State constitution was be
fore the people, in 1854 or thereabouts, one mem
ber in the N. S. Covenanter Church was " de
prived of privileges" for voting for the "black
clause," forbiddinkfree negroes to immigrate
into—the — State.' And now they vote solidly for
the right side. • .
Slave-holding inteleranee, which drove the
Covenanters out of South Carolina, has left a few
in Eastern and Middle Tennessee, who have
been known as the unswerving champions of the
rights of the colored race. The most prominent
of these, Mr. Wm. Wyatt, of Lincoln county,
has recently been chosen by the votes of the
Freedmen, whom he stood by in the day of, ad
versity, to the State• Senate ; while others of the
same stock have been elected to offices of honor
and trust.
This Goshen element has been of late years
pretty strongly reinfored by immigrants from
Scotland, who are showing the natives what far
ming ought to be ;—as also by Germans around
St. Louis, and New Englanders along the route
of the Illinois Central, the great State monopoly.
The " poor whites!' of Egypt are numerically
the strongest party, butwere never as low as the
poor whites of the South. They are now fast
rising in the social scale under the influence of
examples of industry and thrift, and will stand as
high •as any in the course of time. Politically,
they are of course Democrats of the deepest dye,
many of them K. G. C.s, but the signs of the
times presage better things. They have sense
enough to know that Republican papers give the
latest and most reliable news, and many of them
subscribe just on this acconnt for the St. Louis
Democrat (Rep.) and praise, if they do not take,
that excellent political weekly the N. Y. Inde
pendent. In church= mattersthey are variously
striped. The hard-shell Baptists are strong
among them, and the Campbellites are popular:
But the peculiar and characteristic Egyptian
Church—a Church after Nasby's own head—is
the SoutheAl Methodist, which was organized
during the war, by an omnibus full of M. E. lo
cal preachers, under the name of the " Christian
Union Church." During this present month, at
Nashville, 111., they were re-organized as a Confer
ence of the M. E. Church South, and received
to full membership by an M. E. Bishop. They
are a sort of hard-shell Methodists, southern in
all their sympathies and defects, not southern - in
their want of any measure of that culture which
characterized the planter of the sunny South.
The. planters passed over the grain fields and
wooded land of Southern Illinois in disdain, and
entered upon the rich plains of Missouri beyond
the river.
And yet Southern Illinois is a country rich
beyond "all my expectations. It is the wheat
field of the State, a land of sorghum, castor
beans, peaches and Tivers; .a land everywhere
under-laid with coal beds, with the iron mines
of -Missouri ,, across tb,e river and within easy
reach. The wheat and castor bean crops are
G. W. 1K
very profitable. The -latter whiCh is no other
than our old friend Jonah's gourd (patina christi)
at once strikes the eye, looking like a plantation
of young trees, with conical black clusters of
beans at the top. A sight of it adds to one's
pleasant associations with the article. TlartreftlTS
sell here at $2.30 per bushel.
The past summer has shown to some little ex
tent what this section of the country can do in
the matter of fruit. The Illinois Central was
obliged to run special fruit trains in order to con
-veY thh - produce of the orchards to market. But
the capabilities of the country in this respect
are only now beginning to be diseovered : With
her long summer and short winter, Egypt is ca
pable of producinga much greater - variety, arid
in much greater abundance than at present. At
present she produces only the varieties imported
by settlers from the poorer North, and her farm
ers seem to have hardly learned orchards need and
will pay for cultivatiOn as well as any other part
of the farm. ,
The surface of the country is btoken np a good
deal, - though Pittsbitighe.r looks in Vain for
anything worthy to be called a hill. Prairie and
woodland are pretty evenly distributed. The lat
ter filla up the creek " bottoins" and has grown
in extent since the cessation of the great fires
which ; used to thin out the undergrowth. There
'is 'far more timber in Southern Illinois than there
*as' 30 years agb, although so much has been
used for building, fencing and fuel. In the
counties that I have seen, no farm is more than
three miles from timber, while to cut it even
when clOse at hand is more expensive. than to
buy tituminottsCoal. The first settlers seem
haVe always sought to settle in the timber, al
though before they could plant anything they
had to' clear-out their farms at a great outlay
of time and labor. He dreaded to settle on the
higher-and more healthy lands out on the prairies,
when they only needed to enclose the fields and
plow them up, lest they should run short of fuel
or be eaten up by the wolves.
AS to the social c'endition of Egypt, I know
only in regard to the Land of Goshen, and I he
lieve that it will compare favorably
. with the
.
East; it is certainly far ahead of Bucks county,
I was nnder nb'prepossession in favor of the West,
but rather with the old colored preacher's heau
titude in my mind,—" Blessed are they who ex
pect nothing, fur they won't be disappointed." I
should rather 03F--" for they will be disappointed."
I certainly expected no such intelligence and re
finement, perhaps because I judged from recol
le.cticins of country districts and towns in the Old
World. Things which I would dread to say to
many congregations lest I should be-" taken up
wrong," I could say here with perfect confi
dence that I would be understood. In Philadel
phia it is worth while to quote Beecher's last
oddity: here every one has read, it, and it has
ceased to be news. Nor let it be supposed that
rigidity of opinion is at all incompatible with in
tellectual power and acquirements. Many who
would not vote so long as the U. S. Constitution
is not" Christianized," though it were to save the
State, or who would not sing a hymn to God's
praise for the wealth of the Indies, are none the
less men of wide and varied reading and generai
information
The future of Egypt, as far as this world's
goods go, is in her towns, mines, railroads and
manufactures.. The evils of unmixed agricul
ture, the heavy taxes of transportation, are all in
the way of 'progress. But the " local centres"
which are Hon. H. C. Carey's social panacea, are
springing up on all sides, bringing railroads,
banks, hotels, mills and factories. Eden, from
which I write, was once the centre of all the re
gion lying round about,—but it has now for the
mostpart decamped to Sparta, two miles distant.
The old Bethel R. P. Church in Eden, is the re
ligious centre of the district To it the Churches
on all the surrounding prairies trace their de
scent; like a huge strawberry it has. thrown out
runners on all sides. Its pastor, Rev. S. Wylie,
father of Rev. W. T. Wylie, of Newcastle, Pa.,
is the oldest minister in the denomination, and
has been among the earliest settlers of the re
gion, and has seen it in all its changes, since the
days whetPthe Indian trails were the horseman's
only guide across the prairie, and when flocks of
deer flashed under the open timber, and wolves
prowled around the homes of the settlers. He
preached in earlier days from a board resting be
tween two trees, and was twice interrupted by
visits from snakes, after their house of worship
was erected. He has ridden thousands of miles
over the West and South, now spending five
weeks in coming to attend Synod in Philadel
phia, now riding over the mountain roads of
East Tennessee, as well as through Northern Al
abama and South Carolina, busied in the minis
try of the word. Full of years and good works,
he seems likely to see many more days on earth,
and possesses a freshness of mind and body which
half his years spent in a city would have robbed
him of. His house is a common centre of at
traction to all who love the Lord, a place where
they forget to hate, and drop the bigotry of lib
eralism as well as the bigotry of stringency, re
joicing in one Lord and one love.
Yours truly, ON THE WING.
OBSERVE the order in which Providence sends
your mercies. See how one is Haled strangely
to another, and is a door to let in many. Some
.
times one mercy is introductive to a thousand.
THE "YOUNG MAN AND PIOUS DIVINE.
[These two communications, pendents to the
discussion► on Millenarianism, have been over.
fooked, by mere accident, er they would have
appeared earlier. This ends the matter, iu o ur
columns.]
REv. JOHN W. MEAtts, D. D : DEAR SIR
I exceedingly regret the necessity of asking
space for a brief statement, which I had hoped
would have been avoided by such corrections as
Mr. Eva might have made of his, to be presum,d,
unintentional misrepresentations in his second
article on Millenarianism, respecting " a young
man and a pious divine;" but which, for reasons
of his own, he has declined. .
I. It is not true,,in any sense, that the young
man "was put" or that "he put himself" under
the care of said divine. It is true that said di
vine took him to do the best by him that he
could, to instruct him and.introduce him into the
•
ministry.
2: It is not true that said divine, "in common
with many others" of like faith at that time,be
lieved that- the Lord Jesus would certainly come in
1843." It is true that said divine was a Millen
arian, and believed that the second coming of
Christ was nigh at hand, and so believes still.
3. It is not true that said divine set the young
man to preachino. "under. the idea that if he did
not then begin, as the dispensation would end in
little more than a year, he would have no oppor
tunity of engaging in the work of the ministry."
It is true that said divine set him to preaching
under the impression that he was called of God
to the work of the ministry ; and that he urged
the brevity of human life, and the nearness of
Christ's coming, as motives to duty. The Millen
arian views of said divine, had nothing to do
with setting the young man to preach ; for he
would have set him to preach as and when he
did, if they had been Anti-millenavian. Other
circumstances not necessary to be made public,
influenced him thereto.
4. Said divine regrets, as truly as Mr. Eva
himself, that circumstances prevented him from
carrying him forward his studies to a more
thorough preparation for the work; but having
done for him the best he could, and having start
ed him on a career of usefUlness in the ministry,
iristead.of haVing inflicted a mischievous injury
on the young Man. asMr. .tva's statements
• .
ply, 'he feels that he wasinstrumental under God
of calling him into the ministry and starting him
in his work. , •
It is proper to add that the Undersigned never
saw the recent " card froni Mr. Era," until nearly
two Weeks after its publication, and considers
such a pretended response - to'his'demand for cor
rection as worse than none at all.
JOHN G. WILSON.
THE "PIOUS DIVINE" AND "YOUNG MAN"
ONCE MORE.
I am glad Mr. Editor, that you are about to
publish the statement from Mr. Wilson. There
is a wide difference between us as to our recol
lection and understanding of the facts in the
case; but it was fair and proper that he should
have the benefit of his own version of the mat
ter. I imagine that your, thousands of readers
have very little interest in the thing, and that it
is therefore a presumption to parade it before
them< in your columns: but it is perhaps proper
that I should be guilty of the presumption just
once.more, to say, that notwithstanding his cor
rections, I adhere to the original statement
(with the modification already published) as be
ing, in all particulars both true, and a pertinent
illustration of the mischievous tendency of Mil
lenarian speculations. W. T. Eva.
THERE are two glasses turned up this day,
and both almost run down; the glass of the
gospel running down on earth, and the glass of
Christ's patience running down in heaven. 13e
sure of it, that for every sand of mer.y, every
drop of love, that runs down in vain in this
world, a drop of wrath runs into the vial of
wrath which is fitting in heaven.
Rev. J. B. Waterbury . , who has been engagea
in tent-preaching in the vicinity of New York, sacs
that the whole system of our costly churches and
high pew rents, walling out one class of citizens ei -
tirely from another, class, separating the ministry
from the masses, necessitates a new economy, ad
renders imperative anew order of things. The Gos
pel must be preached to all. It is Heaven's cont.
mand. If it cannot be done in the churches, it mug
be done outside. It is with this view, [add;lllr. Wi
we have instituted our tent-services on Fort Greer.
More than a year ago. early in July, the preaching
tent was spread. It is a large canopy open all round,
and furnishes standing-room for nearly a thousand
- persons. From the first it has been filled with an
attentive and earnest audience, most of whom have
no home in any of our city sanctuaries. The 3S/a.P
"of Brooklyn authorized its er4tion in the name of
the Young Men's Aasociation ef,4lrooklyn. It w m
to be taken down, and removed its icittos the refl . (
gious services were terminated. The City ClergY u t i
various denominations were in turn to-officiate ,
an
nothing sectarian was to be introduced. The situp,
"Gospel,, embracing repentance toward GO,l, and
faith in *our Lord jeans Christ," with the obliga
tions of a holy life, was to be the theme. These con
ditions have been scrupulously carried out. Eve r Y
pleasant Sabbath the preaChing.tent has gone IT
and the audiences, which have been large, have
served the same decorous deportment usual in on!
churches. At times they have po been deeply atfeet.e!L
and have seein'ettrelnetant to leave the spot.. -
disorderly conduct; no. disturbance whatsoever hot
appearcd. It . maY have been that in some othe
part of this Vaten'sivepark an occasional outhrealc
of rowdyism hat( taken. place,- but it has no connect
tion whatever with our tent-preaching. — -Ar• Y.
bone.