tion--Public revenue and expenditure-Encouragement of the Arts and Sciences by the Government-Injurious restrictions on trade-Trades' Corporations--Need of re

form

VISIT TO SCANDINAVIA.

CHAPTER I.

VOYAGE FROM HAVRE TO HAMBURG.

Departure from Havre in the steamer Paris-Great increase of steam-boats engaged in the commerce of this city-beauty of the weather and the scene in passing the straits of Dover and Calais-Vast commerce of the North ScaScene of the destruction of the Invincible Armada-Battle of CamperdownAdmirals Duncan and De Winter-The loss of life in some of the great naval battles of England, compared with that of some of her great battles on land -Those of the Nile, Copenhagen, Trafalgar, Salamanca, Vittoria, Waterloo-Approach to the Elbe-Heligoland-Cuxhaven-Ascent of the ElbeScenery on each bank-Stade-Blankenese-Altona-Arrival at Hamburg, and the debarkation.

JULY 11, 1840.-Left Havre at 7 o'clock, P. M., in the steam-boat Paris for Hamburg. The weather was mild and beautiful. The sun was fast descending to the horizon, and to his "ocean-bed," as our noble steam-ship moved majestically out of the basin, or artificial harbor, in the heart of the city, and passed through the Grand Canal, which forms the entrance to the haven from the River Seine. In a few moments we were on the broad expanse of that river, just where it empties itself into the English Channel. In a few moments more we rounded the high bluff that lay on our right hand, lost sight of the city and its forest of masts, rising up amidst its houses and overtopping them, and were fairly on our way for the North.

Our steam-ship was one of the line of steam-vessels which run weekly between Havre and Hamburg. These ships are vessels of what may be called the first class, as it regards size, and are propelled by powerful engines. The length of the Paris is one hundred and eighty feet. In proportion to her length she is a narrow vessel, sharp-built, and well constructed for swiftness.

It is surprising to remark how rapidly the number of steam-boats, which issue from Havre, have increased since the year 1835. At that epoch, there were but few running, and those few were chiefly confined to the navigation of the Seine. At present, besides those which run daily up to Rouen, or across to Honfleur, there are now regular lines of steam-boats established between Havre and the following named points, and which issue from it, as from a focus, viz. Cherbourg, Morlaix, Bordeaux, Lisbon, Cadiz and the Mediterranean ports, Portsmouth and Southampton, London, Dunkirk, Antwerp, Amsterdam, Hamburg, Copenhagen, and St. Petersburg. There are, probably, between thirty and forty steam-boats now plying between Havre and other ports; a few years ago there were but five or six.

Our course, north-eastward, was along the coast of France, and at but a few miles' distance, from it. But night soon came on, and put an end to the rich enjoyment which we found in sitting on the deck and contemplating the shores of a country, which, though foreign, contained so many objects around which our affections most tenderly clustered. The next morning, as we came on deck, our noble steam-ship was moving with majesty and rapidity through the narrow strait which separates England from the continent. As we held on our midway-path, the bold white cliffs on our left, beneath which the little city of Dover reposes, and the more humble coast on our right,

with the ancient city of Calais rising on its margin, were equally and fully in view.

No one, we think, can enter the German or North Sea, by the Straits of Dover and Calais, in a fine day, and a transparent atmosphere, without being struck with the sight of the great number of sails which he sees in every direction. Every thing betokens the vicinity of some great commercial emporium. It is to or from London, the commercial metropolis of the world, that these numerous vessels are going or coming. But not all: on the other side of this busy sea, so full of life in all directions, lie the important and flourishing cities of Antwerp, Rotterdam, Amsterdam and Hamburg, with their crowded ports; whilst still further to the North, on the same side, is the entrance into the Baltic, into which and from which a vast amount of commerce is constantly flowing and reflowing. In no other part of the world does a sheet of water, of the same extent, present such a scene of floating wealth, as does this North Sea, in connection with the British Channel. Indeed they may, unitedly, be termed the Grand Port of the world!

In the afternoon of that day, we were opposite the coast of Holland, and passed, at no great distance, Camperdown and the Texel, places associated with some of the most illustrious achievements of the English navy. Indeed, our voyage was, at almost every step, carrying us over what may be called, truly classical scenes in England's History. For it was along these coasts that she gained not a few of those triumphs which have given her the vaunted title of "Mistress of the Ocean." It was between Havre or rather Boulogne and Calais, if we have been rightly informed, that a few English ships, under Admiral Howard, first came in conflict with the vainly-called Invincible Armada of Spain in 1588, and which comprised 150

ships of all sizes, and carried 30,000 men, charged with the mission of overthrowing England's power and annihilating with it' her Protestant religion. It was at Calais and afterwards on the coast of the Netherlands, that Drake, Hawkins, Howard and Frobisher, with scarcely 30 ships, attacked and harassed the Armada, and destroyed not a few of the ships which composed it. Britain's navy has performed deeds of greater éclat in the two centuries and a half which have since elapsed, but none which evinced more noble daring, or which have had a greater influence on her career as a nation, or on the interests of mankind in the entire. And oft and striking as has been the interposition of Divine Providence in behalf of that great people, never has that interposition been more apparent than at the epoch to which we refer. The bravery and the skill of Hawkins and his fellow-Admirals would have been of little avail, had not a force infinitely superior to that of man come to their help. It was the artillery of Heaven which finally confounded and overwhelmed, in the North Sea and on the coasts of the Orkney islands, this vast squadron, which had but a few months before left the ports of Spain with such lofty and sanguine hopes of success. It was well, therefore, that Elizabeth inscribed on the medals which she caused to be struck in memory of the defeat and the dispersion of this great Armada, the following motto; Aflavit Deus et dissipantur,—God blew them and they are scattered.

upon

In more recent times, these same waters were the scene of many a sanguinary conflict between the English and Dutch navies. But no one naval battle, we believe, has occurred in later times in the North Sea, which was more desperately fought, or which involved a greater number of men and ships, than that which took place off the insignificant village of Camperdown, on the coast of Holland, and about five miles from it, on the 11th of October,