- Diameter of paddle-wheels, 19 feet. Breast do. 15 feet.

The paddles of the wheels are eight in number, and each paddle is broken into three, for the purpose of dividing the shock on the water, thus:-The breaks are boarded between, to give a firmer hold in the water:

419

part of the trip, but there was not the slightest dash of water before the bows.

The crank-rod was made after a peculiar fashion for lightness and strength, and I think I may add beauty. It was of wrought-iron. The section of the centre would be thus:

The vessel, though well built, is very light in her scantling, and the vibration is excessive.

The "George Washington," is a vessel of altogether plainer build, constructed by Mr. John Holloway, of Philadelphia, and plying between the cities of Chesapeake and Baltimore, on the river and bay of Chesapeake. The distance is seventy miles; and when I went in her, it was performed in four hours and fifty minutes. There was little wind, and the water was smooth. The tide was with her for seventeen miles, and against her fifteen. She has more than once made the trip in one hour and forty minutes. She is of the burthen of one hundred and ninety tons, and the arrangement of her machinery is similar to that of the North America, with the exception that she has two boilers, and only one engine. The steam-pipes conveying steam to the cylinder, are made to meet in a jacket of wrought-iron, which embraces the chimney ere it joins the cylinder.

Bore of the cylinder, 42 inches.
Stroke of the piston, 9 feet.
Strokes per minute, 22.

Length of working beam, 17 feet, built of wrought and cast iron.

Axis of paddle-wheels of cast-iron, 10 inches in diameter.

Crank, 5 feet 6 inches long.
Diameter of paddle-wheels, 19 feet

6 inches.

Breast of do. 10 feet.

Dip in the water, 33 inches.

Each paddle is broken into two parts, to alleviate the stroke upon the water.

The vibration in this boat was excessively heavy, much more so than that of the North America." The jar of the foot valve was almost terrific, towards the latter

This figure represents a disk of castiron, a foot in diameter, and two inches in thickness. Through the centre hole passes a thick wrought iron rod, and smaller ones through the side holes, all being welded together in a mass at either end. The open appearance has a very pretty effect.

It may be worth while to mention, as some criterion for prices, that in the United States the average price for wrought-iron boilers is eighteen cents per pound; for copper, fifty cents. hundred cents are four shillings.

One

In the greater number of the steam boats by which I have travelled, and they are many, both in England and the United States, I have remarked, that comparatively little of the unpleasant vibration is caused by the working of the engine; and that it arises almost entirely from the stroke of the paddle blades on the water at entering. In proof of this, the vibration will always be found the greatest when the engine has most leverage on the crank. The shock which the blades receive, by striking in the water, is communicated, first to the axles, and thence to all parts of the vessel. I propose to alleviate this, by introducing cir cular steel springs between the circumference of the wheel and the axis, and placing the paddle-blades at an angle, as is explained in the accompanying rough sketch.

dddd are corresponding hollows in the frame-work of the wheel.

Fig. 2.

e e e e are the outer edges of the paddle-blades, placed at an angle. f is the axis.

gggg are the edges of the flanges on the axis.

hhhh are the edges of the circular springs,

It must be obvious, that these circular springs would have the same effect as the eliptic, and other springs, introduced between the axis and frame-work of carriages, both for pleasure and work; and which, in practice, are found almost to obviate the necessity for repairs, so much so, that even coal waggons are now frequently provided with them; not a bolt or rivet shaking loose in them for an indefinite time, when so provided. The paddle-blades entering the water with one corner gradually, would receive but little shock, compared with the horizontal mode, but some slight portion of power might possibly be lost, if not made up for by the circumstance that they would also heave away the water from the sides of the vessel, like the foot of a duck, and thus diminish friction. But the better way would perhaps be to make the blades thus:

a

By this means the point a would enter the water first; and it does not seem to me that there would be any loss of power, while the violent shock would be avoided, and the vibration would pass into the springs without being communicated to the axes. If the springs should be found to answer, it will be an easy matter to protect them from the action of the water in corrosion. Would they not also be found useful in the seaboats, to save the paddles from the violent stroke of the waves? It is a desirable thing to get rid of the violent vibration, even at some sacrifice of speed. I have heard many persons complain of it more bitterly than of sea-sickness, from the violent constipation it induces in some habits of body. Should a spring

break by any accident, checks might be kept in readiness to supply its place. Having now concluded the desultory remarks I have thrown out for the consideration of your numerous readers, I remain, yours, &c. JUNIUS REDIVIVUS.

P. S. I perceive S. Y. is witty upon me, for the loose and hurried mode of writing I used in p. 315. I cannot, however, suppose that he wishes gravely to impress your readers with the notion that I represent the Chileno peasants as “ruminating animals." For fear, however, lest others should do so, I must trouble you to insert an erratum :

P. 315, No. 442.-For "the stomach. of a Chileno peasant is found to resemble that of a cow, while that of the Pampas is constructed after the fashion of a tiger," read "the stomach of a Chileno peasant is found to resemble that of a cow in its comparatively large capacity, while that of the Pampas peasant is constructed after the compact fashion of a tiger." As I am not ambitious of the reputation of "fine writing," my communications are not more studied than my usual speech, merely essaying to express my meaning therefore, I trust the inadvertence may be pardoned.

CAUTION

ΤΟ MECHANICS AGAINST EMI-
GRATING TO RUSSIA.

St. Petersburgh, Dec. 12 (24), 1831. Sir, The almost daily instances of ill usage and bad faith towards our countrymen who emigrate to Russia, to assist in the manufactories of that country, are so well known here, and so little known at home, that I think you will add much to the welfare of the labouring mechanic by publishing the following statement in your widely-circulating and highly beneficial Magazine. Indeed, I know no other publication which can so extensively make it known to those to whom it is addressed.

Fellow-countrymen! before you are entrapped by great promises, and an offer of higher wages than you receive at home, remember that no contract made in England is binding in Russia; and that when once you arrive here, they can, and do, treat you as they please. I will let pass the cases of Sunderland, Gascoigne, and Season, who were all ruined by the officers of Government; and who for years tried, and although the laws

were with them, never could obtain justice. But I will state a few cases, the whole of which have come to my knowledge, and the truth of which is known to almost all our countrymen residing at this place, and have all very lately occurred.

A ship-builder came here to build a vessel on a new construction; he was told by the Admiralty that when his work was finished he should be paid his demand, but not before; he lived in great misery and want until his task was completed, and was then told, they had no further occasion for him; they knew all he could tell them; and he never re ceived a farthing for his labour. He went to America, and died of a broken heart.

A person came here to make Congreve rockets for the Government; their bad faith to him is well known; every obstacle which jealousy and ill-will could invent was put in his way; and after expending his little all in bringing them to perfection, he has scarcely enough allowed him for his maintenance, and nothing for the years in which he was engaged in preparation.

Three Englishmen were engaged by the Admiral of the Russian fleet, which was some time ago at Portsmouth, as mast, block, and sail-makers; they have been kept just long enough for the purpose of the Russians, and are now discharged.

I have refrained from mentioning the names of these individuals, because I believe it is illegal for mechanics to leave England for the purposes they did.

Mr. Smith was engaged at the Government salt-works, near Novogorod, and did wonders there-increased the produce threefold, and manufactured salt of a very superior quality; but has never received what was promised, and, in all probability, never will.

Mr. Seymour, the first mechanic who built a steam-boat here, was cruelly wronged, and never paid according to agreement.

Mr. Edie was engaged as a farmer to clean a boggy spot, nearly 700 acres, covered with underwood and roots of old trees, and was to receive a small annual allowance until the farm was in a state of cultivation, and then a per centage on the produce. Of the latter he has never received one penny, although it was

421

ordered to be paid by her late Imperial Majesty, Mary; and for trying to enforce his right, he has been turned from his farm, and has appealed, but without effect, to the Emperor. He has been thus cheated of his per centage for 11 years. The director is an Anglo-Russian -so you see what you have to expect from one who was once your own coun tryman, but is now politically and religiously a Russian.

Five Englishmen employed at the Imperial Paper-mill at Peterhoff, Messrs. Davison, Hide, Glenton, Knowles, and Merrott, were discharged, and turned out of their houses in the depth of winter, on 24 hours' notice, although the greater part of them had been employed there upwards of ten years.

Mr. Goodman, a millwright, employed first at Revel, and afterwards here, has returned to England, minus £500; not one penny of which will he ever receive.

Two men, of the names of Massey and Telford, were ill-used at the Ochta clothmanufactory, turned away on an unfounded suspicion of giving a plan to another person, and were afterwards in such a wretched state, that they were relieved by charity.

The Englishmen, Messrs. Ferguson, Scott, Smith, Parkinson, and Hatter, who were employed at the Sluselberg calico. printing-works, though not personally illtreated, never got their wages. They afterwards appealed to the Emperor, but could not obtain justice, and remain unpaid to this day.

These, my countrymen, are a few, and only a few, of the cases of the bad treatment, which your fellow countrymen daily receive here. Still I trust they will be enough to convince you, how far more comfortable you will be in England, with lower wages, and employers, whose good faith you can depend on, than in Russia, where, from the peer to the peasant, you will always be looked upon with jealousy, and cheated by every means in their power-where appeal to the Emperor is vain-and where neither your ambassador nor consul can effectually assist you.

The only two directors who will treat you well, are Admiral Greig, and Mr. Matthew Clark.-Beware of all others. Fellow countrymen,

Your friend and well-wisher, VERITAS. [The writer of the preceding communi

cation has favoured us with his name, and as there is a great air of truth about it-though in some parts apparently tinged with exaggeration-we have thought it our duty to publish it. We need not say, that our pages will be open to any refutation of the complaints which it contains. Perhaps Mr. Reed, or some other of our Russian correspondents, will favour us with his testimony on the subject.-ED. M. M.]

EMIGRATION TO BRITISH AMERICA.

Public attention seems to be very steadily directed towards the subject of emigration, and, unless there should soon be a very considerable change in the state of affairs at home, it will doubtless still continue to be so; and as a considerable number, perhaps the majority, of intending emigrants must certainly consist of our artizans and handicraftsmen, whom the depression of the times, and the consequent falling-off in the demand for their labour, has taught to look to other lands than that of their birth, for the improvement of their condition, or rather for their release from misery,—a slight notice of a work which has recently appeared, professing to give a view of our still-extensive possessions in the vast continent of America, and their capabilities for the reception of emigrants, cannot be out of place in the Mechanics' Magazine.

We shall not stop, on the present occasion, to enquire into the merits of the wholesale emigration scheme, as a remedy for the evils which all agree in allowing, press on our working population; or whether more attention to matters nearer home might not afford as much relief as can reasonably be looked for from the removal of immense masses of our countrymen to the other side of the globe. It is sufficient that thousands look to this expedient as their best resource for escape from the evils of poverty, to invest the subject with interest, and to give point to

The British Dominions in North America; or, a Topographical and Statistical Description of the Provinces of Lower and Upper Canada, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, the Islands of Newfoundland and Cape Breton; including Considerations on Landgranting and Emigration, &c. By Joseph Bouchette, Esq., Surveyor-General of Lower Canada, &c. &c. With Views, Plans, &c. In Two Volumes. London, 1831. Colburn and Bentley, 4to., pp.498, and 296,

the enquiry, which country is the best for the emigrant? The reply to this question, seems generally to be dictated by a prevailing rage, or fashion. At one time, the full tide flowed towards the United States, and for years the moving mass flowed in that direction, Canada being only occasionally made use of as a passage to the "Land of Promise," by going through which, the expense of transport might be thrown on the British government. The Cape of Good Hope then had its day; and, in spite of heat, storms, Hottentots, Caffres, Bushmen, droughts, Dutchmen, and other disagreeables, "the Cape" was, for a time, the only cry. New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land seem to have been the legitimate successors of the Cape; while the insignificant, but mightily bepuffed Swan River, for a moment eclipsed them all. At present, the solid claims of Canada on the attention of the settler seem to be rising more and more in view—and this brings us to Mr. Bouchette's book.

It will be seen that this gentleman, from his situation of Surveyor-General of Upper and Lower Canada, must have enjoyed very considerable opportunities of acquiring information upon the subject of which he treats; and that this is no unimportant one, take his own words:

:

"If the British dominions in North America be viewed merely in relation to their vast superficies, which exceeds 4,000,000 of geographical square miles, their importance will become apparent, more especially when the manifold advantages of their geographical position are properly estimated. But the importance of these possessions should be estimated less by their territorial extent than by the resources they offer, their capabilities of improvement, the great increase of which their commerce is susceptible, and the extensive field they present for emigration.

"The British North American provinces occupy but a comparatively small portion of the aggregate superficies of the whole of the British dominions in the Western hemisphere; yet they cover about 500,000 geographical square miles, and contain a population which amounts in round num. bers to nearly a million and a half of souls (strictly 1,375,000) and this population, taking the average ratio of increase of all the colonies, doubles itself every sixteen or eighteen years,

"The trade of these provinces now em

EMIGRATION TO ploys annually upwards of 18,000 sail of British shipping, in aggregate burden 470,000 tons, and requiring more than 20,000 seamen; this tonnage is equal to about one-fifth of the whole of the British shipping; it is nine times greater than the amount of British tons employed in the trade with the United States of America, and about double that used in the West India trade. The value of the exports from Great Britain to the British provinces, amounts to more than 2,000,000%. sterling, which is an increase of about 455 per cent. upon the amount of the exports of 1774; whilst the increase in the value of exports in the United States did not exceed 245 per cent. during that period, and to the West Indies 300 per cent.; demonstrating clearly the accelerated ratio in which the commercial prosperity of these provinces is advancing,-their vast importance, and incalculable re

Sources.

"To the importance of the colonies, in an agricultural and commercial point of view, has been superadded of later years, another consideration of no minor inter est, which still further enhances their value to the parent state. The almost exhaustless field offered in the British North American provinces for fresh colonization, points them out as the goal of emigration from the United Kingdoms,and they have, in consequence, become the favourite resort of the redundant population of the mother-country. Indeed, so generally and broadly has the tide of emigration flowed towards the Canadas, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia, that a considerable portion of their population is composed of the natives of England, Scotland, and Ireland, and the interests of these provinces have become proportionately identified with those of the British Isles."-P. vii. et seq.

This general view is followed by the details which compose the staple of the work-the Topography and Statistics of British America. This chief division comprises an enormous mass of valuable information, which it must have employed much industry to collect:-although the various Parliamentary Reports have supplied the author with no very inconsiderable portion of the contents of his work-a fact acknowledged indeed in the preface, but not quite so broadly or distinctly as it might have been :-the reader would scarcely imagine, from Colonel B.'s acknowledgement, how largely he had been indebted to that source.

This information, however, is by no means so well digested as it might have

been- —nor is the arrangement so perfect as might be wished-yet the seeker for "facts" will find little reason to complain. Every province is taken separately, and the details of its extent, population, &c., given from the best, and, in most instances, we believe the latest authorities; whilst maps, plans of the harbours, and other graphic illustrations, aid in the understanding of the subject. The topography is but meagre, consisting almost entirely in recapitulations of the barbarous names which the settlers, like all the tribe, have given to their "locations," and in rather barren descriptions of the "curiosities" of the principal towns. We are treated, however, with very fair lithographic views of the latter, from drawings by the author's sons, pretty and picturesque enough; but the copperplates, from drawings by the author himself, are very poor.

To attempt to give, by means of such short extracts as our space would afford, an idea of the manner in which the statistical details are presented, would be as absurd as showing a shred of canvass as a specimen of a picture: the book itself must be referred to, and we must content ourselves with copying a synopsis of the great progress in improvement made by the Upper Province of late years:

"In taking a general and comprehensive view of Upper Canada, and glancing retrospectively to what it was 15 years back, the accelerated march of its prosperity and improvement is remarkably striking. Within that period, the mass of the country has been surveyed, settlements formed in almost every township, and towns and villages have sprung up with extraordinary energy, in various directions. Canals of an elegance and utility, and of dimensions unrivalled, if equalled, on this continent, have been opened through the province. The Wel land and the Rideau canals remove from the frontier the internal communication by water from the remotest British settlements on the St. Lawrence, to the sea. The navigation of the lakes and rivers has undergone the greatest amelioration. Eight or ten steam-boats, some of them of great elegance, now form several complete and convenient lines of communica tion between the remote parts of the country. Manufactures and mechanics have also made considerable progress; coarse linens and woollen cloths are successfully manufactured for domestic use by most good farmers; and manufactories of iron are established at Marmora and