PROGRESS OF RIO DE JANEIRO. (Translated from the Jornal do Commercio.)

Daily Southern Cross, Volume X, Issue 681, 6 January 1854, Page 3

PROGRESS OF RIO DE JANEIRO. ( Translated from the Jornal do Commercio.)

Progress is the primary law, the necessary condition of humanity ; no nation or city can evade it ; it must either embrace them all, or it will be dragged onward by them. No sloth, hesitation, or reluctance can impede its onward march ; at the most, they can delay it. Rio de Janeiro gives us an example of this. What an increase from day to day J How far superior is it in 1853 to its state, we do not s.ay in the colonial petiod, but even in those memorable days when independence inflamed its patriotism. How distinct is it from what it was in those days when we saw a new era commenced for politics, for government, and for public spirit in Brazil ! Traverse all those streets, reckon how many new edifices have been raised j how many persons adopt their old houses to modern elegance ; how many new buildings give activity to swarms of operatives. Look at the Provisional Theatre, somewhat defective, indeed, but got up as if by euchantment; at the theatre of S. Pedro, growing out of the flames; and at that hospital-palace, raised by charity to the greatest of Human miseries 1 See the height of Sb. Antonio, a fine .eminence so long useless, serving as a gardan for half-a-dozen mendicant friars ; now it is portioned out amongst different proprietors, who are about to cover it with delightful residences. See, moreover, shortening distances, and putting all the suburbs in communication with each other, omnibuses, gondolas, carriages of every share and price, democratic vehicles of the poor as well as those of the rich. There the streets open their interstices and receive canals, distributing water in every direction, which, although not conveyed to all the buildings, puts an end to those traditional disagrccaolcs wlveh formerly afflicted us. Those streets have scarcely reposed, and see them reopened to receive the pipes whicU are to distribute

gas to provide the city with light, in as much profusion as that of the water with which it is afe present supplied, tlail, then, metropolis of South America, piincess of Brazil ! Thy Custom House, the receipts of which already exceed the entire revenue of the empire fifteen years since, thy Custom house, the thermometer of thy wealth and of thy commercial activity, shows what destiny awaits thee. Kven the scourges which havo afflicted thee tend to thy increase. Thou werfc decimated by the yellow fever j thy population, which carelessly confided in the unalterable mildness of thy climate, in the purity of thy radiant atmosphere, opened its eyes and saw that negligence had perverted these gifts of Heaven ; it saw that those interments in the churches, in tho midst of populous streets, that those muddy and badly paved streets, in which the rain-water becomes stagnant and putrid, that those shores which surround you covered with filth, are more than sufficient to infect an Eden, and then it felt the necessity of removing interments from the city, and it did so j it felt the necessity^ of improving the system of sewerage and cleansing, and the best mode of doing this now occupies the attention of all practical men. And then the construction of a quay was thought of. The Government comprehended the importance and urgency of this work ; a skilful engineer was charged with studying it, organising its plan, and calculating its cost. All this has been done ; and throe years hence, without great sacrifices, a quay will extend from the naval arsenal to Calabouco (Dungeon) Point, a name which we should like to see changed, as were those of Peoiho (an unmentionable insect), and Cadea (chain) streets. With this structure so much will be done for the beautifying, salubrity, and convenience of the city, that, at the same time that we call our readers' attention to the report which we publish below, we cannot omit laying a stress on some of the most striking points. The strangers' landing-place, the Xt Largo do Paco," (court of pakce square), w.hich, at presen% gives such a deplorable, bat happily erroneous, idea of our city, will, by means of that quay, be extended into the sea, and transformed into au agreeable walk, which shady trees wi 1 shortly cover. Instead of those heaps of filth, of putrifying matter, which the' ebbing tide leaves on the beach, as if punishing with its deleterious emanations the negligence of men, we shall breathe the salutary exhalations from the trees in the centre of the thickest and lowest population, and have what, in a tropical climate, is so much to be desired, trees, freshness, and shade. Our port, where so many vessels are continually assembling, our vast Custom Hou.se, already of insufficient capacity for all these ships whick briag to our merchants the tribute of foreiga industry, will especially gaia by this new work. By means of it no danger, even the slightest, will be incurred by vessels or merchandise. A basin* constantly shelteted, will allow of as many as sixteen ves°els mooring alongside its wharves and discharging at the same time. Thus will be avoided those inconveniences which at present excite so many clamors against the difficulty and delay in discharging cargoes, and the Custom House, gaining at the same time space aad ground, and extending itself into more ample warehouses, will cease to be that labyrinth whick we now have, and which no one can traverse without Ariadne's skein, er without a long study of its topography. This work, the expense of which may amount to three or four thousand centos (£850,000 to £450,000) will give results so superior to that expense, that there will be no motive which can dissuade the Government from undertaking it. We are sure that it will do so, examining with due discrimination, and the light of experience, iuto the best mode of realising it. That is, whether it should be carried out as a whole, or ia sections. With regard to the preference to be given to either of these modes, we have absolutely no opinion ; all depends on special circumstances, which the Government can best know and appreciate. What we desire is, that the work should commence as soon as possible, and that this project may not be attended with the same result as so many others have experienced, and which, although acklowledged ,to be useful, have been applauded, but afterwards abandoned as too gigantic, or ridiculed as impossible. The projected worts are great, but not gigantic^ they are greater in their results than in themselves ; their completion will not occupy much time, or require any great expense ; ujea, capital, — we have every thing required to carry them on. We trust that we shall shortly be able to say that they are no longer projected, bat that their realisation has commenced.