The Press. — London, England, 1853-12-24 00:00:00

P 512 They are called the Gazette des Dames and the Gazette des Waits. The subscription is :At per annum. To make the journals go down with the public the proprietors offer to every annual subscriber 20f. worth of superfine butt-hens, allowing them moreover to choose their bon-bons before they pay their money. THE operas of Nantes and I Puritan( were founded upon two dramas performed under other names at the Paris theatres. When M. Valet was director of the Italian Opera•house he bought up the copyright of these, pieces from the French authors, and has now brought an action against the new director, M. Itaganiolemanding the paymentof the (traits (tauten, when either of those operas was performed. The tribunal has appointed a day to hear the pleadings in the cause, and meanwhile M. I'atel has obtained en injunction prohibiting their production while the question remains in suspense. THE remains of an antediluvian animal have been found near Constantine, in Algeria, in a state of sin gular preservation. The skeleton is almost entire : the head, vertebra., and legs retaining the osseous conformation perfectly complete, and few even of the smaller bones being deficient. In size this animal must have been colossal. Its head measures nearly three feet from nape to muzzle, and thirty inches across the frontal bone. it has tusks like those of a boar, but fourteen incites long, besides formidable teeth. The shoulder and leg hones are as large those of the horse, and the curve of the tilts shows that in its girth it 111114 have quadrupled that of a large ox. The precise class of mommalia to which this gigantic specimen belonged has not been ascer tlined, hut it seems evident from the description that it appertained to one of the numerous species of paehydermata. The skeleton has been carefully preserved for transmission to sonic museum, where doubtless it will form a subject for scientific exami nation. AN INTERNATIONAL COPYItIIIiT CONVENTION has been effected between England and the free Haase atic town of Hamburg. By this treaty all works of literature and art published in either country are "placed under the protect of the existing laws " in each ulmni equal terms. Translations also share in this protection to a limited extent ; that is to say, an author may enjoy an exclusive privilege of trans lating, or authorising translations, of his works, for a period of five years Iron their production, pro sided he duly registers his hook within three months, and issues the translation, or part of it, within twelve months of the date of original publication. Inning the continuance of the eon% onion the duties oi l books anti musical works will be : s. tl Works oriirinslly proilored in tliv King. doin, and itliin the Stan• of i•st. \Vials not. originally produced in the Kingdom, the est. l'riids or drawings t.t. ,lain, Niuglc, each 0 14 0 Huultd us mewed, the dwell fiALLEttv or 11.1.USTIIITIIIN.—SiX Views of scenes in the Arctic regions have been added to the nttrac lions of this isimilar place of amusement anti in. struction. The bays anti headlands, the thick flat ice piled like masses of rock around, and the dreary snow are seen by every light and in every phase. Pale 1:11441, bite, and anther flash in meteoric corns. cations from the northern streamers ; then the dark flight comes, and through the ice a ship is discovered feeling her way by the aid of a blue light which burns at her stt rn. Smidenly the moon rises, anti in the bright SHOW an etwainpment of a hunt party is this covered. The whole concludes with a Section of ship in her winter kith, with the sailors eating their Christmas pudding. This comfortable scene was much applauded : it 'cheered the spirits alter that white miwopled world, in which the moving ship and the lire far flashing seemed the only things alive. The exhibition is well worth s eeing _ IT has been ilennilively at•ranged that Sir E. it. Lytton, the President of the Associated Societies of the Unit - en:illy of Edinburgh, will deliver his inan gular nthlress on Wednesday, the 18th of January. AN INTEnEsTixo Svitn.:s uP Arroo LETTEns Ai:TEN I. were sold at all auction that took platy on Friday anti Saturday last week, under the direction of Messrs. Puttick anti Simpson. of Pieea• it was thus deserilted in the catalogue : " Sixty.one Letters anti Notes written to Sir William Hopkins. while the King was a pt•isoner in the isle of Wight, concluding with one after his rent.,val to Windsor Castle. July 12 to Pee. :1 , 1, 111-IS. The biters are mostly in a feigned hand, anti are written on scraps of paper of all forms and sizes, according to the necessity of the moment.. The King's twey lice apltt•art to have been to have deposited his hi term in some receptacle, whence they were removed by the woman who attended upon him (who, he says. could neither write nor read) ; and the daily clear ances thus made were no doubt anxiously watched fur by some di., ivet adherent, who was in the sveret, the letters stit eted anti duly t►ansmitted. The Podded of the letters is mainly the projected escape of the King, whose firm, patient, and even cheerful demeanour in rirenmstances the most perilous is exhibited most forcibly in this series of letters." An extract &Inn one of these letters will be sufficient to show their interesting character. It is from a letter dated Oct. 9, HIV : " I pray you rightly to understand my condition which I oinfesm i... , tvrtaight I did not fully atlas% through want of tytne) : it is this; Notwithstanding my too great comes. mime; 0,1%44 made, I know that, unless I shall make yet others, whirli will directly make me no king, I shall Iw, at hest, A INTINAIIidi prisiAler ; ',espies if this Were not 14,f Which lum WO s u re ), the adhering to the Church 1 from which I cannot depart. no, not in show ) will doe the same; Ifild, to deale freely with you, the great concession I nhide this slay was meerely in order to my escape, of which if 1 had not hope I would not have done ; for then I could have returned to my straight Prison without reluctancy, hut now I confess it would breake my hart, halting done that which only an eseape can justefy," &e. The collection sold for fifty-one guineas. THti PRESS. Lusk. UNDER this head we have but little to report this week. The only concerts have been two perfor mances of The Messiah, one at Mr. Hash's new hall on Wednesday, and the other by the Sacred Har monic Society last night at Exeter-hall, and a Wed. nesday Concert, also at Exeter-hall. The Messiah at Mr. HuHales hall was a respectable performance, and seemed to give satisfaction. We are glad to find musicians of eminence and experience generally of opinion that the new hall is an excellent place for sound. . _ We understand from those who are well acquainted with the gossip of musical circles that the at tempts to organise an operatic company for her Majesty's Theatre have failed, and that Covent Car den will again he our only lyric theatre next season. Vontg Markt ant( tit)! ottiligtoct. FRIDAY EVIMING. WE mentioned some time since that the Chancellor of the Exchequer had made arrangements for the payment of the dissentient holders of South Sea An nuities, to the amount of 6,100,00 a, in January. Although what we stated is now officially announced, the public arc still left to surmise how the money has been found. In consequence of a blunder in the act which will not allow the South Set Company to distribute a portion of the money when paid them, am arrange ment has been made by wluch they take '2,540,00W. in Exchequer I tills instead of cash, and the balance has been made up partly by a loan from the Bank of England, partly by tampering with the savings -bank funds, and partly by employing a portion of the pub lic balances. We must, however, protest against this system of finance, which is nothing more than a bolstering sys tem, and unworthy of this great country. We protest against it also as detrimental to the commercial in terests. hampering, as it does, the resources of the Bank of England, which, in the present political as petit of Europe, ought to be as free as possible. Besides ' sooner or later the public interests will greatly suffer tlimatO these temporising expedients, by which a disgraceful financial defeat is sought to he scieened. By raising the money on Exchequer Bills it will he made to appear that the public debt has not been increased by the failure of Mr. lihul sts me's conver,i3n scliemes,althoughit is notorious that the market for Exchequer Bills is so weak that it will not bear any additional quantity thrown on it; and should a war suddenly break out, or a large importa tion of corn be necessary in the spring, so that. the Bank would be required to sell securities, the result would be that Exchequer Bills would fall to a dis count, and Mr. Ciladistone will find himself in March or .Intie compelled either to fund Exchequer Bills or raise further the rate of interest on them. This is the way that 31r. tiladstone's conversion scheme seems likely to terminate, and, in lieu of the interest on the debt being reduced, it will be perma nently increased by his want of foresight. We believe that it is these considerations which tend to prevent the Cabinet pursuing a 'Uplifted course in regard to Russia, and, much as the love of peace prevails in the City, the feeling is ono of uni versal disgust at the conduct of the 11inistry. I.et 11r. laadstone, therefore. take warning in time to place his house in order, for he may rely on it that several competi►ors for loans will be in the market with him in the spring. Consols this week, in consequence of niftily s pe e n. Wont for the fall closing their accounts prior to the Christmas holidays, rose to 05. but have since receded to 91i. from the conviction which seems to prevail that war is inevitable, and a strong rumour that Baron Brunnow had demanded his passports. Another circumstance has contributed to the fall, which is the strong conviction that a Ministe►ial crisis is at hand ; not that a change of Ministry would lower the funds, but at such a conjuncture as the present, when the interests of England should be up held by a Finn and united Crbinet, we present to the world the miserable spectacle of a house divided against itself; and this it is which causes public credit to droop. The arrivals of bullion have been very considerable during the week, both from America and Australia ; and today not less than 450,090/. has arrived. Never theless the market has given way considerably, and Consols, which opened at 941 1, have fallen to 98 I, and close 931 4. Exchequer Hills are lower, at 3to Ii premium. Money has been in demand on the Stock Exchange at 4 per cent. and in the com mercial world at 5 during the week. Very heavy sales have taken place in Consols to-day, as is generally supposed by the Hebrew party. ne alluded to this party, generally so well informed on political and financial affairs, selling last week. Great excitement prevails in consequence of a dis covery that many of our copper and silver-lead mines contain gold, varying from 11 to Is ounces per ton, and that, by adapting improved scientific and mecha nical means for its extraction, large amounts of gold and silver hitherto lost will now be annually produced. SATURDAY, FOREIGN FUNDS. Peruvian Bonds have been subjected dining ti e week to considerable fluctuations. At one period the Four-and-a-half per Cents. fell to (14, and the Three per Cents. to 49 ; since which the former have risen to 0s 9, and the Three per Cents. to 49 50. The fall was occasioned by the discovery that the Peruvian Government, at the instigation of certain parties in this country, had converted their home debt into a foreign one, the intention being to inundate the market with Peruvian securities, but fortunately for the holders of Peruvian Bonds it turns out that this new stock possesses no security what ever, and no one in their senses will be induced to invest in this "home converted" on any terms. The committees of South American bondholders and the Stock Exchange have taken up the matter with a view of protecting the public against so gross an attempted fraud, and it is to be hoped that no sense of delicacy will prevent their visiting on the coneoctors of it that odiun► which the mere fact of publicity will be certain to entail on them. All descriptions of foreign bonds are lower to-day, in consequence of the fall in Consols ; but such frauds as have been attempted in Peruvian, and which with few exceptions always are attempted whenever a favourable opportunity occurs, ought to warn the public against ente►ing into them ; and we give this timely warning as a great many are now on the tapir. RAI LW AYS. During the early part of the week railway shares were remarkably tinn, but to-day they have fallen with Consols. The public, however, continue to invest in them. PRICES CURRENT. BRITISH FUNDS.— Closing Prices. OFFICIAL QUOTATION. Mond. Tuesdi per Cent. Consols I Ditto for Account 941 1 941 I. S per Cents Reduced 94 1 041 31 per Cents 96 0 001 Long Annuities Ilsnk Stock, 7 per Cent 219 20 India Stock, I 0 per Cot. Mach. Hills, per diem 2 5p 2 5 p India Bonds, (1,000) Friday. FOREIGN RAILWAYS. Monday.; Tuesday.' Wednes. Antw. & Rottenlam•2 l ill t 412 (1.2 II dig Itezieresw tiraisa: 3_ 2_4,3_ 2 d . l 3 2d, Thurs. ;Fridal. 2 11(16;2 11 3 3 2 1 1 d 1 1 11 ,13 ]! 13 13 11:1 ljdib3 11 .3 ,1 3g 411,13 t 4t p par Far I 21 3 „ 21 3 •,1 d per i l d par ileigianEae. June. 1 14, Charleroi & Erque. 13 15 Dijon & liesant:oll to Dutch Rhenish 2 1a die' East Indian ,34 4pi Do. Exteusion per o Gt. lmllan Penh' a 1 „ Grand June.of Fro 2a 3 o I Gt.Wt.of Cana„Sh 41 p „ 11d5.(21116.)1673 1 Lees. & Pis. 5p e prf die Luxembourg loj Hai Lyons& Geneva lpar a pm' Madras Maria Antonia... !Slum& Lge.(wth in' Ma 9 Northern of Franee'3s} 4 Norwe. Trunk Pref.' 74 ell Paris & Lyons 'lo4 7 r Petits .t Orionis 147 9 1 16 13 15 /I 31 p it 1 3 4 , r vat „ la If 2i d S 4p 1 11 13 15 , akpi 12 1011 3 41p 2e 3 „ 1 d par - I die 115 f row Om It " ir iti;l Ai to 34 1 . 7 4 .Ilii p 47 to 42 3 331 31 41 id I , ; If 119 i 2(11 1 1 01 ol! foi 34 I 7 8 1 47 9 49 3 3 } 44 dis 19i 20} 91 di* Parish Rouen....! 42 43 .t: Stra4lotirg'33l Par., 014'11 tt Cheri). 3i 4i 1, 1 Quebec& Hichnind.,l die . Holten Ilavre .. I :9i 204 ilu)al Swedish .. —(1 oe die Sambre& Menne 9i 10 Stlt-Eust.4llFraticel Soutliert.of France 5 6p ) Upper Indian seripl p West Fltoblerg '4i 5 IVostern of Franck , 71 141 pi Wemull. of Switzer 1 11 dial Zealand 'lst 5 0 105 Gil I 4 4 5 I 4 1 5 8410 e si p i le 1 a 1 lais I 81klisi-1 311 air Hid. Thurso Friday. —.,--. . 941 4i 94! 94; 941 1 944 94 94; 961 1 96% 1 96 93, hi 5% '5l 55.11 1219 20 219 J— 5 2p5 Op 3 G 1 die 11} I 11 114 , VI 1 4 fili Ai s I 33 341 33 1 84 1 mE plO EP 4, 9 16 8 41 3 41 43 33 d 324 33 3 4p 3 4p f 414 9 19 2(1 19 20 1 1 4 lOf d 01 1 Se 9 P P 11 6 pm! 4 C P 5 sip 1 ' 4 1 ' 14 11 ills' 3 1 4 4.1114 44 .4