The Sun. — London, England, 1869-12-31 00:00:00

SPIRIT OP THE PUBLIC JOURNALS' The runes declares that . the year just passed away has, loth at home and abroad, been marked by the uneasiness :•tvhich forebodes political change. More than one event of 'undoubted historical importance awaits the interpretation - which will be only supplied by its results. The Irish Church Establishment has been abolished; Parliamentary Government has once more been - conceded to France; Vie Suez Canal has been opened; and, after an interval of three centuries, a General Council of the Boman Catholic Church has assembled in the Vatican. The Ppanish Revolution, " which at the beginning of the rear had already begun to disappoint sanguine enthhusiasts, has failed to justify itself, either by the r3form of ancient abuses or by the consolidation of a regular Government. The chronic embarrassments of the I alian Government afford another illustration of the diffl • of regenerating a nation. The dread of a great iropean war, which had since 1866 impended over the (',ntinent, has, by lapse of time and through the pressure o domestic questions in France, happily in a great ram s :re subsided. The mutual relations of the Great Powers h ye leen temporarily or permanently modified by the r !taxation of the respective intimacies of France with Aus t is and of the North-German Confederation with Russia. T he risk of collisions which might have brought the Eastern q testion to a crisis has been more than once averted by cl . plomatie prudence. To Englishmen primarily interested in the welfare of their own country the passing year has a fordcd little satisfaction. Although more than three y jars have now elapsed since the great commercial and fi tancial shock of 1866, there has been no healthy revival o trade. The cotton mills are still suffering under an insufficient and clear supply of raw material and a demand hich is stagnant under the influence of high prices. One c Luse of the continued commercial depression is to be f .und in the discredit which has attached to joint s .ock enterprise since the discovery that liability cn shares of which only a small part was called np might be practically unlimited. The ruinous litigation in the ',recess of winding up companies also exercises a deterring e 'feet ; and a series of criminal prosecutions of directors I.)r alleged misrepresentation has necessarily caused men cf commercial experience and reputation to decline a thankless and hazardous office. The recent acquittal of the directors of the limited company of Overend and Gurney on an indictment for alleged conspiracy and mis representation will probably discourage the repetition of similar proceedings, except in case of definite fraud. The Daily News thinks that in England,lB69 is politically memorable as being the first year of the Parliament of Household Suffrage and of the Gladstone Administration which was the immediate product of household Suffrage, 'ithout the constitutional intervention cf the House of Commons. Two main results mark the parliamentary year—one of them legislative ; the other, though it has slot taken formal shape, not less real and important. The Irish Church Establishment has been abolished; and, in the act of abolishing it, the relations which must hence forth subsist between the elective and the hereditary Chambers have been discerned and decided. The House of ' Lords has practically abandoned its pretensions to be an independent and equal power in legislation. It tried its strength, only to confess its weakness. By cen- k.entinn• prae4ieally to assume the position of a consultative 'body, with a merely suspensive veto on the decisions of the House of Commons, the House of Lords narrows the sphere of its operations, but in so doing it may brine its entire strength to bear on objects which it can really accomplish. Amendment and revision, the more perfect adjustment of means to ends, and the nicer adaptation of changes to the existing order on which they innovate, are the proper province of a second chamber. If the Peers set themselves in good faith to this work, and if in the intro duction of new members their power of contributing to it is chiefly regarded, the House of Loris may look forward to a long and not ignoble future. The nececeity may not arise of theoretically limiting its functions, any more than f imposing a limit on the legal powers of the Crown. It is thus that the unwritten constitution of England adapts self to the changing conditions of society, and is trans f orreed by continuous growth, instead of by violent dis- I. aption. The passage of the Irish Church Bill through the Lords puts the seal on a great, though gradual consti tutional change which has been in progress for more than generation Whether 1370 will be like Ys prcdeceesor, or more eventful, more joyous, or more terrible, who can tell ?asks the Standard. Behind that mystical veil of Isis which no naan can lift lie those chances of a future which may be misspent by nations as by men. Every year will find some nations more advancing, others more retrograde; some races dying out from the world, others busily engaged in replenishing the earth and subduing it ; some ideas making slow progress, and others fading out of mind becau-e Pprosed to the feeling of the age ; will find new refashioning the daily life of man, new opportunities of work opening 112 for the industrious :;11 , 1 inteftigent. n I so it ,will go or, caletardiuns &f D:ca, F,1311 .1 c:L'•: c' 5::.;:11 6f..11'0'1:1'.l tivt •'1;~t:` oi° hari.aii:,ns like that w!,i.;;11 .wept away the civ:li4au:oti the ancient wonl,l. In ail probability ISio will be Jauch thou: that went before it. 'We have not (i trite "rung out the thousand wars cf oid," n- -- Lope yet to " ring in the thouFand years of peace." -To 1; in this country war has been unknown fur centuries, but there are things worse than war. The spread of avarice, and the decrease of a regard for truth and honesty, the increase of superstition and discontent Among the poor, faults which our censors have attributed to us of late years, may sap the foundations of our body politic and our social health, may injure our well-being as a people, and prepare the way for our decay as a power in the world, more surely than if we were iwept away by the invader as were the plains of Bohemia. ,X.et us hope that our worse part will not develope, that our better part will grow, that along with the spread of education there will he a moral advancement which will make us men in a truer sense of the word, that our England of 1870 will be purer and nobler and greater than our Is land of 16G9, holding ever more firmly among the. nations of the earth that prominent position which does not depend on bayonets, but upon an unseen force which is mightier than a thousand armies. r can yie The Telejraph considers there is no better proscenium for the retrospect of the year than a good coal fire. Vcluei in speculunz—in the ruddy cavernous depths may you be hold the entire cosmorama of 1:3G9. Look earnestly, look Intently; see how vividly distinct ;:-e the places and the people, and yet how imperceptibly they fade and merge into objects quite different! A cathedral dissolves into a gaol ; a Fenian procession changes into a theatrical ballet; the Pope joins in a phantom dance with the Pasha of Egypt. Yonder crimson speck looks like the Tycoon of Japan—but it is really the Wood-green murderer. There is decidedly a strong ecclesiastical element in the fire as we gaze at it on this 31st of December. Right in the centre, long-drawn aisles and clustered columns, storeyed windows and ribbed arches ap pear. See that interminable procession of divines in sur plices and bands. Hearken to the solemn pealing of the organ. Dr. Archibald Campbell Tait, translated from London to the Metropolitan See, is being enthroned Archbishop of Canterbury. Curiously, by the very side of the archiepiscopal throne appears the likeness of n bedchamber near an English watering-place, and upon the bed lies the Primate of All England; struck down with his own earnest work, but not yet lost to us. The scene changes, and we are once more in a church, or rather in a chapel. Why should we seem to hear the sound of bagpipes in a chapel? For what reason but that "Doctor Cumming of Scotland" is writing "in ecclesiastical Latin" to the Pope? Yet his Holiness will have none of him, and pretends that he never heard of the doctor save through the medium of the "Ephemerides," or newspapers. Again an altered aspect. We see a pulpit in the fire, and a pale-faced man with a shaven crown, who is shaking his fist at Rome, furiously. Mr. Mackonochi e t urns away, s h oc k e d ; Mr. l'urchaa averts his face, but the pale man is terribly in earnest ; and, donning a lay habit sails across the Atlantic to New York—where the Rev. Henry Ward Beecher en tertains him with tea and buckwheat cakes, and he is "interviewed?' by the reporter of the .1% - eto leek TV,rl,l. His name is Father Hyacinthe. A strange fire—and strange things are to be seen in it ! The Church clement grows stronger. Mr. Voysey is prosecuted for heresy; Dr. Trower assails the animated theolog ian who distu r b s th e Spiritual preserve of Exeter, but cannot prevent Dr. Temple from mounting, the episcopal throne ; Dr. Wilber force changes his mitre of Oxford mixture for a Win chester bushel; Mr. Clarke, of Cambridge,, finds out that lie has made a great mistake in remaining so long a clergy man, and straightway secularises himself, as Horne Tooke did. The Post remarks that the Council summoned by the Pope is the great event of the closing year. Superstition, religious fraud, and the craft of those who practise on credulous piety are common to all ages and countries. ut there are now at Rome, in this Council, highly edu cated mon who profess to believe that which they do not believe, and who hold up to reverence that which in their hearts they contemn—men who persuade them• selves, by some inconceivable sophistry, that there • can he high religious purposes in things which tin it oNvn enlightened understanding must infcrin them are neither moro nor less than an imposture or a delusion. They 'nave been summoned t o ass i i t r the declaration of a dogma — that there can be no doubt was one nf the principal objects in tended to bc attained by the Councii,although the fops now, it would seem, hesitates to press tile Aubject. If the Cetinci:, instead of prcclaiming the infallibility of the ~•-upr-- t ric Pontiff, were to compass the de.,iecniari,ation of the Holy See, it in breathe the 1 rcath of life into the dry hones of the Church; but, as far as we can see, time dissension and disintegration, even in the heart of the Church, which Ii is actually disclosing, and is ii-el-; t- widen an! inten Nify, will compel nations as will iinTividnals to cheese betveen the usurpations of the l'apazy and the interests of Catholicism. In this country, and for our part, - we have at inset r,:liev el the national conscience bV the recognition ^ , '•l fulfiment of a long delayed national obligati:in. We have acted not cult' , vith the conviction that there ca'nid be no peace fcr Ire -1:,:nl—or for England in connection with Ireland—no real union, and no geod feeling between the two countries until the union between the State and a Church which nobody tver thought of as a national Church, was dissolved. On 'the whole, therefore, the balance on the year's account is Non the right side. At a meeting of the Canada Company the dircc- tors' report was adopted. LAW AND POLICE. 4.17140"..1TY OF A CAPTALN.—A case bearing upon the relative authority of the captain and chief engineer of a steam-ship has been heard in the Thames Police-court. The steamer Teesdale was coaling in Dartmouth Harbour, when the captain complained to the chief engineer that the process gave the vessel an uneven keel, and directed the coals to be shifted so as to trim her. The engineer refused to do so, and a dispute arose, which ended by his striking the captain. The magistrate said that under the Merchant Shipping Act, the prisoner had ren dered himself liable to twelve weeks' imprisonment. Engi neers assumed the same power as the captain, but there could not be a greater mistake. They were as much bound to obey the captain as the seamen, else there would be endless confusion. After some discussion the prosecu tion was withdrawn on the enginer apologising and paying costs. TRIATS FOR MIIRDRI2.—James 3PLeish, a bandsman in the 72nd Highland Regiment, has been tried at Glasgow on a charge of murdering Patrick Lynch, a labourer, on the night of December 4th. M`Leish and another man, who had been drinking, met Lynch in the street, and 'canted to fight him. Lynch would not fight, and walked on, when 3PLeish went after him and stabbed him. Lord Ardmillan, in summing up, said that the use of a knife on the body of an unarmed man was murder in law. The prisoner was found guilty of culpable homicide, and sentenced to 20 years' penal servi tude. At the same court a man named Hunter, charged with killing a gamekeeper, was sentenced to five years' penal servitude, and Goirand Joseph was found guilty of culpable homicide by stabbing a seaman at Greenock, but hia sentence was postponed. - THE OUTRAGE AT EWELL. 'the adjourned inquest as to the death of the man Thomas Huggett, was held hefore Mr. Coroner Carter, at Ewell, on Thursday. Dr. Barnes, the first witness called, said that since the opening of the inquest he had made an examination of the body. Ile found that the left ventricle, and a cavity of the heart, had been penetrated. The sack of the heart con- tainod clotted blood, and in the pleura there was also a large quantity of the same. The wound was a mortal one and of itself sufficient to cause death. He thought that the wound was inflicted after the explosion, and it was in such a position that the deceased might have inflicted it himself. Mrs. Sarah Haggett, Jacob-street, Landport, said that the deceased was her son. She last saw him alive on the 6th of September last. He complained of a pain in his head, and said that the work and this person—i.e., Mrs. Richardson—was more than he could bear. His sister talked to Huggett, and he said that he had discovered that Mrs. Richardson was married, and that she had gone away. After that he seemed to have the pain in his head. Elizabeth Ann Starling, widow, knew the deceased, who lodged with her up to the 21st inst. For the last tl.rce months had noticed that he was strange in his man ner, and was desr.ending. He would not eat his meals for hours after they were ready. When asked as to the cause he said that it was all about a person named Richardson. This woman had lived with him for some time. Witness did not believe he was in his right mind. John Lodder, gatekeeper to the Rotherhithe Sack Com pany, knew the deceased man and saw him daily. He was a very quiet man, and was regular at his employ ment. For the last few months he did not seem so cheerful as formerly and he told witness about a female whom he called " Mrs. Sugar," and whom he said had received all his money for years, past. The deceased said he should do no good now. Witness told him to think no more of it, and lead a diffe rent life. Sometimes be said he would, and at others he was in a sullen mood. On the 21st inst.,when the deceased went away, witness noticed a great change in him. He was dancing in a room by himself and making grimacrcs. He had a hock in his hand, and kept dashing it attinst some sacks, saying, " I should like tc serve her the same." Whenever the woman was mt.:- Coned the deceased always became very excited; but wit noes never feared that he would perpetrate any wrong. The deceased had been drinking rum very much of late; but prior to that for twelve months be drank nothing• The deceased said on the Tuesday he would never die before he took "her" life. . The jury, after twenty minutes' deliberation, returned's, verdict that the deccascd committed suicide whilst in a state of insanity, THE CALAMITY AT THE BRISTOL THEATRE. The evidence given on Thursdayat the coroner's inquest . Bristol, by members of the crowd as to the calamity which. o'.scured at the theatre shcwed plainly how it all hap- Isencd. Williams, of Weston-super-Mato, said ho wcat to the theatre on Mon•lay night with his sister-in- Jones, •lie'en Jencs, and two women from Kingsdown. The push be2, - an about twenty minutes after Vteir arrival. A little boy fell first, a female from Bing: own next, Eliza Jones next, and then - aoss fell upon Eliza Jones. He was on the ground for abut a minute and a half, when the doors opening the crowd in front went in, and it became a little easier. A. great many of those from behind walked over them while they were on the ground. 'Witness was pulled out by the hands and shoulders, after having boon down for a minute and a half. There was a great cry of " Fire" from several parts; witness cried "Fire" himself because he saw a great deal of smoke by the pit door. The cry effect upon the crowd. There were several boys 0" :1> top of the ledge over the passage, putting out cords, ind he saw one boy partly hauled up, but did not think to was quite hauled up. When he was picked up the .—owd seemed to be more at a standstill. Eliza Jones Its pulled out after him, and he gave her brandy and other restoratives. Should think there were about fifteen down in a heap then.—Sydney Hall, brickmaker, St. George's, was trampled under foot when the doors were opened. Before falling he supported his mother as long as he could, and they were then parted. She was carried into the crowd, and he to the edge of it. He had been in the theatre an hour and a half before ho knew that his mother was dead. His father and little brother managed to get into the theatre. Witness was picked up, and he helped several others up. After looking all round the theatre for his mother, he went to the windows of the re freshment-room, and saw her laidout. The police evidence shewed that the police had tried several ways of keeping back the crowd. They had held. up their hands, waved their handkerchiefs, cried "Fire!" and done several things, but all to no effect. The medical evidence gave details of the causes of death in each case. Mr. E. C. Board, house-surgeon of the Royal Infirmary, stated that Helen Jones appeared to have died from syncope, or fainting. No limbs were broken, nor was there any appear ance of violence to cause death. He thought Mary Helen Sherwood died from being trampled upon. He be lieved Thomas Merchant was trampled to death. Eliza Lucas died from fainting; Patrick Donovan from being trampled on; Alfred Xew probably died from his chest being compressed in the crowd ; Thomas Pearson, compres sion of the chest; Samuel Hill, from fainting; John Davies, trampled to death ; Henry Charles Vining seemed to have been .crushed; George Potter, fainting; Sarah Ann Bilby died of fainting; Mrs. Hall died of fainting; Catherine Brewer, trampled on. Taking them generally ho believed the deaths were caused chiefly by fainting, and being unable to recover themselves. Mr. E. Ludlow, assistant house-surgeon of the Royal Infirmary, said he thought Joseph Smith died of suffocation ; Charles Pring died from having his abdomen trampled upon; William Samuel Allen died of suffocation. Some of those who went down in the crowd seem to have been raised up by ropes let down from above. A few persons in the crowd, when they heard what had happened, tried to keep back, but the others pressed on. The jury, after about half an hour's deliberation, re iurned a verdict of "Accidental Death." They entirely exonerated Mr. Chute, the manager of the theatre, from all blame in the matter, but appended a recommendation with the view of rendering the i.it and gallery entrances safe in the future. DEATTL OF MR. R. 11. HuNT.—Mr. R. 11. Hunt ; g proprietor and e dit or of Heat's Uhiversal Yacht List, /Lot ea Y ac hti n jragazine, and other sterling works of reference and interest, expired at his residence, d, Church street, Edgware-road, on tae night of the "tjth inst3nt, after an illness of only three Jays. He was born at Yar mouth in Ina, where be first acquired a taste for yachting pursuits, which .ripened into a passion, and led him to devoto Liz zeal, energies, and resources to the advance ment of his Much-cherished pastime. His " Yacht List," a work of incalculable value to the yachting communliy has now been twenty-one years annually before the public, and his monthly magazine seventeen years. These works were originates! more from a love of the sport than a desire for pecuniary gain, aTid their present popularity speaks volurnel in favour of no perseverance and atility of their resre-.. - tel. author. It was almost his last wish that the yachting works to wl:ich, he had devoted so many years Of Ilia life should be ecl, inned after his death,which request, hi , son, Mr. Alfred H. Hunt, with the assistance . of his literary friends, will earnestly endeavour to carry out. Toe Royal Naval Training Establishment for Boys in Jersey was finally closed to-day. 'iho boys have been distributed to the Excellent, Boscavren, and Impregnable. 1 1 11 SUN, LONDON, FPIDAY EVENING, DECEMBER . 31; 1869. THE TRIAL OF TROPPMANN. The interest felt in the trial of the Pantin murderer appears to increase rather than diminish in Paris. The court is thronged to a painful degree, it being almost impossible to move about in it. A few who are fortunate enough to obtain the reserved places have seats, but the great majority have to stand in a motley crowd, the jour nalists and reporters being no more favoured than the rest. The court on the second day was filled long before the hour fixed for the opening, and there was little change in the audience from the day before, notwith standing that considerable disappointment had been felt at the difficulty of hearing, owing to the acoustic defects of the building. The voices of the witnesses could be but faintly heard, and those at a distance could scarcely hear anything. When Troppman was brought in, 'there was the same eager movement of curiosity as on the preceding day. The prisoner looked much the same, but did not confront the public gaze. He was perhaps a little paler, Lut seemed by no means crushed. He had slept well in the night, and had had an interview with his counsel prior to the opening of the court. During the long examination on the previous day Tropp mann became wearied, and sat down ; when seated his head scarcely reached shove the bar, owing to the shortness of his stature. His own interrogation by the President was concluded on the prat day of the trial, and the substance of his answers has been already given. His statement showed startliLig discrepancies, which ware pointed out to him by the President. He stoutly maintained that the murders had been' committed by his accomplices, and when the President recapitulated the succession of murders, he asked how it was possible he could wield that huge pickaxe with so much rapidity? One of the earliest witnesses, a watchman, of Mulhouse, deposed that he had seen Troppman. strike his brother, and had called him a new Cain. This eAdence threw the prisoner into a rage. "He is a liar!" he exclaimed; "Happily he' has long been well known." When remonstrated with by the president he declared that he was not worth the cord to hang him. A mechanic of Roubaix and others teatifiel to his savage and violent character, and also to his frequent intimation of speedily getting' rich and going to America. " When all is for- Totten," he used to ray, "one can return." An omnibas employe deposed that Troppman and another oan left their luggage at the office one day in August - and sever returned to claim it. The brother-in-law of the' prisoner stated that Troppmnnn had once menaced him with a knife, and a watchmaker at Cernay affizmed that he could make prussic acid. The persons who had seen Gustave Kinck en route to join his father were subsequently exaenmcd, all testifying to his pleasure at his journey,and his affection for his father. Next came the butcher whc ht.,d discovered the body of Gustave, and the watchmaker ix. Paris, to whom Troppmann had sold Gustave's watch for BClaf. Another watchmaker recognised the watch of the father, Jean Kinck, which Troppmann had come to sell friend of the Kinck fami,:y, living at Roubaix, testified to conversations which he had held with Madame r l)Tinck, in which she spoke of letters received from her husband, and of the uneasiness which they caused her. "S: e," she said one day, "my husband is no longer in Alsace ; he is in Paris, and he does not w:sh it known." Madame Kinck afterwards told him that one of the last letters directed her to leave, taking with her all her papers, which seemed to her strange. Kinck, according to this witness, was an excellent man, much attached to his wife and family. His object in going to Alsace was to purchase some land to extend his property. Here Troppmann interrupted the witness, to reiterate his statement that Kinck went into Alsace for the purpose of coining. The witness, whose name was Dassonville, also said that Madame Kinck took with her 400 f., partly in her purse, and partly tied in the corner of her handkerchief. M. Dassonville identified the photographs of the murdered bodies, and was much moved by the ghastly sight, from which the jurors themselves shrunk. Madame Rousselle,sister of Madame Kinck,was examined. She is younger than her sister, but resembles her greatly. Her sister, she said, had no cause to complain of her hus band, only the journey into Alsace caused some discussion. Madame Rousselle confirmed the statement about the motive of the journey. A neighbour at Roubaix said that Madame Kinck spoke to her of the trouble she had in obtaining the 5,500 f. belonging to her husband. According to this witness Madame Kinck had with her at starting 2,500 f Another sister of the murdered woman said that she was very unhappy at the thought that her husband was lying ill at Paris. "If anything happens to my husband," she said, weeping, "what will become of me ?" It would seem that she anticipated evil. The man from whem Troppmann bought the spade and pickaxe identified the prisoner as the man to whom he sold them on the 19th of September, the day preceding the night of the murder. Troppmann was alone when he bought them, but when this fact was noticed by the judge, the prisoner said that his accomplices were waiting for him on the road to Pantin. The driver of the omnibus to Aubervilliers stated that a passenger ran after his on-wiling on the 19Lh :•.;epttn:Ler. ll° was so loaded -, sith tools that another passenger had to assist him. lie got down at the Four Roads. Troppmann hereupon said that it was not he who rode on the omnibus. It was his accomplice to whom he gave the tools. The driver could not identify him, as it was dark, being between eight and nine o'clock in the evening. The arrrival of Mdu:c. Kinck at thehotel was deposedto, and the garcon testified that Troppmann, when he came there on the morning of the 20th, was alone. This witness at the pre vious examination said that Troppmann was accom panied by a young man on that occasion. Tropp mann said he was alone. Now he contradicted bins again, and said he was not alone. The inquiry continues. Messenger. states that being taken back to the Conciergerie, Troppmann appeared much fatigued. - - durence, the police-agent appointed to watch him, asked tercv everything had passed. "Oh," said the other, "The .I'resident greatly annoyed me. He made me speak ; but / annoyed him in my turn about the pocket-book." `Are you greatly wearied?" asked Laurence. " Well, yes, just think : eight hours of it! Listening, speaking, standing up! Perhaps I spoke too much!" " Did you confess?" "No." "You ought: that would produce a great effect." " Well, I shall see." Ho then asked for something to eat, and took half a fowl, potatoes, some -o . )lery, and a cup of coffee. When about to go to bed, he SU, " I should not ask for anything better than to avow All—but-I am not alone." The Gazette des nibunnan.r. says :—" Troppmann when sn Wednesday night returning from the trial to his cell, appeared as cheerful as on the previous evening. After is dinner he pleyed 'at cards withhis keepers. Troppmann seems to rely upon some favourable evidence .being produced at the hearing on Thursday, and has perfect confidence in the line of defence pursued by his counsel. He retired to rest at half-past, nine p.m., and fell asleep immediately." The following three telegrams relate to the trial on Thursday:—The proceedings in this case were resumed at 11 o'clock, the court, being mole crowded than en the previous days of the trial. Troppmann, on Leine placed in the dock, appeared very pale. M Itoussin, who made the post-mortem examinatioL on Kinck, sen., gave evidence respecting the shirt and trousers worn by Troppmann, which he said were stained with blood. He further stated that there was positive proof that Jean - Kinck, sen., was poisoned by prussic acid. M. Grandperret, the -Procureur-GenCTal, in reviewing the case, said -never had a more murderous assassin than Troppmann been brought before a court of justice. He stated that there could be no doubt that Troppmann had no accomplices, and that he and he alone l.ad been guilty of the crime of which he was accused. The Procureur-GenZral, in concluding his speech, demanded that the punishment t " should be equal to the crime. (Great sensation.) The sitting was suspended for some tithe, and on the reassem bling of the court M. Lachaud, the prisoner's counsel, spoke in ; his defence. He said that Troppman was under the influence of a mental disease which rendered him irresponsible for his acts, and that be was a ferocious animal that ought to be muzzle 3, and not killed. (Uproar.) M. Lachaud, in the course of his defence, mentioned the name of Troppman's mother and some of his relations, whereupon the prisoner hung his head and wept bitterly. This display of emotion caused considerable surprise among the audience. It is bAieved that the verdict will not be given Leforoseven o'clock this evening. Trig VERDlCT.—Troppman has been condemned to death. On hearing his sentence he smiled and bowed to the Ciurt. Mr. llibbert, M.P., has been addressing the people, of 0 . :11.am on the national expenCit tire. ire snid the lessen ing of our expenditure 1:1,1 Leen got, i.o•'. by any cheese paling economy, but. I y a reduction in the army and navy drpartm,n's, the tut places where reductions must Le made ; sad he pred:cted a still further decrease in awful ut 0, under Mr. Gladsfone's Administration. The New Lisilop Gf Oxford will lc entitled, with tho Bishops of Salisbury, Exeter, Bath and Wells. and Car. lisle, who have been consecrated since the prorogation of P.x li Intent, to s , ;ats in V o House of Lords at the commence ment of next session. In consequence of the death of the Bishop a Manchester. Dr. 3faCkarness, Bishop of Oxford, wig Lo the junior prelate, whose duty it will be to attend to read prayers every day et the sitting of the House. The now I3shop of 11,nchester, whoever leo may be, will be t out a seat la the Honso of Lords until a vacancy arises In some 'se other than Canterbury, York, London, Dm/ ham, and Winchester. The death is announced this morning of Admizal Sir Watkin Owen Pell. MISCELLANEOUS S. DEBATE IN TILE CORTES, An interesting debate has been held in the Spanish Cortes on the interior and erterior policy of the Govern ment. The question was raised by Senor Castelar, and th 3 debate lasted t-.% o days. Senor Castelar spoke strongly against the election of the Duke of Genoa, and declared that he could not have believed the Ministry would have been so demented as to propose him for Sovereign. They needed no foreign King for their unity and independence. Their forefathers raised them in spite of foreign kings. He considered that the monarchy of Victor Emmanuel signified nothing. It was said that he represented the throne of Italy, but between the unity d Italy and his throne was the Pope of Rome. It was said that he represented the independence of Italy, but between his throne and the independence of Italy was the Caesar of France. Yet they were willing to tako a boy educated in his policy, and to give him as a plaything the Crown cf Spain. Senor Castelar believed General Print. to be sincere in his protests when he denied any intention of resorting to force to carry out his views. He concluded by imploring the Government to save them from that enigmatical policy. He and his friends did not wish to combine against them. They had had enough of the belief that the sward was the only lightning-rod against social tempests. Let them place at the head of tho social edifice the lightning-rod of England, Belgium, Switzerland, and the United States—the lightning rod of civil rower and of legality.. The Government must abandon their illimitable assump tions, if they wished to take from the people their violent character. tnat he ever insulted Dr. Tem* by forcing him to prove that he was born in wedlock. He was pained by the statement. THE LAST FIRE TRAGEDY. The conduct of John Winnett, the landlord of the house in Sandwich-street, London, in whichsix persons lost their lives on Christmas Day, has not escaped the severe censure of the jury. This person lived in the lower part of the edifice, whilst the poor people who were burnt to death occupied the third floor. When the fire was dis covered he rushed up to the rooms occupied by the victims, but being driven back by the smoke, quietly began to remove his furniture, whilst the six persons were roasting above. He knew that they were in the burning rooms. He knew also that Mrs. Beetlestone had recently been confined, and was unable to move. But he simply raised an alarm, without calling for a fire-escape, and then calmly went on with the business of saving furniture. When - the firemen came up Mr. Winnett never mentioned the people on the third floor. He merely asked for a3sistance in the great work of getting out some articles which were not insured. Seldom has a witness told a more scandalous tale of selfishness and heartlessness than this landlord told of himself. The firemen worked for some time without knowing that any one was in the house. THE DALMATIAN INSURRECTION. According to the Eastern Budget, the insurrection in the Cattaro diitri,t of Dalmatia may be considered as ended, the insurgents having given up their arms and promised obedience to the Emperor. Addresses of submission have also b :en sent from Mania and Zuppa. THE " NATIONAL " CANDIDATE FOIL LONGFORD. Mr. T. D. Sullivan has received a letter from Mr. Martin, which must be considered as disposing of the rumours to the effect that the latter individual will not accept the " national " candidature for Longford. County. Mr. Martin, who is now in America, ex presses his pleasure at being put forward for Long -ford: It-is the correct tiling, he intimates, to return candidates like himself. Such a policy is calculated to lead to Repeal, and to a peaceful settlement of the national question. This is Mr. Martin's object. Though upholding the most advanced Irish views, ho does not sanction the employment of force. He is of pacific intentions, but is sufficiently "thorough" to command the support of the Fenian as well as the National party. The two hold idqutical views, but differ as to the means which ought to be employed. PROGRESS IN IRELAND. :The Times' Commissioner, who is row reviewing the land system of Ireland.as a whole, observes that yAilst the country has made vast progress during the ist 25 years, the improvement since 1860 has been ,omparatively small. The impetus iven by .lie great changes which followed the famine :ems to have exhausted itself by that date. For the last eight or ten years Ihe country has not gained what might have been expected. It is noteworthy, too, that this writer films the improvement most manifest where the small-farm system—taking the term in a reasonable sense—has continued the ordi la,ry mode of agriculture. "It is a remarkable and very interesting fact that the progress which Ireland qas made has been most evident in the districts ia which the normal type of her main industry has seen least broken up or disturbed." The eonsolida lien of small holdings into extensive farms has, even in material point of view, proved a failure. In proof of this statement, the Commissioner does not appeal to Ulster alone. In that province, though small farming and prosperity go together, yet the advance of wealth is in part tit be ascribed to other causes. But 'in other counties where no such causes operate, it is undeniable that the resources of Ireland have in creased most whore the small farm system has not been invaded, and that they have increased less where there has been an effort to introduce hastily the large farm system. The writer points to the Government returns during the last few years for evidence. The result, he says, has surprised him and carried conviction to his mind. SMALL PROPRIETORS V. TENANTS. Mr. William Mure, who has been investigating the condition of land tenure in Belgium, with the view of getting some light on the Irish problem, takes direct issue with Mr. Mill on the subject of peasant proprietorship. The great ;economist quoted the Belgian peasant as an example of the small pro pi etor who tills his own soil, and who by owning the land is induced to devote himself to its cultiva tion with an ardour of which a tenant never dreams. But Mr. Mure says that in fact the greater part of the land in Belgium, though owned by small pro prietors, is let in minute farms to a rack-rented and industrious peasantry. Not more than one-seventh of the. land is tilledly the. owners._ Mr. Mure adds that the figure of merit in husbandry iuercases in a direct ratio with the area cultivated by te:anls. "If we take the three •most fertile provinces—namely, the two Flanders and Brabant—we find 80 per cent. of the land in the hands of tenants. On the other hand, looking at Luxembourg, Namur, and Limbourg, the three worst cultivated provinces the proportion is only 40 per. cent. Luxembourg is of all provinces the most miserable, and there, if we take the gross area, we find that nine per cent. only is let, and of the arable area 20 per cent." Mr. Mum says that his figured Pre from the highest authority' nal fbat Miil hr been misled by untruit.vort4 eviatucii. ,p.ITISII TItADg. The returns of the imports into the United King dom during the month of October 1869 show a decided, advance upon the previous year. Our , imports last October were worth £23,759,824 ; in October . 1868 they were £21,502,839, and in the corresponding month of 1807 they amounted to £20,585,398. The total imports for the ten months from January to October 1869, amount to £195,480,021; for the same period in 1868 -they were. - £197,53('•,174; and for the corresponding portion of. 1807 they were £191,848,008. The export returns for the mont.h of November, 1869, were £15,287,820 ; for the co.rre sponding month of 1868 they were £14,143, - 493; a in 1867, £14,879,739. For the eleven months fro; January to November the export nambers are :—Fot 1369, 1:174,353,384 ; for 1868, £104,824,654 ; and for 1807, 2107p31,378. DIRECT COMMISSIONS IN THE ARMY. The Times contains an important announcement with respect to direct commissions. Owing to the large num ber of candidates who have passed their examination and are waiting for appointments which are not open to them, no more examinations will be held for a time. In justice- to those candidates who were pre haling themselves, and in the ordinary course would ave come up for test next time, and who will be beyond the proper age when the examination does come on, it is stated that their cases will be " specially considered." THE NEW FRENCH MINISTRY. The Telegraph publishes a list of the new 011ivier Ministry, and a very remarkable list it is. M. 011ivier himself takes the Interior; M. de •La Gue'ronniere, the Foreign Office ; M. Magne, Finance ; General Leboeuf, War ; Admiral Rigault de Genouilly will • adininister the N - avy; M. Bourgeau takes the Instruc tion portfolio ; M. Dupuy de Lome will be Minister of Public Works ; and M. Parieu will be Minister with out portfolio. This extraordinary combination does not contain one leader of the Moderate Liberals, either of the. Right or Left Centre, with whom M. 011ivier has been associated. 31. de La Gu6ronniere has for some time past served in. the capacity of Ambas sador at the Belgian Court, and is in all respects devoted to the old Imperial policy; whilst the next three--MM. Magne r Lebceuf, and Genouilly— held precisely . the same posts in the Cabinet which is just defunct. Neither MM. Buffet, de Talhouß, or Dart, of the Left Centre, nor Segris of the Right Centre, has accepted a place in the new Cabinet. In short, all M. Miller's old associates have withheld their aid from him in his new experiment. The symptom cannot be called promising. TILE END-OF TILE CONTROVERSY. The enthronement of Dr. Temple closes the con roversy. Bishop Trower, in7a letter to the Standard, states very plainly that he.has no wish to continue the opposition which he has been leading. • Ile does not question the efficacy of Dr. Temple's .consecra.• tlon ; he will not think of contending against the validity of the orders conferred by the Bishop. But he still considered, when he wrote the letter, that the appointment was " the greatest scandal the Church of God in - this country has had to undergo.". Bishop'Trower had not then read the Bishop of Exeter's sermon. That declaration of belief •in revelation will probably CW3 the minds of the most disturbed of Bishop Temple's opponents. True, he still held that cotheience was a revelation of Clod to man, and he frankly admitted that in the Old Tesament thi , re ware examples. which were not altogether flisflike.. But 'be contemled earnestly for theN'Vrittsif Vs .Ile west muali farther in his dselaration of its spiritual authority than many of his supporters would have expected. For ho very fers vently laid down thla "so far as in any wav the necessities of the - spiritual life require that the'Bible should be true even to the letter, so far all may expect to find it true." -- It did not (he said) teach ssience— as.ronomy, • geology, - and. all human knowledge. It was not a %natural revelation at all. It was a pure and perfect spiritual unveiling of God to man.• • It may also be remarked that in his decla ration of faith in Christ ha spoke of him. as " the Lord - GO, the Son of 0; Christ Jesus," a phrase which no Arian or Socinian—and such his lordship has been called—could possibly use. 81141011 Trower. with klAssee; ;" 4.: z .. ! FIME SCHOOLS. Some correspondence is published between the Rev. T. W. Fowle and Mr. Dixon, M.P. for Birming ham. Mr. Fowle asks to have his name taken off the roll of the Education League. He favours the League scheme in nearly all particulars ; he accepts unsectarian, nay, claims secular education ; he is fully convinced of the necessity for compulsion ; and sup ports the principle of local government: but he sees not the slightest use—rather posi tive harm—in abolishing school pence. The voluntary system is, in Mr. Fowle's opinion, " unworthy of an enlightened nation." The State must pay something. But why should it be required to pay everything when the parents are cheerfully ready to pay part ? The rev. gentleman thinks the principle destructive. He also proposes some altera tion in the League scheme as to local government. He protests against the present authorities and school boards being identified; and suggests instead that the ratepayers should elect a special committee for the purpose, A and that the - Privy - Council should add to the number. Mr. Dixon, in reply to this letter, says it will - be .an " immense step worthy of all our labour" if the principles on which Mr. Fowle agrees with the League are embodied in the act soon about to he. passed. VIE JEWS AND TILE FACTORY EXTENSION ACT. The Jews are not generally given to Meddlin ' o•with political questions; they are mostly content with looking after their own business. But it appears that the enormities of our factory laws have proved too much for the Hebrew tailors. A crowded meeting of Jewish journeymen has been held in London to protest against the iniquities of the " Workshop and Factory Extension Act," From the explanation of the chairman it appears that the chief grievance of the Jews consists in the regulations respecting Sun day. What with Saturday (their own Sabbath) our Sunday, and other off-days, the Hebrew workmen have only some four days a week to devote to busi ness. They think that such a result cannot have been foreseen by the Legislature, and they are there fore hopeful that, by proper representations, they will be allowed to work on Sunday. The chairman said that if Parliament refused to alter the law they would still submit; but great hardship and suffering would be caused by such a decision. IMPROVEMENT OF SUEZ CANAL. M. de Lesseps telegraphs to the -English represen tative of the Suez Canal Company that on Monflay the steamer Stirling, from Glasgow, left for Bombay immediately after her arrival at Port said. She passed through the canal in twelve hours. Other English steamers were following. Since the inau gural ceremonies great efforts have been made to increase the depth of the canal, and this work has been successfully completed between Port Said and Ismailia. The piece of rock, which was the most formidable obstacle in the section between Ismailia and Suez, has been reduced about two feet and 'a quarter—a material addition to the depth—in a fortnight, and its entire removal may be looked for shortly REPORT OF THE POSIMASTER- GENERAL. POST-OFFICE DEPARTMENT, WASHINGTON, D.C., Nov. 15, 1869. Sir,—The ordinary revenues of this Department for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1869, were $18,344,510 72, and the expenditures $23,698,131 50. For the year ending June 30, 1868, the ordinary revenues were $16,292,600 80, and the expenditures $22,730.592 65. The increase of rev, nue for the year 1869 over the preceding fiscal year was $2,051,909 92, and the increaso of expenditures $967,538 85. The increase of revenue for 1868 over. 1867 was $1,035,573 93, and the increase of expenditures for 1868 over 1867 was $3,195,109 19. The ratio of increase of revenue for the year 1869 is 12.50 per cent., and of tha xpoediter_. 4.95 per eett.,.e, mrnred with receipts end expenditures for the year 1,6 2 . The increase of revenue for 1869 is greater than the increase for 1868 by $9:16,335 139, and the increase of expenditures for 180 is lees than the increase for 1868 by $2,527,570 34. If, t b ere fore, the increase of receipts be compared with the increase of expenditures for the year last ended, it will appear that the increase of receipts exceeded the increase of expendi tures in the sum of $1,084,37107 ; while a like comparison of the receipts and expenditures for the your 1868 will show an excess in the increase of expenditures over the iucrease of receipts for that year of $2,439,535 26. ESTIMATES FOR 1871. The estimated expenditures for the year end ing June 30, 1871, are The - revennes, estimated at 10 per cent. in crease over last year ... Standing appropriations for free matter 20,878,9G1 Leaving a deficiency of The foregoing estimates do not include the following special appropriations in the native of sub idies:— For mail steamship servic between San Francisco, Japan, and China 5500,000 For like service between the United States and Brazil For like service between San Francisco and Sandwich Islands ... 75, 000 Total Of the deficiency appropriated for the year 1869 there remains unexpended a balance of .. against which there are properly chargeable sundry unliquidated accounts, which can not exceed the following estimates: For balances to foreign countries $250,000 00 For mail service ender contract and recogniied For mail service unrec Tnised 150,000 00 684,186 35 Leaving a net balance; after settlement and '-' payment of all liabilities, of 5815,813 65 Fiscal year Fiscal year ending June ending June Description. 30, 1868. 30, 1869. Postage stamps 511,736,261 00 $12,706,220 00 Newspaper and periodical stamps 14,750 00 16,348 00 Plain stamped envelopes 1,285,218 00 1,332,862 50 Request stamped envelopes 759,520 00 950,726 00 Newspaper wrappers .. _. 67,373 00 71,905 00 Aggregate 513,863,124 00 $15,073,061 50 Increase Description. Increase. per cent. Postage stamps 5469,956 00 8 26-100 Newspaper and periodical ___stamps Plain stamped envelopes 4 7 .,644 50 3 70-100 Request stamped envelopes 191,206 00 25 17-100 Newspaper wrappers Aggregate 8 76-100 CONTRACTS. There were in the service ;Ithe Department on the - 30th of June, 1869, 7,056 contractors rot the transportation of the mails. Of mail routes in operation there were 8,449, aggregating in length 223,731 miles, in annual transportation, 90,723,403 miles, and tu annual cost, $10,406,501. If the compensa tion of railway post-office clerks, route agents, local agents, mail messengers, mail route messengers, and baggage masters in charge of mails, amounting to $1,275,227, be added, the aggregate annual cost will be $11,681,728. This service was divided as follows : Railroad routes : Length, 39,537 miles ; annual trans portation, 41,399,281 miles; annual cost, $4,723,680 —about 11.41 cents per mile. Steamboat routes: Length, 20,779 miles; annual trans portation, 41,331,011 miles; annual cost $774,536—ab0ut 17.88 cents. per mile. "Celerity, certainty, and security :" Length, 163,415 miles ; annual transportation, 44,993,108 miles ; annual cost, $4,908,285 - about 10.9 cents per mile. There was an increase over the preceding year in length of routes of 6;803 miles; in annual transportation, 6,499,078 miles; and in cost, $140,445. To the last add increased cost for railway post-office clerks, route, local, and other agents, $160,594, and the total increase of cost will be shown to be $301,039. The foregoing statements of distances and costs do not include service for "special" offices. There were, at the close of the year, 1,962 of these offices, each with a mail carrier, a hose pay from the department is not allowed to exceed the not postal yiuld of the office. " Special" routes and their-carriers aro included in the number of contrac tors nod route.; as given above. . ._ All the contracts with Welk Fargo, and Co. for the conveyance of the Overland rdaPs have expired. except on the note from Cheyenne, City to Denver, 102 milos and back daily, for a hick payment is made at the ram of per annum. This is all that remains of the old overland mail service, and this will doubtless be super seded in a few nioutlw, a railroad between Cheyenne City and Prover being now in rapid courso of construction. READJUSTMENT OF PAY ON RAILROAD ROUTES. In anticipation of the close of the contract term in the Net England States and the State of New York, and with a view to obtain data upon which to base the re-ad justment of the rates of pay for the transportation of mails on railroad routes in those States for the Pew tt rut com mencing July 1, 1869, cii &ars were sent out in Fehi nary lat 4 to the prupr - etors of all such routes, requesting them to weigh the mails they conveyed for thirty days from the Ist a March, and report. the result to the Department, and to furia,b, also, descriptions' of the accomno.dstions provided for mails aid agents, together with statements showing the number of times par week the mails were con veyed in each direction. The information obtained in answer to this call is comprised in table E of the report of the Second Assistant Postmaster-General, hereto appended, in which there are also embraced returns from a number of routes in other States, made at various times since the publication of a similar table in'the annual re F ort for ltst;7, It is the purpose of the Department in the future to make a similar call upon the proprietors of railroad routes near the close of the contract - term in each of the four sections into which the country is divided, so that the readjust meta, of pay in every case may be made upon new and oorrected returns. The rates heretofore paid for railroad mail service in New England and New York have been carefully com pared with the returns just received from those .Mates ; and in every instance in which the amount and charac ter of.the service have been found to bo clearly insuffi cient to jestify the rate allowed, a commensurate de,hic tion has teen made. On the other baud, whenever a de maud for increased pay has been made which the retains appeared to warrant, such increase has been allowed. On . all of these mutes together, 78 in numl er, the former an nual pay amounted to 8742,852 63. The annual pay, as readjusted, now amounts to $803,706 1:8, showieg an excess of the.present over the loaner amount of annual pay of $60,853 95. • Great complaints have been made by some of the prin cipal milt oad companies in relation to the alleged inade gnaey of their compen•ation fin carrying the mails. They asset t that the rates of their pay were fixed try tho act of 3tl" March, 1845, and have remained unchanged for nearly 25 years; and that, although the phy thus established ,was, at the time of the passage of the act, just and ample, it now falls short of what tl.ey are fairly entitled to. It cannot be denied that since the passage of the act of 1845 important chaeges Lave tlken place, the most conspi cuous of which are the following : a large increase in the quantity and weight of mail matter; au additional number of tripe per day to meet the necessities of the service ; and the introduction of railway post offices, requiring much heavier a- d more expensive mail cars. These changes have imposed additional duties upon the railroads consti tuting the great trunk lines, and have largely increased their expenses. Li justice to this class of roads, I respect fully recommend a careful revision and readjustment by Congress of railroad compersation, and the establishment of such rates as will be just and equitable to all con cerned. THROUGH MAILS, Since the completion of the railroad line to the Pacific, arrangements have been made to have records kept showing the time occupied in the transit of mails from Washington, Now York, Boston, Chicago, Cincinnati, and St. Louis to Denver City, Salt Lake City, Sacramento City, and San Francisco and back. The appendix con tains a copy of the circular giving the necessary instruc tions to postmasters and others. The records of arrivals on the Atlantic side during the month of October have reached the department. They show that mails are car ried through from San Francisco to Washington in 6 days, 23 hours, and 15 minutes; to Now York, in 6 days 15 hours, and 20 minutes; to Boston, in 7 days, 4 hours; to Chicago, in 5 days, 7 hours, and 30 minutes; to Cincinnati, in 5 days, 22 hours, and 30 minutes ; and to St. Louis, in 5 days, 1 hour, and :30 minutes. The above figures show the time of the shortest tri, s. The average time was: to Washington, 7 . days, 7 hours, and 11 minutes; to New York, 7 days, 2 hours, and 23 minutes; to Boston, 7 days, 19 hours, and 25 minutes; to Chicago, 5 days, 14 hours, and 55 minutes; to Cincinnati, 5 days, 8 hours, and 32 mi nutes; and to St Louis, 5 days, 16 hours, and 23 minutes. Compared with the time from San Francisco, the time from Sacramento City is 6 hours and 20 minutes less ; from Pro montory, 2 days and 10 minutes less; from Salt Lake City, 2 days and 9 hours less; from Denver Cite, 1 day, 23 hours, and 30 minutes less; and from Omaha City, 4 days, 7 hours, and 30 minutes less -- Salt Lake City being dis tant from the railroad 29 miles, and Denver City 102 miles. Under the . Old overland mail contracts, the time from the Missouri River to Folsom City, 23 miles east of Sacra mento City, was 16 days, from April 1 to Dec. 1, and 20 days for the remainder of the year. Mails have been transmitted twice a day each way be tween New York and New Orleans since the Ist of March last, once over. the Southern route, via Washington, D. C.., Lynchburg, Va . ., and Knoxville, Tenn., and rice wer tha Western route, via Louisville, Ky., and Ilutribt-rd . , Tenn. By the latter route a portion of the trips have been made in shorter time than by the former; the shortest being 78 hours and 30 minutes going South, and 76 hours and 15 minutes going North, while the shortest by the former was 84 hours and 35 minutes going South, and 85 hours and 20 minutes going North. Greater regularity exists on the South-Western route, however, on which the average tune from March to September, inclusive, was 89 hours and `.:9 minutes going South, and 90 hours and 59 minutes going North; while the average on the Western route for the same period was 92 hours and 13 minutes going South, and 90 hours and 14 minutes going North. Taking both direc tions together, there were carried through, from March to September, inclusive, on the South-Western route, 129 mails, at en average speed of 90 hours and 14 minutes; and on the Western route, 359 mails, at an average speed of 91 hours and 18 minutes. By comparison with the through mail tables in the last annual report, it will bo seen that the average_time on both these routes is sensibly improved. A greater expedition has recently been obtained between New York and Chicago, one of the three daily trips over the Allentown route (via Pittsburg) being made in loss than 31 hours each way. SPECIAL AGENTS. The number of Special Agents in the employ of the Department during the last fiscal year was 48, at an aggregate .compensation of $134,342. Under the im pression that this force was xcessive, Congress, in the Appropriation Act for the current year, appropriated $100,0 , 0 "for detecting and preventing mail depredations, and for special agents," and then restricted the action of the Department by declaring that "no greater sum shall be paid Special Agents than is hereby provided." The Department, desiring to conform to the law, and at the same time to render the force of Special Agents as effi cient as possible, deemed it necessary to organize this brunch of the set vice, and has divided the force in man ner following : Eive Assistant-Superintendents of railway mail service, charged with the supervision of the trans portation of' the malls; 14 inspectors, authorized to in quire into the management and i•xpenditures of Pcs'- Offices ; and ti Agents, with general powers, iu the Sixth Division. In addition to t''e foregoing., the Department has iu its service one Agent en,gag,,d on the free delivery, one Agent on the money-order system, and eight Agt , nts in detecting acid preventi g mail depredations— making in all 35 men, all of whom are under the general direeion of a Superintendent of Railway Mail Service, appointed under the Act of March 3, 1863, section 5 By this division, of labour, it is believed that much more satisfactory results will be attained. But as the field - of operations of these officers has been much enlarged, and their duties made more specific and exactir.g, it is respectfully submitted that the amount of the appropriation for the current year is too small to meet the wants of the service. It is therefore recommended either that the appropriation be increased to $125,000 per annum, or that the Department be permitted to charge the expense of the five "Assistant- Superintendents of Railway Mail Service" to the trans portation fund, and the expense of the Special Agents in cdthige of the free d; livery anti of the money-order system to the account of the free delivery and the money-order system-respectively. It is further submitted that a sum should be placed at the disposal of the Department to defray the expenses of such temporary Special Agents as the extraordinary emergencies of the service may de mand. • • RAILWAY POST-Orr:CEA. On the 30th June last there were in operation 37 lines of railway post-offices, 'extending in the aggregate over 7,201 miles of railroad and steamboat lines —being an in crease of three lines and 182 miles of service over the year 1868. The number of clerks employed during the last year was 324, at an annual cost of $384,300. During the previous year the number of clerks employed was 297, and the amountjixpended in compensatio, $329,700. No increase was made during the last year in the twice daily service, except by interchangeable podthes between the principal post-office and between the several lines. The railway post-office, by reason of the additional facili ties it affords in mailing important letters up to the mo ment of the departure of the trains, and in receiving, assorting, and distributing the mails daring their transit, thus saving many hours, and in some instances days. in the communication between important points, has be come an essential part of the service. It is, in fact, indis pensable, and, as the population and wealth of the coun try shall increase, it will be necessary to extend it to keep pace with the wants and demands of the people. A list of railway post-office lines in operation on the 30th June, 1869, is appended hereto. FOREIGN MAIL SERVICE. The total nuinberofLiters passing between the United States and foreign countries (Canada excepted) during the last year was 12,596,654, of which 6,638,858, were sent from, and. 5,957,796 received in the United States. The increase over the number exchanged in 1868 is 1,468,122. Estimating the number exchanged with the Dominion of Canada, of which no accurate account is reported, at 3,000,000, the whole number of letters exchanged in the mails with foreign countries exceeded 15,500,000. The total postages on letters exchanged with foreign countries estimating the postage on letters to and from Canada at $350,000, amounted to $2,014,18315. The aggregate amount of postage, inland, sea, and foreign, upon the letter correspondence exchanged with Great Britain and other European countries during the year 1869, was $1,503,773 05, being $202,694 71 less than the postage receipts of the previous fiscal year. The number of .letters (single rates) exchanged in the mails with the saine . countries was 11,428,551, an increase of 1,358,892 over the number exchanged in the previous year. Notwithstanding recent reductions of postage to all the countries of Europe, except France, amounting in most instances to 50 per cent., the increased correspond ence has produced a revenue only 12 per cent. less than that derived from the higher rates of the preceding year. The postages upon letters sent to European countries exceeded the postages upon letters received from Europe in the sum of $14,968 13, the excess of letters sent being about six per cent. This very small excess of postage on correspondence sent over that on correspondence re ceived is a convincing argument in favour of simplifying our postal arrangements with other countries by dispens ing with the present complicated and expensive interna tional postage accounts. This can be readily accomplished by adopting the rule of compulsory prepayment of post age, and by :providing (upon the general principle, now well established, that every letter brings a reply) that the postages collected on all the international correspondence shall belong wholly to the despatcling office; that no charge whatever shall be made at the office of destination in the country wherein the correspondence may be deli vered ; and that in all cases the dispatching otlice shall defray the expense of intermediate transmission. The inconsiderable pecuniiry disadvantages which might re sult to either poet department under the practical working of such a system would be more than compensated by the conveuieuce of the arrangement and the ahilhion of in tricate and vexatious accounts This principle has already been adopted in the conventions with some of the countries with which the United Sitees has direct postal relation?, end it is hoped that the p ,st depal talents of others will also see the propriety of adep;ing it, a$ a means of simplit)ing and pi ontotiug international postal exchanges. The excess of collections in the Ut.ited States over the pes!ages collected in Europe upon the letter cerrespond olctQeidtii r u ° this ence exchang e d with OYat Britain, the North German Union, Franc e , B e l g i um , the Netherlands, Switz !Hand, and Italy, w as 8374,944 85, 62 per cent. of collected thel .t ternational postage charges having been country. This result is owing, mainly. to a failure to pre pay postages abroad. The excess of like \collectioelslillu,vry ing the previous year S 5474,020 30.. 'rhea.) excessive collections of postage in the United States can s: , balances against this department on settlement of the quarterly accounts with the respective fofrign post de payments. Dur:ng the last fist:al year the aggregate of such balances amounted to 518.""..;385 07. The t.-allisliip lines employed by this denarlineht ie the transpottSiou of the mails t, G•vat Britain tv;(1 the Continent of Europe performed four weekly services from Quebec in summer end Portland in winter, and three out ward trips from Baltimore, receiving tit COmpensaticti sea postages on the mails conveyed. The earnings of the respective lines amounted RI di& sum of $336,20749, as follows: The North German Lloyd line, for 52 trips from New York to Southampton The Cunard line, for 52 trips from New York to Queenstown The Hamburg-American Packet Company , for 52 trips to Southampton, &c. (estimated fourth quarter at $20,000) The Inman line, for 52 trips from New York to Queenstown The Canadian line for 52 trips to Liverpool 5,750 03 The Baltimore and Liverpool StcamshipCom pany for three trips from Baltimore to Li verpool 4l 25 &faking a total of • $336,207 49 The cost of the United States transatlantic mail steam ship service fur the fiscal year 1867 was 8551,3 38 01 ; and for the year 1868, $421,774 44 - the reduced rates of sea postage established by the present postal convention with Great B, Hain having been iu operation - during the last six months of the year 1868. The United States postages on the mails conveyed to and from the West Indies amounted to $88,984 21, and the coma ensatiun paid for their transportation was $69,862 09. Tim re was also paid to the owners of steamships con veying mails to and from Central America, Nova Scotia, Jte. r the provisions of the general law limiting the compensation to the postages, the sum of $12,272 20, making an aggregate expenditure for ocean mail trans portation under thb general law of $x18,:'.4178. Adding the special appropriations for the mail steamship service to Japan and China, to Brazil, and to the Hawaiian Islands, which amount to $725,000, the total cost of the United States ocean mail service for the year 1869 was $1,143,341 78. The tabular statements iu the appendix furnish detailed information of the operations of the foreign mail service during the year. Tho appointments of Government agents in charge of the United States mails on hoard of the mail steamers plying between San Francisco, Japan, and China, and between San Francisco and Honolulu, were revoked is the month of April last, and notice was given to the respective steamship companies that thenceforth they would be required to securely transport and safely de liver the mails at each terminal and intermediate port according to the stipulations of their contracts. As the employment of mail agents on board of these steamers appeared to be of little practical benefit, I considered it my duty to discontinue their services. The duties which they discharged are now performed without charge by the pursers of the steamers. Propositions have been made to this department by parties representing as responsible and experiencAd in ocean steam navigation to contract for the conveyance of the United States mails to European ports by American steamships of the first class and of equal speed to the faStegt steamers now carrying the mails, at a compensa tion limited to the amount'of sea portages, upon condition . that the department should bind itself for a long term of years, subject to the'approval of Congress; and some have offered in this connection to fix the rate of sea postage at two "cents per half ounce. But as the general law relating to contracts for carrying the mails on the seas expressly limits the authority of the department to a term not ex ceeding.two yeats, I have declined all proposals to con tract fora longer time, not desiring in any manner to fore stall the action of Congress upon a subject of so much im portance. - If it be possible, I should greatly prefer sack legislation by Congress as would so far revive and encourage our own shipbuilding interests as to enable American builders and mechanics to tinter into active competition in the con struction and equipment of steam vessels with the builders and mechanics of other countries. If, however, it should be decided that this cannot be done, then I would respect fully suggest the propriety of so modifying our navigation laws as to authorise the issuing of American registers to such foreign-built steamers as may be purchased and em ployed by citizens of the United States under contracts with this department in the transportation of our foreign The present postal convention between the United States and France was concluded on March 2, 1857. It establishes a combined rate of international postage at 15 cents per quarter ounce, equal to 30 cents per halt ounce, a higher rate than is charged upon correspondence be tween the United States and any other civilized nation with which we are in direct communication. it is iueom plete in that it makes no provision for the exchange of mailable articles other than letters. It adopts au excep tional standard weight of one-quarter ounce for the single rate of letters, differing from the uniform standard of one half ounce ,established with all other countries. The postage charge for letters is exorbitantly high, compared with the cheaper rates recently adopted with all ether countries of Europ. In its details and practical operation it is very unequal, giving unfair advantages to the French post department, and fails utterly to meet the advanced opinions of the times in regard to international postal in tercourse, and to afford the public benefits that postal conventions are intended to secure. The necessity of at revision of this convention on a more liberal basis was made known to the general post department of Franco in December, 1866 ; and on the 4th of February, 1867, official intelligence was communicated by the French Minister, M. Berthemy, thr oug h th e "De partment of State, that the Government of the Emperor was also of the belief that a new convention would be of advantage to the two countries, accompanied with the request that a special delegate or employd of the American post-office should be sent to Paris with com plet3 instructions to confer with the Director General of the French Posts upon the conditions of agreement between the two post olepartinents. This invitation was promptly accepted, and the Hon. John A. Kasson was appointed on the sth of April, 1867, a special com missioner on behalf of this Department to proceed to Paris, and there negotiate and arrange the conditions of a more liberal postal convention, subject to the appro.al of the Postmaster-General of the United States. Mr. Kasson left immediately for Paris, and entered upon the nego tiations intrusted to him. He remained in that city several months, labouring faithfully and perseveringly to accoinp:ish the object of his mission, but failed to obtain any amelioration of our postal relations with France, slitiough he succeeded, during the same visit to Europe, in negotiating liberal postal conventions, establishing greatly reduced postage r a t es w ith G reat B itain, the North German Union, Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzer land, and Italy. The apparent unwillingness of the Frerch post depart ment to modity the provisions of the present convention iu conforinity with the more liberal principles adopted in our postal intercourse with other countries of Europe induced my p edocessor ' on the Bth of January, 1868, to give the rept:l'4A notice to terminate that convention on the Ist of February. 1869, and at the same time to request the French post department to send an agent to Wash ington authorize 1 to enter upon the ntg)tiation of a new convention. This invitation was dtclined by the French Administration. Afterward, on the application of the French office, the deration of the convention was prolonged until the Ist of April, 1865. Soon after assuming charge of the department, I learned that no progress had been made in adjusting the basis of a new convention, and that, unless a second ex tension could be had, the subsisting convention would expire before any further action could be taken for its reformation. Impelled by an earnest desire to maintain our direct postal relations with France on an improved basis of liberality, mutually advantageous t • the public of both countries, I proposed to the French office, under date of 10th March, to further prolong the duration of the present convention until Ist January, 18.0. A letter from the French Director-General of Posts, dated 3d March, making the same proposition, crossed my own in transit, and was received at this department on the 14th of the same month. A second extension having been thus effected, I immediately reopened negotiations. Being fully satisfied, from an exchange of letters, that there was• no prospect of harmonizing the conflicting views and propositions of the two departments through the ordinary medium of epistolary correspondence, I decided to make another effort to adjust the points of disagreement by direct personal negotiations at Paris. I very fortunately had it in my power to avail myself of the services of the Hon. Alexander Ramsey, Chairman of the Senate Committee ois Post-Offices and Post-Roads, who, at my solicitation, consented to undertake these difficult negotiations. H e was accordingly designated a special commissioner on behalf of this department to negotiate with the General Post-Office at Paris the basis of a new postal convention with France. Gov. Ramsey arrived in Paris on the 23d July, 1869, and immediately entered upon the important duths' in trusted to him. Since that date several proposals and counter proposals have been submitted and considered, personal interviews had with the French Director-Ge neral of Posts and the Minister of Finance, for mutual interchange of opinions and explanations, and yet no progress has been made toward the conclusion of a new convention, on account of the persistent adherence of the French postal administration to impossible propositions and conditions, so illiberal and unjust toward the United States that considerations of national self-respect would alone forbid their acceptance by this department. The negotiations of Gov. Ramsey at Paris, which have been conducted with great ability, patience, and perseverance on his part, have, I regret to state, b een t erm i nate d , a ft er three months' eforts, without any reasonable hope of an agreement on the leading provisions of the proposed new arrangement; and it seems probable, therefore, that our direct postal relations with France will cease on the Ist of Jauttary neat. Mattoon, the New York State Legislator, who confessed in Court to having used his legislative knbw ledge in stock speculations, the Age delicately remarks, is being "interviewed" by the New York Supreme Court. That gentleman sold his influence as a State Senator to a stock speculator for half the profits, but unfortunately for him the result was a loss, and the other sued him for half the deficit. On the stand Mattoon testified to offering official information for a share of profits, knowing that he was dealing with a gambler, the mere keeper of a faro bank, named S. P. White, who, in consequence of the Senator's information, purchased heavily in Etie, whereby he lost more than 86,000. White was introd uce d to Mat• toon by a lobbyist named Jones as a good couple to run together. Writing to White, he alludes to Jay Gould and his black bag. The Erie clique have developed a vast amount cf rascality, and it. is not the least surprising that Mattoon, Republican State Senator of New York, after giving the above testimony on his conduct as if it had been quite correct, should have declined to answer further questions of the plaintiff's attorney, as it might degrade hi m . Much curiosity is expressed to know what further disclosures could degrade a man so placed. LADVERTISEMENT.f—Henceforth no one will doubt the valuable properties _of Du Bar ry ' s health-restoring Revalenta Arabic& Invalids and Infants' Fo o d , s i nce • to the thousands of blessing , it has already receiv e d from Invalids whose position had been deemed hopeless, w e may now add that of his Holiness the Pope, whore health has been perfectly restored by it after thirty years of nuauccessful medical treatment. We quote from the "Gazette du Midi," July 25th :—" Rome, July 21, 1866. The health of the Holy Father is excellent, especially since, abandoning all other reme dies, he has confined himself entirely to Du Barry's Revalenta , A rabica Food, of which he consume,: a plateful at every me It has produced a surprisinglbeneficial effect on his health,,and his Holiness cannot praise this - excellent food too highly." NVe extract a, few out of more than 63,000 cures:—Cure No. 58.21.6, of the Marchioness do Brohan, of seven years' liver cony' aint wasting away, debility, nervousness, with a nervous pall: t i?u, all over, bad digestion, constant sleeplessness, and the II 0 it in tolerable nervous agitation. Cure No 1,771: Lord Stuart de Decies, Lord-Lieutenant of Waterford, of many years' dyspeps!a• No. 40,832: "Fifty years' indescribable agony from dysPePs!° , nervousness, asthma, cough, constipation, flatulency, spasms.lZl. sic:afess, and vomiting —Maria Joly." Cure No. 46,270: nr. James Roberts, of Frimley, Surrey, of 30 years' diseased u _ a. spitting of blood. liver derangement, and partial deafness. portant Caution—Beware of the many u n s avoury and more than sloppy imitations to which, without authority, Baron Lie ig's name is most audaciously attached. London : Printed and Pdblished by WILLIAM ANDREWS of No. ;12, Strand, Printer, at TuE SUN Office, in the Precinct of the Savoy, 113 the County of Middlefiex:•! Friday, December 91, 18(9 o. 112, Strand,