The Sun. — London, England, 1870-12-29 00:00:00

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On foreman, 1, Leices e of the JRG.—A nper or of etersburg ;, and its re drawn dy guard tgnificent ariegated lost pie s to great iastically past was , taking ig-house ; 1, one of the Czar, to pieces ared him d ordered he troops tp to the either in SPECIAL EDITION. SUN OFFICE, 7 P.M. LATEST INTELLIGENCE. ATTEMPT ON THE LIFE OF MARSHAL PRIM. MADRID, December 28. While Marshal him was proceeding to the Cortes from the Ministry of War some individuals fired at his carriage in the Calle Alcala. The Marshal was wounded, as we's also one of his adjutants, but not dangerously. The utmost indignation is felt at the villaneous attempt. The authorities at once took steps to repress any outbreak, and also for the arrest of the assasins. The city remains tranquil. THE WAR. EXPECTED BATTLE NEAR HAVRE. HAVRE, December 29. The Germans have assembled in great force near Bol')ec, and an engagement is looked upon as im minent. The enemy also occupy strong positions between Duclair and St. Paer. THE BATTLE OF PONT NOYELLES. LILLE, December 29. General Faidherbe has issued an order of the day to the Army of the North, congratulating the troops composing the Army of the North on their gallant conduct at the battle of Pont Noyelles, and on the glorious success which has been the it reward. He says the artillery was well directed, and he compli ments the Mobile and National Guards on their bravery under fire. He concluded by saying that some days' rest merited by their glorious deeds will soon make them forget the privations and the rigour of the temperature which they have borne with resignation. Let us be penetrated with this thought that these rude trials are imposed upon us hS the safety of the country. THE PILLAGE OF ST. CALAIS. ' BORDEAUX, December 27. The Germans at St. Calais, on the 25th inst., de manded 20,000 f. but finally accepted 15,000 f., and levied heavy recquisitions of all kinds. The town was delivered up to pillage during one hour. BLOCKADE OF FRENCH PORTS. COPENHAGEN, December 28 (3.50 p.m.) The French Chargé d'Affairs has made officially known to the Government of Denmark that all the French ports occupied by the Gentians are to be blockoded. The port of Kiel is completely shut up by ice. GREAT CONSPIRACY DISCO VERED AT COLOGNE. INTENDED MUTINY OF 50,000 FRENCH SOLDIERS. BERLIN, Dec. 28, (4 p.m.) A. great conspiracy has been discovered among the French prisoners at Cologne, Coblentz, and Mayence, 60,000 strong. It is declared that they intendel to mutiny on Christmas-eve, disarm the guards, and fight their way back to France. The troops, being kept in readiness, prevented the outbreak. Many French officers have been removed from the Rhine to the fortresses on the Russian frontier. The Allgerneine Zeitung states that the French prisoners at Coblentz, and Mayence, numbering 60,000, plotted an outbreak on the night of Christmas Day. They proposed to fall on their guards at a given signal, disarm and kill them, and then hasten to the French frontier, where they calculated on assistonce, especially in Alsace. Ihe military and police authorities had, however, a timely warning, and on the 24th brought up considerable reinforcements of infontry and artillery. At Cologne 10,000 troops were posted in the barracks, rea'ly to march out at the first beat of the drum. No outbreak, however, was attempted. Many of the prisoners had pre viously asked whether they would be allowed to receive Christmas presents from France, and, being rnswered in the affirmative, boxes containing Weapons were forwardod to them. These were con fiscated. At Coblentz a chest arrived, addressed to a Freneh officer, which was proved to contain five six-barrelled reuolvers and a dagger, concealed in clothing. The defiant and insolent demeanour of the officers is strongly complained of, and 300 of them have consequently been removed from Wiesbaden to tho eastern provinces, where th e y will be subjected to stricter su pervision, and will be further from the French frontier. On the 19th two officers escaped from Dusseldorf, and a number of Mobiles recently attempted to escape from the Saxon fortress of Konigstein, having constructed a rope out of towels. They were, however, detected in the act. It is said the prisoners will in future wear an epaulette, on Which will be stamped the place where they are interned, and their name, battalion, and company. CONTINUED BOMBARDMENT OF MONT AVRON. \ BERLIN, December 28. The following telegram has been received here to day : VERSAILLES, December 28. I‘lnt - Avron was uninterruptedly bombarded in the course of yesterday, and the bombardment will be continued to-day. Our losses are insignificant. The Provincial Correspondence of the 28th, an nouncing the bombardment of the fort, says the Maasure is not yet io be looked upon as a bombard ment of Paris, nor even exactly as a bombardment of the• forts, but as an effectual introduction to that Course. As soon as Mont Avron is taken, not only Will operations against the surrounding forts be greatly facilitated, but the bombardment of the neighbouring parts of Paris will become possible. This great object will now be all the more safely effected, inasmuch as the besieging army has but little to fear from without. HEADQUARTERS OF THE CROWN PRINCE OF PRUSSIA, VERSAILLES, Dec. 28. The cold weather has continued without inter- Mission. The Seine at Villeneuve St. Georges, oan be passed on the ice. The Germans continue to cannonade Mont A.vron to the east of Paris. All is quiet south of Paris. _ _ OLICHY, December 26. Everything has been very quiet to-day, but the 24 th Saxon Division, from here to the Marne, was standing on the alert. The commencement of the bombardment of Paris i s to be on the east side. Circumstances are not Very sanguine as to the im mediate result. BALLOON NEWS FROM PARIS. - LIMOGES, December 26. A. balloon has descended here. The news from Paris is up to the 27th. The reports from Paris — that the city is in a thorough state of defence. The excessive cold impedes military operations. The Warlike preparations daily become of a more for midable character. On Monday the Mobilised Mt; SUN, LONDON, THU RSDAI, DECEMBER 29, Id7v. THE MONEY MARKET. CITY, Two o'CLocK The Stock Exchange is occupied by the settlement, which closes to-morrow. There is an active demand for money at the Bank of England and elsewhere, the dis count broker obtaining 2g and 2i per cent. for Three Months' bills. Consols are 911 to 911 for money and account. Foreign Stocks are slightly better ; Turkish Five per Cents., 431 to 431; French Six per Cent. Defence Loan, 11 to 11 dis. ; North German Loan, I to 1 prem. ; and Italian of 1861, 55i to 551. At a meeting of the creditors of Messrs. Parke, Pittar and Co., whose suspension in the East India trade was announced on the 20th inst., an approximate statement of affairs was submitted by Mr. Gibbons, of the firm of Harding, Whinney, Gibbons, and Co., who explained that further information was required from India before the position of the estate could be accurately arrived at. It was proposed and unanimously agreed that the meeting should be adjourned, and that Mr. C. J. Leaf and Mr. C. A. Stewart should act as inspectors in the interim. The statement shewed unsecured liabilities to the amount of £25,504, with assets apparently likely to realise £21,834, and the possibility of receipts from other claims. Barcelona appears to expectithat the King of Spain will land at that port, as the first commercial town in the kingdom, and the authorities have sent a deputatic n to Madrid with a request to that effect. With regard to Turkish finance, the Levant Herald states :—" The negociations for the new local loan, an nounced on the 30th ult. as being then in course of treaty, have been somewhat protracted by the late interruptions in the telegraphic communication with the West, and it was only during the past week that the transaction has been closed in London through the agency here of Messrs. Corondo and Co. The nominal amount of this operation is £2,000,000, of which one-half serves to redeem the October, 1869, loan of the Societ6 Gdndrale, while the remainder is available in cash, less interest for the whole term of fourteen months payable in advance at the rate of 14 per cent. per annum. As security the Porte pledges the surplus of the Egyptian tribute of the Sheep tax and of the Custom-house revenues, reserving the )ption of repayment in General Debt stock at 47." The last instalment of £2O per £lOO Bond of the Grand Trunk " Equipment Mortgage Bonds No. 2 " will be due and payable on the 31st instant, and the half-year's interest on these bonds will be payable on the Ist of January. ME ASSAULTS FROM THE PARIS FORT Continuing his previous letter, the special correspon dent of the Daily News at the headquarters of the Crown Prince of Saxony thus writes from Margency, December 24 :—Yet another dies irce. The French seemed deter_ mined on fighting it out on this same Le Bourget line even to the bitter end. God knows what the measurement of bitterness that end may represent ; surely the inter mediate stages must be bitter enough for them in bloody bivouacs, with the temperature twelve degrees below freezing point. I left them yesterday afternoon still standing in position there athwart the plain from Corneuve to Bondy, with the setting sun on their backs, and Le Bourget the un taken in their front, the guns of the forts still hurling the projectiles high over the heads of the immobile soldiery. When the evening lapsed into the long hours there was a lull, and one thought, for sure, the guns would at • least be given a few hours to cool. But at midnight the dreadful din commenced again. There was no roll of proviant columns or artillery tumbrils to deaden it—every boom smote the ear as it'were with a blow. Then, as the gunners warmed to their work,the separate and individual booms merged in a concatenation of hellish noise. To wards five o'clock, through the air troubled with the bellow of the firing, one could detect another sound—the rumble of artillery wheels in the rear. The Fourth Army Corps was contributing its quota to the resistance of the expected onslaught. Six batteries were on the road from Franconville to Gonesse, on the ground beyond which they would be in position before the darkness lifted. Then silent Montmorency burst out into life and candle-light. A brigade of the 7th Division was under orders to back up the sturdy guards men, and the men of Anhalt—Dessau, the square-built soldiers of the Ludwig-Franz regiment, the 93rd of the North German line, were turning ont of chateau and cabin, of desolated restaurant and apartments, no longer »a 444,149, and hoading for the front. Then it was time, for me to go back to Margency, to get that poor, long suffering, much enduring, wiry, indomitable creature of a horse of mine, for the Crown Prince and his staff were bound for Gonese before daybreak, and there were all the symptoms of a wild day's work. The explanation of the persistence of the French in their efforts on this face is believed here to lie in this—that they have intelligence of the Army of the North having made some head, and that they are battling on ever in the expectation of hearing its answering cannon from the woods of Chantilly or the slopes of Dammartin. They do not know what we know, how yesterday Manteuffel, the grim, the curt, the astute diplomatist and able general, sent Faidherbe reeling back with a facer, from which it will take him some time to recover. Gonesse was reached by eight o'clock. Again the Guardsmen of the 2nd Division were out waiting for the foe that never came, gallant old Bud ritzki impatiently pulling his white mo,ustache as he stamped up and down the road. The - whole line was "alarmed," that is, ready to turn out and fight in anything but alarm. On the further side were the Royal Saxons of the 12th Corps in reserve ; on the hither side the Prussian- Province Saxons of the 4th Corps, also in reserve. The forts thundered continuously—hapless Le Bourget still their target. Major Kuene, of the Staff, was in that vil lage yesterday, to know how it fared with the garrison of Guards, and he states that in all his experience he had never seen anything that could give him power to realise that such a rain of shells was possible. Yet the case of Le Bourget only bears out all previous experience regarding the comparatively little harm to life and limb, which a shelling, however severe, causes to a place in which there are houses of tolerably strong construction. The Guards have sustained no great loss—less than they would have done in half an hour's skirmish in the open. By the way I must correct the error I made when I yesterday stated that Le Bourget was garrisoned by only one battalion of Queen Elizabeths. In addition there were in it one battalion of the Queen Augustas, and another of the Guard Schutzen Regiment. The same garrison held it to-day. Hour after hour passed monotonously as we stood listening to the artillery fire. It would only have been wasting ammunition to attempt a reply with field guns —for the French infantry stood out of range, and concentrated their fire at Gonesse, considerably to our front ; their artil lery had no occasion to come so far forward as to give ours a chance of silencing it, while on the other hand had ours been pushed forward, it would have to no purpose come within the range of the heavy metal of the forts. So there was nothing to do but stand watching the pound ing of Le Bourget, and a terrible pounding that La Haye Sainte of our position got. But it became evident by one o'clock that the French contemplated no active forward movement, and the Crown Prince took the home ward road to Margency. The artillery and infantry of the Fourth Army Corps followed him, leaving the Guards to the enjoyment of the Christmas eve concert alone. In very deep bass that concert still continued long after the Ludwig Franz men were cooking their erbwurst in their billets in Montmorency. It was still making the air pul sate when I left the position there, as the shadows of the twilight were coming down. National Guard dislodged a Saxon battalion from _liaison Blanche. EVACUATION OF DIJON. BORDEAUX, December.2B. The hasty evacuation of Dijon by the Prussians on . the approach of the French troops is officially announced here. The vanguard. of General Garibaldi's army has entered the town. M. Gamlietta is amongst the latest arrivals. The Prussians have appeared at Pont Levoy, but returned after making requisitions. ARRIVAL OF THE FRENCH FLEET AT CIIERBOURG. CHERBOURG, December 27. A powerful fleet, consisting of fifteen ironclads, all heavily armed, has arrived at Cherbourg. THE ARMY OF THE NORTH. LILLE, December 28. A dispatch jut received states that the head harters of the Army of the North is now at Vitry. It is said that the Crown Pr:nce of Saxony has hastened to Amiens to aid General von Manteuff2l. A skirmish has occurred near Abbeville, but the enemy retired HAVRE, December 28. The Prussians have retired from the left bank of the Seine, but there is a large force of them at Yvetot. BOMBARDMENT OF I3ELFORT. BOSANCON, December 27. The attack of Belfort still continues. Two assaults have been successfully repulsed. GERMANY. BERLIN, December 28, 4 p.m. The Luxemburg Note will shortly elicit a reply, intended to convince the Luxemburg Government that Germany will not be satisfied by a mere denial of her allegations. Austria, at the Black Sea Conference, will ask for fresh measures to insure the safety of the navigation of the Lower Danube. INDIA. Cars um, December 28, (10.10 a.m.) A. rumour that Y.koob Khan has taken Candahar is incorrect. He is still in Persian Siestan ; his fol lowers are disbanding. Mr. Campbell's appointment to the Lieutenant- Governorship of Bengal was announced yesterday. It has not evoked any public expression of opinion. THE RAILWAY CALAMITY NEAR HATIIELD. WELHAM, Wednesday. This afternoon the inquiry into the cause of the fearful railway accident which happened on Monday night on the Great Northern, about two miles on the London side of Hatfield, was held at the fchoolrooms of Welham. The facts, which we have already published, having been given in evidence, the jury returned the verdict—" That • the male persons lost their lives through the breakage, of a steel tire, but we ex press no opinion as to the cause of that breakage.' The Coroner said : Then we must take it that the women were killed by the overturning of the train ?—The jury concurred, and the proceedings then terminated after about a six hours' sitting. MR. MUNDELLA. AND THE HON. AUBERON HERBERT AT NOTTINGHAM. The Hon. Auberon Herbert, M.P. for Nottingham, and Mr. Mundella, M.P. for Sheffield, attended the an nual meeting of the Nottingham Stoney-street Chapel Benevolent Society, on Monday evening, the. Mayor (Mr. J. Manning) presiding. The Hon. Auberon Herbert, M.P., in the course of a lengthy speech, said the only Christmas carol he could offer them was a song of war. There were different kinds of war and different kinds of enemies. The enemy to which he alluded had different forms—one day he was ignorance, another vice, one day intemperance, another envy. What were they going to do with this enemy? He was certain that nothing would get us out of the evils which had grown so thickly and so strong in this country, but the combined efforts of private individuals. The' hon. gentleman then sketched various ways in which such organisations as the present could be use ful, and which, he said, should be bound together by , sympathy and love. He concluded by proposing a resolu tion expressing gratification in the passing of the Educa tion Act, and hoping that other salutary measures for diminishing the gigantic evil of pauperism might from time to time be enacted by Parliament.—Mr. Mundella, M.P., said he hoped they would not, through any kind of alarm, or any desire or delusion in respect of our armaments, allow their attention to be diverted from what, he thought, the more important questions of social legislation, to which he was of opinion that Parliament had hardly given sufficient at tention. He had recently seem some practical Christian work in America, from which England might take a lesson. The hon. member then referred to an industrial training school in New York for children who had been neglected by their parents, and said the only way to relieve pauperism, and hope for it to die off, was to begin with children. These questions seemed of greater importance to him than even the balance of power in Europe. Let us defend our own shores, if need be ; but let us not have any intermeddling with the affairs of other nations—nothing to do with kings who believed in Divine right, or with governments which were not respecters of treaties, and thus set an example of modera tion, love of peace, and determination to consider social affairs, so that the people may be virtuous, prosperous, and happy. SEIZURE OF A FRENCH TELEGRAPHIC CABLE.—The International, a ship having on board a submarine cable for the French Government, has been seized on the com plaint of Bount Bernstorff, the Prussian Ambassador, and lies in the Thames in charge of Custom-house officers. CHIEF CITY OF AUSTRALIA.—The population of Melbourne was estimated by the Registrar-General at 180,000 at Michaelmas, 1870. It is said that Sir George Young is likely to be detained in the West Indies until the spring. The Go vernment contemplates certain reforms in these colonies, which will have the effect of combining a wise economy with greater efficiency of administration. MICHAEL BALFE.—A. requisition is being made to the Dean and Chapter of Westminster to allow of a bust being placed in the Abbey in honour of the late popular English composer. The requisition is signed by Profes sors Bennett andWylde, Messrs. Jules Benedict, Sullivan, Otto Goldsmidt, John Hullah, and many other eminent musicians and admirers of the gifted writer. BOILER EXPLOSION IN A PRIVATE HOUSE.— On Christmas morning the boiler in the kitchen of No. 40, Belsize-square, Hampstead, exploded, and, in addition to blowing out the windows of the kitchen, the stonework of the fireplace and shivering some of the furniture to atoms, the cook was scalded and one of her eyes very . seriously injured. She was discovered in a state of insensibility. She was re moved to the Middlesex Hospital, and is reported to be progressing favourably. MURDER IN SCOTLAND.—A savage murder was committed at Camelon, near Falkirk, on Saturday night, the victim being Henry M`Giney, a nailmaker, and there seems little reason to doubt that the murderer is James Ross, one of the employes in Ross's Chemical Works, Falkirk. No motive for the crime has as yet transpired, and it appears to have been committed in a fit of fury at the conduct of some other persons in an earlier part of the night. The weapon used was a pocket knife, and four wounds were inflicted, two of which were of a desperately severe character. Ross exhibited the most stoical compo sure after the murder and on being taken into custody. He was brought up before Sheriff Bell Falkirk on Mon day, and committed for examination. IMPROVEMENT IN SPECTACLES.—It was generally thought that all the improvements capable of being made had been effected in spectacles. The old tortoise-shell goggles worn by our grandfathers gave way to those mounted in gold and silver ; these in their turn gave place to still lighter ones set in steel. But here again a most important improvement has been made by the Messrs. Pyke, of Ely-place, who have adapted the new alloy, for which they have taken prize medals at various exhibitions, with such success that the inconvenience of wearing spectacles has been entirely removed. Having discovered an extraordinary brilliant pebble called Nataline, which when cut and polished possessed qualities far in excess of the ordinary Brazilian stone, they have adapted it to spectacles, and produced an article of aid to defective vision that will meet with general approval. The light ness of the new spectacles is extraordinary, being in weight but a few grains, the great purity of the lenses removes all glare and undue colour, whilst the elasticity and adaptability of the frames render the wearing of spectacles almost imperceptible. In order that the general public may avail themselves of this great improvement, we may mention that the price of the new spectacles is less than a quarter of that now charged for gold ones, and under such circumstances it becomes a perfect certainty that they will altogether supersede the heavy and costly articles now in general use. POLICE INTELLIGENOE.-TUIS DAY SNOWBALLING DETECTIVES. — Two respectable-looking young men named Charles Lloyd and Thomas Barns were charged before Mr. Knox at the Marlborough-street Police-Court with snowballing Detectives Thomas Pickets and William Beechey, of the C Division, in the Hay market. The case having been proved by the officers, the defendants denied intentionally throwing snowballs at the officers, but said they were throwing at one another. A constable said he had cautioned the defendants some time previously. Mr. Knox, in fining the defendants 10s. or seven days each, remarked : " I must put a stop to this, because if gentlemen do it in such a place as the Hay market, it will cause roughs and thieves to assemble, and a fine state of things we shall have. Charles Adams, a young man, was also charged with snowballing Detective Thomas Pickels, of the C Division, in Broad-street, Golden-square, .and fined 10s. or seven days. SERIOUS EMBEZZLEMENT BY A HOSPILAL CLERK.—Wil liam Henry Simpson, clerk to the Secretary of Westmin ster Hospital, was charged at the Westminster Police court with embezzling the sum of £249 7s. 6d., the monies of the Governers of the hospital. Mr. Wontner, solicitor, conducted the prosecution, and proposed to give merely preliminary evidence, and then ask for the remand of the prisoner till a future day. Mr. Wilson, the secretary of the hospital, proved that it was the duty of the prisoner to pay monies into the Messrs. Hoare, of Fleet-street, the bankers to the hospital, and the prisoner had not paid in four sums amounting to £249 7s. 6d., but had falsified the pass-book and made four entries as if made at the Bank. When taken by the officer he gave up a bag containing £57 10s. 10d., which formed part of the pro ceeds of his defalcations. Mr. Woolrych said it was a serious case, and remanded the prisoner. Mr. Wontner said he should also have to prefer a charge of forgery. Mr. Woolrych said that was rather a matter for the Bank. Prisoner was remanded. SNOWBALLING A " BOBBY."—Thoinas Rawlinson, a pale-faced, melancholy-looking young man, was brought before Mr. Paget, charged with assaulting George Brown, a police-constable, No. 513 IC. The complainant said that at two o'clock this morning he saw the prisoner and four or five others in the Whitehapel-road; making a dis turoance and shouting. One of them committed a nuisance against a public-house. He drove them away and told them to go home. The prisoner said, " Let us snowball the bobby. He can't catch us." The prisoner then threw a large snowball at him, which struck him on the head. The prisoner then ran away. He went round by another way, and met the prisoner, who was quickly secured, and lodged in durance vile. The prisoner said he was a medical student connected with the London Hospital. Mr. Paget :Itis a very disgraceful proceeding for a person describing himself as a gentleman to be indulging in such foolish and illegal freaks. I fine you 205., and hope you will not act so ungentlemanly and disgracefully again. The prisoner was unable to pay the fine, and was removed to the cells, to suffer fourteen days' imprisonment for an innocent freak. (CENTRAL PRESS TELEGRAMS.) THE RIGHT HON. COWPER TEMPLE, M.P., ON EDUCATION. The Right Hon. Cowper Temple, M.P., while distri buting prizes to the Romsey Labourers' Encouragement Association, said a Government measure of education could not be effective unless it had the sympathy of parents. He looked forward hopefully to the projected reform of licensing laws, but had great faith in Working Men's Clubs. The Hon. Evelyn Ashley also spoke, repudiating the notion of these Associa tions patronising labourers. They simply encourged them, and recognised their excellences and skill. MR. S. R. GRAVES, M.P., ON COMPULSORY EDUCATION. At the opening of the St. Cleophas Schools at Liver pool, yesterday, Mr. S. R. Graves, M.P., alluded to the subject of Education, and deprecated all compulsory measures until all other reasonable means had failed. He also strongly urged the cause of emigration. SUICIDE IN A LUNATIC ASYLUM. An inquest was held yesterday at the Ipswich New Borough Lunatic Asylum upon James Welham, a tailor, who had died from frightful injuries inflicted upon him self. He was admitted on the 9th instant, and two days aftarwards when the warder was going his rounds he found Welham lying in bed, his face covered with blood, his left eye staring from its socket, and resting on his cheek, the other eye being very red, inflamed, and par tially dislodged. When questioned, the lunatic said that he had been told by the Lord God to take out his eyes and tongue for his many sins. When the warder entered his room Welham was endea vouring to pull out his tongue, which was bitten through in several places. The deceased refused food, and gra dually sunk, dying on Monday last. The jury returned a verdict of death from maniacal exhaustion, brought on by self-inflicted injuries, and refusal to take food. They appended to their verdict that the officials at the Lunatic Asylum were in no way to blame for the sad affair. REPRIEVE OF A MURDERESS. The young woman Charlotte Elliott, who at the last Liverpool Assizes was condemned to death for the murder of her illegitimate child, bas been reprieved. THE RECENT RAILWAY ACCIDENTS. At a meeting )E the Manchester Chamber of Commerce held yesterday, the subject of the recent deplorable rail way accident was" brought under consideration. A memo rial had been sent to the Board of Trade that such acci dents are preventible, and praying Government to take steps to prevent their occurrence. The Government had replied that the matter was under their most serious onnsiaeratlon. MARRIAGE OFLORENF LORD CE CRICHTON TO LADY COLE. The marriage of Lord Crichton, M.P., son of the Earl of Erne, K.P., with the daughter the he Earl of Enniski len, was solemnised'yesterday, at the Florencourt Church,l by the Lord Primate of Ireland, in the presence of a distinguished assemblage. The route from the church was decorated with arches, &c. The wedding party returned after the ceremony and partook of a dejeuner at the Castle. The happy pair then drove to Beltram Castle the seat of the Duke of Abercorn, for the honeymoon. A magnificent bracelet was presented to the bride by the Enniskilleners. CRYSTAL PALACE.--One Shilling Day, Wednesday, December 28, 1870.—Admission by season tickets, 2,713; ditto on payment, 4,838; total visitors, 7,651, THE ROLL OF HONOUR. The special correspondent of the Standard, writing from Paris, December 22, sends the following list of those deemed worthy of citation for their bravery and devoted ness in the late sortie :—Eighty-three new names have been added to the roll of honour so wisely established by by General Trochu. To the fallen be the first place given. Amongst the foremost occurs the name of Captain de Neverlee, killed at the head of a company of freeshooters as he was leading it to the attack of the park of Villiers. De Neverlee's death is a real loss ; he was a most daring and energetic officer, and had given many proofs of legitimate " devilry," the only means to circumvent a crafty foe, since the investment. He was attached as orderly to General Ducrot, and com manded a picked corps of determined fellows, into whom he had succeeded in infusing his own spirit. Though a chieftain of irregulars when he got his death wound, he held a regular commission in the cavalry, and took part in all the combats of the first corps of the Army of the Rhine at the opening of hostilities. Three officers in a batch of the 17th battery of the 11th Regiment of Artillery— Captain Tremoulet, Lieutenant Chevalier, and Sub- Lieutenant Mathis—are rendered funeral tribute in these lines, "Heroically sacrificed themselves, and fell while sustaining the attack on the enemy's position." Lieute nant Perseval, of the Engineers, is one of those unlucky brave men whose fate gives the lie to the Latin proverb, fortuna juvat audaces. He was wounded on the 2nd at Champigny, but held his post, And was engaged on the 3rd, before the re-crossing of the Marne was decided on, in looping the steeple of the village church, when a merciless shot from the enemy cut short his career. The lieutenant colonel of the 42nd Regiment of the line, M. Prevault, a highly promising young officer, who had only received his command a few days before, was struck dead while fighting valiantly at the head of his men. M. Gironin, adjutant-major of the same regiment, met a similar fate on the 2nd. He defe led a garden sur rounded by the enemy for seven hours, and when in the long run he was obliged to beat a retreat, he made all his soldiers retire from the position by a breach in the wall, remaining to the last himself. As he was preparing to step out to rejoin them, he dropped mortally wounded ! Proal, the adjutant-major of the 55th, was mortally wounded also on the 30th ult., while charging at the head of his battalion. Captain Parisot, of the 107th. was shot at point blank range while hurrying his company to the support of some com panies of the left, whose safety was compromised, but not till he had had the satisfaction of picking down two of his assailants with his revolver. Lieutenant Martel, of the same regiment, who was grie vously wounded, is mentioned as having behaved magnifi cently during the entire Combat of the 2nd of December, Chef de bataillion Mowat, dig Bedford of the 14th, is cited as having commanded his battalion most brilliantly on the 30th of November, up to the moment of receiving a wound, to which he succumbed on the following day. There is a letter of introduction beside me from your own correspondent at Paris to M. Mowat, captain adjutant-major of the 4th battalion of Foot Chasseurs, which I have never been able to present. I knew he was here, but could not find out in what regi ment he had been drafted, and now only when the grass must have been growing for weeks over the brave gentle men's head, do I get the first trace of where he was to be found. The fortune of war—horrid, brutal, ab6mittable war ! There is one compensation in this case. Poor Mowat was a thorough soldier, and lie has met the very death he would have chosen had he had the choice. By a singular coincidence of ill-luck MM. de la Monnerayc, Dupuy de Podio, and Sanguinetti, lieutenant colonels respectively of the 122nd, 123rd, and 124th Regiments of the line, were all three " in ono red burial blent "—killed while gallantly charging at the head of their men. lame officers of the 4th Zouaves came in for honourable mention—Captain de Padenas, who had a horse shot under him, and was mortally wounded as his company flung back the enemy ; Lieutenant Prisnat, who returned from Metz with a wound, and got his death under Paris before the lips of the wound were well brought together ; and Lieutenant Leroux, who stopped in a position attacked by superior forces, and would not flinch to save his life. It s'y est fait tuer sans reculer, says the report. These three comrades • in tr.lrokim sought ince the I.oua,ves of yore, the legendary I Zouaves of Africa, the Crimea, Palestro, and Puebla— li,,t t'l e gingerbread interlopers disguised in the rakish fez, :inked to many interlopers of reckless courage, who dis honoured their flag at Chantillon. Colonel de Grancey, the Mobiles of the Cote d'Or, and Desprez, the naval Lptain, mortally wounded while making a bold recoil. naissance of Choisy-le-Roi on the 30th of November, both of whom of whom have already figured in my correspon dence, have both come in for posthumous citation. It is pleasanter to turn to the list of those who are alive: One cannot add " and well," for some of them will carry painful mutilations to their grave ; and if they live for 50 years hence will have almost daily reason to re member how dearly they purchased their renown at the siege of Paris. Take Sub-Lieutenant de Cambray, of the Mobiles of the Loiret, for example, as handsome a young man as one could see a month ago, his face beam ing with ruddy health, now a pale, bed-ridden cripple, minus an arm, and a leg mangled by a piti less splinter of shell on the 30th of November, and since cleanly and scientifically sawed off by the surgeons. Brigadier-General de la Mariouse, of the Reserve, is among the lucky few. He covered himself with glory on the two days of the action of Villers, was a ways in the thick of the hail of death, and never got so much as a scratch. Captain Viel, of the staff of the artillery of the 2nd Corps, was not so fortunate. He was seriously wounded. Thurel, a driver in the sth battery of the 21st Regiment, is .a valuable mau, and richly deserves his citation. Here is what is related of him :—" Though grievously wounded, brought back his piece with a 'single horse, the three others being killed." Just fill in that picture to appre ciate the steady coolness and die-hard pluck of Driver Thurel to the full. First, there must be a complete rain of projectiles on the ground he occupies to take down three norses out of the team of four that went to the gun. His escape must have been by the thick of a finger nail. The horse beside that on which he rides is killed, he himself wounded, in all likelihood by the explosion of the same shell. He looks round ; his companion driver has disappeared. What is to be done ? They must retire. No standing that fire. But the gun—is it to be lost ? Quick as thought Driver Thurel disengages the tackling of the horse that remains from the prostrate carcase beside it, yokes his solitary beast to the limber, and slowly drags the cannon off the field. Private Arrighi, of the 42d Regiment, stopped seven hours on the top of a wall on the 2nd, watching the enemy's movements, and never so much as a hair turned. His comrade, Marchand, is another tyke with stout backbone. He was wounded twice, but would not leave the field until a third shot lent force to the arguments of the infirnziers by breaking his leg. The 105th Regiment has reason to be proud of Private Faure. At the park of Petit-Bry on the 2nd he took down three Prussians with his Chassepot ; rushing for ward to seize on their arms as spoliaopima, he was confronted by four others. Did he turn back again? Not a bit of it. " Surrender," cried Faure, and the four wretched warriors laid down the guns they were unworthy to carry, and followed him like lambs. Leonville, of the 107th, had the pleasure—rare in modern battle—of exacting reprisals off the flesh of the man who attacked him. A Prussian officer char g ed on Leonville, and pierced ' him with his sword • the Frenchman, smarting under his wound, pinioned his antagonist, tore the bloody sword from him, and, as the wound continued to sting, ran the foeman through from breast to back with his own weapon ! Brigadier Tourene, of the 11th Artillery, shewed proofs of handiness and attention to his business that entitile him to rank as a model gunner. In a forward movement of his battery a piece was dismounted, a shell having exploded on the fore part of the gun-carriage. Brigadier Tourene lost no time hesitating, but trotted up an ammunition waggon, detached the leading portion of it, to which he rigged the direlict cannon, and moved it on to the position it was destined to occupy. The Abbe de Marhallach, chaplain to the Mobiles of Finistere, must belong to the Church Militant. He is signalised as having " always advanced to the most dangerous posts in the extreme advanced lines of skir mishers, where with admirable coolness and presence of mind he lavished his ministrations as priest and doctor on the wounded." To see the grave man going under the hottest fire as calmly as he might pass, breviary . in hand, from his presbytery down in Brittany . to the parish church, it is easy to divine that there is a mystery behind that black gown. So there is. Life has no charms for him ;he seeks the higher life. The Abbe de Mar hallach had a wife whom he had loved and won; she died and an adorable infant with her, and left him alone in the world. There is the secret of his scorn for death ! In addition to being cited on the order of the day, he has been named Chevalier of the Legion of Honour, as well as another Breton priest, the Abbe de Kergariou de Locmarla, Chaplain to the First Division of the Second Corps. Three of the 135th, forming . part A the corps d'armee of St. Denis, have come in for aotice—to wit, Captain Fourier, who had two brother officers slain by his side at the attack on Epinay (he was the first to burst into the park by a hole leaving passage to a single man, and was cheered by his men on the ground) ; Serjeant Roux, who, putting himself at the head of ten comrades, stormed a house occupied by eleven Prussians, and took them prisoners ; and Private Thenays, who bayoneted a sentinel outside one of the enemy's posts, and, springing over his corpse. compelled those within to surrender. Dr. Ory, of the 10th battalion of the Mobiles of the Seine, is the only surgeon on the Roll of Honour. He dressed the wout.ded under fire the same as if he were in an hospital, and had the corporal who was waiting on him with bandages stretched at his elbow by an unreflecting bullet. None of the Legion of the Friends of France are catalogued on the list, but two of them, De Rozencranz and Musson, have been admitted to the Legion of Honour, and a th ird,who is plagued with the un happy name of Muller, has got the military medal. This is a distinction not to be despised ; it is conferred E by a decree of the same date on General Tripier, of the ngi neers, who has seen 46 years' service and 22 campaigns, and has been grand officer of the Legion of Honour since 1866. Last, but by no means least, on this golden calendar must be mentioned Mr. Alexander Ellysen, who had his horse killed under him while conveying assistance to the wounded. He has got the right to wear the red ribbon in testimony of his devotedness. THE CHANCES OF ULTIMATE VICTORY. Writing from Bordeaux, December, 24, the specia_ correspondent of the Telegraph says :—From both English and German newspapers I learn that the Prussians are very indignant with England for furnishing France with arms. How -supremely absurd this is may be seen from the fact that, up to the present time, the num ber of English-made rifles sold to France does not amount to 8,000, whereas the United State have already supplied this country with 150,000 stand of arms, and double that number are now on their way hither. If the Prussians want to quarrel with somebody on this question, why do not they do so with America, or even with Belgium ; for the latter country has certainly managed to send the French more than three times as many muskets as have been brought from Great Britain? Steamers with tens of thousands of rifles, and millions of cartridges, are arriving every day in the various French ports from the United States. But the best story I have heard about contracting for army supplies was told me the other day by an American gentleman, who says that at New York the chief contractor for provfsions for the French army is an American-German; and that the chief con tractor for shoes for the Prussian army is a Frenchman who lives in New York. How these gentlemen would be denounced by the patriots of their respective countries if they were found out, as they will, perhaps, some day or other ! As regards the provinces of France giving in when Paris capitulates, I can only repeat what I have said before, that they have no notion of doing so ; and I have reason to believe that most of the diplomatic body here are of the same opinion. Moreover—and this I can myself state for certain—all the foreigners, with very few exceptions, now in this part of France regard the chances of ultimate victory as by no means desperate for the French Areny. The common opinion is, that if France can only hold out a couple of months longer, and thus give time for the organisation of armies in the various camps which are to be formed, Prussia, must, in the end, be worn out. Of course this is a mere matter of opinion ; but I confess that, in common with the rest of the English here, I look upon the ultimate triumph of France as far from impossible. There was a time — shortly after Sedan—when the French soldiers seemed really to believe the Germans invincible, and this was caused by continued and continued triumphs one after the other, as well as by things being allowed to go on very 'much in the old manner. But all this is changed now.. The discipline which Gambetta has introduced into the n ew army is one of iron. For any crime in the way of leaving the ranks before the enemy the penalty is death. There have been several instances in which young soldiers of good families have been condemned by courts-martial to be shot for desertion, and in no single instance has Gam betta overlooked the offence or pardoned the cri minal. The utmost that the relations of a young man —son of a general killed during the present war—who had remained behind when his battalion advanced at Orleans the other day, could obtain by way of favour, was that the execution of the offender should be private instead of public. This immense change in the discipline of the army has already produced no small effect, and will be more and more felt as time goes on. As you will have already learned by telegrim, there has been fighting once more outside Paris, and with advantage to the French troops. As yet no particulars have reached us here. From the North General Faidherbe telegraphs to-day that he had a successful en. counter with the enemy at a place called Pont-Noyelles- All these affairs are perhaps of trifling value when taken individually, but together they help to prove to the Gardes Mobiles and Gardes Nationales that the enemy is not invincible, and, that, if well handled, there still remains a chance for the French army. Of the savage nature of the war I need not speak —unfortunately we know it but too well already. But to day it assumes a more lamentable, because a more officially barbarous form. In the telegram issued by our Government, the immense losses of the l3avarians before Orleans the fearful number of Wurtemburg soldiers killed before Paris, and the fact that the Grand Duke of Baden had his jaw smashed by a ball from a Mobile of this department, are all set forth as so many points in favour of the French winning the game. To rejoice in the gains of your own side is legitimate enough, but to gloat over the loss of life caused to your enemy is certainly a new and not an agree able feature in modern warfare. OUR, co ::EMPORARIZS---This Morning THE FUTURE FOR FRANCE. We are aware, says the Times, that in the 'opinion of many persons the surrender of Paris would not bring with it the endof the war. Sanguine people assert that it would only be the signal for its real commencement. We do not willingly indulge in vague anticipations of the future, and we attach so great an importance to the re ult of the siege of Paris and the chances of any relief being brought' to the invested city by the Provincial armies that the question " What next ?" seems to us hardly worth attend ing to. But supposing that, after the fall of Paris, the Germans renounced the thought of any further enter terprise ? Two are required to make war, as well as to make peace. It would matter little if the French had lost their capital, whether they would acknowledge themselves beaten or not, whether or not they would come to terms. The Germans hold in their hands what they, wisely or im providently, claim as the prize of victory. They might fall back upon their new acquisitions, and, if needful, occupy another Province as a pledge to be redeemed by the French on the acceptance of the conqueror's conditions. Believed from the presence of the enemy, France, of course, could renew the contest, but it is unquestionable whether the proud and revengeful feeling which now, in the heat of the struggle, still animates her, would survive the exhaustion sure to set in if she were left on the ground bleeding from every- wound, and stumped by repeated blows. If the Rhine, Coblentz, and l\layence made the Emperor Napoleon pause before he ventured on an outbreak of hostilities and prepare his soldiers for a " long and serious contest," what would it be now, when to those old obstacles Strasburg and the Vosges are added? On these grounds, we would rather not carry our speculations beyond the positions immediately before us. We are in great uncertainty as to what Paris and the armies from which she awaits her deliverance may do towards restoring the fortunes of France; but as to what iniglt happen in the event of their failure we have no doubt whatever. Paris is the great card; with it the game must be lost or won. MR. BRIGHT AND THE MINISTRY. Commenting on the cause of Mr. Bright's retirement from the Ministry, the Standard remarks :—No one sus pected Mr. Bright of clinging to office from petty motives. The very essence of our charge against the Ministry is, that while the country has received no benefit from Mr. Bright's administrative powers, the Govern ment has permitted the country to receive great damage in public opinion by identifying themselves with Mr. Bright's peculiar political theories. To this charge it is no sort of answer to say that Mr. Bright only leaves the Cabinet when he has assured himself of its peacefulness. There never was any danger that Mr. Gladstone would be other than pacific. The danger was and is that he ti oo pacific—that by keeping Mr. Bright's nam n the business long after that name repre sented only a dummy, he was inflicting serious injury on the national character. It is superfluous to say whence this injury will come. Mr. Bright is known all over Europe and America as the politician who is for peace at any price. He has himself argued that it would be cheaper for us to suffer invasion than to go to war. He has steadily denounced every attempt at an increase of the national arma ments, and vilified those who have contended for a proper defensive system for this country. He is the apostle, if not the founder, of that school which places the chief end of a nation to lie in the wealth which comes of commerce. His presence in the Ministry has uleivestionably tended to propagate the opinion abroad that under no circumstances would England go to to war again. Already a similar opinion, 'when Mr. Bright was not nearly so powerful as he is now, has led to our being engaged in a costly and dangerous war. To put forth, therefore, as a sufficient apology either for Mr. Bright or for the Ministry that the retiring Minister leaves his ell leagues in full harmony with himself, and not " too little peaceful," is either a silly joke or the clumsiest of blun ders. If nothing better can be said for Mr. Bright than that he has infected the Ministry witn his peace opinions— if nothing better can be said for the Ministry than that it represents Mr. Bright, even when, as we presume, Mr. Bright is nothing else than a Whig peer and a despiser of the working classes, then are we more than justified in all we have charged against Mr. Gladstone and his late colleagues. GENERAL TP.OOHU'S MOVEMENTS. There is at last, says the Daily News, some brisk move ment going forward within and around Paris. The inac tion which was wearing out the patience of both besiegers and besieged has ceased ; and the Germans, for the first time since they surrounded the city, have assumed the offensive. That General Trochu proposes to dis sociate himself and hi 3 garrison from the fate of Paris and the inhabitants is obviously a guess on the part of the Germans derived from their observation of the convoys which have been going to and fro between Mont Valerien and Paris, and of the activity shewu by the French in strengthening the fortified camp which lies under the citadel. Should such be his design, we cannot doubt that the starvation of Paris would be the readiest means of reaching him. The Germans will not accept the capitulation of the city, leaving Trochu, like another Sir William Wastic, to rejoice in his independence. The Parisians themselves may " gar him gang duwn " by signing a peace which will involve the resolute General and his forces in its stipulations. And in the event of General . Trochu really contemplating this step, those convoys which have been remarked must have been drawing away from Paris serious quantities of the provisions which are as the breath of life to her. General Trochu has defended Paris bravely and well. He has, like Marshal Bazaine, twice endea vonred to break his way through the lines which were hemming him round ; and twice has he failed. We learn from Paris that the inhabitants confidently believed the sortie of yesterday week would effect their deliver ance. . After this second failure, does Trochu,• like Bazaine, wish to draw a distinction between the fortress he has been defending and the army with which he has been defending it? In the case of Bazaine the Germans refused to entertain the proposal; and the army and the citadel, conquered by famine, fell together. THE COMMITTEE OF NATIONAL DEFENCE AND THE ELECTIONS. The Telegraph, in commenting on the determination not to allow the elections in France, says : We cannot help thinking that the advantages of convoking an Assembly far outweigh any possible disadvantages attending the step. If such a body, freely elected by populai suffrage, should declare in favour of peace, then it would be clear that the heart of the nation was not in the war, and its prosecution would be hopeless. If, on the other hand, it should be found that the representatives of the French towns and provinces, coming fresh from their cwistituencies, pronounced any sacrifice preferable to the cession of territory, the effect of such a declaration, both at home and abroad, would be incalculable. Nor do we see any reason to apprehend that an Assembly pledged to carry on hostilities to the last would interfere vexatiously with the management of the campaign. The war by which the Germans were driven out of France in the last century was conducted under the control and direct supervision of the Constituent Assembly, and yet the exertions made by the country then were far greater than those now claimed. And if the Assembly should revoke the ill-advised procla mation of the Republic, should declare the one duty of the Government to be the prosecution of the war, and should finally defer to the close of hostilities the choice of the form of Constitution to be adopted, the hands of the Executive might be immensely strengthened. The war, it is often said, is one between an army and a nation in arms. If the nation is to win, the war must be conducted as a national war — that is, the whole energies of the people must be exerted without stint ; and such an exertion experience has shown can only be made when a nation is in full possession of its rights and liberties. No act of an English Par liament, or of au American Congress, has ever im paired the effectiveness of a national war ; and there is no reason to suppose that a French Assembly would prove less patriotic. Whether he would sanction the Dictatorship of M. Gambetta or endorse the Proclama tion of the Republic, is another question; and it is beause they are unable to answer that inquiry in the affirmative that the Committee of Public Defence, out of an honest but short-sighted patriotism, refuse to permit an Assembly to be elected. It is not that tlyr lovg France less, but that they love the Republic more. THE LOSS OF THE ONEIDA. The New York papers just received state that the British Minister in Washington has received 5,000 dollars for the widows and orphans of the crew of the steamer Oneida, lost by the collision with the Bombay, contrib tted quietly by seventy British subscribers, headed by the Earl of Shaftesbury. The money will be distrihltted through Sir Edward Thornton. THE ECLIPSE EXPEDITION'. A telegram from Oran states that the observation - . of the eclipse at that place were entirely frustrated. 1) ,, n,e clouds covered the sky for twenty minutes before the period of totality, and till after it was over. On the pre vious day the tent and telesCopes were blown down, but the damage was repaired in time for the instruments to be used if the weather had been fine. ooti. eling ishes posal ft t