The Sun. — London, England, 1867-12-31 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS, Referring to the mismanagement which has characterised the initial operations in Abyssinia, the Post asks if it is a melancholy fact that incompetent men in office are inevi tably seized with a species of insanity whenever a crisis occurs in their affairs which gives them real service to do. It is impossible to read, without surprise and shame, after the fatal experience of Balaclava, what is now doing for the second time :—" The departments," we are informed, " are as antagonistic as usual." " Troops daily arrive a month before the commissariat are ready to receive them ; and every hour makes confusion worse confounded." The position has been aggravated by the advance of Colonels Merewether and Phayro to Senafe. Red-tapeism is so rampant in the Commissariat Department, in precisely the same manner as it was in the old raw c >flee days of the Crimea, that although there were, up to the latest advices, more than twenty medical officers at the camp of Koomaylo, there were no medical stores ! This is our last written intelligence. We have advanced high above the sea level. There is no village or human habitation there but the few tents which compose our encampment, and: the commissariat depot. The chief feature of the place is a romantic watering gully. In front rise barriers of precipitous and inaccessible rocks ; around are thou sands of thirsty animals waiting to drink, some patiently, some stamping with the madness of drought upon them. Thirst in this place is said to be a disease among Euro peans, so fierce and imperative are its demands. Fortu nately, however, the rations of food are excellent, and after the first sixty miles to Senafe are once sur• mounted there may be better hopes ; so with this gleam of comfort we draw the curtain over a picture which suggests grave food for reflection, though not foi despondency. In speaking of the Emperor Napoleon's desire to increase his army, the Daily News thinks that nothing could be more natural than that France should take a lesson from the battle of Sadowa, and should perceive what great things a national army, moved by a national spirit for a national cause, might accomplish. But this lesson her own annals might have taught France ; the annals of the First Republic compared with those of the First Empire. This united Cermany is but the tardy and logical consequence of the battle of Leipsic. The Second Empire has not paid without knowing it the still unex• hausted penalty of the First, for it has favoured thE creation of great agglomerated Powers. But having assisted in the creation of Italiax unity without meaning it—not for the sake of Italy, but against Austria ; having encouraged the designs of Prussia in Germany, not for the sake of Prussia, but in the hope of her defeat, and of an armed, but amicable intervention between the exhausted combatants, with Austria as an accomplice in demanding territorial compensations from her rival—having, in short, united Italy and Germany, in the hope of disuniting them again under French auspices, the Second Empire must resign itself to the loss of military supremacy, or it must learn to its cost the difference between overrunning and conquering a divided Germany and a divided Italy, and imposing the law of the strongest upon seventy millions of people leagued in mutual self-defence. The Telcoraph, would have us bear in mind that Cork ha. just furnished another illustration of the mode in villa Fenian audacity reckons on the prevalent feeling of con fidence between man and man which is one characteristic of civilisation. While the good folks of the city were following their usual vocations, eight men entered a gun- maker's shop in Patrick-street, and, presenting revolvers at the gunmaker and his shopmen, held them in dread of death while sixty revolvers and fifteen hundred rounds of ammunition were seized and carried off. The short space of ten minutes sufficed for the accomplishment of the out rage and the escape of the plunderers, who got safely away, although there were a good many people in the street. Now, Patrick-street is one of the chief thorough. fares, and the enterprise could only have been undertaken by men who had calculated on that absence of suspicion which prevails everywhere, and who had made up their minds to take a skilful advantage of it. This, the second exploit of the Cork Fenians, shews that they have not made England the only scene of operations, and that they are extremely well organised. No practical result of any magnitude can possibly be achieved by the desperadoes ; but one effect they are certain to produce—the arming of every man's hand against them. The incidents at Man chester, Clerkenwell, and Cork suggest the doubt whether anyone is safe ; and society may think fit to take precau tions of its own, in addition to those adopted by the Impe rial Executive and the municipalities. The Star feels convinced that her Majesty's letter to the authorities at West Cowes will awaken a profound echo everywhere over the country. The English public are far lees afraid than some of their so-called instructors woul(' have them to ha, and will w,ilconic,‘ the firm and tram - nil confidence expressed in the Queen's reply. The example is very encouraging. Let us all take courage and boldly confess that we are not afraid, and have not been afraid from first to last. A week ago a journalist who ventured to hint at such a thing was pretty sure to be set down by some other journalist (who in his heart was not one bit afraid all the time) as an evil-minded, un=English, and disloyal sort of person. It was the thing just then among newspapers to declare that life in England was not worth an hour's purchase, that society was falling to pieces, that our population was permeated by Thuggism and devilry, and that our only chance of saving anything wa: to keep shouting to each other that all was lost. Perhaps the Queen's letter may, among other good results, have the effect of putting a final extinguishe' on this real or simulated rage of terror. Our institutions, we may rest assured, will quite survive the present crisis. The persons who are " making war against society "—that, we think, was the regular phrase—will find society a good deal too strong for them. A system of assassination will never have a good time of it in England, ar.d, if such r game really begins, Messieurs the assassins will soon ly glad enough to give it up. Every reasonable precaution will doubtless be taken by our authorities, now that it is seen Fenianism really does mean mischief, and the best that ordinary individuals can do is to follow the example of their Sovereign, to be of calm mind and of good cheer. When the Gordon riots were at their height, and timid magistrates shrank away from danger, George 111. offered to put himself at the head of his Guards and re store order. Such service is not required of her Majesty ; but she has in one sense put herself at the head of het Guards by shewing so capital an example of composure and courage. The Times, the Herald, and the Standard devote their leader columns entirely to a review of the events of the year 1867. Some of these are of great length, thS'.f - of the Herald, for instance, extending to fourteen columns. DISCOVERY OF A GOLDIIELD. A letter dated Brisbane, October 30, contains the following account of the important discovery of gold in Queensland :—" Gold ! gold ! nuggets, wash dirt, and claims are the sole topic of conversation. The greatest excitement prevails here. Everybody who can by any possibility handle a pick and shovel is either going, or talking of going, to the diggings. Men who had no regular employment, and many who had, have taken themselves and their swags off to the new diggings. From all accounts they are of the richest description. The ground at present being worked consists of a couple of dry gullies within a mile of the Mary River, about fifty one miles from Maryborough, and a little over 100 miles from Brisbane. Maryborough is deserted. The sugar and meat-curing factories there are closed, and the bulk of the male population are gone to try their luck. This new find was discovered by an old digger named Nash, who, after wandering about the mountain region at the head of Mary, came upon the gullies that are now being worked. Seeing evident auriferous signs, he tfied a dish of dirt, and the prospects were so good that he -went to the nearest station, and got a supply of provisions, returned to his gully, and worked away until be had collected about sixty or eighty ounces of gold. He then came into town and sold the gold as Cape River gold, but at the same time sent private information to the Government that it was really obtained from the Mary district. He then sent for his brother and one or two friends, bought a horse and dray, and returned to his find. About a fortnight ago the whole party returned to Maryborough with about 200 ounces of gold, applied for miners' rights, and returned to have their prospectors' claims marked out by the authorities. The news spread as only such news will, and in two or three days half 31aryborough was on the road, and in a week part of the unemployed of Brisbane. The road from Brisbane passes over a fearfully rough country, cros,ing the Durundar ranges and traversing the broken country at the of the Mary. Th e auriferous guilie; run from a spur on the western slope of Mount Bopple, and the country for miles round is said to present the sense geological features. Old Victorian diggers, judging from the appearance of the gold, say that it bears every indication of coming from an extensive and permanent field. The gold is of a very nuggety character. Nuggets varying in size from up to 41oz. have been collected, the sinking varying from lft. Gin. to about 4ft. There is at present only one cradle on the diggings, the diggers only using prospecting pans ; but the yield even with these inefficient means is said to be satisfactory, from ioz. to Ds. per day per man. Of course, as on every other field, there are some unfortunates who can find nothing worth while, and it is very likely, from the num bers that are flocking to this El Dorado, that there may be considerable distress ; but a short time will prove whether it is only the finding of a rich patch or the discovery of a most important auriferous region. All who are interested in the future prosperity of the colony will admit that a more auspicious time than the present could not be for a good goldfield to be discovered." PILE ATTEMP2 TO MURDER NEAR CORK. William Butler, who is charged with attempting to nurder Honora Hurley, a servant at the Red Abbey, cork, on Monday evening, has been arrested and brought before the magistrates. He is only 15 years of age, and is lescribed as a slight, delicate-looking boy. He appeared to be anxious, but cool and colketed during the investiga ion. Thegirl, who is about 20 years of age, was examined ►nd stated the facts. She said she had sent the prisoner every week to put a little money in the penny savings bank, and five weeks ago she desired him to give notice of an amount which she wished to draw out. On three sue :essive Saturdays he told her that the bank was closed, and beginning then to suspect him she went on the following Saturday herself, and then found that her money was 2s. short. She reproached him with not having paid in the! last 2s. which she had given him, and he then said that if she would promise not to disclose it he would tell her a secret. This was, that he had been putting 3d. a week for the last seven mouths into a hole in the floor of the Castle house, and that when he got it out he would pay her. About five o'clock on Monday evening he sent a child for a candle, and, having obtained it, went to tlie top of the Abbey, and, returning iu about a quarter of an hour, said he could see the box, but that the clay had got through the lid, so that it was too heavy for him to lift himself. She then accompanied him, taking with her a candle and a box of matches. When they got halfway up the steps he took a hatchet oui of a hole in the wall, observing he wanted it to break the bottom of the box. Before she reached the top the candle was extinguished by the wind, and, " before she knew where she was," she received a blow of the hatchet. Supposing that he meant to strike the box, she said, "William, you are striking me I" He then struck her repeatedly on the head, so that she could no longer be deceived as to his in tention, and, screaming for mercy, she managed to clutch the hatchet. He asked her to forgive him, and she said she would if she got safely down, for she feared he would thOw her down the steps. He led her down by the hand and on reaching the street she called out to a man who was passing, and he led her to her home, whence she was conveyed to the infirmary. A constable who had ex amined the place stated that the passage up to the first floor was very dangerous, and at the top was a square platform unroofed, and at one side of it he found a hole dug about six-and-a-half feet long, a foot deep, and about the breadth of a grave. The Prisoner was committed for POISONING AND STRANGULATION. Last evening Dr. Lankester resumed an important inquiry, at the Durham Castle, Upper Holloway, relative to the death of John Pratt, aged 53 years, who was found, after being poisoned, suspended by the neck to a beam in a stable . adjoining his residence at No. 27, Durham-road. The Coroner read over the evidence taken at the last sitting, the following being a summary : —The deceased, according to the evidence of Lavinia Job, the person with whom he lived, was an excessive drinker. On Wednesday evening (the 11th instant) he came home intoxicated, having been so for eleven days. The next morning, as usual, he had a cup of tea with some gin in it, and then she went out. On her return she missed him from the bedroom, and on searching for him she found him in the stable, lying on the ground, with a rope round his neck. She called in her neighbours, and, as he was not dead, a dector was imme diately called in. Dr. Edward Cottell, of Hernsey-road, attended about eleven o'clock on the Thursday morning, and saw the deceased lying on his back in the stable, breathing hard, with livid countenance and pupils con tracted. Strangulation by hanging had been attempted, but previously poison had been taken. The stomach pump and bleeding were tried, but after a few convulsive fits he died. An empty bottle was found, which Lavinia Job said had contained some stuff which the deceased used for his eyes, and the day before it was three parts full. Mr. Burden, chemist, of Store-street, Bedford-square, sup plied the bottle and its contents, and on being communi cated with sent a reply that it contained two grains of atropia, the active principle of deadly nightshade. Dr. Cottell was of opinion that if deceased had taken that quantity of the poison he would have been past hope He had no doubt died from the effects of the poison accelerated by the hanging. From the latter he might have recovered. After a variety of opinions and suggestions relative to the cause of death, the jury expressed their dissatisfaction at the medical gentle. man not having made a post-modem examination, and requested that the same should be performed, as Dr. Cot tell had stated that other poisons would produce similar appearances of the body. They were also of opinion that au analysis should be made. The coroner, therefore, post poned the inquiry, and wrote to Professor Rodgers, of the London Hospital Medical College, asking him to male post-mortem , examination, but the learned professor v..roto back to say that such was the state of the body through decomposition, that it would be at the peril of his life if he attempted to examine the corpse, and he therefore declined to do so. Dr. Cotten, who was called in to attend the deceasea, said the body rapidly decomposed. It was speedily in a gangrenous condition. He was a man of over IGst weight, in full habit, and of drinking propensities. The few warm days assisted the rapid decomposition. The jury were dissatisfied at the want of knowledge as to what poison had been taken. It was said to be atropia, but other poisons would produce similar ap pearances. The Coroner remarked that_it would be absurd to sup pose that any one had given the man poison, and then dragged him to the stable and hanged him ; or that, having had the poison administered to him, while labouring under its painful effects, from another person's hand, he would attempt to complete the destruction of his life by hanging. Further evidence was taken, shewing that the deceasea, after over-indulging, was depressed in mind, and that he had wished some one would blow out his brains. His partner in business had heard him say he was uncom fortable at home, and once saw him perform an act which he considered so suspicious that he would not leave him. The jury, regretting that the post-mortcm examination had not been made, returned a verdict that death arose from atropia and strangulation, but how the deceased got the atropia there was not sufficient evidence to shew. , TAW AND POLICE. ,BREACH OF PROMISE OF MARRIAGE.—In the Secon daries Court, before Mr. Secondary Potter, an action.was tried to assess damages in the case of Yardley v. 'Tyler. It was a breach . of promise case, and in the Court of Common Pleas the defendant suffered judgment by default. It appeared that the defendant had met Miss Yardley on the Boulogne boat in August 1865, and in October 1866 he proposed for her hand. lie was accepted, and the court ship continued until March 1867, when the defendant's manner became constrained and altered towards plaintiff, and in April he wrote saying that plaintiff's coldness has altered his mind, and though the plaintiff's father urged him to be honourable the match was broken off. There was some talk on the plaintiff's side of the defendant's possessing a "hunter" and a "dog cart," but this possession was denied on the part of the defendant. The jury returned a verdict for £750. STABBING BY AN ITALYAN.--At the Mansion House Vin cenzo Visoni, an Italian, was charged with stabbing rolice constable Isaac Gilbert with intent to do him grievous bodily harm. It appeared that on Sunday he was walking up and down in front of the Italian Consulate. When informed by the police-constable that the Consul would not be at his office that day he became exasperated, muttered something about Fenianism, and commenced unbuttoning his waistcoat. He was immediately sesz when he (prisoner), drawing a knife, stabbed Gilbert in the hand. The wound, though painful, is not very serious. The prisoner turned out to be an Italian exile, who had been kept in St. George's Workhouse for three years and a half. The prisoner was remanded. - TUE CASE OF REVOLTING CRUELTY TO A CHILD AT MARGATL—At the Dover quarter sessions yesterday, before Sir W. H. Bodkin, Recorder, and a full bench of magistrates, Adelaide Lomax pleaded not guilty to a charge of gross cruelty to her daughter Agnes, aged 7. At the time the mattes was first before the magistrates we gave the particulars of the case, but another brief out line may now be necessary. It will, perhapS, be remem bered that the prisoner, with her husband, eccupied a respectable position in Margate. It was spoken to by several persons, their servants, and others, that gross cruelty had been systematically practized on the child. Her hands had been for hours, and, indeed, whole nights, tied behind her, and she had been held by the prisoner under the pump, and water poured on her. She had been seen to strike her with her fist, so that the child's body was much bruised. She had also struck her with a hairbrush, and her violence was so great that the brush broke in two. One witness swore that she had been told by the prisoner to rub chloride of lime over the bruises ; and had done so. The jury, after hearing the evidence, thought that the case had been proved ; and the learned Recorder sentenced the prisoner to twelve months with hard labour. AN EXTENSIVE ROBBERY FOILED.—A National "zaplc messenger was assaulted and robbed of $3,200,000 in exchange cheques, and $5OO in bills yesterday in Wall street, in broad daylight, and in the midst of the usual throng of busy passers. The exchange cheques fortunately are useless, and the bold robbers have secured only the $5OO booty,—New 3 1 / 4 7 qrk Herald, Dee, 14. THE SUN, LONDOAL ITqEsp DICKENS IN NEW YORK. (From the Nation.) Doubtless there is something of a disappointment in store for a great many of the people who are going to hear Mr. Dickens read. To him and his celebrated readings we have all been paying the compliment—natural to human nature to pay—of thinking him to be more impressive in appearance, and them to be more entirely and suddenly capti vating, than in the nature of things it is possible that either of them should really be. Probably , most of us went to Steinway Hall on Monday even ing last in much the same frame of mind with which one goes to look for the first time at some master piece of art or some wonder of nature, and perhaps most of us came away as one comes from his first view of Niagara or a Titian—not quite satisfied, with some waiting and remembering and comparing to be done before one perceives how much it is that has been seen. The audience—every seat filled—wait for Mr. Dickens to appear, and meantime look at the fur niture of the platform—a little red-covered reading desk, behind it a screen of a brown crimson colour, in front of it, on the edge of the stage, a little to the right and left of the desk, two tall rots, which support what, as the audience sees it, resembles a red maroon-coloured board. On the other side of the board are fixed the lamps which light the figure of the reader. There is nothing else in the nature of scenery—to use a technical word of the theatre. And here we come to one of the two momentary disappointments of which we have spoken. Most people, we dare say, will go to hear the readings with a vague expectation that they are to be pleased as an actor pleases them, or rather they go with suggested reminiscences of great actors in their minds, and with little knowledge of what it is in which " reading," properly so-called, consists. But there is no more of the theatre in the reader than there is in the accessories of which we have spoken, and how slight and simple those acces sories are we have seen. The true theory of the performance is not that it is acting in which the actor, as much as possible, forgets himself into the very likeness of what he personates, but is rather that a gentleman dramatically tells a story among friends, indicating rather than perfectly assuming the characters of the personages brought before us ; never wholly, indeed never nearly, losing sight of his hearers and himself ; never wholly, never at any rate for very long, getting away from the gen tlemanly drawing-room, with its limiting conven tionalities, into the wider and freer atmosphere of the stage. Readings are simply story-telling or declaiming, or the recitation of poetry, with excep tionally good elocution, and with occasional feats of imitation of a kind more or less subdued. The future hearer being warned against the error above-mentioned—one into which very many people very naturally fall—there remains to speak of the other disappointment to which we have alluded. At first, at least, everybody, we suppose, will ex perience it, and every one will at once admit to himself that it is childish. We feel it, neverthe less, perpetually demanding that each fresh hero, in spite of the failure of his predecessors, shall ap pear to the bodily eye as he appears to the eye of imagination. The man who has created Mr. Richard Swiveller and three generations of \Yellers and Mr. 'roots and Captain Cuttle and Air. Wegg and Mr. Peggotty and Mr. Micawber and young Bailey, and so many other members of every well-regulated household, must be prepared to find us feeling not altogether rightly used when we see that as he steps quickly across the stage he seems to the casual eye—if any casual eye were there—an ordi nary elderly gentleman, with steel-grey hair, thin on the top of the head and brought forward into two tufts just above the ear, with a rosy or flushed face, in evening dress, and, generally, with a dapper air than with a look of—what shall we say ?—a great genius who is a part of the happiness of man kind henceforth. From this disappointment one soon recovers. One looks closely at the strong fea tures, sees the mingled kindness and sharpness of the eyes, sees the whole face smiling—not the lips only, hut the eyes and cheeks—at some lucky, humorous stroke, and it is easy to forget some small things, and to admit that only the face before us could be the face of the Dickens whom we know. The flowers and the jewellery and the diffuse moustache and imperial seem also proper and not to be dispensed with. Our New York audiences are not, we think, so far as we know them west of the Bowery, apt to be extremely enthusiastic; not apt to be so enthu siastic as Boston audiences, we should say, though it is true that the individual New Yorker wants the gravity of the individual Bostonian. He lives in a whirl of all things earthly, which makes particular things of no great importance to him, which re duces special sensations to comparative insigni ficance ; there are so many things to make him light that even as " a house" he is not to be brought down heavily. It will have to be admitted, too, that he is not so susceptible to purely intellectual impressions as the average Athenian of the Modern Athens. So Mr. Dickens was not received with anything like the warmth which greeted bim in Boston. A round of applause welcomed him as he walked across the platform to his desk, another left him waiting for half a minute, or some seconds less than that time, as he made his boiv, and then he 1 1 was allowed to begin, and continued throughout the reading without interruptions of any length, though not without frequent interruptions. " Marley was dead," he began. " Marley was dead to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that ;" and he went on, not following per fectly closely the text of that edition of his reading which Ticknor and Fields have just published,' but varying from it in two ways—by' omissions which included some of his finest bits of humour—as when the intelligent British juryman, who knows himself a painstaking bulwark of the Constitution, inquires of Sergeant Buzfuz the precise date of the Chops Tomato Sauce billet-doux; and not only by omissions, but by interpolations—as when the sergeant tells the jury that it is " an enlightened, a high-minded, a right-feeling, a conscientious, a dispassionate, a sympathising, a contemplative, and, it is not going too far to say, a HIGHLY POETICAL jury of her civilised countrymen"— the words in italics and capitals being a very effective " reading" addition to the words in our copy of the novel. Of these omissions and interpolations there were very many, some advantageous, some injurious. To pronounce judgment on Mr. Dickens as a reader we are not in all respects competent. But we may say that as we listened to him it seemed to us•that in the level passages he was not extra ordinarily good ; that his voice is not a particularly fine one ; that many of his inflections and the spirit in which he reads many passages are not at all what we should have expected or what we liked, but that wherever his admirable histrionic abilities could supplement or almost take the place of his abilities as a reader merely then all things were done at least well, many things excellently well, and some things done so well that we have not as yet conceived of their being done better. The old judge in the trial scene seemed to us unsurpassable. The look of drowsy, stupid dignity, the voice of the real Justice Stareleigh, were perfectly rendered by Mr. Dickens's face and voice. His presentation of the judge, as it seemed to us, was the best thing in his reading. By far the best, we were going to say, but Sergeant Buzfuz, in his opening speech, was nearly as good. The other lawyers were not so well brought before us—neither the bullying tone of the cross-examina tions nor the details as given by Mr. Dickens struck us as being very true to life. For example— that the worth of our criticism may be judged— we should say that a lawyer would ask a witness, " Can you swear that you have not seen the defen dant fifty times? Can you swear that you have not seen him seventy-five times? Do you think— mind, now, you're on your oath—that you have seen him more than three times ?"—and so on. Mr. Dickens reads a perfectly similar passage without italicising the numerical adjectives. In the " Christmas Carol" it was the humorous passages that were chiefly applauded. Even the passages in which Bob Cratchit tells his wife how green Tiny Tim's grave is, although Mr. Dickens makes a " point" of it more decidedly than of any Y EVENING, DECEMBER 31, 1867. mounting in hot haste the staircase leading to the conjugal apartments, while the husband betook himself with equal celerity to the dwelling of a neighbouring locksmith. Scarcely, however, had the good lady arrived in front of her door when, like Sesame, it opened, and gave egress to two exceedingly suspicious-looking individuals, each encumbered with an enormous bundle. Unable to stand this trying disappearance of her goods . and chattels, Madame M. at once precipitated herself upon the robbers, or rather upon the bun dles. Startled by the unexpected attack, as well as by the shrill outcries of the lady, the robbers threw down their bundles and fled, their disappearance being followed immediately by the arrival of the husband and the locksmith, whose services were no longer in requisition. The interior of the apart ment presented an appearence more picturesque than orderly, everything being bundled up in haste, so that in all probability a delay of another hour would have left on the worthy couple a lasting, and, at the same time, a most disagreeable souvenir of the first Masked Ball of 1867. NAPLES, Dec. 20, 1867. Mr. Alfred D. Green, American Consul in this place, died last Sunday morning after a few days' illness. The consequences of a heavy fall in a sud den fainting fit was the immediate cause of death, and the efforts of two eminent medical men, Dr. Sim, and his countryman, Dr. Ransom, proved un availing to save him. The history of the American consulate at Naples has been eventful, not to say romantic, of late years. It was held for upwards of half a century by Mr. Alexander Hammett, who was appointed in 1808. He rendered such good service to his country that, during fifty-two years, he was made an ex ception to the " four year rule," and left in undisturbed possession until 1861. Then Dr. Armsby, of Albany, was appointed, but on arrival here, at once made the old man Vice- Consul, and within a few months resigned ; at the same time recommending the Government to con tinue old Mr. Hammett in the post, for which, not withstanding his age, he was still fully competent. This recommendation was disregarded, and a Mr. Howard was appointed this time, the old man being ou,ted, not to return. Mr. Howard did not keep the place long, and none of his successors have remained for more than a few months. Old Mr. Hammett is still living, but unable to work, and having no pension or provision what ever has been kept from starvation by the charity of the only American resident, Mr. Robert Rogers, and the contributions of chance visitors. Ameri cans willing to aid an old servant of their country may send their subscriptions through any of the bankers at Naples. FRANKFORT-ON-THE-MAINE, Dec. 23. The Americans at Frankfort, to the number of 35 to 40, are getting up a real American Christmas dinner at the Hotel d'Angleterre in this city. Among the dishes are Indian corn, tomatoes, mince pies, &c. The committee are W. C. Watson, J. Watson, and Edward Morris. It will be a mag nificent affair. General Carl Shurz, formerly a conspicuous leader in the German Republican Revolution of 1848, is writing at Frankfort and Wiesbaden on Germany. The General, it will bo remembered, was in prison for treason, and would doubtless have been hung by Prussia, but he had the good luck to escape, and went to the United States. He has done good service in the Union army during our civil war as a General, and is now the popular editor of that widely celebrated journal the Westlisch Post, of St. Louis. The General was never amnestied by Prussia, but we think Bismarck and King William will not trouble him much if he visits Prussia. The London Athenxion says " the expense of living has got so high in the United States for men of large families, but with small incomes, that they cannot afford to live there. Living has been found cheaper iu Germany, so they go there in crowds. That paper states that in Stuttgart the Americans greatly outnumber the Euglish, and have driven them out, adding much to the cost of The latter part of the statement as to the great number of Americans at Stuttgart is quite au ex aggeration. There are only a few American families there : Chancellor Toppan, Dr. E. G. Ludlow, W. A Pluto- Uius, Mr. GUStavus - SchWah, an - LTMr. Mack, and perhaps altog - ethera dozen American families may be residing there. The Boston Post says :—Mr. Josiah Quincy's general and sweeping charges of corruption against rail road companies, editors, lawyers, &c., cotne with an ill grace from a man whose railroad operations have impo verished so many stockholders, and loft a cloud oversha dowing his transactions that ought to teach modesty to one whose financial reputation does not justify him in throwing the first stone. L. G. Usher has been nominated for re-election as mayor of Lynn, Massachusetts, by th 3 citizens, and E. A. Ingalls is the candidate of the P. L. L.'s. George Walker's hotel at Lyndon, Vermont, was lately destroyed by fire. Insured for $5,000. Mr. Emerson, the United States assessor of Western Massachusetts, has nominated Lorenzo H. Gam well, of Pittsfield, as special assistant assessor, to have charge of the succession and legacy taxes of the entire dis trict, and he has been duly commissioned. The United States Supreme Court has overruled the exceptions to the verdict of guilty given against young Tenney, the Greenfield bank embezzler, last March, and he will accordingly receive sentence at the next term of the superior court. Mr. Jerome Wells, of Chicopee, has returned to Springfield, Massachusetts, from a three months' trip to Europe, and Mr. James B. Rumrill, Springfield, sailed in the French steamer St. Laurent, to join his wifo and daughter in Europe, and will return with them in the spring. Conductor Toucey of the Naugatuck Railroad has been appointed superintendent of the Delaware, Lucka wana, and Western Road. The Spirit says :—" Of course not.--Dickens came on the platform with a carnation in his shirt-front, a rose bud in his button-hole, a gold stud, considerable watch chain, a diamond ring on his smallest finger—neatly, modestly, quietly dressed—without the slightest trace of that snobbish foppery of which be had been accused on his previous visit to America." And adds, "It is hinted, that at his farewell banquet in England the ices were served up in hot plates. Mr. Dickens was born at Ports mouth, in 1812." General M'Larmand has been nominated by Pre sident Johnson as Minister to Mexico. Baron Magnus, lately the Prussian Minister to the Court of the Emperor Maximilian, and Prince Salm Salm arrived at Brussels laSt Saturday. On Monday, the 2d December, Charles A. Win chester (Republican) was elected Mayor for Springfield, Massachusetts, by a majority of 39 over William L. Smith, the Democratic and P.LL. nominee. Mr. Folsom, the city clerk, was re-elected by 800 majority. On the same day, says the Springfield Republican, of the 7th December, Chel sea,, elected Mayor Rufus S. Frost, Republican; Cam bridge, Charles S. Sanders, Republican; New Bedford, Andrew G. Pierce, "citizen" and license ; Taunton, Mayor Stephen H. Rhodes, Republican ; Fall River, Mayor Geo. 0. Fairbanks, Republican and Prohibitionist ; Lawrence, Mayor Melvin, "citizen" and license. New Bedford, which gave 1,400 majority for prohibition in November, de clared for license by 300 majority—a revulsion that was siguificant and notable. Other Massachusetts cities, in cluding Boston and Worcester, will hold their municipal elections on Monday of next week. In Boston a strong opposition has united upon Dr. Shurtleff, and the Repub licans will have to work hard to re-elect Mayor Norcross. In Worcester also Mayor Blake has been renominated by the Republicans, and will be opposed by Democrats, working-men's leagues, and pseudo " economists ;" but the mass of the citizens of Worcester are too iutelligent to allow Mayor Blake to be defeated. The Republican nominee for Mayor of Newburyport is Warren Currier. In Manchester, N. H., the Democrats have nominated James A. Weston. Moses W. Wilson, a lawyer of Westport, Con need ut, has been excluded fann the Bar for circulating false reports. Mr. Bowen, publisher of the New Yark indepen dent, went w Chicago to carry on a campaign in the inte rest of his journal against the new Congregational paper of the West, the Advance. Mr. Bowen's tactics were suc cessful in securing seven of the most influential Congre gational ministers of Illinois, and the Advance now loudly calls on the apostate brethren for an explanation. An old man named Richard Bradley wasstranglcd by burglars, in Hartford, .Connecticut,, who had broken into his jewellery store. The murderers have bees arrested and await their trial. The following items are from the Watchman and Reflector " Rev. Dr. Win. M. Engles, for nearly 30 years editor of The Presbyterian,died in Philadelphia in his 71st year on Thanksgiving day. Ile was a power in the Presbyte rian Church, and widely known throughout the United States. Nowhere will his loss he more keenly felt than in the families where The Presbyterian is read. "Rev. T. T. Filmer has entered upon the pasto rate of the church in South Framingham. Mr. F. is a graduate of Rochester Theological Seminary, is well equipped for his work, and has already had a successful experience as a pastor in the State of New York. Wa congratulate the church on the new pastoral relation. " The Baptist Church in South Norwalk, Connecti cut, is without a pastor, Rev. C. Y. Swan having closed his labours hero. " Rev. Mr. Earle will commence a series of meet ings from Dec. 15th, in the First Baptist Church, Somer set-street, which will be continued forenoons and evenings through the week. " Rev. A. B. White has removed from Greenfield to Xenia, Ohio, having become pastor of the Baptist Church in the latter place. " Rev. Arnasa Brown having removed from Campton, New Hampshire, to Cornwall, wishes corre spondents to direct accordingly. " Rev. Stephen Remington, the late esteemed pastor at Groonfield, Massachusetts, now resides on Niuth street, near Fourth-avenue, Brooklyn, New York. " Bev. J. I. Metcalf is now pastor of the Baptist Church at Avon, Illinois, and Rev. W. S. Hill is pa for at Bushnell, same State." Mr. Henry Deming lately gave to a military organisation in Providence Rhode Island an autograph letter of Israel Putnam . " CAMP AT PROSPECT HILL " Sir please to deliver the Barror hereof 2 Tuus of Bread to som rod Islanders as they came from roxbary yesterday and nothing to eat. ISRAEL PUTNAM." The London Tomahawk suggests a monument to Mr. Laird, the builder of the Alabama, to be paid for by contributions from those members of the House of Com mons who cheered him when he proclaimed the pride he felt in the matter. M. Gibbs, Esq., and W. B. Farwell, United States Secret Revenue Agents, have both gone to the United States to be absent for some months. Lieutenant-Governor Bross was in Vienna last week. The Mayor of New Haven, Connecticut, lately presided over a Fenian meeting. Aug. Glaser, for more than twelve years the popular and efficient Secretary of the United States Con sulate-General at Frankfort-on-the-Maine, has received the appointment of United States Consular Clerk. By the last China mail we learn that the inter national boat race between the English and Americans at Shanghai has resulted this year in favour of the former. Last year•the Americans won the race. Thomas Edwards, an apprentice to Mr. Butler, wheelwright of the village of Albrighton, near Wolver hampton, two or three months ago persuaded a young lady to elope with him, but the fugitives were traced to Oswes try, where they were found in separate lodgings awaiting the time required by law for the banns to be published. The girl was removed to her friends, and young Edwards returned to Albrighton, having taken £2O in exchange for his bride. Last Wednesday week the residents of the village again missed Edwards. This captivating young man found he was intended for batter things than making wheels, and the success of his first little experiment only increased his confidence. This time the companion of his flight was a handsome young lady of comparatively good position, heiress to £3,000, and engaged to a young gentle man in the neighbourhood. They went straight to Derby, whero they were at once united in holy ruatrimony—no waiting for banns this time. Affixed to Mrs. Francis Lord Bond's application for the post of Minister Plenipotentiary to the Court of St. James's was the following indorsement :—"Referred to the honourable the Secretary of State, whose special attention is called to this application, in connection with other papers now on file in the State Department. ANDREW JOHNSON." Among the papers referred to by the President, was a petition written by Mr. Noel of Missouri, and signed by four other members of Congress, praying that competent and worthy women might receive appointments to foreign consulates. The Pre sident'has handed over to Mr. Seward the task of satisfy ing Mrs. Bond. General Ignatieff intends to leave Constantinople for St. Petersburg to-day. Another death, caused by the Clerkenwell explo sion, has to be recorded—Humphrey Evans, an old man, whose wife died last week in St. Bartholomew's Hospital, Gray's-inn- lane. Captain Crouch, of H.M. 16th Regiment, shot himself, on the 7th inst., at Montreal. It is reported that Mr. Theaker, Commissioner of Patents, was, on tho 9th inst., asked by Secretary Browning, by direction of tho President, to resign his office, which the Commissioner refused to do. A Cannes journal the other day mentioned, as "an interesting detail," the somewhat startling intelli gence that Lord Brougham's annual income amounts to £654,000 sterling. This statement drew from his lordship a letter, in which he says :—" I have to request you to inform me from whom you learned so great an absurdity, and, without doubt, you will insert in your next number an explanation of a mistake which has provoked general laughter, and which procured for me, on my return here, a reception which I did not merit." Colonel Kelly is reported to have arrived in New York, by the Minnesota, which reached that city on Sun day, the Bth inst., and is said to be living in the house of the Fenian President, Mr. Roberts. The captain of the American whale ship Java reports from Honolulu that he was driven from his whal ing ground by a Russian man-of-war, who threatened to sink his vessel. We learn by the steamer Nouveau Monde, from Panama, Dec. 1, that General Mosquera had been sen tenced to four years' exile, and in Columbia public tran quillity continued. Col. I. B. Morrill, for many years landlord of the Manufacturers' Hotel at Amesbury, died suddenly on Thursday, sth Dec. William Powell Mason, a son of United States Senator Jonathan Mason, and formerly reporter of the United States Supremo Court decisions, died Wednesday, Dec. 4, aged 70. He was a graduate of Harvard in 1811. The Webb sisters were to appear in San Fran cisco about Christmas. The tragedian, Edwin Booth, and Miss MtVickar, are playing in Mobile. Dan Bryant has drawn better houses, and kept them full for a longer period than any other actor in San Francisco. He has lately been acting the character of old Eccles in Caste. Edwin Forrest is about to start on a Southern tour, and James Ovens is in Cincinnati ; Hackett is in Washington, Edwin Adams in Brooklyn, where Mrs. Yelverton is about to give a reading; Madame Methua- Scheller is playing at the Omaha Academy of Music ; Miss Kelsey is gone to Chicago ; Mr. and Mrs. Barney Williams are there playing at M'Vickar's Theatre; Fanny Rice is play " Nobody's Daughter" in Memphis ; Ristori has postponed her departure for Havannah till February. Mrs. F. M. Bates, supported by Mr. Bates, is playing in "Leah" in San Francisco. Miss Hinckley has been severely criticised by the San Francisco press for the immodesty of her dress. We would recommend Miss Sallie to the Chatelot, in Paris, where she might take a character in " Gul liver's Travels," as now represented on that stage, where a tight-fitting corset and tail are considered sufficient. Black Sheep has been played in Salt Lake City, and the Spirit from which we extract these items ends by inform ing its readers that the Rev. Henry Ward Beecher has fled to Canada to.escapo the wrath to come. Indeed some of the wrath had come, for the orthodox clergy had poured in a flood of remonstrance for his participation in allowing "Norwood" to be represented on the stage. The Pall-Mall Gazette says :—" Among other items of theatrical gossip we hear that Mr. and Mrs. Wigan retire for a while from the Queen's Theatre. If their health will permit, they will on their return from the Con tinent resume their managerial duties. Mr. J. L. Toole was to have appeared at the Queen's in the new drama written for him by Mr. H. J. Byron, but this arrangement will not be carried out, at all events not during the Christmas season. The piece probably requires alte ration at the author's hands before being submitted to a London audience. The management of the Strand Theatre contemplates devoting that place of amuse ment to the performance of opera bouffe. The notion was probably suggested by the failure of ' La Grande Duchesse' at the large house. M. Offenbach's works, pre sented here as in Paris, will never, unless we entirely mis take the English public, succeed in this country. Messrs. Boucicault and Charles Reade will dramatise their novel of ' Foul Play,' which appears in Once a Week under the new editorship of Mr. E. S. Dallas. This seems a good combination, Mr. Reade as the novelist for a plot, and Mr. Boucicault for treating the plot dramatically. Mr. Fre deric Clay, well known among amateurs musical and theatrically, is writing the new operetta for St. George's Hall. The libretto is by a Mr. Reece, the author of a slight comic opera brought out during Mr. E. Galer's management at the New Royalty Theatre." Walt. Whitman has replied in the Galaxy Magazine to Carlyle's "Shooting Niagara." Those who have read Mr. Partridge's work " On Democracy" will see from the following extract, how closely allied are the ideas of both, though Partridge takes the broader view of the oneness which, instead of being confided to a na tion, is destined to embrace the human family :—" There is (turning horns again) a thought, or fact, I must not forget—subtle and vast, dear to America, twin-sister of its Democracy—so ligatured indeed to it, that either's death, if not the other's also, would make that other live out life, dragging a corpse, a loathsome, horrid tag and burden for ever at its feet. What the idea of the Messiah was to the ancient race of Israel, through storm and calm, through public glory and their name's humiliation, tenacious, refusing to be argued with, shed ding all shafts of ridicule and disbelief, undestroyed by captivities, battles, deaths— for neither the scalding blood of war, nor the rotted ichor of peace could ever wash it out, nor has yet—a great idea, bedded in Judah's heart— source of the loftiest poetry the world yet knows continuing on the same, though all else varies—the final thread of the incredible romance of that people's career along five) thousand years—so runs this thought, this fact, amid our own land's race and. history. It is the thought of Oneness, averaging, including all : of identity—the indissoluble Union of these States." He is aware of present shortcomings, and that much must be lived through ere pure Democracy can obtain sway on earth." "I, as Democrat, see clearly enough (none more clearly) the crude, defective streaks in all the strata of the common people ; the specimens and vast collections of the ignorant, the credulous, the unfit and uncouth, the incapable and the very low and poor. The eminent person (Carlyle), in his conscientious cry, !sneeringly asks whether we expect to elevate and improve politics by absorbing such morbid collections and qualities therein. The uoint is a formidable one, and there will doubtless always be numbers of solid citizens who will never get over it. Our answer is general, and is involved in the scope and letter of this article. We believe the object of political and all other governments to be, among the rest, not merely to role, to repress disorder, &c., but to develop, to open up to cultivation, to encou rage the possibilities of all beneficent and manly outcrop page, and of that aspiration for independence, and the pride and self-respect latent in all characters." The Nation says :--" We hope that those Con gressmen who have endeavoured to free the country from inter-State railroad monopolies will not overlook the re cent remarkable decision of the New Jersey Court of Errors and Appeals, of course in favour of the Camden and Am boy Company. A railroad which, by forming a connec tion with another road, was able to carry through pas sengers and freight from New York and Philadelphia, is subjected to an injunction not till January 1, 1869, when the monopoly expires but perpetually ; and for any continuance of the ' interference,' it is de clared to be the duty of the Court of Chancery to cause from a quarter to a half of the track of the Raritan and Delaware Company to be taken up, so as to render connection impossible. The extravagance of this decision will not be regretted by those who wish the anti monopoly cause to be made clearer and stronger than it is. We shall only add that the competition now de nounced affects the carriage of freight rather than of pas sengers, owing to the length of the offending route ; and that the blow aimed at it by the Court of Error falls far more heavily on the people 'of New Jersey than it does on 'foreign' merchants North and South. The district through which the Raritan road is laid may be described as an oasis at each end and a wilderness in the middle. This wilderness, offering peculiar attrac tions for certain kinds of cultivation and for various manu factures, and being bound by the same rails to vast depo sits of marl, has all the elements of regeneration in itself or close at hand. No one who has travelled over the road at the interval of a year, or even of a few months, can fail to have marked the growth and improvement of the country— due to its accessibility to two groat markets in stead of one, and promising to add materially to the wealth and populousness of the State. To check this progress is absurd and ought to bo impossible, and if Maryland can ask to bo protected in a Republican 'form of government, how much more has New Jersey a right to petition for the same boon at the hands of the Government ?" Rev. Robert Lowell states that the New York census returns show that the Episcopalians aro gaining more rapidly than any other denomination in that State, in proportion to its numbers, and he says, " Let it be understood that the growth of the Episcopal Church is not chiefly in the city, but in the country. What would sur prise a great many people is the fact that in Massachusetts —the home of the Pilgrims--the growth (positive and comparative) of the Episcopal Church bas been as won derful as here; and in Massachusetts, too, this remarkable growth is chiefly in the country." GERMAN IMMIGRANTS FOR THE SOUTII. —The Baltimore Commerciatof the 7th Dec. says : —" T he first ship load of Germans arrived at Charleston a few days ago, and the New York Times thus comments upon the event:— The greater part of them will unquestionably go to the middle and upper parts of the State, where large tracts of land are held by individual proprietors, and where here tofore it has been hard to purchase. These land owners must do their share in changing this state of things by dividing up their estates and offering freeholds to actual settlers. The industrious Germans will rapidly in crease the value of property wherever they go, and those proprietors who encourage them by offering land on easy terms will soon find that half their estate is of a higher value than the whole of it was before. If South Carolina can get twenty thousand immigrants a year for three or four years, there will soon be no danger of negro domination,'" The remarks of the Timm are eminently judicious and proper, and will apply with quite as much force to Maryland as to South Carolina. If our great landed proprietors would but consent to cut up their largo estates into small farms, and thus place them within the reach of farmers of moderate means, they would not only increase their own wealth tenfold, but would add materially to the State's power and prosperity. The Mims remarks :—The year 1867 was the centennial anniversary of the introduction of the Metho dist Church into the United States, and the "centenary year, as it has been called, was set apart in that Church as a year for especial donations for religious purposes. The total collections of this kind during the year have been $6,931,256, and the largest individual gift was made by Daniel Drew, of New York, who is a memberof that Church —5550,C00, to found the Drew Theological Seminary in New York State. The total gifts in New York were $1,602,216 ; Baltimore gave $300,000; Philadelphia, $158,000; Ohio, $373,259 ; ,Illinois, $341,578; Pittsburg, $348,696 ; $108,466 ; Missouri and Kansas, $157,242. These contributions are for various objects, such as mission houses, educational funds, the endowment of universities and schools, the increase of Church property, payment of Church debts, and similar purposes. The Methodist Epis copal Church in the United States is governed by nine bishops, but as two are disabled by illness and age, and the Church is rapidly extending, it is proposed to elect three additional bishops at the next General Methodist Conference. Telegraphic news from Hong Kong to the Ist inst. has been received. The town had been visited by a serious fire, when 7,000 bales of Indian cotton were de stroyed, and a total loss inflicted of 400,000 dollars. Further investigation has shown that the Corn inercial Bank of Montreal was in a much better position than people were led to expect, and it is now said that it will be resuscitated, and put into working order. The Brooklyn Church Union is disgusted with the recent Pan-Anglican Council. " It neither condemned ritualism, nor infidelity, nor anything else. It neither held a prayer-meeting itself nor invited God's people to unite in Church unity. It did nothing for humanity or freedom, but eat, drank, marched, and mutually admired." Au organisation of Southern ladies in reduced circumstances has been formed at Houston, to do sewing, and has undertaken several large contracts. • [AnvEßTlSEmENT.3—Dyspepsia(lndigestion), Constipation, De. bility, Consumption, and all nervous, bilious, stomach, and liver complaints in every stage, are only aggravated and accelerated by thugs of every description, but perfectly curable by Du Barry's health-restoring Revalenta Arabica. Food, a s proved by thousands of cases which had been considered ho peless, such as—cough, asthma, also diarrhoea, haemorrhoids, liver com plaints, flatulency, nervousness, biliousness, fevers, sore throats, diphtheria, catarrhs, colds, influenza, noises in the head and ears, rheumatism, gout, impurities, eruptions, hysteria, neuralgia, irritability, sleeplessness, acidity, palpitation, heartburn, head ache, debility, dropsy, cramps, spasms, nausea and sickness, even in pregnancy or at sea, sinking fits, bronchitis, scrofula, tightness of the chest, pains at the pit of the stomach and between the shoulders, &e. We quote a few :—The Pope's health restored by Du Barry's Food. Cure No. 68,413. " Rome, July 12, 1866.—The health of the Holy Father.is excellent, especially since, abandoning all other remedies, he has unlined himself entirely to Du Barry's Revaleuta Arabica Food, of which he consumes a plateful at every meal. It has produced a sur prisingly beneficial effect on his health, and his Ho liners cannot praise this excellent food too highly."—From the "Gazette du Midi, July 25 Cure No. 46,270 Mr James Roberts, timber merchant, of Frimley, Surrey, of thirty years' di ceased lungs, spitting of blood, liver derangement, and partial deafness. Cure No. 1,771. Lord Stuart do Decies, Lo rd Lieut. of Waterford, of many years' dyspepsia.—No. 45,832. "Fifty years' indescribable agony from dyspepsia, nervousness, asthma, cough, constipation, flatulency. spasms, sickness and vomiting.—Maria Joly." Important Caution.—Beware of the many unsavoury and more than sloppy imitations to which, without authority, Baron Liebig's name is most audaciously attached. In tins at ls. 11d.; 1 lb., 2s 9d. 2 lbs., 4s. 6c1 ; ; 5 lbs., ; 12 lbs., 225.; 24 lbs., 40s.—BARRY DU BARRY and Co., No. 77, ..tegent-street, London; also Fortnam and Mas on, 182 Piccadilly ; and at 61, Gracechurch-street; .4, Cheapside ; 63, 150, and 289, Oxford-street; 330 Strand; and all grocers and chemists other passage in the iivening's entertainment, was not nearly so successful as those in which we have 11.1 r. Fezziwig celebrating Christmas, " cutting" till the very calves of his legs seem to wink ; or the Cratchits eating their Christmas goose, and the young Cratchits turning livid on suspicion that, while they were up to their very foreheads in stuffing, some body has come over the fence and stolen the pud ding ; or Mr. Topper, affronting the credulity of human nature by his premeditated pursuit, whits shamming that he is blindfolded, of the plump sister in the lace tucker. All this called forth very hearty applause. But the most spontaneous and the heartiest plaudits were given when Sergeant Buzfuz said, ‘, Samuel Weller." Evidently everybody recognised in Samuel an old acquaintance. Everybody, too, we imagine, was a little disappointed that Sam, when he answered the call, made no more show than he did in the witness-box ; but when Anthony Wel ler disturbed the court-room by his orthographic instructions to his son, which Mr. Dickens produced in exactly the voice which we imagine as issuing from beneath the capes and coats and adipose tissue, and from among the pots of beer of a coach man of the olden time, it seemed as if the veritable Prussian Blue was himself among us in the audi ence. A thousand things might be said of the impres sions which Monday evening made on Mr. Dickens's audience, most of whom saw for the first time a friend whom they had long loved. To us the most impressive thing was the burst of applause which followed the mention of Sam Weller's name. It was such an unaffected tribute of admiration as few authors have ever obtained. Mr. Dickens stood before us in the flesh—listening to that voice of human sympathy and admiration which only the posterity of most other great men hear. MISCELLANEOUS NE I VS. CFrom the Anglo-American Times.) PARIS, Dec. 26, 1867. In the midst of a clear bright frost, hard as horn, and clear as the diamond, Old Father Christ mas took up his head-quarters in Paris, on the 25th, inaugurating by his arrival the Foire des Etrennes, to last without intermission from that period to the 6th day of the New Year. The Fair of New Year's Gifts which extends over every part of the city, whilst establishing its head-quarters along the line of the principal boulevards from the Madeleine to the Chateau d'Eau is a singular insti tution, and forms a most thrilling illustration of the manner in which fetes and fairs, allowed in other countries to degenerate into grossness and vulgarity, are, under the enlightened patronage of the Go vernment, made conducive not only to the legiti mate enjoyment of the people, but to the profit of all classes. One is at first astonished at seeing the little square wooden houses rising all along the main street of Paris, and that too directly in face of the most brilliant shops separated from them only by the breadth of the Trottoir, for the main street is of course _left unencumbered, but the wonder ceases when upon the Jour de Noel the disclosure of their multifarious contents and merchandise, the bulk of which generally consists of clever imitations of more valuable goods, shows that there is room for all, and that whilst the Fair of:New Year's Gifts belongs more exclusively to the poorer classes and to the children, the luxuriously appointed shops of the Boulevards furnish nevertheless many a rich New-year's gift for those whose generosity of dis position finds no drawback in a proportionate lightness of purse. Do you feel inclined and able to purchase a watch which for French or Swiss workmanship shall be unrivalled ? Enter respec tively the dwelling of Brequet or Henry Capt, and you have nothing left to wish for. Do you want an imitation neatly executed, even down t/) the cost of 100., chain and chatelaine included, you will find one in any scale, at any price, in the Fair of the New-year's Gifts. For the juvenile purchaser there has yet a more extensive field to choose from, and lost in asea of fusils d'aiguille, fusils de chassepots, revol vers of Liege, there are drums, swords, and mirlitons on every scale, and at every price. The dispos-.1 of grandpapa's Christmas box takes the dimensions of a commercial undertaking of the most complicated kind. Considerable brilliancy has been added to the fair of the present year by the removal of the ancient wooden stalls, and by replacing them with the eight hundred new and ele gantly decorated ones, recently built on the occa sion of the Emperor's fete, and exhibited in the Trocadero in the vicinity of the Exposition Univer selle. Each of these buildings has cost the Ville de Paris the sum of 500 francs, and are let to the oc cupier for fourteen days at the rate of a franc per day. They are built of white ash, covered with a waterproof canvass and elegantly painted upon a striped pattern. They are perfectly floored, and capable of being divided into two compartments, of being safely closed at night, and to crown all may be taken to pieces and put together in an incredibly short space of time. As the perfection to which these useful little buildings have been brought is immediately attributable to the system at present in use in the French army, it may not be unintcrest- ing to the general reader to receive some little in formation upon a point not generally known. The contributions forwarded to the American section of the Exposition by the Surgeon-General of the United States, J. K. Baines, Washington, as well as by Major-General Rucker, Washington, proved to be a most interesting study, and excited uni versal attention. Yet they simply consisted of ambulances, army waggons, hospital tents and furniture, and presented new and most interesting features to those who certainly expected little or nothing from an : every-day programme of ordinary subjects; and in like manner though the ordinary newspaper reader learns from time to time that a French army is encamped at Chalons, he does not entertain even the faintest idea of the itnprdved and excellent plan upon which that encampment is carried out at present. On the occasion of the inauguratiou of the camp in the year 1857 all the army was under canvass, but after various experi ments, since the period of 1863, the whole of the second division is what is called baraqued, a word which corresponds, although it does not possess en tirely the same signification to the English word barracks. The camp, then, at pres ant, is di vided into two entirely distinct parts the baraques, or wooden buildings occupying the centre ; the tents, arranged so as to form wings or extremities. The baraques are arranged in almost similar form to that presented by a regi ment when drawn up in order of review ; that is to say, in double rows, separated at intervals by those appointed for the subaltern and other officers, those in the centre being usually occupied by the officers of higher rank. it is said that the first introduc tion of this species of building was in mak ing at Paris a portable baraque entirely of iron, which was forwarded to Boulogne-sur-tiler for the use of Napoleon the First, then First Consul, and in which the future Emperor slept in the midst of his army. The first regularly established camp of this kind is said to have been erected in the Dunes, Calais, 1794. The Emperor is keeping Christmas with his people, the Imperial Family having come back to the Tuileries. It is reported that the recompences _ _ • and prizes due to the Agricultural and llorticul tural exhibitors at the Universal Exhibition will be distributed by his Majesty in person at the Palais de 'lndustrie, on the 30t!1 of the present month. The first grand ball has taken place at the opera, the receipts amounting to no less a sum than 16,486 f. A rather ludicrous event occurring in connection with ir, seems to give one an idea of how little time is lost by the escroes of Paris, on the least opportunity being afforded them. A worthy tradesman and his wife, inhabiting the Rue Mon treuil, were desirous of witnessing the entrée of the various historical and other characters, and in pur suance of their harmless and inexpensive plan of amusement, stationed themselves at the entrance, where they spent a considerable portion of their evening. They were sauntering peaceably back, when at a little distance from their domicile, Monsieur M. discovered that he no longer pos sessed that domestic talisman, his latchkey. This un expected discovery had at once the effect of making the worthy couple take up " the double," the dame Births. Cox—On the 29th inst., at Weymouth, Mrs. Alfred Cox, of Compton Castle, Castle Cary, of a son. O'BurEN—On the 28th inst., at Quarrywood, near Ryde, Isle of Wight, the Hon. Mrs. O'Brien, of a son. SYKES—On the 29th inst., at Battersea-rise, the wife of Major Cam Sykes, of a son. Marriages. BROOK—STOTHARD-- On the 28th inst., at St. Mary Ab bott's, Kensington, Charles Brook, Esq., of Great War ley, Essex, to Mary, sixth daughter of A. J. Stothard, F.R.S. EALAND— WINN —On the 28th inst., at St. Mary Magda lene, Lille3lll, John Frederick Ealing, of Shellingthorpe, eldest son of John R. Ealand, of Alsthorpe, to Maria I,,uisa \Vinn, youngest and only surviving daughter of the late Thuuias Whin, Esq., of Lincoln. Daa.ths. Boom—On the 30th inst., at 30, Queen-square, Blooms bury, Miss Booth, formerly a leading memb r of Drury lane and Covent-garden Theatres, aged 76. HAmivrox —On the 28th inst., at Boulogne, Francis F. Hamilton, Con mander Royal Navy, sou of the late Major- General Hamilton, C.B. HIGGS—On the 28th inst., at Winchester, Mr. James A. Higgs, aged 51. JoinANG— On the 28th inst., at Newctistle-on-Tyne, John Jobling, Esq., aged 66. MACKIE—On the 28th inst., at Ernespie, James Mackie, of Bargaly, M.P. for the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright. NOItMAN —On the Nth inst., at Oakley, Bromley, Kent, Henry Norman, Esq., aged 66. SKINNER—On the 27th inst., at 5, Mountford-crescent, 13arnsbury-park, John Skinner, Esq., formerly of Peck ham, aged 85. London : Printed and Published by WILLIAM ANDREWS, of No. 112, Strand, Printer, at Tie SUN Oahe, No 111, strand, in the Precinct of the SP voy, in the County of Paiddlesex.—Tuesday, December 31, 1867. I Ii