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

MONETARY REPORTS.-YESTERDAY. The attendance of members at the Stock Exchange to day was limited, and attention was principally directed to the fortnightly settlement, which commenced to-clay, and will be eompleted on Friday next. There is scarcely a movement in prices worth recording, Turkish stocks being the only securities which had undergone any change. The Five per Cents closed rather flatter at 43,1, 44. Consols remained stationary, little importance being attached to the fact of the British boats having been fired upon in the Seine, the general opinion being that the affair will be satisfactorily explained. In the Railway Share market the frequently recurring accidents have naturally tended to depress price -3, several leading companies being threatened with heavy expenditure for compensation and probably for litigation. On the other hand, the traffic receipts are well kept up, a large increase having taken place in several instances, which would allow of the distribution of increased dividends. Consols are quoted at 91! - : to 91/, both for money and account ; Reduced and New Three per Cents, 91g, 912; Exchequer Bills, 10s. to 15s. prem. Metropolitan Three and a Half per Cents, 93, 931; Bank Stock, 231, 233; India Five per Cents, 110, 1101 f India Four per Cents, 1001 to 1011 ; and India Bonds, 225. to 275. prem. The dealings in the foreign bond market have been limited in number and extent, and have been chiefly made in connection with the settlements. Prices, on the whole, have shewn weakness, though the changes have, in no case, been important. Egyptian of (1868), Spanish and Turkish Five per Cents., are 1 to lower ; but the Japanese Loan has advanced 1 per cent. ; Brazilian of (1865) have sold at 92 ; Danubian (1867), 92 ; Egyptian (1868), 771, R, ; Hondu ras, 871; Japanese, 1021; Peruvian (1863), 931, 1. Por tuguese (1867), 32g, g ; Russian Nicolai, 661, ; ditto (1870),8 4,7 ; Spanish (1867), 31. 311 ; ditto 1869, 31, 311; Turkish (1854), 791; ditto (1865), 431, 44 ; ditto Six per Cents. (1863), 621; ditto (1869), ' 50, 501. Italian (1861), 5 5k, I. _ _ . No change has taken place in the value of American Government securities, which are quoted at 88a, 881 for Five-Twenties of the 1862 issue, and 88, 88-i for the 1865 issue. Ten-Forty Bonds remain at 87k. 87k. States Bonds are unaltered in price. The market for home railway stocks has shewn flatness, sales having been effected to close accounts. Joint stock bank shares have met with very little in quiry, and the quotations are nominal. In Telegraph shares there has been little doing. Anglo- American have been sold at 76k, 6 ; British Indian Sub marine, 6,13-16th ; Falmouth and Gibraltar, 9i, 9. LONDON STOCK EXCHANGE.-WEDNESDA Y, The prices under the lines indicate the business done. GOVERNMENT SECURITIES. flare per Cent Consols 915 911 Viet 6p c .Tan &July 1891 115 117 91$, 1, f x d 1161, 16 Do for A ccount 915 x d Viet 5p c Jan & JulylB94. 10311041 Three per Cen t Reduced 915 915 1035 915, 5, 1 Brazilian. 1865. 5p o .... 92 93 New 3 per Cent 915, 5 Egyptian 1862. 7Pa .. .. 7 9 8 1 Exchequer Bills, March 10 15pm Ocr Rail Deben 7yo .. 101 103 pm Italian, 1865. 5p o Do, June lO 15pm Peruvian. 1865, 5p o .... 93 94 pm 93;. 1 Bank Stock 232 Russian. 1862. 5 p 0.. .. 83 85 India 5 per Cents 1105, 10 x d DoNicolas 4p a India Bonds — 009, i pm Spanish. 1867, 3 pet Can 6 poJan&Julyll77-84 105 107 31, ip 0 107 Do. 1869. 3 Do March & Sept. 103 105 31. 1 1031 Turkish. 1854, 6p c 7B 80 Do 5p c Jan & July .. 99 100 791 9)1 a Do. 1865. 5p 0 Do Inscribed Stock .. 98 100 435, 4 Dorn of Can 5p o 1903 .. 97 99 Do, 1865 6 p 0 Ceylon 6 p c May and 621 November 1878 lO6 108 1T.5.5-20 Bonds,6 p o 1332 885 881 Mauritius ( pc Jan and 885, 1 July 1873 lO3 105 Do do 1885 881 885 New S Wales 5p 01871-76 102 103 885, 5 New Zealand 6p c 1891 lO9 111 Do 10-401inds, spo 1904 871 875 Do spc - 871 Do sii c Consolidated 100 1005 ErieSha,loodols, all paid 1001 Illinois Central Shares .. 11111121 Do 6,p c Mar &Sept 1891 108 110 Atlantic and GW R Con Do June & DeclB9l 107 109 Mortgage Bonds — RAILWAYS. Bestol and Exeter B7 89 Ito 2nd do Scrip .... par 2pm Caledonian - 86 Grand Trunk of Canaa Great Eastern Great Northern 124 Grand Trunk of Can ada Do A 13311341 4th Pref Stock Great Western 7O 701 Great Indian Pen g 5, 0 107 108 701, 1 Great Western of Canada 145 14/ Lancashire & Yorkshire 173 134 141, 5 Lou, Brigh. and S Coast 40 415 Do Op c Bonds, 1873.. 98 100 415, Do 55 do. 1877-8 94 96 Lon, Chat, and Dover .. 125 131 Do 5p c pref. issued 80 I.:Rabin 135 Madras guar 5 n o Lon and North-Western 12751281 N. Railway of Canada, 1275, 8,6 p a let Pref Bonds Lou and South-Western 90 91 Gude and Rohilkund g Man, Sher, and Lincoln 451 455 5 n c 45 Scinde, Punjaub, and Metropolitan Midland .. . ..... . .... 128 1281 Bahia and San Francisco 128 . 5 . , 1 g 7 p c North British N orth-Easteri,Consols 144 145 Buenos Ayres Gt Sthrn.. 24 25 1441, 35 Dunaburg and Witepsk 18 19 Smith-Eastern ' 741 741 Dutch-Rhenish 221 225 745 Eastern of France — titian tic and St Lawrnce 75 77 Great Luxembourg 75 Lemberg Czern °wits gua 3ombay, Baroda, and 7 pc Central India. g 5 p c.. 105 106 Northern of France ... Buff and Lake Huron .. 4 41 0 t tom (Smyrn ato Aidin) 5 55 Do 51 pc 80nd5,1872-3 - 4 79 81 Recife and San Francisco Cape guar 6p c East Bengal guar 5 p c 10451051 San Paulo (T,) guar 7p o 21 21 East Indian, g 5 p a Grand Trunk Canada Do Equip Mort Bud 1 141 charge 6p c BANKING COMPANIES. n _Bi 10 1 ial Ottoman 21Rip I Aura liin (L) A .• _. __ :rimer__ 25 Allianco IL) 10 Anglo-Austrian 20 Anglo-Egyptian (L) 20i 21} 491 50 British N American 53 55 15 London Joint-Stock 731 '4l 20 Ch of India, Austrlia 14 15 20 Lon andWestmnster 63 64 25 Char Mero of India 22,E 2n 10 Metropolitan Bl 9 10 City 25 Colonial 4 Consolidated IL 20 Eng. Scot. andAus C 151 161 25 Union of Australia.. 41 i 42 20 Imperial ILI TELEGRAPH COMPANIES. Pd Pd 100 Anglo-American L 1 77 79 111 Great Northern .... 111 12 761, 0 6 Great N. China, and 10 Anglo-Meditrn IL) llB 121 Japan Extension.. 21 2 die 100 Atlantic — 5 Indo-European (L).. 10 12 lOC Do 8p c 11 British Australn (L) 5 41dis and Malta (L) .... 51 51 10 British Ind Erten IL). a 61 10 Mediterni Ex (L). 4% 5 10 Ilritieh Indian Sub- 21 Pnmaand S. Pcfc(L ?1, 21 die uterine. (L) 6/, 13-16 8 Renter's China Submarine IL) 5151 dis 20 Soc Trans France (L) 13% 131 10 Falmouth, Gibraltar, 100 Submarine 237 242 and Malta (LI 9}, 9 10 W India& PanamalL) 41 5} MISCELLANEOUS SECURITIES Pd Pd Anglo-Austrian Bnd- 100 Po6p c Bonds. re holders' Certificate 18 2; deemable 1870 . 64 C 6 11 BerlinWa 4 .erworks(Ll 141 151 so London Fin Assoc(L)lBll7Adis 30 Boickow-Vaughan L) 30 35pm 4 Lon Gen Omnibus .. 3 .... ...-- 100 Boston City .. (U.S. " - 21 p c Sterling Loan.. 91 93 2 Lon & Prov Marine L) 1 1 pin 4 Rrit & Fgn Marine( L) 2131 rm 100 Madrasirrig. &Canal 25 Canada Company. , 73 75 gsn c by Ind Gov. 102 103 10 Ceylon Company LI n 31dis 2 Mauritius Land (LI f 1 dis. 7.5 City Offices (L) 251241 dis 5 Natnl Disct Comp I) 11 114 20 Colonial (L) 5 Corn Union Aeeurnce n 4pm Mere Agency IL) .. 1g pm 10 Crdt Fonc of Eng IL) 2 24 5 N Zealand Loan and 100 Crystal Palace 100 Do Fret 100 Do 6n c Perp Deb ll2 117 5 OceanMarinelnsur —134 14nm 57) Fl.liw Vale Steel L) 9 81dis 50 P and 0 Steam 45 47 100 Viceroy of Egypt 7p c 10 Do do New. 1867 4 2 dig Mortgage Loan.... 79 81 50 Rhymney Iron 100 Vgyp 9 p cV'roy i oan, 15 Do New Bl 91 guar by Egyp Gar.. 94 96 60 Royal Mail Steam 95 12 Tel Con and Main L) 26 261 1S Fore-st Warehouse (Li 7 Bpm 2 Themes and Mersey 100 Fyn and Colonial Gov Marine insur (L Trust 6p c Bonds.. 98 100 St. Tobacco 6ID c Loan 71 Gen Credt &Disct (L) 1 } dis guar by Italian Gov 87 89 7 3-16 5 Trust and Loan Co of 14 Gen Stm Navigation 274 281 Unner Canada 7 'Hooper's Tel Works I Idis 51 17 Hudson's Bay BB4 5 a Marine. Lypool IL 41 snin 45 indrblir,ClutPer.and 20 Union Steamship (L) 23 55 Tel works LI ... 434 441 6 UnitedDisCorprn (L 14 Idle 5 Intern] Fina l) Socl . L) !India 5 UnivMarinelnsur (Li 6171 nm 34, 1 12 Warrant Finance.... 9 7 dis 20 It Irrig Can Cavonr 71 4 MARKETS. LONDON CORN EXCHANGE, WEDNESDAY,—BUSiDeSS in the Corn Exchange to-day was on a limited scale, but prices throughout ruled firm. There was a small show of English wheat on sale. and the receipts from abroad w e re f ar f rom b e i ng ex t en sive. The inquiry for both red and white produce was rather more active, and prices occasionally experienced a slight advance. There was a limited supply of barley on the stands. G r i n di n g descriptions, in sympathy with maize, were rathe r flrme”, but malting q ualities, owing to their inferiority, were difficult to dispose of, on former terms. 'Malt was quiet, but values were unchanged. There was a good supply of oats on offer, which sold with more animation, at an advance of from 6d. to ls. per quarter. Beans, peas, and maize were purchased to a fair extent, at the extreme quotations of Monday last. Flour was disposed of quietly, at firm rates. Arrivals.—Foreign : Wheat, 2,340 ; barley, 720 ; oats, 29,410 ; flour, 1,150 sacks and 1,710 barrels. SOUTHALL CATTLE MARKET, WEDNESDAY. Supplies were very short to-day, and there was but little wanted by the butchers. In the absence of any trade of consequence, prices must be quoted at late rates. LIVERPOOL COTTON MARKET, WEDNESDAY.—This Illa:- ket to-day opened steady ; probable sales, 12,000 ; imports, 42,125 bales. A PRUSSIAN MAN-OF-WAR AT OORK.—A special telegram from a correspondent of the Freeman's Jourhal reports that the Prussian corvette Augusta, 9 guns, from Hamburg, arrived at Castletown Berehaven, Cork, early on Wednesday. Nothing reliable is known of her destina tion. One report is that is bound for the West Indies; another that she is cruising off the south-western coast in search of French merchantmen ; and thirdly, that her mission is to escort to Hamburg a large German mer chantman in the harbour since the outbreak of the war. The An z•usta is described as an exceedingly fast steamer. The sailors who have come ashore anticipate war witli England as soon as the present war ceases. M any „ f them speak Eugliah fluently. THE RAILWAY ACCIDENT NEAR HAT- FIELD. The deplorable accident on the Great Northern Rail way, already announced, caused the death of eight per sons and injured, more or less, four others ; but the sufferers were not all passengers, four—two of whom aro killed and two injured—being persons who happened to be near the line when this unforese? , i calamity occurred, and SO shared in its dan gers. The circumstances attending the accident eai be stated with precision. The train to which th 3 accident occurred was the one which left King's-cro. , s on Monday afternoon at 4.25, being the fast train ta Peterborough, timed to stop at Hatfield which is twenty miles out of London. The train was made up, in the fore part, of a break van next to the engine tender a second and a third class following, and five other carriages with a guard's break at the end. The train travelled at good speed until about midway between Potter's Bar station and Hatfield station, near a place called Bell Bar, where there is a level crossing guarded by gate, with a gatekeeper's hc use on the down line side. The train reached this spot in about 25 minutes' travelling, and was going at the rate then of 30 miles an hour along a straight road. A gatekeeper named Henry Town was standing on the up-line side as the train was approaching, and he noticed that as the train came near there was a momentary jumping with the break van, which, just after passing the crossing, broke suddenly away from the engine dropped, in fact—and so snapped the couplings, and the engine went on. The crash that followed must have been terrible, for the two following carriages were literally smashed to pieces, and the one dashed over the other to such a height as to knock away a corner of the gate keeper's cottage wall near the roof, at about 15ft. from the ground. At the same moment, the first carriage was pitched across the up line, a portion of it dashing against the gateway on the up-line side with a force which must have been tremendous, for the strong iron gate is com pletely bulged out, while the two other carriages were split about on the down-line side in the direction of Hatfield. The fourth and fifth carriages were displaced from the line, but are said to be unin jured, and the sixth, seventh, and eighth remained quietly on the line. The guard at the rear took all precautions to prevent any additional calamity from a collision occurring on the London side, and a coal train which was approach ing from Hatfield was promptly stopped by the engine-. driver of the unfortunate train, who went on with his engine to Hatfield to obtain assistance and to stop all traffic • The passengers who were uninjured—and there were some 30 or 40—quickly descended into the snow, and they are declared by the inhabitants of the neighbourhood to have behaved nobly, both sexes and all classes, in rendering aid in this terrible scene, assistance being doubly needed from the extreme cold and heavy snow then falling. A most striking feature of this accident is that the dead far outnumber the wounded, the reverse being more generally the case in railway accidents, and the mangled bodies of the killed, then numbering seven, were laid out on a bank by the passengers, and three of the five wounded persons found under the broken carriages were distributed among cottages in the neighbourhood. Dr. Dredge, of Hatfield, and Dr. Osbaldiston, of the same town were quickly on the spot, and the latter gave his attention to a man who was mortally injured, and whose name is believed to be Potter. This poor fellow kept crying out to be put near a fire, but he lived scarcely half an hour. From the examination then made an opinion was given that all the occupants of one carriage were killed, with the exception of one, who is severely wounded. A person, who is believed to have occupied another carriage, had his head cut, and went on to Hatfield, where he re mained on Tuesday night. Within a very short time a train went to Potter's Bar with Mr. Cockshott, the general manager, Mr. Forbes, the secretary, and the other chief officials of the company, together with Mr. Kirkwood, medical gentlemen of the Euston•road, and also Dr. Livingston, of New Barnet. The extent of the calamity was soon ascertained. Every care having been bestowed upon the wounded sufferers, seven of the eight dead were removed to Woolmer-green, a village some half-mile distant, where the bodies were placed in coffins under the direction of Mr. R. Williams, the superintendent at King's-cross. The cause of the accident was then sought for, and it was not far to seek. I':, was found in the total breakage of a patent tire, of the best steel, a descrip tion of tire which has hitherto been in the highest esteem, and counted as the most secure from its supposed holding power in case of breakage. It was considered that if the steel broke in one place the wheel would still hold together, but this tire was in several pieces, and as the wheel broke down the axle snapped, the severance from the engine followed, and this terrible loss of life was the result. The permanent way was, owing to the hard frost, quite uninjured, and the broken carriages having been cleared away, the train went on to Hatfield, where many of the passengers broke their journey. The passengers who are killed and injured were all second-class passengers, no first-class passengers being known to have sustained injuries. The others killed and injured are four persons who were walking on the line to a signalman's box. The first was Mrs. Oswin, the wife of a signalman at a box above Bell Bar, and she, with another woman (her sister-in-law), a young man named Kershaw, and a youth named Harow, were all observed to be walking up the line just before the train came up, and of the four the two women were killed, and the two others are injured. It is stated that the long-prevailing north-easterly wind has caused the detention of numerous homeward bound ships in the chops of the Channel, which are short of provisions. The Admiralty under these circumstances are in the habit of sending a steamer to their relief, but often too late, and as yet nothing has been done. It is believed that these vessels are suffering severely, and a hope is expressed that help will not be delayed much longer. NEWS FROM IRELAND.—The Home Government Association's proposal to " arm the nation " does not meet with the approval of the Cork Board of Guardians. At their last meeting, the clerk of the union submitted a pamphlet which had been forwarded by the Association, On the Desirability of Arming the Irish Nation in face of a Probable War with Russia." " Arming the nation, is it?" said one ; " God keep that and the small-pox (about which a circular had just been read) from us any way," Mr. Daniel O'Sullivan moved that it be read, but he found no supporters, and the matter dropped.—The arrangement for filling up the vacant chairmanship caused by the death of Mr. Shaw, Q.C., have been completed. Mr. Baron goes from Kerry to Monaghan, Mr. Hemphill from Leitrim to Kerry, Mr. O'Hagan from Westmeath to Leitrim, and is to be succeeded by Mr. Mathew O'Donnel, Q.C., as chairman of Westmeath. Judgment has been given in the appeal from the decree of divorce granted to the wife of the petitioner in the case Delacherois and Delecherois. The Court, which was composed of two Queen's counsel and the judge of the Divorce Court, Baron Fitzgerald, con firmed the decree, Baron Fitzgerald dissentin g .—Owing to the withdrawal of Mr. Palles there will, it is antici pated, be no contest for the representation of the county of Meath. THE NEW YORK PRESS ON SCOTCH LANDLORD INTIMIDATION.—Referring to the late election for Bum frieshire, and the penalty incurred by Dr. Macaulay, Canonbie, for exercising his right of voting independently, the New York Tribune says :—" It is wonderful to observe how feudal authority, especially in Scotland, is still asserted and submitted tc. His Grace the Duke of Buc cleuch had employed a certain Dr. Macaulay to attend upon the sick among his miners, and the doctor was also medical officer of the parish of Canonbie. Dr. Macaulay, with real Scotch independence, saw fit to support the Liberal candidate. For this iniquity he was commanded to cease his attendance upon the colliers ; and by the influence of the great man his appointment as parochial doctor was cancelled. The tenants petitioned to have Dr. Macaulay retained, and were laughed at for their pains. The workhouse people might ss well have petitioned, with Oliver Twist at their head, for the removal of Mr. Bumble. The persecued physician tried to make a living in Canonbie as an inde pendent doctor, but the Duke set up a Tory doctor in opposition, and commanded everybody to be physicked by his prot4g6. Consequently, Dr. Macaulay was forced to flee to some other part of this lovely land of liberty. Petty despotism like this would- certainly drive free and enlightened Americans to insanity or rebel lion; fortunately, our political system, with all its faults, allows us to be killed or cured by the man of our own choice." A TERRIBLE RlDE.—Captain M'Arthur, of Kings ton, Canada, had a fearful adventure on the Grand Trunk Railway recently. He had got 'up from his seat in the car and walked out to the platform when the train was- near Lancaster, to find out how near he was to that station. He overbalanced himself and fell, but managed to save his life by catching the coupling, and there he hung by his arms in a position which offered him very little hope of recovering the platform above, in the one case, and an awful death were he to drop off, in the other. Through his great strength, being of strong muscular power, he held himself up while the train travelled four miles, undergoing the greatest mental as well as bodily suffering. No one dis covered his danger, as it was night and very dark. When his strength was exhausted he prepared for the inevitable plunge, and, with a p ra y er of despair on his lips, let go his hold. Instant death would have followed in 99 cases out of a hundred, but providentially Mr. M'A r th ur f e ll, more dead thanalive, into a hollow or excavation in the track. The train passed over safely, and he lay there, unconscious from his injuries and sufferings, for seven hours. After daylight his reason came back. Ho was unable to walk, but dragged himself on hands and f ee t t o a h ouse qu i te f ar off—some say two miles —and got that care and assistance which his condition required. His arms and side were quite black from the muscular exertions he was subject e d to • his boots and a portion of his trousers were torn off, and his feet lacerated by being dragged along the track. lie got a severe injury in the back also by his fail. The Kingston IV/tiq says the doctor hopes to bring him through safely. RE SUN, LONDON, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 28, 187 t. SIR. SCHENOKS MISSION TO ENGLAND. FAMOUS OLD SIEGES. "At last an Envoy to England," writes the New York herald, with - reference to the appointment of General -'4chenck as successor. to Mr. Motley at the Court of St. James's. The journal, however, does not congratulate Mr. Schenck on the honour, the relations between Great Britain and the United States having recently got into ' such a deadlock that the appointment has the unpleasant look of being kicked upstairs. To the Herald, neverthe less, the present seems, from an American iioint of view, a favourable opportunity for pressing for a settlement of the Alabama claims. Great Britain may have to face the question of fighting Russia and. the United States to gether; and, if anything could induce the belief that " England is about to experience a Gravelotte or a Sedan, it would be the signs of such a fatuity." But the Herithi anticipates no such catastrophe. " The difficulty," it argues, "with the United States is one which can ho settled. so easily, with a little .exercise of justice, good temper, and good sense on the part of the British Go vernment, that any Englishman who talks of war must be as obstinate as a rhinoCeros and as wise as a badger. Foreign affairs in England just now mean Lord Granville, and he is a statesman who will know how to do the right and sensible thing when driven into a corner. Indeed, he, for his own part, would know how to do it before ; but he represents a nation so haughty and so blind to facts that he must be squeezed right up into the uttermost angle of the apartment before he can make his people understand that the time for chatter is past, and that the awful quarter of an hour of Rabelais has come at last when that bill must really be discharged. But there is more than the mere payment of a bill in this question.. America, in point of fact, does not want money, God be praised ; and she does want to establish such relations with Great Britain as will lead to permanent and abiding good understanding. No statesman in either country can believe that this is 'possible as long as Canada remains a possession of the, British Crown ; and there is an overwhelming mass of argument to show that there is no arrangement just now soimportant to England herself as to be rid of the obligation to defend Canada. Not that Canada is going to be attacked, that we know of ; but there is now no fitness, no prudence, no pro priety in retaining a territory which must in the nature of things so soon be absorbed by the Union. If England wishes to put her house in order for European and Eastern questions, she is bound to part with Canada as speedily as possible. Certainly the present Prime Minister must be alive to such considerations, for it is not to be overlooked, though our press has not sufficiently noticed it, that, not long ago, at a public dinner, he con gratulated the United States on having a country and a Constitution that knew how to unite a continent under a single Government.' Mr. Gladstone, in his position, could not say in so many words, We want you to have Canada as soon as possible ;' but next to those words he could use none more significant of his desire to part with so dangerous a possession ; and there is good reason to believe that his most influential colleagues agree with I him." All the Year Round has lately contained an interest. lug account of some of the most remarkable sieges of ancient times. , " When the Romans girt up their loins to fairly conquer Spain, one of the greatest events that narked the war was the fifteen monthS' siege of Numan tia, an almost impregnable city on the Douro, near the site.of the present Soria, in old Castile. This fortress of lie hardy Iberians was built on a steep hill, .accessible ally on one side, surrounded by forests, and partly •noated by the Douro and a lesser stream. It had only a garrison of eight thousand fighting men, but these were ipanish veterans, skilled in the use of bow, spear, and ;word. Several consuls had attacked Nutnantia before Q. Pompeius sat down before it with thirty liousand foot and two thousand horse ; but disease atacked his army, and he was compelled to offer terms lisgraceful to Rome, to which his successor, however, refused to accede. Soon after, another consul_all but suerendered to the victorious Numantines his army of twenty thousand men. The Romans, enraged at these repulses, sent out in 133 B.C. their greatest general, Scipio Africanus, with four thousand volunteers. Ife found the army discouraged and demoralised, and at once reshaped it with a strong hand. He turned all the sutlers, diviners, and priests out of the camp ; for vice and superstition had tainted the whole force.' He then sold all needless waggons and beasts of burden, forbade any soldier . more cooking utensils than a spit and a brass pot, ordered nothing to be eaten but plain roast and boiled, and counselled every one to sleep as he himself did, on the bare ground. Having thus har dened his army, he trained it by long toilsome marches, countermarches, trench digging, and wall building, and then laid waste all the territory from whence the Numan tines drew their supplies. With a force ot sixty thou sand men, and recruited by Jugurtha, from Numnidia with some elephants and light horse, Scipio formed two camps, and sat down for the winter to starve out the stub born but now straitened enemy. The town was three miles in circumference : round this area Scipio raised six miles of towers and ramparts, so that only the river-side remained open. To stop any divers or boats .gotning that way with provisions or intelligence, the Romans faStened tree trunks, spiked with sword and spear blades, to ropes, and let them' whirl to and fro in the rapid current, so that to pass them became impossible. The Numantines made several gallant sorties, but hunger now began to strike them clown quicker than the Roman sword. In this cruel emergency a man named Retogenes, and five brave friends, ventured on a daring attempt to bring the Drnacians, a neigh bouring tribe, to the aid of the suffering town. These six men, with six servants, went at night to the Roman camp, carrying broad boarded ladders. With these they rode over the Roman works, slew some of the guards, and dashed across to the 'Druacians Getting no help, however, from their scared kinsmen, the brave fel lows rode on to a town called Lutia, where the younger men agreed to join them. The elders, however, sent secretly to Scipio, who, marching forty miles with incred ible rapidity, arrived at daybreak, and demanded the surrender of the rash young men. Four hundred of them being reluctantly given up, Scipio cut off their hands and returned to his camp. The Numantines at last grew hopeless, and offered to surrender, but the stern Roman would grant no condi tions. The famine grew worse and worse ; first they ate leather and weeds, then rats and vermin, and even human flesh. Again they offered surrender, but claimed a day's respite. On that terrible day the leading men of the place slew themselves. On the third day a starved band of half-dying people came out of the gates. Scipio selected fifty for his triumph, sold the rest for slaves, and levelled the city. Four thousand Spaniards had kept the Roman armies at bay at Num.ntia for twenty-one years. • " But," continues the Herald, "English journals say, Mr. Sumner has made menacing speeches. General Butler threatens us with punching our heads unless we part with Canada. Dignity forbids." This is too ridicu lous, really, for grown-up men. Mr. Sumner and General Butler are very important and interesting persons in their way ; but their eccentricities are not quite a sufficient index whereby to regulate the interests and fortunes of the American Republic and the British Empire. Such an argument as this is to reduce English policy to the level of Napoleonic parvenu susceptibility, and insults England much more seriously than we should think of doing. There are five thousand arguments in favour of the course we suggest, and none against it except the suggestions of a small piquo worthy of a fine lady's sou brette. Let the President and the English Cabinet con cert this beneficent measure, and everybody will applaud them. At all events, we hope that General Schenck is not going, like poor Mr. Motley, to march up the hill only to march down again. There has been quite enough of that sort of childishness. But the siege that seems to epitomise all the horrors of such contests, forming, as it were, the last crowning scene of a nation's tragedy, was the siege of Jerusalem by Titus, A. D. 70, Thetitv then contained, accordin g to Tacitus, six hundred thousand inhabitants. About the fifteenth day of the siege, the greatest of the Roman battering rams began to shake the outer wall, and the Jews yielded up the first line of defence. Five days after, Titus broke through the second wall, into a place full of narrow streets, crowded with braziers' clothiers' and wool mer chants' shops ; but the Jews rallying drove out the Romans, who not having made the breach sufficiently large, were with difficulty rescued by their archers. Four days later, however, Titus retook the second wall, and then waited for famine to do its work within the city. The Jews began now to desert, to the enemy in great numbers, and all these wretches the Romans tortured and crucified before the walls (at one time five hundred a day) so that, as Josephus says, "room was wanting for the crosses. and crosses wanting for the bodies." Famine, in the meantime, was ravaging the unhappy city. Whole families perished daily, and the streets were strewn with dead bodies that no one cared to bury. Thieves plundered . the half-deserted homes, and murdered any who shewed signs of resistance, or who still lingered in the last agonies of starvation. The dead the Jews threw down from the walls into the valleys below. In the meantime the Roman soldiers, abundantly supplied with corn from Syria, mocked the starving men on the walls, by shewing them food. The palm-trees and olive trees round Jerusalem had been all destroyed, but Titus, sending to the Jordan for timber, again raised banks round the Castle of Antonia. Inside the city the sedi tious grew more violent, the partisans of'John and Simon murdering each other daily, and plundering the Temple of the sacred vessels. The famine within the city grew worse and worse. The wretched people ate their shoes' belts, and even the leather thongs of their shields. Friends fought for food, and robbers broke into every house where it was known that corn was hidden. Josephus even mentions a well-known case of a woman of wealth from beyond Jordan who ate her own child. The walls of the Temple were so massive as to resist the battering rains for six days. so Titus at last gave orders to burn down the gates. At last, after a desperate resistance, the Jews were driven into the inner court, and the Temple was set on fire 'find destroyed, in spite of all the efforts of Titus to wive it. When the Jews first saw the flames spring up, Josephus says, they raised a great shout of despair, and sixteen thousand of the defenders perished in the fire. The final resistance was very feeble, for the Jews were now utterly disheartened. The Romans, once masters of the walls, spread like a deluge over the city, slew all the Jews they met in the narrow lanes, and set fire to the houses. In many of these they found.entire families dead of hunger, and these places, in their horror, the soldiers left unplundered. The Romans, weary at last of slaying, Titus gave orders that no Jew, unless found with arms in his hand, should be killed. But some soldiers stili went on butchering the old and infirm, and drive n the youths and women into the court of the Temple. The males under seventeen were sent to the Egyptian mines ; several thousands were given to provincial amphi theatres to fight with the gladiators and wild beasts ; but before all could be sent away, eleven thousand of them perished from famine. Altogether, in this cruel siege, their perished eleven hundred thousand Jews. This enormous multitude is accounted for by the fact, that when Titus sat down before Jerusalem, the city was full of people from all parts of Judea, come up to celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Let us go down the ladder of time a few centuries later, till we find these grand conquerors of the Jews themselves besieged by Alaric and his Goths, 408. As stern and ruthless as Prussians, the Goths at once cut off from Rome the supplies of food, till famine and plague could silently do the work of sword and spear. The rations of bread sank rapidly from three pounds a day to the merest pittance. The rich strove to alleviate the general suffering, but in vain. Some wretches fed, if. is said, on the bones of those they murdered, and even mothers destroyed their children and roasted their flesh. Many thousands of the citizens perished, and the cemeteries being in the possession of the invaders, the bodies remained unburied. The plague broke out, and new forms of death appeared. In vain Tuscan diviners promised to draw light ning from the clouds, and buns the Gothic camp. In vain the Roman ambassadors warned Alaric of the danger of the despair and fury of such a multitude. The grim chief only smiled, and said, " The thicker the grass the easier it is to mow." At first, greedy for spoil, and contemptuous of Roman weakness, Alaric demanded all the gold and silver in the city, and all the rich and preci ous movables. Finally he withdrew his savage troops, on receiving a ransom of five thousand pounds of gold, thirty six thousand pounds of silver, four thousand silk robes, three thousand pieces of fine scarlet cloth, and three thou sand pounds' weight of Indian pepper, then very scarce and dear. Never since Hannibal marched from Capua had Rome been so scared. MR. ADAMS ON AMERICAN NEUTRALITY. The Hen. Charles Francis Adams, formerly American Minister at the Court of St. James, has been delivering an address at the New York Historical Society, on "The struggle for neutrality in America." The world, he said, owed the practical adoption of the great general principle of international law, that a nation had a right to be neu tral in time of war, to the long and painful struggles of the Government of the United States. In ancient times what is known as neutrality did not exist, for there is no word to express it ; but the Government of the United States was the first to introduce it at an early stage of it existence. Washington acted in this spirit in regard to the complications which made their appearance in Europe after the French Revolution, although formidable demonstrations of popular sympathy for France were made in the States. Mr. Adams inter rupted the thread of his discourse to pay a special tribute to Mr. Seward in respect to the Trent affair. He assumed the responsibility of adhering to the precedents of earlier times, and surrendered Slidell and Mason in " courageous resistance to the infatuation of the hour." In contrast to this conduct of Mr. Seward, Mr. Adams pointed to the example of Napoleon who excused himself for plunging into war with Prussia by the strength of the popular feeling. Going back to the days of Washington, Mr. Adams remarked that he had great difficulties to contend against in the perpetual 'disagreements between his two principal councillors, Jefferson and Hamilton, but he succeeded in issuing a proclamation in April, 1793, an nouncing the doctrine of the neutrality of the United States in the war between France and Britain. This proclamation was virtually disregarded by M. Genest, the young French Envoy at Washington, who authorised the fitting out of ships at American ports for the capture of British vessels. He was recalled at the President's request, and the doctrine of neutrality upheld. Another danger arose from the coldness of Great Britain, and an angry series of disputes arose, but happily were disposed of by treaty. After referring to many other episodes in the diplomatic history of the country, Mr. Adams warned those who were advocating claims on foreign powers, which, under the instigation of political ambition might be made a pretext for war, of the danger of such a course. Referring to the war of 1812 and the Treaty of 1814, Mr. Adams said that it was objected to, as settling none of the great questions of neutral rights for the defence of which war had been declared. Literally speaking, the remark may be true, and yet in point of fact it is the very opposite of truth. Great Britain, in terms, yielded nothing of the petensions she had advanced before the war. It is not her habit, nor the habit of any great nation to humiliate itself unnecessarily. On the other band, from the date of that treaty down to this moment not a question has been raised, not a complaint made of the repetition of any such scenes on the ocean as were happening every day before. The barbarous practice of impressment has been voluntarily abandoned. The claim of a right to the services of a subject in despite of naturalisation elsewhere has never since been advanced, and has very lately been explicitly surrendered ; and from being a fierce enemy to the maintenance of neutral rights, Great Britain has gradually been becoming our aptest scholar. Indeed, she has outrun her pre ceptor. For in 1856 she gave in her adhesion to the Treaty of Par,i, - : abandoned the piratical practice of privateering, and re cognised the principle which she had so long contested, of free ships, free goods. Nay, evea more than this. In the unhappy conflict between ourselves it hap pened to be my particular duty to make many complaints of her alleged violations of neutrality, the favourite mode of replying to which was by appeals to our own construc tion of neutral doctrines. Mr. Adams was listened to throughout with the greate,t attention, and at the conclusion of his address a vote of thanks, proposed by the Hon. Mr. Evarts and seconded by Wi:liarn Cullen Bryant, was unanimously adopted. THE • PRINCE OF WALEs.—The Prince of Wales, accompanied by Lieutenant-Colonel A. T. Ellis, arrived at Gunton, near Aylsham, on Monday night,• having posted from East Dereham, as the guest of Lord Suffield. The present is the third visit of his Royal Highness to Gunton for the purpose of shooting through the preserves' of Lord Suffield. The whole of the country-side is covered with snow. The visit is expected to last till Satur day, when his Royal Highness will rejoin the Princess at Sandringham. Two Boys DROWNED.— On SatuMay, two boi s named Frederick and Robert Massie, sons of a labourer at Mlll of Kinuoir, near Huntly, Scotland, accompanied their mother part of the way to that town, the road to which skirts the Deveron. On returning home by them selves they had gone upon the ice in the river, which broke under their weight. No assistance being at hand, both of them were drowned. The boys were not missed till the afternoon. Search was immediately made, but the bodies were not recovered, till Sunday morning.— Scotsman. CANADIAN FlSllEDX.—Calladiall papers state that the catrlf of herrings. haddock, pollock, &c., on the Bay shore of Nova Scotia has been very good during the past season. The United States' fishermen being excluded from the coast fishing, the local fishermen, whose appli ances are not equal to those of the States fishermen, were more than usually successful. Within a coast range of four or five miles the fishermen sold the Americans 2,000 dols. worth of fish. At Port William they sold them 10,000 dols. worth of fish, dried and pickled. The price for the former was 3 dols 50c. per quintal, and for the latter 3 dols. The fishermen are preparing to go into the blutinus extemively next season. BREAKFAST.—EPPS'S COCOA.- -GRATEFUL AND CON FORTING.—The very agreeable character of this preparation rendered it a general favourite. The Civil Service Gazette rc marks :—" By a thorough knowledge of the natural laws which govern the operatiopi of digestion and nutrition, and by u careful application of the fine properties of well-selected cocoa. Mr. Epps has provided our breakfast tables with a delicatelv flavoured beverage which may save us many heavy doctor hills." Each packet is labelled —JAmcs EPPs tt Co., Gomm,- pathic Of.finists, London. Also, makers of Epps's Cacaoine, a very thin evening beverage. —Advt. THE WAR. WITH THE LOIRE ARMY. The most various accounts are published of the state of the armies under Chanzy and Bourbaki. Some corres- pondents say they are disorganised and mutinous ; others declare that they are in as good fighting condition as the weather will allow. • One military writer speaks highly of Chanzy's men. Speaking of the action at Beaugency, in the . North, he says :--" On the morning of the 9th the action recommenced and in creased in fury during the day. The same villages as on the previous day became the scenes of desperate engagements. Around Villerceau the dead Bavarians and French lay thicker than pheasants lie after the hottest battue in 1 4 `.1igland. On each side of a little wave of ground they lay face to face, with only a few yards between them. On the crest a Bavarian had fallen dead on a dead Frenchman. During the day Beaugency was patrolled by Prussian troops, and all the houses in the suburbs and the tobacconists' and confectioners'.shops were plundere 1. The butt-end blows on the doors and shutters alarmed the inhabitants almost as much as the firing. The Brandenburg troops seemed most systematic in their proceedings, and quietly broke open houses in the market-place in presence of their officers. A barricade was formed next the railway station, and, as it was a good place to view the action, I walked down and made acquaintance with the officer of the fort. He mentioned that he had lost in seven days 90 out of 160 men of his company, and that in his opinion the Loire Army had fought better than any army be had seen—better, even, than Bazaine's army at Metz. He added `lllais! vous le voyez Lien!' as he pointed to where the most desperate fighting was going on. As he spoke loud cheers broke on our ears, and we could see two regiments of Prussian horse, supported by a second line, charging some French skirmishers who had ventured rather forward, The latter tried to form rallying squares, but were not quick enough. I don't think they suffered very much, for many of them commenced popping at the cavalry after it had passed, and I fear that the mitrailleuse and musketry fire which greeted the horsemen as they crested the hill before halt ing did considerable execution." The Times' correspondent with the German forces is as much perplexed as people in a distance. ." It would ap pear that General D'Aurelle was compelled to evacuate Orleans because he could not get his men to fight, and I have since conversed with a French officer who in the heat of his description of one of the battles in which he was taken prisoner, admitted that he was compelled to use his sword in order to drive his men to the front. The great number of prisoners taken adds a strong colour of probability to this view of the case, but they made such a good fight of it on the 2nd at Bazoches des Hautes, and on the Bth at Meung, that their conduct on the 3rd and 9th respectively becomes more and more perplexing. Un doubtedly they were vastly superior in number to the Germans on both those occasions, but this should only have been a greater inducement to fight as well on the second day of a battle as they do on the first. Again, if they had been so utterly demoralised, there would have been greater evidences of it in hurry and confusion ; but, upon each of the three occasions that they have retreated, their retreat has been effected with admirable order and preci , sion, excepting always the numbers of stragglers that remain to be captured. It is dude to the Mobiles to say that, according to universal testimony, they are far superior in fighting capacity to the Line." DUCROT'S ACCOUNT OF HIS ESCAPE. General Ducrot has written an account of his escape from the Prussians after the disaster at Sedan. He lays stress upon his refusal to sign the capitulation and says that, being a prisoner, it was suggested by his captors that he should proceed in his own carriage on parole with his two aides-de-camp to the railway station at Pont-d-Mousson, and there deliver himself up. He duly arrived there, found the station in the hands of the Prussians, reported himself to the officer in charge, and thereby, as he contends, redeemed his word. He was ordered to enter a train about to proceed to Germany, but could not find a vacant seat. He called attention to this, and asked for an additional carriage. The reply was that the train was already too long, and he must proceed by the next, which would start in two hours. He then asked if he might visit a friend in the town, and received permis sion, no pledge being either asked or given as to his return. At his friend's house he and his aides obtained peasants' dress and a country cart with a load of potatoes. The swords and uniforms were buried under the potatoes. In a blue blouse and trousers, with a pipe in his mouth, a peasant's hat on his head, and with bare feet thrust into sabots padded with a bit of straw, General Ducrot rode on the side of the cart with his legs dangling. An aide-de-camp, similarly attired, led the horse, and another sat on the potatoes. In this way the party passed safely through the Prussian lines, and reached a place in which they could reappear in their natural characters. The French provincial papers speak of Garibaldi's re signation or dismissal as imminent. A few days ago a lady at Strasburg gratified her neigh bours by singing the " Marseillaise " for some hours at a stretch, but she was arrested for her pains. A single shell on Saturday killed and wounded four teen men of the Ist Regiment of the Guards at Pont Iblon. At a meeting at Nantes, attended by some 3,000 persons, M. de Kdratry was asked to lay down a political programme which should not be extremely Republican, and on failing to do, so was hissed, and hooted at. A letter horn Strasburg in the All genzeine Zeitung states that the library is daily receiving handsome presents of books, and that a Coblentz savant, whose only son fell be fore Met; has bequeathed to it a large and valuable col lection. The Patrie says that at the close of the sad year 1870, the French have the misfortune of finding thirty of their departmehts, whose population amounts to more than 11 millions, occupied by the German armies. An order has just been issued subjecting all male in habitants of Alsace between 17 and 40 years of age to supervision, .on account of so many having left to join the French army. Whoever secretly leaves his home without permission will be subject to a fine, and if neces sary, to arrest, together with his relatives. General Manteuffel is staying at the Hotel de France at Rouen, and the other day, says a French paper, he received a dispatch which excited him so much that he broke china to the value of three hundred and twenty francs, and afterwards countermanded a grand dinner that he was to have given the next day. A letter from an English printer employed at one of the Paris newspaper offices, addressed to his wife in England, states that he has during twenty days only re ceived four ounces of meat, and that he has been oblige 1 to support himself by the use of some olive oil which he had by him. '.Cue Prussians evacuated Beauvis in such haste that they left at the station 250,000 francs worth of requisi tions, contained in one hundred bags of flour, and 300 bags of oats. They took the precaution, however, of 'for bidding the townspeople to touch them for fear of being subjected to heavy penalty. Experiments have recently been made at Paris with a new navigable balloon. The steering apparatus, which is of a complicated character and is attached to an ordinary balloon, consists of two sets of small wings, which the aeronaut puts in motion. The trials were made with a small balloon, and appeared satisfactory. They will shortly be repeated on a larger scale. The Berlin papers give an official list kof 52 French officers who have violated their word of honour by making their escape. Two of them, however, as already an nounced, have been recaptured. They consist of one chief of battalion (a member of Marshal Bazaine's Staff), one colonel, 16captains, 17 lieutenants, 15 sub-lieutenants, a commissariat adjutant, and a veterinary surgeon. The North German Correspondent says :—"The French war steamer D6saix has been guilty of a new breach of international law. It is now certain that on the 21st October she took the German merchant vessel Vorwarts on the east coast of Scotland, and burnt her, without bringing her before a prize court. Our readers will re member that the same vessel has been guilty of similar actions on several other occasions." The North, German Gazette says that upon a French pri: over of war, at Landshut, Bavaria, letters have been found which refer to the Traupmann murder, which made such a sensation about a year ago. The letters divulge the names of two accomplices of Trauppmaun. A legal investigation has been made, and the soldier, whose name is Berlau, will be kept in prison until he can be handed over to a French court of Justice. On the 21st. inst. sixty men of the Queen Elizabeth Regiment were taken prisoners outside Le Bourget. The French have sent back a captured ambulance. One of the medical men reports that the German prisoners were well tr. , ated, and supplied plentifully with coffee, cognac, sugar, and wine. The meat served out to them was horse flesh. The men are at St. Denis. The French officers are without cigars. • The Standard is informed that Colonel Reilly, the late British military commissioner with the Army of the Loire, was treated with the utmost rudeness by the Germans, with the honourable exception of the Bavarian General, Von der Tann. Prince Frederick Charles refused even to see Colonel Reilly, and endea voured to make him promise that he would not return to France during the war. Colonel Reilly refused to give the required pledge, but our Government have decided, ender the circumstances,' that he should not return to France. A new German paper, called the Volkstaat, has ap peared, which instead of writing against France after the fashion of its contemporaries, is in favour of an honour able peace with the New Republic. It is opposed to any annexation of territory, and wishes to be rid of Bonaparte and his accomplices. It asks if Germany, who might conclude a brilliant peace, but who prefers to sacrifice one or two hundred thousand of her children for the sake of conquering two provinces, is not responsible for the blood that is now being shed. A Paris letter of the 15th, published in a Geneva paper, says :—" Since the third we have had only a pound of horseflesh for five persons for three days, mak ing 30 grammes per head daily. Formerly we could supplement our rations by purchase, but. nothing is now to be. got at any price. For variety, salted codfish is served out for three days, and salt herrings for three days. The butchers' shops are only opened every third day. Fresh vegetables are at an enormous price, and a. fine cabbage costs sf. Milk is only to be had for children. Our usual fare consists of beans, rice, and a few potatoes." The Bordeaux correspondent of the Vienna Presse says : " I saw yesterday a ktriking illustration of the state of things existing under the present Government—a com pany of the highest state officials and distinguished per sonages rushed with the greatest eagerness upon a new arrival of foreign papers (the Cologne Gazette, the Presse, and the Times), not in order to learn how the enemy described their own position, but to ascertain what had really happened to the Army of the Loire during the. previous week. Nobody now knows this except Gambetta since he has been travelling Minister, and only allows the transmission of what he thinks proper. Cremieux, ,Chandorcly, and Fourichon are treated to an equally spare diet, Gambetta having become an uncontrolled despot." TEE POLES IN THE PRUSSIAN ARAIYR. The Polish journals report that a oonspiracy has been discovered among the Poles of the Prussian army with the object of laying down their arms en masse, and making themselves prisoners of France, against whom they will no longer fight, such a war being opposed alike to their personal sympathies and to their national interests. A number of officers and non-commissioned officers, after being examined, were taken to the fortress of Stettin for trial. Having been judged by a council of war, seventeen of them were shot. These were all offieers : the number of soldiers and non-commissioned officers exe cuted is not known. Among the papers found on the conspirators were several documents shewing the existence of a National Polish Committee, anti-Russo- Prussian, whose leaders are unknown. A rising in favour of France is organised on a grand scale. A number of able secret agents, belonging to all classes of society, are acting with great energy. The central committee publishes a, Polish Bulletin, of which several extracts are translated in German, French, Italian, Russian, the Scandinavian languages, and even in Turkish, Arabic, Armenian, and Persian. The copy of this Bulletin seized on the Polish soldiers stated that several of them had been corresponding with it, and that plans and projects of the most secret kind had been partly revealed. Several employes in the political, diplomatic, and military offices suspected of having abused the confidence of their respective chiefs have been arrested. A good many of the secret papers of their offices have disappeared in an incomprehensible manner. These facts have produced great agitation both in Russia and in Prussia, and have hastened on the execution of their secret treaties It is' believed that the sudden disappearance of these missing papers decided Russia on :throwing off the mask much sooner than she intended, by issuing her note denouncing; the Treaty of 1856, without longer concealing her for midable armaments. The Bulletin proves that secret treaties have been in existence between Russia and Prussia for the last half century, and gives the dates of five :- 1822, 1831, 1850, 1864, and 1868. On Tuesday a flock of swans from the islands and nits around Twickenham, Hampton, &c., made their ap pearance near Westminster-bridge, loitered on the water for some time, and then made off for their old quarters. It is only in severe weather these birds venture so far down the river. Mr. J. R. Davison, the newly-appointed Jude Advocate-General, in succession to Sir Colman O'Logh len, is the second son of the Rev. Edward Davison, rector of Harlington, Middlesex, and incumbent of St. Nicholas, Durham. Mr. Davison was called to the bar at the Middle Temple, and joined the Northern Citcuit. He was appointed a Queen's counsel in 1866, and is chairman of the county Quarter Sessions. He was first returned at the general election of 1868. THE LONDON SCHOOL BOARD.—Mr. Croad, the secretary of the Bishop of London Mission, and Mr. Sharpe, of the City of London School, are candidates for the secretaryship of the London School Board. There are now so many good candidates for this office that the Board is likely to suffer from an embarras de riehesse. It is said that some time hence it is intended to propose that a salary should be given to both the chairman and the vice-chairman ; but after what occurred on the day of election, this report seems incredible A NEW GUN FACTORY FOR BIR➢IINGHAM.--It is understood that the railway carriage works at Saltley, lately occupied by the North Western Railway, and more recently the property of the Metropolitan Carriage Company, have been purchased for the erection of premises and machinery to make small arms upon the same prin ciple as that established at Small Heath. The promoters of the new company are stated to be Mr. Westley Richards, of this town, and Messrs. Greenwood and Batley, of Leeds, the eminent machinists.—Birmingham Gazette. SKATING IN THE FEN COUNTRY.—The Fens of Cambridgeshire occupy a pre-eminence in skating matters for which there need be no wonder, considering the facilites which exist for the pursuit of the sport. The principal of the numerous skating courses is the Great Wash, in the Bedford Level, which stretches from the neighbourhood of Denver, in Norfolk, and runs right, across the county of Cambridge by Welney and Mepal to. Earith in Huntingdonshire. The frosty season having set in, a magnificent supply of good ice has been provided, and since Saturday last there has been little else going on in the Fens but skating. ENCOURAGING PRECEDENTS.—The Si&le, in com menting on the recent reverses of the French arms, says that all national wars have begun with defeat to end in victory. In the Spanish war the Skaniards were defeated at Somme, Sierra, and Ocana in pitched battles, but avenged themselves at Vittoria and elsewhere. In the Russian war of 1812 the Russians were defeated at Smolensk and Moscowa, to avenge themselves at Beresina and Niemen. In Germany in 1813 the Germans were at first defeated at Dresden, Lutzen, and Bantzen, to conquer at Leipsic and Waterloo. GREAT FIRE AT LEICESTER.—A fire causing very large damage occurred at Leicester yesterday morn ing. Messrs. Kart and Levy's wholesale clothing manufactory, where the fire originated, was completely gutted. The establishment was closed from Saturday till Tuesday, when Levy and several of his assistants com menced stock-taking. The place, when closed at eight on Tuesday night, was apparently safe. The warehouse is of four storeys ; the fire broke out on the second floor. The stock is believed to be, worth from £15,000 to £20,000. It is entirely destroyed. Insurance to the full amount is effected in the Sun Office. [ADVERTISEMENT.] - Holloway's Pills. Preventable Diseases.—Many are the maladies which, in all seasons• and in all districts, silently work their way into the human system, through maisma, noxious vapours, an& deteriorated air, which could all be dispossessed by a few dozes of these admirable Pills. The vitiated gases enter the lungs with the breath and contaminate the blood, which convey' the poisonous particles throughout the body, unless some purifier, such as these Pills, be taken to cleanse it. Let the poison lurk where it will, thither will it be followed and confronted by this never-failing antidote. Holloway's Pills expel all harmful matters from the circulation, and cleanse the solids likewise from all treacherous impurities tending to produce disease. BIRTHS. On the 26th. inst., at 18, Vanbrugh-park, Blackheath, the wife of Henry Green, jun., Esq., of a daughter. On the 26th inst., at Tedworth House, Hants, the wife of. Edward Studd, Esq., of a son. MARRIAGES.; On the 24th inst., at St. Mary's, North End, Fnlhara, George Hector Croad, Esq., to Edith, sec=and daughter of the late Henry Brock-Hollinshead, Esq., of Billinge,. Starr, Lancashire. On the 27th inst., at St. Pancras, Enaton-square, Francis; C. D. Smythe, of Staple-inn, to Arabella Sophie, thee younger daughter of the late Douglas C. K. Dana, Esq.. R.N., of Shrewsbury. DEATIJ9. On the 26th inst., at Great Ormond-street, Henry Paris, Esq., aged 76. On the 26th inst., at 2, Buckingham-gate, Julia wife of Charles J. Monk, Esq., IVT.P., aged 38. London : Printed by GIDEON ACLA ND P.OYCE, of No. 112, Strand, Printer and Publi s h e d b y hi m a t THE SUN Office, No. 112 , Strand, in the Precinct of the Savoy, in the County of Middlesex, Thursday, December 29, 1870. ~`~_ Wit , tied to to Grav es, L . ' oll l.as Pitts. • () CUE 0t.,, BLUE, uus no rec d i d Who has 1 4 elleapnes: other Btu 111 NKO' " d 6(ll:aßniNdl ip POWD. solution 4 N - clang( FLUID er kinds 01 SCIEN ()MAM allf, Din Ptti to ' or VAS] &Via, beautt Pat anufac j j ,_ B tY, 149,1 11/4,. Tenn& t 1; SEALS, N t .. a Eleme atud3- t,0 1 4 1t . 1 3 1 -:.1 9 "19 ° A Is give S AUST] 1 B. SPtai and h i le With IP ,1111411.Zadsi VIE AZ ] ANY' att il ° ther AL e tondo] ti' a Pale Al NTIRI tINTIRI t \ ITIRI et a.il of Fat )111.,A1N 18 BL rttiol.ll tltE 1 nubs Dish 4 t 44e Y With, __ llBe3r _ 10_ 04 '41E418