The Sun. — London, England, 1863-08-04 00:00:00

RIGHT HON. LORD JOHN JAMES MANNERS, M.P.—Who Shot his Dog ?—Diplomacy Lone—in FUN this week, One Penny. H E DUKE'S MOTTO. HUNDREP of the A.ND resent Season SEVENTIETH NIGHT, and Last Five Nights p. ROYAL LYCEUM THEATRE.- Under the Sole Management of Mr. PECHTER. Last Five Nights of the present Season. • THIS EVENING, to commence with an Original Sketch, entitled A SUDDEN ATTACK. Messrs. Shore, Garden, II Widdicomb, Miss Henrade, and Mrs. Lee. After which, at a Quarter -past Eight, the Romantic Vrama in Three and Pr3lWile, entitled THE I)CKE' , s 'S MOTTO, by Paul Feval and John Brougham. Tbe principal character will be sustained by Mr. Fechter, s upported by Messrs. J. G. Shore, G. Jordan, J. Brougham, Widdhombe, F. Charles, Garden, Raymond, Dawson ; Misses Carlotta Leclercq, Kate Terry, E. [Avenue, and Elsworthy. Doors open at 7, commence at half-past. Acting-Manager, Mr. H. Barnett. IIOYAL PRINCESS'S THEATRE. Sole Lessee and Manager, Mr. G. Vining Last Night of the Season and Stella Colas. THIS EVENING, at Eight o'clock, Shakespere's Play of ROMEO AND JULIET. Romeo, Mr. Walter viontgomery; Mercutlo, Mr. G. Vining ; Fiar Lawrence Mr. H. Marston ; The Nurse, Mrs. H. Marston; Juliet, Mdlle. Stella Colas. To be preceded by A CHARMING PAIR. NEW E ATRE-RO VAL, ADELPHI.- Sol. Proorioto , ' and Manager. Mr. B. Webster. THIS EVENING, THE IRISH TIGER. After which, at Eight ~ ' clock, a new drama, entitled THE HAUNTED MAN; OR, T E GHOST'S 13ARGAIN, in which will be exhibited Professor Pepper's adaptation of the Great Spectral Illusion. Messrs. J. L. Toole. R. Philips, ,Sefton C. J. Smith; Mrs. Alfred Mellon and Miss H. Simms. Followed by a new Burlesque, entitled ILL-TREATED TROVATORE. MF ssrs. Toole, P. Bedford, R. Phillips, Eburne, C. J. Smith, Romer ; the Sisters Nelson, Carry and Sara, and Miss K. Kelly. Commence at 7. ROYAL STRAND THEATRE. Manager, Mr. W. H. Swanborough. TO-NIGHT WHILE THERE'S LIFE THERE'S HOPE. Messrs. W. H. Swanborough, Parselle, Vollaire, G. Honey ; Misses Ada Swanborough, L. Thorne, F. Hughes, Manders, and E. Bufton. Followed by (16th time) THE MOTTO, " I'M ALL THERE." Messrs. Honey, Turner, E. Danvers, Collier, Clifton ; Mesdames Ada Swanborough, F. Josephs, Maria 13impson, Wallace, and Jenny White. To conclude with KEEP YOUR TEMPER. Commence at 7. HE THIRD EDITION OF " THE SUN,' Containing the Latest SPORTING INTELLIGENCE, can be had Every Evening of G. R. GLENIE, NEWS AGENT, No. 4, Connaught-terrace, Hyde- park. The Weather—Sun Office, Aug. 4, 1863. THERMOMETER. This morning This day at Two o'clock Barometer-29.80. Wind—S.-S.-W. ; with cloudy weather. HIGH WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE. THIS DAT.—Morning, sh. 20m.—Afternoon, sh. 41m. To-moßnow.-Morning, sh. 59m.—Afternoon, 6b. 19m. 4 ' -0.6% Z f1N.4,1/4‘ LONDON, TUESDAY, AUGUST 4, 1863. The assembly that took place on board the Adriatic on Friday was of a very auspicious cha racter. It was the inauguration of the New Atlantic Mail Steam Packet Company. The directors entertained the Lord-Lieutenant, the Lord Mayor of Dublin, and numerous other persons of note and distinction. Nothing could have been more successful than the affair on the whole. The weather was also most favourable. Lord CAR- LISLE'S name was received in a very enthusiastic manner. The noble lord made one of his appropriate speeches on the occasion. He frankly stated that no credit due to the setting on foot of this under taking accrued to himself and his colleagues. But, he added, it was not advisable to refer to the troubles of the past, and he was happy in adopting the philosophy of the old motto, " All's well that ends well." His lordship's prognostications for the future were of the brightest sort. He said, "I yield to no one in the heartiness of my wishes for the complete success of the undertaking; and I am sure that the proceedings of the company could not have been better inaugurated than on board the magnificent vessel in which we are now assembled —this sumptuous ocean-palace in which I am only too proud to discharge the functions assigned of old to the Doges of Venice—of wedding the State to our new Adriatic." This idea was re ceived with loud applause. Nothing gains more in a public assembly or attracts more notice on a festive occasion than the introduction of a happy quotation or the skilful adaptation of a proverb or well_known occurrence. On one occasion Sir WALTER SCOTT excited great amusement by proposing the health of MACADAM, at some banquet, as the modern " Co lossus of Rhodes." Lord CARLISLE's remarks were exactly suitable for the occasion, free from stiffness and restraint, and replete with good humour and good wishes. The noble lord thus eloquently concluded his brief address :—" May all happy influences flow from this auspicious con nexion; safe be your voyages, propitious your winds, large your cargoes, skilful your captain, active and healthy your crews, and remunerative your returns ; and if I may express any further wish distinct from the internal affairs and functions of the company itself, it would be that when this noble vessel has sped its useful and civilising errand across the broad Atlantic, may it bring back to us the joyful tidings that the blood of our brethren had ceased to flow in murderous conflict, and that the nations and races once more repose in peace." The Lord Mayor, in the course of his remarks, spoke strongly in favour of the company, and hoped that the " wealth and commerce between the old world and the new would flow through the centre of Irela n d." H e a l so congra t u l a t e d I r i s h me n on having put aside political and polemical discussions in order to achieve their end, and he was brad they had succeeded. They had gained also that respect which always belongs to a united natian. Lord CLANcan,r,, congratulated the shareholders on the auspicious event, seemed in He said that brighter times Store for them, and they were " appa rently emergi ng series of bad seasons, after they had been under a cloud of difficulties and dis tress, arising f rom had no control." Alderman over which they sh man REYNOLDS remarked that the number o f the friends in that county was 1,600, and he said population, the of the company took in all the better proof that of could be given of this asse/HtioonutseliZot, Irish representatives in the " 105 Commons, 103 were in favour of the Galw ay line. " alderman excited great amus ement by Th he sZatrhkYs on Lord CARLISLE. He said that nobleman dis claimed any of the merit of laying the foundation of the undertaking, but " who put the crown the Corinthian pillar." He hoped when his Excel lency ceased to represent the QUEEN in Ireland he might attain a high position on the other side of the Channel, that he might he Premier, or et all events Postmaster-General. Lord PALMERSTON also came in for a word of praise. Alderman REYNOLDS said that three times he had waited on Lord PALMER STON, in company with the Mayor of Dublin. The noble lard always received them with kindness, and although he made no promises they could almost read on his expressive features, " You would get your subsidy long ago if I could get any Cabi net to agree with me." This is very like a true representation of the state of the Lord PALMERSTON always has to come to the rescue of his colleagues and rectify the errors they fall into either of omission or com mission. In the present instance he has rendered an essential service to the State by insisting on the fulfilment of the Galway contract. ,The advantages ease. that will accrue are manifold. Ii the first ple ice the annulling of the contract was a gross injust ice to the shareholders, a very numerous body, eho had put faith in the undertaking and fearlessly in vested their funds therein, deeming it safe, as it Nye . , a Government affair. To create so much loes at id distress, to create such ill-feeling and bitter ser iti merits throughout Ireland, in order to gre tify political prejudice and to obtain a party trill mph, was conduct unworthy of the ministers of a great country beneath the dignity of enlightened states men. This is another of those points on which Mr. GLADSTONE has had to give in. No one cou Id have been more decided in his opposition to the plan than was the Chancellor of the Exchequi.ir, but his Parliamentary diatribes, and his victoriceas division lists have not gained him the victory aft , ar all in the long run. There is the great argument is fe.vour of this contract, that it will conduce gr eat ly to the prosperity of Ireland, Nothing c.T.n improve the country more than to be made the pa ssage, as it were, through which the stream of co%nmerce will flow, and, as the Lord Mayor of Dublin observed, the connecting point between the old a nd new world. The Government, are certainly entitled to credit for having given their consent at last to t he carrying out of this undertaking, and it is to be hoped that the future will realise the bright hopes now entertained of its success, that ultimately the prosperity may satisfy its friends and silence its enemies, if not convert them into allies. If it were only for the ill will that was engendered by the unhappy state of affairs that lasted during thisstrife it was desirable to come to some solution ; as ic id all seems well, and it is to be trusted that the day of the inauguration may l on g be looked back upon with delight as the start ing point of a prosperous career, and the termina tion of a series of doubts and difficulties that ren dered at one time so precarious the existence of the Galway contract, and so dangerous the fortunes of all concerned in it. The address of Mr. VALLANDIGHAM Will be read with considerable interest on both sides of the Atlantic. The adventures of this gentleman have formed one of the most remarkable and suggestive episodes in the American war. They have illus trated in the most forcible manner how little of real love for the Federal constitution animates the Go vernment of President LINCOLN, and how, in grasp ing at the shadow of sovereignty over the South, the Northeaers are but too likely to lose the sub stance of their old political liberty. The arrest and imprisonment of an independent citizen, a member of Congress, f .r the mere expression of political opinions is an act only worthy of the severest continental despotism. The Minister who orders such an act, the advocates who defend it, and the people who submit to it, can no longer claim to be long to a free nation. There was not even the ex cuse that might have been made for so arbitray an act had Mr, VALLANDIGHAM been attacking the principle of the Constitution. On the contrary he maintains them to the uttermost, he only lifts his voice against a desperate and reckless war, costly alike in life, in treasure, in social happiness and commercial prosperity, and even in honour, for the deeds of needless cruelty that have stained theban ner of the North have called forth the indignant remonstrances of Europe. The pretence that has misled so many sincere and well-meaning persons —that the real subject of contention was slavery— can scarcely be credited any longer by the most fervent Abolitionist after the recent display of Northern feeling towards the negro in New York. Neither can President LINCOLN pretend that he is fighting for the constitution when acts, such as the imprisonment of Mr. VALLANDIGHAM, so loudly bespeak the contary. Oce of the States has expressed its opinion on this breach of law and defiance of popular right in a marked and decisive measure. The inhabitants of Ohio have unanimously elected the exile Governor of that State while he was yet a wanderer in the South. After being imprisoned for three weeks in the North, from thence trans ferred to the enemy changing his denomination of prisoner of State into that of prisoner of war; given leave to depart a permission only available at by running the blockade at hazard of his own coun try's ships, the new Governor of Ohio tells his countrymen that he finds himself first a freeman on British soil. "I am here,' ho says, writing from the Canadian side of Niagara, "to enjoy, and, in fact, to exercise, under the protection of the British flag, the privileges and tights which usurpers deny me at home." These are bold words from an American addressing his countrymen, but the pre sence of Mr. VALLANDIGHAM on the northern side of the great Falls is a severer censure to the Fede ral Government. Those waters, which place an impassable barrier between the escaped slave and his pursuer, are equally powerful to protect the political fugitive from his oppressors. America, so long the refuge of Chartist, Mazzinist, and red re , publicans of every degree, has at length fugitives of her own, flying from no offended law, shunning no well-merited punishment, but escaping from the unjust severity of a so-called constitutional Go vernment, which suffers no man to have a mind of his own. In his address, Mr. VALLANDIGHAM speaks, as might be expected, with indignant warmth of the treatment he has met with ; not, however, as a matter of personal hardship, but as a constitutional wrong. " I ask," he says, "no per sonal sympathy for the personal wrong. No ; it is the cause of constitutional liberty and private right, cruelly outraged beyond example in a free country, by the PRESIDENT and his servants, which gives public significancy to the action of your con vention. Turning from the individual question to the national, he observes, in words that the Cabinet of Washington would do well to bear in mind—" It is vain to invite the States and people of the South to return to a Union without a Constitution, and dishonoured and polluted by repeated and most aggravated exactions of tyrannic power." The question now at issue he considers to be not so much the supremacy of North or South, but the existence of constitutional Goverment. " What ever the President wills, that is law, Constitutions, State, and Federal are nothing; acts of legislation nothing; the judiciary less than nothing. In time If war there is but one will supreme—his will ; but one low—military necessity, and he the sole judge. Military orders supersede the constitution, and mili tary commissions usurp the place of the ordinary courts of justice in the land. Nor are these mere idle claims. For two years they have been enforced." And what, he as k s , i s t h e p l ea f or such con d uct ? _ titary necessity. But if military necessity re quire such sacrifices then, he assures them, they have said farewell to their liberties for if the war is but to terminate by the subjugation of the South t j by force o f arms it is impossible to foresee it close. He has tr ave ll ed, he tells them, through a thousand miles of th e South without or child wh o not meeting man, woman, Wa s rather than to yieldresolved to p er i s h o force of arms. The whole conduct of the S out h throughout the strug g l e indicates the 8 m conquerable resolution. Th ey have provaede.tun. - n many a hard fought field, in many a long sustained siege, in wearying march and daring attack. They have shown it in the readinesr of their enlistment, so different to the forced conscription of the North ; they havd displayed it in the unanLity ef their citizens, the spirit of their soldiers, the common sympathy and sentiment that animates the States ; and Mr. VALLANDINGHAM assures us they were never so well able to maintain their purpose as now. The vision of union to which the governor of Ohio looks forward is but a shadowy dream. More real and practical is the protest on behalf of constitu tional liberty made by his election, and the reproof directly given to the Cabinet of Washington by that step. Tne President and his advisers had better take care lest they evoke the same spirit in the North that is now animating the South. The spirit of determined resistance to untust preten sions, and the unconquerable resolution never to yield to the sword of their adversary what the una nimous instinct of a free people declares to be their national and inalienable rights. Intelligence has been received from St. Peters burg to the effect that the Emperor of RUSSIA had issued an ukase declaring free landholders the two million peasants who are tenants of the Crown domeins and appaneges. This information is so far satisfactory ; but it must suggest itself to all who consider the subject that it is but playing at reform after all. What avail is it that one portion of the Emperor's subjects should be free, or at least com paratively so, and that another portion of those under his sway and subject to his rule are not so. While the Poles are crushed down in the cruel, in tolerant manner that we shudder to read of, it appears a mockery to talk grandiloquently, or to declaim pompously concerning the goodness and moderation of the CZAR. All must feel that he is only carrying out a preconceived notion of policy, and is actuated by no genuine motive. It would require only the slightest occurrence to make him change his mind, and revoke the favour he now is granting with so much ostentation of benevolence and parade of goodwill. It is melancholy to notice to what subterfuges men will resort in order to make the worse appear the better cause, and this new era that is heralded for Russia is nut likely to enhance in a particular degree her prosperity or her happiness. The whole groundwork of the system is wrong in the extreme, and it is to be feared that it will be long before we witness any really radical reform, or behold any striking amelioration in the condition of that widely extended empire. It appears to be " men and not measures" that is required by that people. They want rulers who can feel as well as act, who are actuated and animated by some kindly sentiment as well as influenced and excited by the fury of their passions and the vehemence of their wrath. While human life is held as roughly in the balance if the slightest affront is put on the Im perial pleasure, and while cruelty that seems to re vive the worst features of the dark ages in its kind and class rules rampant, it seems idle and useless to deceive oneselt as to the probable result of all novel experiments and fresh undertakings. In what re spect are the Poles better off than the serfs, whose liberation is now vaunted as an act of such special magnanimity, and calls forth such panegyrics in various quarters. They are fettered in speech and action, and hampered and restricted from the cradle to the grave. They are dragged off to servo in the ranks of the armies of their tyrants with as much summary conduct and subject to as incontrovertible a decree as if they were obeying the behests of an Eastern potentate, and bowing to the mandate of a despot of the days of old. It seems, therefore, only a vain pretension for the admirers of Russian policy to talk of this step as being progress. Pro gress to what, it may well be asked. Unless a total change takes place, will these enfranchised men be permitted to do or to say anything but what may suit the pleasure, and obviate the forms of a horde of spies and overlookers. The slightest approval to participate in the real and actual rights of freemen would, doubtless, call down heavy displeasure on their offending heads, and woe betide the luckless criminals. There are plenty of ways by which the weight of the Im perial displeasure may be manifested towards those who are called free ; and without returning to the chains of serfdom according to the letter of the law, it may not be kept according to the interpre tations of the spirit. They keep the word of pro mise to the ear and break it to the heart, may well be said of the cruel and crafty rulers who exercise their ingenuity and display their policy at St. Petersburg. It is an error to imagine that a man can be cruel in one place and kind in another, and statesmen and monarchs canna be guilty of such cold-blooded and deliberate assaults on the women and children whose helplessness should be their shield, as the priests whose profession should render them sacred, and on many others who should escape with immunity from the penalties of treason, and at the same time establish any claim for them selves to be called enlightened and humane with any show of reason or groundwork of common sense. Had these changes taken place even a few years back they might have been hailed with en thusiasm as the dawn of a better state of things, but, as it is, the eyes of Europe have too long dwelt on the carnage that has so cruelly devastated the people of Poland for any hope or expectation to take root at the present juncture. The promise of a reform at the eleventh hour has also been un fulfilled, and the last desperate attempt at a remedy seems likely to prove a signal failure. The notes of the three Powers have been totally useless to alter the determination or to influence the policy of Russia. They seem trying to gain time by causing endless delays in the discussion of affairs, doubt less in the hope that by the time these remonstrances are given up as useless, and theee propositions are finally rejected, Poland will be crushed, and then they can carry out their own course unmolested. The French papers state that Prince GORTSCHA KOFF'S despatch has excited universal reprobation at Vienna. It seems the object at present with the Cabinet of St. Petersburg to irritate rather than to conciliate the Powers that seek to mediate. The despatch to Paris was of a very peculiar nature, and now Prince GORTSCHANOFF is taking Austria to task for her conduct in this affair. No one can possibly predict the result of all these complications, and it is idle to profess to do so, but they are sufficiently deplorable to cause great regret, and to make wellwishers lament that the interposition of the three Powers has been of so little avail, and seems likely in the future to prove equally ineffec tual. It is sad to reflect on the possibility that in this advanced state of civilisation a brave people should be trampled down anew in the sight of the world, and no one nation able to interfere or assist in a manner that may prove of present relief and ultimate advantage. DEPARTURE OF HER MAJESTY FOR GERMANY. —Arrangements were yesterday commenced at Woolwich for the embarkation of the Queen from the Royal Arsenal pier, Woolwich. The landing-place is ordered to be car peted and arranged simply as on the embarkation of any personage of distinction, it being her Majesty's desire, a s on the last occasion, to dispense with all ceremonial. SOUTH KENSINGTON MUSEUM.—lluring the week ending August 1 the visitors have been as follows : On Monday, Tuesday, and Saturday (free days), open from 10 p. m ., 8,868 ; on W e d nes d ay, Th urs d ay , a nd Friday, students' days (admission to the public, 6d.), open from 10 a in. till 6 p.m., 1,491; total, 10,359, From the open -1,1!g of the m useum , 4,165 , 784 . M useum o f P a t en ts — Number of v i s it ors f or t h e week ending August 1, 1 , 787 ; total number since the opening of the Museum, free daily ( 1448 3' 2 , 8 58), 740,547. THE SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY E VENING, AUGUST 4, 1863. LATEST INTELLIGENCE. (RETITEU'S TELEGRAMS.) ARRIVAL OF THE EMPEROR OF AUSTRIA AT GASTEIN. GASTEIN, AUG. 3. The Emperor of Austria reached this place yes. terday evening, His Imperial Majesty was immediately visited accompanied by General v by on th A e la K tit in eu g ff o e f Prussia, i. The two Sovereigns bad a short interview. The Emperor, accompanied by the Archduke Ludwig, returned the King's visit in the course of the evening. THE POLISH INSURRECTION. BERLIN, AUGUST 4. Intelligence received here from Warsaw to the 2d inst. says : Rumours are current since yesterday that an in surreation will break out here on the 9th inst. The Town Captain, in consequence, had warned the people not to be led away to make demonstra tions by the endeavours of Russian agents. The National Government will inform the in habitants when the right time for insurrection shall have arrived. CRACOW, AUGUST 4. The Polish leader Wierzbicki was attacked by an overwhelming force near lianiawOla, on the 27th, but managed to retreat with the loss of six men. Wierzbicki himself was slightly wounded. CRACOW, AUG. 4. Intelligence received here from Warsuw states the ill-treatment of the Polish prisoners confined in the citadel continues. Proudzynski has become insane from flogging. Engagements between the insurgents and the Russians took place at Seyny, in the Government of Augustowo, on the 25th ult., and at Radzymin, near 'Warsaw, on the 30th ult., in both of which the insurgents were victorious. PARIS, AUGUST 3. La France of this evening asserts that the Eng lish Cabinet, which had appeared to adhere to the project of addressin g an identical tote to Russia, now hesitates to take that course, thinking it right to give Russia time for reflection without immedi ately provoking a fresh reply. La France also says :—" Prince Gortschakoff's reply to Count Rechberg seems to be a definitive proof of a diplomatic rupture between Russia and Austria. Prince Gortachakoff's despatch has ex cited universal reprobation at Vienna. "The military and c onstitutional parties are offended, and counsel the Emperor to persist in the Western alliance. The coolness between the ,wo Powers appears to be very serious." The same paper say s :--" Certain documents state that the Polish insurrection has just obtained great advantages in the Palatinate of Lublin." The Presse of this evening, in an article signed by M. E. de Girardin, recommends that the Duke de Morny should replace M. Drouyn de Lhuys, and that the Duke de Montebello should be re-called, his position at St. Petersburg having, as the Presse considers, become untenable. • BERLIN, AUGUST 3. According to letters received here from St. Petersburg, the Invalide Russe contradicts the statement of the Memorial Diplomatique that Russia, in view of the bad effect produced by the replies of Prince Gortschakoff to the three Powers, was disposed to accede to the proposal of a confer ence of the Powers who signed the treaty of Vienna. FRANCE , THE BOURSE, Aug. 3.—The market has been heavy, but without any material decline in prices, Threes, for the Account, being now at 66fr 95c. Railway Shares have been rather offered, and some of the lines are quoted rather lower. The marke closed as follows It per Cent 5....... 96 Do. erad month • • 66 per Cents ...... 85 Do. end month.• • • 67 Credit niNdlmoboinliteh. . r...... 1 1 0 0 4 4 00 Creditßank 1 Shares on ci e . r . .. 123 EBILWAYB. 331 Italian Loan 7l 70 Do. end month 7l 80 New ditto Do, end month.... 72 10 Russian Austrian Spanish Threes 52 25 Home Debt .. — Cash. Account. Orleans ............... lOO2 50 .. 1002 50 Northern ...• New ditto ..... , ...... : .. __ Lyons and Mediterranean 1010 .. 1007 50 Geneva ............•••• 486 25 .. 486 25 Southern ........ Western ...... .. _ _ Eastern .• • . Sardinian ...... Austrian ...... Lombard - North of Spain Saragossa - .. 672 50 Ditto to Barcelona THE HIERARCHY OP CATHOLICISM. loutifico, published in Ro me , 1863 , t h e Reader of Saturday gives the followin g part i culars illustrative of In the form of a rapid synopsis of the c on t en t s o f th e .Annuario the vast dimensions and the elaborate organisation of the Catholic Hierarchy. "At the head of the Catholic Hier archy," says the Reader, " stands Rome, whose bishop has the titles of R e presentative of Christ, Successor to the Prince of the Apostles, Pontifex Maximus of the General Church, Patriarch of the Occident, P r i mas o f I ta l y, Arch bishop and Metropolitan of the Roman Province, Sove reign of the Secular Government of the Roman Church. Next to him stands the College of the Cardinals, as Collaterals and Coadjutors of th e S u p reme Ponti fex. It consists of six cardinal-bishops, fifty cardinal.• priests, and fourteen cardinal-deacons, but num • be erriss fived i c a tt patriarchatesin— present fifty-eight members. There a oriental Ritus with patriarchal jurisdiction—viz., Antiochia for the Melchites, v iz ~t h roe only fe th i ne Maronites, and Syrians, one in Babylon for the Chaldeans, one in Cilicia for the Armenians. There are, further, seven Patriarchates of the Latin Ritus—viz., Constantinople, Alexandria, Antiochia, Jerusalem, Venice, West India, and Lisbon. There are 176 archbishoprics ; of the 131 belong ing to the Latin Rite, 12 ere dependent directly from the Roman Patriarchate, 119 of these sees are endowed with church' rovinces. There are 694 bishoprics-640 of Latin, 54 of Oriental Rites. At this moment there are filled 646 bishoprics, with residence. Besides these, there are 234 titular bishoprics—i.e., inpartibus infid9lium ; so that the total of the prelates forming the Roman Hierarchy amounts to 980, The apostolical vicariates, the delegations, and prefectures in all the parts of the world stand, as is well known, under the Congregatio de Propa ganda fide in Rome. The number of vicariates is one hun dred, of delegations five, of prefectures twenty, ten of which were first founded by the present Pope, who has also raised nine archbishoprics to metropolitan churches, and has created four new archbishoprics and thirty-five bishoprics, chiefly in England, Holland, and America. In Europe . the Propaganda h as th e a d m i n i s t ra ti on o f th e v i ca riate of the Oscanian Duchies, through the Nuntius at Munich—of Ncrth Germany and Denmark, through the Bishop of Osnabruck ; it further administers Saxony, with Misnia and Lusatia, Luxenburg, Roman. Graubunten, Tessin, Scotland (three vicariates), Sweden, Herzegovina, Wallachia, Bosnia, Constantinople, Sofia, Greece, Gibraltar. The rest are spread over the whole of Asia, Africa (22), America, and Oceania (8). The oldest of living cardinals is the Cardinal-Priest Antonio Tosti, the Finance Minister of Gregory XVI., now 87 years of age; ',he youngest member of the College is the Cardinal- Deacon Ferreti, 46 years old. The sum-total of the ages of the present 58 cardinals amounts to 3,803 years, which would give an average of 65 years. The greatest number of cardinals belong to Rom a n patrician families and the nobility of the States of the Church ; a few to the Neapolitan nobility and that of Tuscany and Sardinia; Genoa, Piedmont, and Lombardy are entirely unrepresented. Of foreigners there are now members of the College—six Frenchmen, four G erman s, three Spaniards, two Hunga• Nriaontso,noenme Englishman etuerofa rti,gonnieng familyPortug at this moment belongsuese, and one Bel g i an. to it. These are a few of the curious facts contained in the book before us —a carefully compiled ecclesiastical Almanach de Gotha, which will be hardly less interesting to posterity than it is to our own generation. "We learn from Coburg," says the Prussian 3foniteur, " that the Prince and Princess Royal of Prussia are to arrive on August 16th at Tallemburg, to pass some time with the Queen of England." LITERATURE. Victor Hugo's Life. Related by One who has Witnessed it. 2 Vols. W. H. Allen and Co. If it had been in no other way interesting, this biography could not but have appealed to the atten• tion of every scholar in Europe, by reason of its comprising within the compass of the two volumes devoted to it, several hitherto unpublished writings of M. Victor Hugo, writings including among them a three act drama, entitled "Inez de Castro. But intrinsically the workitself, the life itself, as written by the truthful and loving hand of Madame Victor Hugo, is singularly attractive, has about it a charm that is often little less than enthralling. As the reader is at once informed in the preface to this, the authorised translation of the work, the two goodly volumes here submitted to his examination forms merely the first portion of what the translator ex cellently well terms " almost autobiography." Ac cording to that courtly, old familiar phrase, term ing a man's wife his better half, the book is indeed an autobiography. It has the fascination of auto biography without its egotism. And this, forinas much as it is penned by the alter ego of the re markable writer whose career as a man of letters it recounts. For ourselves, we will acknowledge at once, quite frankly that it is about the only aspect of the life of Victor Hugo, the narrative of which we should be disposed to regard with unalloyed satistaction. And even this not always, Even this with one qualm at least of mingled regret and disgust. As a literary man purely and simply, Victor Hugo is here regarded by his gifted and appreciative wife —le temoin de sa vie ac cording to the title page. The political career is to be related by Madame, in the sequel—under which head will have to be particularized the cause of his present exile, and the one blot on the literary escutcheon of this great Poet, Orator, Dramatist, Novelist, Publicist, that most spiteful, slanderous, scurrilous, dastardly brochure of modern times, Napoleon le Petit. With a sidelong remembrance of which— T a remembrance half of wonder, half of scorn, and, combining these two emotions, wholely of pity —we revert with a sense of relief and of intense satisfaction to the one aspect in which we should rejoice could we alone scan the history of the rise and development of Victor Hugo's Reputa tion. Of the truthfulness of this singular narrative we are p er f ec tl y we ll conv i nced. I t b ears a b out i t, i▪ ndeed, the attestation of its own authenticity. Raconti par un temoin, it might almost be re garded, on the contrary, as raconte par Victor Hugo lui-nzeme, That the manuscript first, that each proof sheet afterwards, has been scrutinised by the Hero of the Biography, we may rest assured, as a mere matter of course. That additional guaran tee of accuracy in each minute particular being in effect a thing inevitable. Fragmentary the story here related is, without doubt, but fragmentary it must needs be, if only it assume to itself in earnest the character of a faithful biography. For what lifeis there that is not in ifself essentially and in variably fr agmentary —a thing of shreds and patches —a tesselated pathway leading from the cradle on towards that common goal of all ambition, whether of the sword or of the pen—the grave? A succession of i nc id ents, a cha i n of ep i so d es, i▪ ntroductions now to one, now to another of the various contemporaries among whom the subject o f this Bi ography plays his part, ever with increasing importance in his doings and achieve ments :—such are the characters of the chequered themes furnished to the writer, who is at once the wife and the witness, as the subject matter of these all but one round hundred (of these ninety-eight) most entertaining chapters of anecdotal recollec tion. The first page of the first chapter opens with a reference to the earliest Hugo of whom there is anywhere to be f oun d an aut h ent i c recor d, t o w i t , Victor's remotest ancestor, one Pierre Antoine Hugo, born as far back as 1532. The last page of the last chapter (the 98th) closes with the mention of the entrance at length into the French academy of the most renowned and remarkable of the race, of Victor's own entrance among the select Forty in 1841, when, for a fourth time, he knocked at the door seeking admission, and when, for the first time, the Great Poet was welcomed by his thenceforth brother academicians! With what titles to glory, moreover, did he not take his place amongst them ! Pre-eminent in one peculiarity of his genius, at least—pre-eminent in that one par ticular amongst the greatest names in French Literature. And this, we mean not by any hyperbole of praise, but quite literally. For, in himself, one of the very greatest of the Poets of France, one of the very greatest of her Dramatists, one of the very greatest of her Orators, one of the very greatest, if not incontestably the greatest of her Novelists or Romancists—Victor Hugo com bines in himself those four characters, each in the highest grade, Poet, Dramatist, Orator, Novelist, and, so combining them, stands forth not upon a tripod of fame, but upon a noble and solid pyramidal pedestal, squared from the base up wards, rendering the crowning symbol or effigy of this great renown singularly conspicuous among the grandest figures in the Valhalla of French Literature. BugJargal ! Hans of Iceland ! Odes ! Idylls ! Tragedies ! Lyrics ! Les Feuilles d' Automne! Dropped from his hand (those undying leaves !) in the early spring-time of the poet's life ! Le Dernier Jour d'un Condanzne! That passionate and tear ful appeal to the law against the further con tinuance of Capital Punishment, a pleading more persuasive, than if not so logical as, that put forth by Beccarria! Hernant! Marion de Lorme! Buy Bla . s! Les Burgraves !Le Roi s' Amuse Lucrezia Borgia , Notre Dame de Paris ! Les Miserables • What titles to admiration ! What securities for popula rity in the present, and for renown in the • t here .w aft h er t ! What fecundity and versatility of g enius abounding affluence of imagination ! Reading, in Madame Hugo's narrative with the li▪ veliest pos sible interest the record of the personal incidents related of Victor Hugo, we turn ever with an espe cial and peculiar zest to the mention of anything that in any way refers more directly to the ci▪ rcumstances out of which came forth with wondrous rapidity those marvellous literary masterpieces. There i s some thi ng peculiarly fascinating, where we can read in this most entertaining biography an account—now of Victor Hugo ' s introduction to M. Chateaubriand, now of his paying a visit (at his seat in the country near Macon), to Lamartine, now to his remembrance of Charles X,'s Coronaion, now to his personal memories of the Re volution of July, 1830, now to the time when the Abbe Lamenais was his confessor, now to his home life while the dreadful scourge of the cholera morbus was passing through all Paris, as sooner or Later at that time it passed through the other populous cities of Christendom. But beyond the charm attaching to all these personal recollections of his life, we would place the glamour of those passages in the biography under notice, re lating especially and peculiarly, as we have said, to the composition of one or another of the Poet- Romancist's great literary masterpieces. Pre eminent amongst the whole of which, we would still place that mediaeval historical Romance of Notre Dame de Paris which the author at one period, namely, just at the moment of its completion, thought of designating anew The Contents of an Inkbottle! And this, simply because, buying a bottle of ink with which to write it, Victor Hugo began writing it, the first dip of ink for that purpose being taken out of the Lottie, on the 27th of July, 1831, and the last dip of ink, finishing the bottle dry and writing the very last sentence of the story, being' taken on the 14th January, 1832! Between those two datee, within the period of those less than six months, the whole of that wonderful story was written ! How ?—that is, under wh a t c i rcumstances ? Let the temo i n answer ! "He (Victor Hugo) bought a bottle of ink," she writes, " and and a thick piece of grey worsted knitting, which enveloped him from the neck to the heels ; he locked up his clothes, in order not to be tempted to go out, and set to work at his novel, as if in a prison. He was very melancholy. [No wonder !] From th at time he never left the writing-table, except to eat and to sleep. His only amusement was an hour's chat af,er dinner with some friends, who would call On him, and to whom he sometimes read the pages he had written during the day. He read aloud thus the chapter headed 'Les Cloches' [one of the most mar- vellous of all the chapters] to M. Pierre Leroux, mho [sensible critic] thought this kind of litera ture very ilEftless ! After the first few chapters his melancholy disappeared ; his sadness left him [who can marvel at it l] : and his work took possession of him ; he neither felt fatigue nor the win try cold which had come upon them. In December he would sit at work with open windows. He never doffed his bear-skin bat'ion one occasion. On the morning of the 20th December, the Prince de Craon came to offer to conduct him to the trial of Charles X.'s Ministers. In order that this holiday should not be a long one, he did not even release his clothes from their prison, and wore his costume of the National Guards." So the story was written throughout — so it was completed. Written by Victor in an extraordinary raiment of grey worsted, cover ing him (voluntary prisoner that he made himself to the end that his appointed task might be all the more securely accomplished) covering the poet of romance like some thrifty old housewife's robe ed chambre. And so literally did it come to pass, as but just now indicated, that the great histori cal romance of Notre Dame was literally the con tents of an in kbottle It is a book containing records as strangely enthralling as the one here related by this congenial biographer of Victor Hugo—the wit ness of the life she relates I—it is a work thus re plete in almost every page with a singular facing• tion, that we commend to the countless admirers, in this country, of this many-sidt d genius, whose potent right hand, as that of " Novelist, Dramatist, Poet has run O'er each string cf the lyre—and is Master of all I" THE SUEZ CANAL. The report of an Englistrengineer on the whole of the works now in progress in Egypt by which it is proposed to connect the Red Sea with the Mediterranean, by a Ship Canal through the Isthmus of Suez, will be read with in terest by both parties in the controversy the undertaking has excited. When the late Pasha of Egypt visited the International Exhibition last summer his attention was not entirely engrossed by its marvels of industry. In his own country one of the boldest conceptions of modern enterprise was being carried out by a company of Franks, and doubts had arisen whether the completion of the scheme was physically possible, even if the funds could be raised to pay the cost of it, the last question being by no means a minor point in the discussion. To the Oriental mind the machinery of a company by which money can be raised by millions, to be expended at any place, for any purpose that merely promise a future return of dividEnds, must appear like the rubbing of Aladdin's lamp passed into the hands of Western possessors. By some such process, how ever, was male visible the commencement of an undertak ing that Egypt itself had never dreamt of in its long sleep of ages. But the doubts referred to at last became disturb ing, and the late Pasha, being largely interested in the scheme, whether it succeeded or failed, naturally wished for fuller and more impartial information on the subject. Dur ing his stay in England, therefore, he requested Mr. Hawk shaw to visit Egypt, to examine professionally the line of the proposed Ship Canal, and report his opinion of that work to the Egyptian Government. Mr. Hawkshaw accepted the commission, and, accompa nied by four Egyptian engineers, made his survey in the course of last winter. He was in direct communication with M. Lesseps, the president of the Canal Company, and states that he and all the officers engaged on the works readily answered every question put to them, and without hesita tion gave him access to every document he required. H e adds that the labour of investigating so large a subject had been much lightened by the vast amount of research that had been previously bestowed upon it. The undertaking of the company is twofold. The first and principal scheme is, of course, the Ship Canal itself, to be cut directly across the Desert, northward from Suez to Port Said, on the Mediterranean. Port Said is nearly at the eastern point of the great Delta of the Nile, that in cludes the whole of the ftrtile region of Egypt, the better known nort of Alexandria being at the extreme western ex tremity. The sea coast of the Mediterranean is the base of the great triangle, of which Cairo may be taken as the apex. Port Saki itself is situated on the long narrow spit of land that shuts in Lake Menzaleh from the Mediter ranean. Through the shallow water of this lake the canal has been formed by dredging. This process has been so far completed that, for nearly one-third of the whole line proposed, a channel has been deepened through water "covering the earth." It is only at the southern point of Lake Ballah that the work of cutting through the dry and sandy soil of the Desert commenced. From this southern point of Lake Ballah an excavation, 10 miles in length, has, Mr. Hawkshaw states, opened a chan nel navigation "for flat-bottomed boats of small draught of water" from the Mediterranean into Lake Timsah. On summing up, therefore, what has actually been accom- plished, we find that such boats, adapted for very shallow water, can penetrate the Isthmus from north to south for a distance of 50 miles from the sea, and of this distance 30 miles have been obtained by the process of dredging. The second scheme undertaken by the company is inde pendent of the first, and though called a " fresh water canal," is, more strictly speaking, only an aqueduct. It is not intended to be navigable as the term canal generally implies in England. It is better described as a la] ge trench or cutting, for the purpose of conveying the water of the Nile from Cairo northward, curving to the east, through a tract of land ‘. purchased by the company," to Lake Timsah, before-mentioned, and then southward to Suez. At pre sent all the fresh water to be obtained at Suez is brought to Cairo by the railway. Large trains, conveying iron tanks filled from the river, are constantly passing along the line that 3onveys the passengers by the overland route, from sea to sea. The whole line of the proposed Ship Canal, from Suez to Port Said, runs either through the two salt water lakes on the Isthmus, the wide expanse of Lake Menzaleh on the sea coast, or the soil of the Desert, " a barren land, where no water is." Labour is impossible without a certain and abundant supply of this element, for the want of which travellers in similar arid regions have often perished. This aqueduct is, therefore, a work of necessity, if the larger un dertaking is to be carried on. It will also be employed to irrigate such portions of the soil through which it passes as may be worth cultivating ; and of this secondary purpose a beginning seems to have been made. The portion of the Ship Canal still to be excavated is the whole of the line from Lake Timsah, southward, through another large sheet of salt water called the "Bitter Lakes" and the Desert that lies between them and the northern point of the Red Sea. This last section of the line will run parallel with the ancient canal, and a little to the eastward of it, The course of the old work can be traced, but no part of it has been taken into the modern scheme. The works of the new harbour will carry the canal through the water of the Red S ea , past Suez, and terminate near a point on the eastern or A ra bi an shore marked as the " Fountain of Moses." It is scarcely necessary to say that the portion of the line described as completed and "navigable" is very far from the accomplishment of the object in view. What has to be done exceeds what has been finished in about the proportion a large heavily freighted merchant ship bears .to a "small flat-bottomed boat of small draught of water." In fact, the Suez Canal at present is a narrow and shallow cutting • marking out what is to be the course of an artificial channel that must be navigable for large ships of heavy burden, or be useless. It has been ascertained that the seas on both sides of the Isthmus have nearly the same level, and as the soil along the whole line across it is strewed with shells common to the Red Sea and the Mediterranean, it is evi dent that "at no distant period, geographically speaking," those seas spread over the desert track through which it is proposed to unite their waters again. But by far the greatest portion of the work has yet to be done. Without reference to the plans and sections by which the report is Illustrated it is difficult to convey a clear idea of the propor • tion of what has to be excavated to what has been marked out by the cutting on land and the dredging through shallow water ; but if the reader will suppose that the furrow drawn by a subsoil plough marks thecourse of whatis to be enlarged into a ditch he will have a rough notion of the approximation of what exists, compared to what is proposed. Nothing has yet been done between Suez and the northern end of Lake Timsah ; and from that point northwards to the Mediter ranean nearly five timFa the amount of work completed has yet to be executed. The earthwork done is estimated at 7,848,00 0 cubic yards ; the amount still to be performed is 34,000,000 yards. The cost of thb works so far has been by the French estimate, £1,220,000. Mr. Hawkshaw states that he sees no unusual difficulty in the execution of the plan, nor does he conceive that any contingencies can arise which engineering skill could not surmount : and, if completed, he thinks the canal could be maintained with out any extraordinary yearly expenditure. But, consider ing the possibility of meeting with rock at the Red Sea entrance, and that the deep sea dredging at the Mediter ranean end may cost more than the first estimate—con sidering also " the money already expended compared with the work done"—he thinks it would be prudent for the promoters of the scheme to calculate on having to ex pend £20,000,000 and five years of labour before a single cargo can be towed across what is now a neck of dry land. This is the least encouraging part of the report to those customary victims of modern enterprise, the "original shareholders." THE REMOVAL OF BLACKFRIARS PIER.-013 Saturday notices were put up at Blackfriars Pier from the Thames Conservancy Offices, signed by E. Burstall, Caere. tary, that it is intended on the Bth August to discontinue the stoppage of all steamboats passing up and down the river for embarking and disembarking passengers there. This determination has been come to in consequence of the pro gress of the bridge across the Thames for the continuation of the London and Dover Rajlway to the metropolis. The notice further states that the accommodation for the land- Mg of passengers from steamboats which used to take place at this pier, will be transferred after the above date ti St. Paul's Pier, and passengers will be able to alight and em bark at the Temple Pier. .. :.~ ... 1 1.4 rairt * . k." , r etralliat HER MAJESTY. OSBORNE, August 3. The Queen anti Royal family walked in the grounds this morning. The Duke of Newcastle had an audience with the Queen, and has left Osborne. Departure of His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales for Yorkshire. Yesterday morning his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, attended by a limited suite, left the ter minus of the Great Northern Railway at King's• cross, a few minutes before ten o'clock, Major-Gen. Knollys and Major Teesdale, V.C., and the chief members of his Royal Highness's household, in attendance. The chairman, Mr. Denison, together with several members of the directory, and all the leading officials, were in attendance to receive the Prince, the royal saloon carriage invariably used by the Queen in her journeys on the Great Northern Rail way being provided for the accommodation of the illustrious Prince and his retinue. A large number of privileged persons—the fair sex predomi►`rating—were present, to whom the Prince of Walet in a courteous manner acknow ledged their loyal demonstrations by bowing his thanks. The almenge of the Princess of Wales, it is almost needless to remark, was a source of great disappointment to the majority of the spectators. The special train was to make a short stop at Peterborough and at , Grantham on its way to Halifax. The Prince and Princess of Wales. His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, attended by Lieut.-Gen. Knollys and Major Teesdale, left town yesterday morning at ten o'clock, for Halifax The Princess of 'Wales drove out yesterday morning, and took a drive in an open carriage in the afternoon, attended by the Hon Mrs. Coke. We have reason to believe that the Prince of Wales will pass one night at Studley Royal, on a visit to the Earl and Countess de Grey and Ripon, before leaving Yorkshire. Her Royal Highness the Princess of Wales. Much, and indeed unnecessary, importance has been given to the indisposition of the Princess of Wales in abandoning the intended visit with her husband to Halifax. The Princess of Wales is in the possession of good general health, and in recommending her to abstain from visiting Halifax her Royal Highness's advisers have only sought to save her from over exertion, which it is now desirable for her not to incur. His Excellency the Marquis d'Azeglio has left town for a few weeks' leave on the Continent. The Duke of Wellington and a select party of friends, including Sir Alexander Cockburn, the Lord Chief Justice of England, leave town shortly for Scotland. It is said that the Duke has taken, for a term of years, Glen borrodale Castle and the extensive shootings adjacent. The Duke of Devonshire and Lady Loaisa Caven dish arrived at Holkar Hall, near Milnethorpe, a few days since from town. The mortal remains of the late Marquis of Nor manby have been removed from Hamilton Lodge, Kensing ton-gore, to Mulgrave Castle, near Whitby, Yorkshire. The funeral takes place to-morrow. The Marquis of Sligo left town at the close of the past week for Westport House, his lordship's seat in Ire land. The Earl Russell, accompanied by the Countess and family, is expected to leave Pembroke Lodge, Rich mond Park, to-day, for the Countess de Flahault's resi dence on the banks of the Tay, in Scotland, which residence the noble earl has taken for the autumn. The Earl of Lonsdale left Carlton-house-terrace last week for Lowther Castle, between which princely s eat and Whitehaven Castle he will divide his residence during his stay in the rorth. The Earl and Countess of Seafield and Viscount Reidhaven have, since Thursday last, taken up their resi dence at Castle Grant, Grantawn, for the shooting season after a short residence at Cullen House. The Countess of Caledon, accompanied by the youthful earl and family, left town at the close of last week for Caledon Park, county Tyrone, Ireland. The Earl and Countess of Belmore returned to Brown's Hotel on Saturday, and left yesterday for Switzer land. Viscount Falkland, the Duchess of St. Albans, and Lady Diana Beauclerk, have left Mamhead for Pencar row, the seat cf Lady Molesworth. Lord Londesborough has left Thomas's Hotel, Berkeley -square, for Cowes, Isle of Wight. The Right Hon. B. Disraeli, M P., and Mrs. Disraeli have left Grosvenor-gate for Hughenden Manor, Bucks The Right Hon. Edward Ellice, M.P., and Mr. E. Ellice, M,P., and Mrs. Ellice have arrived at their seat in the Highlands from town. The right hon. gentleman and his son will entertain a succession of guests during the shooting season. SIGNOR ROSSINI is said to have completed a grand choral and orchestral Mass, and to have laid the same away into the iron box, from under the lid of which, persons say, there will break forth many late and new in ventions, when the magician himself is gone. "Why," asks the Atheneum in a perfectly comprehensible agony of curiosity, " Why wait, and torment every one with. expec tation ?" THE SENSATION PRICE for Mr. Frith's " Railway Station," says Mr. Graves, the purchaser—" I paid for the picture and list of subscribers £16,300. lam to re. fund what was paid to the engraver, Mr. Francis Roll, and complete up his payments to the full amount of his con tract---namely, 2,000 guineas." The sum which this pic ture, the copyright, and the plate will have coot Mr. Graves will therefore be £18,400, A KINGFISHER'S NEST.—It had been found more than 2U years before in an embankment, and con sisted, without any admixture of dirt, of small fish bones and portions of the shells of shrimps. Eggs had been found in it, pure white, polished, and nearly globular, three of which were still preserved.—Johns's Home Walks and Holiday Rambles. THE ONE ACHIEVEMENT OF THE SESSION.— " Perhaps,' says the Court Journal, " the most useful bill of all that has been passed—and we say it without any religious bias—has been the Prison Ministers Bill, whioh, we trust, will only be the forerunner to placing Catholics in England on the same free and perfectly equal footing as is the case with Protestants in Austria, France, and some other Catholic countries." The tunnel through Mont Cenie is progressing most vigorously. The new machines, first intro duced in 1861, worked, in the month of March of that year, a distance of 9 metres, 70 centimetres. In April the figures rose to 17 metres, 50 centimetres. The result of the whole year 1861 was 170 metres, 51 centimetres, in 209 work days. In 1862 the engines were so far improved as to be able to be worked for 325 days, during which a progress of 380 metres was achieved. It thus follows that the whole work, supposed at the outset to take 25 years, will be accomplished in much less than 12. With respect to the cost, the metre does not exceed an outlay of 4,000 lire, which, for the whole gallery (12,220 metres long) will make about 50 millions. At the end of last year the gallery had reached the length of 2,199 metres—viz., 1,274 metres on the side of Bardon nedre, and 995 on that of ltiondane ; but on the latter only the ordinary instruments had hitherto been employed. THE FRENCH ACADEMY. The annual and solemn sitting took place last week, and was pre sided ever by St. Marc Girardin as Director. He was as sisted by Prince Albert de Broglie, Chancellor, and M. Villemain, perpetual secretary. The report was presented by M. Villemain, and the discourse of the Prix Monthyort was delivered by St. Marc Girardin. The subject of the prize -poem was "La France dans l'extreme Orient." The successful candidate was M. V. de Bornier. The prise for eloquence, the subject of which was " Etude litteraire sur le Genie et les Ecrits du Cardinal de Retz," was divided be ' tween M. Topin and N. Michon. The annual meeting of the Academie des Inscriptions took place on the 31st of July. On the Ist of August the live academies hold their joint meeting, on which occasion the great prize of 20,000 francs for two years will be awarded. THE BOUDOIR WRITING TABLE SET," prepared for the use of H.R.H. the Princess of Wales during her visit to Halifax.—The set comprised every imaginable article that modern ingenuity could call a requirement for a lady's writing table, viz.: envelope case, inkstand, candlesticks, letter-balance, taperstand, pen tray, almanac, writing tablet, stamp-box, pen cle aner, match box, paper knife, &c. These are nearly all designed from antique shapes, modernized to fit them for their present uses, and manufactured in English ormolu. Each a: title is deco rated with jewelled enamelled ornamental bosses, with the Dagmar Croes, in the English and Danish national colours, on a ground of pale turquoise blue, relieved by appropriat e scroll work between each boss. This elegant suite of orna ments has been designed and manufactured for his Worship the Mayor of Halifax, e:ipressly for the intended visit of their Royal Highnesses, by Messrs. Howell, James, and Co., the eminent goldsmiths, of hegent-street,