The Sun. — London, England, 1863-03-31 00:00:00

THE POLISH INSURRECTION. - (lion the limes' ;Special Correspondent.) CRACOW, March 24. Poor Langiewiez, after asking in vain to be allowed to go and settle in England, was taken off yesterday to Vienna —or, at least, to the terminus of the Cracow and Vienna Railway,which is all that is really known abon• the matter here. I happened by some strange chance to be in the street leading to the castle as early as a quarter to 8 o'clock in the morning, and, seeing an empty carriage guarded by four Hussars at the entrance to the church of I the district, waited a few minutes to learn who its occupant was to be. Out came the General, gloomy and black. No one saluted him or noticed him, because no one at the time was quite certain who he was. It was evident, however, that he was a State prisoner, that he had just come from the Castle, and that he was starting on what he con ceivA to be a momentous journey. Langiewicz is not an Austrian, but a Prussian subject, and he has been making war, not upon Austrians, but upon Russians. Accordingly Austria is in no way called upon to sit in judgment upon him. She has, of course, ! the right t o sen d hi m ou t o f A ustr i an terri tory, bat it is to be hoped that she will not deliver him up to Prussia, as those who have the worst opi nion of the Austrian Government fancy she may be tempted to do. There is not the slightest chance, however, of Austria taking such a step as this, if we may judge by her conduct to those Polish insur gents now in her hands who are subjects of Russia. Not one has been surrendered to the Russians (as in old times all would have been), and the best in formed persons here say that all are sure to have their liberty before long, though in the meanwhile they will be confined for a time at Olmutz or else where. All the Government has done to them hitherto has been to shut them up in various public buildings, where they sing, smoke, and enjoy them- selves as best they can. On the other hand, it has saved many of them from dying of hunger, or by the lances of the Cossacks, who would infallibly have murdered them bad they caught them un armed or sinking from starvation on Russian terri tory. If there were any Russian deserters among them, Austria, by the terms of the extradition treaty, would be obliged to give them up, but they all wear the Polish costume, and the only cases of desertion one hears of among the Russian troops are those in which soldiers left their regiments under fire to go and plunder, and could only be induced to return by the officers holding revolvers to their heads, threatening to shoot them, and occasionally doing so as an example. Infamously as the Russian officers have in many cases behaved, I have heard from eyewitnesses of some few who did their duty and, disgusted at the excesses committed by their men, and finding their orders utterly disregarded, shot the worst of the malefactors with their own hands. More than one house in the kingdom was thus saved from pillage. I make the statement, no on mere hearsay, but on the authority of the pro. prietors of these houses, who, however, could no! remain on their estates, and took the earliest oppor tunity of flying to Cracow, now a city of refuge for Poles from all parts of the ancient kingdom. As a rule, wl.atever the Russian troops have done else where, I have been able to convince myself by the best evidence that near the Galician frontier they have behaved like hordes of savages. The night be fore last thousands of persons close to Cracow saw villages in flames just on the other side of the border, and every one knew at once that the Cossacks had been there. The Cossacks have even crossed into Galicia, and a skirmish—of which the full particu • lars have not yet reached me—took place the other day at Czulic, on this side of the frontier, in which an Austrian officer was taken prisoner and an Aus trian soldier killed. MARCH 25. In spite of the great blow which the capture of Langiewicz certainly has been to the Polish insur rection, no one here is at all downhearted about the matter, except a few tourists, who have come a great distance in order to see the Dictator and his camp, and who will have to go away without seeing any thing but the remains of his army attired in the finest specimens of Polish costume ever witnessed on or off any stage. Apart from the Polish costume, which every one without exception now wears, if the animated groups at the corner of every street, in every coffeehouse, in every pastry-cook's shop in Cracow were to be seen anywhere in Russian Poland, there would be constant occupation for the soldiers and po ice. The Government which the Russians love to insult has left the Government of Russia very far behind. The natural excitement which now pre vails in Craco,v, instead of being made an excuse for ucts of tyranny, as it would be in Russia or France, is simply not noticed, any more than it would be in England, and accordingly nothing comes of it. One generally thinks of conspirators and insur gents as dark, mysterious, and malignant-looking personages; but the insurgents who have just returned from the army that was once that of Lan giewicz have a gay, contented, free-and-easy appear ance, which shows at once that insurrection has be come the natural state of Poland, and that all these young men have been simply .following, and are bent upon following again, what they have been brought up to regard as their legitimate vocation, and which they will take care shall be the vocation of their children, as it has been that of their fathers and grandfathers. It is not very easy to discover exactly what num ber of troops Langiewicz hati when he started from Chroberz (the village and estate of the Marquis Wielopolski) to meet the Russians at Zaposcie. As far as I can make out from various statements by persons who ought to know, there were about 700 cavalry (mounted, for the most part, on very indif ferent horses), from 400 to 500 Zouaves, nearly 2,000 sithemen, and from 2,000 to 3,000 infantry, armed, latterly, for the most part, with rifles, but in the first instance with old-fashioned muskets, fowl ing-pieces, revolvers, and whatever they could get. Speakitg generally, the insurgents, to whatever corps they belonged, were armed anyhow, dressed anyhow, and fought anyhow; that is to say, in whatever order or disorder happened to suit them, so long as they could manage to beat the enemy. A Zouave was not necessarily dressed like a Zouave, nor did every cavalryman necessarily ca r ry th e weapons usually given to cavalry, but.simply any thing that he could manage to strike a blow with. I may here say a few words about the acts of cruelty attributed to the insurgents by many of the Russian journals. They have been delibe rately accused of mutilating their prisoners; of cutting off their noses, ears, and fingers, and (the rest is almost too sickening to relate) forcing them down their throats. I thought that this vile story was without foundation from beginning to end— one of those calumnies which the Russian Govern ment sometimes thinks it advantageous to publish, and which, for that reason, it will not allow to be contradicted. There is just one grain of truth, how ever, beneath the superstructure of falsehood. The Poles have cut off the noses, ears, and fingers of num bers of Russians. They have also cut off their arms and heads ; but all this has been done with the sharp si thee of the Kossaniere in fair fight. It is said that there are Ituesians in the hospitals at Warsaw who h av e lost their noses ; but the Russian authorities know perfectly well that these men were never made prisoners, and that the new kind of wound has been occasioned by a new kind of weapon. There is a t untranslatabl e proverb of Souva roff which contrasts the capricious folly of the bullet with the steady heroism of the bayonet. I believe the soldiers of Russia have the credit of being able to stand a bayonet charge as well or better than 'Which need those of any other nation except one, not be particularised for the benefit of English readers. But at close quarters the Russian shrinks from the Polish scythe as from death itself; and whenever it has been found possible to get the Kos slnieri—iu hovever small a number—within some thing like reach of the enemy the latter has turned and fled. This, after all, is not to be wondered at. The Russian soldier, who is only a Russian peasant, shaven, shorn, and half choked in a tight military suit, is a creature of habit; he has learned that to be skewered on a bayonet is the sort of thing he has to expect, and to which the men in his regiment have, in a collectivs sense, long been accustomed. But to be slashed in the face by people who turn their reaping-hooks into sabres, and their scythes two-edged swords, is more than he ever bar gained for, and he won't stand it: On the other hand, the scythemen are said to have become quite unmanageable when they were ex posed for any length of time to the fire of the Rus ' sians, to which they were of cours3 unable to reply. Accordingly, as a general rule, they have been kept out of sight —either in ambush or behind ordinary infantry —until the moment arrived for ' them to rush forward and strike terror into the ranks of the Muscovites. All the victories gained by the insurgents under the command of Langie wicz (and I cannot think of one instance in which they were really beaten) have been decided by the sithemen, or the Z3uaves, or the sithemen and Zouaves in combination, and generally by the sithe men alone. At Skala Langiewicz not only led the sithemen in person, but himself carried a sithe, which he took up at the last moment before giving the order to charge. In spite of the success which attended the efforts of the Kossanieri, almost invariably the general opinion seems to be that the corps was too nume rous, and that in reforming it only picked men must be included. The perfect sithemen must be strong, or he will not be able to wield his weapon. He must be skilful, or, in making a downward cut, be runs the risk of burying his sithe in the ground, and exposing his head and neck t 3 the blows of the enemy. He must, moreover, possess not only cour age enough to rush to the charge under a fire to which he cannot possibly respond, but also, under certain circumstances, the courage to remain under fire until the moment arrives for him to be called into action. However, under the new system of organization —or rather the old system, to which it has now been determined to return—it is not likely that any corps of 2,000 men will be formed either of sithemen or of any other arm. Every one is convinced that Langie wicz made a great and fatal mistake in attempting to create a regular army, though, of course, every one thought it a very fine thing to do, until the utter impossibility of keeping it in the field was demon strated by facts. It is said now, with much reason, that the Russian Empire, though weak, was sure to be able, sooner or later, to overpower a force of 6,000 men, ill clothed, ill fed, ill armed, and without any means of procuring ammunition; while, on the other hand, 6,000 men, divided into bands of 500 each, might have kept 20,000 Russians in a perpetual state of anxiety, and have so harassed and " dea.oralized" them as to have secured fre quent opportunities of cutting them off in detail. Probably, however, the Russians are quite right in saying that Langiewicz's plan was to gain posses sion of some town, and that he desired, above all things, to establish his headquarters at Czensto chowa, the site of a celebrated monastery which has served more than once as a fortress, and has played the same part in the history of Poland that the Laura of the Troitza, near Moscow, has in that of Russia. Czenstochovva is but a small town, but at certain festivals it feeds as many as from 50,000 to 100,000 pilgrims; and all Langiewicz really wanted for his army was food. He could have had as many men as he wished, and they could have taken their arms and ammunition from the Russians as they have already done on several occasions. As to the mode of obtaining arms it appears, at first sight, not a very practicable one ; but if the Polish cavalry do not mind going into action with only sticks in their hands, and taking their chance of being shot, or of riding down a certain number of Russians and disarming them, such a manoeuvre, executed without hesitation, is sure to meet with some amount of success. Many of the students of the Cracow University (which furnished Langie wica with about 250 men and boys) are known to have obtained their weapons in no other manner. Most of the accounts that I have read of Lan giewicz's army as it stood at Goseza are not only highly coloured but painted in false colours. The numbers, the strictness cf the discipline, the ex cellence of the organisation, the brilliancy of the music, the richness of the banners, have all been exaggerated, not to say entirely invented. One thing which has been noticed but not sufficiently dwelt upon, and which it would be impossible to exaggerate or to describe fairly without being suspected of exaggeration, is the enthusiasm which animated this army of farm servants, house ser vants, workmen, students, schoolboys, and a cer tain number of the young nobility. Thousands of volunteers were sent back by Langiewicz, not because they were unfit to serve, but because he knew that it would be impossible to arm them or e.en to feed them, Numbers of young men, too, werk kept back by their parents. I am told that all who did join went with the full consent of their families, and were regularly equipped by them for the camp. One lady of my acquaintance had four sons with Langiewicz, she herself with her daughters superintended the preparations for their departure; and the mother aid sisters did all they could for the young men, by seeing that they were armed to the teeth when they left their home. There are hun dreds of boys of 15 and 16 now walking about the streets of Cracow in their:fighting costumes who had money given them by their fathers and mothers to enable them to go and fight the " Muscovites ;" just as in England boys of the same age have money given them to buy cricket-bats. ,They are now " home for the holydays," but it is certain they will not remain long, and that they are burning with desire to get back to their appointed tasks. One party starts to-morrow, before this letter will be confided to the care of the post-office authorities. Seventeen were arrested last night to prevent them starting. They declare that they will all be off be fore another week. I should like some one who believes in the story of the insurgents having been routed at Busk, and afterwards driven P cross the frontier by the Russians to have just a glimpse of these insurgents, either those who are at liberty or those who are in con finement. Without looking at the map, without listening to the statements of honourable men who took part in the recent battles, and who know whether these battles were won or lost, it is suffi cient to see those who are said by the German and Belgian papers to have been beaten to know at once that they were victorious. Such a test as this cannot, without doubt, be always depended upon. Nevertheless, people who are just returning from a funeral do not generally wear the same expression as people who are just returning from a wedding ; and the insurgents who came over the frontier the other day of their own accord (because they had no chief, and because they had no head) look very like the former, and not at all like the latter, If these Poles were beaten, they must enjoy being beaten. It puts them in excellent spirits, and they will cer tainly go and get beaten again as soon as possible. " If they were not worsted, shy did they come away ?" is a question whi c h h as no doubt been already asked. They came away because they had fired off their last cartridge, and eaten their last loaf, and worn out the soles of their boots, and lost Langiewicz and Rochebrune, and the other officers who in so inex plicable a manner deserted them. The insurge n t s were hungry enough at the battle of Busk (other wise of Grochowitza) on the 18th, and many of them from that time had scarce anything to eat until they crossed the frontier early on the morning of the 22d. In fact, if they can be said to have been beaten at all it was not the arms of the Russians, but the famine caused by the new frontier regula- tions of the Austrian Government, that van quished them. Without getting supplies from Galliciu, or gaining possession of some town, it was impossible that Langiewicz could tnainttin an army of 6,000 men. The 6,000 men found them selves more than once in want of 6,000 loaves in a village which at most could only supply 1,000. ' There was, to be sure, Langiewicz's train, which the Russians pride themselves on having cut off, and which, in fact, was left behind when the bridge over the Nida was burnt after the passage of Roche brune'e Zonaves. But this was about as clever and as important an operation (if it can be said to have b een performed at all), as it would be to stop the banking account of a merchant who had a balance of Bd. at his bankers. Langiewicz carried scarcely any supplies, and when he captured artillery from the Russians was oblige to abandon it, that nothing might impede the rapidity of his movements. The artillery which he did drag about with him may now be seen in the Castle of Cracow, and is certainly light TEM SUN, LONDO \, TUESDAY EVENING, MARCH 21, 1863. and portable enough. Two long thin eight-ouncers on one-horse carriuges formed the whole of his siege train. Of course a half-pound ball would hurt a man if it hit him, and it is said these guns carried a con siderable distance, and were found very eerviceable on many occasions when the Russians, having to move quickly over difficult ground, were obliged to leave their cannon behind. But the title of " Chief of the Artillery" becomes as comic when one has seen the field-pieces as that of "Director of the Civil Government" die, when it appeared there was no thing for Langiewiez to govern, except his own troops. General Langiewicz's independent Poland was of a far more moveable nature than the heavy Russian columns which followed it as it shifted its locality, and which re-established Russia by fire and sword wherever Poland had once more ceased to be. For about a week before its fall the Polish Government had no power outside the Dictator's camp, though before Langiewi2z's last march it really exercised fall sa ay over all the territory between the camp and the Galician frontier—a much smaller extent even than that of the little republic of Cracow, created in 1815, and swallowed up in 1846. Any person properly recommended to one of General Langiewicz's agents in Cracow could obtain a pass signed in the name of the Provisional Government, but many went without any pass at all, and no one, unless openly and conspicuously bearing arms, was prevented from crossing the border by the Austrian soldiers or police. I fancy the barbarous manner in which Mr. Finkenstein or Finkenstone was treated by the Cossacks must have had a powerful effect in stopping all commercial visits and cer tainly all visits of pleasure to the Polish camp. For nearly a week, however, before the battle of Zipasice (fought on the 17th) the difficulty of conveying provisions, clothing, and ammunition across the frontier had been gradually increas ing, and this not owing to the alertness of the Cos sacks, but to the formal prohibition, strictly en forced, of the Austrian Government. That there might be no mistake about the matter Count Meng dorff on the 15th published an order which may now be seen on all the walls of Cracow, and which forbids the transit of food, cloth, and ammunition from Galicia to the kingdom of Poland. Bread, brandy, boots, and gunpowder were all that the in surgents wanted, and these articles of prime neces sity would have been liberally supplied to them had not the frontier been closed. BRE SLA u, March 27. The defeat of Langiewicz was no sooner known at St. Petersburg than the Russian Government, in a note addressed to its representative at Paris, expressed a willingness to improve the condition of Poland, and bestow another batch of liberal conces sions upon the unfortunate country. Nov that the rebellion might be expected to subside, Prince Gortschakoff added, the Czar had no compunction in announcing his benevolent intentions towards a province he had always wished to raise to a higher degree of prosperity and wealth. Tne communi- cation was immediately transmitted to M. Drouyn de Lbuys, who recommended a lenient treatment of the recusant dependency. So says the Vienna cor respondent of the Cracow Czas, one of the best informed contributors to the leading organ of Poland. AFFAIRS OF PRTJSSIA. (From the Times Correspondent.) BERLIN, MARCH 28. Any hopes of a reconciliation between the Government and the Chamber, that may have been based on the King's friendly reception of the President and Vice-Presidents on his birthday, must now be considered completely dissi pated. MM. Grabow, Behrend, and Borkum Dolffs were received by the Cour officials with anxious courtesy, and by his Majesty with a benevolence and kindly affability to which they cannot be said to have been of late accustomed. Some persons were inclined to argue thence that a change had come over the Royal mind, and to attribute it to un easiness at the aspect of foreign affairs. It was but a few who indulged in this belief, and they, by this time, are despoiled of their illusions. M. von Bismark's officious organ took an opportunity of damping any hopes that may have been aroused of an acceptance by Government of the Forckenbeck amendment, and a document proceeding from the Ministry of War, and published last night in the official Auzetger, finally dispelled them. The Royal smiles on the Royal birthday were due solely to the entirely non political character of the occasion; the Government is as resolved as ever against the two years' service, and it nails to the mast the flag of army-reorganisation, with the motto of "No concession." In the form of a refutation of Deputy Baron Vaerst (the author of a counter project of army reorganisation, of which mention has already been made to you), the War-office confirms the unfavourable auguries which had been drawn from the tone of the Go vernment commissioners in the Committee of the Chamber. It will evidently abate nothing of its demands in respect of time of service, and therefore continues in opposition to every section of the constitutional party in the Chamber of Deputies. This certainly naturally diminishes the general interest which might attach to the proceedings pf the Com. mittee and to the discussions now going on in evening meetings of the combined Left and Left Centre. In the Committee, it may be added, the Ministers seem to have entirely discontinued appearing. In quarters usually well-informed a belie? is expressed that M. von Bismark, who has lately undergone so many reverses, will shortly play a card of sufficient value to efface, or at least to weaken the memory of them. What trump it is that he thus holds in reserve can for the present only be subject of conjectures, but these point to the treaties of commerce, navigation, &c., concluded last year with France and an intention is again supposed of putting them into force so far as it can be done without infraction, on the part of Prussia, of the Zollverein Treaty. Such a step would be at once a drawing near to France and a triumph over Austria, and would doubtless give to this Government some portion of that prestige in which it is now so entirely wanting, and of which it stands so greatly in need. The question which, at this moment, most engrosses the attention of Prussian politicians and journalists is that of Poland. Notwithstanding M. Billault's speech (generally considered of so pacific a tendency), the war party maintain their apprehensions. The Cologne Gazette of to-day's date brings a telegram from Vienna to the effect that "France wishes the complete independence of Poland, with the Duke of Leuchtenberg as its King,and that she has already communicated this programme to the Ambassadors of the great Powers in Paris." A letter which follows this start ling announcement, and which one might suppose to come also from Vienna were it not dated from Paris (26th inst.), contains similar information. The present Grand Duchy of Warsaw, it says, is to be a Sovereign kingdom. Russia is to retain her old Polish provinces ; the Polish posses sions of Austria and Prussia are not to be interfered with, This, we are told, is the will of France. From the same source we are informed, equally authoritatively, that the British Ambassador in Paris, when returning to his post, a few days ago from England, took with him instructions from his Government to declare in favour of a Congress of all those European Powers which signed the Treaties of Vienna. There has been much talk lately in Berlin of a coming Congress, but hitherto, it would seem, with exceedingly small foundation, and, notwithstanding the recent article in La France, such a project obtains little credit in the quarters usually best in formed. The Cologne Gazette, however, guarantees the essential correctness of its information, and triumphs in the confirmation it considers a portion of it to afford to its re cent warlike wsrnings. It will very likely have been justi fied in doing so if its statement be correct, that France is determined to leave no connexion subsisting between Rusaia and the new Polish kingdom beyond the purely personal one arising from the relationship between the Sovereigns of the two States. If such were the determination of the Emperor Napoleon, which he was resolved to carry out at all hazards, Europe might very well expect to hear the sound of cannon again at no distant data. Before believ- ing, however, that we are on the brink of a great war, likely enough to become a general one before it had long con tinued, it may be prudent to await confirmation of the dis quieting intelligence, which to-day reaches us from the banks of the Rhine. A provincial journal having announced that M. Vincke had seceded from that small fraction of the Chamber which has generally been designated by his name, the Berlin organ of that party has confirmed the intelligence, adding, :hat the separation in fact took place before the debate on the Convention with Russia, th a t it i s on l y temporary,_ and that Vincke will again be seen in full vigour at the head of the Liberal party—meaning, we presume, the " o ld" or _ _ moderate Liberals, from whom he has just detached himself This may be so; it would be most imprudent positively to deny the possibility of any political changes in Prussia— where events so strange and unforeseen occur that one would hardly have a right to wonder if M. von Bismark himself were to come out some day as a Fortschritt•man ; but M. Vincke's arrogance and overbearing disposition have sadly impaired his chances of playing that prominent part in the political history of his country to which, in the opinion of many, his talents fairly entitle him. His aggres siveness and general pugnacity have made him many ene mies, and although the organ of the little knot of deputies (including several men of high starding in the Chamber) to which he until lately belonged, thinks it only becoming to spread a cushion for his fall from their head, and to predict a return of harmony, there is ro concealing the fact that he now stands isolated, estranged from those last few friends who still stood by his side, and, to a certain extent, ad mitted his leadership, As a specimen of the style he thinks it not unworthy of him to adopt, we find, in large type, at the head of last night's Berliner Al y mein°, a decl .ration that, another Berlin journal having made a certain state ment respecting him (relating to a confidential inquiry said to have been addressed to the Minister-President), he saw himself compelled to declare that the said statement was "in every respect a lie." I have no acquaintance with the matter to which reference is thus made, nor any reason to doubt that Deputy Vincke had been, as he evidently con siders, wilfully misrepresented or maligned; but the terms in which he repels the imputation, adding his signature and quality, can hardly be considered either parliamentary or becoming. The memorial of the Minister of War, communicated yesterday to the military committee of the Chamber (in in direct reply to Baron Vaerst), and of which mention is made above, is considered to have for its object to provoke the Deputies into rejecting the Forckenbeck amendment and adopting Waldeck's proposition, which latter is, in fact, purely negative. The intention is perfidious enough ; the Government reckons on a better position before the country if its pr-posal finds positive rejection than if the Chamber were to meet it in a conciliatory spirit, as it would do by the adoption of Forckenbeek's project. I find that, in last night's joint meeting of the Left and Left Centre, M Car lowitz, belonging to the latter party, spoke in favour of the Waldeck resolution, which is important, for, up to last night, the whole of the Left Centre was be lieved to support Forckenbeck. Not much transpires of what passes at these combined meetings, for it has been agreed to keep their proceedings secret for the present, and consequently the usual channels of infor mation are closed. The reserves which were summoned to their respective corps, in consequence of the concentration of troops on the Polish frontier, are to be released from duty on the 7th pros., and allowed to return to their homes. Colonel Prince Emili Wittgenstein, lately reported to have been defeated, wounded, and captured by the Polish insurgents, is unhurt, and has just been promoted to the rank of general as a reward for successes he had obtained. One daily meets with such corrections of unfounded state ments put forth in Russian official gazettes or Polish parti • san journals. The news that the Prussian deputy Bent kowski, who joined Langiewiez some time ago. had ac companied him in his flight into Austrian territory, is con firmed by a communication from him dated from a place in Galicia, read in to-day's Chamber, and by which he resigns his seat. All to 'night's Berlin papers, Ministerial and Opposition, discredit the information of the Cologne Gazette with respect to important novelties in the Polish question, and some of them point to the inconsistency between the assertion that England has agreed to a congress and the substance of Lord PalmGrston's reply to an interpellation addressed to him in last night's sitting of the house, and which the telegraph to-day has brought us. half way up towards its apex. All round the bend rise the bluffs from which the upper' batterias of the Confederates threaten the stream, while the same bluffs extend dawn the river, and i.fford a nestling place for the town, behind which stretches a broken, denEely- wooded, hill co'tntry, almost covering the space between the Yazoo and Big Black Rivers, which both empty into the east bank of the Missis sippi, the former 20 miles above, the latter 30 miles below the town. It will be obvious that if it were possible to divert the Mississippi from its horseshoe course, and to carry the stream across from the apex of the right hand stroke to the apex of the left hand stroke of the U, the town of Vicksburg would be left high and dry upon its bluffs, looking down upon the dry bed, and no longer upon the majestic stream. The accomplishment of so mighty an undertaking as the canalisation of the Mississippi might be thought sufficient to daunt even the adventurous elasticity of Yankee enterprise. But the truth is that eccentric river already shows an inclination to change its course, upon the smallest provocation, rather than to abide in its ancient bed, In several of the States adjoining the river there are laws which punish any attempt to alter the Mississippi's course, imply ing that there is little difficulty in so doing. The advantage which a plantation derives from a water front upon a river is a powerful temptation to planters who live a mile or two back from the stream, and see an opportunity of making a "cut oft" from one to another of its endless sinuosities, of which the effect will be to bring the river by their plantation. A physician who has for years been familiar with the stream tells me that he has fre quently ridden out to see a patient in the morning, and has found on returning at night that the river has broken away hundreds of yards which he left high and dry a few hours before. A few years ago an artificial " cut eft"' of less than a mile brought the Red River into the Mississippi, and saved a detour of 30 miles. There was nothing unreason able, therefore, in the expectation of the Federals that they might be able to succeed in making a canal, or cut-off, across the neck of a long, low, narrow tongue of land, against the base of which the full volume of the Mississippi's stream is continually impelled ; but it must be admitted that in the execution of their task they have shown less than their ordinary acuteness. Instead of com mencing their canal precisely at the spot where the stream strikes vehemently upon the river's right bank, they have begun to dig a few hundred yards below. Consequently, there is at the mouth of their canal an eddy or backwater, the reaction from the impulsive onslaught of the stream upon the bank above, and through the canal itself the water has no tendency to flow. Secondly, instead of digging their canal with upright perpendicular sides, which would have had a natural tendency to cave in and permit the river to wash away the banks, it has been dug with sides sloping at an angle of 45 deg., upon which the water presses heavily down, and consolidates the blue lias into a water-tight culvert. The result of these seeming mistakes is likely to be that the boasted canal of these modern emulators of Cyrus will not be a success such as that which diverted the course of the Euphrates, and let in the soldiers of Cyrus along its dry bed below the walls of Babylon. Already there is a seeming conscious ness on the part of the Northern journals that the canal is a failure. It has been tested advantageously, and every chance has been afforded it by the flooded and exuberant current of these last few weeks. The Yankee ditch has, indeed, filled with water, but it lies stagnant and sluggish, a strange contrast to the turbulent stream which hastens unconsciously along its winding and circuitous course and takes no heed of the devices which would beguile and entrap it. But it is doubtful, even though water should flow freely through the canal, should tear its banks, and admit the passage of heavy transports, whether the Federals would dare to send their transports through. The lower batteries of Vicksburg subtend the gorge by which the lower end of the canal enters the Mississippi, and are distant not more than a mile and three-quarters from its exit. To-day, as I was examining these batteries, a shot was fired from one of them which, with a very low charge of pow der, fell right into the mouth of the canal. It would not be easy to get large transports, heavily laden with soldiers, through, without exposing some of them to be blown up by a shell ; and it is dsubtful, with the low degree of enterprise which at present attends all the Federal efforts by water or land, whether any such attempt would ever be made even though the condition of the canal rendered it possible. It has never been doubted that ironclads could run past these batteries, as they can pass any batteries which command only a wide and unob structed stream ; but to all intents and purposes, the Mississippi has for 22 months been sealed against the Federal invader, and so there is every probabi lity of its remaining to the end. It should never be forgotten how few points along the Mississippi be tween Tennessee and New Orleans are available for the landing and encampment of troops. Mile after mile, league after league, the river runs through ar tificial levees, behind which dreary wastes of swamp and fen, the abode in summer of countless alligators, and in winter extending back miles froni' the river, present an impassable obstacle to the passage of men. It is sad to watch even through a telescope the encampments of the unhappy soldiers, fighting " for the best Government that the world ever saw," and detailed to undergo pneumonia, diarrhoea, camp fever, and hundreds of other disearies in the pestilen tial swamp which lies in the Yankee canal. There is no need to ask the question whether there is not much sickness among them. The eye tells you what hundreds of deserters daily confirm, that death is at this moment holding high carnival among the Fe deral camps, and has found a richer feast there than at Fredericksburg. It remains briefly to describe the land defences of Vicksburg, on which an amount of skill and labour has been expended which would gladden the heart of a military engineer. It may be remarked that the natural ruggedness of the hilly country in the neighbourhood renders tie rear of Vicksburg unapproachable to an attacking force save at the cost of stupendous labour in raking roads, cutting down trees, and building lAidges but, as an additional protection, lines extending many miles behind and around the town, have been carefully traced, in which every knoll and emin ence has been made a point of defence and connected with its neighbour by elaborate rifle-pits. Such a network of redoubts, redans, lunettes, and irregular works, all linked together by covered ways, and forming a system of defensive works which would be impregnable if held by a sufficient force of men, has rarely been seen. The confidence which animates the defenders of the heroic little city is based on the fact that twice before a small number of Confederates has repulsed immense bodies of Fe. deral assailants. It would be a satisfaction to an avowed lover of peace if he could witness the slight amount of damage which a feu d'eufer of nearly three months' duration has produced on Vicksburg. Day after day, night after night, one flotilla of gun boats above the town, and another, which had ascended from New Orleans and took its station be low, rained shot and shell into the streets; and yet it is difficult to see any traces of the enormous globes of iron with which the air was continually filled. There were many occasions upon which round shot and shell, at the rate of four to a second, were poured into the town without intermission for three con secutive hours. Vicksburg has suffered less than Fredericksburg, but they bath teach the same les son that we learnt at Sebastopol—that the heaviest artillery fire which it is within the power of man to direct upon an ordinary town is vastly less danger ous and damaging than had previously been ima gined. The injury done to Vicksburg could all be repaired at a cost of 20,000 dols. How many times t his amount has been expended upon it by the Fede rals in 15-inch, 13-inch, and smaller shells, in round shot and grape, and spherical, case, and shrapnel ? What are the chances, under existing circum stances, of Vicksburg being taken ? It requires some patience tranquilly to discuss them. There are three methods of attack, of which two have been unsuccessfully tried already. The first is the bombardment of the town and batteries by gun boats and mortar-boats on the river, in the hope of silencing the Confederate .guns. This was tried Elaborately at an enormous cost last summer, and the result is known to the world. The second is lending troops on the Yazoo River, and marching them through ?swamp and bayou to attack the line or bluffs which run back from the Mississippi to the Yazoo River, and strike the latter at Snyder's. mill, about 13 miles from Vicksburg. This was attempted on the 27th of December last, and an attempt was also simultaneously made to force the obstructions stretched across the Yazoo at Snyder's-mill. Both of these efforts met with signal failure. The Ben ton, which was regarded as the bast of the Missis eippiironclads,was roughly handled by the batteries. The 45,000 men whom General Grant led ap from Chickasaw Bayou (a small stream which empties intoo the Yazoo) found the natural obstacles and difficulties of the country almost more than they could surmount, and when some 6,000 of these men got sufficiently near to the bluffs to encounter oppo sition they were met by an advanced guard of 1,500 Confederates and routed with inglorious facility. The third and, apparently, the only possible method of attack which remains is to land men in trans ports right under the guns of Vicksbrg, and to carry the batteries by storm. It is hardly necessary to say that this plan of attack would exact much more des• perate valour than either of the others. It is inevi table that several transports ,nust be sunk as they approach thebatteries, while the men who land from the surviving transports would be exposed to a tremendous fire cf grape, canister, and musketry. It is not probable that an army so demoralized as that which General M'Clernand commands could be induced to undertake so desperate and hopeless a venture; but, if they do, the result is " beyond a peradventure." There is some talk of pontoons being thrown across the stream and troops beingthus conveyed across either below or opposite the town. The idea of building a pontoon-bridge in the face of the Confederate batteries is manifestly absurd. Tale difficulties of building it anywhere upon the Mississippi are so stupendous that it is hardly worth while to further discuss such a possibility. It is impossible to witness the vagueness and aim lessness of the Federal efforts at Vicksburg, at Baton Rouge, at Murfreesborough, no less than in the neighbourhood of Fredericksburg, without coming to the conclusion that the whole head is sick and the whole heart faint—that there is no man in the North bold enough to face resolutely the desperate, but inevitable necessity, and at all hazards to stop a war which has already cost at least 500,000 lives. and of which the result is unalterable, although 500,000 more were added to swell the total. Everywhere the story is the same. Gen. Banks, who was counted upon as likely to force his way up from New Orleans, past the batteries at Port Hud son, and to co-operate with Gen. M'Clernand in an attack upon Vicksburg, finds his troops so untrust worthy that he is more afraid of them than of the enemy. Deserters flock into every Confederate camp in Louisiana, and nothing but the broad river pre vents an almost unanimous desertion of the Federal troops opposite Vicksburg. How long it will be before Mr. Seward and his Abolitionist backers consent to absolve themselves from the criminal guilt of unnecessary bloodshed it is hard to say; but the general impression here seems to be that the North, and especially New England, utterly hopeless in regard to the departed Union, are eager for one morsel of sweet revenge before they bow to that in exorable logic to which Republics, no less than monarchs, cannot choose but yield. In other words, a desperate attack will be made by land and sea on Charleston, in hopes that its defenders will be so hard pressed as to be compelled to burn the town. But there are not wanting indications that, unless the attack on Charleston is made very soon, the ven geance of New England will lose its opportunity. It is not a question of weeks, it is a question of days whether, in American phrase, the whole bottom of the Northern Government will not fall out, whether without any fresh disaster, sauve qui peut will not be heard in the Federal camps in Virginia, Ken tucky, Tennessee, Vicksburg, and Baton Rouge ; whether the naval officers, who are sending in their resignations—which are invariably refused—by wholesale, will not strike work altogether. It has taken less than two short years to bring down the great republic from the towering eminence of eighty years of unparalleled prosperity, and to suspend it on the brink of a precipice of which no living man can fathom the depth. I had almost forgotten to mention an instance of Yankee enterprise which is refreshing at a moment when acts of energy and daring are much out of fashion among their troops. Two days ago a little river boat, adapted in peaceable times to the carriage of cotton, and called, as it is here believed, the Conestoga, ran boldly past the batteries, and got safely down the river, though heavily fired at along the whole of the five miles of water front which are included within the defences of Vicksburg. The Conestoga was prepared for hazardous venture by protective armour, consisting of cotton bales strapped tightly round her exterior with iron bands. She possessed the additional ad vantage of being one of the swiftest boats on the river. But though well adapted to run the gaunt let, there is a general feeling of shame and annoy ance among the defenders of Vicksburg that she should have escaped that annihilation which, but for an accident, would probably have been her fate. It happened that a Confederate steamboat, named the Vicksburg, was lying at a wharf in the centre of the town, and alongside this boat the Conestoga stopped for a minute or two, and unsuccessfully en deavoured to set her on fire by throwing a blazing bale of cotton steeped in turpentine on the deck. Near the spot stood a Confederate gun —a ten inch Columbiad—of which the fire would have pierced, at that short distance, ten times the thick ness of the armour with which the Conestoga was girt. Unfortunately, this gun, which had fired two shots at the Conestoga as she descended the stream, had upon its second shot got so far out of gear as to be unavailable at the instant when it was sorely needed. The Conestoga was severely struck several times, but passed uninjured down the river, and has since distinguished herself by committing havoc among the Confederate barges between Vicksburg and Port Hudson, and inspiring an alarm which far transcends the amount of damage she has already done. Great threats are fulminated against her as she returns up stream, and there are rumours of mysterious bouts about to descend the Red River. and repeat General I Viagrudtr's recent exploit against the Harriet Lane. But, although a decent respect for Yankee prow ess demands that the different methods of attacking Vicksburg should be tranquilly discussed, there is overy indication that the vast army which has for nearly three weeks sat down in the swamp oppo site Vicksburg is about to take wings and reascend the river without attempting any fresh onslaught upon the lines which defend the city. The swollen state of the river, the dreary wastes of oozy swamp and fen which everywhere line ita banks, have com bined to beffie Yankee ingenuity and to thin Yankee regiments more terribly than sword or bullet. Hu manity recoils from the thought of life thus need lessly wasted—life, of which the heartless politicians of Washington take no more heed than of the frogs which people these same swamps. The condition of the army is becoming intolerable, and everybody knows it. Richmond and Vicksburg have long been consi• dered the two hinges upon which the future of this war turns. My firm impression is that Vicksburg will never be seriously attacked again. It is not probable that the Federals will take their departure without venting their spite and mortification by throwing more shot and shell into the town, and possibly attempting to burn it down. But them is not an intelligent man in the North who has the faintest hope that the Confederate batteries can in this way be silenced. There seems only one Federal army in the. West in which the demoralization and disaffection have not become epidemic—the army under General Rcsencrans in Middle Tennessee. But, in addition to widely-spread rumours that General Rosencrans' health has broken down, the difficulties with which he has to contend are enor mous. In his front is General Joseph E, Johnston, in a position so strong as to make an attack upon him difficult and hazardous. In his rear, from time to time, are the bold cavalry captains who emulate the fame which General J. E. B. Stuart has gained in Virginia—General John Morgan, of Kentucky, the youthful General Wheeler, of Georgia, and General Forrest. At this moment it is known that the commands of all these Generals have been lumped together, and added to the cavalry force a-4 which lately ga;ned distinction under General Van DJCII at Holly Springs. A large body of cavalry somewhere in the neighbourhood of 20,000 sabres is about to attempt a descent upon Nashville, under the command of General Van Dorn, and there aro whispers that the Ohio river may be crossed, and the well known disaffection of the State of Indiana stimulated and encouraged. It is not unreasonable to expect that out of this gigantic cavalry raid and the apparently imminent Federal attack upon Charleston events may arise which will be too strong even for the obstinacy of the Washington Cabinet, and lead to ihat solution of the mighty imbroglio which convulses this agonized continent for which millions of weary hearts in both sections are anxiously praying. Restaurants for the Working Classes. On Saturday afte;noon a meeting of benevolent gentle men took place at the rooms of the Working Men's Club, Colonnade, Clare-market, for the purpose of testing the practicability of a new movement for the advantage of the industrious classes, carried out under the auspices of an Association for the Establishment of Dining and Refresh ment Rooms for the Working Classes. The Rev. Joseph Irving, M,A., presided, and w 3s supported by the Rev. Mr. Killick, rector of St. Clement Danes; the Rev. Mr. Robins, Dr. Lankester, Mr. Simon, Mr. G. A. Sala, and a number of other gentlemen. The object of the association is to provide in the poorer and working districts of London restaurants, or dining and refreshment rooms for the working classes, where they may obtain soups, fish, joints, and other well-cooked dishes, com posed of wholesome food, at the cheapest possible price, In order to test the matter practically, the company sat down to a dinner composed of viands, any of which could be served to a working man, including soup or broth, meat, vegetables, and pudding (varied at pleasure by fish), for a cost not exceeding 41d. The plan is to be carried out under the superintendence of Mr. Warriner, Inspector of Cookery to the Army, and Dr. Letheby has consented to act as food examiner. After the company had partaken of a substan tial dinner, letters were read by Mr. W. Carpenter, the hon. sec., from the Earl of Shaftesbury and others, expressing approval,:and regret at unavoidable absence, and the follow ing tariff of prices at which the food partaken of could be supplied 1— Soups—Meat soup, juillien, soldiers', and vegetable, each id. per pint. Fish—Cod, ld.; plaice, Id.; and toad in the hole, Id. for Boz. Joints—Leg of mutton, 2d., 4oz ; salt boiled beef, 2d., 4oz. ; stewed fresh beef, 2d, 4oz. ; beef pudding, 2d, 10oz.; soldiers' meat dumpling and potatoes, 3d, 16oz, ; beef pies, 2d ; and " India pot' (a very excellent, substantial dish cold), 3d, 16oz. Miscellaneous.—Kidney and Scotch tripe, 2d, 6oz. ; cur ried tripe 3d, 10oz. ; tripe toad in the hole, 3d, 10oz. Puddings—lndian, 2d for 8oz.; Yorkshire, 2d, 8oz.; honey balls, 2d, 8oz.; polenta (sauced), 1 d, 16oz. ; ditto (cheese), lid, I6oz. ; sandwiches of new mixture, ld, 4oz. Vegetables, &c.—Carrots, greens, turnips, broccoli sprouts id. per plate each ; cohl cannon, id. 4oz. ; bread id,for 4oz; and butter, Id. for 2oz. ; coffee, id. for three-quarters of a pint ; cocoa, ld. per pint ; tea, price not yet fixed. The CHAIRMAN proposed " The Health of the Queen," and " The Prince and Princess of Wales " Dr. LANKESTBR and other gentlemen addressed the meet ing, the learned doctor expressing his opinion that material beings required good and wholesome food such as that of which they had partaken, and said he looked upon the movement as one of the most beneficial that could be adopted for the working classes, as to tho want of proper and nourishing food was to be traced drunkenness and many other evils to which the working classes were sub ject. It was also strenuously urged by some of the speakers that they should never be tempted to raise their tariff of prices when once they had established them, or allow any religious or sectarian views to be mixed up with the move ment. These sentiments were generally appreciated, and the company broke up, highly pleased with the inaugura tion of the project. lOUNTRY MARKETS. , COLCHESTER —MARCH 28. A short supply of wheat. Trade was dull, at arel late currencies. Barley was in moderate show, and rather lower. Beans and peas the turn cheaper. Wheat, white. 46s 52s Beans, Mazagan..3os 33s red 42s 48s middle & small.3ss 42s Barley Oats GLOUCESTER—MARCH 28. To-day there was a very small supply of English wheat from the farmers, which sold at the prices of last week. Foreign wheat in slow demand, at late prices. Barley, oats, and beans were dull. 1---MARCH 27. .day there was an adequate ;low, and late prices barely l'ea.s, Partridge 37s 40s White 39s 40s Boiling ..40s 43s Dun 35s 38s Ditto new —s —s Beans, Tick, old 34s 39s new —s —s Harrow Ticks 3ss 40s new —s —5 Mazagan 3os 38s THE SOUTHERN CONFEDERACY. (From the Special Correspondent of the Times.) VICKSBURG, MISSISSIPPI, Feb. 6. There is current at present in the Confederacy a proverb to the effect that it is safer to be engaged in any battle, however bloody, than to undertake a journey by railroad from Mobile to Vicksburg. Certainly, as the traveller proceeds at the rate of eight miles an hour over the last 45 miles of his journey, and sees alongside of the track smashed railroad cars, broken locomotives, the wrecks of a thousand previous accidents, he will understand that there is some truth in the proverb, and will be thankful that he has got to his journey's end. Cir cumstances have brought upon the short link of railroad which connects Vicksburg with Jackson (the capital seat of the State of Mississippi) an amount of pressure which the line was never de. signed to support. Built with rails of the lightest iron, bound together with the flimsiest ties, it is astonishing that the permanent way should not long ago have broken down and become impassable, when it is considered that this railroad has for months and months been the main link of communication between the East and West. Over it have passed thousands of head of cattle, vegetable products of all kinds, the rich growth of Louisiana, Arkansas, and Texas; millions of barrels of sugar and molas ses, brought up the Mississippi from Louisiana, and cash of the traffic which once flowed up the river from New Orleans, to be in part disgorged at Mem phis, and to find its way to the East along the Mem phis and Charleston Railroad, of which a consider able portion has long been in the Federal grasp. It is strange that the lesson can never be learnt by the Washington Cabinet that the mighty area of the Southern States forbids the possibility of bringing them to terms by the seizure of all the strong places upon the seaboard and along the rivers. For months past all the best harbours on the coast, and most of the important towns upon the great rivers, have been held by the North. But although New Or leans, Pensacola, Key West, Port Royal, Beaufort, and Norfolk, and many other points are in the hands of the Federals, the only effect pro duced has been to weaken them, by exacting large forces to hold these stations by sea and land ; and in the interim the port of Charleston alone has been a sufficient alkali to neutralise the acid of Federal possession in twenty other spots. Nor is there any reason to doubt that, if Charleston, Savannah, Mobile, Wilmington, and Galveston fell into Northern hands, there would be found along the 3,000 miles of coast between the Capes of the Chesapeake and the Rio Grande many other points into which vessels could and would run notwith standing the efforts of ten times the number of ships which the Federals can send to sea. Similarly, of what avail is it that the Mississippi should be clutched at New Orleans and Memphis, when Vicksburg end Port Hudson, and the intervening 150 miles of river, are closed against Federal intrusion ? Nor would the position of the Federals be greatly bettered it the Confederate batteries at Vicksburg and Port Hudson could be finally silenced. Iron-clad vessels could, in that case, go up and down the, river, but no trading vessel which descended the river would ever reascend it to tell her tale at St. Louis or Cin cinnati. That the communication between the trans- Mississippi States and the East could never be cut off, though Vicksburg and Port Hudson should fall, is abundantly evident from the experience which the Federals ought to have gained on the Potomac. It cannot be unknown to Mr. Seward that all the numerous-Federal vessels on the Potomac, assisted by the presence of a large Federal army, stretched between Washington and Fredericksburg, were powerless to check smuggling along some 150 miles, through the majority of which the Potomac is ten miles broad. How could it be possible to control the hundreds Of miles through which the Father of Waters rolls his mighty flood to the sea, even though all the assembled fleets of the world were to float upon his broad bosom ? The Confederates know too well the exhaustion of their enemy to be daunted by the temporary inconvenience to which the undis puted possession of the Mississippi from St. Louis to New Orleans by the war vessels of the North might possible expose them. But it is not necessary to point out to the North That the object at which they are aiming —the undisputed navigation of the Mississippi by their vessels of war—will not bring the results which they fondly imagine. Their object is every day shown to be more and more unattainable, and, be the ignorance of the Northern journals on the subject what it may, it is impossible at this moment that either Mr. Stanton or General Halleck can entertain a particle of hope that Vicksburg will fall. I have been astonished to find into what a Gibraltar this insignificant hill city—wholly without fortifica tions at the commencement of the war, never thought of as a defensible point until Governor Pettus, of Mississippi, planted three or four light pieces of artillery on the bluff, and checked the panic terror which followed the surrender of Fort Donnelson nearly a year ago, and prompted the evacuation of Fort Pillow, Columbus, Island No. 10, Nashville, and every strong point on or near the Mississippi River—has gradually grown under the favourable combination of such cir cumstances as ground eminently adapted by na ture for defence, skilful direction of engineer officers, the labour of twelve or fourteen hundred negroes, and long absence of interference by the Federal forces. The situation of Vicksburg is sin gular, and not easily deseribed. The channel of the Mississippi, as the river descends from the North. is suddenly twisted in a north-easterly direction for a couple of miles, when it again turns abruptly and sweeps round towards the south-west, leaving b low, narrow spit of land exposed and dry, and almost enfolded within the embrace of its waters. It might be imagined that a gigantic letter U, narrow, and very deeply indented, had been traced in the spongy soil. Assuming that the river flows in at the apex of the right-hand stroke of this imaginary U, the situation of Vicksburg would be " from the bend at the bottom of the left-hand stroke , I CHELMSFOR: At this corn exchange to supply, but trade was very t maintained. Wheat, old white 30s 63s new 35s 49s old red 37s 46s new 35s 44s Bacley 2.s 36s Chevalier ..28s 39s Grinding 22s 31s Malt.... Chevalier . 64s 69s i Oats 20 s 28s i KIRKCALDY GRAI—MARCH 28. We had small supplies of wheat, N barley, and oats. Seed parcels brought extreme prices, while middling qualities sold much as last week. Wheat. Barley. Oats. First.... 30s 6d I 23s Od 2ls 6d Second 38s Od 25s Od 24s Od Third ....—s Od —s Od —s Od Foreign Mail Packet List. MAILS DUB.' AuKralia and Mauritius, via Southampton. .Apr. 18 via Marseilles Brazil And Cape Verds, by British packet. Apr. 6. Cape of Good Hope, Ascension, and St : Helena. Apr. 1. china, Penang, and Singapore, via Southampt on . Apr. 4 . via Marseilles ...Ap r . 21 . Falkland Isl an d s . 6 Gibraltar, Apr , via Southampton Mar. 28. Emilia (Calcutta), and Ceylon, via Southampton Apr. 4 via 111 arseilles Apr. 12. India (Bombay), via Southampton . via Marseilles kpr. 4. Portugal.... Apr. 6 , ialta, Egypt, and Aden, via Southampton ..... . Mar. 28. via Marseilles .. Mar, 29, Newfoundland ..Apr. 1. Oporto and Vigo U. S. and British N. America, Ly Brit. packet.... Apr. 1. by U.S. packet.... b Canadian packet. Apr. 3. W.C. of Afri ca , M a d e i ra, and Te y neriffe .. Apr. 10. Bahamas, via New Y or k Apr. 9. NI exico ...... Mar. 31. All parts of West Indies, including Chili, Peru, }Mar, 31. California, and B r iti s h Columbia.. The excavations at Pompeii, conducted by the enlightened and energetic director Cay. Fiorelli, are daily bringing forth fresh marvels. Two or three days since, near the Porta Oriente, was found an object perfectly unique, and which has no parallel in any museum in Europe. It is a large lucerne of gold, with two lights, and must, as Fiorelli thinks, have formed a part of the treasures of some temple. The gold is of the finest quality, and as the lucerne weighs upwards of 31b., its value exceeds 10,909 lire. This wonderful object has been deposited in the museum, and may be seen in the Raccolta degli Oggetti preziosi. [ADVERTISEMNT. j --Holloway's Ointment and Pills.— Diseases of the Skin.—By the joint action of these ines timable specifics, all skin eruptions are quickly banished from the system, the worst description of wounds or ulcers are easily eradicated, the tnorbific matter, which nature finds injurious to her, is thrown out, and a thoroughly healthy state of the blood and fluids is the result, restoring a sound mind and body to sufferers after all other treat ment has been found ineffectual, in many cases saving sur gical operations and even life itself, by their miraculous power. The medicaments are composed of vegetable ex trr cts of rare virtue, without the admixture of a grain of mercury or any other noxious sustance. Births. --- BOTHAMLEY.—On the 30th inst., at 5, Hilmarti n Vill as, Holloway, th e w if e o f M r. H. Bothamley, of a son. CHARRINGTON.—On the 26th inst., at Great Gearies, Barking Side, Essex, the wife of Spencer Charrington, Esq., of a son. STEIVART.—On the 29th inst., at 13, Belgrave-square, the Lady Isabella Stewart, of a son. YOUNG.—On the 30th inst., at Beulah. hill, Upper N or . wood, the wife of David Young, of a daughter. Marriages. ANDERSON—RUSSELL.—On the 26th inst., at St, George's, Everton, Mr. Alexander Anderson, engineer, of DE coultry, N. 8., to Mary, eldest daughter of Mr. Andrew Russell, printer, of Liverpool. BREESE —BnooK.—On the 28th inst., at Saint Mary's, Rornsey, Charles, J am es Breese, of Goswell•street, E.C., to Elizabeth, eldest daughter of William Brook, Esq., of Great Tower-street, city, and Grove-lane, Camberwell. Deaths. ARMSBY.—On the 29th inst., Mrs. D. Armaby, of Graves end, aged 91. BROOKSBANK.—On the 2 7th inst„ at Tynemouth, J ames Brooksbank, jun., Esq., b arrister-at -law, Inner Temple, aged 46. E RLE.—On the 27th inst., Arthur Maxwell Earle, Major A Unattached. STRATFoRD.—On the 28th inst.. at Addington-place, near Maidstone, the Hon. Mrs. 'Wingfield Stratford, aged 80. WALSHAM—On the 29th inst., at Cheltenham, Anna Maria, widow of Col. Walsham, of Knill Co ur t, Herefordshire, W and mother o f Si r John alshara, Bart., aged 83. WlLKlNaoic.—On the 25th inst., at New-cross, Thomas S. Wilkinson, Esq., aged 47. London • Printed and Published by WILLIAM ANDREWS,. of No. 112, Strand, Printer, at THE SUN Office, No. 112, Strand, in the Precinct of the Savoy, in the County of BlalTh 31, 1863,