The Sun. — London, England, 1868-01-04 00:00:00

doing to assume a hostile attitude towards the living spirit--the people of Turkey. It is a mistake to asso ciate in the minds of the future masters of Turkey the name of England with the attempt—the futile attempt— to preserve an odious and oppressive rule. Along the southern banks of the Danube and the Save, stretch ing from the Black Sea to the Adriatic, lie the cities and the corn-fields of an almost homogeneous race, which :s day by day becoming—whether we will or no— lo masters of these broad lands. Only our indifference and the remains of the strangely mistaken policy of dead Cabinets are driving these people into alliance with Rus sia. It is true that similarity of language and identity of origin and religion attract the Serbs of Turkey towards the ' government of the Czar, but that very similarity and Identity are at the same time powerful motives of repul sion. The Serb r..ce, proud of the memory of its past history, and living amid the ruins of the old monarchy of Duohan and Nemania, aspires to a career of its awn, and thirsts for an independent existence. Every Serb knows that such a career is incompatible with a close alliance with Russia, which under existing circumst is but another name for absorption into the great 61avonic monarchy of the North. For this reason both the country and people of these provinces look for sympathy and moral support to this country. rho very fears which we profess, and which blind us to a consistent course of action, ought long since to have compelled us to lay aside our coldness and indifference to these wishes, and should have led us to cultivate the friendship of a race which in its thirst for constitutional government and for education is worthy of our warmest sympathy and our most earnest support. No firmer bar rier can be reared against the ambition of more empires than that of Russia than the erection of a compact State which shall embrace the whole Serb race. Against this not only the ambition of Russia, but the fears and self interest of Austria, are arrayed, and hitherto English statesmen have blindly taken their policy from one or other of these great rivals. This blindness, we trust, is passing away, and we have confidence that the present Secretary of Foreign Affairs is too clear-sighted and pos sesses too calm a judgment to be led away by the false lights which dazzled the eyes of Lord Palmerston. On the day when English statesmen understand the real position of affairs in Turkey, and when the English nation cease to confound the independent existence of these coun- tries with the preservation of the rule of the Mussulman caste, the Eastern question will have been well-nigh solved. MUSICAL AND DRAIIIAVIC GOSSIP. Few will be surprised to learn that there i 3 trouble in our Royal Academy of Music, which will p )3sibly end in its disruption. Mr. John F. Barnett's " Ancient Mariner" will shortly be performed in London. The Dean and Chapter of Chester Cathedral have dared an innovation which has long been wanted, and introduced female singers ir.to the service. But then, like the harps at a never-to be-forgotten choral wedding in Westminster Abbey, these heterodox implements of sacred music are screened out of sight. Among the saddest things which it is the historian's duty to chronicle are the mistakes made by those who have been long public favourites, in refusing to recollect that, be their summer and autumn ever so long, winter days will come, when they arc best at home. It is painful to say that Signor Mario's appearance at St. Petersburg has been disastrous. Something of this may be charged on the climate ; but considering the present state of his resources, his ill reception may be ascribeel to other causes. Artists are too apt to forget that in no country save England is the public grateful enough for past delights to be patient with the inevitable ravages of time. The Parisians threw a funeral wreath on the stage to the most consummate actress we have ever seen —Mars—to remind her that she was " supeilluous" on the stage. It is something new for an English violinist to travel the Continent as a virtuoso; but our coun tryman, Mr. Alfred Holmes, is making a concert-tour in Holland, to his own satisfaction and that of his audience. The 300th representation of " Der Freischutz" has been given at Dresden. The date of the first ap pearance of this most popular of German operas taken into account, this does not seem a very high figure ; and the less so if compared with that of the operatic " runs" of modern time, especially in Paris. " Antigone," with Mendelssohn's music, and " Stale:lsec," with Meyerbcer's, have been revived in Berlin. Lortzing's " Undine," with a Flemish text, has been given at the National Opera-house at Brussels, established for the especial encouragement of native talent. The following titles of new Italian operas are given in foreign journals La Bella Margherita," by Signor Battista ; " Giunitta" (what has become of Signor Peri's " Giuditta"?) in Naples ; and " Clarice Visconti," by Signor Mari, in Ancona. The only surviving actresses who played with John Kem ble are Miss O'Neil (Lady Becher), and Mis 3 Stephens (Dowager Countess of Essex). In Kc-mble's last season, among its great attractions were "The Stranger" (in which the two chief parts were played by Yemble and Miss ; and " Hamlet," in which Miss Stephens warbled Ophelia to John's wayward Dane. But these are things of half a century ago- —Athelururn. LAW AND POLICR AN OLD DODGE.—The Lord Mayor has had berore hiM tne case of one Charles Underwood, who was charged with going into a licensed victualler's, ordering an expensive dinner, and then saying that he had left his purse at home. It was said that this was not the first time the prisoner had done the same trick. In answer, he ple:::,clcd that the Lord Mayor had no jurisdiction ; he ought to be sum moned to the county court. The Lord Mayor, however did not appear to see it in that light, and though the prisoner said it would be a week's false imprisonment, he was remanded for a week. AN IMPETti OtiS Hon . EBREA KER. —Fran Cis Patrick, Charles Jones, alias Page, and William Axted, oft-con victed thieves, were indicted at the Surrey Sessions for breaking and entering 111, Upper Stamford-street, Black friars-road, and stealing from the roof upwards of 3cwt. of lead, the property of Joseph Walker. The prisoners were discovered by a policeman on the top of an empty house. The alarm was given, and all the prisoners endeavoured to decamp. One of them, however, in his impetuosity jumped from a flat right through the skylight of a car pouter's shop. All the prisoners were captured imme diately afterwards, and upon examination 2cwt. of lead was found rolled up on the roof. It having been shown that they were old off.n rs, Patrick was sentenc cd to ten years and the other two to seven years' penal servi tude. MURDEROUS GAROTTE 13.0r:IERY.-At the Nottingham Police-court, yesterday, Francis Ilattewell was charged with garotting Mr. Henry Clarke, gentleman, in that town. The prosecutor was returning home late at night, when he was attacked by two men. The first struck him a tremendous blow under the chin, from which he fell, and they then kicked him most savagely. Blood flowed freely, and he was becoming insensible, when assistance came up, and the ruffians made off. The prisoner, how ever, was pursued and captured. A valuable watch be longing to the prosecutor was nearly smashed to pieces in the struggle. The prisoner was committed for trial at the assizes. STABBING BT A PUBLICAN.—WiIIiam Topping, a pub lican, at Wigan, has been charged with a serious assault on a collier, named Lester. The complainant and several other persons were drinking on New Year's Day at defen dant's house, when a quarrel took place. Topping seized a knife, and with it inflicted seven wounds on Lester's head and neck. Lester was unable to appear, and was reported in a dangerous condition. The prisoner was remanded. ARSON.—A person named William Skeels has been charged, on his own confession, with setting fire to saw mills at Deiby, belonging to the Midland Railway Com pany. It was proved that the mills 'referred to were de stroyed by fire some time ago. The prisoner, when he gave himself up to the police, made a statement chewing how he set fire to the mill. He was remanded. THE LATE BARON MAR.OOIIETTI.—At the Palace of the Tuileries throughout the reign of the Orleans dynasty the sculptor was as much at home as at Turin. With more than courtly affection, however, Marochetti followed the ad verse no less than the prosperous fortunes of his royal friends, and upon the downfall of Louis Philippe he cast in his lot with the exiled family, and gave up in France a splendid position with no other prospect than that of beginning life anew in this country.— Times. EXTRAORDINARY OCCURRENCE AT A WORKHOUSE. —EIGHTY DOTS SALIVATED : ONE DEAD.—An extra ordinary occurrence has been brought to light at an inquiry at the Preston House of Recovery, held before Mr. Myers, coroner, in reference to the death of a boy named Patrick Burke, son of Stephen Burke, who was executed at Lancaster in September 18G6, for the murder of his vtife. It seems that the deceased was an inmate of the Walton-le-Dale 'Workhouse, near Preston, and two days Wore Christmas Day the governor thought he would make the boys perfectly clean when inspected by visitors, and obtained from the surgery a pot of " blue ointment, which contains a considerable quantity of mercury." Ha f a tablespoonful of this ointment he rubbed on the head of each boy in the workhouse—between eighty and ninety— and about fog:: or five hours later washed them and sent them to bed. Next morning they all felt unwell, and the day following the attention of Dr. Smith was called to four of them, who were salivated and suffering from great exhaustion. By his direction they were removed to the House of Recovery at Preston, but it was not until the death of one of them (Burke) that the doctor was informed of what had been done. He then made an inspection of The John Bull discusses at some length the tendency of the whole of the boys, and found it necessary to confine British policy in the East. In the opinion of our contem- nearly forty of them to bed. The jury returned a verdict porary, it is a mistake to tie ourselves hand and foot to of accidental death, but cautioned the governor against his what must before log yea mere corpse, and by So_ I Practices for the future, SPIRIT OP THE POLIO JOURNALS. The Times deprecates the idea 'of our getting up anti- ' Fenian demonstrations, as proposed by the Metropolitan ;Working Men's Conservative Association. Such move ments are not required in this country. Of course it can be easily understood that the indignation against Fenianism which has been excited among the working class by the Clerkenwell Explosion has in some cases, by an ar,,.sy transition, taken the form of hostility to Irishmen. Of course our workmen ought to remember that all Irish men are not Fenians, and that, whatever may be the reck lessness of the race, there can be only a very small proportion of them ready to blow up gasworks or mann streetsful of people. But it is difficult even for detectives to know a Fenian when they see him ; how then are working men to distinguish the intend ing murderer from the sympathiser, or the sym pathiser from him who is innocent of any evil design ? Unfortunately, too, Irishmen have long tongues. and are apt to say a great deal more than they mean. When a man has been abusing the British Government for years, and predicting the glorious advent of freedom for his " oppressed country," with many allusions to Irish armies and the " Stars and Stripes," his companions may be excused for believing him a conspirator, though we who know Irishmen can well understand that he is perfectly harmless. The fact is that the Irish population generally is deeply suspected by the English, and the threats of outrages in which English working men would be the chief sufferers have irritated the latter extremely. If they are kept much longer in continual apprehension by these rumours, we may expect a strong animosity to be engendered, which any new atrocity would perhaps rouse into immediate action. As it is, we are informed that in some districts one of the chief tasks of the police is to protect the Irish workmen and labourers against their incensed neigh bours. In Staffordshire they are looked upon with a distrust deepening into hostility; in South Wales it would take very little to raise the native miners against them, and in London the most easy and cosmopolitan of our town populations would never endure a repetition of the Clerkenwell exploit. For these reasons it would rather deprecate any course which would seem to place the English in conflict with the Irish, and increase the jealousy which present circumstances are arousing. Englishman of any class needs to give a pledge of his loyalty, for nobody suspects 'him ; if he wish to assist in keeping the peace, he can be sworn in as a special con stable. This is the most solemn as well as the most con stitutional and practical of demonstrations. Anti-Fenian or, as they might become, anti-Irish meetings throughout the country would tend to increase an agitation which it is desirable to allay, and they might possibly, in some case, produce an untoward event. With every respect for the good intentions of our Conservative friends, we would advise them to abandon their project, and be content to know that their loyalty is taken for granted. The Post thinks it quite time that the money-lending trades should be put under penalties. It offers great temptations to youths. It is too much to expect from any boy, ignorant of the world and its ways, that he shall resist pleasure in its most attractive form. Not only is he asked by scores of advertisements and confidential letter.. to borrow money in sums which he has never before possessed, but every device is exhausted to excite his hopes and lull to sleep his prudence. No term is fixed for repayment if he is a troy whose expectations are known to be good. Ile may set his guardians at defiance before he has left school, and discount a considerable part of his for tune at cent. per cent. This is not all. A system of touting exists which is inexpressibly shocking. Some of these ogres keep touts at Eton and other of the great public schools. Money-lenders' touts may be numbered by the dozen at the universities and military clubs. They are even sent out to the chaplains and German professors, who often finish the education of young men of fortune. These touts receive a fixed percentage on every transac tion, and many of them make a base but plentiful living by decoying their companions. There has been more than enough of this kind of thing, and it is quite time that it should end. All persons who are entitled to borrow money for any proper object may obtain it from twenty different sources at a fair price, and from capitalists who are eager to lend it. If, therefore, a money-lender thinks proper to invest his means in so discreditable a speculation as an attempt to defraud children too inexperienced to cope with him, he should be left alone in every case to get out of the trouble in which he may become thereby involved without help from anybody. We are reminded by the Herald that a telegram from Men of December 20 tells us that the head of the 2nd brigade w%.5 expected there next day. The Scinde Horse and the 4th brigade from Bengal were counted upon to arrive about the end of the month or early in January. Transports carrying the field telegraph staff, ordnance stores, and commissarir.t, were passing Aden daily cn route :or Annesley Bay. Tier Majesty's ship Star was en2;a:,ed ln buoying and lighting the Abyssinian coast. No scion. thic appliance, no ingenious invention of modern Cnies, will be wanting in the complete furnishing of an enter prise which is without a parallel in modern times. Some time back, when an enthusiastic gentleman suggested mildly the advisability of doing some thing to procure the liberation of the captives, he was met by the scoffing question whether we were to got to Abyssinia in a balloon. A port without a landing place, a plain without water, a pass that is all but impas sable, a country without roads, a people without a ruler — these are obstacles enough to shake the resolve of the most dauntless. Not for any chimera, any dream of con quest, any slight pique or occasion of quarrel, should we have undertaken an expedition in the teeth of such diffi culties, or launched so many brave men into a situation so surmounted wan peril. It is because we know our cause to be a good one, pure from all taint of selfishness or lust of gain ; because we feel that we have been driven to this enterprise by considerations of a character which we cannot gainsay, that we feel so confident of succeeding in it, now that we have once fairly put our shoulders to the wheel and have our hearts in the work. The Saturday Review does not hesitate to plainly tell us that the recently published revenue returns speak of a depression of industry increasing up to the end of the year. The return is the worst that has been seen for many years, not even excepting the period of the cotton faraine, but it is so mainly because we have been accustomed for so long a period to uninterrupted progress that the slightest check fills us with surprise and disappointment. After all, the actual loss on the year is scarcely appreciable—less than per cent. of the entire revenue ; and thus far the ascer tained result is merely this, that we have lost one year of our usual progress, and stand now pretty much wLcrc we we were on the Ist of January, 1867, with the one impor tant exception that the interval which separates us from the cause of the mischief is three times as great as it then was. Moreover, it is to be remembered that the previous return with which the comparison of the present is made was one of an extraordinary kind. Notwithstanding the panic, the revenue of 1866 shewed an improvement of nearly £2,500,000, or about one-third more than the normal increase. According to the usual estimates of the natural growth of the revenue, two years ought to add £3,500,000 to the national income in the absence of any alteration in taxation. Of the last two years, one has contributed nothing in the shape of increase, while the other has given £1,000,000 less than the amount fairly to be expected from the two together. This, therefore, is the more exact measure of our loss. The ordinary increment for eight months would amount to more than a million ; so that if we group the whole period since the beginning of 1866 together, what we have to regret is a cessation of improvement during some months, and that is all, unless the stagnation should continue for some part of the coming year. On consideration it may be thought that this is not a heavier penalty than the nation deserved for all the fol lies that culminated in the panic of 18;6 ; nor is it one that may not be borne with patience, and perhaps re couped by the first year of wholesome commercial activity. Still, it is not a small thing for a country like England to stand still in developing her productive power for two-thirds of a year ; and it is only to be regretted that this and many other results of excessive speculation are never remembered except at times when excessive speculation is impossible. The tardiness with which the influences set at work by a commercial crisis produce their natural effect still further diminishes the impressiveness of the lesson. Until very recently the country was quite jubilant at the strange elasticity of the revenue in the year when Overend, Gurney, and Co. closed their doors, quite forgetting that the retribution might still be impending, as we now know that it was. Nor is there anything surprising in this. Many of our taxes are based upon profits and dealings at least a year prior to the date of collection, and if a series of revenue returns were carefully analysed for the purpose, it would probably be found that they measure, as a rule, rather the prosperity of the previous than of the current year. If this is so, we can scarcely expect a very early rebound. The depression of trade has not yet been recovered, and the national income in 1868 will probably suffer from the stagnation of 1867, just as that of the present year has suffered from the calanit'es of 1866. It is unlucky that tile exceptional expense of the Abyssinian expedition should have fallen upon so unlucky a time, and we may think ourselves fortunate if the additional penny of income tax should prove to be the last of the demands which the Chancellor of the Exchequer may have to make on this account. Mr. Disraeli will, no doubt, have the tact to see that these are not times for ambitious budgets, and that the only sound financial policy of the Government is one of careful economy and sober expectation. THE SUN, LONDo.N. SATIJIWAI E ENJNG, JANUARY 4, ISt 8. JIESCELLANEOUS NEWS. fr.rorta the Anglo-American Times.) PARIS, Jau 1, 1868. The attention of France has of late been almost exclusively concentrated upon her Budget, or at least upon that part of it having reference to the increase of the standing army, and the arrange ment of the term of military service. The bill in troduced by the Government has encountered the most vehement opposition; yet after a series of the most brilliant debates, partly owing to the injudicious tactics pursued by the Op position, who brought forward a counter proposi tion in the shape of an amendment, advocating a general disarming, and a levy of the nation en masse should circumstances so require (a project easily shown to possess more defects than the measure pro posed by Government, without at the same time affording any corresponding advantages), partly owing to the feeling of the majority that the pre sent moment was not adapted for entertaining crude and speculative projects when the warcloud might be already in the horizon, even though no bigger than a man's band, the result has been a complete victory on the part of the Government. The real questions at issue in this most important debate were, first, whether a complete war organisa tion was or was not most likely to preserve peace; and, secondly, how the nation would be affected by the expensesincumbent thereon, the question of the dura tion of military service being met by the Government half way, and by means of employing both an old and a young reserve, fixing the period at five years, an abridgment of the present term. lii discussing these various points, the brilliant and persuasive eloquence of the War Minister, Marshal Neil, car ried all before it, and, to use the expression of a contemporary, the day on which the amendment of the Opposition was rejected, became for him a Par- iamentary Solferino. Whilst not entirely partici pating in the seducing portrait of a soldier's life, so admirably sketched by the Marshal, it cannot, nevertheless, be denied that the French soldier possesses advantages beyond those offered to the soldiers of other nations, not merely in the fact that the highest promotion is open to him, in a service where advancement by purchase is unknown, but in the numerous privileges and the almost paternal care with which he is surrounded by the authorities. "Twenty-five years ago," said the War Minister, " and the marshals of to-day were in the ranks, and from those who are at this moment in the ranks will probably be chosen the men who will be marshals in twenty-five years from this time." Be that as it may, the Government Bill will be carried, and France possess an effec tive force of 750,000 men, with recruiting resources which will probably give more than a million and a quarter. But whatever may be the result of this step, there can be no doubt of the sincere desire to maintain peace, of which the Emperor has given such repeated proofs; neither does there exist any probable reason to assume that upon this point there is the least want of accord between himself and his Ministers. Let us hope, then, for the best. Even though the political horizon of the Continent be at present somewhat overcast, when Italy is fuming in secret over the check which she rather than Garibaldi has so recently received, when the relations between Servia and the Sublime Porte is anything but satisfactory—when England is occu pied with an expensive and profitless (save in pres tige) war abroad, and is harassed at home by domestic treason, the first and most effective check to which, by the bye, would be that the Catholic priesthood should avail themselves of the occasion go show their loyalty, trusting to such men as White side to bringbefore the British Parliament their griev ances of whatsoever nature they may be, and biding their time for their redress. There is, no doubt, in the mind of any one acquainted for any length of lime with Ireland ; a belief has grown up, and gone on constantly increasing, that all the various ills from which they suffer, from absenteeism downwards, are attributed to the Union, the repeal of which would form a species of universal panacea or millennium—a belief which the dark spirit of Fenianisin has never for an instant ceased to foster. Atthe same time, there are no doubt many real grev ances and anomalies, especially religious ones, which might be susceptible of redress—grievances sure to exist where the religion of the State is not the religion of the country at large, and where also the difference of language (I allude to the pure Irish or Celtic spoken in so many parts of Ireland) does not allow to that State religion a suitable medium of interpretation. But I am travelling out of my path. Revenons a Paris. The New Year has been inaugurated by a serenade given by the various mili tary bands to their Imperial Majesties in the Court of the Tuileries, as well as by the official reception of the Emperor of the various members of the Corps Diplomatiques, the civil and other authorities, the officers of the National Guard, and of the naval and military services. Midnight masses have been celebrated on the grandest scale this year in Paris at the Metropolitan Church, at those of St. Sulpice, St. Roche, and the other principal churches. At the Madeleine it was impossible to enter after half past ten o'clock in consequence of the solos being chaunted by the celebrated artistes Faure and Madame the Baroness de Caters, daughter of Lablache. Amidst the gaieties of Noel a touching instance of unselfish solicitude for the sufferings and miseries of the poor deserves especial mention. On the morning of Friday last an unassuming private carriage containing two ladies drove up to the Hos pital at Versailles, and, after some preliminary diffi culties, were admitted to the presence of the Lady Superior. " I am come," said the tallest of the two, " because I have been informed that the arrange ments are not in some respects such as you would entirely approve, as regards the comfort of our inmates, if you will kindly accompany me, we will see to the matter together." " Pardon, madame, but Friday is a day of disorder at the hospital. Still more, the present time is that of a disgusting spectacle, the dressing of the wounds, &c." " knew it," was the reply, " and it is for that reason I am present, but the spectacle of those who suffer and of those who comfort is not disgusting ; it is simply a double and a touching lesson." The speaker was the Empress Eugenie, who afterwards spent several hours in a personal examination of the hospital arrangements, an every-day example of the interest so constantly exhibited by the Imperial Family of France for the welfare of their subjects. I close my letter this week in compliance with the wishes of many fair friends with a brief abstract of a veritable and as yet unpublished Christmas " Legend of Paris," a gem of its kind, simply pre facing it with the explanation that on the Christmas Eve in France it is customary for children to place an empty shoe by the side of the hearth ere retiring for the night, the presents usually found therein on the ensuing morning being attributed to a visit from the Saviour, again become an infant. Thirty years ago there livel in a garret in Paris a poor old widow—so poor that sne had not always bread, and very seldom firing, for at eighty years of age the gain at the needle is something more than precarious. She was the descendant of a noble family, ruined some two-thirds of a century ago by the revolutions. All that she had loved had died around her—husband, daughter, son-in-law, rela tives, all with the exception of a little granddaugh ter of some six years of age, of whom she was the only support. It was the eve of Noel. The season was unusually rigorous, and work proportionately scarce. "Grandmother," said the infant all at once, " you know that I should like to have a doll ; and more than three months ago you told me that the infant Jesus would place one in my shoe upon the Eve of the Noel." " I do not deny it," said the widow with a sigh. " It is not true, then, what the little (laughter of the Concierge told me, that the infant Jesus never visits a hearth like ours where there is never a fire." " Jesus," raid the widow gravely, " is, on the contrary, the friend and the consoler of the poor." The little daughter of the Concierge is not yet old enough to read her Bible, or she would not have said that. The child was silent, and slept satisfied and confident. Never had her grandmother deceived ; the solemn or ten der words which fell from those pale lips were always those of love and truth. The grandmother remained atone before the fireless hearth, thinking sadly of the grief of the child when, on awaking, 5110 found that the infant Jesus had deemed her unworthy of a visit. All at once her eye fell upon her wedding ring, her companion and memorial of sixty years, and hastily , hrowing a tattered shawl over her frozen shoulders, she hurried to the shop of a neigh bouring jeweller and laid it before him. It was a ring of a former century, with curious compart ments, and the artificer carefully examined them, and exclaimed brusquely " Whose is this ring ?" " Mine," was the reply. " And from whom did you get it ?" " From my late husband." " I must keep this ring until to-morrow," said the jeweller. " Impossible," said the widow ; " is is Christmas eve, and I must have a doll for my little grand daughter, who sleeps at this moment." "In that case, have the goodness to wait whilst I send for the person interested in this matter." The widow sunk on a chair without reply, anticipating the speedy appearance of a commissary of police, and an arrest upon suspicion —when, after the lapse of a few minutes, the door opened, and a venerable old man, of benevolent appearance, appeared on the threshold. He appeared a member of the upper classes, and wore in his button-hole the ribbon of the Legion of Honour. 44 I read engraved upon this ring," said the old man, with visible emotion, " two names, Emmeline de Surville, and Hector, Marquis de Barsar. " They are mine and my husband's," was the reply. " You are then the widow of the Marquis Hector ?" The astonished widow replied in the affirmative. The old man took her in his arms. " I am the brother," said he, " of your dead husband, a brother who after the wars of the Empire has passed for dead, and who returns from the Indies a bachelor, with a fortune which, before your arrival, he was at a loss what to do with." I have fulfilled my promise, and my fair readers must imagine the denouement, for I dare not tres pass further upon the patience of the sub-editor, upon whom, as Mr. Paul Rooney said to the Lord Chief Justice, I leave the onus of the present ex tended communication. NAPLES, Dec. 27. Alexander Hammett, during 52 years, from 1808 to 1861, American Consul at Naples, died last Wed nesday, aged 90 years. Old, sick, and starving, he has got well out of a bad scrape. _ _ _ Naples is this week very empty of visitors. They have gone to Rome to hear the silver trumpets on Christmas morning. But they will soon flock back, for Vesuvius is kind enough to continue one of the most interesting and, 1 am glad to add, one of the most harmless eruptions known for many years. It presents all the varicus features—projection of in candescent matter to a great height, showers of cinders, overflow of liquid lava ; everything is to be seen ; but not having reached the cultivated land it is only formidable to tourists, who will not be satisfied unless they risk their lives. The weather is clear and bright, the ground covered with snow wherever the lava does not reach, and the effects of light and refraction at night surpass anything which ordinary nature can show, art imitate, or poetry describe. ROME, Dec. 28, 1867. On Christmas-day the Pope celebrated the cus tomary Pontifical mass in the basilica of St. Peter, and then proceeded to the Pieta to receive the con gratuiations of the sacred college, which were ten dered by Cardinal Patrizi. His Holiness, in reply to the earnest wish expressed by the Cardinal for that most precious of blessings of peace, said :—" At the epoch of the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ the Jews were divided into seven parties, who were at continual war with each other. There were the Pharisees, who deceived the people with their false virtues ; the Sadducees, plunged in sensual plea sures, and who denied the Resurrection ; then the Essenes, the Herodians, and a crowd of other poli tical factions, who tore the bosom of that unfortu nate nation. This was the sure indication of im pending ruin. In the Roman empire, on the con trary, there were unity and force. You will suffi ciently comprehend what I allude to. In the presence of that tempest of discordant opinions we see arise, firm and compact, the unity of the Church, which never appeared so entire and perfect as at that time, when the admirable accord of the Catholic episcopate with the centre of unity made it every where vigoroas. If, then, discord is a sign of approaching dispersion, our accord is a pledge of a happy future. As our adversaries, divided on all points, and looking only to their material interests, are at least united in making war on the Catholic Church, let us also, laying aside all divergence of opinion, concentrate our thoughts in defence of our holy faith." On Christmas-eve Mr. Hooker, of the American banking firm Macquay, Pakenham, and Hooker, gave a charming musical entertainment at his resi dence in the Palazzo Bonaparte. The invitations were over 650, of which 450 were to Americans. Business in the United States is everywhere re ported as dull. On all sides people have been thrown out of employment, and every branch of mechanical labour is overstocked. Mechanics fl)ck from coun try districts into the cities, while there best chance is to flock from the cities away West. Manufac turers are offering the alternative of reduced wages or cessation of work. Under their circumstances a national convention of Atneric tn manufacturers will be held at Cleveland, Ohio, to consider the whole subject, and the Boston Board of Trade has decided to call a National Commercial Con. vention to meet in that city on the sth of February, to consider the transportation interests of the country, the depressed condition of ocean com merce, currency, uniform measurement of grain, and the organisation of a National Chamber of Commerce. A JAPANESE PRINCE, by advertisement in a New York paper, warns the people of America against trust ing certain Japanese officers, now absent without leave and supposed to be in the United States. It states that no debts incurred by any of the following wanderers will be paid by the Japanese Government: Tarri Motto Nero, Nomura Ichutzke, Taki UchiKenso, Mori Kakutzo, Mono Kango, Huro Yuso. A petition for the pardon of Dr. Mudd, wbo be haved so well on the outbreak of yellow-fever at th 3 Tor tugas, after being numerously signed by medical men, was forwarded to the President. Ethan Allen, an American citizen, was hanged at Kingston, Canada, on the 14th ult. for murder. The New York 7 inws, writing of the bloodthirsty negro of the Louisiana State Convention to whom we alluded, says :—A coloured Cromwell (in name at least) who wants to bring "Andy Johnson or any other man" to the block if need be, has told the Lou isiana Convention that negroes were going to have their rights "if it was by revolution and blood," and "will rule until the last one of us goes clown for ever." But another delegate, "also coloured," gave him a Roland for his Oli ver, and raid, "the talk of a war of the races was all a humbug," and, considering the disparity of the two races, the negrocs "could get no rights the whites did not see fit to give them." This last speaker seems to be a sensible fellow. His name is Mr. Pinchback, or Pinchbeck, but he ought to exchange names with his colleague. He is the genuine man and the other the Pinchbeck. Mr. Dickens, on visiting the Boston school ship the other day, made a speech to the apprentices, wind ing up with, "Boys, just do all the gocd you can, and don't make any fuss about it." An " intelligent" squatter thus addresses the editor of a Leavenworth (Kansas) paper:— Sikapoo, nov. the 24, 1867. "Dere Zur :—Will you pleze Inform ma weather niggur sxpbsage Was carrid at The late lection. If sech igurant peepul is to voat I want to leave this God fursakiug State, and go back to Suthern illinois." The Spring field Republican is severe on George Francis Train, whom it calls " a crazy clown," who more than neutralised the good influence of the sensible speeches of Mrs. Stanton and Miss Anthony in the City Hall on woman suffrage. "In his advocacy of his own claims to the Presidency, Train showed himself as crazy as Daniel Pratt, jun. —smarter, but not a whit wiser." Mr. Pkelps, of the House Committee on Appro priations, endeavoured to limit extra allowances for sta tionery, but as a strong feeling is 1141 by Congressmen on the subject of pocket-knives, his motion was not ap proved. _ _ Mr. Maynard, of Tennessee, desires the United States to be represented at Hayti by a negro, on the prin ciple of recognising no distinction of colour. Mr. May nard does not appear to see that this is a recognition, as he selects a black for a black republic while ho ought in acting on this principle if ho made any destruction to send a negro to Europe and a white to Ifarti. General Sheridan at his public reception at Chi cago kissed 500 school girls. Although Mrs. Ames's bust of Lincoln, made at a cost of $2,500 for the State-house at Boston, is a failure, great efforts are being made to employ the same artist on the bust of the late Governor Andrew. The rumour is that Gen. Schouler and Major Brastow are the prominent candidates for the presidency of the State Senate of Massachusetts, with the chances very decidedly in favour of the latter. Harvey Jewell is as good as elected to the Speakership of the House, and the clever Robinson is sure of the clerkship. It is said that Major Morrisser, has weathered more storms than threate❑ him this winter, and will continue to wear the cockade.—New Bedford Mercury. Mr. Bridgman of Bellows Fall, Vermont, is hav ing great success in tho artificial propagation of trout and other fish. Ho has as now estimated about fifty thousand trout eggs. An attempt has been made to displace Colonel Forney, ns Secretary of the Senate ; and Mr. Brown, as Sergeant-at-Arms. Col. S. S. Smoot, who has been surveying the Great and Little Osage lands in the south-western part of Kansas, west of the mouth of the Little Arkansas, arrived in Washington, Dec. 6—sixty hours from Leavenworth — and tad an interview with the Secretary of the Interior. Ho reports the disposition of the Indian tribes of Cheyennes, Arrapahoes, Kiowas, Apaches, Osages, and Comanches to be friendly towards the whites, and that they express satisfaction with the treaties made by the recent pace commissioners. Col. B. F. Martin, superintendent of the works of the gold mining company at Lisbon, is a prominent Republican candidate for the Senatorship in the Manches ter district, New Hampshire. The city elected James A. Weston, on the 10th December, Mayor, and tho Governor is entirely Republican. Count Caviare Orsini, brother of the Italian who in 1858 attempted the life of Napoleon, is the guest of General Cleaver, at Washington, delegate for New Mexico, to whom he was warmly introduced by the Minister at Florence by Signor Mazzini and others. The Commissioner of the United States Land office, lion. J. S. Wilson, is preparing a map which will accompany his next annual report, on which will be re presented a view of the world, with the relative commer cial connection of the United States with every country on the globe. _ _ The Marquis Townshend charged John Tookey on Monday with begging. Tookey's sore and. twistod legs administered a shock to his lordship's feelings, and he urged the serious results that might happen to ladies meeting such persons in the streets. Mr. Tyrwhitt sent Tookey to prison for a month in view of the unpleasant results that might be produced. The New York Nation gives the following ex tract from a graphic, if scarcely polite address, from Robert Tombs, to Judge Erskine, of Georgia :—" Sir, twenty years ago, when yon were drinking buttermilk out of a swill-tub in the bogs of Ireland, I was a prac titioner before the court which you now disgrace. Fif teen years ago, when I was a Senator in Congress, you were selling lager beer from behind the counter of a Charleston groggery, and at no period in ten years has any gentleman seen the time when he could afford to notice you on the streets ; and yet, sir, you, who are per jured in accepting the office you now hold, presume to refuse gentlemen the right of practice before you." 'We hear that Miss Kitty Dix, youngest daughter of General Dix, United States Ambassador to Paris, is engaged to Mr. Welch, of Brooklyn, and that many bridal gifts have already been sent to Paris from America. Mr. Tietjens, Danish State Councillor, Director of the private bank at Copenhagen, has so managed that 5400,000 of the 57,500,000 in gold to be paid by the United States to Denmark for the islands of St. Thomas and St. John, will remain as profit in the bank. It is an easy way of making £BO,OOO, to receive the money in dollars from the United States Treasury and to pay it into the Danish Treasury in rix-dollars. There was a rumour in Washington, which proved without foundation, that the House would appoint a committee to investigate charges against Mr. Ashley, for an alleged attempt to suborn witnesses to support the im peachment of the President. General Ingraham, of Massachusetts, has been appointed Acting Governor of the Maine Asylum, by the managers of the National Asylum for Disabled Volunteers assembled at Washington. _ A bill has passed through Congress changing the names of Samuel Chase Barney to Samuel Chase do Pracht. It provides that all in the district of Columbia who desire to change their names shall file a bill in the Supreme Court of the district stating their reasons. The Reconstruction Committee, again appointed by the House, of which Mr. Stevens is chairman, contains of its old members only Messrs. Boutwell, Bingham, and Farnsworth. Mr. S ixe, the poet, has applied for the Austrian mission. Alfred B. Ely, of Massachusetts, may, if report be true, succeed Mr. Theaker as Commissioner of Patents. General Howard has assigned charge of the freedmen's affairs in the Carolinas to It. K. Scott, who will be attached to Gen. Canby's staff. Lucy Stone, of New York, has been nominated President of the State Woman Suffrage Association formed at the convention lately held at Vineland, New Jersey. Dr. M'Farland, superintendent of the Illinois insane asylum, has been censured after a protracted inves tigation into the conduct of the institution, when much cruelty and corruption were revealed. Tom Sharpley, brother of Sam Sharpley, of the Theatre Comique, at New York, wasfatally shot in a ren contre with one Kelly, in front of the Fifth Avenue Hotel, on Wednesday evening, Dec. 11. Colonel C. 11. Hopkins, jun., and Robert Hop kins, wore arrested at Savannah, on the 14th Dec. for walking into the office of the Republican, and beating John E. Hayes, the editor, with a loaded whip. The rea son of the assault is stated to have been an editorial on the taking of Test Oaths. Her Majesty the Empress of the French has consented in the most gracious manner to patronize the coming exhibition at Leeds, Yorkshire. Anarchy was prevailing in the interior of Hayti. General Salnavo has defeated the insurgents, and was preparing to oppose an invasion from San Domingo. Mrs. Leigh Ward has consented to give another series of readings in Paris during this month. The American Minister, the Hon. Anson Bur- lingarne, will soon loavo Pekin for tho United States, by way of Europe, on a special mission for the Chinese Go vernment. It is said that the ex-King of Hanover has bought one of the most beautiful seats near Arnhoim, named Biljoen, for two millions of guilders. It is rumoured that this purchase is connected with a project of marriage between the Crown Prince of Holland, and one of the daughters of ex-King George. The wedding gift, it is said, will be eight millions. _ _ Her Majesty has remitted the sentence of death passed upon John Thompson, for the murder of George Frederick James. Mr. John K. Myers has been unanimously elected President of the Pacific Mutual Insurance Company. A Paris paper states that the cost of transferring Maximilian's boly to Trieste is £48,000. The New Hampshire Republican Convention has re-nominated Mr. Harriman governor, and endorse General Grant's candidature for the Presidency. Senator Frierson introduced a bill into the Ten nessee Senate on the 3d December to extend the franchise so as to embrace every adult man who is a citizen of the county wherein ho may cast his vote. George Allen, Sheriff of Elbert county, Georgia, was killed at Elberton on Friday, the 13th December, in a collision between a patty of uegroes and the civil autho rities, and several other whites and blacks were wounded, but the origin of the quarrel is not given, further than that it occurred at a ball. The Presse announces that Mdlle, Patti will shortly be married to the Marquis do Cauz. Captain Kirby, who formerly traded out of the Tyne, undertook to examine the northern coast of Dur ham to ascertain the truth of an allegation that false lights have been there shown to mislead vessels bound to Shields. Three or four veesols have been lost this winter on Whitburn rocks, and their masters asserted that they were misled by false lights. In Freshwater Bay, near Soutar Point, Capt. Kirhy found a pole with a mop of ropoyarn steeped in tar, affixed to its end, which he handed over to the secretary of the Tyne Pilotage Commission for investigation. The Georgia Convention in caucus has resolved to support Chief Justice Chase for the Presidency. The prominent Conservative journals favour the nomination o General Hancock. Mr. Thornton has accepted the post of Minister to Washington, and will proceed to America. President Johnson has purchased a farm in Greenville, Tennessee, and intends to reside there after the close of his term of office. De Vries, of Boston, has published a portrait of Charles Dickens, lithographed from a recent photograph. The likeness is as good as any likeness can be, that re presents a face full of life and expression, and rarely at rest, in a quiet and impassive mood. General Reynolds, commanding in Texas, has ordered all refugees arriving at Brownsville from Mexico to be returned to the Mexican authorities as deserters. General Hancock has ordered the elections to the Texas Convention to be held from the 10th to the 14th of February. A Boston ticket speculator ha 3 cleared $3,000 on Dickens's readings. In letters written to his friends in England, Mr. Dickens expresses delight at the reception he hes met with in America. In ono of them ho declares that the greeting accorded to him in Boston was "magnificent ;" and the reception at New York, Mr. Dickens writes, " was splendid ; the audience bright and perceptive ; the general delight was most enthusiastic." • lion, Asa Freeulau,,of paver, registrar of probate for Stafford county, New Hampshire, and formerly State Senator, died suddenly of apoplexy on the Bth December. Gen. Samuel Griffin, of Keene, New Hampshire, died on Wednesday, 11th Dec., at the advanced age of 83. He was a man of great integrity, and had been a member of the State Legislature for 12 successive sessions. THE TITLE TO I I ARPER'S FERRY.—Attorney- General Stanbery has had under consideration, for some dine, the question whether the Government holds posses sion of Harper's Ferry in feo simple or merely in trust for the specific use of an armoury and no other. He says, in an official communication, that the trust or use declared in favour of the United States, is not confined to any specific purpose or object. The Government has had abso lute and undisturb3d possession of the property for seventy years, and there is no doubt, on examination of he statutes of Virginia, that it held a perfect title. The question was raised by the descendants of the original proprietors, that the property reverted to them, owing to the United States abandoning the property for armoury purposes, and on this question the opinion of the Attorney-General was ren dered.— Baltimore Commercial. A new method of preserving milk has been intro duced by the Angle-Swiss Company, whose factory is situated on the lake of Zug. The process alopted is simply the abstraction of the watery particles from the milk and the addition of beetroot sugar. Milk thus pre pared remains good for months after the tins in which it is packed have boon opened, becoming neither sour, mouldy, nor rancid. It bears the ordinary changes of temperature without injury. It is sold in tins, each containing the equivalent of rather more than half a gallon of good milk, of about the quality of the best country milk. The price of the tin is ls. 3d. The cost of the tin being a penny, and the duty a penny, the price of the condensed milk when diluted for use with five parts of water is 6d. a quart. About one-third of a pound of beetroot sugar is introduced into each tin. The use of this preserved milk is increasing in England. Last month the company sold for home use and Exportation 1,250 dozen tins. The Peninsular and Oriental, the Royal Mail, and the Pacific Mail companies use it in all their steamers. NEW YORK MARKETS. (From the Correspondent of the Anglo• American Times.) NEW YORK, Dec. 17, 1867. Although failures continue they have been less nume rous than during the preceding weeks. To the list among many respectable and old-established names are to be added Goodridge and Co. and Goodridge and Walker, of New York. Money is easier; indeed, it may be said to be abundant at 6 per cent. on call, and 71 to 9 on first class paper, and 10 to 12 on second class. Commercial paper is more easily negotiated, though great caution is exercised, as the list of failures has givens warning people do not seem inclined to neglect. At Cincinnati first-class paper is done at 9 to 12 per cent., and iu the open market at 15 to 18 per cent. Tho demand for call loans is active. Three million five hundred thousand dollars have been disbursed in the pork trade, and a considerable sum will be required before the demand ceases. Money is tight at Chicago, and at Boston loans are only obtainable at from 8 to 12 per cent. The action of Congress is considered favourable, inasmuch as there appears no danger of hasty financial legislation, and nothing will be done until after the holiday recess. The speculators, who anticipated a rise in gold from Congressional legislation, have found the reverse to be the case, though it has been rather better, closing yesterday at 1341, after selling at 134. The clearings at the gold exchange Bank were $71,884,000. The Government Securities due on the Ist of January are the principal and interest on the loan of 1817 $6,860,100, and about $15,000,000 of interest on Five twenties of 1865-7, and $8,000,000 on the Sixes of 1831. The Persia, which left last Wednesday, did not take out the sum expected to be forwarded by her, as it amounted only to $600,000. Bills at 60 days on London are quoted at 1094 to 1094 for commercial; 110 to 1104 for bankers'; do. at short sight, 1101 to 1101 ; Paris, at 60 days 5.15 to 5.121; do. at short sight, 5.124 to 5.10 ; Hamburg, 364 to 361; Amsterdam, 41 to 411 ; Frankfurt, 41 to 411 ; Bremen, 79 to 791 ; Prussian thalers, 711 to 724. Government stocks have been on the rise. Yesterday the demand was active, the advance being greatest in Five- T wenties of 1862. The rise iu Europe tends to strengthen these securities, as well as lower the price of gold, and it is noticeable that real investors are on the increase, and the orders from the country larger than have been known for a considerable period. There is not much doing in Railway Mortgages and State Bonds. But the Share Market is steady, and has been advancing all last week, and a consi derable amount of business transacted. The New York Central and Erie have been steadier than for many months. The reform effected in these lines will prevent fluctua tions, and the prices may now be more surely relied on. The revolution in the Erie, under Mr. Eldridge as presi dent, has had a good effect, and a similar result is looked for in the New York Central, under Commodore Vanderbilt. Tho Kansas section of the Union Pacific Railroad reports $147,025 net profits for October, and the line is working for 290 miles to Hayes city, while the other line is beyond Cheyenne city, 525 miles west of Omaha, and before Ist January will be at Evan's Pass. This company has an nounced payment of the coupons on their first Mortgage Bonds in gold on and after Jan. Ist at their office in New York. Cleveland and Pittsburg rose to 861 oa a report that the present directors cf the Cleveland and Toledo Road will be elected in January to the Cleveland and Pitts burg board, and that a half-yearly dividend of 5 per cent. will be declared. Michigan Southern is actively dealt in, and the continued large traffic on the road tends to give confidence both to holders and to buyers. Pacific Mail fell to 122. Mining stocks are little inquired for. Petroleum stocks are steady, and business good. The severe and un expected frost has stopped canal navigation, and sent up the prices of flour and wheat. Tho dry goods market is more hopeful. The prospects of the coming year are consi dered better, and many dry-goods houses have cleared the market of their obligations, while payments have been made by all with unexpected promptness. This has tended to restore confidence after the disastrous failures in this branch of business. Cotton is lower, and until Congress decides the question of tariffs, there will be no improve ment in woollens nor in foreign goods, in which the sale is limited to a few holiday novelties. The following wore yesterday's closing prices: ,up - m Six per Cent., I'3Bl, 1114 to 1111: Coupon 5-20, 1862, 1084 to 1084 ; Coupon 5-20, 1861, 1011 to 1011 ; Coupon 5-20, 1865, 105 to 1051 ; Coupon 5-20 new, 1865, 107 1 1 to 10 7 1 ; Coupon, new, 1867, 1074 to 1071; Coup on 10-40's, 1004 to 100 1 ; 7-30 s, 2d, 1011 to 10 1 4; 7.305, 3d, 1011 to 1044; Ten nessee 6 par cent. ex co u p on, 654 to 654 ; Te nnessee 6 per cent. ex coupon, n ew, 621 to 621 ; Missou r i 6 per cent. 964 to 975 ; Canton, 455 46 ; Cumberland, 26 to 28 ; Quicksilver, 194 to 20 ; Mariposa, 74 to 81 ; Mariposa Pre ferred, 141 to 151 ; Pacific Mail, 1221 to 1221 ; Atlantic Mail, 1184 ; Boston Water Power 174 to 171 ; New York Central, 1174 to 1171; Erie, 724 to 7`28; Erie Preferred, 734 to 734 ; Hudson, 1321 to 133 ; Reading, 941 to 914 ; Michigan Central, 110 to 112 ; Michigan Southern, 82 to 821 ; Illinois Central, 132 to 1321 ; Cleveland and Pitts burgh, 86 to 861; North-Western, 591 to 591 ; North- Western Preferred, 67 to 671 ; Rock Island, 971 to 971 ; Cleveland and Toledo, 103 to 1031 ; St. Paul, 42 to 4 . 21; St. Paul, Preferred, 624 to 623; Fort Wayne, 994 to 994 ; Ohio and Mississippi, 261 to 264. (From Messrs. Bowles, Drevet, and Co.'s Circular.) Paris, Jan. 3, 1868. We can do little more than repeat the substance of our last circular. The market has continued inactive, with a somewhat declining tendency. United States Securities, with little business, aro so markably firm, influenced by the continued low gold rates reported from New York, and more favourable political and financial news. We quote : For the issue of 1862 _ 81i _ For the issue of 1864 80i For the issue of 186 a Our advicos from New York are to the 31st ult. Gold United States Bonds, 1862 (currency) lOBl The Rente closes at 6Bf. 40c. The Italian closes at Exchange ou London (From E. F. Satterthwaite and Co.'s Weekly Circular, Dec. 31.) Our advises from New York per China, to the 17th inst., are eleven days later than those noticed in our last ; during that time the market for Government Stocks had been much depressed, but closed slightly firmer. The course of the Railroad Market had been variable, but on the whole was firm, with the exception of Chicago and North Wes tern, which had given way quite $5. Hudson River, on the other hand, had advanced $6. Railroad Mortgages were firm, but with few recorded transactions. Money was in good supply, and gold continued to show a declining tendency. The diametrically opposite principle upon which Eng lish and American railways aro inaugurated and con structed has, during the last few months, boon most strik ingly exemplified. This is in a large degree inevitable from the different social and political state of the two countries. In America, when it became desirable to im prove the communication between any two cities, or any two points of commercial importance, or as soon as any new tract of country was occupied by settlers, one of the first objects considered imperative to accomplish was a ready moans of communication with other portions of the State, and as the ordinary waggon roads are quite un suited for the transmission of heavy goods, the construc tion of a mill oad:with as little work on it and as limited an equipment as possible, has usually been the moans adopted to attain this end, leaving the requisite improvements of the track, bridges, viaducts, cicc., to bo accomplished, together with additional rolling stock to be added as the business of the road and the requirements of the commu nity might require, obtaining the necessary funds gene rally out of the earnings of the road, but sometimes partly furnished by additional capital subscribed by the public. In this country, on the contrary, especially during the past few years, our railways have almost without excep tion been built originally on the most expensive scale, and the actual cost of land and construction is far heavier than in America, added to which, a new line is almost invariably loaded with such heavy legal and other preliminary expenses that, as a rule, it is years before it be comes remunerative, and as soon as it does extensions and branches aro constructed, burdening the lino with increased capital entirely disproportioned to the earnings; of this we havo recently had several painful examples. As we have said, the very reverse of this is the case with Am:ri can railroads, though many, if not most, of the best lines have in their early existcnico had to contend with pecu niary embarrassments, but the elasticity and growth of the country is such that a few years has been suffi cient to enable them to overcome all such difficulties. Perhaps there is no more striking exemplification of this than the Illinois Central ; ten years back that company was compelled to issue a notice to share and bondholders " That the directors are under the painful necessity of an nouncing that, notwithstanding the most strenuous exer tions to avert such a result, the company is forced to sus pend payment." At that time, the shares, with $3O paid, were worth only $2 or $3 in New York, and the Seven p?r cent. Bonds were selling at 51 ; while now the shares fully paid up are in steady demand for investment at about 133, and the bonds command a premium of 18 or 20 per cent. We are not unmindful that the Illinois Central Com pany have been largely indebted to the donation of land for their present pi-osperous state ; at the same time, it must be remembered that the receipts from traffic have more than doubled, and would of themselves make the road a good dividend-paying property ; whilst in con trast to this, the Grand Trunk of Canada, which was projected at about the same period, after a variety of crea tions of preference stocks and bonds, is in a state border ing on bankruptcy, many of the preference charges hav ing been for years unpaid. That the Illinois Central is not an exceptional casa, but that all or nearly all the railroads in America show, under good management, a very rapid development, a comparison of prices in New York of some of the lead ing stocks in 1857, and the present quotations, will indi cate, and also prove how investors who had faith in reco very from a state of pecuniarypressure have been rewarded for their confidence. (From Messrs. Belding, Keith, and Co.'s Circular.) FRIDAY, Jan. 3. The market for American securities has been very quiet during the past week on account of the holidays and the settlements of the New Year, but the tendency has been upwards, though gold quotationsat New York have varied but little, the last, by cable, being, 011 the `2d January, 1331. Five-twenty Bonds, 1882, open this morning at 72i 72i, being an advance of per cent. since last Friday, while the 5-20 Bonds, 1885, are 711- 71i, an advance of per cent. Ten-forty Bonds, 1904, continue steady at 68 68k. Illinois shares open at 89 90, an advance of 11 per cent. Erie shares are steady at 48 49. Atlantic and Great Western Debentures continue firm at 20 to 22, and the Consolidated Mortgage Bonds, 18 to 19. There has been little business in other American securities, and prices have varied but little. MERCANTILE SHIP NEWS. Liverpool, Dec. 26. - Arrived, the Etna, steamer, from New York. Yarmouth, Dec. 26.—Sailed, the Eugenie, for Boston. Holyhead, Dee. 26. Sailed, the Garibaldi, fcr Havannah. ' — Liverpool, Dec. 27.—The France, screw steamer, from New York ; the Sunrise, from San Francisco ; the Sumter, from Savannah. Sailed, the Ellen Austin and the Nep tune, for New York. Portsmouth, Dec. 27.—Arrived, the Emily Farnnan, from Shields, for San Francisco. Plymouth, Dec. 27. Sailed, the C. A. Jones, for New York. Newport, Dec. 27.—Sailed, the James Kitchen and the Eleanor, for New York. Off the Fastnett.—Arrived, the China, steamer, from Boston. Liverpool, Dec. 28.—Arrived, the Chiva, screw steamer, from Boston ; the Alhambra, screw steamer, from New Or leans. Sailed, the Persia, screw steamer, for New York. Custom House, Dec. B.—Entered inwards, the Mark ,eymour, from New Orleans. Pill, Dec. 29.—Sailed, the Falie, for Mobile. Clyde, Dec. 30.—Arrived, the Umited Kingdom, screW steamer, and the Oakland, from New York. Liverpool, Dec. 30.—Sailed, the Cordelia, for New Or leans; the Pomona, ' for Savannah • and the Crimea, for Baltimore. Dec. 31.—Arrived, the Cormorant, from San Francisco; the Joaquina, from Havannah ; the Pioneer, screw steamer, from Charleston ; the Glendower, and the Hecla„ from New York; the John Bright, the Trimoun lain, and the Minnesota, screw steamer, from New York ; the E. B. Hawes, from Baltimore. Portsmouth, Dec. 30. —Arrived, the Hera, from London for San Francisco, leaky. Dublin, Dec. 30.—Arrived, the Stella, from New York. Vessels Spoken With—The Douglas Castle, of Leith, for Savannah, Dec. 9, lat. 40 N, long. 41 W. Warrenpoint, Dec. 30.—Arrived, the Sir Robt. M'Clure, from New York. Gravesend, Dec. 31.—Sailed, the South Carolina, for Mobile. Deal, Dec. 31.—Arrived, the Cella, screw steamer, from New York. Clyde, Dec. 31.—Sailed, the Linari for San Francisco. Off Crookhaven, Jan. I.—Arrived, the City of Boston, steamer, from Now York. Waterford, Dec. 31. - Arrived, the Milbrek, from NeW York for Liverpool, with sails damaged. Kingroad, Dec. 31.—Arrived, the Rangoon, from NeW York, for Gloucester. Broomielaw, Dec. 31. —Sailed, the Europa, screw steamer, for New York. St. Thomas, Dec. 14.—The Ariosto has discharged the whole of her cargo (sugar); the vessel is much strained, and will probably be condemned. Vessel spoken with—The Conqueror, Liverpool to Cali fornia, Nov. 27, let. 7 N. long. 19 W. Gravesend, Jan. I .— Arrived, the Celia, screw steamer, from New York. Deal, Jan. I.—Arrived, the Ernie, from New York. Arrived from the river and sailed, the St. Petersburgb, from Boston. Liverpool, Jan. I.—Arrived, the Bunker Hill, from San Francisco ; the Sun Flower, from River Plate ; the J. Hatfield, from Philadelphia; the Screamer, from Savannah. Sailed, the City of Baltimore, steamer, for New York. The Industry, of this port, has been libelled at San Fran cisco for salvage. (The Industry, London to San Fran cisco, sailed from Rio Janeiro Sept 1.) Custom-House, Jan. l.—Vessels Entered Inwards.-- The Cella ' from New York, and five were confined to the Continental trade. Entered Outwards.—The Cella, for New York. Vessels Spoken With.—The Ellen Hood, of New York, Nov. 15, lat. 21 S., long. 31 W. Liverpool, Jan. 2.—Sailed, the W. Woodbury, for No' Orleans. Scilly, Dec. 30.—Fourteen casks of petroleum, marked on one end B and S, have been picked up by a pilot boat, about 13 miles to the southward, off the island. They are quite clean, and have not been long in the water ; a great many more were seen, but could not be picked up, as night was coming on. Cardiff, Jan. I.—Sailed,.the Southern Empire, for Ned' Orleans. ADTERTISEMENT. j --Holloway's Ointment and Pill" The family medicine chest that is furnished with these powerful remedies needs nothing more. Indigestion, general debility, liver complaint, eruptions, sores, wounds, ulcers, tumours, etc., are infallibly cured by their use. They purify the blood and give tone and vigour to the whole system. The ointment, when well rubbed into the parts affected, enters the flesh just as salt enters meat, and if the pills be taken as an auxiliary the cure is speedy, thorough, and permanent. These medicaments are com posed of rare balsams, without the admixture of a grain of mercury or any injurious substance. They are peculirall mild and gentle in their action, and are as safe as they are. efficacious. LADVERTISEMENT.I—Du Barry s Delicious Health Itastorirl Revalenta Arabica Food, which contains three times the nourishment of the best meat, saves fifty times its cost in other remedies, restores perfect digestion, strong nerves, sound lungs , healthy liver, refreshing . sleep, functional regularity, and energ to the most disordered or enfeebled, removing speedily and effectuallyindigestion (dyspepsia), habitual constipation. diarrhoea, hemorrhoids, liver complaints, flatulency, nervous , ness, odiousness. fevers, sore throats, catarrhs, colds, influenza' noises in the head and ears, rheumatism, gout, impurities, erur ti9ns, hysteria, neural g i a , irritability, sleeplessness, acidity, pa!' pitation, heartburn, headache, debility, dropsy, cramps, bpasinS, nausea, and sickness, sinking fits, coughs, asthma, bronchitis , incipicat consumption, scrofula, tightness of the chest, pains at the pit of the stomach, between the shoulders, &c. We quote few out of 68,000 cures :—The Pope's health restored by Pt'. Barry's Food.—Cure No. 68,413. "Home, July 21, 1866.—The health of the Holy Father is excellent especially since, aban . doning all other remedies, he has confined himself entirely to Du Barry's Itevatenta Arahica Food, of which he consumes 0 , plate;ul at every meal. It has produced a surprisingly benel cial effect on his health, and his Holiness cannot praise th s excellent food too highly."—From the " Gazette du Midi," July 25. Cure No. 49,832.—" Of fifty years' indescribable agony front dyspepsia, nervousness, asthma, cough, constipation, flatulen , spasms, sickness at the stomach, and vomiting." Maria Joly. Wortham, Ling, near Dim, Norfolk.—Cure No. 47,121.-311 0 Elizabeth Jacobs, of Nazing Vicarage, Waltham Cross, HertS, of extreme nervousness, indigestion, gatherings, low spirt s. and nervous fancies. Important Caution.—Beware of the manY unsavoury and more than sloppy imitations to which, withou. authority, Baron Liebig's name is most audaciously attached In tins at Is. lid.; 1 lb., 2s 9d. 2 lbs., 4s. 6d; 5 lbs., 110. , 12 lbs., 228.; 24 lbs., 405.— BARRY Du BARRY and Co., No. 77, ilegent-street, London; also Fortnam and Mason, 182 Piccadilly' and at 61, Gracechurch-street; 4, Chea.pside; 63, 150. and 289. Oxford-street; 330 Strand; and all grocers and chemists. Births. DAviDsos—On the 2d inst., at IS, Westbourne-terrace road, Hyde-park, the wife of W. M. Davidson, Esq., of a son. ESSEX-0n the 2d inst., at 53, Oakley-square, N.W., Mrs. Alfred Essex, of a son. ROBINSON—On the 3d inst., the wife of J. R. Robinson , Esq., of 28, Hilldrop-road, Holloway, of a son. Marriages. ARKWRIGIIT—MILTIANK the 2d inst., at St. Paul'S Knightsbridge, Francis Arkwright, Esq., eldest son of the Rev. ti. Arkwright, of Sutton Scarsdale, Derbysh;ro , to Louisa Jane Elizabeth, second daughter of Henri Milbank, Esq., of Ashfield House, Bury St. Edmund's. ELWELL--MANSFIELD—On the 2d inst., at All Saints , Upper Norwood, William 0. R. Elwell, of the Midd lB Temple, Esq., eldest son of the Rev. W. E. Elwell, rector of Dauntsey, Wilts, to Mary Margaret, younger &ugh' ter of the late James Mansfield, Esq., 92d Highlanders. Deaths. LEE—On the 2d inst., at Orchard-street, Portman-square' John Jackson Lee, aged 67. IePLEAY—On the Ist inst., at Edinburgh, Louisa Ca,mpbel l, wife of Kenneth ll.Leity, R.S.A., and daughter of tho late Sir James Campbell, of Ardkinglas and Craigfortb, Bart. OTEILEY—On the Ist inst , at 3, North-grove Villa, South' sea, Wm. O'Reiley, Esq. PAGE—On the 2d inst., at 106, Gloucester-place, Portman" square, Win. E. Page, M.D., E.R.C.P., late Physician to St. George's Ilospital, aged 59. WIRE—On the 31st ult., at Bethnal-green-road, l3:mjanaiti Wire, Esq , aged 80. London Printed and Published by WILLIAM ANDREWS' of No. 112, Strand, Printer, at THE SIN 011ee, No 112 ' Strand, in the Precinct of the Sr coy, in the County ° iiithileseL—Saturaay, January 4, 1368. AFTER Cov After Drury-lane After Ilaymarize After Adelphi T After Olympic After Strand Th After New Roya A.fter St. James' After Prince of Alden Singing and MA THE NOW ] UNCIIEON (On( CUISIN high-class Wing &c. Private roon BENT OFF TO ORDE On and after 111 p.m. to One a.m. KINAILIN I Celebrated Prize Medal. It is Pure, Mild, Sold in Bottles, the Agents in th e 8, GREAT Observe the Red hen's LL Whi ßlot ' MUTUAL ancorp 14, RUSSELL-ST] VANCES MONEY hold or Leksehold able weekly, rnontl Forms free on root Air AD AM E, A Life-size POl ABYSSINIA, is r England, America from 11 in the mot Admittance, is MADAME PORTRAI Alton l Alurderer, is from 11 in the mor under 10 years of c ARGYLL Soh This rnagnifleen. having been Re-e by Messrs. Rubar for the AUTUMN Solo Cornet, M. C T H 6 During the TIUN from Off( ENFERS, LA MERRY CHRI Principal Art Henry ; Messrs. Pull Band and Messrs. Paine, COMEDY, ezi TER, HARRY RICHARDS, e Mr. E. W. M. this evening. STODARE'S Private boxe; menale, ls.—T VVESTO t 0 a u l r l a . Mr. SWE A SE' the fl a tt ering pat lo wing talented ( t ounNH, the Lice b rist; GEORGE Et (who a re allow& ot her artiste i n tt ti _PPearance); Ili : Co mic Singer al t the pleasing ser d Singer, i.,, Pull Orchestra Player, will appe The wlic Special Notice tient, the doors in the prices of a at llitchell's Roy St. James's; al o'clock . SC SPANISH ALEX, 11 Produces whist lOs, 6,1 -; seat b 248 , High Hotti WONDE in one preparation gri moving the ver 248, Ili& liolb( London Ladies' or G 3s. Ga. ss eor O r .REy .‘A AUX. Immediately it effect. Price 3 and 144 ..tani; IR A ] .111 Londot nubs hair fro skin. Price 3s ILlizuM--Ilacl ar TABLE skin SRD 2s. 9d. and 7s. 248 , High Eiol AIR head days the 1 an occasional 248 'High Hol Just pu IT GUN. descri a ppearance. lad of all bo GREG Thia Hospi ashod at Kin Bankers--3 Fare. RAM' sq. nßrns] Ja_ffl Park. 'uted, 1827. Patrol Aid to this It the offices, r r "E LoND, )r their ;den have been al of the llospi [ore, that all trY, will rail mirtailing fewer patien biessra. PreF &rail-place No, b 2, Gr HEALTH F DU BA and ]