The Sun. — London, England, 1857-12-15 00:00:00

MONEY MARKET COVID/lIMNAL 1N `l' o',U,TGaticks . CITY, Two o'CLocr: Accounts from Liverpool report that the Cotton Market yesterday closed with a quiet appearance, and prices were without any material change. The sales were estimated at about 2,500 bales. The Railway Share Market closed flatly, at merely nominal values. There is very little animation in the markets for roreiga and Colonial produce, and owing to the .dulness of trade, the tendency of prices is still fur ther to recede. Of sugar, moderate public sales are advertised, although the demand is limited, and it is generally thought that lower rates will be estab lished. Coffee remains very dull, but no altera tion in values can be reported. Rum is inactive ; and rice is firmly held. The market for tea has iraproved, and medium Congou has risen per lb. above the lowest point recently attained. Saltpetre still attracts few buyers ; and tallow is firmer. In other articles the transactions are confined to im mediate wants, and values generally remain un altered. Nearly 400,0001. in gold was taken into the Bank Yesterday, and owing to the arrival from America, and the remainder of the gold by the Essex, there still a moderate supply on hand available for the same purpose. Amidst the gloom occasioned by the commercial failures, and ihe continued dearness of Money, this influx, being indicative of an im provement in our prospects, exerts a beneficial influence. As the bullion and the reserve must be come much larger before the authorities can lower the terms of discount, the rapidity of this specie movement encourages a hope that the reduction may soon take place. Already the addition since the last weekly return was made up must be morAhan half a million sterling, and .as the pressure for ac commodation is certainly lighter, it is imagined that the reserve has also been strengthened. The market for silver is tolerably firm, owing to the demand for liambro, but the requirements on Indian account are still comparatively moderate. Large remittances to the Continent for the obtain- Ment of supplies of this metal may thus be pre vented. During the month of November the receipts of specie at Now York, Boston, and New Orleans Were 10,745,417 dols., and the shipments only 3,329,910 dols. The increase in the Banks' vaults Vas at the rate of about a million dollars a-week, and 9n the 28th ult. the total stock retained in these establishmen's was 24,303,145 dols., or not far short of 5,000,0001. At the same time the loans and discounts were reduced t.) 94,963,130 dds. ; Irhereas in August last they exceeded 122,000,000 "s• As the exchange on Englsnd was firmer, it a expected that we shall now receive regular "PPlies of specie. There is a moderate demand for money, but iq Lotabard-street first-class paper is negotiated at a fraction under the Bank rate. The GreatNoithern dividend warrants have be e n Issued to-day. The Market for English Securities has been rather heavy to-day, but the variation is unimpor tant. Sales have again predominated, and he nce the flatness of the quotations. There is very lit,le b usiness in progress, but most of the speculatoi s a re firm, and refrain fcom entering into f resh transactions. Consols are 91 being per cent. lower than yesterday. The continued I llfiux of gold into the Bank keeps up the market, "specially as it is expected to expedite a reduction 111 the terms of discount. The New Threes are 9 lt the Reduced 91t g, and Long Annuities (185 9) 1 13-16. Exchequer Bills are 3s. discount 2 i4)181 Par ; ditto B o nds, 98i ; and Bank Stock 2171 In the Poreign Stock Market business is rather tore activ e , but prices remain unaltered. Turkish 6 per Cents. ar e 94 ; ditto 4 per Cents., 99i ; Mexi can 3 per Cents., 181 ; Peruvian 41 per Cents., 75 ; Portuguese 3 per Cents., 431 44 ; Russian 5 per Cents., 104 ; ditto 4 per Cents., 96i 97 ; and Spanish New Deferred, 25f. The following are the nominal prices of Foreign Stocks :—Grenada Deferred Bonds, 5 6 ; Mexi can, 181 19 ; Peruvian 4i per Cents., 74 76 ; ditto 3 per Cents., 50 52 ; Portuguese 3 per Cents., 43i 441 ; Russian 5 per Cents, 103 105 ; do. ati per Cents., 95 97 ; Spanish 3 per Cents., 40t 411 ; ditto New Deferred, 251 1. The Railway Share Market this morning has been rather firmer, owing to the arrangements for the settlement of the accounts being now nearly com pleted. In some of the leading lines an improve ment of about Ito per cent. may b.) reported. Caledonian and Midland advanced ss. ; Great Wee tern, Lancashire and Yorkshire, North Eastern (Berwick) and North E istern (Leeds),los. The other li nes dealt in realised about former quotations. The Foreign and Colonial lines are inactive, and Vut little variation can be noticed in values. Grand Trunk of Canada improved about 11. ; East Indian about ss. ; Great Western of Canada declined ss. ;. and Geelong and Melt:ourne, ss. Joint Stock Banks are flat. Loudon and West , Minster have receded 1/. ; and Union of London, 158, to 1/. In the Miscellaneous Market, Electric Telegraph improved about 1/. ; and South Australin Land declined 15s. BRITISH FUNDS.—CLOSING. PRICES—THIS DAY. ( from the Officull Ltst,) Puginevrdore. Sank Stock "4 1 ntr Cout. 1 7 ..eclueed New per Cont. Annuities 9 l-4 3 A Lois ; ,. Auouities, expiro t Maui. 1883.. Ditto 30 Years, expire 10th Oct., 1859 1 13-16 OuLsols liceo4La Eirtheo L er 24d. 1103 C ..... ' 4 d par 3.d 4 d sale() kW] Fxc itt hequor 1558,`34 per Cont._ ` Si 8/ v°, 1 , 45 g PRICES OF FOREIGN FUNDS—THIS DAY. Brazinan 5 per Cent. Mexican 3 per Cent Ditto Account l9l Peruvian Bonds, 4i per Cent 75 i F °Alignese Bonds, 5 per Cent., Con. 1841 Ditto 1853, 3 per Cent 44 31 Russian Bonds, 1E22, £ St., 5 per Cent lO4 Ditto, 46 per Cent. tiardinian Bonita, 5 per Cent. SDI.WEI Bonds, 3 per Cent. Ditto Now Deferred, 3 per Cent, Warkith Honda, 6 per cent... 924 3,1 aDitto Account Ditto_Guaranteed, 4 per Cent. THREE O'CLOCK. Consols account, .Tan. S 9ll x d Vass Gertrude Kemble, daughter of the late Mr. T. M. Kemble, and granddaughter of the celebrated Charles Kemble is to make her first public appearance as a singer on Wednesday evening at St. Martin's Hull, when Handel's "Messiah" will be performed under the direc tion of Mr. Hullab. SAlf CoWELL'S BENEFIT.--:The spacious area of St. - Martin's Hall was crowded last night to overflowing, by the friends and admirers of this gifted son of mirth, who regaled them with a budgst of c )micalities that excited .continuous peals of vociferous laughter and applause. The prime treasures of his stock of comic songs were brought into requisition upon this festive occasion, and the unrivalled Sam seemed resolved to lave a stunning impression upon the metropolitan mind before resuming his triumphant career as "a bright particular star" throughout the provincee." He asked for "a bumper • at parting," and certainly had one last eveu'ng to his heart's content—a fitting t'Jk 2n of vy tr-merited popu larity. TIORRIBLII CIIDELTY.—On Thursday, at young woman, nam e d A nn W oo d , Leeds, a supposed to be of weak intellect, was charged with attempting to destroy her illegitimat e c hild , only a few weeks old. It appeared that she had n o t on l y dosed it with laudanum till it had fallen into a stupor, but had burned its arms from the hand to the elbow in the most horrible manner with a red hot poker. She wad remanded for a few days, lid order to ascertain whether or not she is insane. [ADVERTISEMENT.] KIDNEYS, 13LADDER, &C. Second E iition, Price 2s.—Practionl information on the origin of Diabetes, Alburuinuria, or Bright's disease and certain other chronic affecti ons o f the Kidneys an j Bladder in both sexes their connection with the Stomach and Liver, and only successful mode of cure By Dr. Denis Cronin, 35, Bruton- treet, Berkeley square.—" A very able work upon diseases affecting a large portion of the population,"—Weekly N ews , Smith and Co., 52, Long-acre. LITERATURE. -- The Three Clerks ; A Novel, By Anthony Trol lope, author of "Barcheeter Towers," &c. vols. Bentley. This work will greatly raise the author's reputa tion. The reader sof his former works will remem- ' , ber that they displayed no incon s i derable abilit y , and skill in delineation of character. They did not, however,. touch the deeper feelings or more serious principles of life, but contented themselves with sharp and pleasant satire on some of the dignitaries of a cathedral town. The present work quits the cloisters of Barchester for the wilderness of the modern Babylon, and takes for its victims the mem bers of the Civil Service, a less questionable sub ject, some may think, than Bishops and Archdea cons. But though full of the satiric portraits and attacks upon conventional absurdities that abound in "The Warden" and in "Barchester Towers," this work occupies a higher position, and claims a wider range. It shows the dangers of expediency as oppoad to principle ; it paints in vivid colours the perils of a mis-directed ambition ; it points the precipice over which talents, energy, affection, high position, and extended influence will fall at last if they choose the broad path instead of the narrow—if they persist in thinking the end justifies the means. The career and character of Alaric Tudor are drawn with a force and vitality that proves the author to possess talents of no common order. The three clerks are all employed in the Civil Service. Their names are Henry Norman, Alaric Tudor, and Charles, his cousin. They are contrasted with great skill. Henry Norman, the first introduced to the realer, is the most high principled. He escapes .serious evils, such as befal his companions, by his steadiness and honesty, but ho is not without his faults, being somewhat unforgiving and obstinate. Though clever and industrious he is always second to his friend Alaric, who soon distances him in the race for success and distinction. His more brilliant talents and versatility, and, alas, his ready adop tion of the means at hand, whatever their charac ter, enable him to rise with surprising quickness in the social scale. A rivalry in love produces a quar rel between him and his friend Norman, but he takes it very little to heart. He prospers in his love suit, but that can hardly stay him in his course. He devotes all his time, his talents, his energies to getting on in life. Excelsior is his motto, 131,1; "he failed to.cliscover that onwards and upwards were not the same ; that to advance was no:, necessarily to ascend." Misled by dishonest speculators with whom he associated, who laughed him out of his scruples, and turned him to their own purposes, he hurried on the road to ruin. His fortune was in creasing, his position was high, influence and au thority were his, 'Parliament was opening its doors, when a sudden turn of fortune saw him a felon at the dock. He had committed one of those breaches of trust which have been, unfortunately, not tin common, and which are always standing umpting in the way of him who takes expediency for his motto instead of honesty. The third clerk, Charley Tudor, is a very natural character, drawn with considerable skill. He is a young man of good dis position and gay and easy temper, who has come up from Wales to fill a place in a branch of the civil service, where disc pline is unknown. Without society or friends, of course ho falls headlong into all sorts of mischief. His career is sketched with great skill, and it is unfortunately very natural. These are the three heroes of the story, and of eeurse there must be three heroines. These are found in the family of Mrs. Woodward, a widow lady residing at Hampton. The author's power in delineating character is shown in his heroines, as well as in his heroes. They are all charming por traits, but strikingly different from each other. The jute is ct - and dec;sion of the one, the gentleness and submission of the second, and the high spirit and straightforward temper of the third, are well contrasted. Mrs. We award, tho mother, is a pleasing picture, though not very prudent in her care of her daughters. But the author has given us some very oliginal specimens of ladies' conv, r cation. They are not in the habit of talking about " fools," " spaoneys," and such elegant phrases. We are sorry Mr. Trollops has marred the effect of his graceful, feminine pictures by such careless touches. These are only the chief figures ; the canvas is crowded with minor ones. The chiefs of the rival offices, Sir Gregory Haidlines, Mr. Fidus Neverbend, Mr. Oldeschole, &c., are alt clever por traits. The rigid ityand exactitude of the "Weights and Measur es" is amusingly contrasted withthenegi gence and dissipation of the " Internal Naviga tion." Then Alarie's speculating as ociates and all their questionable circle are introduced. Old Captain Cutwater is a specimen of the ill-used naval officer, constantly lamenting the injustice of the Admiralty. The vigour and variety of the style may be shown by the following extracts. Charley Tudor is describing a romance he is writing, and he author takes the opportunity t) ridicule some prevailing follies : " In the first paragraph, Sir Anthony Allan-a-dale is lying dead, and the Baron of Ballyporeen is stand ing over him with a bloody sword. You must always begin with an incident now, and then hark back tar your explanation and description ; that's what the editor says is the great secret of toe present day, and where we beat all the old fellows that wrote twenty years ago." "Oh I—yes—l see. They used to begin at the be ginning ; that was very humdrum." A devilish bore, you know, for a fellow who takes up a novel because he's dull. Of course he wants his fun at once. If you begin with a long history of who's who and all that, why he won't read three pages; but if you touch him up with a startling incident or two at the first go off, then give him a chapter of horrors, then another of fun, then a little lova, or a little slang, or something of that sort, why yon know, about the end of the first volume, yon may describe as much as you like, ant tell everything about everybody's father and mother for just as many pages as you want to fill. At least that's what the editor says." '" Meleager ab ovo' may be introduced with safety when you get as far as that," suggested Nor m an. Ye., you may bring him in too, if you like," said Charley, who wes somewhat oblivious of his classicati tie,,. " Well, Sir Anthony is lying dead and the Baron is standing over him, when out comes Sir Anthony's retainers— " Out—out of what r " Out of the castle : that's all explained afterwards. Oct come the retainers and pitch into the Baron till they make mincemeat of him." " They don't kill him, too 7" " Don't they though I I rather think they do, and no mistake." " And so both your heroes are dead in the first chapter." a First chapter! why that's only the second para graph. rin only to be allowed ten paragraphs for each number, and I mu expected to have an incident for evLr:. other paragraph, hq. the first four days." " Tr is twenty incidents." Ye,,,—it's a great bother finding so many—l'm obliged to make the retainers come by all 'Twiner of accidents ; and I should never ' , aye finished the job if I hadn't thought of setting the castle on fire. Aod now forked tongues of liquid fire and greedy lambent fiameA burst forth from every window of the devoted edifice. Toe devouring element—'. That's the best passage in the whole affair." " Well, the retainers had no sooner made mincemeat of him, than they perceived that Sir Anthony was lying with an open bottle in his hand, and that ho had taken poison. " " Having committed suicide ?" asked Norman. " No, not at all. The editor says that we must always have a slap at some of the iniquities of the times. He gave me three cr four to choose from ; there was the adulteration of food, and the want of education for the poor, and street music, and the miscetaneous sale of poisons." " And so you chose poisons and killed the Knight " Exactly ; at least I didn't kill him, for he comes all right again after a bit. He had goue out to get something to do him good after a hard night, a seidlitz powder, or something of that bolt, and an apothe cary'st apprentice had given him prussic acid in mis- ake." " And how is it passible he should have come to life after taking prussic acid ?" " Why, there I have a double rap at the trade. The prussic acid is so bad of its kied, that it only puts him into a kind of torpor for a week. Then we have the trial of the apothecary's boy; that is an excellent episode and gives me a gran d hi t at the a b sur di t y o f our crimi• nat code." " Why, Charley, it seems to me that you are hitting at everything." " Oh ! ah I right and left, that's the game for us authors. The press is the only censor morum going now —and who so fit ? Sot a thief to catch a thief, you know. Well, I have my hit at the criminal code, and then Sir Anthony comes out of his torpor." " nut how did it come to pass that the Baron's sword was all bloody 1" " Ah, there was the difficulty ; I saw that at once. It cas necessary to bring in something to be killed, you know. I thought of a stray tiger out of Wombwell's menagerie ; but the editor saps that we must nottrespass again-t the probabilities, so I have introduced a big dog. The Baron had come across a big dog, and seeing that the brute had a wooden leg tied to his throat, thought he must be mad, and so he killed him." Here is a specimen of the author's power in more .ori.ou3 Footles. Alaric is summoned to his trial at the Old Bailey: — " He had hardly finished his enforced breakfast when the cab and t he lawyer came to the door. The lear ne d gentleman had theeood taste not to come in, and so the servantthat Mr. Ciltenithruet was there. meter will he with him in a Say that your n minute,' saiti id them Gertru door was again ei. ;sed, a dt*, q.i i :t d a t zol h ly ti, ; ba a n ndl t a h n e d u w tli f e e r o h o a tu d now to say a , ieu. ir~m his chair and made he,id a f a ‘ i F it t t a a t s tf.,nipt to smile. " Alaric roe come at last.' arl S a h r e ou ru n his breast. Gertrude,' se, rushed into to bu l r i i i t s ,d ernhebrracfea,ceatilidponthrowing ber Alaric, my husband ; my love, my beat, my ov,T, my culy love.' 4g 4 I cannot Fay much now, Gertrude, but I know how good you are ; you will come and see me, if they wilt 10; you, won't you I' " See you 1' :aid she, btarting back, but still hold ing him and looking up earnestly into his face. r See y , 12 ' and then she poured out her love with all the asBr on of a Ruth : " Whither thou goest, I will go ; and whet - ft thou lodgest, I will lodge ; * * * Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried : the Lord do so to me, and more also, if aught but death part thee and me See you, Alaric 1 oh, it cannot be that they will hinder the wife from being with her husband.' " But, Alaric,' she went on, love—will you ? ' " I cannot brazen it out,' said he. well what it is that I have done.' " 'No, not that, Alaric ; I would not have that. But, remember, all is not over, whatever they may do. All, how little will really be over, what ever they can do. You have repeated, have you not, Alaric ? " I think so, I hope so,' said Alaric, with his eyes upon the ground. " ' You have repented, and are right before Gad ; do not fear then what man can do to you. I would not have you brazen, Alario ; bat be manly, be collected, be your own self, the man that I have loved, the man that I do now love so well, better, better than ever ; ' and she threw herself on him and kissed him and clung to him, and stroked his hair and put her hand upon his face, and then holding him from her, looked up to him as though he were a hero whom she all but wor shipped. " Gertrn le, Gertrude, that I should have braught you to this " 'Never mind,' said she ; we will win through it yet—we will yet be happy together far, far away from here—remember that—let that support you through all. And now, Alaric, Sou will come up for one moment and kiss him before you go.' " The man will be impatient.' " Never mind ; let him be impatient—you shall not go away without blessing your boy ' • come up, Alaric' And she took him by the hand and led him like a child into the nurs(ry. " Where is he, nurse ? bring him here—Papa is going away —Alley, boy, give papa a big kiss.' " Atari; for the first time for the fortnight, took the little fellow into his arms and kissed him. God bless yon, my bairn,' a _id he, and grant that sit this may never be visited against you, here or hereafter.' " ' And now go,' said Gertrude, as they descended the stairs together, and may God in his mercy watch over and protect you and give you back to ma. And, Alaric, wherever you are I will be close to you, remem ber that—l will be quite, quite close to you. Now, one kiss—oh, dearest, dearest Alaric— there—there—and now go.' And se he went, and Gertrude, shutting hereof into her room, threw herself on to the bed, and wept aloud. 'do not droop now, ' I know too ‘' She threw herself on to her bed and there her mother found her. Oh, mama—dear mama, this is so good of you, so very gcod—l am better that I was, mama ; better that I hoped to be—hut oh, mama, for his sake, would that this day wa3 done.' Mr. Chaffeubrass, the popular barrisfer, great in browbeating witnesses, is another of the author's clever tiuches, and even were the ability much less than it is, the work would very likely be popular from all these satirical sketches. But he has set before him in this work a higher object than mere amusement or the display of his powers of sarcasm. He hasshown how a noble nature may be perverted, and great talents misapplied under specious pre texts. None can say the lesson is not needed in our own time, when the high-born, the indepen dent, the gifted, those whom men have revered for their piety, or trusted for their integrity, have worn the dross of the felon, or escaped the punish ment of the criminal, though they share his name. The end of over-speculation and fraudulent expe dients we have al! seen only too often ; it is well that one shouftl step forward to show again the neglected beginning. None can quarrel with the author for too great precision and formality, for over scrupulousness or morose preaching. He draws a life we cannot say is improbable, he shows the dangers that attend those who make haste to to rich by unlawful means, he brings it to an end which nalny have reached during the last few years, and teacl.es a powerful lesson. The career of Charley is also well-drawn, showing how kind and friendly aid will often save those not wilfully Lad, but led by untoward circumstances into temptation. The work is one which will be likely to ha - Ve a large circulation, and gives promise that the author will one day attain a high rank among writers of fiction. The Choice of a Profession. By H. Byerley Thomson, B.A. Chapman and Hall. Th's is a work ou a subject whose importance will be readily acknowledged. It gives a brief and comparative review of the English professions, giving a concise account of each profession and its bonen s, the special education required, the cost of entering, and the mode of doing so; the general income and advantages, and the necessary capacities and qualifications. It will, therefore, at once be seen how valuable sunh a work must be to those who are as yet undecided in their choice, and who, not being gifted with any peculiar taste or talents, are uncertain which to chooi,e. It is justly observed by the author, that there can hardly be a greater social misf_rtune than the erroneous choice of a profesion. Those whose choice is already made mly find the information given very useful. It must not be supposed that the church, the law, and medicine are the only professions treated of. We meet chapt•rs on the army, the nAvy, the mer cantile marine, the civil service, and all artistic and scientific pursuitß. The author believes this to be the only general work on the Eoglishprofes sions, and as it fills so remarkable a void, it is likely to meet with im:sediate attention The Duccancers. By Walter Thorubury, author of " Art and Nature," oki. Routledge. The reprint of Mr. Thornbnry's clever work on the history of the Buccaneers will no doubt be re ceived with interest. It is now published in one volume, with illustrations by "Phiz," and contains a full account of the exploits of those extra - irdinary men. Mr. Thornbury's literary talents have enabled him to compile such an interesting narra tive, that tie feats of these cruel " sea rovers' are tkely to he more widely known than the (hods of batter man. Industrial and Social Position of Women. Chapman and Hall. This is a valuable and carefully written work on a most important topic. The author has evidewly thought deeply on the subject, and he gives us the results of no Quixotic dreams, but of an earnest and practical consideration of the question. The just ness of his views, and the moderation and good sense displayed in thorn, entitle the work to a careful and attentive perusal. ENGLISH TR.4 YELLERS AND BO MAN BRIGANDS. ROME, Dec. s.—The brigauds in the neighbour hood of the Eternal City have just r esumed t h eir periodical practice of spoliating such incautious travellers as take more money with th em than is necessary for their own wants, or less than will suffice to pacify the auri sacra fames of highway assailants. On Monday evening at coven o ' c lock a vetturino carriage was plodding its weary way from Civita Vecchia towards Rome, and had reached a spot four miles on this side of Pak, when its farther progress was opposed by seven bandits armed with bludgeons; piAols, and daggers, who stopped the vehicle, and proceeded to rifle the passengers, consisting of Dr. Conolley, Robsian Catholic bishop of Halifax, on his way to Rome to pay homage to the supreme head of the Church, Mr. Blake, and Mr. and Mrs. Harper. The Bishop was eased of 1401., besides his episcopal chain and cross, and the pastoral ring, a fine emerald, which he wore according to custom. Mr. Blake, feeling greatly averse to submitting to spoliaticn, in his turn manfully resisted the outlaws' invitation to stand and deliver, but he was finally overpowered by nutnbeis, after being s e verely beaten and having had a pistol presented at his head, which fortunately missed fire. Mr. and Harper we r e robbed of their watches, chains, and purses ; and altogether the plunder realised by the marauders may be valued at about a thousand scudi, or over 2001. T RE SCN, LONDON, TUESDAY EVIN[NG, DECEMBER 15, 1_857. BANK OF AUSTRALASEI MEETING. Yesterday afternoon the half-yearly meeting of the shareholders in this company was held at the bank, in Threadneedle-strret; Mr. Oliver Farrer, chairman of the board, presided. The report was unanimously adopted. In the course of the dis cussion, which was principally of a congratulatory nature, it was stated that the amount of reserve fond is 200,0001. Annexed is an abstract of the report " The directors express their satisfaction with the con tinued prosperity of the bank. A careful review of the advances enables then to state that they are of a safe character and represent Bound commercial transactions, an opinion which is confirined by the reports of their efficers. The bills under discount were met with great regularity, aff.aeling evidence of the stability of credit, and no bad debts of any importance had occurred during the half year. At the same time the directors must remind the proprietors that the fluctuations in trade to which the Australian markets are peculiarly liable, and the high price of bullion, renilering exchange operations of little profit, ct.n-iderably augment the difficulties of banking. The general progress and increasing prosperity of the Australian colonies are saves for sincere congratula tion. The production of gold bad increased. Fresh discoveries bad been made, and the newly-found gold field at Mount Ararat, in the coleny of Victoria, bids fair to rival, in the peritianency and richness of its yield, the eld diggings at Ilillarat. The directors intimate their intention to continue the present rate of dividend and bonus of 20 per cent. per annum, at April next, payable as usual, free of income-tax." INTERESTING LETTER FROM CHINA. (From tke Correspondent of the 2inieB.) . SHANGHAI, OCT. 23. A change has come over the policy of the autho rities in the south. The French Ambassador has arrived in the mouth of the Canton river. The pro jected northern voyage is definitively abandoned. It is reported that the order has gone forth that Canton shall be taken, and I must return to my post of observation. I hope to add a postscript to this letter with a Hong Kong date. When we have settled our differences with the Cantonese, the scene of action will be removed to these northern ports. The Chinese officials, or " the Mandarins," as it is the custom to call them, are of opinion that our decisive move, in order to coerce the Court of Pekin, will be to cut off the supply of food to the capital. They reason, according to Chinese logic, from the precedent of the last war ; and, for once, I am inclined to adopt the same conclusion, and from the same premises. In our previous experi ones the Court was immovable so long as we only killed, burnt, and destroyed in the provinces. Di re3tly we put a muzzle upon the mouths of the populace of Pekin the Court was at our feet ; so it will be again. I have - been investigatiug how Pekin is fed. I cannot quote my authorities without certain less of the heath of my informants, but the following may be implicitly relied upon as in the main correct. There are nine of the eighteen provinces of China which produce rice, and have, or rather had, means of water communication with Pekin. These pro vinces are—Fuhkien, Chekiang, Kiangsi, Shantung, Hupeh, Hunan, Kiangsu, Nganhwui, and Szchuen. These provinces, according to ancient precedent, pay their tribute to the capital in rice. They are bound to contribute in the aggregate 10,000 junks, e. el containing 1,000 piculs of 1331 b. English ; but in the arrangement of the proportion Stinutang and Hunan, on account of their poverty or their small extent, only pay as half a province each. This arrangement gave an annual supply of 10,000,000 piculs to the Imperial city, which, at the regular allowance of about 111 h. per day per month—such is the capaci!y of the measure meted out to the soldiery—would feed a population of 3,000,000. The calculation, therefore, as is neces sary in all large calculations, allowed largely for a difference between figures and facts. The rebellion, however, and especially the occu pation of Chekiang, upon the Yang tse, has de ranged this comfortable state of things. The pro vinces south of the Yang-tse can no longer coinrnu nicate, with the capital by the inner.waters; Szchuen is obliged to send silver to Kiangsi; and there pur chase the rice which could not be sent from the province itself. In recent years the 10,000,000 piculs have been enormously diminished ; and the Pekin Gazette has contained many lamentations on this score. So laic as the 26th of September there is a memorial on this subject. The Number of the 20th of Sep tember contains the a• weer of officers to the urgent orders already given t r collect rice and send it round by Tiensiu. There is uo trade at Pekin, and the supply is necessarily a very critical affair. Nankin formerly sent three millions, and Nankin has now other mouths to feed. The China mer chants who bought the Szchueu rice were never pail, for the f,eir lacs of dollars sent them from that province to pay for it were embezzled by the Man darins—an irregularity which hes not tended to facilitate matters. The other provinces had expe rienced inundations and locusts, and had Imperial or rebel armies in their ne;ghbourhood, and they paid their quotas with difficulty. But still, Cant liiem quo vial, Pekin has be: n fed. The supply, however, no long. .r reaches the city as formerly by the Imperial Canal and the other inner waters, but the junks Aart from the coast, and by seahoatd they voyage to the Gulf of Pecheli and the mouth of the Peiho. The cnitorn is to gather the lice together upon the coast as soon as the harvest is got in. About the Ist of January of our year the Custom-houses isy embargo upon the junks, and retain them for the aunual voyage to liensin. Immediately after the commencement of the new year, which occurs early in February, 'the junks start, and, struggling against the adverse momsoon, make their way in perhaps five or six weeks to the mouth of the Peiho. About the tenth day of the second mouth is the day calculated for their arrival, for by this time the ice has disappeared from the river. If this freight should arrive safe in Pekin our war with China will last for 12 montivi longer. The Chinese are quite alive to this their vital difficulty. They are talking of assembling this year s fleet at Lehoo, a place not market in our in , ps, about fifty miles to the north of Woosung, which was used for the same purpose when Shang,ai was in the hands of the rebels four years since. The Government has lately also been buying some steamers. They now have three in their service, and although chasing pirates and quelling rebels is the ostensible object, I fancy that towing rice junks at a critical moment is their real destination. That rice is being collected with extraordinary activity in Kiangsu, and that the mandarins are under strong pressure, are evident. The Chinese say there is generally a stand of wind on the 10th moon (January) under favour of which the junks • can work up north. The sebe,meseieseeri,osttubi. on badly conceived, and it may possbly be northward till th e calculate that ; m all The mandarins shrewdly c h p at r h b g e a b o i f l i t t l y l e t m he o n b s a o r o b n a , r i a a n n d s will h take it for ;rant e d that at thejunks will not sail they will not car e to keep the sea and blc ckade the coast in January, and if the flat-bottomed rice boats can only escape up into the gulf of Pecheli, that gulf will be so shallow at that • period of the year that the steamers If they can run cannotint follow them. the Yellow River they will also be safe, for thence o northwards . the inner waters to Pekin are open. It is impossible to guess what insuperable im pediments the courtesy of the French Emperor toward s his long-tailed Imperial brother, or the "mother wit" of Mr. Commi • ' esioner Reed, or the instructions from Do wning-street may inter pose to a blockade Shanghai, but I of the waole coast north of take it that if left to their own Lord devices neither Elgin nor Admiral . Seymour is a man to allow such Withe a march . as this to b 3 stolen upon them. AAL in hand, and with this fleet of . rice-junks b kept outside,. Lord Elgin's road to Pekin would strewn with flowers, and his negotiations at theec lit would be of a vary curt and satisfactory chara c ter. o I It is an uncomfortable thing to have to state any fact upon Chinese authority, for you know that if a falsehood will serve the turn they never have recourse toThe Chinese, however, all tell me that the truth. m Russians . have been to Tieesin, and they gi ve ande circumstantial details of the transactions there,name even . the officers com missioned to meet" them. ah According to these ac counts the two The Governments are upon the most friendly terms. Chinese affirm that the object of the visits of the t ßussian admiral to the port of Shanghai has been keep the Court . of Pekin in formed of the ° preparations . and intentions of the English, and they hint that the Russians have led them to believe that at the proper moment Russia will interpose her mediation to settle the differences. If these statements are not true they are well invented. The two courts are undoubtedly aux petits soins just now. The Pekin Gazette of the 26th of September report s the return of E - ke - le, a had Chinese officer who been sent to the Court of condolences Russia to present on the death of Nicholas. Tire simply Gazettestates that the Envoy, having had an audience with the present 'Emperor, had retained. Perhaps lam ischned to believe more of this i nformation because I get it from peculiar and ex clusive sources ; but, at any that the Chinese are quite it is safe to con cludere quite alive to every point of the game they are now playing, and that they are disposed to avail themselves of Russia. Before we leave Shanghai I must ask walk uon the British public to accompany me in a the Bund. It will be hard Morning do not find some we some few scenes there illust • ati an d manners. We will start from of Chinese life rom the hotel, which notifies its Whereabouts in th e rear of the settlement by a high flagstaff and a most demonstrative banner. The street we follow i s bounded by the gird en walls and entrances of se veral. ~ hongs "—ornamented detached residences re sembl' in — e a little the villas in the Reg ni t's-park. o ur path • is through a crowd of jostling Coolies. They are carrying, balanced on their bamboo poles, ebest 3 of tea, bales of silk, bricks of Sycee silver, and burdens more multifari ous. It is bard w or k. They i earn by continuous labour nearly B s. a da y. a man is worn out in a b ou t seven years, and he then retires on his econo mies, and enjoys his heed!Y earne s mall plot of ground in the interior. leisure upon a We now see them at full work loadin g and dis c harging cargo. a found Each as he goes emits ho." From the moan of a man in pain, " Ali ho ;ah From early morn ing till eventide this chorus 10.,, o . f . sorrowful sound fills the air. It is more multitudinous iu and monotonous frogs than the croak of the the swamps, than the harsh grating cry of the ei upon the boughs. .I The habit, so far as can C( : teiCe discover, is confined to his port ; but a Shangh a i porte , r can no more do his work without his „ Ah ho I' than a London paviour can get on without his "Rough." When the Engl i sh first came here the house servants brought imp the soups and the legs of mutton sing ing their ' Ali bo" m procession through the din:ng-rootr. This w as promptly put down ; but th e o ut-ot-door chorus stil proceeds. Every moment from 800 chests comes this sad monotonous cry, depre , sing to the spirits of new new comers. We make our way through One creaking crowd, , and debouch upon the Bund—the broad embank ! merit, having on one side the wide river, with 70 square-rigged vessels lying at easy anchor in its noble reach ; and on the other side the " com pounds," or ornamental grounds, each containing the hong and the godowas of some one of the prin cipal European commercial houses. The only building on the Bund which is of Chinese architec ture is the Custom-house, which is like a josshouse. There is something going on at the Custom-house. The Toutai's suite fill the outer courtyard. Some 20 fellows wearing mandarins' caps, with fox-tails sticking out behind, have swords at their aides and form the military escort. Their trousers are much patched and their odour is not fragrant; yet, if one of these ragged ruffians would come to Loudon and submit to be washed Mrs. Leo Hunter would ask lords and ladies to meet him and present him to her guests as " a mandarin from China." There are two curious creatures having enormous gilt hares on their heads and pheasant feathers pro truding behind. They are rather shabbier and dirtier than their military comrades, and look as though they had been turned out of Mr. Richard son's both for lack of cleanliness. Y.ere aro two executioners, conspicuous by their black conical caps, their dark costume, and their iron chains, worn like a sword belt. The larger one is said to be of wonderful skill in taking off heads; the smaller excels in producing torture with the bamboo. Let us go inside. There is incense burning, and priests are chanting. Mandarins, with white or red but tons to their caps, silk dresses, and very dirty hands, are knocking their heads upon the ground before a little joss. It is a Chinese ceremonial day. They have turned the Custom-house into a joss house for the nonce, and are come here to " chin chin" the God of Wealth, which means to pray for a good harvest of import and export duties. The rite is soon performed, the Toutai comes forth, the procession is formed. It would lock splendid in drawing or photograph, but it is squalid and ludi crous in its shabby reality. The Toutai mounts his pony, the large crimson parasol is raised above his head— " Interque signa turps militaria Sol adepicit conopium"— and the cortege moves off. About this Custom-house there is a grave matter to be debated. At the instance of the three treaty Powers the Chinese authorities have established at this port a triumvirate of European inspectirs, or collectors of Cußtem , , an Englishman, a Frenchman, and au American. They were originally selected by their respective Governments. They e .ch receive 2,000/. a-year—a salary not too great to compen sate them for the odium which the discharge of their duties involves. The E`b - glish Government hag ceased to interfere or to recognim Mr. Lay as having any other capacity than that of an officer of the Chinese Government. The French and Ameri can Cont nis retain an influence i❑ the nomination and control of the inspectors of their respective nations. The effect of this Cuatom-house arrangement is that the dotes of the port of Shanghai are received in full. At the other ports the old system of cor ruption prevails, and the Chinese collectors make their private bargains—usually about one-half of the tariff prices. Nothing but strong intrinsic vitality has enabled the trade of Shanghai to thrive in spite of this great disadvantage. The Englishl merchants are divided iu opinion upon this subject of duty collecting. Some think that the Chinese should be left to themselves ; that we should deal with the officials as we do in England with the farmers of turnpike tolls, every man making his own contract bargain. Others think that the inspecting system should be extended to all the ports. A third party are in favour of the abolition of all duties at the ports, allowing the Chinese to collect their own import and export duties inside. It is a difficult subject, almost im possib'e to be satisfactorily arranged by any treaty which shall give to, the Chinese Government the action of an independent Power ; but the difficulty arises from the incurable corruption of the Chinese magistracy and the crumbling rottenness of the Government. Having to deal with such a nation, the necessities of self-protection give us rights which we should nut have if we were dealing with honest men. There is a sound of gongs, and a crop:tation of small crackers at the north end of the bund, and the coolies leaving their work to look on. As it is a day for sight-seeing, and sight-seeing is our busi ness' let us follow the crowd. It is a burial procession. The mother of a Chinese opium broker is going to her last home. She carries with her all her little comforts and necessi ties wherewith to begin life in - the next world. Many palanquins appear at unequal distances, pre ceded and followed by coolies marching four abreast. These litters contain small joss -houses, and basins holding fruits, and sweet meats, and bean cakes, and other orthodox Buddhist comestibles. Theta is good store also of silvered and gilded paper made to resemble solid ingots of gold and silver. This is the wealth wherewith she is to appear in the land of ghosts as a respectable, well-to-do matron. But if this bullion pass current among the ghosts, they have lost the qualities which most distinguish them iu the flesh. In life a Chinaman can distinguish the exact fineness of a piece of silver by the touch, so much so that the word " touch" is used as a technical term' to indicate the quality of each de scription of bullion ; it must be very harrowing to the feelings of the ghost of a Chinese comp' adur to find himself obliged to deal in these shadowy in gots. On marches the procession. There are little boys blowing shrill trumpets and other stranger wind instruments, men excruciating our ears with cymbals and gongs, and grave adults exploding strings of crackers. Then comes the coffin—a strong wooden case like a carved and ornamental trunk of a tree. It is half covered by draperies, and is borne by 12 coolies. It is hermetically sealed with that tenacious plaster the Chinese call " chunam." It w.ll be borne to a Joss-house in the city, and thence to a spot in one of her son's fields. Here it will rest on the surface of the ground. After the time of mourning is past a few spadefulls of earth will be shovelled upon it, then year by year a fe N more till &moiled arises and rank grass and Chinese lilies spring up, and this old lady's habitation adds another unit to the myriads of sacred burrows which cumber the rich soil, and serve no purpose but a harbour for the pheasants when the crops are cut. Our English books upon China say that only bills are set apart for this purpose. Sir John Davis falls into this error. But cur English writers, for the most part, write only of what they have seen on the banks of the Canton River. Between Shanghai and Keehing I have seen thousands of acres of alluvial soil which the plough never turns because they are sacred to the dead. We have plenty of time to look about us, for the procession yet drags its slow length along. The denizens of the Bund have turned out to look, and business is proceeding. There is an English mer chant arranging the sale of a cargo of rice with a Chinaman. " Wantee numba one bad lice© for that sojer— numba one bad licee " Number one bad rice for your soldiers," says the indignant Briton. " Why, we always have the best provisions we can obtain for our soldiers and sailors." Heaven forgive the patriotic man of com merce ! but he never saw a weavelly biscuit, or opened a tin of Crimean preserved meat. "0, maskee, numba one bad lice© too much good for sojer man." We are separated from these bargains by a fisher man and his wife, who push their way by. The lady, who is not in her premiere jeunesse, has large natural feet, and, having tucked up her trowsers, displays a pair of calves which an Irish porter might envy. Taking advantage of their wake, stiffly totters upon her small deer's feet an ordinary Chinawoman of the urban population. She has no calves what ever. The muscles of her leg were destroyed by the operation which produced that beautiful foot, and from the knee downwards her leg is but ekia and bone. Do you ask how this strange deformity is produced Stand back out of the crowd, inside the entrance to Mr. Heard's compound, and I will tell you. There are'small-footed ladies at Hong Kong who gain a very fair livelihood by exhibiting their pedal extremities to sea captains and other curious Europeans •at a dollar a-head ; but as so super ficial an examination of this national peculiarity did not satisfy me, I had recourse to some of my good friends among the missionaries. By their aid I obtained that some poor Chinese women should bring me a complete gamut of little girls from the missionary schools. Many of these female children probably owed their lives to the persuasion (aided .by opportune donations of rice) of my missionary friend and his lady, but their in fluence had been powerless to prevent the torture of their feet. On the appointed day they w ire all seated in a row in my friend's library, and their feet, which I suspect had undergone a preparatory washing, were unbound by their mammas. The first was a child of two years old. Her penance had just commenced. When the bandage of blue cotton was taken off I found that the great toe had been left untouched but the others had been forced down under the ball of the foot, and closely bound in that position. The child, therefore, walked upon the knuckle joints of her four toes. The toes were red and infi ruled, and the ligature caused evident pain. In the next three children (all of ages advan cing at small intervals) the preparation was only to : the Name extent ; it was confined to the four toes ; gradually, however, these four toes, ceding to the continual pressure, lost their articulations and their identity as limbs, and became amalgamated with the sole of the foo'. In the eldest of the four the redness and inflammation had eutirely disappeared, the foot was cool and painless and appeared as though the four toes had been cut off by a knife. The foot was now somewhat the shape of a trowel. In the fifth girl I saw the commencement of the second operation —a torture under which sickly children frequently die. The sole of the foot was now curved into the shape of a bow ; the great toe and the heel being brought together as near as pos sible. Take a jujube and double it till two points of the lozenge nearly meet, and you will see what I mean. This is done very gradually. The bandage is never slackened—month by month it is drawn tighter—the foot inflames and swells, but the tender mamma perseveres—as the bones -and tendons accommodate themselves to the position constrained by the bandage so it is drawn tighter. At last the ball of the natural foot fits into the hollow of the sole, the root of the great toe is brought into contact with the heel. The foot is a shapeless lump. The instep is where the ancle was, and all that is left to go into the slipper and to tread the ground is the ball of the great toe and the heel. This is the small foot of the Chinese wo man—a bit of toe and a bit of heel, with a mark, like a cicatrice left after a huge cut, running up be tween them. Two of the girls were yet suffering great pain, and their feet were hot and inflamed, but in the eldest the operation was complete. She had attained to the position of a small-footed wo man; and her feet were quite cool, had no corns, and were not tender to the touch. One of the mammas, influenced perhaps by a little liberality iu the article of rice money, intrusted me with a Chinese my3tere de toilette. Sometimes, it seems, when a woman is expected to have to do bard work, her toe and heel are not drawn so tightly together as to produce the true " small foot." To disguise this imperfection upon her marriage day she has recourse to art. A piece of cork, shaped like an in verted sugar-loaf, is strapped on to her foot, and the small part goes into her slipper and passes for her foot. Thus are we poor men deceived ! While we are gossipping about small feet the old lady's burial procession comes to an end. It would be hissed 'at Astley's, and would be regarded with blank astonishment at the Princess's, but it is very successful at Shanghai. The opium broker has done his duty as a good son. If he keeps his two ye'ars of mourning properly, and if none of his wives should commit the indiscretion of having a child within two years, commencing from nine months after this time (for the present Emperor is supposed= to owe all his misfortunes to an unfortunwe acci dent of this sort), he will be esteemed a very re spectable man for evermore. The Bund resumes its normal state, and the "Ah ho's" are again in full chorus. What shall we do next? It is-half-past 1 o'clock, tiffin time at Shang hai. You have made your calls on arriving here, and your cards have been duly returned, so you are free to go and come at tiffin time in all their hospitable hongs. No lack of good dishes or of pleasant iced drinks at a Shanghai tiffin. Where the jusie r partner, with his employes of silk inspec tor, and tea-tater, and beekkeperand clot les, holds a separate mess, the allowance from the house to that mess is neverless than 50 Shanghai dollars per month per head, or something more than 2001. a yesr to each employe for the table alone. We may enter boldly. There is no chance of finding people making shifts with small commons in China. There is a great charm in European socety at all the ports. Everybody is able, and is, indeed, obliged to have a lordly indifference to expense. They can not control it, and they must let it go. There is no struggling and contriving to keep up appearance , . Toe profits are large and the expenditure is grat— laissez alter. Tiffin, however, is a bad habit, if we can keep out of it. Let us rather stroll tewards the city and trust to chance for a light lunch. " A'Lin, get a Coolie and follow us with some dollars and some cash"—the rascal wouldn't carry a string of copper cash himself to save his father's tail. It is a long stretch from the English settlement to the Chinese city. We must pass through the French concession in front of Mr. Conolly's long, wherein that gentle man, with exaggerated Shangai hospitality, has just taken in a distressed Singapore tiger, whose roaring attracts a crowd of Chinese around his gates. A Chinese city is no novelty to us who have journeyed together through so many of then ; but a festival day always has some objects of interest. In Pekin tho " Board of Rites" busies itself about many th'ngs ; and among others it sets apart two days in every month as the days upon which atone marriages can take place. To day is one of these days, and in consequence thereof several gorgeous palanquins, like miniature Lord Mayor's coaches taken off their wheels, and containing ladies all splendid in jewels and gold, are passing through the narrow streets. These ladies have jewelled crowns upon their heads, and veils of strings of pearls f2lling over their faces, and em broidered satin tunics, and fans of gold tissue. They are going, properly accompanied, to their new homes. One of them is just entering the house of a distiller with whom I have some ac quaintance. We shall be welcome; let us go in. The houae is decorated for the fete. It is hung with lanteliis inside and out. The courtyard is full of relatives and hangers-on ; and at the gate is the comprador, who receives the money offerings of the visitors ; the principal room opening upon the courtyard is prepared for the fea , t. Lanterns are hung from the ceilings, a small joss-house with candles and incense before it is at ono end, and in the middle is the table on which stand the small basins of sauces and sliced shellfish, and goose flesh and sweetmeats and cakes, which are the pre cursive appetisers to a Chinese dinner. The bride groom (the son of the proprietor) is lounging on a chair in his shift-sleeves smoking ; the bride is gone up to her chamber, where she is sitting on her nup tial couch and receiving her guests. We may go up if we please, but it is less trouble to wait and look about us till she comes down. We crack a joke or two with the bridegroom, and he retires to put on his gorgeous array, and then the bride ap pears followed by her retinue of bridesmaids, and escorted by an old woman, the go-between who has made up the match. We present ourselves in due form, and the bride, who, in spite of her high crown and embroidered tunic and trousers, looks nervous and twitchy and slightly convulsive, just as she might if her name were Brown and if we had accosted her at the door of the vestry-room of St. George's, Hanover-square, returns our salutation and would like to pass on. But such is not selon les regles. The duenna insists upon our admiring the beauty of the head-drees and the thickness of the embroidered satin whereof her tunic is made ; but, above all, she will pull up the trousers to ex hibit the faultless proportions of the little feet. They are marvellously small. A flea couldn't find room to hop in that Lipper. "Chin, chin. I" let us be off. There is another decorated dwelling on our way, but it is a cottage, and presents a different' scene. Three men are drinking samshu at table, while the bride, dressed in her borrowed bravery, sits on a brrrel in the most distant corner, alone and unnoticed. To-morrow and for ever more sho will be a beast of burden. Perhaps, how ever, she will, in the fulness of time, create her own distractions. A few years may probably see a crowd of mangey brats, exhibiting every form and sprcies of cutaneous complaint, fighting and yelling over their rice basins, and; aided by the mother's shrew voice and the grandmother's croak, making their neighbourhood unbearable. Such a family lived opposite to my bedroom win dow at Ningpo. From early cockcrow to sun down the screams and shrill cries were unintermit tent. The nuisance burst into being all on a sud den ; but I found, on inquiry, that, it had existed in its present aggravated form about 2 years before, and was then cured. After many vain remon strances, an English merchant complained to the Toutar. Next clay the lord of the house.was sent for to the Prefecture, and being suspended by the thumbs received 40 blows of the bamboo ; be was then dismissed with a warning. When that re spectable housekeeper returned disjointed and macerated to his dwelling be went in and shut his doors about him. What happened in the bosom of that family no man may know ; 'but thenceforward the rice was eaten within the house, and the screams did not vibrate in the street. When I heard of this I thought I would try what a threat of the Touter would d :so I sent my boy down - with a message. He returned with the air of an envoy who has failed. " Well, what does the woman say 1" "She talkos no care—last moon husband dead." We must on, it is not pleasant to linger in the streets of a Chinese city. The porters jostle you, and the palariquins push you aside, and the smells assail you. The French Jesuit, to whom acom xa exaggerated when he com patriots taecenaptaploi of China, htionas,enradthh. rather r r e sp . e g c g imens of all the replied, " Alas ! Madam,inChr Tthheerreeiasrbeumt many scent, and that is not a perfume." scents, but with the exception of tho white blossom wherewith they scent their teas none of them are perfumes. We bustle our way through the narrow streets. We pass the temples ,and the yamuns, unentered, for we have seen a hundred such before, and we reach the tea gardens of Shanghai city. These are worth a visit, for they are the beat I have seen in China. A Chinese garden is usually about 20 yards square, but these cover an area of ten acres. It is an irregular fignre flanked by rows of shops, rudely analogous to those of the Palais Royal. e area is tracers( d in all directions by broad canals of stag nant water, all gt own over with gre. n, and creased of the willow by zig-zag wooden bridg es , pettein plate model, sadly out of repair, and destitu'e of paint. Where the water is net, there are lumps of artificial rockwork, and large pavilion-Shaped tearooms, perhaps 20 in number. Here self -heating kettles of gigantic proportions are always hissing and bubbling ; and at the little tables the Chiueee population are drinking tea, smoking, eating almond hardbake or pomegranates, playing - dominoes, or arranging bargains. There are interstices also of vacant land, and these are occupied by jugglers and peepshow-men. From the upper room of one of these teahouse& we shall have a view of the Whole scene, and A'Lin will order us a cup of tea and some cakes for lunch. The jugglers and gymnasts below are doing much the same kind of tricks which their • brethren of England and France perform. M. Houdin and Mr. Anderson would find their equals among these less pretending wizards. lam ,told that those peep-shows which old. men are looking into, and laughing, and which young boys are not prevented from seeing, contain representations of the grossest obscenity. Here is a ventriloquist who, attracted by our European . costumes at the case ment, has come up to perform. " Give him a dollar, A'Lin, and tell him to begin." That dirty, half clad wanderer would make another fortune for Barnum. He unfolds his pack, and constructs.out of some curtains a small closed room. Into this he retires, and immedia 4 ely a little vaudeville is heard in progress insi•le. Half-a-dozen voices in rapid dialogue, o:qids, and movements, and cries of animals, and the clatter of falling articles, tell the action of the plot. The company from the tea-tables, who had gathered round, wag their tails with laughter, especially at the broadest sallies of humour, and at the most indecorous denotcements. In truth, there is no difficulty, even to us, in com prehending what is supposed to be going on in that little room. The incidents are, indeed, some what of the broadest—not so bad as the scenes in our orthodox old English comedies, such as " The Custom of the Country," for instance, or "The Conscious Lovers ;" but still they are very minutely descriptive of fact not proper to be described. The man's talent, however, would gain him full audi ences in Europe without the aid of grossness. "Ho lai"--" fire, there." Shall we light a cheroot and stroll about ? Don't make too sure, Mr. - Bull, that the gentleman in the mandarin cap, who is holding you by the button and grinning in you face, is saying any thing complimentary about you. In a journey" up the country a fat Frenchman, who bad equipped himself in an old mandarin coat, a huge pair of China boots, and a black wide-a-wake, was leaning upon a bamboo spear, while his boat was being drawn over one of those mud embankments, which serve the purpose of our locks. . Ho also was very much flattered at the politenes of an old man who prostrate •1 laimsJit three times before him, and chin-chin-ad him. Unluckily an interpreter was present, who explained that this old man took our French friend foe the Devil, and was worshipping him in that capacity according to Chinese rites. It fact, the Frenchman in his antique disguise rather resembled a Chinese idol. But ask the French Consul at Shanghai about this ; he can tell the story better than I can. .. Some of the beat shops of Shanghai city open upon the tea-gardens ; some resound with the buzz of impri soned insects and the song of caged birds ; there are " curio " shops, where are to be seen antrquities of dynasties long anterior to the Christian era, carefully' wroiight by living bands ; there are caricatures of the English barbarians, one of which I cannot refrain from buying ; there are carvings ing bamboo, very inferior to Canton ; there are shops for fans, and embroideries , rind silks, decidedly inferior to Niegpo. There is also the studio of a portrait painter, not probably a dangerous rival to Lamqua, of Macao. There is loud talking in that studio. AYankee captain is inspecting a portrait of himself, which has been painted at a contract price of come 20 dols. Vie Yankee is a man about 40, with streaks of gray in his bushy Lair and beard, with a slight defect in one eye, a large 111080, and a pock-marked face. Yet, withal, thanks to his affluence of hair and an ex presdon of jaunty determination and devil-may-care go - -aheadnese, he is a manly-boking fellow. He is looking ruefully, however, at this counterfeit present ment of himself which is to go to the girl of his heart at New York. It is a most laughter-moving caricature of all the salient points of his physiognomy. The Yankee swears that it is no more like him than hickory nuts are like thunder. The artist has produced a small looking glass, which he places beside the portrait, and, pointing to the gray hair, and the squinting eye, and. the pock marks of the portrait, and then to the present original' from which they were copied, says triumphantly at each verification, " Hab got ? Hale got ? Hab gat How can make handsome man %pose n a got handsome face / " t a h e l irk cheroote ihoe, likelihood as a L d e t i s u p a u Itee£:Vasa td, e a s r s ai p i a a r g ti es, r f s o e r l vtehse with t s h e e a m a s s a defence against bad smelt, retrace our steps through the city, and out at the east gate. We are again upon the Bund. The sun is down and the European population are taking exercise in the short twilight. The merchants and their wives are re turning in carriages or on horseback from their ride round the racecourse, or aro walking ; the missionaries and their wives are riding up and down on their panies. The shadows grow deeper, and you can scarce recognise your acqnaintances as they pass. And now, Mr. Bull, it is time to go in and dress for dinner. I hope during our day's stroll I have given you some notion of the city and settlement of Shang ha;, which, if you are a wise man, and open up the Yang-tee-Kiang, will lie a most important place both to you and to your descendants for many a long genera tion. HONG KONG, OCT. 30. After a rapid and most comfortable passage of four days I ate back " home" in Hong Kong, jnst in time to keep you informed of the only matters having the least importance which have occurred since my departure for the North. You will havo heard last mail by the sews from Singe• pore that the Audacious° and the French Plenip ) had at last arrived. Tno day after the departure of the mail Baron Gros steamed into harbour, and with polite or kindly haste immediately proceeded unaccompanied to tha Ava, without even sending notice of his coming. The meeting of the two Pleuip)s had the cordiality of the uoi,offici:d and unceremonious meeting of two private gentlemen, one of whom had been accidentally kept and the other anxious to expre3s by his manner and empressemeni that he regretted the delay. Next day the harbour resounded with salutes, and the two Minister met at dinner at Government House. The Audacieuse returned to her anchorage off Lintin, and diplomatic communications have since then been fre %trent and, as it is said, most amicable. The gunboats are arriving daily, but Captain Sherard Osborne, who bas to keep his chicken together, is not yet come in. It is necessary to tow these craft up against the north-east monsoon, but it is scarcely worth while enumerating the actual arrivals for they will probably be all repotted a short distance off by the steamer which takes this-letter. It 19 a pleasure to be able to congratulate our Admi ralty. They may be honestly proud of the achievement of the Imperador. the morning of the 28th that fine ship steamed into harbour in admirable time after a passage almost unrivalled of 61 days (at sea) from England to Singapore. She brings 500 marines, and she brings them out in the first-rate condition. Only 15 men in all were on the sick list. Yesterday she pro ceeded np the Canton river to the Wantung, where barracks have been provided, and where, it is to be hoped, the men will retain their present health and efficiency. We are now in eager expectation of the arrival of the sister ship the Inaperatrix, supposed to be about three days behind her. This mail will probably bring you more certain tidings of her. It is no secret that something is now about to be un dertaken, We shall probably wait the arrival of the whole of the slender farce allotted to us. 3,080 redcoats are not a too numerous army to bring to reason an empire of 300,000,000 of people ; but so soon as we have all we are to expect we hope to be able to tell you that Canton is in our hands. Al our superfluous doctors and Commissariat officers are cif for India. It is understood that General Ash. burnham and staff, and Colonels Wetherell and Paken haru go by the next mail. General Straubenzse remains with us, mud I hear but one sentiment with respect to this oficer. He has impressed all here with full confi dence in him as a leader of energy and conduct. SPORTING INTELLIGENCE. TATTERSALL'S—McamAT. The following were the only bete laid : TWO THOUSAND GUINEAS STAKES. 6to 1 agst Clydesdale 100 to 15 agst Brother to Marchioness 9 to 1 agst Lord of Lorn 10 to 1 agst Happy Land SAUNTERER.-Mr. Jackson has sold this horse to Mr J. Merry, for 2,100 guineas. READING STEEPLECHASES. The Calcot Steeplechase Plate . (Handicap) of 40 Boys. Two miles and a-half. Age st lb Tom Gurney ...... a 12 0 Lilford a 11. 6 Theodine Morgan Rattler Shylook (late Break o'-day Boy) a 1.1 3 Warwick 5 11 3 Cotton Lord Scrimmage (late Lord John) Longford 6 11 2 Erington Lass a 11 2 Columbine Banjo ......... 5 10 13 Nicholas Comet Age et lb Goldhill Weston 5 10 11 Kettleby Vestige - 6 10 11 ' Tana lO 11 Sunset Noctis Earthstopper The Don Sussex Pillaton a.......,, ... 6 10 5 Glautins ............ 4 10 5 Perseverance The Cripple 4 10 3 The Scamp BERKSHIRE OPEN STEEPLECHASE.—The following horses have declared forfeit, and ply 2 sous each : Ecape, Lilford, Humboldt, Theodine, Forest gaup, ani Dayto n . Evington Lase, IMPORTATION OF CollN.—Ye;terday a return was issued 811 ' , Aing that In the year ended last March the duty on corn inputted was 483,8021. [ADVIMTISEMENT.]-110iloway's Ointment and Pills have cored a wound in the leg of eleven years standing. Mr. Welch, chemist, of Brighton, states, in a letter. to Professor Holloway, dated September 6, 1855, that sire. Catherine Hudson, of Cavendish-place, in that town, had been suffering for eleven years front an u k e , roes wound in the leg, for which she had been under medical treatment in the London and Brighton Dispen strice, but received no benefit therefrom ; the applica tion however, of EC,lloway's Ointment, and the use of Holloway's Pills, Lave effected a perfect cure.—Sold by all medicine vendors throughout the world ; at Pro fessor Holloway's establishments, 244, Strand, London, acd 86, Maiden-lane, New Yolk; by A. Stampa, coo etantinople ; A. Guidicy, Smyrna ; and E, Muir, MAlta.