The Sun.
London, England, 1864-12-07 00:00:00

lance of power in some degree adjusted. Not at once,
and not with the strongest efforts, can a change
come suddenly, but still this is a foreshadowing of
the future, which shall see Germany liberated
from the dictation of the Berlin Cabinet. " Coming
events cast their shadows before," and high as M.
BISMARK may carry his head just now, and
haughtily as he and his myrmidons may dictate
terms to Vienna, and make semblance of crushing
the hostile spirit of the Confederation, and the in-
dignant remonstrances of the Blend, his day of
reckoning approaches, hidden in the gloom that
overshadows the future, but not the less surely and
certainly destined to come. It is difficult to find
language strong enough to depict the qualities that
M. BISMARK has displayed since the commence-
ment of this contest, and words are powerless to
express the feelings which the upright must expe-
rience when they contemplate such barefaced
effrontery and such wholesale violation of the prin-
ciples of truth and justice. Well may the Vienna
papers say that the conduct of Prussia towards her
Federal allies has been most "violent" and
"brutal." Such terms only too aptly describe the
demeanour that we have so long deplored and de-
precated in this country, assured that its persistent
pursuance would bring about sad and serious con•
sequences, and convinced that freedom was im-
perilled and the good faith of nations endangered
by such fatal essumption of undue claims and such
false assertions of rights and privileges. The pre-
sent triumph which Prussia has achieved through
intimidating Austria, must necessarily be shurt-
lived, and even while she outwardly enjoys the
victory, the seeds of decay and defeat will be ger-
minating her Cabinet, and taking root in
her Councils. A more tame and impo-
tent conclusion has seldom followed upon such
grandiloquent assertions and fine sounding schemes.
It is evident the next step will be the sequestration
of the Duchies to Prussia. Rumour has for some
time past been busy in whispering this likely oc-
currence, and all seems to tend that way, which-
ever way we look at the affair. Once secure of co-
operation with Vienna, BIsMABK will set the Ger-
man Confederation at defiance and proceed to ex-
tremities. In this he will go too far in all
probability ; but there is no teaching wisdom to
those who think they have the game in their own
hands, and that they have the earth for
their table and empires for their game. Disap-
pointed and partially nonplussed as the smaller
2rerman States must he by the over-riding and
tyranny of the reckless BISMARK, they will not
b 3 found always so impotent and innocuous as that
crafty statesman doubtless considers they are and
will be. A feeling of distrust and jealousy rankling
in the mind is a dangerous weapon against any
authority, no matter how puissant he may appear
to be ; and it will be seen by those who live long
enough, that the day of retribution will dawn.
These States have a double injury to record against
Prussia, Last year that kingdom did its utmost to
prevent the proposed independence and consolida-
tion of their people, and now it is virtually ignoring
their existence by disclaiming their right to act,
and their opinion as to the mode in which others
ought to act. It cannot be that any kingdom can
long withstand the direful and dangerous influences
that are arrayed against Prussia at this moment,
and especially when it is borne in mind that there
is no innate strength in the Government, and no
intrinsic greatness in the people.

The Peruvian brings U 3 an animated picture of
the. state of American effeirs. Every one is watch-
ing in the greatest excitement for the results of
SHERMAN'S expedition, but the suspense will not
be of very long duration since an encounter is
imminent with the Confederate forces, and the first
pitchtd battle will prob Ably either completely rout
the invader or enable him to pursue his course un-
checked to Augusta. The South are making despe-
rate efforts, and Gen. BEAUREGARD has issued a
stirring address to the people of Georgia, calling
on them to remove or destroy all property in
SHERMAN'S route which could benefit him, to break
up the bridges, obstruct the roads, and impede his
progress in every way possible. The Richmond
authorities and the leading citizens of the State
enforce these recommendations, which it is likely
enough the people will follow, since they may as
well destroy their property themselves for the
ultimate good of the country, as leave it to be
plundered and destroyed by the Federal army.
So far from observing the terms of his order,
SHERMAN has been carrying destruction in his
train. He has burnt 511 or seven towns, including
in one of them the house of Governor BROWN, and
he is laying waste the country on every side.
According to the manner in which the Federals
announca his future movements, they are confident
of his success in not only reaching Augusta but
in proceeding " on to Richmond ;" but there are
very great doubts on both points. He has not yet
reached Macon, and Beauregard is hurrying to meet
him with a force of 65,000 to SHERMAN'S 50,000.
A great part of General EARLY'S army has been
withdrawn from the Shenandoah to Richmond
and Petersburg to enable General LEE to rein-
force BEAUREGARD, and thus send an equal force
to encounter SHERMAN, which is, of coarse, the
vital point. A battle was thought to be imminent,
and it is likely to be disastrous in its consequences
to the North if the loser.

The New Governor of Malta,

VALF.TTA, Dec. 1,

Ili Excellency Sir H. Storks arrived at Malta on the
night of the 29th Nov., in H.M.S. Psyche, from Marseilles,
having embarked on board that vassel on Snnday evening,
during very tempestuous weather, which rendered the get.
ting out of the narrow port of La Joliette no very easy
matter, but which was accomplished without accident or
mishap of any kind by her skilful commander, Lieutenant
Sterne.

On Wednesday morning the Chief Secretary to Govern-
went, Sir Victor Moulton, repaired on hoard to take his
Excellency's commands, and in the course of the morning
the secretary to the Roman Catholic Bishop also waited
upon his Excellency to compliment him in the name of the
Bishop of Malta, Sir Henry Storks landed at noon under a
salute from the town, and was received at the Custom-house
landing-place, by a guard of honour, as well as by Major-
Gen, Ridley, the Acting Governor, and the heads of the
military and civil departments. General Ridley and the
Chief Secretary drove up to the Palace with his Excellency,
who was also accompanied by his military secretary, Lieut.
Colonel Peel, the route chosen being that by the Mersa side
of the harbour, Along the most part of the route, and espe•
cially at Floriana and the main street of the city, the pave-
ment was lined with people, who respectfully saluted their
new Governor as he passed, which was repeatedly and
politely acknowledged. His Excellency was in civilian
dress, which was understood by the population to mean a
compliment to their wishes for a civil Governor. At the
Palace gates another guard of honour was in waiting. The
ceremony of admicistering the oaths was performed by Sir
Antonio Micallef, K. C. M . G., the highest judicial functionary
in the island,and they were repeated by his Excellency in a re-
markably firm and audible voice, the Royal commission hav-
ing previously been read by the chief secretary. At 1 his
Excellency received the Bishop of Malta, and at 2 the Naval
Commander-in-Chief, the Admiral Superintendent, and
other raval And military officers of high rank, In the even-
ing his Excellency dined with General Ridley, and after-
wards went to the Opera, the house being, of course, un-
usually well attended by a large and fashionable audience.
On the Governor making his appearance after the first act,
the National Anthem was sung by the whole theatrical
company, assisted by the orchestra and a military band be-
hind the scenes, after which the audience offered its wel-
come also by a general clapping of hands, but unaccom.
panied by any other demonstration. To-morrow a popular
address will be presented to the new Governor, as well as
one from the Chamber of Commerce.

The Emperor of Russia has just issued a ukase
extending the abolition of serfdom to Transcaucasia, the
only province of the Russian empire where that institution
still exists,

Charles Dickens's New Serial Story.

---~- -

Our Mutual Friend. By Charles Dickens. No. S.
Chapman and Hall.
Number Eight of " Our Mutual Friend" contains
within it much that shows Mr, Dickens still to be
in the plcuitude of his power as Chief among the
Great Master Humorists of English Literature.
It is the author of Pickwick and Martin Chuzzlew it,
of the Old Curiosity Shop and Oliver Twist, of
David Copperfield and Great Expectations, who
here talks to us. It is the creator of Little Nell and
Paul Dombey, of Young Pip and Tiuy Tim, who
has here written fur us in this December
number of his new serial story, that exquisite
Ninth Chapter of the &mid Book of " Oar
Mutual Friend." In which " the orphan makes his
will." Therein, that is within the compass of that
one brief chapter, our author wields, yet once more,
by the right divine of genius, a complete mastery
over many of our nobler emotions. We read what
he has there written through a mist of tears. The
words in which his thoughts are articulated are of
the simplest. There is about them not one particle
of affectation. The tender sensibility of which they
are expressive comes to us as it were spontaneously,
and, in one sense, it might almost be said, quite
unpremeditatedly, It is the very opposite or anti-
thesis of what we, for our own part, hold in espe-
cial abhorrence, to wit, mere idle sentimentality.
The pathetic beauty of the incident described
in this ninth chapter is of the sweetest and
of the gentlest well imaginable, and yet, in every
syllable of it, it is also of the very manliest. It
is related of Fra Angelico—and hence, indeed, the
lovely reputation he has left in the History of Art
—that especial graces both of shape and of colour
seemed to fall upon his canvas whenever his pencil
undertook to pourtray the angelic forms and fea-
tures with which his fame, with which his very
name, has come to be identified. In the same way
and with equal truth, it might be said that Mr
Dickens is at his best whenever his hand touches
lovingly upon that darling theme for him—the
delineation of those whom he himself has
somewhere exquisitely spoken of as—" angels of
little children." Of the depth of tenderness with
which his manly hand can portray them, these
latest records of the foreshortened life of the Orphan,
of " Our Johnny," as here given in this eighth in-
stalment of " Our Mutual Friend," of themselves
afford the very amplest amplest attestation. They
would of themselves make good all we have but
just now said about Mr Dickens's rare and incom-
municable gifts es a delineator of little chil-
dren, even if we had no remembrance whatever
of his own already thickly peopled little world
of little children, such, for example, as those
world-famous little children whose names we
have already enumerated. . . . Chapter Seven
is one in which " A Friendly Move is Originated"
betweeu that disgracefully selfish old humbug,
(" with a wooden leg,") once upon a time Apple-stall
keeper, now custodian of Boffin's Bower, and that
melancholy articulator of his dear brcthers and
sisters departed, Mr Venus, otherwise describable,
let us say, as the Skeleton-maker Crossed in Love.
his amiable pair, Mr Venus and Mr Wegg, lay
their heads together with a view to the discovering,
if possible, under the dust heaps, of something to
the disadvantage of the unsuspecting Golden Dust.
man, Noddy Boffin. One delightful gleam of
humour shines out, every now and then, through
the heze of this wretched little conspiracy—namely,
upon each occcasion when that ungrateful old rascal
Silas Wegg plumes himself upon his magnanimous
relinquishment (in the interests of his new em-
ployer) of " those great creatures (whose very
names were of his, that is, of Wegg's, own invention)
Miss Elizabeth, Master George, Aunt Jane, and
Uncle Parker!" Chapter Eight recounts how a
certain "Innocent Elepement,,Occurs"—Miss Bella
Wilfer (previously armed, to that very end, we
may presume, with a fifty pound note, the gift of
dear old Nicodemus Beni, Esquire, of the Bower
and the Grand Corner House)—Miss Bella, we say,
running off with ~ Pa" (R. W,, otherwise Rumty),
after that same poor shabby Pa has been transformed
in his attire from head to foot, including patent
leather boots ! Runs cff with him to a fashionable
hotel down the river at Greenwich—to the end
simply of giving poor shabby Pa (shabby now no
longer), at last, in his whole dull life, one
single day's treat. The which incident of
the Innocent Elopement is described thoughout
with infinite prettiness. Afterwards it is that we
come to that ninth chapter, " In which the Orphen
makes his wilt"—in which Our Johnny sickens,
droops, and dies. Before the number ends Mr.
Sloppy may be said to have been formally installed
as poor dead Johnny's successor. And well does Mr.
Sloppy—we cannot but think this, and say it—dee
serve this promotion. That "poor ungainly piece of
honesty"—Sloppy to wit—fairly winning his way to
our
tr sympathies in despite of all his abundant little
vag
ances of grotesqueness. Immense fun is
extravagances
made of his persistent revelation in various parts
of his form of many ' ' surprising, confounding,
and incomprehensible buttons." Even when he has
enjoyed "a complete realisation of that fairy vision
--ascot,
en beer,oe eaia
ble vegetables,bu of hie "became more
ttons
andiidding,"we learn that
those
importunate of public notice than before, with the
n
exception of two or three about the region of the
waistband, which modestly withdrew into a creasy
retirement.' Nay, even when—after the demise of
poor
little Johnny—we learn that the consideration
of Mrs Boffin has clothed Mr Sloppy in a suit of
black, on which the tailor had received personal
directions to expend the utmost cunning of his art,
with a view (if possible) to the concealing of the
cohering and sustaining buttons—how is the event
reported to us, namely as to the result of this wild
sartorial effort at improvement ? Why, by our being
informed that—" so much more powerful were
the frailties of Sloppy's form than the strongest
resources of tailoring science" that he stood
forth (in his new suit of black) "a perfect Argus
in the way of buttons—shining and winking and
gleaming and twinkling out of a hundred of those
eyes of bright metal at the dazzled spectators."
Yet, it Sloppy, with his ungainliness and his but-
tons and his fairy visions of " four of 'em," mean-
ing meat, beer, vegetables, and pudding, wins our
laughter, as he does full freely, it is a laughter
that comes to us through our tears—tears for
the poor little baby orphan, Our Johnny. A
glimmering of his sad case we have—when,
after Sloppy's description of the strange re-
semblance discernible betwen the rumbling rattle
of the mangle and Our Johnny's breathing—the
narrator cipende first of all with his description
into a stare and a vacant grin, but afterwards, being
silent, contracts into a half-repressed gush of
tears—" under pretence of being heated, drawing
the under part of his sleeve across his eyes with a
Singularly awkward, laborious, and roundabout
smear !" Moro painfully still do we come to realise
the condition of Our Johnny when, upon entering
the poor cottage at Brentford, with the rest of them,
we hear old Betty Higden, in answer to Mrs.
Boffin's inquiring " How's my boy ?" answering,
" Ile's bad ! He's bad 1" Fainter grow our
hopes, darker and darker grow our fears,
for poor Johnny, when—after opening his
heavy eyes, end slowly breaking into a smile on
beholding that splendid phenomenon, the noble
charger from the toy-shop—nay after he has con-
trived (by means of its being placed on a chair within
his reach) to hold it by the mane and there contem-
plate it—we read—. Which he soon forgot to do!"
When at last, however, upon his removal to the
Children's Hospital, we overhear the kind doctor
whispering aside to Rokesmith—" This should have
been done days ago. Too late !"—we know the worst
—we realise then to the full the approach of the ine-
vitable parting. Nothing could very well be more
beautiful in its way than the description—so simple,
so truthful, so touching—Lore penned by Mr.Dickena
of the incidents occurring in (nay, of the mere general
aspect of) that gently tended dormitory in the Hos-
pital for Sick Children. Passing through it with
him in the dead of the night, in company with
Rokesmith and the Doctor—while most of the little
patients are lying there asleep—we read, how, there
upon the little platforms raised above each tiny
couch—" Over most of the beds, the toys
were yet grouped as the children had
left them when they last laid themselves down,
and, in their innocent grotesqueness and ineon.