The Sun.
London, England, 1864-10-05 00:00:00

ritable Order. It is customery in Sweden, when
any lady has officiated at Court as dame d'honneur,
to present her upon her marriage with the initials,
traced in brilliants,of the reigning Sovereign. A still
higher mark of favour is to give the Royal likeness
to be worn, encircled with diamonds. Among the
ladies possessing this latter distinction in the ball-
room at Drottningholm was the Countess Brahe,
whose late husband enjoyed the privilege of being
first on the muster.roll of the Swedish nobility—an
honour with the eldest son will also enjoy on at-
taining his majority. After the usual dances of
ceremony a cotillon, introducing several figures of
novelty, was executed. Immediately prior to one
of the changes of time and measure one of the Queen
Dowager's chamberlains entered within the circle
of dancers and presented to each in turn a large
satin pincushion, from which every lady or gentle•
man, if so minded, withdrew a miniature flag,
the nationalities presented being Swedish, Danish,
and English. No political significance what-
ever attached to the pavilion, as it was called; it
was merely taken out of the cushion and presented
on the next favourable opportunity to the lady or
gentleman, as the case might be, with whom the
presenter wished to dance, as an indication of that
desire; immediately after circling the room once, a
return was made to their original partners.
Invi-
tations of this nature might be issued ad libitum
while the cotillon lasted, and several gentlemen
whose dancing appeared to be in request had quite
an array of these miniature ensigns before it con-
eluded. The King was bound to obey the law
equally with his subjects, and among the ladies by
whom he was singled out as a partner was a
member of the Swedish nobility, English by
birth, whose father produced a very agreeable
work upon most of the points of interest in
Sweden. To institute anything like comparisons
such as those which Paris was called upon to make is
an invidious task, and led, we know, in the earliest
mythological times to the gravest consequences.
Without provoking similar penalties, and yet to gra-
tify in some sort the natural desire which leads men,
even at a show of exotics, to inquire who has won
the first prize, it may be stated that the three faces
most generally admired were representatives of three
distinct types of beauty—Danish, English, and
Swedish. About 12 o'clock their Royal Highnesses
the Prince and Princess of Wales, having first in-
scribed their names in a book at the request of her
Majesty the Queen Dowager, descended with other
members of the Royal family, followed by the general
company, to supper,which was laid out in apartments
under the ball-room suite. These were richly deco-
rated with tapestries and historical paintings that
would have repaid inspection, but it was difficult
under the circumstances to concentrate attention cn
their merits. In the supper-room devoted to the
accommodation of the Royal party the King pro-
posed the health of illustrious visitors. The general
company were invited to drink the healths of the
Prince and Princess of Wales by M. Wilhelm
Amineff, Chamberlain to the Queen Dowager.

Confederate Steamer at Falmouth,

(Front thi: Western Daily Mercury.)

The Flamingo, Captain Collier, a Confederate

three-funnel steamer, arrived at Falmouth on Sun-
day, in nine days and a half from land to land, hav-
ing left Pictou, Nova Scotia, on the 22d of Septeaas
ber, being one of the fastest runs on record. She
came home for repairs, and at the time of reaching
the harbour had only about two tons of coal left.
From a passenger on board we have received some
very interesting details of the events that are trans-
piring on the coast of the southern part of North
America. The Elsie, Confederate steamer, was cap-
tured on the SLII nit. by two Yankee men-of-war
steamers off Charleston—the steam frigate Quaker
City and the Key Stone State. The Elsie had on
board about 500 bales of cotton, and was at the time
of her capture running the blockade from Wilming-
ton, being bound for Nassau. The Elsie was shelled
for four hours by these two vessels, and eventually.
a 631 b. shell burst on board, and the ship was im-
mediately in flames. Tno captain, finding it im-
possible to put the fire out, thought prudence the
better part of valour, and therefore surrendered.
The Yankees came alongside, and, putting a hose
into the Elsie from both ships, poured in a flood of
water which soon put the fire out. Tney saved tf e
ship, but lost 200 bales of the cotton, which had to
be thrown overboard, The captain and crew were
taken prisoners, and were all taken to Beaufort,
where they were subsequently liberated. When the
Yankees came up to the Elsie they thought she had
been set on fire by order of the captain, but on
finding the fire resulted from the bursting of a
shell, eel discipline was forgotten, and every man
commenced looting on his own account, and conse-
quently captain and men were bereft of everything
that they had. Usually better discipline is kept,
and personal property is respected, but as the ship
was on fire the rights of property were held of no
account. About 300 men scrambled up the sides of
the ship, and joined in the work of "appropriation.'
The Federals allow no liquor to be kept on board
their ships, either for officers or crew. It was not
so with the Elsie, or the other ships engaged in her
line of business, and the first thing that some of the
men did was to make for the Captain's cabin, where
they made the champagne corks fly " like winking"
and in a couple of hours many of the Yankees were
dead drunk. When the fire on board the Elsie was
put out, the water was up to the fore hatches. She
was then towed into Beaufort—a fine booty for
those who took her, ae her value was about £50,000.
The captain and officers were sent in her, and the
crew to Baltimore. But all, as before stated, were
eventually liberated.
From the same source we learn that the blockad-
ing squadron off Wilmington consists now of about
170 vessels, so that it is a wonder any vessels can
escape such a close blockade; and indeed it is very
difficult and dangerous work. There are now about
40 steamers engaged in running the blockade,
There is plenty of cotton always ready for despatch
but none growing, as every man between the ages
of 10 and 60 is obliged to serve in the war.
Mobile and Charleston having been secured,
the Federals are able to concentrate all their
attention upon Wilmington. The Elsie was
fired at the night before she ran by six ships,
pouring in grape and canister. None of the men
were killed or wounded, As the ship passed along
all the men fell fiat on their stomachs, and had it
not been for the shell she would most probably have
got through, as she steamed at the rate of 13 knots,
and was a difficult target for the Yankees to practise
at in the darkness of a very dark night. The Fade-
rels—or Yankees, as our informant always called
them—use 100 pounder Dahlgren guns, which will
carry 1001 b. shells. Most of the blockaders carry
two of these guns—One fore and one aft—which
work on a pivot.

The yellow fever prevails to a dreadful extent at
Bermuda, and in some of the southern parts of
America. Its ravages have been unparalleled at
Nassau, New Orleans, and Havana. The fever broke
out in August, and it has prevailed ever since. All
the members of the firm to which the Elsie belonged
at Bermuda had been carried off, and the chaplain
had found it impossible to read the service over the
dead—they were so numerous.
A ship was found with all the crew dead, and only
t he captain and a boy alive on board. She had a cargo
of gold dust on board. A new crew was put on Ward
and she was sent on to her destination. In some
cases it was found impossible to get men to servo the
ships. Business had as a consequence heel almost
entirely suspended. The ships now go to Halifax to
get a clean bill of health, so as to escape the 30 dayo'

qu3rantine at Wilmington, to which all ships coming
from Bermuda have to submit. . _

The Southern privateer, the Tdllahaeser, arrived

at Wilmington, and was there when the Elsie left.
She had run through the blockading squadron to get
coDls. The Yankees have removed all the lights ap-
proaching the harbour, and everything that will
enable the Confederate to find his way into safe
quarters. The consequence is that, besides a pilot
every Confederate ship has to carry a signalman
who works the ship by agreed signs, with which he
alone of all on board is acquainted. When a ship is
going to run in he makes a signal to the shore look-
outs, who then lay down range lights to guide the
vessel in. Toes° only burn for a very short time, or
they would be aids to the enemy as well as to the