The Sun.
London, England, 1864-12-19 00:00:00

CRYSTAL PALACE. —TO - MORROW about either currency or credit; but Mr LINCOLN
UNUSZAL APE. lAL HOr•IDAY ATTRACTIONS. is sanguine, thinking perhaps the national patience
General T2O NI. TRUMB and his WIFE, Mrs. STRATTON,
Miss MIN NIE WA iiREN (sister to Mrs. General TOM is as inexhaustible as the national resources.
THUMB) and Commodore NUTT, will ho .d their SECOND
. _ _

GRAND RECEPTION on the Great Orchestiaittli;(Fristal
kalace, TO-MORROW (Tuesday), Dec. 20, at Three o'clock.
The Reception will commence at Three o'clock in front of
the Great orchestra. The full band of the Company will
perform selections of popular music during :he Reception.
Visitors will be allowed to pass to reserved seats on to the
orchestra, being also ► ersonally introduced to the party.
Tickets, One shilling each.
The intan c daughter of the General and Mrs Stratton will
be in oitet, dance in the large room adjoin ng the Egyptian
Court from. Two o'clock. Tickets, Halt-a-Crown each, will
give admi colon to the latter as well as entitle to seats on the
Great Or(;hestra during the Reception.
No extra charge for admission. One Shilling only. A ddi-
tional railway trains. The Palace welt warmed, and every-
thing under cover. Open at Ten. Visitors shouli come early.

CRYSTAL PALACE. -TO - MORROW.-
The only place to spend a pleasant day. FREE FRO3I
COLD, 14`0G, RAIN, or SNOW. Palace open from Ten.
Wanied and brilliantly lighted up at dusk.
THE WINTER GARDEN OF THE 11 ORLD.

CRYSTAL PALACE, - 'l'o - MORROW.-
Warraed and brilliantly lighted up at dusk. One
baffling.

NOTE. To-day the palace was bathed in the most brilliant
sunshine. The interior, warmed up t 055 degrees of Fahren-
heit (the temperate point), was a most agreeable promenade.

-F4IFEBOAT SERVICES,—During the storms
of the past year the boats of the National Lifebeat
Institution have saved 426 persons from different wrecks on
our coasts, The Institution also expended £11,770 in the
same periud on lifeboat establishments, in addition to grant-
ing £1,497 as rewards for saving 692 shipwrecked persons by
its lifeboats, and other means.
The Committee of the Institution earnestly A PPEAL to
the public for ASSISTANCE to enable them to meet the
continued heavy demands on the Institution's 138 lifeboat
establishments.

According to the report of the Secretary of the
Treasury, the expenses to be provided during the
current year, including the interest of the public
debt, amount to 1,400,000,000 dole., of which the
customs and miscellaneous sources are estimated to
produce 788,000,000 dole., or little more than half,
leaving 620,000,000 dole. Further measures re-
duce this amount to 482,000,000 dole., which are to
be supplied by loans. Mr FESSENDEN objects to
the negotiation of a foreign loan, which might
perhaps be difficult to obtain, and therefore the
loyal people of the States are to be called upon
to invest their capital atilt further in " the national
private property." Mr LINCOLN recommends the
Congress to pass a constitutional amendment abo-
lishing slavery throughout the United States. He
also informs them that in consequence of depreda-
tions on the Canadian frontier, the stipulated six
months' notice has been given to Great Britain that
the United States will increase their naval force on
the lakes, so that our North American kinsfolk are

not premature in their movements for concentrating
their forces. It would certainly be advisable that
Great Britain should take the hint and place a strong
naval force on the lakes by way of preventing de-
predations on a larger scale. The President had
better act upon the remark of his Secretary to the
Treasury, who expresses his opinion that if the ex-
pense and duration of the war had been foreseen it
would not have been undertaken. Mr LINcoLN is,
however, as yet a long way from confessing this.
He talks very largely of the amnesty offered to the
Southerners, and continues to make its terms appear
very elastic, but the Southerners are not inclined
to accept them. Ho says that though DAVIS cannot
re-enter the Union his followers are not pledged,
but if they decline his offers he threatens the adops
Lion of more rigorous measures. Seeing that the
new tactics of the Northern generals are to
burn every house and devastate every corn
field, it is not easy to see what more
rigorous measures can be in the background.
Meanwhile, in military matters, SHERMAN has not
yet achieved his grand success. The accounts are
most conflicting, the most noticeable discrepancy
being between the Federal account, which places
him biz miles from Savannah, and the Confederate
version, which reports him eighty miles distant.
As the Confederate are on the spot and have a much
better knowledge of the locality, they are certainly
likely to be better informed, supposing both accounts
to be equally genuine. On the 20th, SHERMAN is
said to have unsuccessfully attacked Macon, but
again he is reported to have crossed the Aconee on
the 23d, having been driven back next day. He
is said to have captured Millen, and Federal trans-
sports of the 30th ult. state that he had occupied
that city, and was then six miles from Savannah ;
but Richmond papers, four days later, deny the
capture of Millen, and report that the Federals had,
in American phraseology, been " whipped," and
their relief column completely defeated. If SHER-
MAN gets through, which is doubtful enough, the
Southern journals pronounce that he will de so with
the loss of half his army. They declare that he is
hemmed in by peril, and not the least of hie dangers
is the lack of supplies, for the destruction along
his line of march is almost universal. His cavalry
has been repulsed at Sandersville, and the Confes
rates do not anticipate an attack upon Savannah,
although they are fortifying the place as a matter
of precaution, and HARDER has gone there report-
ing Macon to be perfectly secure. It has been
made the temporary seat of the Lsgislature. It is
now said that SUERMA.N'S object is Darien, but the
continual shifting of this theoretical destination is
very suspicious. A Federal column under FOSTER
left Port Royal on the 29th to join him.
Federal accounts state that they captured
Parcelaligo Bridge between Charleston and Savan-
nah, but Southern versions report that they were
severely defeated at Grahamsville, South Carolina,
and driven back five miles, leaving their dead and
wounded, but they still threatened another point on
the Charleston and Savannah Railroad. SHER.
MAN'S army is continuing he same barbarous
course of destruction, and the better feeling of the
Federate themselves appears to be outraged by it.
The NetoYerkrimes admits that his raid will only
exasperate and harden the Southerners, and this
can hardly be doubted, for, besides continuing his
course of destruction in Georgia, he has ordered
East Tennessee to be laid waste as far as Knox-
ville. Loyal residents had held a meeting to pro-
test against this act of wanton barbarity, but pro-
bably with little effect. HOOD is said to have been
repulsed with the loss of six guns near Murfrees-
boro, but it is admitted that the real position
on the Chattanooga Railway, four miles from
Nashville, is in Confederate hands, so that the
loss is counterbalanced by the gain. Every
road south of Nashville is destroyed, and the
communication with Chattanooga cut off, while
Nashville itself has been turned into a huge
fortress. The Confederates have made an ime
portant capture at Decatur, which the Federal,'
have evacuated. They have taken fifteen pontoon
boats, which will prove a valuable prize. Another
piece of good fortune has occurred to the Confedes
rates at New Creek, Piedmont, where, according to
their own accounts, ROSSER has captured 800 pri-.
Boners, 8 cannon, 200 waggons, and 3,000 horses
and cattle. The latter more especially will prove
very acceptable acquisitions. Altogether the news
does not look very favourable for Northern arms;
and considering that Federal success only means
the desolation of a flourishing country, and the
annihilation of a brave people, it is certainly not to
be regretted.

Contributions are received by Messrs. Willis and Co.,
Retries and Co., Coutts and Co., and by all the London and
country bankers ; and by the Secretary, Richard Lewis, Esq.,
at the Institution, 14, John-street, Adelphi.

NEW WORK BY THE AUTHOR OF "LOST SIR
MASSINGBERD."
This day, 3 vols. crown Bvo., £1 lls. 6d.,
MARRIED BENEATH HIM,
By the Author of

"LOST SIR MASSINGBERD."
Macmillan and Co., London and Cambridge.

:NEW WORK ON AMERICAN SOCIETY.
This Day, in 1 vol., price 10s. 6d.,
THE DOBRS FAMILY IN AMERICA,
By our Own "SPECIAL" CORRESPONDENT.
This remarkable Volume comprises a true and particular
account of the Men in Office—Civil, 3111itary. ant Political—
the Evening Re-unions, the Mann.rs, Customs, and Pecu-
liarities of Society in general, bi,t especially of Washington
and New York, as seen from the Diplomatic po.nt of view.
John Maxwell and Co., 122, Fleet-street.

ROYAL ENGLISH OPERA, COVENT
GARDEN.
(Opera Company, Limited.)
Last Night but Two before Christmas.
First Appearance of Mdlle. Adelai:e Cornelis.
Madame Lemmens-Sherrington.
THIS EVENING (Monday), Dec. 19, will be performed
Flutow's opera, MARTHA. Lady Henrietta,, Madame
Lemmena-sherrin ton ; Nancy, Mdlle. Ade aide Cornelis,
from the Royal Conservatoire, Brussels, her first appearance
in England; Plunkett. Mr. henry Corri ; Lord Tristan, Mr.
A. Cook; Sheriff of Richmond, Mr. E. Dnssek ; and Lionel,
Mr. Henry Haigh.
To.conclude with the Third Act of MASANIELLO.
Conductor, Mr Alfred Mellon.
The Incidental Divertissement will be supported by Mdlles.
Duchateau and Boni anti.
Commence at half-past 7 o'clock. Private boxes, from
10s. 6d, upwards ; stalls, 7s. ; dress circle, ss. • upper
boxes, 4s. ; amphitheatre stalls, :is. and 2s ; pit '2B. 6d. ;
gallery, is. No charge for booking places. The box-office is
open from 10 till 5.

HEATRE ROYAL, DRURY- LANE.—
Managers, Messrs. E. Falconer and F. B. Chatterton.
THIS EVENING, to commence with A YOUNG LAD
FROM THE COUN I'RY. Messrs. G. Belmore, Fitzjames,
and G. F. Neville ; Misses Helen Howard, R. Leclercq, &c.
After which, Shaksoere's Play of CYMBELINE.--,Mr.
Phelps ; Messrs. Creswick, H. Marston walter Lacy,7l. F.
Neville, Edmund Phelps, A. Rayner, &C., ; Miss Atkinson and
3liss Helen Faucit.
Doors open at ha f-past Six—Commence at Seven.

THEATRE ROYAL, H AYMARKET.-
Lessee, Mr. Buckstone.
THIS EVENING, THE STRANGER. Messrs. Howe,
Chippendale, Itogers,Gordon, Braid, Compton, &c.; Mesdames
Beatrice, Keeley, Fitzwilliam, Moore, &c.
After which, ON THE SLY. Mr. Buckstone.

And NO SONG NO SUPPER. Messrs. Compton,
Farren, Arthur Clark, Weathersby, ex.; Mesdames Keeley,
Villiers, Moore, Lovell, &o.

To commence at 7.

ROYAL PRINCESS'S THEATRE.
Sole Lessee and Manager, Mr. Geo. Vining.
THIS EVENING, BORN TO GOOD LUCK. I addy
O'Rafferty, Mr. Dominick Murray.
After which, THE STREETS OF LONDON. Messrs.
Vining, J. W. Ray, D. Fisher, D. Murray, J. Nelson, H.
Forrester. H. Mellon ; Mrs. Henry Marston, Miss Emma
Barnett, and Miss F,nny Gwynne.

ROYAL LYCEUM THEATRE.
Under the sole management of Mr. Fechter.
THIS EVENING, at 8, RUY BLA.S. Messrs. Fechter,
Ryder, Fitzpatrick, F. Ch rlee, M.lntyre, Garden, Raymond,
Collett, C itford, Moreland ; Misses Carlotta Lezlercq, H,
Percy, and Mrs. Winstanley.
Preceded, at 7, by MY WIFE'S OUT. Messrs. H. Widdl.
comb, F. Charles ; Misses H. Percy and E. Lavenue.

To conclude with NURSEY CHICKWEED.
"Viddicomb.
Doors open at half-past 6 ; commence at 7.
The Box-office open daily from Elev,n till Five.

Mr. H,

N' TIiEATRE-R0 YA L, ADEL PHI.-
Sole Proprietor and Manager. Mr. B. Webster.
THIS EVENING, THE WORKMEN OF PARIS.
11,Ir. Benjamin Webster; Messrs. Billin,ton, R. Phillirs,
Stuart, J. Clarke, Stephenson, Eburne, C. J. Smith; Mrs.
Stirling, Miss Woolgar (Mrs. A. Mellon), Miss 11. z.,imms.
Mrs. Biliin,gton, Mrs. H. Lewis, and Miss A. Seamen.
To conclude with DOING BANTLNG. Mr. J. Clarke, Mr.
Stephenson; Mrs. Lewis and Miss A. Seaman.

It must by this time have become apparent what
the real intentions of Prussia are with regard to the
long-talked-of and vexed question of Schleswig-
Holstein. First on one side and then on another
there are rumours and reports which tend to show
the meaning of much that is done and said. The
last mentioned circumstance of a suspicions nature
is the astounding intelligence that Prussia possesses
hereditary claims to the Duchies of Schleswig and
Holstein. It would have been more consistent to
have begun with this intelligence instead of bring-
ing it in at the close of a protracted war. Perhaps
it was thought that if a straightforward course had
been adopted the feelings of many would have been
set against the affair, whereas, by putting the un-
dertaking in the light of a national transaction, it
was possible to make out a better case in the eyes
of those who might be disposed to criticise and
censure. It must, notwithstanding, appear strange
to discerning persons that they were allowed to
take a wrong view of the matter while the contest
was in progress, and now, at the eleventh hour, are
hurriedly informed tint the real and rightful
owners of the Duchies are those who waged war
an the pretence that they wished to see justice
done between the parties. Such a subterfuge can-
not possibly
answer its purpose, so far as the inde-
pendent and enlightened States of Europe are
concerned, and it is indeed difficult to under-
stand why it should have been resorted
to at all, except that some persona are
never so satisfied as when they can
ratinceavre And mako u; A case fro 2. which they