The Sun.
London, England, 1864-08-22 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS,

THE " LONDON REVIEW" ON DENMARK'S
DREAM.—L)st week, the chiefs of the last Polish
National Government were hanged on the glacis
of Warsaw, and the preliminaries of the partition
of Denmark were signed at Vienna. An ominous co-
incidence ! Is it to be reckoned as simply fortuitous,
or is it such a coincidence as natural philosophers
seek to explain dreams to be—those fatal dreams in
which the unconscious soul receives the in- press of
events which yet lie in the womb of time, but are
too surely brought forth at last ? Is Poland Thne
rearles dream ? Is the consummation of tee fate
of the earlier victim only by accident simultaneous
with the commencement of the later agony, or is it
the foreboding shadow of that which in the ripe.
ness of time the world shall yet see a second time
realised ? At least, by such coincidences—whether
we call them the result of natural law, or glimpses
of the unknown vouchssfed by Providence—we are
sometimes usefully startled into recognition of the
influences that beneath the visible current of daily
events are hurrying on. And Europe has had more
than one such ill dream of late. More than once
she has plainly seen that—.
n An eagle, towering in his pride of place,
Was by a mousing owl hawked at and killed."
Her noblest races, the models of the highest devea
lopment to which in form or intellect humanity
seems capable of reaching, have been strangely
struck down by hordes of misshapen savages or
the puny offsprings of a false civilisation. The
fantastic Frenchman, well
described by a poet of
his own nation as a mixture of the tiger and the
ape, has his foot on the neck of the still
graceful
l and
haughty and majestic Roman; the ill-featured and
murderous Croat holds in bondage the superb
Hungarian ; the Russian serf is the slave-driver and
inheritanceoli polished Pole;
the
eexecutioneroblotohreseigzrca
seizes
large-
sealed descendants of the Vikings. Most striking,
perhaps, if least apparently important, is that this
very year has seen the root and typo of our race, the
beautiful and gallant Circassians, driven from their
prediluvian home by the Tartar and the Calmuck to
palish in an alien laud. Ugly nightmares, these,
to haunt us in the sleep of overfed prosperity. A
new irruption of barbarians presses the life out of
Europe. If its progress is less distinctly perceived
than that which quenched Roman civilisation in
blood and ruin, it is because it is more general, and
therefore more sure. From the Euxine to the
North Sea it spreads steadily onwards, and irresis-
tibly absorbs its successive opponents. It is one,
while we are many, and it turns with savage cune
ning our disunion into our defeat. It carries off
the conquered Pole to aid in conquering the Circas-
sian; it transplants the
subjugated Hungarian to
hold Venice and Denmark in subjugation; it mixes
Italian and Finlander in the armies that desolate
Poland; and soon it will have absorbed the Schles-
wig-Dane in the ranks that hold all Europe east-
ward of the Rhine in bondage, and that still are
pressing on. We, indeed, the heart of civilisation,
still
escape, But how long after the extremities
are enchained will the heart be able to keep its
healthy action ? There is, indeed, something at
once unnatural and s tip/Allienin the means by
which this new tide of barbarism gains ground on
freedom and intellectual refinement. It is effected
by turning the arms of science and pro-
gress against itself, and making
those dis-
coveries whose natural action tends to raise
mankind the very instrument by which growth is
stopped and mankind is brutalised. The latest
inventions in firearms, in ships
of war, in the
defence of fortresses, are instantly taken advantage
of by the despots whose battalion, overrun Europe.
With all our own energy and manufacturing skill
we are laggards in the race of military improvement
beside the Russian, the Austrian' or the Prussian
Powers. No wonder, then, that the smaller and lees
active States, such as Denmark, Switzerland, or
Holland, though the very nurses of freedom and
all peaceful arts, should and themselves
far outstripped, and forced, when :
uriven to bay,
to combat with weapons and systems which
a few years of rapid modern progress have
rendered as antiquated as chain
armour or
the science of the balista. But even more cruel and
deadly is the method by which the mass of inert or
even repugnant humanity which
has been already
enslaved is forced to work its master's will in fur-
thering the enslavement of others. The conscript
serfs knows nothing of the merits of the quarrel in
which he is driven on to fight; the
conscript Pole,
or Hungarian, or Italian, knows well that it is
against his own country he combats when he charges
the foes of his tyrant sovereign, Yet such is the
new power of modern discipline that indifference
and disaffection are alike stifled and made to
fulfil the purpose designed as thoroughly as if
they were replaced by patriotism and devoted
loyalty. With demoniac knowledge of human
nature, the tyrants count on the natural pugnacity
of the human race to make man fight with man
like bulldogs in a ring when once brought face to
face ; and they are able, by the modern military
system of strategy, to wield them so that, till
brought into the field, they have no knowledge of
the work they have to do. Like those singular
bands of musicians whom the Czars love to main-
tain, in which each performer utters only a single
note, but by the skill of the teacher and the con-
ductor the combination is made to execute the most
difficult. pieces ; Sc, the single soldier who knows no
more than to march and halt et word of command,
and to strike one blow when placed opposite his
pretended enemy, is.tbe unit in a vast system of
which the result is the overthrow of ancient king
doors, and the crushing of freedom throughout' the

world. But, as every system reacts on itself, the
consequence of the adoption of a method so arti-
ficial is to compel still greater care in keeping the
soldier, and the populations from which he is taken,
utterly sunk in ignorance, lest, if the armies should
but learn their real purpose and work, a convulsion
of despair might yet vindicate their manhood. So
the downward progress ever advances with
increasing velocity, men are ever more and
more degraded, and, as their masters have
themselves confessed, it becomes every day more
and more needful to absorb and destroy all
states in which the image of liberty is still reflected.
Twenty years ago, we watched with apprehension
the strides of Russia over the steppes of Central
Asia, and feared the extending influence of France
in the Fast. Our alarm at that time was only for
India; yet it was sufficient to engage us in despe-
rate wars, lest our situation by quiescence might
become such as no war could redeem. But the march
of our enemies is now no longer eastward upon our
dependencies, but westward upon our allies and
aurselve. And because we now think we made
blunders in resisting it by force when it only
threatened to curtail the limits of our Empire, we
have come to the conviction that we ought to allow
it to hold its way when it strikes at the very centre.
Strange infatuation ! Singular delusion, to imagine
that a system by its nature so inevitably aggressive
will be driven back by the narrow seas that protect
our shores ! Like Canute, we sit on the brink, and
bid it recoil at our word but, unlike Canute, we
believe in the potency of our own command, and
calmly watch the tide as it submerges all surround-
ing objects, confident that it dare not come to us.
Heaven grant that we may soon receive such warn-
ing as will at last rouse us—a warning merciful, if
it be but severe enough to teach us that we are
mortals too, that we cannot dissever our fate from
that of our fellow-men, and that, if we would retain
freedom, civilisation, Christianity itself, we must be
ready to fight for them whenever they are assailed.

" THE EXAMINER" AND " THE NORTHERN
WHIG" ON THE IRISH VICE-ROYALTY.—The Earl
of Carlisle being compelled by ill health to resign
the Lord-Lieutenancy of Ireland, again the question
arises whether it be worth while to maintain an
office of which all the uses seem to have departed.
We need net repeat what we have often said in ex-
pressing our wish for its abolition. One evil in the
office, as matters now stand, is that respect for Ire.
land makes it desirable to send a man of high cha.
racier and ability; yet it is hard on an able man to
ask him to play the part of a State dummy. Oar
respected contemporary, the Northern Whig, sug-
gests the appointment of Prince Alfred, and if that
be not feasible, asks whether the Government cans
not find an Irish nobleman who would grace the
office:—" We have no great sympathy with the
cry of Ireland for the Irish,' which often means,
' All Ireland for the Irish, and as much of England
as we can get,' but we are patriotic enough to think
that it is a slight upon the fair fame of our Irish
aristocracy to pass them over in the case of the
vice-Royalty. It cannot be said that there are no
Irishmen who are eligible for the office. An Irish-
man now governs Canada, and there would be more
of the class in similar positions if they chose to
leave home. It may appear invidious to make a
election, but there is one nobleman whose great
abilities, elegant taste, courteous manners, and mild..
vested judgment eminently fit him to be at the bead
of the Viceregal establishment. We refer to Lord
Dufferin. His lordship did good service in the
East, and he was soon afterwards offered one of the
highest offices in the gift of the Crown, which he
refused because its acceptance would necessitate his
departure from Ireland. We have not had an Irish-
man in the office of Viceroy since the Revolution.
Lord Palmerston's policy cannot be said to be
"measures, not men," but the reverse. We can
assure him that it would be a most popular measure
for him to select an Irishman for the post of Lord.
Lieutenant. This is well suggested, and the credit
given to Lord Dufferin is even lees than his due. If
the Vice-Royalty is to be continued, a more desires
able man to fill it cannot be imagined. Is there a
dignity beyond that of ceremonial ia the Viceroy's
office ? Can a true political service really be done to
the two kingdoms by a viceroy specially apt for his
duty, whom the two kingdoms would gladly trust,
and who could bring high aims, warm sympathies,
clear judgment, and the quick insight of genius to
the public service? If so, Lord Dufferin is of all
men the one most able to show that it is so. Either
let the office be got rid of as worn.out upholstery of
State, or let it be treated as a real and living trust,
and given to a man with every claim on Irish sym-
pathy and the full confidence of England, who will
bring out whatever hidden value it may yet pos-
sess.

TILE "SATURDAY REVIEW' ON TIIE LAST FEDERAL
DEFEAT.--The repulse of Grant's attack upon Petersburg
has produced a more painful impression in the North than
any of his previous failures. His repeated changes of the
plan of the campaign were applauded with deliberate levity,
as successiveimprovements on the original project which had
proved to be impracticable. His pliant tenacity in adapting
his measures to the necessities of his position were more
reasonably admired. No Federal General before him had
so fully appreciated the advantage of vast superiority in
numbers and resources. If he sacrificed a large army in
fighting his way to the James River, where he might have
landed without the loss of a man, he surprised both friends
and enemies by proving that he could still afford to threaten
Petersburg and Richmond. For the obsolete anaconda
popular fancy substituted a bulldog who had fastened on
the throat of the rebellion, nor was it necessary to remem-
ber that every other line of approach had been vainly
essayed before the enemy was attacked in front. The defeat
in the breach of Petersburg has, for the first time, disturbed
the easy confidence of the North. It is generally felt that
no alternative plan of campaign can be discovered, nor can
the loss of 6,000 men be regarded, as in the beginning of
the summer, with indifference or complacency. The most
discouraging circumstance is the employment of negro
troops in the decisive assault. During all the previous
operations since the passage of the Rapidan, General Burn-
side has commanded the reserve, including the greater
portion of the coloured regiments. It is impossible to sup-
pose that Grant would have risked his success on the
steadiness of the blacks, if he had not already expended
the best portion of his army. Even in the last assaults,
troops beenand
if t expected,he
Confederates t o
had been driven from their defences, the negro
placed white
breegimseeenintss,asmight
in have
front
; might have been competent to improve the vic-
tory. Little blame can attach to recruits from a servile and
despised race for their inability to stand against adversaries
of unsurpassed energy and daring ; but the panic which
ensued, though perfectly excusable, was not the less fatal
to the hopes of the North. The losses of Grant's army
since it crossed the Rapidan are variously estimated at
80,000, at 100,000, and at 150,000 men. Whatever may be
the actual numbers, it is certain that the best troops have
been expended in the earlier battles. It is as natural for a
general to use his chosen regiments first as for a mechanic
to
genpeuratliay
hseteldel
hpoisinGtuatorda iron
man
reserve;tol
o.
butN atphoelehounl, inkedfeehdia,
army was superior in fighting qualities to his continental
opponents. In the Italian war of 1859, the picked troops of
the French army were always placed in the front, and one
of the supposed reasons for the hurried pacification was the
approaching necessity of depending on the conscripts. The
composition of the Federal army involves an unusual amount
of inequality. The soldiers who have served through two
or three campaigns are better than the recent levies, and
the negroes, though they have displayed commendable
discipline and steadiness, fall far short of the standard of
American or European efficiency. If Grant was not forced
to employ his coloured troops in a desperate attack, he would
be liable to a charge of reckless cruelty and injustice. The
defeat or destruction of the negro regiments will tend to
discredit the strange measures by which the Northern
States are prepared to answer the demand for 500,000
recruits. When Congress, after many changes of pur-
pose, finally abolished the money compensation ,for the
personal service of conscripts, a singular clause in the
statute provided that substitutes might be procured from
the States in rebellion. As the Confederate population is
by no means likely to volunteer suicidal assistance to the
North, the measure was intended to apply exclusively to
fugitive or liberated slaves. A citizen of New York or
Massachusetts who finds himself drafted for service, in-
stead of going into the market fc.r Irish or German substi-
tutes, will employ a broker to find a negro volunteer at the
market price of the day. It seems scarcely probable that a
eufficient number of coloured recruits will be ultimately
forthcoming ; but the supply is not yet exhausted, and the
morrow must take care of itself. For the present the nego-
tiations aro conducted on behalf of States or townships
which desire to fill up their quota before the compulsory
draft is enforced. Under the pressure of immediate per-
sonal liability, prices aro likely hereafter to undergo a
rapid rise. If a largo coloured army is raised, the Con-
federates will have little cause for alarm. No proceeding
could be more certain to estrange the feelings of the North
from a warlike policy, The honour of the Federal arms
would be compromised by the inevitable defeat of the
black mercenaries; and even if it were possible
that they should conquer, their success would grate
upon all the national sympathies and prejudices. The vic-
torious army must occupy the South, after overpowering
resistance in the field, and the Northern Americans are not
yet prepared to place their countrymen in subjection to
emancipated negro slaves. It is only as auxiliaries that
the coloured regiments can be safely employed, even if they
can be induced to take arms against their former masters.
RePugllance to new methods of conducting the war, die4P-

pointment at the failure of Grant's expedition, and growing
financial embarrassment, may perhaps at last produce a re-
action in favour of peace. It is impossible to foresee the
course of popular feeling, nor does it follow that urgent
sons will operate as cogent motives of action. Perhaps, how •
ever, the collapse of Grant's military reputation may render
a change of policy more feasible. The Democratic party some
time since postponed its convention at Chicago to the end of
Jaly, with the obvious purpose of waiting for the result of
the pending campaign. It Richmond had been taken, it
would have been necessary either to acquiesce in the re•
election of Mr Lincoln,, or to persuade the victorious corn •
mender to accept a Democratic nomination. As both can-
didates are now discredited by a succession of defeats, there
is at last an opening for M'Clellan. No rival has, on the
whole, displayed less incapacity, and the unwise enmity of
Mr Lincoln has converted his former General into an irre-
concilable opponent. The Democrats have for some time
discovered that it was useless to affect, in their contest with
the Republicans, superior enthusiasm for the prosecution of
the war. Even now their success is hopeless unless they
undertake to advocate a policy of their own, and there can
be no doubt that the majority of their leaders are sincerely
desirous of peace. For the present, it will be necessary to
possess a determination to preserve the Union, but the real
terms of compromise will consist in the recognition of
Southern sovereignty, to which it would be the policy of the
North to add a Customs Union, and, if possible, a common
&reign policy. There are some indications that the Confe-
derate Government would not be unwilling to listen to such
proposals, and it might not be impossible to reconcile
Northern feeling to an alliance which would partake of the
nature of a federation. Whenever the negotiations com-
mence, the scheme which may be adopted will be recom-
mended to popular favour by its Northern promoters on the
ground that it will facilitate the humiliation of England by
the conquest of Canada. There are, in fact, dangers of the
kind to be apprehended, whenever the present contest is
terminated; but, for some time to come, neither the North
nor the South will be inclined to engage in a wholly gra-
tuitous war of aggression.
THE SPECTATOR.—MR BROWN ON THE CANADIAN
FUTURE—It is a pity that the speeches of colonial notables
are so seldom reported at home, They are frequently as
much superior to colonial, articles as the Parliamentary de-
bates are to our own provincial leaders. The Hon. George
Brown, for example, member for " South Oxford, Canada,"
and author of the plan for the federation of the North
American Colonies, has recently explained his policy to his
constituents in a speech which is incomparably the best
essay yet published on the political history, position, and
prospects of Upper and Lower Canada. It does not add
very much except upon one grand point to the information
previously received, but it justifies the new policy suggested
by arguments which will weigh heavily with:her Majesty's
Government. Mr Brown talks like an English statesman,
without a trace of bombast or dreamy oratory, states facts
simply, quotes figures which do not weary, bases a great
proposition upon intelligible grounds of national interest,
looks steadily at the future, and above all refers throughout
his discourse to ideas higher than those of mere political
expediency. The coalition which he has helped to frame is
in itself, he declares, a thing to be condemned. A combina-
tion of politicians who have always opposed each other
to take office ought, he argues , prima facie to shock the
public mind, can be justified only by the presence of some
overpowering national need, but in this instance the need,
he contends, exists. The state of things is, it appears, even
worse than was at first reported in this country. We all
knew that the political equality of the provinces had ren-
dered Government impossible, that three administrations
had been overset in three years, that the country was in a
perpetual agony of elections, and that the finance of the
combined colonies was wasteful beyond all precedent. But
we did not all recognise that the equality was based on a
radical injustice so great that unless another remedy could
befound one racist be sought in a dissolution of partnership.
Not only has Upper Canada outstripped her rival in popu-
lation by 400,000 souls, say 30 per cent., so that in one in-
stance a county member represents more electors than eight
other county members elected by the same class, but there
is still a, greater inequality in taxation. Upper Canadif,
possessing only half the political power of the united colony,
pays four-fifths of its taxation, contributing, for example,
575,000 dole from excise duties, while Lower Canada yields
only 193,000 dols. The productions of the two provinces,
the best means of testing their comparative wealth, show a
still greater disproportion, the most important items being—
Upper Canada. Lower Canada.
Wheat (bushels) . 24,620,000 2,654,000
Indian corn (buahete).... 2,256,000 334,000
-Value of farms and stock

for taxation (dole) 306,442,000 178,870,000
Whatever, therefore, is taken as the basis of calculation,
population, or property, or taxation, or all three, the more
numerous and wealthy and highly taxed province is still
always the sufferer. Add to these taw that the equality is
in reality only nominal, that the lesser and poorer and less
taxed French Catholic province permanently governs the
larger and richer and higher taxed English Protestant pro-
vince, and we have a state of affairs which in the nature of
things could not hope to endure. It is as if England were
subject to Ireland under the semblance of strict political
equality, and compelled to provide from her own resources
a tribute to fatten her less energetic associate. This really
happened in the Canadas. The representatives of the
Lower Province always voting together always retained
the substance of power in their own hands, and they used
it to spend on the province contributing one-fifth as much
as on the province contributing four-fifths of the common
fund. "If an extra aura at any time has to be voted to
Upper Canada for any special purpose, a corresponding
sum must be invariably appropriated to Lower Canada to
maintain the equilibrium 1 Three or four to one is the
principle of taxation—equality is the principle of expendi-
ture!" It does not need much to prove that an English
and Protestant majority is not likely to endure long so
preposterous an arrangement, kept up for the exclu-
sive benefit of a French and Catholic minority.
So evident did this appear that even the French Canadians
admitted the propriety of re-arrangement, and only pleaded
for local powers of a very extensive kind. These, says Mr
Brown, are to be conceded, and this is the most important
hint in his speech. The details are not yet settled, but it is
obvious that the clauses in the American Constitution which
prescribe a monotonous uniformity of 'form to the different
State Governments will not be repeated in the Canadian
federal compact. The desires and interests of the colonies
are too widely opposed. No clause prohibiting hereditary
power will be or can bo sanctioned by the British Govern-
ment, the French Canadians are determined to uphold the
"right" of their Church, to place it beyond the power of a
Protestant majority; they are resolved that their language
shall not be superseded; they intend to keep the civil law as
the basis of their legislation ; and they will not give up their
own ideas, which are English ideas, upon the descent of
landed property. All these questions must therefore be
declared local questions, and it will be difficult to a
degree to retain for the central Parliament sufficient
authority to make unity any longer desirable. The
scheme, it is true, will admit of internal experiments, of
diverse or hostile forms of society highly favourable to
development, but then so would separate colonial life,
and the Coalition may go so far as to destroy the national
sentiment they obviously wish to foster, to create an
antagonism of civilisation in place of an antagonism of geo-
graphical position.RThis is the rock upon which the Armed-
can Union has split, and if the new Ministry does not deal
very tenderly with the matter it will find that it has created
a powerless and therefore usually mischievous central as-
sembly. It is the enormous power of Parliament, its sense
of responsibility, which steadies its action, and to bind it in
paper bonds, to deprive it of the power of acting in emer-
gency with autocratic energy and decision, is to deprive it
of its greatest means of utility. Italy exists as Rome
existed, because her Parliament could at need create a Dic-
tator. Finally Mr Brown approaches the greatest subject
of all, the political future to which these colonies are to look,
and upon that point he is distinct and emphatic. Ile does
not want annexation either to the North or the Union. On
the other hand, he does not believe that Great Britain will
for ever lend her fleet and soldiers to colonies from which
she gains nothing that independent states would not yield.
Re accepts the third alternative, and remembering British
America is larger than the United States, that her popula-
tion is incessantly increasing, her vast mineral wealth unde-
veloped, her forests unexhausted, her commercial fleet the
fourth in the world, he looks forward to the day " when the
whole of British America shall stand together, and in close
alliance and heartiest sympathy with Great Britain, be pre-
pared to assume the duties and responsibilities of a great and
powerful nation." That also is the dream of the statesmen
now coming forward to the front of English politics, tho
form into which as they hope the Colonial Empire will be
transmuted. The " mother country" is to be changed
from an Empire owing dependencies she does not rule into
a kingdom ringed routed with independent but cordial and
faithful allies. If these ate the views of many among the
leading politicians of Canada, we can congratulate her Par-
liament on its success in the very highest functions of Par-
liament—that of breeding and training statesmen. One
only hint we would add on a point apparently trifling, but
really of vital importance—lf the new coalition succeeds, as
it may, in conciliating- all the colonies of the Atlant,c coast,
and, as it will, in ccaavincing the British Parliament, let
it
invent for the nation it will have created some common
national name, soma sound implying unity which a great
population can use. The colonists of Victoria and New
South Wales. Tasmania and Queensland, are all alike
Australians, but the citizens of the United States, like those
of the -United Kingdom, have to this hour no name, ex-
cept one used in reproach and another begotten of arrogance.
They are not Yankees, nor the only Americans, and when
the Canadians join themselves with the people of New
Brunswick. Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland, they will
find it wise to adopt a title a little less unwieldy than that
of British North Amnion.%

Jet
Aqj
f • 4.- t• N.
Great Fire at Wooln Foresreler
Liss, S. anday E'svrtipg. "
A tremendous conflagration, n is )re like,onei3i-thea
prairie fires of the western contin, ent than anything
we are accustomed to realise in this country, oc-
curred in Longmoore encloeur e on Wednesday
evening, and in its course, which has only just been
arrested, has rendered a belt of co untry seven miles
in breadth and three in depth a so :ne of Week des°.
lation. Hundreds of acres Of A. r plantation, the
property of the Government, haves been destroyed,
besides several plantations belong it,g to private in.
dividuals, and an immense quantity of vitae.
The fire commenced just below iSleaforth gate, to
the right of the Petersheld-road. It was observed
to break out simultaneously in a dozen different
places, and owing to the dryness of the heath and
furze, it spread with alarming rapidity. It was
not long before the plantations became a sheet of
fire, which roared and crackled with ominous fury,
and tinged the sky for miles with a lurid glare
which inspired the belief in distant places that a
whole town was in fttraes. At Godalming, Guild-
ford, and Aldershott the fire was plainly seen, and
when the authorities of the latter place had ascer-
tained its situation and magnitude, a body of troops,
consisting of the 75th and 83d Regimen ts,and a de.
tachment of the Royal Engineers—in all about
1,000 men—were despatched to Woolraer to dig a
a trench, and employ other military means for cat.
ting off and subduing the fire. By the time of their
arrival, however, the flames had extended over a vast
area of fir plantations, and it was evident that the
reduction of the conflagra •
twit would be a work of
some time, if not of difficulty
Great fears were
entertained for the farms and
othert
hdwellingsheat a near,
the mass of flame was so great and
fear-
ful; and it was a fortunate circumstance that there
was scarcely any wind, as otherwise the flames
must have embraced a still wider area of destrue-
tion, and perhaps have defied every e-L -es
ort for their
extinction. Notwithstanding the active exertions
of the military, the fire continued to rage during
Thursday, Friday, and a portion of Saturday, leav-
ing little but the blackened embers of thousands of
fir trees in once flourishing plantations, and trans-
forming the landscape for a long distance into a,
dreary and blighted-looking wilderness. On Friday
the conflagration was a grand though almost ter-
rifying spectacle. For a mile mile beyond New
Inn the fire was burning to Weaver's Hill, a dis-
tance of at least five miles, scaring from the coverts
every living thing that it did not destroy, and
darkening the air as far as the eye could see with
rolling billows of smoke. Several cottages and out-
buildings fell a prey to' the flames, and of the
quantity of game destroyed some idea may be
formed from the fact that no less than twelve hares
were taken oat of one hole burned to death. On
Saturday the military succeeded in successfully ar-
resting the progress of the fire, and if no fur then
damage is apprehended the force will retur a to
Aldershot to-morrow morning.
The fire was evidently the work of incendial ies.
There is no one who ventures a contrary opinion,
and the supposition is strengthened by the fact that
the gipsies and broom sellers, who were allowed to
gather broom and heath, and to depasture their
cattle in the neighbourhood, have this year been
denied those privileges. Some of them were h :ard
to say that they would be revenged on this account,
and the extensive conflagration is pretty generally
considered as the fulfilment of this threat.

A considerable number of persons visited the
neighbourhood of the fire to-day, and gazed with
no small astonishment upon the scene of wide-spr ecd
desolation. At least 1,200 acres of timber in various
stages of growth have been destroyed, and the
total value of which canaot at present be estiniat.
ed, but which must have, represented a Large
sum of money.

The Extraordinary Murder on the High Seas.

COMMITTAL OF THE ACCUSED.
SouTufoirroN, Sunday.

The adjourned examinat ima of Adolphe Bjornsea, the Ger-
man sailor charged with murdering his captain on the Higb,
Seas on the 21st June last, was resumed yesterday mornin g
at the Guildhall before Mr G. S. Brintou, the mayor 'a.f
Southampton, and a bench of borough magistrates.
As on the previous day, the court was crowded with ea ger
listeners, who manifested the deepest interest in Lhe pr o.
ceedings.
Mr B. Mackey was again present to watch the caso for
the accused.

The prisoner was brought up in the custody of Sup: ria-
tendent Enright, and having been places at the bar,
Mr Eldridge, the clerk of the court, called
Heinrich Alten, who deposed—l was steward on board
the vessel Gustav Adolph. On the 21st June last I was
forward with the rest of the crew. I was half asleep.. !about
9 o'clock in the evening the chief crate ran forward, c ailing
out, "What is the matter with the second mate ? I think he
is mad." We jumped up and ran aft, as we did not know
what was the matter. As we came aft I saw the s, ?cond
mate walking up and down the quarter deck. By the time
we arrived there the captain came out of the cabin on deck,
with his right hand holding on his left arm. As soon its the
captain came on deck he called out, " Where is the second
mate ? Have you secured him ?" As he said jthoee
words the captain went towards the second mate, who said,
" What 1 secure me l" and I then heard a report and saw
the captain fall. The second mate stopped a moment, and
then walked leisurely towards the companion, and jumped
down the cabin. After that we were busy washing and
laying the body of the captain out. I remained with the
body, and procured fresh water and vinegar, while the
rest of the crew went forward. The body remained by
the skylight, and I, being afraid to remain by
myself, went forward, and begged of the crew to help me to
bring the body of the captain from aft forward. No one
would go with me, and I went back by myself. When I
came back the captain groaned several times, opened his
mouth, but could not speak. Although I called him seve-
ral times he did not answer. I then went again forward to
the crew and begged of them again to come aft, bat they re-
fused. I had to go back again by myself. The captain was
still alive. When I proceeded the third time forward I got
two of the crew to come aft with me, and we carried the
body forward. The captain died about 20 minutes after he
was shot. By that time the chief mate wanted to go down
into the cabin, but the crew would not let him. About an
hour and a half after the captain was dead I proceeded aft
near the skylight and tried to look down the cabin to see
what was going on. I went to the companion and looked
down the staircase, and saw the second mate, and was
frightened and went forward again, and half an hour after-
wards I saw the head of the second mate peeping out of the
staircase companion. The man at the helm then left the
wheel and made signs to us. After this several of the crew
went aft, and then the second mate came on deck. I stood
midships and saw the prisoner standing at the top of the
staircase companion. I saw he had one gun in hie hand,
and another he gave to one of the crew. I saw him before
this bring several things on deck, and amongst them one
ham, one case, different clothing made up in a bundle, and
a large tin case containing biscuits. After this he went
over the port side into the boat. The things were put into
the boat by several of the crew. The boat was lowered
and the second mate went away in her. One of the
sailors had two guns and fired two shots at him, but
missed him. One of the guns belonged to the second
mate. He fired several shots, bat they hit against the
mast. Daring this time two of the crew
.went below and
fetched up several fire-arms, which were kept in the se-
cond cabin, where the chief and second mate had their
berths. After this I and the chief mate went down below
to look for powder and shot. We went into the captain's
cabin, and saw several marks of blood on the table, sofa,
and at the back of the sofa. We found powder and shot.
1 sew a hatchet on the top of the companion which ought
to have been where the second mate slept. On the floor I
saw two rings and the captain's hat. Out of the captain's
berth was missed his gold watch and chain and his revol-
ver, as well as the gold watch of the chief mate. The
evening before the prisoner showed me a double-barrelled
pistol while at tea. He drank his tea but ate nothing. I
asked him why, and he said he had no appetite, Two
days before this I saw him pack up several things in his
clothesTh bag,
Thin closed
closedanthdepeuxt in a berthaminatiun,
and
ddtehr his own.
epris
uao
r was fully
committed for trial at the next assizes.

Foreign Mail Packet List.

A1A11.6

Austratia and Mautitiut, via :701.0.1in.ropton. ...... Aug. 18
......... dept. 12.
Brazil and Cape Verde, lry packet. ....... Sept.
u/ALua, Pena,;, t. id Cape of Goad Elope, 6,4 Hamm.. Aug. 29.
• ...Aug. 27.
•
is Sontbanvon.Aug, IS.

Falkland Isl4r,flil .....
................... 1 s .
bit/fill11.0:, vizi, :::uu.jitt!i/ptAni. ..... !...jti;:iii* sou_ Aug. is,
India (Caleull4.), and Ceylon, vi,4 t:7!_a__:iletl...„ Aug, 2.7„
via Iv mui"
India (13Gatbay), via Southampton • Aug. 25.1 s
Aug. 20 ,1
Port ............ .. • . via Marseilles
11l
............t'';
.......... AS cup;. 4.
Malta, Egypt, aud Aden,
iiaa M vvareoilles 0
Aug. 18.
Aug. 31.
.8 .
tZewfoundland
Oporto and Vigo ...... ........... ....
1;1.4.
jAck-,t.... Aug. 25.
U. S. told British. N. Auldi-
by U.S. packot..• •
„,..
of
we;rudie2,
inclubeuynCasuca&isniFeaxtetiAAu:g.,-209..
All Parts

ALFRE D MELLON'S CONCER I'S once lost cannot be recalled. Perhaps we may dis-
AL" EVERY E VENING, at Fight. cover the secret of the shortcomings of men in
NOT L OPFa CA HOUSE, COVENT-GARDEN.
THIS EVENING (CIO i
i 1( lay), Mdlle. C. Patti, Mdlle. Krebs • office in the fact that their misdeeds are slurred
r Patsy, and
Alt Ben Sou-alie:
over, and their measures supported at a pinch by
Air. Levy,
selection,,3ll'.(,i•
C2ll
i' M.
Giovanni," &c.
Operatic ol..„
ONEHUNDRED PERFORMERS.
BAND
clo qductor, N :r. ALFRED MELLON. the very men who should stand aloof if they sought
On Thursday next, Ar. . 25, a BEETHOVEN NIGHT.
to be true to the policy they advocate, and the cong
g
be gi-ven of the repetition of the Mendes-
stituents they represent. It is too bad to hear a
Due notica will
Sohn Night.
itheatr e Stalls, and Amphitheatre, One member of Parliament declare to his constituents
Promenade, Amph
Cs. Cd. ; Private Boxes, Li is. and
Shilling; Dress Circle, that if we had gone to war we should have been
10s. ed.
'The Box Office is open f; um 10 till 5. beaten, " a war with all Germany on behalf of the
• Danes would almost certainly have been a failure/
This is an imputation on the English nation that is
quite uncalled for. "All Germany" would have
looked very foolish if the attempt had been made,
and it is especially rid;culous to put forward such a
statement when it is a fsct intent to the world that
it was the love and not the fear of Germany that
actuated our policy. Those in high places were too
frightened of the harm we should inflict on that
country, and consequently the Danes were sacrificed.
:What, if in the pe ace-offering our national honour
had to be immolated, the sacrifice was not deemed
too great considering the occasion that called it

ROYAL PRIN CESS'S THEATRE.-
Sole Lessee and Ma linger, Mr. Geo. Pining.
THIS EVENING, BORN' TO GOOD LUCK. Paddy
O'Eafferty, Mr. Dominick M uvray.
After which, THE sTRIILTS OF LONDON. Messrs.
Tilling., J. W. Ray, D. Fi h er. D. Murray, J. Nelson, 11.
Forre,ter. IL Mellon ; firs. Henry Maiston, Miss Emma
Barnett, and Miss F ,nny Gwyn ne.

N,rI{EATEE-R!)YAL, ADELPI-11.--
tole Pronritnor and Man & Mr. B. Webster.
THIS EVENING, MY WIFE'S MAID. Vessrs. J.
Toole, P. Bedford, It. Phillips, and. Mr . Alfred Mellon.
After wnicb, MASKS AN D FAG,4IS. 3lessrs. B. Webster,
Bedford, R. Pnillips, Billington, Stuart; Mrs. btirling,
Airs. Billington. and Miss H. Simms..
o conclude with THE ACTOR'S RETREAT. Messrs.
Y
J. Z,. Toole, P. Bed.ord, It. Philii,s, and Miss Woolg.a.
Commence at 7.

riEW BOWER OPERE r HOUSE.-
Senora Georgi Cardinal, the eminent Spanish Come-
dienne, in Smyth Lee's new and eminently, tuccessfal Come-
diPtta, HER. ONLY FAILING wilica, together with
CYMUN AND IPHIGENIA. CHA3IPAGNE and
THE KISS AND THE ItOSE, will be repeat EVERY
E YEN ING.

forth.

This is not the season that we usually associate
with the sufferings of the poor. Want and suffer.
ing there must be, we know, all the year round in
more or less degree, especially when a sickly season
or slackness of work increase the ordinary hard.
ships of the lower classes. But winter is the time
which poor folks dread, and in which their wants
press most heavily. It is then that cold adds its
numbing influence to hunger, that the system
needs more food, more clothing, more warmth,
just as the necessaries of life rise in price and be.
come consequently more unattainable. It is in
winter time that our workhouses fill, that our re-
lieving societies are in active operation, and that
charitable associations of every kind appeal for
increased help. During the gloomy winter months
we are pained bat not surprised to bear sad tales of
want and poverty even if they reach to the tragic
point of absolute starvation, the frequency of whose
recurrence in etre wealthy metropolis has set wise
and conscientious men to work to devise some
remedy. That such is needed is clearly proved by
the fact that while the bright summer days are
yet with us, while the reapers are busy, and before
the harvest is fully gathered, in comes another
mournful story of death from starvation in the
midst of our London streets and squares. We may
well feel surprised that such should be the case,
even though the scene of its occurrence should be
Bethnal green. The circumstances of the case were,
too, of a particularly painful nature. The victim
was a child of tender years, who naturally claims
our pity more then an adult, whose own folly or
imprudence may be supposed to have bad some
share in his or her destitution. The father was a
hardworking, labouring man, who had been laid
aside from his work by illness, and therefore pre-
vented, by unavoidable causes, from properly sup-
porting his family. He and his wife both appeared
in court, where their emaciated and miserable
looks excited deep commiseration. Indeed,
they were still so weak from recent ill-
ness that the medical man who gave his
evidence, said he thought they could hardly under-
stand what was going on. The sad story was soon
told. The father, a labourer, earned halfaa-crown
a day, but for the last fortnight had been unable to
work from illness, typhus fever having attacked
the whole family one by one, and reduced them to a
state of the greatest weakness. The mother, who
came into court with a❑ infant in her arms, could
hardly speak from weakness. The poor child who
died was eight years old, and was like the others
recovering from the fever, when, of course, instead
of diminished food, or rather no food at all, he
required all the nourishment he could take. The
doctor who made the post modem. examination
said the child had died from cony means brought on
by want of food, only half an ounce of gruel being
found in his stomach. It will be naturally asked
why application was not made to the parish au-
thorities, and the question is answered in the usual
fashion. Two or three years ago the father, when
in distress, applied to the workhouse for help, and
was given a shilling a week and a loaf; bat after
some time he was told that he and family must
come into the house, or they should have nothing
more. The man who, as we see, can earn, when in
good health, half-a-crown a day, and has been
able to maintain his family in the inter-
vening years, very naturally refused, and, therefore
when this illness came on he would not ask again,
expecting to be refused. Very probably, notwith-
standing their former experience, the father and
mother would have made some effort on behalf of
their starving child had they themselves been in a
condition to understand the state of• the case, but
prostrated by illness of the most terrible character
they were unfit or unable to exert themselves. We
have no reason to doubt that had the parish autho-
rities known of this instance they would have
granted some relief, but the question remains
whether there is not something very wrong in our
social arrangements. The case before us is just one
of those which parochial relief_ should be extended
to; it is one which has an especial claim on thewell-
to-doeclasses of the community. The richest and
wisest is liable at any time to be laid aside from his
work, his profession, his ordinary pursuits of what-
ever kind_ Illness is one of the ordinary visitations
of humanity, and while it excites our feelings of
sympathy and pity on behalf of the sufferer, it
unquestionably exonerates him from any blame for
inaction. The political economist may, indeed,
contend that those who wholly depend upon their
health and strength for maintenarce should lay by
some provision for a rainy day,but we have yet to
find the theory whose practical application will enable
a Landon;labourer with half a crown a day to keep
himself, his wife, and six children, to put by enough
to maintain eight persons during a fortnight's com•
pelled inaction. Threepence a day is not so large
a sum for the support of a human being of whatever
age at the present rate of prices that the most
rigid of censors need blame, because rent and cloth•
ing is all that can be saved cut of it. It is in fami.
lies living like this that typhus finds so ready a
prey. Their customary rate of living is only just
enough to keep body and soul together, and then
when a bad season comes fever sweeps them
off, or an unusually cold winter mows them
down by the hundred. Mendicancy is forbidden
by law, small trades that had no capital, such as
trucks and barrow
selling, are discouraged by the
police, the workhouse saddles their relief with the
condition of going into the house—What are the in-
digent to do ? Our practice has for too long been
entirely negative. We tell the people what they
ought net to do, but no one can find out what course
they ought to take except putting themselves under
ground with the least possible delay. It is absurd
as well as unjust to suppose that a man possessing
all his limbs and faculties will voluntarily abandon
himself to a pauper's life. That life entails total

CrUNTRY and SEASIDE DRESSES.
Messrs. JAI, of IteEr,elVlT.et, have now in stock a
variety of WASHING suitatle for the
and at the c.earing-out pace of only
.11"
country and seaside,
Li Hs. 6d. tile dress.

JAY'S,
247, 249, and 251, Regent-street.

BLACK SILKS.—The price of Silks in the raw
material has already r'sen 15 per cent., and it will soon
re,,o, a tar greater per-ceatae. Messrs. JAY, tnerefo,.e,
invite their me
nu -rlus Patrons to take advantage of the stock
have on hand, which they cm now dispose of on favour-
fitly able terms ; but the same qualities will naturally b more
Costly as the price of silk fluctuates to a higher average

JAY'S,
217, 249, and 251, Regent-street.

COALS.—The LILLESHALL COMPANY'S
COALS.
Direct from their own Collieries.
Marquis'. 235. per ton. Double.. 20s. per ton.
Top 02s. „ De, p .213. „
Well screened and delivered within five miles of their De-
pots, Westbourne Park-road, W., and 17, South Wharf,
,Ps.ddington, W., and Maiden-lane, N.
Best Coke
Terms cash.
JOHN SCOTT, Sole Lgent.

T" THIRD EDITION OF " THE SUN,"
Containing the Latest SPURTING INTELLIGENCE,
cluz,be had Every Evening of
U. ft. GLhNIE, NEWS AGENT,
No. 4, Connaught-terrace, Hyde-park.

THE LATEST EDITION of " THE SUN'
siwpi!ed, as soon as published every Evening* by
HENRY BROOKS, Newspaper Agent, 21, Old Cavendish-
street, W.

WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE.
"Ins DAs.—.Monaing, sh. 15.1-L.—Afternoon, sh. 40m.
o-,doaßow.-Mornizg, sta. 2m.—Afternoon, Ga. 24:n.

mba,
•=6.‘2llilt

LONDON, MONDAY, AUGUST 22, 1864.

Sir Joule TBELawNY has commenced in good
time to address his constituents, and divulge his
views on various subjects connected with the great
political questions of the day. He soon began his
strictures, for he commented on Lord PALMER-
STON'S remarks at Bradford. " The noble lord
spoke in very flattering terms of the energy, ability,
and capacity of the working classes of England."
Now, from this, Sir JOHN not inaptly deduces that
be need not be so reluctant to extend the franchise.
This was quite a home thrust, but it is well known
that the Premier can ba all things to all men just
as it suits his turn, and no one who has attained
much experience can be taken in by the specious
remarks which the members of our Cabinet choose
to make concerning important matters relating to
home and foreign policy. But the member for Tavis-
Link did not confine himself to these inuendoes—
he went much further, and spoke of that most
awkward subject of all, the question of Reform.
Although some years have now passed since the
great claptrap was made by Earl RUSSELL and
his friends, it is as much to their disgrace now as
then that they should have taken et:Bee under false
pretences, and stooped to an unworthy subterfuge
in order to oast their political opponents from office.
Sir JOHN TRELAWNY uttered the exact words
which the working classes might have said to the
Administration as to their conduct of trickery and
deceit—" You took office with the understanding
that you were going to bring in a better reform
bill than that introduced by Mr DISRAELI, and we
supported you in the belief that we were going to
receive that instalment of justice for which we have
so long waited." It seems strange that such dupli-
city should not excite more indignation than it
has chile, but in the pages of history none of these
archedeceivers will escape the criticism they deserve.
In this discourse we find a good humoured hint
thrown out to the Government that they must be a
little more zealous in the discharge of their duties.
It is indeed not likely that this Cabinet will much
longer survive the shocks it is continually receiving,
bat at the same time the Liberal supporters have a
right to complain in no measured terms upon the
faineant policy which has been pursued for so long
a period. It is given out that the Ministers are
most capable men, eminent in ability, skilled in
legislation, experienced in parliamentary tactics,
and well versed in administrative affairs, and yet
the result is aver the same. Such lame and impoe
tent conclusions, after so much unseemly self lau-
dation and boastful parade of power, may well call
forth the comment of vox et pretera nihtl. Sir JOAN
TRELAWNY rather overpraised Lord PALMERSTON,
bat still the Premier is so groat a favourite
among many classes, that perhaps it was not
to be wocderecl at, and doubtless many political
adversaries might concur with the member for
Tavistock, when he said that the noble lord was
the first working man in office. "He has worked
as hard as any hundred men—l was going to say,
in the various offices he has held during fifty years
or so, and be will probably remain in office till the
end of his life:" Such may be all very well, but it
is too much for patience when we pass on to cute-
giums upon Earl RUSSELL. To praise him for his
management of our relations with America is
indeed intolerable. Who has seen any evidence of
that tact, courage, coolness, and calmness, which
are here spoken of, and as to the conciliation when
proper, and the firmness when necessary, it must
be imagined that the former refers to the lenity
invariably shown to the Federals, and the latter
to the constant enmity displayed to the Confederate
cause. Neither does the Danif,h question appear
satisfactorily treated in this speech; we hear the old
rigmarole of the Conse:vativo party not explaining
their policy. T
till is a vary convenient subterfuge,
but as the Minister, and not the Opposition are re-
sponsible to the Roue and the country it would be
bet!e:to scan their cause
a little mere scrutinisingly,
and touch on their commissions rather than specu-
late upon the "nulliations of others. Sir JOHN
proved, the badness of his cause by his feeble advo-
cacy, and the space that ha appropriated in his
long discourse to this all absorbing tople_. Church
8,71., are very well in their place,
R Ates, the Ballot,
but their consideration may well be Po3tponed to a
m convenient period when question is mooted
which concerns the honour of the country. Next
year or the year after might do for home reforms,

but foreiga matters will cL t Wait. The

great world meanwhile spies for ever down the
ringing grooves of change, and the opportunity

separation from his family, the sacrifice of
all the little comforts of home, the surren-
der of his freedom of action for a very
prison like existence, where every one re-
gards him as a burden. The stringency of the
rules for admission is excu.ed on the ground that
it is desirAble to keep people cff the rates and to
discourage pauperism ca much as possible. How

does this consist with the condition so often
attached to succouring a poor family out of doors ?
The real meaning is plain enough. As little
as possible is to be done, and the poor
are not to be encouraged to be troublesome. Bat
we cannot so get rid of our social duties and obli-
gations, and e,o long as deaths from starvation recur
in London, a heavy responsibility tests upon its
citizens, A little temporary relief would have
saved this child's life. Might not the neighbours
have applied for it had they thought there was
a chance of success ? The fact is that our whole
system of levying ratss must be altered, if we
wish to avoid this reproach ; for so long as each
parish is compelled to bear its own burden, so long
we shall reap the fruits of that unreasonable in.
equality in death and distress among our labour.
ing classes.

LATEST INTELLIGENCE.

(REUTER'S ETLEGRA'AIS.)

THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE,

PLYMOUTH, August 22.

The screw steamer Indiana put in here this
morning to land passengers and to coal. She left
Calcutta May 19, Madras June 2, Cape of Good
Hope July 13, and crossed the Equator July 23.
The Indiana has 100 passengers, and 30 military
invalids and time-expired men from India, with
10 passengers and a mail from the Cape. She
had also a full general cargo, principally saltpetre,
seeds, cotton, silk, and sugar.
Her news from the Cape is three weeks later
tha❑ that brought by the last mail stermer
arrived. Trade at the Cipe was dull. The
alarm raised on the frontier of an intention on the
part of the Kreiis to cross the Bashes was proved
to have been groundless. Efforts were being made
to d'scover the author of the rumour.

Traders and travellers passing through the Canda
country represented the country along the whole
coast line to be in a disturbed state.
The tribes are said to be more insolent than
usual, and several councils had been held amongst
the chiefs. A war amongst the natives in that
locality was expected.
Sir Walter Currie he.d returned to Grahamstown
from the Transkei.

The embodiment of the irregular horse had been
abandoned, and the conditions upon which grants
of Transkeian territory were to be made were found
to be too high, and were to be modified if the
scheme was continued; but it was considered doubt-
ful whether the territory would be given out for
occupation.

Parliament was to be prorogued the day the
Indiana sailed. Its removal to Graham's Town
was considered unnecessary, and it was doubted
that the experiment would be repeated. The pro-
posal of the Diamond Company to establish mail
steam communication with Port Elizabeth was
agreed to without a division, but only on its con-
taining a condition to call at Table or Simon's
Bey also.

The proposal of the Union Company to extend
mail commuuication to the Maui itius was rejected.
Her Majtsty's steamer Hornet left on the 11th
Jnly for Portsmouth.

The Indiana's mail has been landed and for-
warded from here by to-day's mail train.

LISBON, AUG, 15.

Don Eusebius Page, and Don Innocencio Roldan
have arrived in Lisbon to treat on the part of the
Spanish Government respecting the frontier points
where junctions should be made between the Por-
tuguese and Spanish Railways.

The Marquis de Tagliacarne has presented his
credentials as representative of the King of Italy.
The present charge d'affair.9, the Count do la Tour,
will soon quit this capital.

The Federal frigate Niagara is in thg Tagus. It
said her mission is to intercept a steamer, bought
at Liverpool, ostensibly for the. navigation between
Lisbon and the Portuguese, possessions, but in reality
for a Confederate err.,3er. The Portuguese papers
further assert thr,t the steamer will not sail zs the
intentions of 'f.he Federals have transpired.
The rcolamation of the Spanish Government
resPe-dring the capture of the ship Virgen del Re-
fr..gio is not likely to cause any serious difficulty
(since announced by telegraph to have been set-
tled). It appears that this vessel was a slaver, and
the proofs of her delinquencies were overwhelming,
and she was captured within the Portu3usse waters,
a point oa which no doubt exists.

rnh SUN, LONDOIS!, MONDAY EVENING, AUGUST 22, 1864,

THE EMP IRE OF MEXICO,

(From the Times' Correspon.?ent.)
MEXICO, July 10.
On the 28th ult. General Buz tine gave a magnifi-
cent ball in honour of the Emperor and Empress ;
1,200 people, the elite of Mexico, comprising every
political name, were present. It has been said
" that more is sometimes gained by a ball than a
battle," and such was certainly the case on the
present occasion ; the unostentatious and affable
manner in which their Majesties walked about the
room, entering into conversation with every one,
formed such a marvellous contrast to anything that
had ever been witneseed in the days of a free re-
public, when dusty-coloured Presidents never moved
without being surrounded by a body guard of still
more dusty-coloured aide-decamps, that on the
following morning the whole city of Mexico re-
sounded with their praises. " The Emperor spoke
to me," said one. "So he did with me," said
another, which was heard repeated at the corner of I
almost every street, showed the value attached to
every word which issued from the Imperial tips
and I will venture to assert that of ths, jiffies or
hundreds who had the honour of sing noticed by
the Emperor or Empress on '.nat eventful evening
there is not one, be he reactionist or be he republi-
can, who has not treasured up in his memory and
who cannot repeat with the most perfect accuracy
every 'word that was addressed to him. Whether
ail this is consistent with the opinion so industria
ously circulated,
.both here and elsewhere, that
Mexicans were essentially republicans and abhorred
a monarchy, may well be doubted; all I can say is
that never in the same short space of time have I
seen any two individuals attain the same amount of
popularity.
The Emperor, for the present, has taken up his
abode in the castle of Chapultepec, about three
miles from the city ; he drives in every morning in
an open carriage attended by a single outrider, and
returns in the afternoon, after having devoted the
whole of the day to the business of the country. All
the Ministerial departments are confided to sub-
-1 secretaries. His Majesty having very wisely deter-
mined to reserve to himself the direct supervision
until he can find fit persons to fill the various posts.
All the appointments he has yet made seem to meet
with unqualified ataprobatiou, and it is fair to pre-
sume that, wit a little time and patience, he will
succeed in raising up a moderate party that will
more than counterbalance the two extremes which
oy turns have ruled and ruined the country.
The commission to report upon the finances of the
country is to meet on the Ist of next month; it is
to be composed of persons inhabitants of the city of
Mexico (foreigners as well as Mexicans, to be named
by the Emperor), and of delegates from the depart-
ments rePreen'.ing the different classes of the popu-
lation. Tlete commission is to be subdivided into
sections or sub-commissions, to report on the diffe-
rent matters submitted to their consideration. The
duties on imports and exports, the value of public
lands, and the best mode of rendering them profit-
able to the State, colonisation, the debts and indeme
nite;es due to citizens of foreign countries, railroads,
public works, the currency, taxation, weights and
measures, and, in fact, everything having the
slightest reference to the finances of the country,
are all to form subjects of discussion. IheEmperor,
of course, reserves to himself the right of adopting
or modifying the reports made by the various sec-
tions. The field is a wide one, and it may fairly
be doubted whether there are men competent to
arrive at just conclusions upon subjects s) various
and important; still, much valuable information
must necessarily be elicited, which will serve to
form the groundwork for future legislation.
Hitherto there has been no regular system of tax■
ation in this country, and this is scarcely to be
wondered at, changes of Government having fol-
lowed one another in such rapid succession that any
President who might have been willing or able to
form one would certainly not have had time to carry
it out. The consequence has been that the revenues
of the ports have generally been seized by the
Governors of the States in which those ports were
situated, and the Central Government has been
obliged to live as best it could by forced loans and
c Attributions levied upon the inhabitants of those
cities which for the time being acknowledged its
sway. Santa Anna (I think it was in the year
1844) proposed a system of taxation which, far from
being ezcessive, would still have produced about
30,000,000 dole. annually. Such a revenue would be
more than sufficient to meet all the requirements of
the present Government, and I certainly see no rea-
son why, if such a sum could have been raised then,
it should not be raised now. An honest collection
at the ports will at once double, if not treble, the
receipts; from this sourco of revenue alone the Ime
perial Government may rely upon 16,000,000 dols.
to 18,000,000 dots. annually, leaving only 12,000,000
dole. or 14,000,000 dols., as the case may be, to be
collected by other means. As a remarkable instance
of what an honest collection will effect I may men-
tion that the duties levied in the Customhouse of
this city alone have during the last six months rea-
lised the enormous sum of 5,000,000 dols.; in ordi-
nary times they produced at the very outside
4,000,000 dols. annually. Of course, the sane sys•
tem of robbery and plunder has been going on at
Guadalajara, Guanaxuato, San Luis, and all other
cities of the empire, and it can no longer be a mat-
ter for surprise that each succeeding President,
however short his time of office might have been,
always retired with a princely fortune.
Another commission will shortly be named to re•
vise the laws and provide for the proper adminis-
tration of justice. This will be a Herculean task, for
of all the countries in the world there is none in
which justice has been so scandalously administered
as in Mexico. The first thing to be considered now
upon the institution of a suit is, not whether you
have justice on your side, but whether you can
afford to outbid your opponent. Venality among
the judges has been universal, and I could give you
instances, and will do so upon some future occasion,
which will make the hair of English lawyers stand
on end. The remedy is clear enough,--pay the
judges well, do away with written pleadings (at
present there is nothing else), examine the witnesses
viva voce, open all courts to the public, have all the

cases accurately reported, and punish most severely
any judge who, from interested or other motives, is
caught tripping.
The military commission will commence its la-
bours in the course of a few days, and a plan of
campaign for the interior has been decided upon;
in fact, everything is going on as well as the most
sanguine monarchist could desire, and it would
really seem as if a great and glorious future were
about to dawn upon this hitherto unfortunate
Country.

Frotia the interior there is nothing of importance.
The most perfect tranquillityfreigns in all towns
occupied by the French. The arrival of their
imperial Majestiep has been hailed in San Luis
Guanaxuato, and other towns with the utmost de-
monstration of joy. Gonzales Ortega is said to be
closely pursued by the French, who are not very
likely to catch him; and Uraga is still disposed to
join the intervention as soon as ho can do so with
perfect safety to himself,

DEATH OF LORD RODNEY.—On Friday Lord
Rodney expired at his seat at Barrington, near Leominster.
Lord Rodney, Rho was in his 46th year, was the great-
grandson of the famous Rodney. He leaves three children,
one of whom succeeds to the title.
THE POPUL 4R STREET "MOT" IN PARIS—" As
to VU Lambert ?'—Speaking of this sudden and all
but universal eccentricity of the streets of the French
capital, the Spectator of Saturday remarks that during the
File Napoleon the Parisians appeared to have invented a
new amusement, which consisted in asking their friends,
and the passengers, and everybody at all conspicuous, " As-
tu vu Lambert ?" The word was repeated everywhere,
the Emperor himself being saluted with "give Lambert,
viva Madame Lambert, vivo le petit Lambert l" the popu-
lace applying the name with a pertinacity which proved
that they saw a joke somewhere. The police were begin-
ning to think of Cayenne or the necessity for calling out
the military, when it was discovered that a farmer's wife
losing her husband, had been going about asking for
"Lambert." The Parisians, struck with the idea of a
woman imagining that everybody must know her particular
lord, took up the cry, and as the Emperor is the only man
known to everybody applied the name to him with appre-
ciative unanimity. The minds of the police gradually
calmed down, and in consideration of the fits nobody was
so much as arrested, •