The Sun.
London, England, 1864-11-03 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, THURSDAY EVENING, NOVEMBER 3, 1864.

rgio fEItSONS SEEKING LANDED
ESTATES, TOWN AND COUNTRY Rs-SIDENCES,
FREEHOLD AND LEASEHOLD INVESTMENTS, AND
PROPERTIES GENERALLY- _ _ .

To BE HAD GRATIS, at the principal Railway Bookstalls
throughout the kingdom, or at the Auction and Estate Offices,
No. 67, Chancery-lane, London, Messrs. E. and li. Lumley's
"FREE PROPERTY REGISTER," containing a varied selection
of landed and house properties now in the market, from
the nobleman's mansion, with its manorial domain, to the
cottage with its few acres.
OWNERS orl ormmrs wishing to Sell or Let can em-
brace the oppol tanity that the medium of this Register
affords, by sending the particulars of their properties to the
Estate Offices, 67, Chancery-lane, London, as the Messrs.
Lumley can in most cases introduce immediate customers,
where the property is of an eligible chara ter, thereby avoid-
ing the disadvantages of delay and its attenuant incon-
veniences.
TIIERE IS NO CHARGE incurred, unless a tenant or pur-
chaser is introduced through Messrs. Lumley's Agency,
and then only the usual moderate commission.
Auction and Land Offices, 67, Chancery-lane, London.

TURN ITU RE, CARPETS, BEDDING, and
FLOORCLOTH, CARRIAGE-FREE to any house in
the kingdom, regardless of amount or distance. First. class
goods at second-class prices. Terms peculiarly liberal to
Clergymen and Gentlemen. An immense stock to select
from, displayed in Showrcoms occupying an acre of ground.
Every article warranted.
CI,ERGYMEN and GENTLEMEN ABOUT TO FUR-
NISH are respectfully informed that Messrs. Cobbett and
Co. are publishing an entirely New Edition of their un-
equalled HOUSE FURNISHING GUIDE, illustrated by4lo
adm -able engravings of every description of Furniture and
Beasteads, with prices attached. A copy sent gt atis and
post-free on application. This costly work also contains
complete estimates for furnishing on the following revised
scale :
A Six-roomed Parsonage
An Eight-roomed ditto
A Ten-roomed ditto ........
A Twelve-roomed ditto

Together with a Price List of purified Bedding, and a mass
of valnable informationto all requiring househ )1d furniture,
carpets, or bedding. References kindly permitted to Clergy-
men and gentlemen in or near Great Malvern, Southampton,
Chichester, Bury, Ely, Preston, Grimsby, Ryde, Plymouth,
Wells, Oxford, Brighton, Gainsborough, Margate. Kidder-
minster, Wellington, Croydon. Cambridge, Staines, Dorking,
St. Alban's, Worcester, Ipswich, Peterborough, St. David's,
Wrexham, and above 500 other places in all parts of Great
&Art: a.
COBBETT and CO.. General House Furnishers. Deptford-
bridge, London, S.E,

Naval Architecture established on the Continent of Europe.
The difference mainly consisted in the fact that they pos-
sessed a system of secondary State schools, which did not
enter into the plan of English education. The most striking
contrast he could offer was the Freach system. They pos-
sessed an excellent school of naval architecture of very old
standing, but it was simply a schocl of applicatiou. All the
teaching on the Continent had a direct technical purpose,
but that would not be the purpose of the present school. It
has been announced that the subjects of the competitive ex-
amination, with the number of marks attached to each, will
be as follows :—Pure mathematics, including arithmetic,
geometry (plane and descriptive), trigonometry, and the
elements of the differential and integral calculus, 2,500
marks ; theoretical mechanics or applied mathematics
1,000; practical mechanics, 750; practical shipbuilding,
2,000 ; steam 750 ; physics, 500; cbymistry, 500 ; mecha-
nical and freehand drawing, 750. The competition in the
present year will take place before Christmas.
The exports of small firearms from the United Kingdom
in September comprised 28,835, against 21,501 in Sept.,
1863, and 47,835 in September, 1862. In the nine months
ending September 30 the aggregate exports amounted to
168,105, aninst 329,156 in the corresponding period of
1863, and 459,119 in the corresponding period of 1862. The
exports of gunpowder in Sept. amounted to 1,668,0501 b
against 1,059,1671 b in Sept., 1863, and 1,439,5681 b in Sept.,
1862. In the nine months ending Sept. 30 the aggregate
exports amounted to 11,004,6841 b, against 11,797,7711 b in
the corresponding period of 1863, and 12,447,6271 b in the
corresponding period of 1862.

Old Clothes and What Becomes of Them.

When the hawker working the suburban districts
comes by with his barrow blooming with flowers,
and petitioning for old clothes, old hats, and old
boots, &ca in exchange for them, the bargain seems
so one-sided that most people are only too glad to
begin the barter. We all get so sick of frowsy old
clothes that it seems almost a mercy to get rid of
them at any price, but to be able to translate them
into geraniums and fusdasias, &c., to exchange
muaty, fusty gabardinco for fresh odaurs and rain.
bow hues, is more than anybody ever expected to
do. The coster who initiated this subtle method
of weeding our wardrobes must have had a special
insight into female character, ever ready to ex-
change the solid and useful for the brightly decora-
tive—at all events, this almost poetical method of
filling old clothes' bags deserves to be mentioned as
one of the most abundant means of building up a
trade which has now assumed enormous proportions
The great dealers into whose hands our cast-off
skins ultimately fall have arrived at the dignified
position of merchants. The value of their exports
to foreign countries makes no inconsiderable item
in our annual trade returns. The streams of old
clothes that hour by hour are seductively drained,
either by floral exchange, attractive advertisement,
or by the downright pestering of " Old Ikeys,"
culminate in the great old clothes mart in Hounds-
ditch where Hebrews most do congregate. This
inodorous spot has been so often described in popua
lar works that people are now pretty familiar with
it, by name at least. But having described the
fierce contest which ensues over the mounds of old
clothes therein daily deposited, our social statis-
ticians seem to have had enough of them, and have
proceeded no farther. But the true interest in the
story of old clothes begins just at the point where
they leave off. To the question of what now be-
comes of them, we might answer that the greater
part of them are now about to set out upon their
travels, to enter new circles of society, and to see
life both savage and civilized under a thousand new
phases.
Those that are intended to remain in this country
have:to be tutored and transformed. The "clobberer,"
the "reviver," and the " translator" lay hands
upon them. The duty of the " clobberer" is to
patch, to sow up, and to restore as far as possible
the garments to their pristine appearance ; black
cloth garments pass into the hands of the " revi.
tiers," who rejuvenate seedy black coats, and, for
the moment, make them look as good as new. The
" translator's" duty is of a higher order ; his office
is to transform one garment into another—the
skirts of a cast-off coat being the least worn part
of the garment make capital waistcoats and tunics
for children, &e. Hats are revived in a still more
wonderful manner; they are cut down to take out
the grease marks, re-lined, and appear in the shops
like new ones. The streets surrounding the old
clothes market are full of shops where these clob-
bered and revived goods are exposed for sale, and
really a stranger to the trade would not know but
that they were new goods. There is a department
of the market also dedicated to old clothes, male and
female, clobbered and revived. It is a touching
sight to see the °lass of persons who frequent the
men's market and turn over the seedy black gar-
ments that are doing their best to put on a good
appearance—the toil-worn clerks, who for some
social reason are expected to apparel Vaemselves in
black, and the equally careworn members of the
clerical profession, chiefly curates whose meagre
stipends do not permit of the extravagance o' new
suits of clothes. The ladies' market is a vast ward
robe of silk dresses, but if we are to believe the sales-
woman the matrons of England are more thrifty
than we gave them credit for. " Servants come
here to purchase, Sir ! No, indeed, Sir, ladies worth
hundreds of pounds," was the reply we got to oui
inquiries as to the class of purchasers. Black cloth
c'othes that are too far gone to be clobbered and
revived are always sent abroad to be cut up to mekt
ceps. France takes the best of these old clothes foi
this purpose. The linings are stripped out, and it
this condition they are admitted duty free as old
rags. Russia and Poland, where caps seem to be
universally worn by the working population, are
content with still more threadbare garments to be
cut up for this purpose. The great bulk of our cast-
off clothes of ell kinds, however, find their way to
two markets—lreland and Holland. The old clothes'
bags of the collectors may, in fact, be said to be emp-
tied out in the laud of Erin, as far as the ordinary
order of clothes go, while to Holland only special
articles of apparel are exported. Singularly enough,
the destination of the red tunics of the whole British
infantry is the chests of the sturdy Dutchman.

There seems to be some popular belief or supersti-
tion in that waterlogged country that red cloth
affords the best protection against rheumatism, cons
sequently these jackets all find their way to the land
of dykes. The sleeves are cut off, and they are made
to button in a double breasted fashion; thns remoa
delled they are worn next to the skin like a flannel
waistcoat by all careful Dutchmen among the labour-
ing classes. The Irish chiefly favour corduroys, and
wo suspect the wornout-legs of British pantaloons
of this material aro cut off and converted into
breeches for Pat. Where he gets those wonderful
swallow•tailed coats with brass buttons is a puzzle
to all the dealers—it is very certain they do not
come from this side of the Channel, and it is equally

clear they are remnants of costume two generations
back. Our readers will perhaps have noticed the
special avidity the dealers in old clothes evince for
all kinds of regimentals, full dress liveries, Volun-
teers' uniforms, beadle's coats, &c. Anything spe-
cially splendid in this line is marked by the col-
lectors as a sportsman marks any rare and brilliantly
plumaged bird, and ultimately is sure to be bagged
by them. One of the largest dealers in London in
these showy dresses once said to 119, seeing a Guards•
man going along the street, " A thousand to one that
coat comes into my hands." Really the inevitability
there appears to be about the destination of these
regimentals, if known to their wearers should make
them very uncomfortable. The dealers would if they
could strip them off their backs just as an eel-woman
skins an eel. The Lord Mayor's footman's full dress
livery is viewed by these gentry with wolfish eyes,
These are the great prizes of the profession—and
their barbaric splendours are destined for a special
market—the South Coast of Africa, where nature
puts on her most gorgeous apparel, and the great
ones of the land are determined to have something
to match. Travellers often tell us of the marvellous
appearance of the chiefs of these parts when in full
mufti, and we scarcely expected to find our old
clothes dealers the regular costumiers of these sable
dignitaries, transmitting regimentals, laced liveries,
and cocked hats, as regularly to them as the Londo❑
tailor sends his clothes to his country customers.
And Mumbo Jumbo will not be put off with inferior
articles—the slightest blemish in color or inferiority
in cloth is instantly detected and rejected by these
semi-savages, hence the greatest care is necessary in
catering for their wants. It is just possible that
the Lord Mayors for these last dozen years would
bo able to recognise their own splendid liveries on
the backs of a Council of these potentates if they
could over be got together for any purpose what-
ever. We ourselves saw an assortment of well.
preserved liveries of the heir to the proudest throne
in the world, just being packed for exportation to
the grand destination of all fine liveries we have
just mentioned. It should be some solace to the
parish beadle that his clothes, instead of descending
in the social scale like those of ordinary civilians,
is destined to flame upon the back of some autocrat
who holds the lives of thousands of men at his dis-
posal, instead of only being the emblems of terror
to poor parish boys. The vast majority of the
scarlet coats of our officers that are a little worn
fiad their way to the great annual fair at Leipsic.
There is a belief in the trade that the destination
of this bright scarlet cloth is the cuffs and facings
of the civil officials in the Russia❑ Government.