The Sun.
London, England, 1864-01-01 00:00:00

FRANCE.

BOURSE, Dec. 31.—The market shows rather
more firmness, but without much change as regards
the amount of business. The reponse de primes
(option) was made at 66f. 40c., at which price Tbree
per Cents. now stand. Railway Market quiet, but
with prices in general maintained. The market
improved towards the close, and left off as follows:

4* per Cents. 9l 40 Italian Loan 7l 90
Do. end month.... Do. end month 7l 65
3 per Cents
Do. end month.... 60 50 Do. end month —
Credit Mobilier.... 1045 Russian
Do. end m0nth....1046 25 Austrian .. —
Bank Shares 3280 Spanish Threes.„..

Credit Fancier —
Roman
RAIL'

Home Pebt
Deferred

'AYR.
Cash. Account.
976 25 .. 975
975 975

Orleans
Northern

New ditto — .. —....-
Lyons and Meditsrranean 931 25 .. 930
New ditto .. 890 .. .
Southern
Western
Eastern .... 475 .. 476 25
Sardinian
Austrian
LOTrburd
North of Spain
Saragossa .. 615 .. 615
Ditto to Barcelona .... 298 75 .. 300

THE SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN QUESTION.
FRANKFORT-ON•THE-MAINE, Thursday.
The note of the 27th inst., which Sir Alexander
Malet, the Ambassador of Great Britain in this
city, has addressed to the Federal Diet on the
Schleswig-Holstein question, and which was re-
ferred to the Holstein Committee in yesterday's
sitting, is couched in the following terms :
"In consequence of instructions from the Govern-
ment of hEr Britannic Majesty the undersigned has
the honour to communicate to his Excellency Baron
Von Kubeck, president of the Federal Diet, a copy
of the London Treaty of May 8, 1852. The under-
signed has the honour to request his excellency to
lay this treaty before the Assembly of the Federal
Diet. The uudersignEd is at the same time in-
structed to remark that the High Federal As-
sembly will observe that by the treaty of France,
Great Britain, Russia, and Sweden agreed to recog-
nise King Christian IX. as the successor to
all the possessions held by his irlajesty the late
King of Denmark. This recognition has already
taken place by all these Powers. The undersigned
is, therefore, instructed to point out that if the
Federal Assembly by any over hasty steps enters
upon a course opposed to the London Treaty serious
complications might result.
" The undersigned is further instructed to notify
to his Excellency the President of the Federal
Assembly that the Government of her Britannic
Majesty is ready to discuss these subjects in a con-
ference which should assemble at any place that
might be agreed upon, and in which all the sub-
scribers of the London Treaty, and a representative
of the German Confederation should take part.

" The undersigned avails himself of the oppor-
tunity of this communication to his Excellency
the President of the High Federal Assembly to
state the assurance, &c.
(Signed)

u A. MALET."

. -
AN ORIENTAL SEAN.

An Oriental khan is not an inn as we use this
word in the language of London, Sydney, and New
York ; a place where you find good food and a clean
bed, an obliging host, a cheery welcome, and a heavy
bill. Such things are not of the East. A khan is
a fort and a mart; a refuge from thieves; a shelter
from the heat and dust; a place where a man and
his beast may lodge, where a trader may sell his
wares, and a pilgrim may slake his thirst. In the
meat ancient days, before Abraham had yet led his
sheep out of Haran and pitched his tents in the
plain of Moreh, the khan was a sheikh's house or
tent, the best place in the Own ; for the chief had
everywhere in the East a right to receive, to rob or to
protect the strangers who came among his tribe.
Where there was no sheikh's house or tent, as in desert
roads and in lonely glens, the khan was no more
than a camping ground for the merchants and way-
farers passing through the land. In Hebrew, the
word means a lodging for the night. When this
lodging for the night was not in a sheikh's house or
tent, it was always near a spring, a well, or a run-
ning stream; nearly always in the shade of a goodly
tree, or a group of trees ; to wit, under the oak at
Hebron, or beneath the palms of Jericho. But in
course of time, the predatory Bedawin bands must
have caused this open field to be protected by a
fence, either of a prickly plant or of a heap of
stones, and a porter appointed to keep the gate.
Such was that rude inn by the wayside from
Egypt into Canaan at which Joseph's brethren
slept for the night when they found the money
in their sacks and were sore afraid ; such
that other in at which Zipporah, moved by the
Lord's threatenings, took up the sharp stone and
circumcised her first• born son. This kind of lodging
for the night, or shelter from the heat of noon, may
be seen at this day in its most simple form, at Abs
Gosh, that robber's den which stands on the site of
what once was Kirjath•jearim, one of the resting-
places of the ark. It is a field with a fire tree for
shade, a stone scram for protection, and a spring
near by for drink. The wall has no gate, and the
lodger, who hopes to stretch his limbs in peace, or
enjoy his dinner of bread and grapes, has to leap the
fence. Once within the wall, he is safe from the
fiery smiting of the sun, from the trampling feet of
the camels, and in some degree from the pilfering
fingers of Abu Gosh.

The Duncan, 81, screw line-of-battle ship, of 3,727 tons
and 800 hoi se power (nominal) of engines, is expected to be
commissioned this morning at Portsmouth by Capt. Gibson
for the flag of Sir James Hope, K.C.8., the future Com-
mander-in-Chief c,n the North American and West India
station,

THE NEW YEAR'g DAY.

."
(From the January Number of "London Society.")

Of all days in the year, rartisimns think most of New
Year's Day—possibly because it is new. L'an est wort.
Vive l'an I

This first day is essentially a day of costume—a day for
brilliant bonnets, glossy hats, varnished boots, perfume and
cosmetique. Dressed, brushed, oiled, waxed, and gloved,
Monsieur first pays his service to the Emperor. The ap-
proach to the Tuileries is a great sight, and philosophical
must bo that civilian who does not feel himself utterly
crushed and humiliated by the neighbourhood of the gorge-
ous uniforms around him. The white stone buildings of the
Rue de Rivoli form the background form a military tailor's
paradise. And how happy are the militaires inside the uni-
forms. How they feel that they are the show, that the world
is looking at them, and that the occasion is their own. How
complacently they sport their medals, and what a quantity
they carry of those certificates of valour. The corpulent old
gentleman in a cocked hat, now waddling across the road,
carries an enormous weight of metal, First there is his
gorget—that queer bit of brass that reminds one of the labels
round the neck of bottles, still found in some old country
houses, on which the word port or sherry is engraved,
Then there is his sword, which is pendant from a wonder-
ful complication of straps and buckles; and as for medals,
the man must have fought victoriously in every battle since
Pharsalia, Yet he is modest, though he wears large scarlet
trousers, and sucks a bad cigar with the bonhommie of a
bourgeois.
A French soldier is happier in scarlet trousers than in
those of any other colour. In black, blue, green, or gray,
he may exist ; in scarlet he lives.
More costumes tramp and glittter by; soldiers, soldiers
and soldiers ; then, for variety, some officers of Marine ;
soldiers again. Russians, haughty, elegant, and furred ;
magnificent Circassians, men whose bearing indicates their
habit of looking down upon the world from mountain tops ;
and more cocked hats, swords, and scarlet trousers, Look
on, Parisians, and admire, for your army deserves it at
your eyes. It is for this they stormed Alma, fought In-
kerman, flooded Solferino, and pocketed Pekin. Vive la
France I Vive le Tricolor, and Vive la Gloire I
On oriinary days only so many beggars are allowei to
solicit alms, and they hold a permission from the police.
On Now Years' -day there is a fine trade in mendicancy,
and at every tenth step you hear a beggar—but they are
never obstinately importunate as English beggars are..
Many of them bring out an old organ, that can sound only
six notes, and turn the handle as they chant a dismal song,
and the sight is touching to the stranger—the resident,
who knows that these useful properties are safely stored,
to be brought out once a yea', is not moved by the sight.
They are a singular race, the beggars of Paris, and
would make an interesting study. One girl, of about 12
years, asked alms of me in French, English, German,
and Italian. I discovered that in the last three languages
she could only ask alms, that she had a quick eye for a
foreign face, and seldom begged of her compatriots.
Among the huts that dot the Boulevards, there is the
usual crowd hustling each other with undisturbable good
humour. There are toys to more than realize the maddest
fancies of imaginative childhood. Cigarres a la musique,
serpents a la musique, and some wonderful little figures,
three inches high, that " dance themselves," if placed on
a piano, play the instrument, or thrum upon a table ; and
they derive a motive power from the mere vibration. There
are rabbits affected by every feeling and motion of which
humanity is capable. Rabbits making love, rabbits jea-
lous, rabbits billing and cooing in honeymoon bliss, rabbits
getting very tipsy, rabbits quarrelling, rabbits fighting
duels, and rabbits borne away killed and wounded after a
mortal encounter. Rabbits are depicted suffering all the
inconveniences of an artificial civilisation, and frogs are
also shown loving, fighting, drinking, dying, and the rest.

Human nature is mimieked everywhere with a strangely
weird and terrible fidelity. The dolls are wonderful.
Dolls dressed a la Pompadour, with blue satin hoods
and spectacles, and an expression of face that says plainly,
" I am a doll-grandmother." Dolls seated cn thrones, a
" gorgeous canopy" above their heads, and a mein of per-
fect majesty upon their waxen brows. Then there are dolls
in uneasy circumstances—dolls that, to use the term by
which the French politely imply poverty, "art not happy."
There is a brilliantly-complexioned young fellow in a blouse
—a he-doll of the people—asking a young woman of the
people, in a head-dress like an exaggerated extinguisher or
ornamented fool's-cap, to dance with him. From the limpid
look of her eyes we know that she will answer " Oui," and
smile and curtsy graciously. Close by is a Breton doll, a
sturdy fellow, with a rough outside but a warm heart with,
in, his musette in his hand. The group was so perfect that
I turned away, or I should have doubtless heard the Breton
strike up the zing-zing of the musette, and seen the young
couple toot it to the music, as only French folks, intoxicated
with sugared water and gooseberry syrup, can foot it.

How happy must these dolls make their fortunate pos-
sessors, and how happy must be the little darling whose
grandpapa, that worthy old bourgeois, has just presented
her with a New-Year's gift.

The tastes of children are alike all over the world. Girls
love something to pet, love, and fondle, comb, wash, above
all, dress, and—crowning glory and power of motherhood
—put to bed. Boys prefer an article with which they can
do mischief—a sword, a gun, or a cannon—they like de-
struction—anything that smokes or smells like gunpowder.
As a young friend of mine ob,erved on a sth of November,
"If fireworks are so nice, what must a battle be ?"

Naval and Military Intelligence.

THE NAVY.

Yesterday Mr. J. Stansfeld. M.P., the junior Lord of the
Admiralty, accompanied by Mr. H. W. R. Walker, the
auditor of dockyard accounts, commenced the official in-
quiry into the system of management and other matters
connected with the dockyard and naval establishments at
Chatham, preparatory, it is understood, to some important
changes being shortly introduced into the management of
the Royal dockyards. Mr. Stansfeld, who arrived at the
dockyard on Wednesday, was occupied during the day in
visiting, in company with Capt. Stewart, C. 8., superinten-
dent of the dockyard, the various establishments into the
management and working of which he instituted numerous
inquiries. All of them had more or less reference to the
important question of labour, the economisation of which
throughout the whole of the dockyards appears to be one
of the leading objects sought to be attained by this com-
mission of inquiry. It is exactly in this direction that the
greatest reform is needed, There is no one in the least
degree acquainted with the system at present followed
in the public dockyards as compared with private esta-
blishments, who can fail to be struck with the para-
mount necessity existing for some sweeping alterations,
in order to produce results more commensurate with the
vast outlay required for their support. During Wednesday
Mr. Stansfeld visited the iron frigate Achilles, fitting for
sea, on board which there are upwards of 1,000 mechanics
and other hands employed, and personally inspected the
arrangements made for the due supervision of that large
body of workmen. Yesterday he devoted his attention to
the system of management at each of the'principal depart-
ments of the dockyards, with the heads of which he held
lengthened conferences. It is understood that the investi-
gation at Chatham will extend over several days.
Instructions have been received at Chatham Dockyard for
a new description of target to be constructed at that estab
lishment, under the direction of Mr. Baskcomb, one of the
foremen, who superintended the erection of the Warrior and
Bellerophon target, recently experimented upon at Shoe-
buryness, The target is to represent a section of the side
of Mr. Reed's new wooden iron-clad frigate the Lord War-
den, the keel for which has just been laid down at Chatham
Dockyard, and in the construction of which several impor-
tant improvements over the wooden armour-clads already
built are to be introduced. One of these is the erection of
an iron skin of 11-4nch iron throughout a certain length of
the vessel's broadside. The result of the experiments to be
made on the target will, however, determine the form of
construction, which will ultimately be carried out in the
Lord Warden, but the Lords of the Admiralty have already
decided that she shall be plated for a certain length and
height with plates of a greater thickness than those bolted to
the sides of the Royal Oak, Caledonia, and the other iron-
clads. Tho contract for upwards of 1,000 tons of armour
plating for the Lord Warden has been taken by Messrs. J.
Brown and Co., of Sheffield, and the first delivery of plates
will shortly arrive at the dockyard. In the construction of
the Lord Warden an important improvement will be made
by Mr. Reed in the placing of a powerful battery of heavy
guns at the bow of the ship—an improvement which has
been altogether overlooked in every vessel of war hitherto
built in this country.

Upwards of 500 cases of small arms, containing in the
aggregate 12,000 stand of arms for the naval and land ser•
vice, have been landed at the Ordnance-wharf, Chatham,
from the War deeartment transports Bomarsund, Thames,
and Henry, and deposited in the arsenal.

The repairs to the paddlewheels of the new Royal yacht
Alberta have been taken in hand at Portsmouth dockyard,
in order that she may renew and complete her official trials
of speed under the supervision of the Admiralty authorities.
On her partial trial of the 26th inst. her wheels gave way
under the enormous power developed by her engines, the
indicator card diagrams exhibiting an exerted power of
nearly 1,200 horse, the nominal power of the engines being
only 160 horse. The tonnage of the Alberta 14, according
to the official Navy _List, 391.

Iler Majesty's steam sloop Mutine, Capt. Graham, in
basin at Wool% ich, is ordered to bo paid out of commission
on Tuesday next.

The Hector, iron frigate, at Portsmouth, it is expected,
will be commissioned in about a week. It is stated that
some of the weights are to be removed out of this ship to
enable her to float lighter in the water.
Commodore Hugh Dunlop, C. 8., the newly-appointed
Commodore-Superintendent of Woolwich dockyard, will
enter upon the duties of his new appointment, in succession
to Rear-Admiral Sir F. Nicolson, C.8..(0n the retired list),
this morning. Commodore Dunlop, together with his pri-
vate secretary (Paymaster Ponsonby) and staff, has engaged
a suite of appartmenta as their temporary residence, during
the six weeks allowed to his predecessor for removal, at Mr,
Sloman's Royal Ship Hotel, opposite the Commodore's
official residence, at the entrance of the dockyard at Wool-
wich,

r Elrenbr
_

HER MAJESTY.

OSBORNE, Dee. 31.

The Queen, the Princess of Wales, Princess
Louise, and Prince 33 Beatrice drove out yesterday

morning.

Lieutenant-Colonel the Hon. D. de Ros attended
on horseback.

The Prince of Wales and Prince Alfred went out
shooting.
Earl Russell and the Right Hon. T. Milner
Gibson arrived yesterday, and had audiences of her
Majesty.

Earl Russell had the honour of dining with the
Qaeen and Royal family.

-~--

The Duchess of Hamilton is expected to return
to Brighton to-day or to-morrow.

7he Marquis of Bristol and the Ladies Hervey
are expected to visit Brighton in the early part of the pre-
sent month.

Viscount and Viscountess Grey de Wilton have
arrived in town from Melton Mowbray.
Lord and Lady Wharncliffe have left town to
attend the funeral of• Viscountess Boyle.
Lady W. Russell, who has been indisposed, has
improved in health since her return from Paris.
The Right Hon. Charles P. Villiers has returned
to town from Osborne.

Miss Alicia Campbell (only sister of the late Lord
Clyde) expired at her residence, on Stanhope-terrace, Hyde-
park, yesterday morning.
PRINCE ARTHUR.—His Royal Highness Prince
Arthur, attended by Major Elphinstone, crossed from
Osborne to Portsmouth yesterday morning in the royal
yacht Fairy, Captain his Serene Highness the Prince of
Leiningen, and landed at the dockyard, from whence the
Prince proceeded to visit Colonel Gordon, commanding the
Royal Engineers. His Royal Highness returned at three
o'clock in the Fairy to Osborne.