The Sun.
London, England, 1864-02-03 00:00:00

THE ALABAMA,

SINGAPORE, Dec. 31.—The privateer Alabama
anchored in oar roads on the evening of the 21st
inst., and left again on the morning of the 24th,
after having provided herself with three months'
coals and provisions. The Alabama burnt, on the
I evening of the same day, in the Straits of Malacca,
the British bark Martaban, Capt. Pike, from Moul-
mein. She carried a British register, the master
had a British master's certificate, and the mate a
British mate's certificate, but both wero by birth
Americans, and had been on board before-
hand. The vessel had a cargo of rice on board,
being bona fide British property. It appears some
doubts are entertai❑ed that the transfer of tte
Martaban, formerly American Texan Star, having
been a bona fide one. A protest has been sent in to
Government, but as the papers were taken away
by Capt. S'4llll:l3eS, further communications and
duplicate papers must be expected from Moulmein.

The Alabama has also burnt the American ship
Sonora, 707 tons, and the American ship High-
lander, 1,049 tons, both bound for the rice ports.

The Peace Society of the Dano-German
Questiou.

The following memorial was presented to Earl
Russell on the 26th of January .
The memorial of the Committee of the Peace Society
showeth,—
That your memorialists, in common with the country at
large, have felt and continue to feel great anxiety as to the
issue of the dispute between the kingdom of Denmark and

the Germanic Confederation, respecting the question of
Schleswig-Holstein. They rejoice in the persevering efforts
The quotation of gold at Paris is about 4 per mille pm., andilade by your lordship to secure a pacific solution for the
he short exchange on London is 25.30 per £1 sterling. On calty, for they have a strong conviction that if England
comparing these rates with the English Mint price of £3 ;ailed to interfere in the matter at all it can only be in
17 s. Md. per ounce for standard gold, it appeal s that gold is tgorm of friendly mediation and advice. They do not
about 1-10th per cent. dearer in London than in Paris. relhish the hope that these efforts may be yet crowned
By advices fromllamburg the price of gold is 4234 per mark with oess and that for the credit of civilisation the two
and the short exchange on London is 13.4 per £1 sterling.
enlighto. nations more immediately concerned will to
Standard gold at the English Mint price is, therefore, about
2-10ths dearer in London than in llamburg
saved from folly and guilt of rushing into the measure-
The course of exchange at New York on London for bills at less calamititf war, on a question so comparatively trivial
60 days' sight is 172 per cent., and the premium on gold is and obscure,

561 per cent. At these rates there is a small profit on the

But should hUities ultimatelybreak forth your memo-

mportation of gold from the United States.

rialista earnestly ')e that your lordship having used your
utmost endeavours avert a rupture, will firmly refuse to
allow this country to drawn into any participation in the

The clipper ship John Lidgett, 770 tons register

(owned by Messrs. John Lidgett and Sons, of Lon-
don), Commander Gamble, arrived at Spithead yes
terday morning from the Cape of Good Hope with

conflict.

Your memorialists Li observed with the utmost satis-
faction and gratitude t. resolute spirit with which her
Majesty's Government htadhered to the principle of non-
intervention in the case of ierica and Poland. It appears
to your memorialists that tiDano-German question, far
from offering any ground for )arting from this salutary
principle, presents none of v.,..whose plausible pretexts
usually urged in favour of armed invention in other cases.
Neither clear political right on ()nee or the other, nor
treaty obligations on our part, nor thepposed complicity
of British interests in the point at is.. nor respect for
popular sympathies can be pleaded in excitor staking the
blood and treasure of England on this uninteale quarrel.
It is impossible not to feel, on the other hanliat a war
arising out of this question, in which the great Jers of
Europe should become implicated, can hardly fail had to
other complications so vast and perilous as might weizr
pal the boldest heart in the apprehension. In your 101 l
ship's own impressive language, " Who can foresae wh
extent such a war might acquire, what passions it might
arouse, what districts might be desolated by its ravages f"
Your memorialists therefore respectfully but earnestly
entreat her Majesty's Government to abstain not only from
taking part by any overt act in the hostilities between Ger-
many and Denmark, should they unhappily commence, but
from all such diplomatic altercations and engagements, as
well as from such menacing demonstrations of force, as may
gradually implicate the nation in the conflict without its
knowledge and against its will.
JOSEPH PEASE, President,
SAMUEL GURNEY, Treasurer,
HENRY RICHARD, Secretary.

he following military and naval (invalids and time-
expired men) officers and men o❑ board from Hong
Kong, the Cape of Good Hope, and St. Helena—
There embarked at Hong Kong—Royal Artillery,
Capt. H. Porter, (invalid) ; Assist. •Surg. Tate (in-
valid); and seven men., Royal Engineers, two men ;
44th Regiment, one man ; 67th Regiment, Lieut.
Dawson (an duty) and one man; 99th Regiment,
Brevet Major Kerepson and 50 men ; Commissariat
Staff, eight men ; Army Hospital Corps, six men ';
Assist.-Surg. M`Dowell (in medical charge of
troops), wife and child, one naval assist.-surg., one
midshipman, and 51 naval invalids and time-expired
men. Three military invalids were embarked at
the Cape of Good Hope and four at St. Helena.
Five naval and eight military invalids died during
the passage home. The naval invalids and time-
expired men were transferred yesterday from
the John Lidgett to her Majesty's ship
Victory and the Royal Naval Hospital at Haslar.
The military will disembark today, the invalids
being forwarded to the Royal Military Hospital at
Netley, and the time-expired men sent on to the
depots of their respective regiments. The regiments
sailed from Hongkong on Sept. 16, 1863, and was
23 days out to Batavia, where she lay at anchor
five days. From Batavia to the Cape of Good Hope
she made the somewhat long passage of 44 days,
owing to the unusual circumstance of having to
beat to windward through the trade winds. At
the Cape she lay at anchor 16 days. She made the
passage thence to St. Helena in ten days, where she
anchored for two days, and thence she completed
her voyage to Spithead in 35 days—making 45
days under canvas from the Cape. The weather was
very fine throughout the whole voyage. The John
Lidgett is a novelty in naval architecture, she be-
ing the first vessel built on the newly introduced
plan of an iron framing with wooden outer plank-
ing—an iron ship with a wooden skin, She is of
large capacity and stowage, and her officers report
her to be an exceedingly fast ship under canvas,
having surpassed in speed every vessel she has
fallen in with on the outward and homeward voy-
age. On her oat ward voyage she had as cargo 1,100
tons of railway iron, and southward of the Cape met
with a very severe cyclone gale, in which the cargo
shifted and the ship went over on her beam ends, in
which position she lay 48 hours, with her starboard
rail under water. The poop cabins were destroyed
and everything movable on the deck was swept
away, yet such was the enormous strength of the
ship that she took in no water through a leak, nor
was there the slightest strain in any part of the hull
afterwards discovered, Had she been an ordinarily
framed wooden ship she would likely have foun-
dered. The ship's fittings throughout combine all
the most recent improvements. The anchor is
weighed and the topsails are hoisted, and all other
heavy work done by steam, for which a small engine
is provided. The same engine furnishes an ample
supply of distilled water. One hundred pounds
weight of fresh bread was baked on board and
served out to the troops per day throughout the
voyage. The accommodation on board for the
troops and the general arrangements and ventila-
tion of the troop deck appear to have been excel-
lent. After disembarking the troops to-day the
John Lidgett will sail from Spithead for the Thames'
having a quantity of Government stores on board,
and a part tea cargo from Hongkong and wool from
the Cape for London.

RACING FIXTU.
FEB 73

[RES FOR 1864.

'.IIART.

Birmingham

Lincoln Spring 23
Hungerford

Harrow
Chelmsford l7

MA:
Nottingham Spring 1
Derby Spring 3
Liverpool
Shrewsbury
Doncaster Spring

.RCH.
Warwick l6
Durham
Northampton 29
Catterick 3O

Ar,
Croaton•park 1
Edinburgh Spring 2
Abergavenny
5

Epsom Spring
Newmarket Craven
Newmarket First Spring 25

Chester .. 3
York Spring
Salisbury.. .
Bath
Jtr:

Manchester
Harpenden
Epsom .. 24

Ascot
Hampton l6
Newton
Odiham
Bibury
Stockbridge

Chelmsford ~.. 28
New Forest Hunt 2B
Ne wcastle-on- Tyne ..
Worcester (Summer)
Ipswich ..

Newmarket July
Carlisle
Abingdon
Liverpool July
Stamford l4
Pontefract
Aui

Nottingham . l9
Winchester l9
Southampton . 2O
Chesterfield
Goodwood

Brighton 2
Brighton Club ...
Lewes 5
Reading
Egham
Oxford .. 18
Yarmouth

SEPT]

Weymouth 1
Warwick September 6
Leicester 8
Doncaster
Brecon l9

York August 23
Plymouth
Derby
Lichfield 3O
Stocktca
Devon and Exeter

:MBER.

THE OLD COPPER COIN will ere long, it is re-
ported, be declared an illegal tender, and that the Master
of the Mint is particularly desirous to afford ample facilities
for its return to the Mint previous to the issue of an official
proclamation to the above effect.

Richmond
Monmouth 22
Manchester Autumn
NewmarketFirst October 27

OCTI

SHAKSPERIAN REVIVAL.—Great preparations
are making at Drury-lane for the revival of Shake.
pere's "First Part of Henry the Fourth," which is in-
tended to succeed the holiday entertainment. Mr. Phelps
will sustain the part of Falstaff—and Mr. Walter Mont-
gomery has, we hear, been engaged to play the part of
Hotspur. The scenery, costumes, and stage accessories
are to be on a grand scale.

IBER.

Northallerton 6
Newmarket Second Oct lO
Nov:

Gloucester
Newmarket Houghton 24
%BEE.

Shrewsbury Autumn .. 14
Leamington & War. Hunt 22
STEEPLECHASING FIXTURES FOR 1864.

Worcester.A.utumn .... 30

EARL RUSSELL, K.G., who it will be remem-
bered is the new Lord Rector of Aberdeen,, is expected to
visit that northern city, fin- installation, in the end of
March; an arrangement, however, must be con-
tingent on the state of public affairs.
PRUSSIAN COMMENTS UPON ENGLAND.—The
Paris journals quote, in illustration of the manner in which
England is viewed at this moment throughout Germany,
an article in the German Gazette, the official organ of the
Berlin Cabinet, where it is said :—" No one can suppose
that the two great German powers can see in the attitude of
the English Cabinet a motive for departing even a hair's
breadth from the just demands which they have made from
Danish arrogance. The moment is perhaps nearer than
England thinks in which she will reap the fruits of the
policy which has within the last 35 years so altered her posi-
tion towards the rest of Europe. There ought to be no
delusion on this head; the England whose traditions go
back to the first 20 years of this century no longer exists.
Another England has replaced the old, and if her traditions
have been sufficiently powerful to cause public opinion to
forgive the present for the sake of the past, that possibility
does not exist now. As to us, we do not deceive ourselves
about it—we no longer seek in this new England assistance
for Germany.
IRONSTONE IN LINCOLNSHIRE.—Messrs. Dawes,
of the Milton Ironworks, near Barnsley, have taken an
extensive track of land on the Lincolnshire side of the river
Trent, opposite Keadby, and opened extensive blast furnaces
there. They are making about 500 tons of iron per week.
The immense mineral wealth of this locality, which was
only discovered about two years ago, will give employment
to large numbers of men, and when railway communication
is opened, as it shortly will be, with the Yorkshire side of
the river, the new trade will, it is expected, still further be
developed.
The Petit Journal of Paris states that Mr. Web-
ster of the Adelphi, and his " favourite interpreters
of Shakspore," have taken twelve places in the steamer
from London to Boulogne, and two special carriages—deux
wagons speciaux—in the train to Paris, and are about to
perform there. The first performance will be the " Maid of
Lyons," and then " Othello," " Lear," " As You Like It,"
and " Hamlet." Pechter has been offered thirty napoleons
a night to join the expedition. The critic winds up by say •
ing, "Let Mr. Webster and his twelve artistes come, and
Shakspere and Lord Byron and Sheridan Knowles, and
Garrick, and James, and all the British host 1 We shall
be in our stall, ready to wejoome this demonstration of Eng-
lish genius, and to call out the usual expression of success,
' All right "—an expression of success which will rather
astonish the artists above•Ynentioned.

FEBRUARY.

Carmarthen
Harrow
Cambridge l2

MARCH.
Grand Military (Rugby Hunt) ll
APRIL.

Abergavenny .. 5

NOVEMBER.

Leamington and Warwickshire Hunt 22

COST OF ALGERIA TO FRANCE.—It has been
calculated that since the conquest of Algeria, up-
wards of thirty years ago, France has spent three milliards
of francs in that colony, and that at this moment in all the
vast tracts of African soil subject to her rule there are not
200,000 colonists.
No LESS THAN 500 RAILWAY BILLS are to be
brought into Parliament this Session.
RUMOURED MURDER OF DR. LIVINGSTON.—We
are happy to learn that there is reason for hoping that this
news was untrue—an opinion supported by the great
authority of Sir Roderick Murchison.
FORTHCOMING MAGAZINE FOR GIRLS.—Mrs.
S. C. Hall is stated to be about to commence a
periodical for girls, with the assistance of writers and artists
who have already won favour with the young. Boys have
many caterers for their amusement and instruction. Ladies
also have their magazines and newspapers, but the field of
special labour for the benefit of girls is still invitingly open.
THE CRAWLEY DEFENCE FUND now amounts
to nearly £2,000.
ANTIQUARIAN TREASURE TROVE.—The Scotch
papers report a find at Kinghorn, Fifeshire, of a
large earthern jar containing no less than about thirty
pounds' weight of old silver coins, chiefly coins of the Eng-
lish Edwards, but with some Scottish coins of Alexander
Baliol, Robert Bruce, and David 11. intermixed.
The latest date legible on any of the coins is 1375 ; the total
number of coins is calculated (surely by exageration) at
over 12,000. They are, doubtless, relics of the English
invasions of Scotland, and some of them might even carry
the imagination back to the time of the occupation of Scot-
land by the English under Ed ward I. The place of the find
is also most suitable; for it was at Kinghorn that there
happened that fatal accident to the Scottish kingdom—the
death of the Scottish king Alexander 111. `by a fall from
his horse—which, by cutting off the direct succession to the
crown, led to the English interference with the Wallace and
Bruce Struggle.

ANECDOTE OF THE CZAR NICHOLAS AND SIR
RODERICX AiIIRCHISON.—In the year 1841 Sir
Roderick was travelling in Russia, and he was requested
by the Emperor Nicholas to explore that empire, and
to report on the probability of finding coal.
Ho did so, and his report to the Caar was :—" Sire, to find
coal in the north of Russia is a physical impossibility." Ho
thought it a bold thing to say to the Emperor, who had
been informed by great naturalists of this and former times
that, if they were to sink deep in certain portions of his
Majesty's northern dominions, they would find coal. The
Emperor, instead of being offended, said :—" I am delighted
to find a man who will tell ine the truth, for I seldom hear