The Sun.
London, England, 1864-12-24 00:00:00

days of the maypole and boar-hunt are over, and
the grave nineteenth century has brought its busi.
ness and its bustle. No time for play or leisure—
the high pressure must be kept up—even at the risk
of a snapping spring; and the eagerness for "a
sensation," in any shape, and the love of morbid
excitement, may partly owe their origin to the in•
cessant strain put upon mind and body in these days
of overwork. But in spite of hydra-headed monster
of work and worry, the oid love of Christmastide
has still been kept up. Through all fluctuatins
of manners and changes of social politics, King
Christmas has held his own. SHAKSPERE in his
" Hamlet" has told us how "so hallowed and SO
gracious is the time," that " the bird of dawning

croweth all night long." SCOTT has assured ua
that in the olden days—
.' 'Twas Christmas broached the mightiest ale;
'Twas Christmas told the merriest tale,
A Christmas gambol oft would cheer
The poor man's heart through half the year,"

And in spite of all our innovations and contempt of
primitive manners, Christmas gifts, Christmas
boxes, Christmas holidays, and Christmas feasts
betoken tlle continuance of peace and goodwill on

earth. Sailors out at sea think of the far-off yule
logs ; colonists, struggling through the early days
of a settlement, turn in half humorous, half pathetic
remembrance to the recollection of the fun and
frolic of the dear old land. It is a time when the
rich think perforce of the poor, and when each man,

with a lingering ray of the old divine and nniversa

charity, pauses to ask how he may best help his
neighbours. And such remembrance is much needed.
Christmas, so universally welcomed, comes with
cheerless garb to many a sorrowful hearth. There
are homes where an empty chair, vacant since last
Christmas, will fill the happy season with gloom.
There are hunger-stricken abodes, where the poor
man is ready, in mockery, to join in the chorus so
pathetically sung by one of our minstrels—
" Nor meat, nor malt, nor bread, nor wine ;
Ah, a merry Christmas tide is mine
There are hospitals where the maimed and diseased
toss heavily on their couches ; there are work-
houses and asylums where the victims of " the
grisly family of death" seek temporary care and
solace. There are, too, miserable garrets where Tice

and crime reap their eure reward. There are troops

of children growing up amid rags and dirt and
ignorance to fill our prisons, without a friendly hand

being stretched out to stay their progress; there
are streets and lanes in Christian England where
Heathenism reigns triumphant; there are moral wastes
amid our ever-growing thoroughfares more terrible
than their physical desolation. C3n all these keep
Christmas ? Yet surely at such a time we should
have a thought for all,and he keeps his feast poorly
tndeed who,if GOD has blessed him with the means
of enjoyment, does not strive in some degree, how-,
ever small, to lighten his neighbour's load. The
soup kitchens and other places for providing the
hungry call upon us with a special claim when our
own boards are so heavily laden. The bitter winds
that whistle so coldly round our warm and shel-

tered dwellings remind as of the half-clad wretches
who shiver outside the night refuges, unable to find
admittance into their crowded wards. Over 500
applications have latterly been made in one night
to the Playhouse-yard refuge alone, and many
could not be received. Five hundred in one night !
It gives a painful idea of what a houseless hungry
army must be wandering over London, when we
add to this amount the numbers that nightly seek
shelter of the Field-lane, the Dudley Stuart, and
other refuges, besides those admitted into the casual
wards of the workhouses. Surely none need say he
has no claims upon him when his fellow citizens
are in such bitter need. Again, at this happy time,
when scattered families reunite, and the little are
first and foremost in the merry game or round the
Christmas tree, parents must cast a thought to those
desolate little ones who are dependent on strangers
for care and kindness. There are orphan asylums
and schools which are among the noblest institu•
tiocs of our land. There are Lospita!s where kind
hands supply the means of enjoyment to helpless
little sufferers, and these have a special voice to
plead through the bright eyes and the rosy cheeks
at the fireside. There are institutions for instruct•
ing the ignorant, for reclaiming the depraved, for
lending a hand to the struggling sinner who is
striving to mend his or her ways, and homes where
the tempted, but not yet fallen, are saved from ter-
rible temptation. All these ask help in the name
of that mighty universal love which sends the sun
and the rain upon just and unjust alike. There
are hospitals where the sufferings that
afflict humanity in so many direful forms
are soothed and lightened, where the accis
dents and catastrophes inseparable from our
busy life secure prompt and skilful attention, be the
victim peer or peasant ; and establishments where
the blind, the crippled, the aged, find appropriate
tendence, and where the feeble intellect is carefully
trained and the slumbering faculties developed.
None need go far to seek such places. They meet
in the great thoroughfares, they speak through the
columns of the press, they call loudly for help
through the suffering he sees around him. Surely
at Christmas limo they will not be unheard, but the
open hand and open heart will minister to their
necessities, remembering in the midst of the ex-
change of social gifts and courtesies that it is more
blessed to give to those of whom you cannot hope

,o receive.

There is no need to fear that a speedy retribu

tion will not come upon Prussia, for there are
already signs and tokens of an approaching storm
that threatens to lower upon the nation. The best
proof of the non-necessity of the whole of this Schles-
wig-Holstein affair is the insuperable difficulty
that exists in the way of any arrangement. Again
and again there are rumours of difference and re•
ports of disagreements, instead of all being settled,
or in the way of being so. To judge from what we
heard at the outset of the business, we had reason to
believe that all was pre-arranged, and in a fair
way of action ; that, in short, when peace was con-
cluded all would go smoothly as a marriage bell.
Instead of this, we find that nothing definitive is
done or in a way of doing. The only thing that we
may venture to say looms in the distance at present
is that Prussia will have a great deal to do in the
adjustment of the abstruse question whose solving
is such a hill of difficulty. That much might per•
haps have beeen predicated at the outset by sharp.
sighted individuls, who were not taken in by the
fair-seeming and pretentious declarations that were
so profusely showered down when first the disputes
relative to the Duchies assumed a serious form. The
King of SAXONY is the last-mentioned personage
who has taken up this unsatisfactory cause, and he
has not extricated himself with more success than
the rest of them, as it appears. In fact, Herr YON
BISMARK is the dens ex maeltiva, and the virtual
manager of all the complicated mar cearres and
machinations. In vain do the others who have
taken part in the affair suggest this and propose
that, the wise man of the Berlin Cabinet re•
serves his judgment ; but when he speaks the,
fiat goes forth, the doom is settled. When
this hero of Germanic policy makes his declara-
tion, it is as if the fabled King of Gods and men
all Olympus trembled, or as
gave the nod at which
if the mighty Grecian oracle of old had put forth
ifi asse76rationi, It items, then, as if it were wiser

to study the purport of his remarks, if we wish
to arrive at an accurate knowledge of what is going
forward. The last news is that he has addressed
a circular note to the States which voted against
the cessation of Federal Execution. Doubtless, this
mandate was destined to strike terror into the
minds of those recusants who hung back and did
not follow is the track which Prussia pursued.
When that nation led the van, it was in truth a
shame and a scandal for all the petty States not to
follow in the path. As such was not the case, no
wonder that the wrath of the guardian genius of
Germanic policy should be ezcited, and that he
should give forth to the world his opinion upon
such a momentous topic. It cannot be said that he
has shirked his duty, onerous though it be,
nor refusal to play the part that has de-
volved upon him to perform. Ho states plainly
enough that it was quite opposed to the laws of the
Germanic Confederation to transform the execution
into occupation, and that Prussia would not be in-
fluenced by the decision of the majority, but re-

served to herself the full right of judgment and
liberty of action. It would be really more consistent
to say that no one else should have a voice in any
management, and that Prussia should reign
supreme in all matters of importance. It has been,
indeed, a perfect farce to talk of nationality, and of
carrying out the wishes of the majority of the
States. For once and for ever it may
be considered settled that such notions
are unfouided, and such views untenable.
The idea that the popular opinion will be of any
influence in the settlement of the question that
possesses a common interest is quite a mistake, and

no one ca❑ blame Herr BISMARK for not informing

the parties concerned in the matter that they need
not trouble themselves about it, for he is quite come
petent to take the lead and keep the mastery to
himself, since he takes every available opportunity
of putting his veto upon the suggestions of
others, and contradicting their plans, right or
wrong. What with the threats contained in the
circular of M. BISMARK'S, and one thing and an.
other, it may be looked upon that this step is the
beginning of the evil, and that ws shall soon see
the ulterior results of these strange mar ceavres.
This ill omened war into which the Germanic Con.
federation has plunged with such reckless haste and
fierce vehemence, will cost all parties concerned in
the affair pretty dear before they have done with it.
Prussia has already circumvented Austria, and
usurped her rightful place as the natural head of
Germany, now she is trying her finished hands in
the subjugatio❑ of the smaller States, treating them
with open defiance and undisguised contempt.
When the doom of vengeance has been wreaked
upon these tributaries in the affair, Prussia herself,
the fountain head of the offence, will meet her fate,
and who can sympathise with her. When the eay
arrives in which the course of French policy is
turned into a different channel from that in which
it now so peaceably flows, there will be dealt a

terrible retribution for the injuries of Germany
and the wrongs of Denmark on this pretentious and
unprincipled kingdom. It is very significant to
❑otice the speed with which the Berli❑ plans of
conquest have been carried out. Prussian officials
have been placed at the head of all important de•
partments, This shows the feeling at work, and
the dexterity with which all independent and na-

tional sentiments will be put down. The Austro-
Prussian allies are indeed treading down all before
them beneath the iron heel of conquest ; and how
many victims have they dragged in triumph at
their car of victory. Surely shameless exhibitions
of power can do nothing but lower them still lower,
if possible, in public opinion. A great General
never shows to such advantage as when he exhibits
magnanimity in the hour of success, and dec:ines
to take advantage of the opportunities that are
aff3rded to bin to the fullest extent ; but it is
evident that such noble generosity is quite beyond
the comprehension of German minds.

MR MILNER GIBSON, M.P., AND HIS CONSTI.
TCENTS.—We learn that the President of the Board of
Trade is about, to visit Ashton-under-Lyne, and during his
stay in that borough he will, on Jan. 24, address his con•
stituents in public meeting, in accordance with the right
hon. gentleman's annual custom.

UNCOVERING OF THE MACKENZIE PORTRAIT AT
THE BRITISH ORPHAN ASYLUM, SLOUGH.—Yester-
day evening, at six o'clock, the half-yearly examination and
distribution of prizes to the children of the British Orphan
Asylum took place in the large room of the institution at
Slough. Among those present were Mr Charles Woolloton,
vice-chairman of the board of directors, (who presided),
the Revs. J. Wallis, A. G. Begbie, and G. Robbins,
Messrs. W. Gray, W. F. Low, &c. Previous to the ordi-
nary proceedings the company assembled in the vestibule,
where the portrait of Mr Edward Mackenzie, of Fowley
Court, was uncovered, after a few words from the chairman.
The portrait was executed by Mr W. Salter. Mr Mac-
kenzie is depicted in his robes as high sheriff of Oxford.
shire. The portrait was painted in compliance with the
vote of the general court of governors. to commemorate the
gift of £14,000 by Mr Mackenzie towards the purchase of
the house and grounds at Slough. After the uncovering of
the portrait the company adjourned to the boys' school-
room, where the children whose terms in the institution
had been completed received a parting admonition from the
directors, and were addressed by the Rev, J. Wallis in very
suitable terms. The prizes were then distributed by the
chairman, this part of the proceedings being diversiffed by
various pieces of music played by the girls and recitations
by the boys. The children then adjourned to the dining-
hall, where they were regaled with cake and wino, and
then dismissed.

STRANGE FREAK OF A CONVICT.—Thomas Chink,
a convict employed on the dockyard extension
works at St. Mary's Island, Chatham, has caused his own
death by indulging in an extraordinary taste. He was em-
ployed with a gang of convicts in unloading a barge of gravel.
In this gravel were some dead mussels and cockles. The
' warder prohibited the men from touching these shell-fish,
but Chick disobeyed, and ate some. He was reported and
punished for his disobedience. But a worse penalty had
been self-inflicted, for some days after he was taken ill, Dr,
Burns, chief surgeon at St. Mary's Convict Prison, pre-
scribed what he considered necessary for an attack of colic,
and nothing serious was apprehended, but the man suddenly
died, It was found, on making a post mortem examination,
that the intestines were much inflamed, and two feet of them
actually gangrened, which had caused death. The inflam-
mation could only be accounted fur by the man having per-
sisted in eating the poisonous dead molluscs. There was
nothing to indicate any other cause for the inflammation.
Mr Thomas Hills, coroner, having held an inquest on the
body, and received evidence to the above effsot, the jury
gave a verdict of "Died from gangrene of the bowels."
HORRIBLE AFFAIR AT NEW YORK.—JohLI
Donovan, a man suffering apparently from delirium
tremens, was recently committed to the prison known as the
Tombs, at New York. He seemed perfectly harmless, and
was put into a room with about 14 men who had been com-
mitted for drunkenness. Early on the morning of the 2d
instant, the night watchman, Mark Finlay, heard an alarm-
Mg cry, followed by persons shouting " Murder I ' " Help 1"
" Police I" dm Finlay hurried to the spot. and, looking
through the grating cl the door, saw Donovan in the
act of assaulting several of hie fellow-prisoners with the
poker, an iron bar, some three or four feet in length, and
weighing six or seven pounds. Donovan was called upon
to stop his bloody work, but he paid no attention to the
night watchman. Those prisoners who had not been dis-
abled were running from him and screaming for help. Be-
ing unable to cope singlehanded with Donovan, Finlay ran
to the sixth precinct station house for help, when Captain
Jourdan instantly despatched cfficers Barr, Crane, Curley,
and others to the prison to assist in securing Donovan. On
entering th© place where the prisoners were confined the
most sickening sight was presented. There lay dead on
the floor two prisoners, named M'Donald and Kennedy,
with their skulls crushed in and the brains scattered abou",
while near them was the prostrate form of William George,
with his skull fractured, and apparently in a dying con-
dition. The lunatic, who was still flourishing his murderous
weapon, had upset the stove, on which he had pled
two or three benches for the purpose of setting the prison on
fire, Donovan was called on to surrender, but failing to do
so officer Crane fired several shots at him, but without effect.
One of the bullets, however, lodged in the right shoulder of
G. H. Hill, inflicting a serious wound, At this juncture
Donovan attempted to run up a flight of stairs in the east
end of the room, when all the officers present rushed upon
him. They applied their locusts freely, and soon succeeded
disarming DOLIGVAD, who was taken into 4 cell, and thus
priqtr.tti4 from cigin farthie l'orb Zr4A