The Sun.
London, England, 1863-01-17 00:00:00

further, 10 dols. per head per month is to be de-
ducted for each hand so engaged, of which 3 dots.
is to go to buy cicthes for the negro, and 7 Bois. to
the United States Government or other party to the
contract. It is understood that these ncgroes are
not to be coerced, and they of course do as little
work as possible. None work over eight hours a
day. .ff all the powers of darkness had been let
loose to devastate a country, and give the people
into irreconcilable hatred, rather than union ofsen-
timent or action, it could not have been more effec-
tually done. Robbery, deceit, and oppression cha-
racterise all the actions of the United States Go-
vernment towards the South. They don't care a
straw for the slaves otherwise than as an instru-
ment to further their own purposes.

Looking over the last *sheet, I find that my pen,
in endeavouring to keep up with excited thoughts
and an impatient mood, has rendered much that I
have written almost unintelligible. I trust you
may be able to make it out.

With the termination of the war we may expect
much more direct trade with Europe; the future
expansio❑ of business at this port will be both ex-
tensive and rapid. I shall be most happy to an-
swer by letter inquiries that may be addressed to
me here, either from yourself or your friends.—
Yours very truly, * * j
P.S. My two youngest brothers and cousin Harry
are in the Confederate army. I should have great
p:easure in presenting to you my Southern wife,
one daughter, and five sous ; but I fear some time
must elapse before this gratification, even in part,
can be realised.

SUCKING AND BLOWING THE MAIL.

-- --AI--

Just 208 years have elapsed since the then Burgomaster
of Magdeburgh, Otto von Guericke, invented the air-pui,,p,
and astonished the Emperor of Germany at Regensburgh,
by exhibiting the apparatus in action. By means of this
contrivance he exhausted a tube wherein a piston was fitted
and made to slide easily, and thus raised a heavy weight to
a considerable height. Since the time of the ingenious and
scientific burgomaster—who, it is some satisfaction to say.
had previously been a student at Oxford University—many
efforts have been made to employ atmospheric pressure in the
performance of mechanical and industrial operations. These
efforts have for the most part proved failures, commercially
or practically, and we really have not succeeded to any ex-
tent as yet, in pressing the atmosphere into active service.
Everybody remembers the various railway schemes on the
atmospheric principle which, from time to time, have occu-
pied the attention of our cleverest mechanics, and all know
that they have been abandoned. Mr. Brunel tried the sys-
tem in South Devon until the patience of the shareholders
with whom he had to deal was exhausted more completely
than the propelling tubes of the railway ever was by the
application of his gigantic pumps, and then the whole of his
costly apparatus was sold as old iron. The Kingstown-Dal-
key atmospheric line maintained its ground longer than any
other, but at last yielded to the locomotive, and has ceased
to exist. These aro certainly far from being encouraging
facts, but they assuredly will not deter other inventors—
worthy disciples of Otto von Guericke—from perseverance
in the same direction. For their comfort, it may be men-
tioned, that in one remarkable instance, at least, atmos-
pheric pressure has been made subservient to mechanical
art, and is employed efficiently and economically. The
Coinage of the British Empire is stamped entirely by its
force. We have not space nor time at present to enter into
a description of the beautiful arrangement of air-pumps,
vacuum chambers, levers, springs, and valves, by means of
which impressions are given at the Mint, with rapidity
and precision, to the coins which issue from that establish-
ment. It must suffice to Ail), that the air we breathe lite-
rally coins the money we use, and- that therefore there is
yet hope for atmospheric engineers. It is now proposed to
make the atmosphere our General Postman, as well as our
Chief Coiner, and we cannot see any practical obstacle to
its becoming so. The only doubtful point—and it is one
which actual experiment can alone solve—is the commercial
one. That atmospheric pressure may be made to transfer
letters and parce's by wholesale from the Land's End to
John o' Groat's, is a certainty. That its employment, in
lieu of other modes of transit, will effect advantages in a
pecuniary sense is another question. The Pneumatic De-
spatch Company, which has new been in existence some
two years, answers the important query affirmatively; and
on a comparatively small scale they are essaying to demon-
strate the truth of their views.—Building News.

COUNTRY MARKETS.

I,

WAKEFIELD—JAN. IG.
The wheat trade is quiet to-day, and for good sorts late
prices were realised. In beans, oats, and shelling there
was no alteration.

EXETER--JAN. 16.
Wheat, white.. Gs 3d to.6s 6d Barley.. ...... 48 3d to 4s 6d
I
Ditto red. .6s Od to Os 6d Oats ........2s 9d tr, 3s Od
Flour, fine, 36s to 37s ; seconds, 348 to 35s per sack..
CATTLE.
We again had a small supply of all descriptions of stock
to-day. Business dull.
Fat beef, p sc., 10s6d to 1 lsOd Ewes, per l .... 51d to Gii
Pork carcases, 7s 6LI to 8s 6d Wethers, d 0...., Old to 7u
Lamb, p 1b.......—d to d Fat calves, d0...61d to 7..
Rough fat, 31d per lb.

STAMFORD—JAN. 16.
New wheat, 483 to 62s—red, 44s to 463 per 36 stone.
Barley, 30s to 40s per qr. Oats, 20s to 26s per 24 stone.
Beans, 40s to 44s per qr.