The Sun.
London, England, 1863-09-02 00:00:00

THERMOMETER.

This morning
This day at Two o'clock .. 70

Barometer-29.30.
Wind—South; light, and cloudy, with rain.

I
Zlll jg .

LONDON, WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 2, 1863.

One solitary little cocoon will yield you an as-
tonishing length of silk, however scantily the silk-
worm may have been fattened upon mulberry
leaves. Not one jot less remarkable in its way, that
is as an instance of facile expansion, or rather, it
should be said, prolongation, is the manuer in
which the thread of his discourse has been spun out
this month by the most conspicuous contributor to
the New Review (Political, Philosophical, and
Literary), a periodical which, although it has not
yet completed its first half year, has already as-
sumed a high place among its contemporaries as the
organ of the more advanced Conservatives. " The
Session of 1863" is the title of his paper, the theme
of his high argument. It is a short text enough,
and not apparently— to a superficial obser-
ver, at least—so very suggestive ! Yet it is
from this atom of a germ that has here, in the
first quarter-of-a-hundred pages of the opening
article in the; New Review for September,
grown forth the ablest resume yet published of
the doings (such as they were) of the two Houses
during the last session—by reason of the debilitat-
ing, relaxing, soporific influence of the regime,
nominally of the Whigs, but actually of the Tories
under Lord PAL3IERSTON ! The " situation," as
our neighbours have it, in the closing paragraph
of this clever and caustic survey is thus hap-
pily epitomised, where it is said that—
' A popular Premier lat the head of an incapable
and divided Ministry, and supported by a gross
majority of from five to ten votes ; a Liberal
Cabinet which came into power upon one
understanding and retains it on another;
a Whig Party which owes its tenure of
power exclusively to the aid of the Tories.
and a Radical party which discovers in its official
leaders the humble servants of the Conservatives,
make altogether a wholly exceptional, abnormal,
and unnatural polit'cal tabkau." Not one
single phrase, epithet, adjective in all which,
can, we take it, for one instant be seriously
controverted. The Ministry is—precisely as it is
there described. That it is incapable and divided
is proved to the recognition of everyone, by the
flagrant fact of its doing just absolutely nothing.
Its foreign policy is a nullity. Its home policy has
long since fairly become comatose. When it has
attempted to interfere even in some minor detail, as
in reference to the City Police, it has floundered into
a succession of mistakes, and has beau compelled
eventually and ignominiously to withdraw from its
ill-advised venture at innovation. The incapability
and the division of the Ministry are as undeniable in
efLct (that is to say, literally in their effects), as is the
ona isolated merit of the Cabinet, the one exceptional
source of its vitality, the personal popularity of the
First Lord of the Treasury. That it (and he) came
into power upon one understanding, while it (and
he) retain that same power upon another, who shall
venture to gainsay ? It is admitted even frankly
enough by Ministers themselves—by Lord PAL-
MERSTON as their chief, with a good-humoured
combination of slyness and satisfaction, that mus

be to the very last degree irritating to the few inde

pendent Liberals (Liberals at heart and not merely
by name) below the gangway, or sparsely scattered
about the back benches. Nothing in its way could
be more felicitous than the application by the
reviewer to our veteran Premier (p. 5) of those melo.

dious lines applied by LUCAN to the delineation of
POMPEY, beginning " Famceque petitor multa dare
in vulgus"—and more especially of that majestic
comparison to the giant of the forest, " Qualls
fregifero quercus sublimis in aro "—a passage
kindred in excellency to a congenial simile in one
of the opening pages of Sir WALTER RALEIGH'S
noble History of the World.
Scattered though the well-tempered but at
intervals the hardly less than scathing survey,
here taken in the :Yew Review, of the session
of 1863, are
other phrases, and, indeed, at
times whole paseeir,s,
far more satirical than
complimentary. "It is the Whigs," we are
comically reminded at one moment, " who wag
their political pigtails over the dangers of a Tory
Government, and resemble nothing 20 much as the
old gentleman whom WASRINGTON IRVING saw at
Stratford, who still seemed to think himself hale and
vigorous, with the trifling exception that for some
years past he had quite lost the use of
his legs.'"
At another moment we are called upon to know
how it has come to pass that this Mosaic 2114ni8trY
sits powerless iv the House of Commons, and utterly
abashed in the House of Lords. Only neees:oncy
is it, that the bite of the satirist is little lessethana
where he
mere mumble with a toothless gum—as
slys with a spiteful but innocuous acrimony that
" Sir GEORGE GREY is a weak and obstinate

man, and very much a clerk, who certainly does

nothing towards compensating, fir the blunders al

Lord itussELL." The two new men inducted into the
Government—it is erroneous here said into the ranks
of the Cabinet—are more accurately described the

Marquis of HARTINCTON as tho Ascanius of the

Whigs, and Mr. STANSFELD as one holding the
same position among the Radicals as a "promis-

ing junior" holds at the British bar.

Refer

ring to Mr.

DisRAELfs memorable con-

trust on the 26th of last June, his
contrast between the Conservative and Liberal
creeds, without doubt very admirable of its kind,
but here described rather extravagantly as one
" which for terseness, clearness, pregnancy- will bear
comparison with the style of DEmosnixNEs !•,_

the New _Review observes, after quoting 9, /muse

from it, "The truth of all this is so undeniable,
its moral effect is so irresistible that Mr. DISRAELI'S
opponeute became alarmed, and consoled them-
selves by groundless statements to the effect that
the speech from which it is taken had given
offence to his party. Billy, there is not a
single expression in it, from beginning to end,
that could give offence to a single Conservative.
This is the stuff and nonsense which is always re-
peated Vdenever Mr. DISRAELI inflicts a wound
on his opponents. The recurrence of these
assertions as surely indicate that his shaft
has gm ie home as the marker's signal at Wim-
bledon announcing a bull's-eye or a centre."
Again st Earl RUSSELL, in particular, the critic
draw/ .3 up a very heavy bill of indictment, in-
dec' . "He has bade Russia," he says "do this
arid. do that, and if the EMPEROR quietly refused,
Arhat then ? Why, then, we can only say, like
808 ACRES in the play, that—the EMPEROR is a
" very ill-bred man," No less stingingly sarcastic
are his allusions when speaking "of Lord RUSSELL'S
performances in various other quarters of the
globe—of his silly invitation to the POPE—of his
pompous letters addressed to the Court of
Copenhagen, and the arrogance displayed to-
wards the Government of Brazil—of his
disastrous policy in China, andhipsplee nrili
lous and unrighteous dealing with the people
Japan." As to his cession of the lonian Islands
to Greece, the .New _Review (and as the organ
it is significant that
ofit shtohueld Conservatives
hesitatenot to speak out thus boldly
upon that matter) declares it to be nothing
lesspage in English History,
and one is sufficient to stamp Lord
than ‘‘
which,
b soiledyita el i;
RUSSELL'S tenure of the Foreign office with eternal
shame. To a sheer propensity for meddling, com-
bined with an attempt to repair one blunder by
another, and to efface the effect of his Schles wig.
Holstein despatches by obsequious and officious
zeal in the affairs of Greece, we owe the loss of a
position which, some day or other, Great
Britain will bitterly regret." Without scru-
tinising yet further the article upon which
we have been commenting, we may pronounce
it to be as highly flavoured, almost, we
might say, as hotly devilled a dish of political
sarcasms as any yet served up by Lord ROBERT in
the Quarterly.

One of the most interesting features of our English
scientific life is the gathering together of men dis-
tinguished in various branches of knowledge to
communicate the observations made and the fresh
steps gained in each several department. It is not
very long since our social reformers, philanthropists,
and philosophers banded themselves together for
the consideration of some of those evils, dangers, and
difficulties that clog the wheels of our social pro-
gress. The various questions that come to the sur-
face, as civilisation proceeds on her onward march,
are examined in their different aspects, and the
work that yet remains to be done in clearing the
way of justice, toleration, and knowledge is helped
forward in the most practicable manner. An older
and in some respects a more remarkable society has
just terminated its annual labours. The British
Association numbers among its members names
which are not only a boast of our time but of our
country—men who are not only remarkable in
their own island, but who bear a European reputa-
tion. Every assembly of such men leaves the world
richer than it found it. When each states the ex-
perience he has gathered, even in a few short
months, of the science to which he has devoted all
his powers, the result must be worthy of the most
respectful attention. In these gatherings, too,
each meets with associates worthy of him ; the one
can readily comprehend the meaning of the other,
he can encounter him on his own ground, he can
appreciate his difficulties, he can raise objections,
he can perceive the great ends- of science to which
the most trifling and casual discovery may tend.
It is encouraging for the thinker to unfold
his conjectures, his perplexities, his suggestions
in such an atmosphere. He is secure from narrow
prejudice, from superficial criticism, from contemp-
tuous neglect. Sir RODERICK .MURCHISON is not
likely to misapprehend Sir CHARLES LYELL, Pro-
fessor OWEN will not rashly contradict Sir DAVID
BREWsTER, Mr. GLAISHER will certainly give a
patient hearing to Sir WILLIAM ARMSTRONG. The
whole circle of the sciences is, as it were, brought
before us. We learn the point of development
which each has reached, we acquire the fruits of the
enterprise and exertion of the wise men of other
lands than our own, and the busy worlds of politics,
fashion, and commerce suspend for a while their
own interests, their own engrossing topics of
thought and discussion, to listen to the addresses
of great men as they discourse on those mighty and
immutable laws before which our earthly wisdom
owns itself baffled and powerless. Nor is the atten-
tion of the meetings entirely confined to purely
speculative subjects. Those all-important questions
of physiological science which affect health and life
form part of their discussions, and each year the
added experience of the generation is brought for-
ward to ameliorate the sufferings inseparable from
humanity. Thus,
the present meeting, a matter
of vital importance to a large body of our country-
men was the subject of thought and discussion.
The terrible amount of mortality existing among
our troops in India has lately been commented on
as a subject urgently pressing for inquiry. It
would ill become England to rest idle on
hearing of such loss of life—loss not from the
enemy, or the devastating pestilence, but from
causes constantly and universally prevalent ; in-
sidious disease that leaves its fatal poison rankling
in the veins, or quietly adds unit after unit to the
State ofe
things, and the open discussion of the question
among able, conscientious, and intelligent men will
go far to dispel that ignorance which is so often a
fatal agent in the work of destruction. So, too,
the section of Geology brought its contribution to
useful and popular knowledge in its discourses on
coal mines, while the information, so laboriously and
dangerously acquired by Mr. GLAISHER, is pre-
sented to his scientific contemporaries in the most
copious and intelligible form. We may feel proud
that such a gathering should lose none of its inte-
rest as the years roll on, but that each successive
meeting should bring together so many men, dis -
0
td honouringuished in such various branches of learning, to
to their country and to instruct their

generation.

On the whole,
the Frankfort Congress appears
to be very satisfactory,
Stmiletsvatoriouthseobjeetions
were made at different
ti
project;
and this is not to be wondered at, consider-
ing the importance of the points discussed and the
magnitude of the changes proposed Indeed, at one
time the august assembly separated to allow the
Ministers to confer on the subjects under discus-
sion. These official advisers suggested several al-
terations; some of them were of a salutary nature.
They proposed to add a seventh voice
to the Directory. Austria, Pinssia, and Bavaria
to have one representative each; two repre-
sentatives to be given to those kings and
princes 'who have two or three votes in

the Federal Assembly, or plenum in the Bund.
The twenty States that have only one vote in the
Federal Assembly are to have two in the Directory-
So far the proposition seems feasible enough, and
likely to impart satisfaction to the several different
parties in the affair. It appears that this change
was sudden, for it was considered that the matter
was settled, but some of the Princes expressed their
disappointment of the arrangements made, and con,
sequently the alteration was made. On Thursday
some very important business was transacted at the
meeting. Objections were raised to some portions
of the Austrian Reform, and the Congress has re-
moved some of them. In article eight a decisive
change has been made. A simple majority in the
Federal Council will not have the right to empower
the Directory to make war against a foreign Power
" which may attack a Federal State having tern.
tories that do not belong to the Build." This is a
very wise arrangement, and contrasts favourably
with the somewhat harsh and arbitrary plan at first
proposed, and which could not have failed to mili-
tate against the wishes and hopes of those Princes
who were compromised in the affair. They would
not have liked to have been compelled nolens volens
to take up arms against foreign States, in defence
rornist owr ieerse
In of Prussiade likewise and i Austria.nsr
teleninSeo,msoe
omf o dt ihfiec attei
that the Directory will not have the •
right
to inter-
fere for the "prevention of disturbances in a Federal
State." Some "
reactionary
Princes," as they are
styled, take umbrage at the proposition which re-
lates to the attributes of the N •
ational Assembly.
One of these objectors urged his views on the ground
that the consequences would be eventually unpleas-
ing to those who designed its formation. "If the
Chamber of Deputies have the privilege of legislat-
ing in matters connected with the public press, with
the rights of association and domicile, &c., it will
gradually become a kind of Constituent Assembly,
a body which none of us can possibly wish to see
formed." This is a most impolitic argument, and
one which if carried out is likely to be pro-
ductive of great mischief. . Little enough in
all conscience has been granted by the Im•
perial act of Reform, in the style in which
these faultfinders would make out, and it is
as absurd as it is unjust to put forward all these
objections, and compromise the success of a mea-
sure that might be better, but that might be far
worse in every way. The Duke of COBURG ap-
pears to have acted in a most sensible manner in
this awkward affair. He made several propositions
to the Assembly, to induce them to allow the Ger-
mans to be represented by men of their own choice.
It is not surprising that he should be one of the
most popular men in Germany. He certainly de-
serves to be on many grounis:; and, if unsuccessful
in these endeavours, the people will not be the less
grateful for the energy with which he fought their
battles, and kept his own coansel, when so many
were against him. All honour is due to those who
thus pioneer the path of progress, and hold out
examples of a class that all might be proud to fol-
low. The Frankfort Journal, it appears, is very
indignant that the Emperor of AUSTRIA should
preside at the Directory. This is a very uncalled-
for fault to find. It seems that the EMPEROR has
the best right to that place of privilege, and on the
principle of Palnzanz qui nzeruit ferat, he has cer-
tainly more claim than any man, Whatever good
may come from this Assembly of Princes and
Ministers at the Congress of Frankfort, will
certainly belong to the man who planned and
proposed the august assembly. If, on the other
hand, the termination should not be so auspicious as
the opening, the blame will rest with those who
have introduced useless changes, and presented
needless opposition, to the plans for ameliorating
the condition of a time-honoured nation, that has
long waited for the dawn of a brighter day of
free
dom than she at present enjoys.

CARLYLE'S FATHER AND CARLYLE'S SADNESS !
An American periodical has lat 31y published from
the report of a blind interlocutor a conversation of Mr.
Carlyle's,in which he paints withhisusual force and quaint-
ness of style the portrait of hie father, and deplores the one
error that that sagacious man committed in giving his son
what is now called a good education I--" I think," said
Carlyle, " of all the men I have ever known my father was
quite the remarkablest. Quite a farmer sort of a person,
using vigilant thrift and careful husbandry; abiding by
veracity and faith, and with an extraordinary insight into
the very heart of things and men. . . • H was an
elder of the kirk ; and it was very pleasant to see him in his
daily and weekly relations with the minister of the parish.
They had been friends from their youth, and had grown up
together in the service of their common Master. That
parish minister was the first person that taught me Latin ;
and I am not sure but that he laid a great curse upon me
in so doing. Ah I sir, this learning of reading and writing
—what trouble and Buffering it entails upon us poor human
creatures I He that increaseth in knowledge increaseth
sorrow ; and much study is a weariness to the flesh I—l am
not sure but that we should all be the happier and better,
too, without what is called the improvements of the modern
ages I For mine own part, I think it likely that I should
have been a wiser man, and certainly a godlier, if I had fol-
lowed in my father's steps, and left Latin and Greek to the
fools that wanted them.
LA NOURRICE !—After the nurse has had her
parting weep over her disappearing progeniture,
she is summoned to the bedroom to offer a first repast to
Henriette or Gaston. The details of the operation are not
ordinarily publishable, nor are they indispensable to the
subject—they may therefore be passed over in mute discre.
Lion. But, at whatever cost to nervous ears, something
must be said about another scene which produces itself
soon afterwards, and which is too essentially inherent to
the question to be left in silence. A nurse, like everybody
else, must go to bed, and as in France she generally sleeps
in her mistress's room, it is under her scrutative eye that
she innocently undresses. The outer contrast between the
coarse clothes and awkward ways of the peasant nurse and
the pretty interior of a Paris apartment is always rather a
shock to the feminine proprietor of the latter, but the sen-
timent so created in her mind is carried to utter disgust by
the process of going to bed, which forcedly brings out the
personal peculiarities of her new domestic. It is a fact worth
the attention of so-called students of living colour that cer-
tain portions of an arriving nurse invariably present a tint
which, though it is evidently a consequence of perennial
unwashfulnees, is difficult to accept as a credible condition
of the human pellicle. A pair of naked Burgundy feet,
fresh from their native vine slopes, present to the este.
nished eyes of the Parisian spectator a shiny metallic
mottled dark grey—they look exactly as if they were oxy-
dised. This curious hue, which is supposed in France to
be a special personal attribute of the wet-nurse, intended
by nature to distinguish her from her fellows, just as her
cap distinguishes her garments, disappears the next morn-
ing under the dissolving influence of the inevitable bath, into
which the terror-stricken woman is remorselessly plunged
by her ruthless mistress, who thus wantonly destroys, in a
single instant, all traces of her previous filth. From that
moment the nurse begins the apprenticeship, which, un-
less she is an incorrigible brute, transforms her in three
months from a gawky village lout into a reasonably smart,
intelligent servant. But, even in the event of success, the
process is laborious—not only is her physical nature to be
thoroughly changed, but, which is more difficult still, her
language and habits must alter too.—Bentley's Miscellany,
for September.

„
UNE REASON FOR FORSAKING ATHEISM. Mr.
J. B. Bebbington, an Atheistic lecturer, and late
editor of the Propagandist, has embraced Christianity, In
a lecture, giving his reasons for the change, he stated that
in the month of September last he went on a lecturing ex-
pedition to Scotland. The first place at which he held forth
was Glasgow. There he saw the churches all crowded on
Sundays, and even on week days when there was service in
them, and it struck him as strange that he, as the apostle
of infidelity, was obliged to hide his head in a small room
not capable of containing more than 100 people, in a back
street, and even there had hut a thin attendance. From
Glasgow he went to Greenock, and there the case was worse.
All the infidels he could muster were some half-dozen
working men. Ile could not get a printer to print his bills
announcing his meetings, nor a bill-poster to paste them
up. They were accordingly printed at Paisley, 12 miles
off, hut they were of little use, for no one came to hear his
lectures, and he began seriously to reflect that playing the
infidel prophet wt...s something very like playing the fool.
On coming back to England these reflections took a prac-
tical effect, and after mach consideration God revealed him-
self to him, and he saw the errors of the coarse he had befn
pursuing. Tie warned young men who, like himself,might
be led away by the statements of infidel writers, to weigh
theta well before they embraced them.

LATEST INTELLIGENCE.

(REIITER'S TELEGRAMS.)

THE FRANKFORT CONGRESS

FRANKFORT, SEPT. 2.
Luxemburg has joined Baden, Saxe-Weimar,
Mecklenburg•Schwerin, and Waldeck in declining
to accede to the resolutions. Their votes will be
referred to the committee.

The younger branch of the House of Reuss also
refuses to accede to the reform plan, but will sign
the letter to Prussia communicating the result of
the Conferences,

No Alinistezial conferences will take place un
counter propositions may have been received.

The privilege of Austria to preside at the Direc•
torato has been agreed to by a majority of the
Congress.

.........,.....•

BAVARIA.
_ MUNICH, SEPT. 2

The Archduchess Sophia of Austria, mother of
the Emperor of Austria, has passed through this
city on her way to Carlsruhe and Baden-Baden.

At the latter place her Imperial Highness w:
have an interview with the Queen of Prussia.

SPAIN,

MADRID, SEPT. 2,

The Correspondencia Autografa of to-day says
that in the conference at La Granja, General Prim
informed the Queen that the circular of the 20th
ult. had paralysed the labours of the electors. The
Progressistas felt insulted by the motives and con-
ditions imposed upon their meeting. He feared
that their abstinence from voting would be the first
serious consequence. The ministry should either
modify its pretensions or resign. The Progres-
sistas would never place themselves in the position
of revolutionists.

The Queen replied that as a constitutional sove-
reign she could not, in the absence of the Chambers,
entertain a different opinion to that of the Ministry,
whose services had merited the Royal confidence.
Her Majesty hoped that all would be amicably ar-
ranged by the period of her return to Madrid.

THE POLISH INSURRECTION,
POSEN, AUG. 30.

The following event will prove how far the Prus-
sian Government has gone in repressing the present
state of things in Russian Poland. Some time ago
a number of Polish ladies presented a petition to
the principal authority in the province of Posen,
to be permitted to establish hospitals for the
wounded Poles near the Prussian frontier. The

required permission was given from motives of
humanity. It has now, however, been withdrawn,
and the troops confiscate all consignments of beds,
lint, &c., intended for wounded insurgents.
According to information from an authentic
source, the following
is the text of the speech ad-
dressed by the
Emperor of Russia to the officers of
the last contingent of troops sent into Poland :
" Go and serve me well; do not betray me, or I
will dismiss you all and promote the soldiers that
you see behind you in your places."
This public
presence of all the soldiers.
insult was offered to the officers in

----.

FRANCE.

BOURSE, Sept. 1.—The upward movement which
marked the close of business yesterday has con-
tinued, and stock has been again in demand at a
further advance, Threes, for the Account, being
now quoted at 68f. 70c. The Railway Share
Market has been similarly acted on, and quotations
are generally higher. The market closed as fol-
lows :

4i per Cents. 97 40
Do. eRd
3 per Cents
Do. end month 6B 75
Credit Mobilier 1195
Do. end month 1195
Bank Shares 3385
Credit k oncier 13.25
RAMO

Italian Loan 73 60
Do. end month 73 85
New ditto ....... 73 50
Do. end month 73 80
Russian —
Austrian B6
Spanish Threes 63
Home Debt

rAYB.

Cash. Account.
Orleans ............... . 1030 1035 —.
Northern
New ditt0......
Lyons and Mediterranean 1045 -7: •. 1042 60
Geneva
Southern ...... 730
Western ......
Eastern .......... 502 50 .. 501 25
Sardinian .............. 422 50 .. 418 75
Austrian .............. 432 50 .. 435
Lorrbard .............. 570 " ••
North of Spain ........ 560 665 --
Saragossa .............. 680 68.5
Ditto to Barcelona .... 360 357 60

aliens.

AMERICA,

(REUTER'S TELEGRAMS.)
(Per the Bohemian.)

NEW YORK, August 21 (Evening).
The Tribune asserts that, according to informa-
tion received from Richmond, General Lee will
offer General Meade battle before September, and
that if Meade refuse, Lee will invade Maryland,
select a battle ground, and await the Union army,
his aim not being to carry operations northward but
to take Washington. General Lee is organising a
reserve force of 40,000 men to be stationed at Win-
chester, or another point in the Shenandoah Valley.
This force Is intended for some particular purpose,
and will be commanded by General Longstreet.
It is semi•ofpicially announced that the Govern-
ment is confident of the reduction of Fort Sumter,
after a few hours' bombardment. But this would
not terminate the siege, as there is desperate work
and fighting to be done afterwards which may re-
quire a considerable time.

Official circles put but little faith in the antici-
pation of immediate triumph, but entertain no
doubt of ultimate success.
Mr. Davidson, a member of the North Carolina
Legislature, has written a letter to the Raleigh
Standard saying he believes four-fifths of the people
of North Carolina demand peace upon any terms
which will not enslave and degrade them. They
may prefer Southern independence, but that they
now believe cannot be obtained, nor do they see
much future hope of it. They would compromise,
upon sa amendment to the continuation and per-
petuation of slavery in the States.

He urges the people to elect members to the next
Southern Congress who favour a six months' armis-
tice, and submission of disputed matters to a con-
vention of delegates from the Northern and Southern
States, elected by the people themselves.
The District 'Court has ordered an appraisement
of the Peterhoff, in order that if the Government
decides upon purchasing her at prize value she shall
be delivered to the Government.

COMMERCIAL INTELLIGENCE.
Money easy ; gold, 251 premium ; exchange,
1371 : New York Central, 130-D Illinois, 1241 ;
Erie, 119.

NEW YORK, Aug. 22 (Evening).
The Richmond Whig contains Charleston news
to the 20th inst., stating that during the last 24
hours the Federal operations were confined to a
steady and continuous bombardment of Fort Sum-
ter from guns on Morris Island. The Federal
200-pounder Parrot-guns are too much for the walls
of Fort Sumter, and their firing begins to tell
upon the fort, which only replies at long inter-
vals. The defence of the harbour, however, does not
depend mainly upon Sumter. If that fort be
battered down, says the Richmond Whig, the har-
bour may still he held. It is determined to defend
the city street by street, house by house, as long as
as a foot of earth is left. The Governor has urged
all non-combatants to leave Charleston as soon as
possible.

General Lee is still upon the Rapidan and Rap-
pahannock, where it is expected engagements will
take place. General Meade is preparing to receive
Lee's anticipated attacks.
Rumours are current that Lee's movement to-
wards Fredericksburg was a feint, and that he is
going towards Richmond via Gordonsville.
Eight hundred guerillas, under Quantrell, have
crossed the Missouri River, captured Lawrence,
Kansas, burning and destroying property to the
estimated value of 2,000,000 dole. Senator Lane is
supposed to have been captured. The Federal troops
have started in pursuit of the guerillas.
Military affairs are active in Mississippi. General
Burnside is moving towards Knoxville, and General
Rosecranz towards Chattanooga.
President Lincoln has promised to attend a Union
mass meeting at Springfield, Illinois, on the 3d
September. If unable to be present, he will address
the people by letter.

The New York Herald urges President Lincoln

to send strong columns frum General Grant's and
Banks' armies through Texas to Rio amide, oppo-
site Matamoras, in order to counteract any coalition
between the Emperor Napoleon and the South,
or any attempt of Napoleon to annex Texas to
Mexico.

General Maury has issued an order at Mobile
that persons domiciled there are subject to the con-
scription, even though they have taken the oath as

The New York Times contains an article attack-
mg England and lauding Russia. It says :—‘, We
are bewildered at England's treachery, which has
subsided into a fixed, unchangeable policy. There
can be no oblivion of the past. Henceforth America
will recognise no tie to England." The Nets
York Times accepts these new relations, and says
—" It will go hard with America but England
shall have enough of these relations before America
has finished."

The draft continues in New York without any
disturbance. Mayor Opdyke has called a meeting
of the common council to act upon the amendments
he has to propose to the municipal appropriation
for drafted men.
(Later by Telegraph to Father Point.)

NEW YORK; August 22 (Evening).
A report has been received from Philadelphia that
Fort Sumter is captured and that the Federal gun-
boats have passed that fort. The Federal Govern-
ment has received no such intelligence, and little
credence is given to it.
Troops continue to arrive at New York to pre-
serve order during the draft.

COMMERCIAL INTELLIGENCE.
Gold, 24 per cent. premium. Stocks dull. New
York Central, 131. Erie, 119 k. Cotton quiet.
Middling Upland, 671 c. Wheat and flour dull.
Corn very firm. Provisions and coffee in good
inquiry. Sugar, molasses, and petroleum firm.

A treaty of amity, commerce, and navigation,
was yesterday concluded between the United Kingdom of
Sweden and Norway and the Republic of Liberia, by their
respective plenipotentiaries, tha Count Wachtraeister and
Mr. Gerard Ralston.
THE FORTHCOMING VISIT OF THE BRITISH
ARCH/EOLOGICAL SOCIETY TO LEEDS.—The annual
meeting of this society is to be held in Leeds during October.
It will be under very influential patronage, the president
being the newly- created Lord Houghton. Among the
papers to be read will be one on the Early History of
Leeds, by Mr. Wright ; an Account of Anglo-Saxon
Jewellery and other Antiquities discovered by Lord
Londesborough in Seamer Lime Quarry, near Scar.
borough, Mr. Wright; on the Badges of the House of
York, Mr. J. R. Planche ; on Ripon Cathedral, Mr. C. E.
Davis; on Fountains Abbey, and on Spofforth Castle and
Church, Mr. Gordon M. Hills ; on Kirkstall Abbey and
on Adel Church, Mr. Edward Roberts; on the Wakefield
Chapel on the Bridge, Mr. F. R. Wilson ; on unpublished
MSS. relating to Meaux Abbey, Mr. E. Leviers; on the
Weapons of Ancient Yorkshire, Mr. H. T. Cuming ; on
Historical Autographs, Mr. P. O'Callaghan; on Crom-
lechs, Rev. W. C. Lukis ; on Harewood Castle and Church,
Mr. J. Jones ; and on various other interesting antiquarian
topics. The excursions include the following visits :-I'o
Ripon and Fountains; to Adel Church, Fernley Hall,
Ilkley, and the Runic Crosses; to Harewood Church and
Castle; to Wakefield Church and the Chapel on the
Bridge; to Pontefract Castle and Church; to Borough-
bridge and Aldborough ; to Kirkstall Abbey and Halifax ;
and to York Cathedral and the Museum of that city.
A DELICATE QUESTION.--A curious case of
breach of contract--which, however, included a
libel—has just been decided in Paris. Mademoiselle S
proceeded against the director of one of the Paris theatres
for certain moneys due to her for an engagement as se-
cond danseuse. The defendant pleaded "never indebted ;"
and, as a rider to the plea, stated that" the calves of Made-
moiselle's legs were too big for a danseuse." The following
letter was put in by the counsel for the prosecution and
formed the ground of the action :—"My dear Mademoi-
selle,—You surely are not serious in proposing to appear as
second danseuse Your plt. steal formation,otherwise charm-
ing, is totally opposed to such a career. You may consider
your engagement cancelled and yourself free. We have
now but to regret a rehearsal which has produced such
negative results,—Agree, Mademoiselle, to believe the
respect with which, &e.' On the part of the plaintiff it
was argued that she had made no secret of her legs, which
were such as a liberal nature had given to her; that they
were, in fact, the stock-in-trade of a dancer ; that objection
had been taken by other directors to danseuses "sans
volley and finally, that the state of the case was known
to the defendant when he made the contract. The defen-
dant offered to refer the matter to an. " expert," and
named the ballet-master of the Imperial Academy as his
referee, but the Cdurt held that strong legs were no breach
of contract, and gave a verdict witlacoits for the plaintiff,

LITERATURE.

Veronia. Three vols. Hurst and Blackett.

If " Veronia" be the first work of its author, we
are inclined to augur well for his future career. It
evinces great powers of thought, and a very con-
siderable ability in their development. The cha-
racters are not crowded on the canvass, but they are
drawn with very great discrimination. Veronia
de Medul, the heroine, is the fair and haughty
daughter of a ruined patrician. We first discover
her in a poor and lonely habitation, working to
support a dying mother—dying for want of that
succour for which Veronia is too proud to ask. The
painful death of the mother produces a sad and
thrilling effect; it is portrayed with tragic power.
The severe lessons of affliction produce their effect
upon Veronia. At first her pride of birth is
elmost amusing in its arrogance, so Van Helder
finds it. Van Helder is the kind, cordial friend
who tries, but for long in vain, to bring comfort
to the isolated and unhappy ladies, while, as a
doctor, ho is attending the sick bed of Madame
de Medul. At one time, while a friendly but most
animated discussion about patricians and plebians,
the rights of birth, and the pride of rank is going on,
Veronia naively exclaims,with a half complimentary
insolence, "I always forget you are not a gentle-
man !" Few gentlemen are more deserving of the
name than is the worthy Dr. Van Helder, decidedly
the character of the book, a most original and most
graphic portraiture. Van Helder, notwithstanding
his inquiring and incredulous temperament, is the
bosom friend and constant companion of the vener-
able Cure of St. Andrews, of which parish he is
himself the doctor. He is also the constant subject
of the indignant animadversions of Godensca, the
Cure's housekeeper. The mutual war of words
which almost continuously prevails between this
well-matched pair of originals is very entertaining.
Godensca's bitter tongue is, however, as is often the
case, no criterion of the disposition of her heart
towards the doctor. Jacques Henricart, the Man
of the People, and Adrian de Boisvante, the treacher-
ous lover, are a well-contrasted pair. 111. Bouchard
is also happily sketched, but his daughter's picture
is somewhat overdrawn. Even the assistance
which she gives to her father's law business (acting,
in fact, as chief clerk) cannot quite account for all
her disagreeable qualities Miss Sally Brass
becomes an attractive companion when compared
with Mademoiselle Justine Bouchard ! The Vicar's
two sisters, Beth and Ana (the scene is laid in
North Flanders) are simple, homely maidens, kept
very much in the background, while the fascinating
and dangerous Herminie de Mont Brison, and the
devout and treacherous Madame de St. Barthelemy
take, as becomes them, a very prominent position.
The last volume is the most interesting of the three,
and until the very end the reader is quite ignorant
as to what may be Veronia's fate. The episode of
Carl Dopter and his little wife Gretchen,
perishing of fatigue and want in the Canon-
gate of Edinburgh, is quite unnecessary
to the story, and might have been omitted.
Again the author commits a serious error when, in
the middle of the third volume, he enters into an
explanatory discourse with his readers on the
peculiarities of novel-writing and novels, his own
among the number. Such a proceeding is destruc-
tive of all illusion. The reader is to believe the story
true, or it is worthless. Such aside conversations
with the audience have become a fashion with our
novel writers nowadays, introduced, we sus-
pect, by the roundabout confessions which Mr.
Thackeray delights to bestow upon his readers.
The example, however agreeable in his instance,
is dangerous, and would be well avoided. We the
more readily mention these exceptionable parti-
culars because we consider " Veronia" to be the
production of one who is fitted to take high rank
among the novelists of the day.

Left to Themselves. By Mrs. Gordon Smythies,
author of " Cousin Geoffrey," &c. Three vols.
Hurst and Blackett.

Mrs. Gordon Smythies has taken for the heroes
of her new novel two little friendless, helpless,
neglected boys, "left to themselves" in the wide
wilderness of London. The moral of her story is
to enforce the truth that all that is essential to
success in life comes not from without but from
within. Honesty and truthfulness, energy and per-
severance, faith and patience, are better than
any gifts of friends or fortune which take to them-
selves wings and flee away when most required.
With the history of these little " city Arabs" as her
theme, Mrs. Smythies presents to us many of the
varying phases of London life, its trials and temp-
tations, its privations and its penalties. A bed at
night in the Adelphi Arches and a halfpenny cup
of coffee for breakfast are at fist the only sorry
comforts within the reach of poor Harry and Sim
Hazeldcan. Very graphically and very forcibly
does Mrs. Smythies "point the moral," while she
pleasantly and skilfully "adorns the tale"—the les-
sons conveyed in the apposite histories of the two
brides, Meroy Mayflower and Blanche Melville, are
full of warning to fair maidens of high and low
degree who " love not wisely, but too well." The
admonitions about temperance which are inciden-
tally, and not obtrusively introduced, would endear
the volumes to the heart of George Cruikshank, and
will, we doubt not, win for the fair authoress golden
opinions from many readers. We congratulate
Mrs. Smythies on this new work, which is a fresh
evidence of her kindness of heart, and her anxiety
to devote her abilities to the true cause of the
people, namely, their social regeneration and im-
provement. We are somewhat disappointed to find
at the end of the tale that the two devoted com-
panions in many trials, Harry and Sim, are not
brothers, but cousins. We sympathise with the
dismay of poor Harry, who has watched with an
elder brother's affection over Sim, when he finds
him removed to a more distant relationship, and the
change is not really necessary to the development
of the story. The romantic affection of Lena
Linley, and the life-long devotion of Little Prim-
rose, are mysteries that we shall not touch upon,
but leave for the personal discovery of the reader.