The Sun.
London, England, 1863-12-29 00:00:00

COMMERCIAL.

Money easy. Gold, 5O prem. Exchange on
London, 164 t. Stocks advancing. New York
Centrals, 1331; Illinois, 1191. Cotton steady;
middling Upland, 82c. Breadstuffs advancing.

NEW YORK, DEC. 18 (Afternoon).

The steamer Ella Annie has captured the
Chesapeake with three of her crew in Sambro
Harbour, Nova Scotia. The Chesapeake was taken
to Halifax for judicial decision. The British autho•
rities have ordered the arrest of the pirates who
seized the Chesapeake.
The Richmond press denounces President Lin•
coin's amnesty proclamation as an infamous docu-
ment, which will but arouse the Southern people
to new zeal and new efforts.

The Federal House of Representatives has passed
a resolution by 93 to 64 that the war should be
prosecuted so long as the rebels are found in arms.
Money easy. Gold 51'4 per cent. prem.
NEW YORK, DEC. 18 (EVENING).
The fighting with General Longstreet is still
progressing.

Union citizens are leaving Knoxville.
Money easy. Gold, 52 per cent. prem. Exchange
on London : Bankers' bills, 166.

LIVERPOOL, DEC. 29.

Further advices to the 19th inst. received here
via St. John's state that there was nu fresh news of
importance, Gold was quoted 52 per cent. prem.
Exchange on London 116. Cotton quiet, at 82c.
Crude petroleum, 30 to 31 ; refined,44 to 451; U. S.
6 per Cent. Bonds 105. Illinois Shares 119. Erie
10871.
POINT DE GALLE, DEC. 1.

The United States steamer Wyoming has gone
to Christmas Island, in pursuit of the Alabama.

MR, ANTHONY TROLLOPE,

- ♦ --

Mr. Anthony Trollope, as the novelist of com-
mon sense, writes with a shrewdness and a sobriety,
yet with a rush and fullness of thought that satis-
fies the intellect while seeming but to tickle our
curiosity. He is an immense favourite with the
most intelligent class of novel readers. He never
soars very high, nor digs very deep, but he hardly
ever disappoints; we can always rely upon him for
a good story well sustained, full of life and not defi-
cient in ideas. In one respect he reminds us more
than any other writer of Defoe. It is a common•
place of criticism that Defoe wanted imagination,
that never was there so great a writer of fiction
who so palpably displayed such a deEiency. It
would be difficult to define what is meant by this,
because nobody has yet been able to define what is
meant by imagination. Imagination is the terra
incognita of the mind. One metaphysician describes
it as memory, another as reason, another as passion,
a fourth as a combination of the three. The philc-
sophers cannot agree as to its nature, and we are
not now going to digress into a discussion of what
it really is. We dare say that on a close analysis
Defoe would be found to have imagination of his
own acting according to its own laws. We are
now, however, speaking popularly, and according
to the phrases of popular criticism, Defoe with all
his great power was singularly void of imagination.
He could call up a scene or describe a series of
events with a hard prosaic accuracy, which, how-
ever it might command our interest, is supposed to
be independent of imagination. On this level stands
Mr. Anthony Trollope. He abjures ornaments,
avoids the play of fancy, is purposely plain; but on
the good road, straight and level and well beaten,
he bowls along at a rattling puce. He may not.
suggest much ; but he is so clear that we do not
feel the want of suggestions. He has something to
say and he says it fully. He never spins a yarn
into gossamer. Out it comes, sharp and clear and
solid, with a force of manner which in Yankee slang
is called " vim," and in English slang is known as
"go."— Times.

The Governor-General of India. Truth
Stranger than Fiction.

(From the Edinburgh Witness.)

The following striking statement, which we have
from a most intelligent correspondent, is full of in.
terest :—" More than half a century ago the affairs
of a worthy draper in the town of Coleraine, in the
county of Londonderry, got embarrassed. He sent
his son, who assisted him in the business, to Man-
chester and Leeds to arrange with his creditors.
The young man was harshly received ; and, after
having failed to effect a settlement, arrived at Liver-
pool on his way home. His honourable spirit was
lacerated by the treatment he had met with, and,
dreading still more the disgrace and reproach he
expected to encounter on his return to his native
town, he, in a fit of desperation, enlisted as a pri-
vate soldier. The young draper's regiment was
ordered out to India, where his good conduct soon
brought him into notice, and the excellent educa-
tion which he had received paved the way for his
promotion. He rose step by step until he reached
the rank of colonel. He served his country with
honour, and in course of time gave two sons to the
military service, having first given them to the
Lord, and imbued their youthful minds with Chris-
tian principles. Their valour and military accom-
plishments shed lustre on that earnest piety by
which they were characterised. The two young
soldiers to whom we refer were Sir John Lawrence,
now the Governor General of India, and the late
Sir Henry Lawrence, known as the saNiour of
Lucknow. Both of them have done honour and
good service to their country, and neither of them
were ashamed of the Cross of Christ, It is gratify-
ing to find that neither piety nor humble birth
will
prevent talent and worth from reaching the higl3e"
offices and honours in the gift of the British Crown.
The grand uncle of the Governor-General o. India
still lives as a respectable small farmer in the north
of the county of Antrim, about two miles from the
fashionable watering place of Portrush, and five
miles from the Giant's Causeway.