The Sun.
London, England, 1865-01-30 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY EVENING, JANUARY 30, 1865.

rEE CIVIL WAR IN AMERICA.

(From the Times' Correspondent.)
NEW YORK, Jan. 13.

There is nothing to be heard on any side but
rumours of peace. Wall-street has to some extent
caught the infection of credulity, and gold has gone
down 9 per cent. since Saturday last. But that peace
will come out of the embassies, formal or informal,
which Mr. Lincoln has sent, or is willing to send, to
Richmond, or to receive from the South at Wash-
ington, no man whose opinion is worth a straw can
in his heart believe. That the Federal Government
is more than usually anxious, either to gain some
overwhelming victory in the field, or to coax back
the reluctant South on any terms, whether in refe-
rence to slavery, to the assumption of the Southern
debt, to the position of the Southern leaders and
generals, to everything in short that would not in-
volve a disruption of the Union, is manifest to the
most careless observer. The impelling power which
thus drives Mr. Lincoln's Government into the paths
of conciliation if conquest be unattainable, without,
however, driving it to the extremity of making a
formal offer of peace to Mr. Davis, is the fear that
after the 4th of March next the European Govern-
ments--led by Great Britain, France, Russia, and
Spain—will severally or conjointly recognise Mr.
Lincoln as de facto President of the States alone by
the votes of which he was elected for his second
term, and thus by implication, if not overtly, recog-
nise Mr. Jefferson as the de facto President of the
Confederacy. There may possibly be no founda-
tion whatever for the rumours to this effect, which
reach this country from Europe by every steamer ;
but there undoubtedly exists in high quarters here
and in Washington a dread, and in some instances
a hope, that these rumours are true, and that the
recognition of the Confederacy will not be delayed
much if any longer than the " ninety days," which
are the favourite term with Mr. Seward and the
Federal press for the accomplishment of all
greatly desired events, whether civil or military.
Meanwhile, however, the war goes vigorously on.
Gen. Sherman, having secured Savannah, has orga-
nised measures for a rear attack upon Charleston,
with the assistance of Admiral Farragut's fleet in
front. The second expedition to Wilmington has
already set sail, and as the weather has been much
milder and calmer than on the first occasion the re-
port that it has arrived off Cape Fear without loss
or accident is probably correct. In other quarters
there are no signs of movement, though a report,
founded upon private telegrams, that Gen. Lee is so
well provided at Richmond and Petersburg as to be
able to spare 40,000 men from the defences of those
cities for services in a new and unsuspected quarter
leads well informed people to believe that the lull
will be speedily broken, and that the Federals will
not be left in entire possession of the aggressive.
Gen. Butler's deposition has been received with
sullen silence by the Republican and Abolition party,
and with shouts of applause by the Democrats and
by moderate conservative men of all classes. The
Tribune alone among the Republican journals has
had the courage to speak the sentiments of the party,
and has indignantly denounced the action of the Go-
vernment, as not only personally unjust to General
Butler but publicly injurious to the cause of the
Union. If Butler were really dismissed for his re-
fusal to sacrifice the lives of brave men in a hope-
less assault upon a strong if not impregnable fort,
as he seems to allege in his sharp and eloquent fare-
well to the Army of the James, there can be no doubt
that he has been ill-used. It would appear, indeed,
that Gen. Butler's failure at Fort Fisher was the pre-
text, and not the cause of his removal, that the diver-
gences if not hostilities of sentiment and opinion be-
tween him and Gen. Grant, as well as Mr. Stanton,
were of long standing and widening growth, and that
the Lieutenant-General finally assumed such a posi-
tion towards the Government in the matter as to force
Mr. Lincoln to decide which ogthe two should remain
in the Federal service. In other words, Gen. Grant
threatened to resign if Gen. Butler were not removed.
If this be the true explanation, Gen. Butler will not be
suffered to remain permanently under a cloud.
Work will be found for him to do, more pleasant in
its character and safer to life and limb in its per-
formance than the conduct of an army amid shot
and shell and the other horrors of the battlefield.
The case of Mr. Chase is one in point. It was ne-
cessary to oust him from the Administration, but
inexpedient to convert him into an irreconcilable
enemy. In due time, as he was discreet as well as
ambitious, he was rewarded with the Chief Justice-
ship of the Supreme Court. Most probably, if Gen.
Butler be equally reticent, equally persevering, and
equally determined not to be politically extinguished,
he will receive a befitting reward, at the hands of a
President who understands as thoroughly as any
man living which opponents it is safe to despise and
which it is safer to flatter and conciliate.

The great question of slavery continues to assert
its supremacy and stands before the American
people in a variety of ways. The South, which alone
has any power in the matter, is debating, under the
hard pressure of necessity, the expediency of calling
out an army, or a series of armies, of ablebodied
slaves in successive levies, from 50,000 to five times
50,000 men, to be rewarded with their own freedom
and that of their wives and families at the conclu-
sion of the war. The North, which has no power
but much will to abolish slavery, is debating in the
halls of Congress an amendment to the Constitu-
tion, for ever prohibiting slavery in any State or
territory of the Union. The amendment, if not
carried by the requisite majority of two-thirds of
the present Congress, will, it is calculated, be car-
ried all but unanimously in the new Congress which
will assume power on the 4th of March next. Whe-
ther the amendment, if embodied in the Constitu-
tion, will have any practical effect in giving freedom
to a single slave who would not have been freed if
no such legislative enactment had been made, de-
pends not upon Congress but upon the opposing
armies of North and South. If the North con-
quer, the sword of the North and not the resolu-
tions of Congress will free the negroes. If the
South conquer, the votes of the Federal Congress
are idle wind, and the Northern people will act more
wisely—if they love the negroes half as much as they
detest slavery—in repealing the laws that convert
them into social pariahs, and in some States such as
the President's own State of Illinois, prohibit the
entrance and sojourn of any man of black skin and
woolly hair within their sacred boundaries. Three
of the Border States, which know something of the
question, and which, moreover, have the power of
dealing with it in their own limits, have either
abolished the institution by the legal votes of their
LeAslatures and the affirmation of the people, or
have taken measures to that end. Maryland, which
produces nothing that cannot be cultivated by the
labour of free white men, and which consequently
was under no paramount necessity of employing
slaves, long since found the institution to 1)4 unpro-
fitable, and has already freed itself of the trouble,
the responsibility, the disgrace, and the danger of
maintaining it. Missouri and Kentucky have already
taken the usual preliminary steps,
by convention of
the People and the action of the Legislature, to imi-
tate the example of Maryland ; and as they also pro-
duce nothing that free white labour cannot cultivate,
and as they have
oh
found slavery too costly and un-
profitable to be w
• • making any effort to preserve,
against the op
position of the Northern people and
the disapprobation
little doubt that in a° f
of the civilised world, there is
ei7weeks or months slavery
will have ceased to be
important commonwealths.
c. burdenut is well, upon s these richhowever, andfor
European philanthropists
.that in abolishing
slavery the philanthropic elementnw 1n Maryland, as
well as in Kentucky and Missouriiltakbeeasstronnogt slave,been
greatly, if at all, called into action.to
in the prime of life, will be able care o. f him-
self in some way or other, though driven,
York and throughout the North, to earn a ponlorNs ebw
sistence by the lowest,:roughest, and most scanutil
remunerated kinds of labour ; but the young, the
y
helpless, the impotent, the disabled, and the super
annuated negroes, who were formerly maintained by
their owners, will, it is to be feared, fare but badly
at the hands of public charity, which has not yet
established or even thought of establishing any legal
provision for their maintenance. It would thus ap-
pear that the best chance for the poor negro is with
the South. Mr. Lincoln can do nothing for the race
but convert into soldiers such of the most stalwart

as are willing to take service in his armies. He can-
not reach, either by his proclamations or his guns,
the great bulk of the black population w io still toil
for their Southern masters and mistress •s, and take
no advantage of the
peril or weakness i f the Con-
deracy to rise in insurrection, or even in mutiny
and insubordination, against their employers. The
South can much more effectually befriend them, and
seems as if it would not hesitate much longer in
placing freedom within the power of such ablebodied
slaves as shall earn it by devotion to the cause of
national independence, and of so regulating and
modifying the slavery that will afterwards remain
as to gradually prepare the way for complete eman-
cipation by some process that shall not convert

the useful slave into a pauper, and that will provide
for the subsistence of the aged and the impotent by
some species of legislative enactment or form of
poor law. There are not wanting persons high in
social and political position to affirm that, if this
were done, the Northern Abolitionists of the extreme
school would recommend peace with the South and
a recognition of its independence, on the plea that
the war was a war against slavery, and that slavery
having ceased to exist the Southern people were as
much entitled to an independent Government of
their own choice as the Thirteen Colonies were when
they rebelled against Great Britain. These philoso-
phers may be at present in the minority, but it can-
not be denied that their voice is powerful, their in-
fluence great, and that it is within the limits of
probability that sooner or later their sentiments,
like the little leaven that leaveneth the whole lump,
may take possession of the majority.
There is another aspect of the negro question in
which, notwithstanding all the philanthropy of Mr.
Lincoln's proclamations and the debates in both
Houses of the Federal Congress, the North does not
show to advantage as compared with the South.
The South is at all events honest, even if it be in
error in its treatment of the negroes ; but the North,
which claims to be so much holier than its Southern
brother, permits the infliction of the most grievous
wrong against ablebodied black men, -without taking
so much as the petty trouble of remonstrance. It
is at this moment, and has been for the last six
months, positively unsafe for a young male negro
to walk the streets of New York. If he be a sailor

just arrived in port from the West Indies, Cuba, or
Brazil, he is hunted by ruffians at all hours of the
day and night, and, if captured, sold into the
slavery of the military or naval service of the
United States. A recent case, only one of scores
that are every week brought under the notice of the
consular authorities of Great Britain, France, and
Spain, will show the modus operandi. Four coloured
sailors, of a British ship from Jamaica, were walking
through the river-side streets at the lower, or Bat-
tery end of New York, unconscious of danger and
-unsuspicious of treachery, when they were set upon
in broad daylight by half a dozen crimps, bounty-
brokers, or other scoundrels of the same class, and
accused of being deserters from the Federal army.
In vain they protested that they were sailors and
British subjects. The gathering crowd took the
part of their assailants, and, on the promise that
they would be immediately liberated by the proper
authorities if their story were found to be true, the
men consented, with the exception of only one, who
contrived in the confusion to make his escape, to
proceed quietly to headquarters with their captors.
All trace of them has since been lost. General
Dix, on being appealed to by the British Consul,
has promised to do his best to discover and release
them, but with the compact and well organised
system of robbery opposed to his efforts will find
it difficult, if not impossible, to effect their libe-
ration. Such " prizes " are entered on the books
of the naval or military depots which receive them,
under names that are given to them by their cap-

tains ; and each " prize" of the kind is worth from
$5OO to $l,OOO, according to the state of the bounty
market at the time. Not a cent. of the money ever
reaches the victims of this new slave trade, but is
distributed at a rate agreed upon among the captors,
the examining surgeons, and the military or naval
officials, who wink at the iniquity. The anti-
slavery journals—the whole sympathies of which
are with the Southern slaves, and which are never
weary of clamouring for the " vigorous prosecution
of the war," have no time to attend to such cases of
individual hardship as these. The Federal Govern-
ment wants men, and it does not become the truly
loyal patriot to examine too microscopically into
the means by which men are secured. This much,
however, must be said. If the British Government
were half as anxious to pick a quarrel with the Fe-
deral Government as the ruling party in America is
to pick a quarrel with Great Britain, it might find a
justifiable pretext every day of the week in the
treatment received in New York by British emigrants
and British sailors, both white and coloured.

Spain and Santo Domingo.

MADRID, Jan. 23.

The Marquis of Habana spoke yesterday in the
Senate on the question of Santo Domingo, replying
to the Duke de Torre's speech advocating the pre-
servation of theisland to Spain. The marquis strongly
urged the expediency of abandoning Santo Domingo.
He said that the possession of the island gave no
moral force to Spain. It did not augment Spanish
prestige, and produced most serious inconveniences
in political order, in finance, and even in military
order. Replying to what had been urged by the
Duke de Torre respecting the importance of the pos-
session of the Bay of Samana, the Marquis of Ha-
bana said—" I shall proceed to examine this ques-
tion from a practical point of view, and will ask if
the Duke de Torre believes that commercial interests
would not have sufficed to attract a numerous po-
pulation to that spot—what has, and what is now
the Peninsula of Samana? A desert, and, unfor-
tunately for our troops, a vast cemetery. When
the English projected establishing communications
to facilitate their trade with America, they
never thought of establishing themselves there,
but preferred St. Thomas, though this is a
bad and insignificant port. Thus, when Spain ac-
quired the Bay of Samana, it was completely deserted,
which proves that it was not the importance to trade
that has been supposed. In further proof we have
the fact that the customs of Samana have barely
produced the small sum of 100,000 reals. We will
now consider the question from a military point of
Would you wish the Bay of Samana to be
converted into a military port—a Cronstadt, as de-
sired by the Duke de Torre, in order that it might
serve us in the event of our American possessions
being endangered, which would be whenever we
might be at war with the United States? Would
it serve to hold our ships of war ? But then for this
we have the ports of Cuba and Porto Rico." The
speaker then proceeded to disprove the belief ex-
pressed by some that, although the Bay of Samana
had no importance in Spanish possession, it would
immediately acquire it under the United States. He
said that even if the latter Power did not obtain
possession of the bay, it would not be Spain, but
France and England, who would be threatened, as
.the occupation of the bay by the United States
would seriously interfere with their commercial na-
vigation and the movement of their ships of war.
For this reason the Marquis of Habana thought that
England and France would never permit such oc-
cupation. Regarding the question under a financial
aspect, the marquis showed that the expectations
respecting the natural wealth of the island, and all
that Spain would obtain from it, were completely
unfounded. The productions of the island had been
so unimportant that since its reincorporation it had
was
been a burden upon the Spanish treasury, and
the principal cause of the deficit Spain now
experienced. " The last budget of Santo Do-
mingo," he continued, " reached the respectable
sum of 74,000,000 reals, and this without in
any way supplying the necessities of that country,
since, after having spent so much money, not a
single yard of road will have been made on the day
Iv leave it. If we had waited for the prosperity of
theisland and conveyed to it the materials necessary
to develop its riches, it is indubitable that the budget
b
of Santo Dominuo,
100, 000 would have amounted to
,000 reals
further pointed outrthat there was a special circum-
stance which rendered thannexation of the island to This
Spain impracticable.
consisted in the mixed
population of the island. The inhabitants, although

view.

speaking Spanish, were in a great part of African
extraction, and it might be said that nine-tenths of
them were negroes and mulattoes. " These negroes
and mulattoes had 20 years of independence, and
were entirely equal, as regards political rights, with
the whites. They became presidents of the Republic,
generals, senators, in a word they were placed on
equal conditions with the few whites there were in
the island. And what is the position occupied by
people of colour in our Antilles ? There we have
slavery, and this marks the difference of races and
establishes a supremacy of thewhite over the coloured
race. The latter have no political rights, and
although some civil rights have been accorded them
they have always been in a depressed condition, and
held in lower consideration than the white race. If,
then, as is natural and just, we left the negroes and
mulattoes of Santo Domingo the political rights
which they enjoyed before incorporation with us,
what would be said by the free negroes and mulat-
toes of the islands of Cuba and Puerto Rico ? Hence
arises the agitation among the coloured classes in
those islands, produced, not by the war, but by the
annexation of Santo Domingo. This sole circum-
stance ought, in my opinion, to have sufficed for
Spain never to have listened to the petition of the Do-
minicans for reincorporation with the mother coun-
try." After reviewing at great length the history
of the reoccupation of Santo Domingo by Spain,
and censuring the mistaken policy pursued by the
Government, the marquis concluded by a defence
of the Spanish army in Santo Domingo, upon
which some reflection had been cast by Senor Cal-
deron Collantes. He quoted the official reports
of the captain-general to show the frightful mor-
tality of the climate, and the immense losses sus-
tained by sickness among the troops. The question
of Santo Domingo did not affect the honour of the
Spanish nation, and it was a sad disgrace for the
soldiers, instead of falling musket in hand as in
Africa, to die in a miserable hospital.

Fashions for February.
(From Le Follet)
The question of most interest on the subject of fashion
for this month is the style in vogue for ball and evening
dress. Amongst the novelties we remark robes of gauze
embroidered in gold, or-silver, or silk. Nothing is prettier
than such flowers on a light, vapoury material, and ladies
of elegance can wear such a dress without appearing to be
dressed in too simple or girlish a manner. There are some
beautiful tulle dresses spotted over with butterflies, or
flowers formed of feathers, or with silver arrows—very
original and exceedingly elegant—but, although needing
no trimming, they are expensive.
Fichus, berthes, and pelerines are made in a variety of
very becoming styles. From numerous models we select
the following :—A berth of tulle illusion, bouillonnee
lengthways, very narrow at the shoulders, and forming a
point at the centre. Ruches of tulle, edged with gold, and
having a white and gold blonde beneath, form the trimming
at the bottom and top of the berthe. A second berthe is
made in Figaro style in front, whilst the back forms braces
and ends in a square postilion basque. It is very pretty
when made of blonde tulle, with flowers and light ruches of
pink ribbon put in festoons over a wide blonde.
For more simple dress we find a fichu made high, and
crossed; composed of five crossway pieces of tulle, with a
bouillonne and bows of red velvet round the top, and round
the bottom a wide white lace headed by a narrower black
lace, both finished off with small bows of red velvet.
We must not omit to mention a charming pelerine of
spotted tulle with a double trimming of festoons, very
pointed, and set on in deep plaints. These festoons are
edged with a narrow lace, and above is placed a sky-blue
ribbon run under a bouillonne. The trimming is carried up
the front and round the throat.
For at-home toilette, chemisettes are more than ever
fashionable, for now, with the Russian veste, it is not
merely a guimpe, but the sleeve also which are required.
Many white bodies without vestes:are worn at small soirees
or social dinner-parties, and with a light silk skirt look ex-
ceedingly well ; but care must be taken that the colour of
the ribbon placed under the insertion, with which these
bodies are usually trimmed, suits the skirt: Passementerie
is still the favourite trimming, and deservedly so, for cer-
tainly nothing can be more elegant.
The list of model dresses is so numerous this month that
we must now proceed to describe them, commencing with
ball and evening toilette.
A sky-blue satin robe : train skirt, with a plisse of blue
crape ; the plaits very large and full, a passamenterie of
white silk and white beads marking each plait, and forming
a chain from one to another. Over the skirt, a tunic of
English lace. A berthe of tulle and crape in large plaits,
edged with lace matching the tunic. Sleeves short and
puffed, made of crape and tulle.
A dress of pink satin. The skirt trimmed with three
rows of bouillons of white tulle festooned with bouquets
of roses with dewdrops. Body draped with tulle and
similar bouquets. Sleeved to match.
A Pompadour taffetas robe. The ground pink ; the
flowers of various colours. The skirt is open in front over
a petticoat of white satin trimmed with bouillonne pink
tulle. The body, which is low, is also open in front,
showing a white satin stomacher, embroidered in coloured
flowers. Round the edge of the pink body, and at the
bottom of the sleeves, is a trimming of silk cord mixed
with white beads.
A dress of light green crape. The skirt entirely bouil-
lonne, caught up with wreaths of violet camelias and green
foliage reaching to the waist, the front wreath being joined
by light foliage to the bouquet on the body ; at the bottom
of the skirt a lace flounce about six inches wide, partly
veiled by the bouillonne. A plain bo.dy, with points, trim-
med with drapery of crape. Sleeves composed of one bouil-
lonne of white, another of green, crape ; and a violet came-
lia on each shoulder. Headdress of similar flowers, forming
a tuft on the summit of the head, and a spray behind. This
toilette made in white, with pink camelias, is extremely

charming.
A white tarlatans dress. Three plaited flounces, about five
inches wide, each headed by a thick chicoree of pink taffe-
tas. Plain body, with round waist. A corselet sash of taf-
fetas, pointed behind at the top, and finishing off in long
rounded ends, reaching nearly down to the flounces, and
gradually increasing in width ; the whole edged with a
taffetas niche. Large rosettes of pinked taffetas hold the
drapery in the front of the body and on the shoulders. The
sleeves are composed of two narrow frills of tarlatane.
A skirt of white tarlatane, having three flounces bordered
with pink at the bottom : a second skirt, reaching to the
top of the flounces, made of pink foulord, cut in large scol-
lops, and edged with a thick pink chicoree. A similar
chicoree on each side, looping up the top skirt. The body
plain ; a small point in front, and trimmed with three
chicorees, forming a fan. Folds of white tarlatan are
placed round the top, and bows of pink ribbon on the
shoulders.

A mauve satin robe : the skirt made with a train ; the
front embroidered en tablier with steel beads. The body
is low, with a flat berthe, also embroidered with steel beads.
Round sash, wide, embroidered to match, closed in front
with a steel buckle, and finished off behind with a bow
and long ends. The head-dress is of mauve velvet and
steel, and a white feather.
A blue velvet dress. A wide band of guipure round the
bottom and up the left side. Low body, and basques
formed of three pattes of guipure. In the hair, between
the bandeaux, is placed a beautiful bird with wings spread,
and another on the centre of the body.
A dress of cerise taffetas antique, covered with skirt of
tulle, composed of seven narrow flounces put on in waves,
alternately with flounces of white blonde, and dotted with
rosettes of cerise velvet. Low body, with short sleeves,
and berthe of narrow frills and blonde. Sash of cerise
velvet.
A robe of light green satin, opening in front over a skirt
of white satin ; the whole trimmed with point d'Angleterre
and white jet. The body is open, and trimmed with a
fringe of jet.
A dinner-dress of striped satin, white and blue : the
bottom of the skirt trimmed with a plaiting of blue velvet.
The body has rounded basques, trimmed with rich figured
velvet, and fastened with buttons Louis XV. style. The
sleeves, which are quite tight, close under cuffs of point
lace.

Another, of taffetas antique, lilac, embroidered round
the skirt with a wreath of grapes and leaves in silk and
pearl beads. The sleeves and body are trimmed to match.
A robe of silver-grey satin, trimmed at thebottom of the
skirt with a chicoree of black tulle. A flounce of Chan-
tilly, waved, and surmounted by a ruche of tulle worked
with jet. Low body and short sleeves, with fichu Marie
Antoinette of Chantilly. Buckle, " Princess," with band
of black velvet embroidered in jet.
For toilette de vile, a robe of black taffetas, opened at
the bottom of each breadth, so as to show a triangle of vio-
let velvet, on which is placed an ornament of passementerie
and hanging buttons ; the edge of the silk cut in large scal-
lops. The body with small barques open over a violet
waistcoat. The bottom of the sleeve has a similar ornament
to that on the skirt. The same ornament forms the jockey.
A robe of violet satin, cut in largo scallops, edged with a
wide band of black velvet. Under-skirt of violet satin,
striped with black velvet, forming a long train. Vesta
Russee of plain satin, and waistcoat of striped satin.
There is nothing new to notice either in the form or the
materials
for bonnets. It seems to be universally admitted
that the present style is much more becoming than the
high-fronted bonnets were; yet it must be confessed that
the abSurd head-dresses made by some, and called bon-
nets, are :quite as little becoming, and have, besides, an
air of vulgarity. Our leading modistes, however, are
always careful to avoid extremes, and we may safely de-
scribe some of their newest styles, to guide the tastesof our
readers. Thus, a bonnet of light blue velvet, made in one
full piece from the front to the crown, where it is fastened
under a large ruche of blonde, which foemrmsalla
whit© ea
point over the
chignon. Under the niche is placed a
with a bow and long ends of narrow blue ribbon. Blue

velvet in folds across the forehead, with small white fea-
thers between the folds.

A capote of white satin, with three runnings from back
to front, fastened under a double niche of white satin,
spotted with rosebuds. ' Plaited satin and rosebuds inside.
. _

A bonnet of mauve velvet, made in plaits from the front
to the back, trimmed at the back with a cache-peigne of jot
falling over a wide black lace. Torsade of mauve velvet,
and jet ornaments inside.
Black velvet bonnet. Plain front. Poinyd behind ;
trimmed round the point with a double ruche of pink silk
and sprigs of small daisies of white velvet, and bows of
very narrow pink ribbon.

A capote of crape bouillone and tulle malines, with
straps and strings of rose-coloured velvet. The crown
formed of curled•feathers and strings of small pearls, fall-
ing over bouillonnS of tulle.
Another capote of blue tulle bouillons and white blonde.
Cache-peigne of white feathers, with loops of black velvet
worked with pearls. Black velvet and pearls inside the
bonnet.

Coiffures for evening costume are becoming more and
more varied, and for this good reason, that ladies are be-
ginning to adopt those styles most becoming to them,
rather than to wear a head-dress because it is worn by
others.

Perhaps the coiffure composed of bands of velvet is the
most universally adopted ; and, from the fact that it may be
fastened simply with silver or jet ornaments, or enriched
with agraffes or pens of diamonds, it is equally applicable
either for a quiet dinner-dress or for a more elaborate
toilette. Those of light blue 'velvet should have pearl or
silver ornaments, and those of ponceau velvet gold or pearl
ornaments.

Another. pretty style of head-dress is made with a pouff
formed with ends of green velvet worked with dew-drops
in crystal, and fastened with two long ends.
A charming Ceres wreath was made of blue velvet myo-
sotis and silver corn-ears, fastened at the back with long
bows of silver lace.

Oriental fashion, calls the estrella feliz. Louis
Napoleon has survived the deaths of many of his
enemies. He has survived Cavaignac, a high-souled
and high-principled man he has survived the ac-
complished and profound strategist, Bedeau ; he has
survived that sturdy Republican Minister, Frangois
Arago, the astronomer ; he has survived the deep
thinker, the philOsophic and earnest De Tocqueville ;
he has survived the democratic Prefect of Police,
the Citizen Caussidiere ; he has survived the Presi-
dent of the National Assembly, Armand Marrast
he has outlived Alexandre Thomas, one of the most
earnest, conscientious, and learned of the writers of
his country ; he has survived the democratic Mini-
ster of Finance, Goudchaux ; and he has survived a
man, recently departed, who had as much energy
and talent as any one of these—Colonel Charras—
who died on Tuesday last at Basle, in Switzerland.
From his democratic opinions it might by many be
supposed that Charras was a man of humble birth
and fortune, sprung from the loins of the working
democracy. There could not, however, be a greater
error. Charras was the son of a General of high
character and principles, who was appointed to the
Military Government of the Puy de Dome in the
reign of Charles X. To this office he was originally
named by Clermont Tounessee, Minister of War in
the Ministry of Villele, and he was continued in his
functions by Marshals Gerard and Soult, both
Ministers of Louis Philippe, after the Revolution of
1830. Young Charras, who was born in 1808, in the
same year as the now Emperor of the French, received
a careful education at the hands of his father. In his
sixteenth year, soon after the accession of Charles X.
in September, 1824, he entered the Ecole Polytech-
nique, in which seminary he not only greatly distin-
guished himself by his talents and acquirements, but
also by his open and manly character. From the
Polytechnic School, having chosen the Artillery as
the special branch of the profession to which he
attached himself, he was despatched to the Ecole
d'Application de l'Artillerie et du Genie at Metz, in
Lorraine. In this great Military Academy he was
no less distinguished than at the Polytechnic, and
when he left it to join in the active business of his
profession he was exceedingly popular, notwith-
standing the brusqueness of his manners and the
advanced nature of his political opinions. Already,
in 1829, when scarcely 21, Charras was as well
known for the vehemence of his opinions in the
French army as was our own William Napier 20
years earlier in the British. In the following year
the French Revolution of 1830 broke out, and in
the three days of July the young officer of 21 (who
had months before distinguished himself in the
columns of the National as a writer), distinguished
himself also as a combatant in the attack on the
barrack of the Rue de Babylone. Charras soon
discovered that his contributions to a democratic
journal were as displeasing to his commanding offi-
cers as were those of Carrel ten years previously,
when he was a sous-lieutenant in the 29th Regiment
of the line, in garrison at Mort. Though Char-
ras had early enough obtained the grade of Captain
of Artillery, yet at that point his promotion
stopped, doubtless because of his political opinions.
He resolved therefore to get himself transferred
from the Artillery to the Infantry, with a view to
service in Africa. This was effected under the
War Ministry of Soult. After three years' service
in Africa Charras was made Chef de Bataillon.
After the events of 1848, when Francois Arago
held the portfolio of War, awaiting the arrival of
General Cavaignac (who had been appointed War
Minister) Charras was telegraphed for to Algiers
to act as Under Secretary, a post which he at once
accepted. It has been said that his conduct in this
capacity was harsh and inconsiderate, and that seve-
ral old officers of Royalist opinions were removed
from their command and mis en retraite. Some few
cases of this kind wholly indefensible certainly oc-
curred ; the blame, however, rested not with Char-
ras, but with his superior, Arago, who held the portfo-
lio of War till Cavaignac arrived. The personal de-
meanour of the Under Secretary, though not highly
polished' or courtly, was that of a frank and manly
soldier. Arago's manner, on the contrary, was
more trenchant and abrupt, and his views were more
unbending. Much of the blame that ought to have
fallen on the principal was transferred to the Under-
Secretary by the public. But the army and his
brother soldiers were well aware that the sin was
not Charras's. For a few days in May, 1848, Arago
had become so unpopular that Charras filled the
office at War till the arrival of Cavaignac on the 15th,
and during this time there was no complaint of any
injustice. If there had been, it is plain that the
department of the Puy de Dome would not have
returned Charras to the National Assembly by more
than 82,000 votes. While a member of the As-
sembly Charras gained the esteem of those who
differed from him by his directness and straight-
forwardness of purpose. He avowed himself a Re-
publican but a moderate Republican, of the school
of Cavaignac, who wished order to reign hand-in-
hand with liberty. Though a member of the Comite
de. Guerre in the National Assembly, Charras never
separated the duties of a soldier from those of a
good citizen. He opposed on Parliamentary grounds
the Ministry of the 20th of December, and he was
still more vigorously and more energetically opposed
to the policy of the Elysee. Such a man as this,
though only enjoying the rank of Colonel of Artil-
lery, was a formidable opponent ; and on the 2d of
December, 1851, Charras was arrested in his bed in
the Rue Duplot. He made, like his superior officer
Dedeau, a desperate resistance, and would have
used his pistols had they not been seized while he
was between sleep and wake. Charras felt the
attack on his personal liberty a crime not to be con-
doned. He declined to avail himself of the am-
nesty issued a couple of years ago, and refused to
return to a country from which, he contended, he
had been unjustly and illegally expelled. He occu-
pied the enforced leisure of his exile in writing a
history of the campaign of 1815—a work ably and,
on the whole, fairly executed. The talents and
attainments of Colonel Charras were considerable.
He was a master. in the science of his own pro-
fession, as is apparent from his criticisms on the
campaign of- Waterloo. He has exposed to demon-
stration the errors of Napoleon, and proved with
remarkable clearness that the charges of treachery,
diSobedience, and incompetence which the Emperor
would fix on his lieutenants are without a shadow of
foundation. This work, printed at Brussels, is so
popular, that in 1863 it had attained a fourth
edition, and a' fifth has been called for. Colonel
Charras had also written a work on the campaign
of 1813, which will be published by his widow.
• •THE "SPECTATOR" ON" THE MALT TAX.—
Liberals are apt to be a little unfair hi their argu-
ments for the malt tax. They will not :always reason
the matter out as a question .01 national policy but
treat it too frequently as one of class interests or as
a cry raised only for political purposes. I generally
find, said a Liberal member recently amidst the
laughter of his audience, " that those who oppose
the tax are Tories,". as if that had anything what-
ever to do with the matter in hand. We generally
find that those who oppose oppressive duties are
Whigs, but that is not reason sufficient to justify a
Tory government in keeping those duties on. Still
'less is it an argument to assert that the repeal of
the malt tax is only a farmer's question. If it were
it ought to be discussed just as much as a mer-
chant's question or a Manufa,cturer's, but it is not.
It is a question, for every voter in England outside
the ranks of Mr. Lawson's clientle, and for every
Liberal statesman,—for every voter, because if he
is' a sensible person he prefers sound beer to bad
wine and worse spirits ; for every Liberal statesman,
because the thing most needed at this moment is to
disabuse agriculturists of the notion that the Liberal
party is at heart hostile to them. That notion,utterly
false, corn-growing being just as much an industry
as cotton making, and a far more extensive one,
sways even so moderate a speaker as Lord John
Manners. In his speech at Leicester on Saturday
the member for North Leicestershire, who was try-
ing to be almost painfully fair, still allowed himself
to assert that the only chance of repeal was to con-
ciliate the urban population, who thought the tax
one beneficial to them. Such a belief divides the
country by lines which are not political but sectional,
and makes all improvement tardy by creating an
irritable suspicion in the mind of every farmer and
landholder that any reform proposed is secretly
directed against him. Even when Liberal members
repudiate such an idea, as Mr. Milner Gibson did at
Ashton, they are still very apt to treat the farmer's
demand with something of contempt, to offer argu-
ments they would never think of producing in
the House, to tell people, for example, as he did
his constituents, that as the malt tax was only 121
per cent. upon price and the tea duty was
33i per cent. the latter had the higher claim. The
President of the Board of Trade of all men must be
most certain that the amount of a tax is no test of
the injury it inflicts. There are trades which a 3 per
cent tax would kill, and trades, such, for instance,
as in quinine or saltpetre, on which five times that
rate would have scarcely a perceptible effect. A duty
levied on the sea-board costs the merchant only its
amonnt and the consequent loss of demand, an
excise costs those and the loss from interference in
manufacture besides. The first principle of all true
hnance is to get rid as far as the necessities of the
State will allow of every tax which seriously restricts
an industry, and the true point for those who ap-
prove this tax is to show that it does not restrict an
industry as much as some other impost To say
that it is not protective, as, for instance, the Scots-
man does, is very little to the purpose. The farmers
do not allege that it is protective in the sense of
protection against the foreigner, but affirm that all
other excise duties having terminated—except one
upon spirits which nobody wishes to abolish, which
we should probably keep up even if We did not want
the revenue—it is hard that their industry alone
should be subject to an undue restriction. That re-

striction, they urge, arises in this way. They have
land, in some counties a great deal of land, which
will grow rather poor barley. They cannot grow it
because while the duty is levied on quantity it is not
worth the maltster's while to malt any but the very
best sort of gfain". The duty, as they contend,
operates to create a monopoly in favour of the pro-
ducers of the very best barley, a monopoly not se-
cured by the quality of their article, but by the fact
that the malting constituents in good barley pack
into a smaller compass, that in fact the saving of
duty is a bonds granted by the State in favour of
the least bulky article. It is the old question of the
sugar duties. Suppose them made uniform, it would
only pay the importer to purchase the very best,
and colonies producing worse—i.e. more bulky
sugar—would in fact have a differential duty
levied against them. The malt duty is uniform,
and the uniformity acts as a differential duty
against poor barley. This is the first grievance,
and not merely the duty, which it is alleged with
truth is paid by the people who drink beer. If all
barley could be malted the duty would be a some-
what cumbrous tax upon all people not teetotallers,
but it prevents barley which ought to be malted
from being so consumed. The farmers therefore
urge that if the Exchequer can spare the money, or
any part of the money, they ought to be relieved, and
if they cannot be relieved altogether then the duty
should decreased pari passu with the income-tax
until it is gradually extinguished. Of course some
of them say things very unlike this, and talk bom-
bast, as irritated men generally and Mr.. Busfield
Ferrand always are apt to do, but we have endea-
voured to state the argument of the moderate sec-
tion, of the men who, like Lord John Manners, ad-
mit that the Treasury must be filled, and who do
not believe that anybody wants to crush them, but
who still think their reasonable freedom of cultiva-

tion is impaired by the tax. It will be necessary to
listen to them, for the single business in England
except cotton which is at this moment not sharing
in the general prosperity is agriculture. With
wheat selling through last year at an average of
38s. per quarter, farmers whose calculations and
leases are based on a minimum of 40s. are not likely
to look with complacency or even fairness on any
tax which interfere with their efforts to find some
paying substitute. Their difficulty may be all their
own fault, as the gentleman who informs the Times
that he has grown seven quarters per acre evidently
thinks ; or all the landlords' fault, for screwing
up rents and preserving game ; or all the black
beetles' fault, for anything that anybody's
blame has to do with the matter. There is the
scrape undeniably, that it is no use for the moment
to grow wheat on poor land, and that barley upon
such land is prohibited by revenue law, and the
farmer is perfectly certain to make strenuous efforts
to get out of it. He cannot get back protection,
even if he wanted it--and we are talking of sensible
men—but he can get rid of a differential duty
against poor land, and Liberals may rely on it he
will try. Their duty therefore as practical men is
to consider not whether the complaint comes from

farmers, or landlords, or labourers, or tailors, but
whether the plea for reduction is as, good as any
which other trades can produce. That is not quite
so certain as the farmers think, but it is much more
probable than some Liberal reasoners appear dis-
posed to allow. There are very few duties remain-
ing to be taken off, and among them not one except
that on spirits which presses close upon the springs
of an English industry. Neither tea, coffee, sugar,
nor tobacco are produced in these islands, and of
them only sugar can be said to be more beneficial
than beer. The ridiculous shilling stillleft upon corn
ought no doubt to go,but with wheat at presentprices
that necessary reduction can very well wait a little.
There are no indirect taxes of moment to abolish,
except fire insurance, and although reductions on
tea are popular it would not be quite safe to poll
England on the choice between that and beer.

THE " OBSERVER" ON THE METROPOLITAN OMNI

BUS MONOPOLY.—It would appear that nothing
short of fresh :legislation will bring the company
which monopolises the omnibus traffic of the metro-
polis to their senses, and secure justice to the public.
We stated in the Observer of last week that so fully
did the directors of the London General Omnibus

Company feel that the local travelling public of the
metropolis were at their mercy that, even should
there be a public show of any kind, or a slight
change in the weather, then they made it a pretext
for increasing their fares 25 and even 50 per cent.
Little could it be supposed when those observations
were penned that this company were likely to realise
the complaint against them within so short a period
as one week. It could hardly be supposed that in
consequence of a slight change of weather this com-
pany, who have the entire traffic of the metropolis
in their hands, would venture, instead of 50 per cent.,
to increase their fares to 100, and even, as we are
credibly informed,in some instances to 150 per cent.
Yet, nevertheless, it is true.'""lf the." London Ge-

neral" reduced as well as raised their fares in ac-
cordance with the indications of the barometer,
there would not be so much ground of complaint—
the public would not then be under the delusion
that they were about to indulge in a threepenny
ride, for which, at the:end of their journey, or dur-
ing their progress, they subsequently found out
they had to pay sixpence, and in some instances
even as much as ninepence, or in the latter instance
an increose of 200 per cent. All this would be un-
derstood, and the public becoming alive to it,would
regulate their travelling aecordingly. On most of
the lines, however, yesterday morning, the omnibus
company doubled their fares without giving the
slightest notice to the public. On the Waterloo line
of route, from the York and Albany, through Re-
gent-street and the Strand, the omnibuses were
filled, the start made, and the vehicle had proceeded
a short distance on the journey, when an intimation
was made that a rise in the fares had taken place by
the conductor putting his head in at the window,
and exclaiming, " Fares, sixpence, ladies and gen-
tlemen, for any distance." Many, on hearing this,
looking upon the demand as an imposition, stopped
the vehicle and alighted, preferring rather to walk
than submit to it. On the Hampstead-road, and
Camden-town and King's-cross lines the same sys-
tem was adopted during the early part of the
morning, but on the second journeys the conductors
were provided with a sheet of paper, which
was temporarily pasted inside, with the words
written thereon, " Sixpence any distance ; " and it
is asserted that during the first and second journeys,
knowing that the mass of riders were compelled to
be at business by a given time, as much as nine-
pence was charged for the ordinary threepenny and
fourpenny journey. A great amount of indignation
was manifested by the• public, and grave doubts
were expressed as to the legality of this proceeding.
We believe we are correct in asserting that, without
due notice, painted prominently on some portion of
the vehicle, such charges are not legal, and cannot
be enforced. However, legal or not legal, we are
quite certain in the long run that the London General
Omnibus Company will find their policy in this re-
spect a failure. Within a brief period the northern
suburbs of the metropolis will in common with
others form a portion of the great Metropolitan
Railway system ; and the Omnibus Company may
rest assured when the advantages of competition in
this respect is attained—a competition they cannot
by any possibility run off the road or get rid of—
their present treatment of the public will not be
forgotten.

The Opinion, Nationale publishes a communicated
note from the Ministry of the Interior, correcting a misin-
terpretation of certain passages in its comments on a pre-
vious note. That journal had erroneously insisted that the
city authorities were to be blamed for unnecessary delay in
settling the indemnity to be paid to the parties expropriated
to make the new Rue de Turbigo.
CENTRAL ASIA.—A letter from St. Petersburg,
dated 18th inst., notices as follows the sitting of the
Imperial Geographical Society on the 14th December, at
which very interesting news was given concerning the
countries of Central Asia. Mr. Struve road an account
of a voyage he had made in company with Mr. Potanine,
towards the sources of the Irtisch, to the Lake Zaissane,
and to the mountains of Tarbigataisk. According to the
information collected by the author, it appears that the
Kirghises and Tatars are inclined to form fixed settle-
ments, and have begun to found villages, one of which is
situated at about forty kilometres to the south of the
mountains of Tarbigataisk. After Mr. Struve, Rear-Ad-
miral Boutakoff gave an account of his exploration of the
Sir Darla. He has ascertained that this river is navigable
to a distance of 800 kilometres from Fort Perowsky,
which gives a total length of 1,500 navigable kilometres
from its mouth. It is still unknown if higher up the river
has a sufficient depth to carry boats. Rear Admiral Bouta-
koff has met as far as Fort Djoulck traces of canals and of
some towns, the existence of which dates as far back as
Tamerlane. The desert lands begin higher up. All the ter-
ritory comprised between the Forts Perowsky and Djoulck
is at present inhabited by a numerous and active popula-
tion, who occupy themselves with husbandry and breeding
cattle. The Kirghises dig water canals, drain the bogs,
construct dikes, and live on good terms with the Cossack
colony established near the fort. Every day there arrive
Kirghises and wandering Korakalpacks, who abandon
Khiva and put themselves under our protection. The Aca-
demical Gazette publishes the account of a voyage of explo-
ration of the river Soungoura, a tributary stream of the
Amoor. The steamer ascended the river as far as
Guirine, a Mantchouria town of 100,000 inhabitants, which
serves as a seat of residence to the governor of the country.
The borders of the Soungoura, which traverses Mant-
chouria from south to north, are well peopled, and the in-
habitants gather in crowds round the Russians to admire
their dress, and especially the steamer working its way
against the current by means of its paddle wheels. It results
from this first voyage that the Soungoura is navigable from
the Amoor as far as the confluence of the Nani-Outa, but
that further on there are shallows. It remains now to
ascertain if the IsTani-Outa, is not likewise navigable.

Vacancies, Promotions, and Appointment:.

in the Civil Service.

(From the Cell Service Gcizette.)
has bee°
COLONIAL-OFFICE.—Mr Henry Russell Heysham
appointed a clerk in the convict service, Western Australia:
INDIAN-OFFICE.—Mr. Hugh C. Briggs has been appointed
a temporary clerk.
THE ADMIRALTY.—Mr. Frederick Powell has been sr-
pointed a clerk in the victualling-yard, Malta.
• THE POST OFFICE.—Mr. Pellatt, postmaster of New:
castle-on-Tyne, has been appointed postmaster of Souar
am ton. Mr. Edward Macgowran has been appointed
clerk at Dumfries. Mr. Haverty has been promoted fro"
the old supplementary class to the second class of ell
sorting office, Dublin. Mr. M'Clintock has been promote
from the redundant establishment of clerks to the POI".
tionary class of clerks, sorting office, Dublin.
CUSTOMS.—Mr. John R. Blackford has been appointed;
clerk in the examiner's office, London. Mr. Maurice SYIII-
has been appointed a clerk in the examiner's office, tji Lond°ll;
Mr. Alfred J. Wood has been appointed a clerk in„.po
examiner's office, London. Mr. John H. Jeffery bas
appointed a clerk in the searcher's office, London. ,
Charles de V. Wood has been appointed an extra clef,'
London. Mr. Charles E. Sullivan has been apPoin.nte;io
clerk for general business, Liverpool. Mr. Thomas EL P/J.
has been appointed 18th clerk, Dublin. Mr. NlTilliaragr•
Massy, has been appointed 10th clerk, Southampton,
James Moway has been appointed sth clerk, Aberdeen-7i:
T. D. Thorpe, clerk of the second-class•in the lone ) „-z
London, has been promoted to be chief clerk in the
the
room. Mr. H. H. Hooper, clerk of the third-class ill t a
long room, has been promoted to be a clerk of the seck°not
r
class, long-room, London. Mr. W. H. Sharmand,
Olen a
the fourth-class, long-room, has been promoters
clerk of the third-class, long-room, London. Mr. 31•
son, clerk of the fifth-class, long-room, has been prorav-
to be a clerk of the fourth-class, long-room, London. wou
INLAND REVENUE.—Stamp and Tax Branch.-311'%are.
Lomas, committee clerk, has been appointed assistant
tary, Stamp and Taxes, vice Mr. C. Hay, retired.
Joseph Prendergast has been appointed committee c"'"'
vice Mr. L omas, promoted. Stsf-
Excisz BRANCH.—Mr. Henry Geo. Attfield, officer, er
ford division, Stafford collection, has been appointed,:li-
aminer. Mr. William Lindsay, officer, Glasgow, 12th 40
er
sion, Glasgow collection, has been appointed exavlillufirgl;
Mr. Wm. Tulse, officer, Edinburgh, 2d division, Eden
collection, has been appointed officer of Liverpool, 6th ''oer
sion, Liverpool colleetion. Mr. Wm. Long, dropPed gi3o.
Glasgow, 14th division, Glasgow collection, has been
pointed officer of Glasgow 7th division, Glasgow colic
~.,0614-0
Mr. Peter Fisher, officer, Glasgow, 13th division, 018704-
collection, has been appointed officer of Glasgow, 101 -pea
sion. Glasgow collection. Mr. John P.-Sibthorpe, dr°Po3
officer, Glasgow, 14th division, Glasgow collection,
been appointed officer of Glasgow, 13th division, allt6ce,
collection. Mr. Edward Pinnix, officer, Tenter 11144
Canterbury collection, has been appointed second cie
Brighton collection. •flointed
IRELAND.—Mr. Edward Murtagh has been arr,
third class clerk, secretary's department, Board of Klip.
Works, vice Mr. Octavius H. Braddell, transferred t°
countant's Department.