The Sun.
London, England, 1865-02-13 00:00:00

SHIPPING INTELLIGENCE—This day

LONDON', Feb." 13.—Wind this day at noon—North-
Easterly; moderate breeze and cloudy weather, with

snow.
PORTSMOUTH, Feb. 12.—Wind S.W.—Arried—Her
Majesty's ship Gvyser, from Gibraltar; Northumberland,
from Bombay.
DARTMOUTH, Feb. 12.—Wind N.E.—Arrived—San Jose
from St. Jago do Cuba.
OFF PORTSMOUTH, Jan. 11.—Arrived—Simda, from
London for Moreton Bay.
BRISTOL, Feb. 11.—Wind S.E.—Arrived—Sir George
Seymour, from Mauritius.
FALMOUTH, Feb. 12.—Wind N.W.—Arrived—Lizzie,
from Cardiff for Warsaw, with loss of bulwarks and other
damage.

CARDIFF, Feb. 12.—Wind S.E.—Sailed—Adventure,
for St. Thomas.
SWANSEA, Feb. 12.—Wind S.E.—Sailed—Gamina., for
Valparaiso.

(BY MAGNETIC TELEGRAPH.)
GRAVESEND, Monday Morning.
Arrived, Feb. 12.—Friar, from Holmstadt.
DEAL, Monday Morning.
Sailed—Randolph, for London, in tow; The Forester,
for the River, to wait the breaking up of the ice.

MR. STANFIELD'S contribution to the forthcom-
ing Royal Academy will be a large picture of the Bass
Rock, in the Firth of Forth, with 'lantallon Castle in the
distance.
A BUST OF SCRIBE, by Mdlle. Fanny Davesne,
has been placed in thefoyer of the Opera Comique.
Mr. BALFE is in London, busy, we are told, over
his newest opera. If what we have heard has any foun-
dation, this is a work which the world may well expect
with more than common eagerness.—Athenxum.
PICKWICK, as the product of high animal spirits
in a young genius.—Mr. Dickens has, in the opinion
of most people, never again reached the excellence of this
very early performance. The peculiar charm of " Pick-
wick" is obviously of a nature only to be supplied in a
man's youth. The observation of external circumstances,
and especially of odd and whimsical circumstances, is un-
doubtedly of wonderful keenness. But this alone goes a
very short way. It communicates a certain superficial
brillliance to the story, but it does not penetrate deeply
enough to produce a sense of really good workmanship.
The book will not, in this respect, stand the test
of close inspection. We become too quickly aware
that the inferior characters are mere names of cer-
tain personified absurdities, and even the inimitable Sam
Weller begins to fade into a shadowy unsubstantial form
when too rigorously investigated. The charm of which we
speak is due simply to exuberant animal spirits, associated
with great natural powers of humour. No man could be
in the state of intellectual exhiliration necessary for writing
after the fashion of " Pickwick" after he was thirty. He
might possess more delicate humour, and have a much
wider stock of observation; but the unflagging vigour
which converted everything that met his eyes into matter
for inextinguishable laughter could hardly be expected to
survive. An imitation of the book would resemble the
contortions of an old gentleman trying to join in the games
Of a schoolboy.—Saturday Review.
Mr. BEALE, M.P.—A handsome testimonial, con-
sisting of a service of plate the value of 1,000 guineas, and
a full-length portrait by Mr. Lucas, was presented to Mr.
Beale, M.P., last week by the shareholders in the Midland
Railway upon that gentleman's retirement from the chair-
manship of the board of directors, over whom he has pre-
sided for a period of 20 years. The presentation took place
at the Midland Hotel, Derby, at a dinner at which Mr.
Bass, M.P., Sir Joseph Paxton, M.P., and other local cele-
brities were present. Mr. Beale acknowledged the com-
pliment paid to him in a few well-expressed observations,
and the health of the artist, Mr. Lucas, having been pro-
posed by Sir Joseph Paxton, M.P., was duly honoured.
THE WEATHER IN EDINBURGH.—A shhaasr p
hadf the
which
has prevailed during the past few days,
effect of covering the lochs with a thick coating of ice.
Duddingston and the other sheets of water in the vicinity
of the city were on Friday visited by large numbers of
people, who enjoyed the recreations of skating and curling.
The ice, although somewhat rough in places, was in very
good condition, and there was only a amall portion of it
marked off as dangerous. The frost showed signs of giving
way on Friday night.—Seetsman.

inquiry—consisting of
d
GeTneHraEl Sir Alexander court
Woodford,
of
r, G.C.8., Colonel of the
W
Scots Fusilier Guards, president; Colonel de Bathe, Scots
o
Fusilier Guards ; Colonel Wynyard, Grenadier Guards ;
Colonel Stephenson, Scots Fusilier Guards ; and Colonel
Prince Edward of Saxo Weimar, Grenadier Guards—has
taesnsesmntbleodlotnl Dawkins,oeinvestigate of thecertain disputes in which Lieu-
-CColdstream Guards, is in
conflict with Lord Frederick Paulet, commanding the
Brigade of Guardtr—Armyand Navy Gazette.

ARTEMUS WARD'S SPEECH AS TO WHETHER THE
NEGRO IS WORTH FIGHTING FOR :--" Feller Sitter-
suns,—The African may be our brother. Severil hily
rispectable gentlemen and some talented females tell us so,
and for argyment sake i might be injoosed to grant it, tho'
i don't beleeve it myself. But the African isn't our sister
and wife unkle. He isn't severil of our brothers and fust
wife's relations. He isn't our grandfather and grate grand-
father and our aunt in the country. Scarcely—and yet nu-
meris persons would have us think so. It's troo he runs Con-
gress and severil others grossery's, but he ain't everybody.
But
w we'vee got
g tohe's got us, and how
aH or,astaorrful
noosance
. Perhaps
he isn't to blame for it. P'raps he was created for some
o nthe do about African,
i t or he
wise purpis, like the measles and New England rum, but
it's mity hard to see it. At any rate he is here, and as I
stated to Mr. What-is-it, it's a pity he coodent go off some-
whores quietly by hisself, whero be could watt red weskits
and speckled neckties, and gratify his ambition in veils
interestin wayse without havin a eternal fuss up about
him. Perhaps I'm bearing down too hard on Cully."
CHESS MATCH BY ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH.—The
committee of the St. James's Chess Club have completed
their arrangements for playing a chess match by electric
telegraph between London and Dublin. The London
players will meet on Wednesday evening, Feb. 22, at their
club-rooms, 20, King-street, St. James's. The wire will be
brought into the club-rooms, both in London and Dublin.
Twelve separate games will be played simultaneously.
THE Loss OF THE BOMBAY.—The Court reassem-
bled on Saturday morning at 9.30. A number of witnesses
were examined, and all the evidence given was merely cor-
roborative of that already adduced. The Court again ad-
journed at 5 p.m. till this morning at 9.30.