The Sun.
London, England, 1862-09-22 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 22, 1862.

L'NEs of EMINENT STATESMEN, by
THOS. HOOD, Esq., in FIIN, every week.

Row Ready, handsomely bound in Magenta cloth, gilt, price
4s. 6d. ; post free, 55., the
SECOND half-yearly VOLUME of FUN, with
numerous Engravings by talented artists, and humor-
ous Articles by the following distinguished writers :
W. Bailey, Esq. W. S. Gilbert, Esq.
W.. Barber, Esq. IT. Hood, Esq.
E. L. Blanch ,rd, Esq. T. S. Jerrold, Esq.
G. W. Bridge man, Esq.
W. J. Prowse, Esq.
F. C. Burnand, Esq. Godfrey Turner, Es
H. J. Byron, Esq. 1 !cc., &c., &c. q.
Office, 80, Fleet street, London.

CRYSTAL PALACE. -TO - MORROW
(Tuesday.}--STRA-NGE'S GREAT SHILLING FETE.—Doors will be open from EIGHT in the morning.
The Palace will be brilliantly lighted in the evening, aflord-
ing ample time for departure.—One Shilling.

C RYSTAL PALACE.-ARRANGEMENTS
TO-MORROW (Tuesday). Open at EIGHT.
Orchestral Band at
Band of the Hon. Artillery Company at
The Etoile Family at 1.15
The Rocky Mountain Wonders at
Band of the London Irish R.V C. at ...... 2.45
Coxweil's Balloon Ascent at
Blondin over the Fountains at
All the Great Fountains at
Leotard in the Centre Transept at
Orchestral Band at 5.30
Great Organ i'erformanoe at
Admission to all, One Shilling ; Children, Sixpence.

.• For full particulars of amusements see first page.
ROYAL ENGLISH OPERA, COVENT-GARDEN,
This Evening, SONNAMBULA.

Commence at 8.

THEATRE-ROYAL, DRURY-LANE.
'This Evening:, THE ROUGH DIAMOND. After which,
THE RELIEF OF LUCKNOW. To conclude with THE
ARABS OF THE DESERT. A Troupe of the Beni-Zoug-
Zoug. Commence at 7.

THEATRE-ROYAL, HAYMARKET.
This Evening, THE WIFE'S PORTRAIT. Alter which,
OUR AMERICAN COUSIN. With CELOS Y'CALIA.
And MY HUSBAND'S GHOST.

Commence at 7.

NEW TREATRE-ROYAL, ADELPHI
r. This E„ning, THE FLOWERS OF THE FOREST.
To be followed by_ONE TOUCH OF NATURE. And THE
13111,LLING DAY.

Commence at 7.

ROYAL PRINCESS'S THEATRE.
T his Evenh2K.,_THE LOST LETTER. After which, at a
quarter to 8, ALNG HENRY VIII. With THE TWO
p(),LTS, Commence at 7.

ROYAL LYCEUM THEATRE.
This Evening, PEEP O'DAY. Followed by KILLAR-
I KEY. Conclude with THE COLLEEN BAWN SETTLED
AT LAST, Commence at 7,

ASTLEY'S ROYAL AMPHITHEATRE.
This Evening, MAZEPPA. Brilliant Scenes in the Circle,
Concluding with a Comic Ballet.
Comlnence at 7.

MR. and MRS. CHARLES MATHEWS "AT
ROME," at Her Majesty's Concert Room, Haymarket, This
Evening. Commence at 8.

W. S. WOODIN'S CABINET OF CURIOSITIES,
Polygraphic Hall, King William-street, Charing-cross.
Commence at 8.

ARGYLL ROOMS, Great Windmill-street, Hay-
market. Open every evening for Promenade and Dancing.

CANTERBURY HALL.—EVERY EVENING.—
eteck el, the great Trapeze performer—Grand Operatic Selec-
tion a usual —Unsworth, Eugene, and Duley, the great comic
trim, &c.

Commence at 7.

THE OXFORD, 6, OXFORD-STREET, EVERY
xvEAlNG.—Grand Operatic Selections, with full band and
chorus.--The comic performance of MlBB Caroline Parkes—
;Steckel on the Flying Trapeze—The Ethiopian oddities of
Romney, Newcomb, &c.

Commence at 7.

NOTICE.

All remittances are, henceforth, to be made to
Mr. JOHN CHAPLIN, at The Sun office, 112,
Strand, who has been appointed, by the Lord
Chancellor, Receiver and Manager of The Sun
newspaper, and the outstanding debts due in
respect thereof.

HIGH WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE.
THIS DAY.--;horning, 12h. 46m.—Afternoon, lh. 2m.
To-woßaow.-Morning, lh. 23m.—Afternoon, lh. 41m.

We have long had Sea Island cotton—no small
hope is now ex.ci•ced that we shall have Sea Cotton.
If the neighb o'arhood of the sea so much improved
the fibre of the land plant, what are we not to
expect frorri the fibres of plants rooted beneath its
surface. The secret is now disclosed, for the benefit
of all venom it may concern, that a plant grows at
the bottom of our shallow seas, and is thrown
ashiore by cartloads after a gale, which abounds in
a delicate, almost si.ky fibre. So much is abso-
-1 utely certain. It only remains to be seen whether
the fibre can by chemical and mechanical processes
bo cheaply brought to the state in which it will be
serviceable in our cotton mills.

The plant itself is one, of course, well known to
all residents on the coast, and to most visitors. It
is so common-looking a weed that, probably, most
persona who patrol the shores for pleasure would
pass it by as tangled rubbish, in comparison with
movi.e interesting seaweeds. The Zostera Marina
would scarcely interest, indeed, any one but
the botanist, who would notice its belonging
to a Lineman Class of which our island
furnishes but few specimens ; and its be-
ing a true flowering plant, though growing
at the bottom of salt water. When the announce-
ment was made that it could be furnished in any
quantity without displacing any agricultural pro-
duct, we naturally asked whether it was to be grown
on heaths or sandbanks. We certainly did not
think of the old Greek poet's " barren see or its
bottom, as likely to be the field whence our spinning
jennies and looms were to be supplied. The moat
sceptical may acknowledge that there " is something
in it.'' The fibre is there. The paper maker has
tested that. He has got rid of the gelatinous parts
by boiling in alkali, and has proved that he can mix
it with rags and reduce it to pulp, and give us
paper from it much superior to what
straw can furnish. He can buy it, we
believe, at about £4 per ton, so that
if it cost .E5O per ton to bring it to the state in
which it could be used r cotton, it would cost
only sixpence per pound for its manufacture. Of
course the probability is, that, if available at all,
it will cost but a small part of that sum, and
what may be termed natural processes, costing
next to nothing, as in the case of flax, would be
resorted to, as the regular means of getting rid
of the mucilaginous matter.
To Mr. HENRY HAREEN belongs one honour
-Which even want of success cannot deprive him
of—that of patriotism. Competent persons, who
have the material, wished him to reserve to himself
a small royalty at least. But he felt, from the be-
ginning, more desire to be a public benefactor than
to make a fortune of his discovery. Six months,
at least, must have passed away before he wild
have brought his discovery into any available form,
through a patent , by throwing it open to the
--world, he brings to hear agora the raw
material at once all the chemical and mechanical
skill of the nation, indeed of all nations. With
regard to the employment of the operatives in )
collecting this sea grass, we may admire the
benevolent zeal and confidence of Mr. HARBEN,
but practical men. will wait a little while first, to see
whether his expectations can be realized. When we
have seen a few hales of this spa cotton prepared,
spun, wovEn, dyed, and exhibited in the market,
and hardly before then, shell We have the great
rush to the shore. The mere collecting could easily
be performed, indeed, by the agricultural pope.,
lation already on the coast, hut probably some
first processes will be needed, which could be better
done by hands accustomed to nianufacturing pro-
great
ousel. Perhaps the dyers. who =Wit in

numbers be out of work, would be found very apt
for such an employment.

It is too early yet to indulge in the pleasant
visions which will arise to the mind from the bare
probability of so grand a discovery as a new textile
raw material, of no value at present except to the
farmers, who cart it away as manure. Indepen-
dence of America, the waning of its horrid cotton-
planting slavery, first into the milder form of agri-
cultural slavery, and ultimately its abolition ; at
the same time, profitable employment for thousands
of freemen at home in a perfectly new line--and,
above all, the immediate relief of the distressed dis-
tricts, and dispelling of the dark cloud on which
the whole nation looks with such dismay ;—such
hopes will arise at once, and make us unwilling to
doubt that they are speedily to become realities.
We shall, however, soon know the truth. The
interests at stake are so vast, the concern so national,
and the numbers of competent investigators so
many, that but very few weeks will elapse before
we shall know whether English sea cotton be a
dream or a reality.

Mr. TAYLOR'S letter from Spezzia, under date
the 17th instant, will be read with the profoundest
interest, It is more circumstantial than any ac-
count we have yet received as to the condition of
GARIBALDI at Varignano. It gives us more parti-
culars than we have been able to obtain from any
previous eyewitness, both as to the General him-
self and as to his surroundings. In many respects
it cannot but be looked upon as highly satisfactory.
After the gloomy impression produced by the frag-
mentary tidings flashed across the Channel by the
continental telegraph from time to time—giving
us news, now that the Hero was worse,
now that there was fever at one moment
that amputation appeared to be all but inevit-
able, at another that the • healing of the
wound must be very slow and at the best but
partial, leaving the illustrious patient probably
crippled for life : more even than all this—after the
sinister silence so long maintained as to the pro-
gress made, if indeed there was any progress
making at all by the sufferer—it is positivel re-
freshing to read the full, true, and parti-
cular account written from Spezzia itself,
by a member of the British House of Com-
mons. Referring to his recent visit to
GARIBALDI'S apartment, Mr. TAYLOR it will
be remarked, expressly says, " I felt a
want to put a despot there who should rule with a
firm hand and with unseen and unheard authority.
The main elements, however, of interest and affec-
tion are evidently there, and probably to hardly any
other man could the little over-much of bustle be so
innocuous. His calm, his wonderful serenity of
demeanour seem not to heed, still less to be excited
by the surroundings." And, later on, he adds, "I
have already given you in two words the impres-
sion produced at the moment, and returning after-
wards—(wonderful serenity), calm, courteous, and
tranquil; thankful for the least service ren-
dered by any of his attendants, an utter ab-
sence of anything like the peevishness of a
suffering man." This, indeed, is only what we
might very well have been certain of,
Yet, convinced of this, it is satisfactory to learn that
our convictions as to the serenity of the sufferer
have been justified, and more than justified, by his
bearing throughout. Of this we had had but a
glimmering previously. Borne through the crowd
of lookers on at Scylla, and again at Spezzia, upon a
litter, every jolt of which must have been almost in-
expressible torture to him, from the very nature of
the principal wound by which he has been prostrated
—GARIBALDI was described as looking about him
without uttering a. groan, but ever bearing a
smile upon his uncomplaining lips. We now
have this explicit assurance of Mr. TAYLOR'S
from his own personal observation of the bear-
ing of the sufferer,' that his equanimity has
been nobly maintained in this way, up to the
very last. Perhaps nothing that occurred during
the course of this interview between the Italian
Hero and his English visitor possesses greater in-
terest for us all than the following—thus related
by Mr. TAYLOR: " I expressed in a few words the
profound sympathy we all feel for and with him,
and which I felt justified in saying was shared by
all England. He thanked me warmly, or rather
earnestly, and said it was not the first time he had
had to express his thanks to my country." Our
country, Yes ! Our Government, No ! It is a theme
upon which we hardly care to descant, so little
cause have we in this matter for exultation. Con-
sidering the position occupied by England among
the fist of the Great Powers of Europe, it is won-
derful, when we come to think of it, how very little,
if anything at all, has been done by her agency, mi-

ary, naval, or diplomatic, towards forwarding the
the great and still incomplete work of Italian Re-
generation. Whenever an objection of this kind
is hinted at, we are instantly reminded of course of
the great and glorious principle of Non-intervention.
An admirable principle no doubt in itself, and if
freely applied to any country working out its own
political emancipation. But literally and absolutely
inapplicable even as a phrase when coupled with
efforts of Italy—when spoken of at any moment
from first to last in connection with the Italian
War of Independence. Non-intervention, forsooth
—in Italy! When of late years, has it been wit-
nessed in application to the Roman peninsula ?
Now ?—when the French Army of Occupation
in the very centre of Italy is a perpetual demonstra-
tion to the world that there is " Intervention !"
That there is and has been all along intervention
there, we know,—while we have been babbling
thus all the time complacently about non-
intervention ! Again, at the very commence-
ment of the War of Independence, three years
ago, when the French EMPEROR and hie marshals
magnificent army of
took that Emancipation across
the frontiers, first of all of France, and afterwards
of Piedmont, to wrest Lombardy, at least, if
nothing else than Lombardy, from the grasp of
Austria—was that Non-Intervention ? And with-
out that armed intervention on the part
of
France (no matter what the selfish arriere
pensee of the EMPEROR in acting thus in
order to give himself the excuse of stealing from the
Crown of Savoy that foremost jewel of its sove-
reignty, and together with that glittering gem of
Savoy its radiant pendant of Nice)—without that
armed intervention on the part of France, it is
difficult to imagine that Lombardy could at this
moment have been, as it is, free from the Austrian
yoke. No, when once it can be literally and actually
applied to Italy—.
now that these preliminary labours
have been got through—when once it has, in simple
matter of fact and in
serious sober earnest, been
applied to Italy, then let us talk as much as we
like about the blessedness of non-intervention. Not
before ! Not while the liberation of Lombardy from
the Germans is proof positive before our view that
good can come of armed intervention, Not unmiti-
gated good, it is true—as Nice and Savoy still only
painfully demonstrate ; but good at any rate of a
practical kind—good of some sort. Again, let us
no longer boast of the beneficent results of the
application of the principle of non-intervention
to Italy—so long as the French troops are there in
the very middle of Italy, as demonstrative of the
tact that there is still intervention there, and!

not at all this boasted boon for Italy of non-inter,

vention.

Reverting to a consideration of the actual bodily
plight of GARIBALDI—Mr. TAYLOR'S account of
the nature and condition of the principal wound
from which the Hero is still suffering, and likely
to suffer yet for some considerable time to come,
is about the very best description we have been
enabled to obtain. " The injury," he says,
" consists of a gun shot wound, half an
inch in length over the internal ankle, which has
been broken off and the joint laid open. Some por-
tion of the garments were driven into the wound,
but the ball did not enter. The wound is free from
inflammation, and the patient is as regards his
general health in a not unsatisfactory condition.
The great necessity is perfect quiet. There have
been rumours of an intention on the part of the
Government to move him. It can be but foolish
rumour. There can be no such intention. It
would be murder. Months must elapse before the
injury can be cured, and there is fear that there
may remain a stiff joint. The appearance of the
wound is healthy, and the suppuration is also free
and satisfactory. His condition is a little under the
mark, and I think Mr. PARTRIDGE will gradually
try if he cannot stand a more generous diet. There
has been no bleeding, which is a mercy ; merely the
application of leeches." That at least is a consola-
tion—the knowledge, for certain, that GARIBALDI
has not once been tampered with by the lancet of a
single Italian physician. It gives us hope, that with
rest and judicious treatment, the Great Man—not
the less Great because of his recent defeat, arising
out of so egregious a Blunder—may yet be raised
up once more to health and strength from his pre-
sent couch of sadness and of suffering.

Mr. WALTER, of Bearwood, and Mr. DISRAELI,
of Hughenden Manor (sixth time knight of the
shire) have a standing quarrel. They cannot agree
on having prize labourers, as well as prize pigs, at
agricultural shows. We quite agree with Mr.
WALTER; we observe, indeed, that Mr.
DISRAELI in his last advent at Buckingham, as
"sixth time knight of the shire," half apologized
for his prize HODGE, by deducing the origin of the
prize from days when labourers were in a very
different position. But as the hon. gentleman's
theory of our national greatness is, that we com-
bine " tradition and progress" —he would
not give up the HODGE of tradition,
while he would tolerate the HODGE of pro-
gress. Mr. WALTER on this point would rather
sing with Dr. CHARLES MACKAY—

" Old opinion,, rags and tatters,
Get you gone, get you gone."
He may have prizes for skill in anything agricul-
tural—ploughing, stacking, thatching—what you
please, but not for long service and sparing the
parish rates. Such virtues, he thinks, ought to
bring their own reward, and a reward, too, from
the master to whom they were actually rendered.
Mr. WALTER, however, has taught the agricul-
tural labourer where he may look for a prize more
worthy of him. He has had a grand trial of steam
ploughs for the benefit of the farmers of Berkshire
on his own farm at Briarwood. Mr. FOWLER and
Mr. HOWARD, in amicable competition, exhibited
their ploughs in full work to the Berkshire
sons of the soil, and, we may be sure, gave them full
satisfaction. No one ventured to decide between
the friendly rivals, but all agreed to praise and toast
them. Amongst other topics, the bearing of ma-
chinery on labour was of course one, and Mr. FOW-
LER pointed out that, whereas the difference in
wages of a first-class and inferior labourer where
steam was not used, was but three shillings, where
steam thrashing machines and ploughs were used,
it was as much as twelve shillings. Here, then, is
the deserved prize for the rural labourer. If he be
really a superior man, he may double his wages by
working in compiny with steam. It is, indeed, a
splendid change within the memory of many of us
—the labourers so ignorant and their numbers so
great, that they burned thrashing machines
to protect themselves from their competition,
and now the same class, not more than sufficiently
numerous to till the land, hardly numerous enough
to harvest the crops, and looking up to double
wages through the same grand agent which has
made our manufacturers and manufacturing wages
what they are.

Nothing, indeed, can raise the agricultural peasant
but to make his task increasingly one demanding
skill as well as physical strength. The latter we
can always have even cheaper from the animals we
employ—as the rule, it is the skilled labour, like
skill in everything else, which must gain the reward.
As railroads permeate the country, as the cultiva-
tion of land is carried on by the aid of science and
ingenious machinery, so will the poor labourer, even
the Dorsetshire labourer, rise from the rank of a
drudge to that of a self-respecting workman. Steam
ploughing is the most important of the mechanical
operations yet to become universal on the farm. On
a large part of the land of England, the power to
plough it rapidly at the right moment, will almost
make the difference between a crop and no crop.
On clay lands it will soon become second to the
grand essential of draining only. Between the two,
many of the lands most uncertain at present, but
most productive when ail things go well, will be
capable of cultivation with almost as much certainty
as the more manageable soils.

Our steam plough engineers are men, however,
of world wide views. They aim not only to
double, on the average of years, the produce of
our own cold clays, but to supersede the hoa of
the slave, and to drive slavery out of the tropics.
Mr. FOWLER mentions South Australia, Egypt,
Cuba, South Americ , and Porto Rico, as places
whither he has sent his mactlines to triumph in
most instances over the rudest applications of
labour. So surely as they succeed there, and
who can doubt their success, the " great question
of negro slavery, he says, must feel the effect of
of steam cultivation." Where the negro
worked three inches deep, the steam plough,
at iar less cost, would work a foot
deep ; and "so surely as the sun
would rise to-morrow, so surely must slavery suc-
cumb before the more mighty but silent change
which this application of mechanical skill will
effect." Mr. FOWLER is quite right in his view
that slavery and iv telligent labour can never har-
monise, but we fear the time will be long before
the planters of South America will prefer the steam
plough to the negro, although the former would
need no fugitive slave law, and would serve them
better ; love of tyranny, more than profit, upholds
slavery.
The Q

_ne ,ueen WWI return to England about the
middle of October, and take up her residence at Osborne,
where she will remain until the second week of December,
after which her Majesty will go to Windsor Castle, and
stay there in strict privacy for about ten days, and then
return to Osborne, where the Queen intends to spend
her
Christmas. The prince of Wales will also spend his
Christmas in England.--Court Journal.
We understand it is her Majesty's intention to
carry on the model farm at Frogrnore, which was built
under the directions of the late Prince Consort, and to give
up the Royal farms at Bagshot ; also the Flemish and Nor
folk farms in Windsor Great Park.—Court Journal.
Mr. Richard Cobden, M.P., arrived ;al Aberdeenon Thursday afternoon, accompanied by Mrs. and Miss
Cobden, and left on Friday
morning for Braemar,
'I he Garden Oracle ; or Economic Year Booßraemar,
is announced by the Messrs. Groombriqge for publication
early in October. It is edited, as befnre, by Mr, Shirley
Hibbard, F,B,H,S.

LA EST NEWS.

THE CALCUTTA AND CHINA MAILS.

ALEXANDRIA, SEPT. 20.

The Vectis and Ripen, with the above mails,
left this morning for Marseilles and Southampton

respectively.

The Ripon may be expected at Southampton
about the 3d of October.

The Nemesis brought the mails to Suez, arriv-
ing there on the 18th inst.
The Colombo, with the London mail of the 4th-
-10,11 inst., left Suez on the 19th for Calcutta.

The letters from Frankfort give the particulars of
the Four per Cent. Loan of 7,200,000 florins, just
contracted by the Duchy of Nassau with the house
of Rothschild. They also mention that a public
produce market for grain, oil, spirits, &c., has been
opened at Frankfort, which it is thought will prove
successful. Former attempts have failed, but as
Austria and Hungary are now brought within easy
reach by railways the belief is that Frankfort will
be a very convenient depot between those countries
and Holland, France, and England. The under-
taking has been entirely created by the individual
exertions of private capitalists, the English fashion
of dispensing as much as possible with Government
interference in such matters having, it is said, com-
menced making some progress even in Germany.
SYMPATHY WITH GARIBALDI.—A public meet-
ing was held at Great Harwood on Thursday evening, to
consider the propriety of adopting petitions and memorials
relative to the application for the release of General Gari-
baldi. Mr. J. J. Rippon, of Oakenshaw, occupied the
chair. A memorial was adopted to " His Most Excellent
Majesty Victor Emmanuel,' praying him to immediately
pardon Garibaldi and all alleged offenders against the
Italian Government. A memorial to Earl Russell, praying
his lordship to use his influence to put an end to the French
occupation of Rome, was also adopted.
Mr. Balfe, the most popular of English com-
posers, is for the moment in Paris. His celebrated opera of
" The Bohemian Girl," which has been given all the sea-
son in Rouen with immense applause, is in preparation at
the New Lyrique Theatre. It seems strange that this
work, a standing favourite in Germany for years past,
should still be unknown in Paris.
THE NEW POACHING ACT —The first case that
has been dealt with in this county under the provisions of
the new Act of Parliament passed for the prei'ention of
poaching, was heard at Bingham petty sessions last week,
before Mr. Martin and Mr. Tayler. Two police officers
having good cause to suspect that game which had been un-
lawfully obtained was being carried in the cart of one Gib-
son, of Hawkesworth, carrier, on Saturday, the 6th inst.,
stopped at Saxondale cross-road, about 7 in the morning,
and asked permission to search it, which was refused, the
driver applying the whipto the horse, and resolutely proceed-
ing. The cart was, however, stopped, one of the police
holding the horse's head whilst the other commenced un-
fastening a rope which secured some hampers. Gibson denied
having game in his cart, and drew the rope violently out of
the hands of the policeman. He then struck the horse with
his whip to urge him forward, though the other policeman
had hold of the bridle. Search, as a matter of course, was
effected, when six hares were discovered, and a notorious
poacher named Tom Richards, a passenger. Gibson, on
being questioned as to whom the game belonged, pr tested
his ignorance, but eventually said, "To Richards," who
found it useless to deny it. The game was seized, and
summonses issued for both parties to appear. Richards,
upon whom service was made personally, never came
into court, though he was seen in Bingham on the
morning of hearing. The carrier Gibson was present to
an- wer the charge of resisting the police in the discharge
of their duty, which was clearly proved, and he was fined
£l, and the costs, 12s. Richards, against whom four cot,-
victions were recorded for poaching, and six for other
offences, was sentenced to pay the sum of £5, and in default
of payment to undergo two months' imprisonment with
hard labour. As the new act expresses that offenders
" shall pay any sum not exceeding five pounds," and is silent
as to the costs of conviction, the magistrates did not think
they were justified in imposing the penalty of £5 exclusive
of them ; the term of imprisonment would therefore be only
two months, according to the first and second William IV.
chapter 32, sec. xxxviii., to which the new act refers. The
game was directed by the justices, in writing, to be sold,
and the proceeds of sale to be paid to the treasurer of the
county.--. Nottingham Journal.
A RAM FOR THE AMERICAN CONFEDERATE GO-
VERNMENT.—It would seem, judging from the contracts
now in the hands of the shipbuilders and iron- plate manu-
facturers of this country, that the Confederate Government
is exhibiting as much energy and resolution in the creation
of an iron-clad fleet as it has manifested in the series of
battles which have thrown the army of the Potomac, de-
feated and broken, behind the shelter of the defences of
Washington. Besides the commissions committed to other
shipbuilders by the Southern Confederacy, and which are
being pushed forward with all possible despatch, a large
iron-plated ram is now being constructed on the Mersey,
without much attempt at concealment. We withhold the
name of the builder tor prudential rea ons ; but the fact is
without question, and the rem, from the high character of
her builder, will be amost formidable opponent when equip-
ped for sea ; and, should the blockade of the Southern coast
not terminate before her arrival before ( harleston, she will
attempt to pass the Federal cruisers with every chance of
impunity. In addition to this ram, and other contracts heal
by our shipbuilders—which, by the way, are highly flatter-
ing to their reputation, and which hitherto have been finan-
cially discharged in each instance (when completed) with
scrupulous punctuality—a vessel now in the Erunswick dock,
the name f which we do not give for obvious reasons, has a
cargo consisting principally of iron plates on board, ready to
fasten on the sides of southern vessels waiting their arrival
out at Charleston. The owners of this vessel are imbued
with Southern sentiments ; but, whether or not, we are too
neutral in the gigantic conflict raging across the Atlantic to
allude too pointedly to this transaction. It seems very clear

from the present vigorous conduct of the Southern Confed-

eracy, that the South, at no distant period, will possess an
iron-clad fleet capable of copit:g as successfully with that of
the North as its armies have triumphantly met those of the
Federal Government, if but tha same dashing spirits that
lead the armies of the South can be found to command it.

Of one thing, however, we think we can speak with cer-
tainty, and that is, that in the vessels built on the Mersey
the South will have an advantage over the Federals in
strength of build, equipment, and invulnerability. The
rest their own courage will do, and we may yet hear of the

gallant performance of more than one No. 290 before the
announcement of peace gladdens the heart of all 'Europe.
At all events, a few such rams as the one now building on
the Mersey would make the raising of the Southern blockade
an easy task.—Liverpool Daily Post.

STRANGE, IF TRUE.—Yesterday evening a young
lad came to the General Hospital, and there gave informa.
tion of a somewhat singulgr fact. He stated that when going
into an omnibus running t o the Botanic Garden, he observed
the finger of a person fastened about the handle of the 'bus.
He took it fr m its place, wrapped it in a piece of paper,
and gave it to the person in charge of the °whittle. The
finger had upon it a ring, set with a stone,—Belfast Newt-
Letter. [The same journal, in its issue of Friday, states
that this singular affair has been explained. It says :—"
gentleman from Newtownards was a passer get on the 'bus,
and, in getting out, he caught hold of a part of the door,
which took off his finger above the first joint, and upon it
was a gold ring. The gentleman was so weak and faint
that he left without informing any one of the accident, and
ran to the establishment of Dr. Smith, Castle-place, where
the wounded finger was dressed. He then proceeded by the
first Train to his residence at Newtownards, and has not
since returned to claim his property, finger included.]
NOXIOUS VAPOURS.—Notwithstanding the very
manifest evils produced by the vapours evolved in the
manufactures we have named, to timber, orchards, farms,
and property generally in the immediate vicinity, the law
affords an exceedingly imperfect protection co the individuals
whose property may be so injured, and does not provide at
all for the compulsory control of the nuisance. With few
exceptions, one of these manufactures might be est Wished
in the midst of any district, to the utter ruin of the neigh-
bouring property, and yet the holders of such property have
scarcely a remedy. The legal processes for the recovery
of damages are se doubtftil, the requirements of the law
for the determination of the immediate source of the da-
mages so calculated to foil the object of a suit and cover the
offender, and the result, if favourable, so incomtnensurate
as a rule with the expenses and trouble involved in obtain*
ing it, that the law-is to a great extent a dead letter. The
entire object is one, therefore, imperatively calling for
further legislation, more particularly as it is known that
the noxious vapours given off in the manufacture of alkali
and ammonia might be entirely prevented, without injury
to the manufacturer —Social Science Review.
REMARKABLE INSTANCE OF RECOVERY OF SIGHT.
—ln that tiny looking-glass, the Opthalmoscope, the medi-
cal profession possess a precious agent in the cure of
diseases of the eye. Ten years ago, before this invention
enabled the surgeon to see into the whole of the interior of
the eye, and thus to become visually acquainted with every
feature of the disease, the metho's of treatment of the
subtle and manifold forms of eye disease were necessarily
most imperfect. We will give a recent instance of the great
benefit which the Opthalmoscope is capable of conferring.
A few days ago an aged woman brought her grandchild to
the London Opthalmic Hospital to be treated for some
affection of the eyes. The child was attended to, and the
woman about to der art with it, when she said she supposed
the gentlemen could not do anything for her eyes. She
said that when about two years of age a fork had been run
into her left eye, that cataract bad followed the injury, and
she became blind in that eye. A country surgeon had
operated on her for cataract, but the sight of the eye never
returned. Mr. Wordsworth examined the eye by meanwof
the. Opthalmoscope, and discovered that a little membrane
obscuring the retina had not been removed at the original
operation, and that its presence had caused the blindness.
The old lady now submitted to have this obstruction re-
moved, and she regained the precious sight of whieh she
had been deprived for nearly 70 years. The restoration of
vision was moat opportune, for, with advancing years, a
cataract was forming in the right eye, which would have
totally deprived her of sight in a month or two.
TAPEWORM IN THE EYE.--The son of a shop
keeper, residin in Berlin, having. complained that he could
g
not see so well as usual with one of his eyes, was conducted
to the establishment of Dr. Graefe. On examining the
patient, the doctor said it was lucky the child hod twEn
promptly brought to him, for he declared that immediatell
br hind the iris of the affected eye there was a tapeworml
This :parasite, he added, would undoubtedly have soon
taimpletely destroyed the organ of vision, in which it had
taken up its quarters. The doctor said it was a wonder
that such cases were not more frequent. They arose, he
observed, from eating underdone or uncooked meat, and
most generally pork,—Lotter front Rorlitt,

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THE SUN.
LONDON, MONDAY, SEPT. 22, 1862.