The Sun.
London, England, 1862-12-24 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 24, 1862.

A point of the highest importance is discussed,
we must think with his usual conclusiveness, by a
writer in a contemporary who signs himself HIS-
TORICUS. We all remember his able letter on the
subject of " Recognition ;" it seems to have settled
that question ; we have seen no statement in opposi-
tion to it deriving the slightest weight from either
the arguments or the position of the person making
it. It will be the same, we think, in America, as
well as in England, after this letter has been read
and considered there, on the subject of '• contraband
of war." The most conclusive, the most explicit,
modern authorities cited, are those of the univer-
sally respected American jurists WHEATON, and
Chancellor KENT. Of the latter HISTORICIIS even
says that his writings are never wrong.
The Americans are much aggrieved both by our
freely selling warlike implements and stores to Con-
federate purchasers, and yet more by our suffering
the Alabama to escape from Liverpool. HISTORI-
CUB shows that both are justifiable by the law of
nations, as expounded by every authority of note,
and by the American authorities themselves. Nay
more—that had our builders fitted out the Alabama
and other vessels with complete war equipments,
and sold them to either belligerent, the other
would have had no ground of complaint
against our Government or nation. HisToiticrs
intentionally leaves the bearing of our Foreign En-
listment Act on the subject undiscussed. His point
being to show that under the common law of na-
tions America, even at the worst, would have no
just ground of complaint. Mr. SEWARD has for-
warded to our Government catalogues of the pur-
chases which the South has been able to effect in
England, and American Ministers and citizens have
been almost threatening on the subject of the Ala-
bama, and talked loudly of claiming from our Go-
vernment indemnity for the American ships and
cargoes she is said to have destroyed ; but " HMO-
RIMS" puts them beyond doubt completely out of
court on the authority of Jurists, and Courts, and
Presidents, whose decisions they cannot refuse to
acknowledge.

The principle clearly established as the law of
nations is, that the private traders of a neutral Power
may sell whatever they please to either belligerent,
even to the extent of completely aimed vessels.
This is a neutral right. Opposed to this is the right
of either belligerent to capture the contraband of
war in its passage to its rival. This is the penalty
provided by the law of nations for the protection of
the belligerents. By that law the Governments of
neutral nations are not required to take cognisance
of their subjects' dealings in munitions of war ; but,
on the other hand, the same law does not allow the
subjects of the neutral Government to claim its pro-
tection against the capture of such cargoes ; the
merchants and traders carry on the whole business
at their own sole risk. It is no doubt very annoy-
ing to the Federals to see their rivals supplying
themselves so effectively with what they can with i
difficulty manufacture in the agricultural South
but it was one of the thoroughly understood condi-
tions under which the North began its attempt to
subjugate the South, and it is too late to complain
of it now. How much the annoyance is felt may
be seen from the fact that the American represen-
tative here, actually suggested to his Government
to purchase its warlike stores and implements of
Austria or some other Continental Power, because
purchasing in England weakened his hands in re-
monstrating with our Government.
HISTORICUS, in his letter, after exposing the
utter worthlessness of HAUTEFEUILLES' doctrines,
or rather dogmas, on which Mr. SEWARD might
rely, and having quoted high and valid authorities
from the Old World, comes to the American autho-
rities themselves. WHEATON, " a writer who, in
point
of ability, learning, and logic, is worth a
thousand HAUTEFEUILLES," is clearly of opinion
that "the tranapoin rtation to the enemy of the con-
traband articles aprohibited, but that the
sale of such articles is
within the territory of the neu-
tral country is perfectly law fu 12 ,
The prohibition,
however, is one enforced only by liability to seizure.
Chancellor KENT, referring
Qlt demand of the
French nation in 1796 that the
United States
sell
should not allow their subjects to
contraband of
war, says that it was " successfully shown on the
part of the United States that neutrals may law-
fully sell at home to a belligerent purchaser, or
to the belligerent
carry themselves Powers contra-
band articles, subject to the right of seizure in
The right of the neutral Power to
transport and of the ho 3
tile power to seize, are con-
flicting rights, and neither can charge the other
with a criminal act."
their own
With how little justification from
de-
cisions the Federals can ask us to restrain our sub-
jects from thus trafficking in munitions of War, is
apparent from the unanimous judgment of their
Supreme Court, delivered in 1822 by one of their
greatest lawyers--Chief Justice STORY. " There
is nothing in our laws," it says, " or in the law of I

tran situ.

nations that forbids our citizens from sending armed
vessels, as well as munitions of war, to foreign ports
for sale ; it is a commercial adventure which no
person is bound to prohibit, and which only exposes
the persons engaged in it to the penalty of confisca-
tion." So late as 1854 President PIERCE asserted
in the broadest terms the same view of the United
States laws. They permitted acts of this kind
without limit, only at the risk of the merchants.
And in the QUEEN'S proclamation it is the "carry-
ing," not the selling of contraband, which she dis-
tinctly prohibits, and warns all persons that in
doing so they will forfeit all claim to her protection.
The consequences of any other course would be
intolerable, indeed, in a free country. Neither here
nor in America would the people endure the sur-
veillance which a Government must undertake if it
would know the destination of all the contraband
of war its traders might sell. Mr. SEWARD must
be fully aware of this. What use he can make of
our Foreign Enlistment Act is another question.
That is of course a part of our municipal law, and
has nothing to do with international law. Under

that act alone could the Government be asked to
prevent the voyage of the Alabama, but how far,
except as a matter of goodwill, the Government can
be required to put in force its own laws of this kind
on the motion of a foreign Government, is a doubt-
ful point. Probably we could not honourably refuse

to execute our own laws, unless indeed we took the
ground that the State which requested it must be
ready to execute similar laws on our behalf if de-
manded of it.

At last the garrotters are going to be dealt with
comprehensively by the well selected members of a
Royal Commission. How well selected these mem-
bers are, their names, excerpted bodily from the
London Gazette, will the most readily and conclu-
sively indicate. Her MAJESTY has been graciously
pleased, we read, "to direct Letters Patent to be
passed under the Great Seal, appointing the Right
Hon. Henry, Earl Grey; the Right Hon. Richard
Southwell Bourke (commonly called Lord Naas) ;
the Right Hon. Robert Monsey, Baron Cranworth;
the Right Hon. Frederic, Baron Chelmsford ; the
Right Hon. Sir John Somerset Pakington, Bart.,
G.C.8.; the Might Hon. Spencer Horatio Walpole;
the Right Hon. Joseph Warner Henley ; the Right
Hon. Edward Pleydell Bouverie ; the Right Hon.
Sir Alexander James Edmund Cockburn, Bart.,
Chief Justice of her Majesty's Court of Queen's
Bench ; Horatio Waddington, Esq., Russell Gur-
ney, Esq., Recorder, of the City of London ;
Charles Owen O'Conor, Esq. (commonly •ailed
the O'Conor Don) ; and Hugh Culling Eardley
Childers, Esq.," as Royal Commissioners !
Commissioners, that is—formally and solemnly ap-
I pointed to inquire into the Acts relating to penal
servitude and transportation! To inquire into the
Acts themselves, and into the operation of the law
under them, ever since their enrolment upon the
Statute-book, but more particularly of late. Never '
was a Commission more urgently required. Never
was the appointment of a Commission more timely
or more opportune. It is called together for the
purpose of discovering some efficacious means of
putting down something far more serious in its way
than a crying nuisance. Its aim will be to appal a
band of merciless ruffians—to ao appal them that
they shall be induced forthwith to desist from the
continued perpetration of a new and frightful spe-
cies of high crimes and misdemeanours. As a pre-
liminary warning—came, very recently, that first
startling batch of sentences pronounced upon
the first convicted score or so of Garotters by Mr.
Baron BRAMWELL. Following immediately there-
upon, the Royal Commission, above announced, is
certainly calculated to strike an instant (let us
hope also a lasting) sense of terror into the breasts
of those ticket-of-leave men who are still prowling
in the wintry evenings about the suburbs of our
metropolis. _ _

The interval of time which will now elapse before
the assembling of the Lords and Commons in Feb-
ruary is just sufficient to enable the Commissioners
to get through their inquiry well—before the
momentous question they are about to en-
deavour to find a solution for, will be brought
into discussion in either branch of the Le-
gislature. There is every reasonable probabi-
lity, therefore, that the next session will, for a
dead certainty, deal effectually, by dealing vigor-
ously, and as the result of a calm and cautious de-
liberation of the matter beforehand, with those
abandoned and pitiless marauders the Garotters—
felons coming distinctly among the number of
those more brutalised offenders reprobated in such
forcible terms by Lord MACAULAY as " Savages
in the midst of Civilisation ?" Here, in these Ga-
rotters are men prepared for any outrage—men
coming distinctly and undeniably within the scope
of that powerful definition. And it is with these
inhuman creatures that the law of the land is now
bent upon dealing rigorously. As an effectual and
wise preliminary to the interposition of the strong
will of the Legislature between Outraged Society
and its enemies the Garotters, we can none of us but
look with complacency upon the announcement last
evening published in the London Gazette, the
announcement of Her MAJESTY'S immediate ap-
pointment of this Royal Commission Extraordinary
to inquire into the relative merits of penal servi-
tude and transportation.

Englishmen " won't be driven "—the gentlemen
who compose the committee of the United Kingdom
Alliance would not be driven themselves. Why,
then, do they so hanker for power to drive others
into goodness? Every one, like Sir GEORGE GREY,
could tell the gentlemen who composed the deputa-
tion of yesterday that he was perfectly at one with
them on the subject of drunkenness. If he is an
employer of labourers, he knows too well the trouble
it often gives him. If he be a shipowner, he is
well aware that half the vessels lost are lost through
want of sobriety; live where he may, except in a
very few aristocratic squares and places, the public-
house, or rather, we should say, the drunkards who
issue from it, are a nuisance to him; and he is
fortunate, indeed, if some one within the circle
of his connections, who " ought to know better," is
not injuring his health, his position, or his circum-
stances, by yielding to the most infatuating of all
temptations. No one doubts that, perhaps, half
the crime in the Kingdom is due directly, or in-
directly, to intoxicating drinks.
But the United Kingdom Alliance jumps to the
conclusion that the way to repress all these evils is
the short and seemingly easy one, of forbidding in-
toxicating drinks to all. It does not indeed venture
to ask a prohibitory law against the manufacture
of malt, beer and spirits, or against their importa-
tionn into the Kingdom. The Alliance would like to
do en, but not only the consumers of these luxuries
wouldt) be
with the <<M sixty legions" against it, r. GLAD-
alcoholic drinks on
E would protest that he never could dispense
enormous revenue produced by the nume-
rous Customs duties ; and a which he levies Excise and
thingsll the community besides,
agreeing that these
them amongst the fairest are luxuries, reckons
Alliance dares not 'je-ets for taxation. The and most natural
there-
fore,sub-
even hint at a Maine Liquor
Maine force—for this country,
Law—that is

They came to us, accordingly, first
with Z " 13".

missive bill," permitting the inhabitants of certain
districts under certain conditions to make little
States of Maine, in this our free England, and pro-
hibit the sale of intoxicating liquors within such dis-
tricts. This project failing, our reformers by compul-
sion are taking another tack; they learn that there
is a scheme in the hands of Government for consoli-
dating the laws relating to the dale of strong drink
in one enactment, and it would be a clever device,
indeed, if only they could make the Government
Bill practically a bill of their own—if they could
introduce amongst all the clauses for licensing, for
supervising, for keeping right hours, and so forth,
a clause which should prohibit in some localities
the very existence of the houses which need the
Bill. Two-thirds of the ratepayers and owners,
said Mr. RAPER, their chief spokesman, should have
as much power to prevent the opening of public-
houses in their district, as an individual owner of
an estate now possesses to prevent the existence of
one on his property ; a power which they tell us
some landlords have exercised.

Sir G. GREY is ♦ery polite to the coercive philan-
thropists before him, but he nevertheless showed
them the endless difficulties of the scheme. Was the
proposal that two-thirds of the inhabitants were to
have the power to prohibit the issuing of a license?
This was conceded. Well then, was the prohibi-
tion to be perpetual ? Ti!he alliance had not, evi-
dently, thought of this, and after a little fencing,
they said it would be probably an annual thing.
Sir GEORGE then pointed out that the proposal
could not be compared with the permission to
establish a useful thing like baths and wash-
houses, it was now proposed that, by a bare
majority of the owners and occupiers of any
parish or district, the minority, which may consist
of many thousands, are to be debarred altogether
from obtaining what are called intoxicating liquors,
which, if used to excess, no doubt are intoxicating,
and are too often fruitful in crime, but which, if
used temperately, are not open to that objection.
You are proposing, he said, to interfere with the free
agency of large numbers of your fellow-citizens and
fellow-subjects, and to deprive them of the use of
what cannot be said to be evil, although the abuse of
it leads to evil. I am afraid that, even if the scheme
were sanctioned by parliament, the effect would be
to drive people to obtain liquors in a way which
would be more objectionable than the present one,
because free from all restraint.

These are the two fundamental objections to all
such proposals—first, on principle, we have no right
to prohibit the legitimate use of an article be-
cause others abuse their liberty : and next practi-
cally, the people " won't be driven." If you
shut up one door which you know you have no
right to do, they will open another, and they will
even make worse use of it. The old Nitztur in
vetztum will be illustrated for the millionth time.
Compulsory abstinence will be so resisted that for-
bidden indulgence will be all the sweeter, and sought
with increased avidity. The depraved appetites
are not to be rectified by such means. We all look
with sadness on their victims, but we cannot change
their natures by coercion. We must patiently be
content to reform society by more legitimate means.
We must provide it with amusements which shall
produce the change and stimulus we all need with-
out resorting to what debases. We must raise the
scale of the working man's home enjoyments and
bestow on him more and more the blessings of edu-
cation. But whatever we do, we are not entitled to say
to the perfectly sober man, you shall have no means
easily accessible to you of obtaining what has be-
come one of the daily comforts and luxuries of your
life. Whatever plans we adopt to restrain the
drinker, we must fully respect the rights of the
sober and temperate man.

The Duke of Rutland is entertaining a select
party at Belvoir Castle.

Viscountess Jocelyn will leave St. Leonard's-on-
Sea to-day to join the circle assembled at Broadlands,
Hants, on a visit to Viscount and Viscountess Palmerston.
The Right Hon. W. F. Cowper, M.P., and Mrs.
Cowper will leave Panshanger, where they have been stay-
ing on a visit to the Countess Cowper, on Friday, for
Broadlands.

Colonel and the Hon. Mrs. Loyd-Lindsay have
left Westonbirt, Gloucestershire, for their seat, Lookinge
House, Berks.

The Hon. Frederick Byng has arrived in town
from visiting Viscount and Viscountess Palmerston at
Broadlands.

The Emperor of Russia has just issued a ukase
suppressing the duty on meat hitherto paid by the Jews in
Poland, which increased the price by one-half, and yielded
a revenue of 150,000 florins to the Government. The de-
ficiency caused by the abolition of this tax has been sup-
plied by an increase in the excise duty on spirituous
liquors.

According to a report on the harvest of 1862, in
Prussia, swat by the Belgian Consul-General at Cologne,
M. Raistenstrauch, it appears that that crop has been the
finest for the last ten years.

The Paris Savings' Bank during the last fort-
night received 595,146 fr. and reimbursed 877,743 fr. The
receipts of the Caisse de Retraites for the ttged during the
same period amounted to 206,879 fr.

A violent tempest raged the night before last at
Brussels. A number of trees were blown down, as well as
chimneys, in various parts of the city.

A letter from Damascus states that a woman,
once an odalisque of Sul tan Selim, who made a present of
her to his kawadshi or cupbearer, has just died at the age of
130, and been interred with great pomp. The same letter
states that the Greek Bishop Gregortos, who last year had
gone over to the Church of Rome and been confirmed in his
bishopric by the Pope, has been induced to recant, and to
return to his former Church, into which he has been again
formally received.

The Italian Administration is at this moment
occupied in the reorganisation of the Chambers of Com-
merce. Two recent decrees establish those Chambers at
Alexandria, Pisa, Macerata, Arezzo, and Catanzaro, and
reorganises those of Bologna, Ancona, Ferrara, Messina,
Pesaro, Leghorn, and Florence. This latter will extend its
jurisdiction over the provinces of Grosseto and Sienna.
The Turin Gazette announces from Potenza
(Naples) that the brigand Rosacozza, who infested those
parts, has just been killed, together with his concubine and
his nephew, after a determined resistance.

Post-Ampt Gazette of Frankfort announces that
Egyptian ophthalmia has broken out there as an epidemic,
and that the hospitals are full of patients, chiefly children,
labouring under this affection.

A youth while passing through one of the streets
of Worthing, on Monday, let a loaded gun fall. It went off
and some of the small shot took effect on two persons who
happened to be near the spot. Neither, however, was very
seriously wounded.

A deputation of the principal English residents
at Brussels presented to the burgomaster of that city, on
Friday last, a petition signed by 147 heads of families,
members of the Church of England, praying that a proper
building might be assigned to them for the purpose of public
worship, or that a piece of ground might be granted them to
build a church at their own expense. It appears that
the members of the Church of England resident in
Brussels amount to above 1,500, and that they have
hitherto had Divine Service celebrated at inconvenient
hours in the French and German chapels, when the latter
were not wanted by their own congregations. The burgo-
master received the deputation in the kindest manner, and
promised to take the matter into immediate consideration.
The snowstorm which burst over Paris at ten
o'clock on Saturday morning last caused a lamentable acci-
dent in the Champs Elystles. A large tree was torn up by
the roots in the Avenue Montaigne, and fell upon a man
employed in sweeping the road. The unfortunate man was
taken up in a dying state, and was carried to the Hospital
Beaujon. Two other trees in the Champs Elysees, lately
planted, were broken by the wind. A similar violent storm
was experienced at Strasbourg at 25 minutes past 11 the
same morning. It was preceded by two eae,pq of thunder.
The hurricane, accompanied by a heavy shower or anow,
mixed with rain, was of only a short duration, and the sky,
which was previously clouded, became quite bright. The
temperature likewise rose during the storm—a very unusual
phenomenon at this season of the year,
It is with much pleasdre that we are able to an-
nounce that Mr. Charles Dickens kindly intends during the
course of next month to give one of his readings gratuit-
ously for the benefit of the British Charitable Fund, the
finances of which are now in a position very inadequate to
meet the demands duly made on them. Earl Cowley, with
his constant desire to assist so useful an Institution, has ,
grautyl the I4P of the Embassy for the purpose.

THE ST. GEORGE'S VOLUNTEER RIFLE CORPS.

—A large muster of this corps took place on Monday even-
ing last, the 22d inst., at the Duke of Wellington's Riding
School, Knightsbridge. After a few preliminaries the
corps, accompanied by both bands of the regiment, marched
out and proceeded to Lord's Cricket Ground, where, after
falling out for a short time for refreshment, they re-assem-
bled and returned to Knightsbridge. The corps will not
meet again for drill until Thursday, Jan. Bth. The annual
concert, given by the band of the corps, will take place at
St. James's Hall, on the 14th January, on which occasion
Mr. Sims Reeves and other vocalists will appear. M. Bene-
dict and the members of the Vocal Association have also
kindly offered their assistance; and Colonel the Hon. C. H.
Lindsay will, by desire of several members of the corps, per-
form on the cornet-a-piston, on which instrument the
gallant colonel has for some years been a distinguished
amateur.

ROYAL ACADEMY OP MUSIC.—The competition
for the Westmoreland Scholarship and Potter Exhibition
took place at the Institution on Saturday, the 20th inst.,
and for that of the King's Scholarship, on Monday, the
22d inst. The following professors composed the board of
examiners :—For the Westmoreland Scholarship and Potter
Exhibition—Messrs. Charles Lucas (chairman), John Goss,
G. A. Macfarren, H. Blagrove, F. R. Cox, Walter Mac-
farren, and Signor Schira ; for the King's Scholarship—
Messrs. Charles Lucas (chairman), J. Goss, W. H. Holmes,
W. Dorre'l, H. Blagrove, Robert Barnett, and M. Sain-
ton. The candidates elected were—For the Westmoreland
Scholarship—Miss Amelia Ann Hodgson; for the Potter
Exhibition—Miss Rosa Brinsmead ; and for the King's
Scholarship—Miss Agnes Zimmermam (re-elected), and
Master Alex. Mackenzie. The following candidates were
specially recommended :—For the Westmoreland Scholar-
ship—Miss Cecilia Westbrook; for the King's Scholar-
ship—Misses Madeline Cronin, Marian Buels, Caroline C.
Kingdon, Fanny E. Peachy, Josephine Williams, and
Caroline Maw ; Masters Herbert Macfarren, Francis
Ralph, and George W. Hallett.

TUE METROPOLITAN RAlLWAY.—Yesterday the
electric telegraph and semaphore signals, in conformity
with the recommendation of Col. Yolland, the Government
Inspector, were adjusted, and should they on a further in-
spection be found satisfactory, the certificate of the Board
of Trade will be granted for the opening of the line.
BEFORE GENERAL BUTLER.—A returned prisoner
is contributing sketches to the Mississippian of life in New
Orleans under Butler's rule. In his last he writes :—" All
the world knows old Dr. Warren Stone. He is celebrated
for his great surgical skill, as well as for his greatness of
heart, independence of character, and devotion to the South.
This truly great man was selected by Brute Butler as a
shining mark upon which to cast his venom. He was ac-
cordingly arrested and brought into the presence of the
tyrant. The Doctor walked up to Butler without waiting
to be asked, and said in an abrupt curt manner, Here I

am, General, and I want to know what I was arrested for.'
Butler looked at the Doctor from head to foot, and said con-
temptuously, I had you arrested because you are a great
rebel, and the influence of such a man as you are is danger-
ous to the community. I shall send you to Fort Jackson
to get you out of the way.' The old Doctor looked steadily
into the repulsive, crooked eyes of his wicked enemy as he
indignantly replied, ' Great rebel, eh ! You'll send me to
Fort Jackson, eh I I glory in being a rebel. You can send
me to Fort Jackson, and be damned.' "
THE ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY.—After the

enthronisation service last week the Archbishop and the
Bishop of Oxford, accompanied by Mr. Beresford Hope,
the founder, inspected St. Augustine's College, and was
introduced by the warden to the son of Moshesh, an Afri-
can chief, who has renounced his title to his father's throne
that he may be enabled to instruct his countrymen in the
truths of the Christian faith. The Archbishop, after a few
kind words, gave him his blessing.—Maidstone Journal.
A FEATHERED REPTILE, OR A BONY-TAILED
BlRD.—Another letter, signed " Y," appeared yesterday in
a contem2orary, on the curious fossil of a creature that has
been called the "Feathered Enigma." The fossil, which,
with the exception of a single feather, is the only memorial
of its existence, may now be seen in the British Museum.
Professor Owen minutely described it in his elaborate paper
read bafore an unusually large meeting of the Royal Society,
and pronounced authoritatively that it was a bird, and not a
reptile. It continues, nevertheless, an enigma, for a bird
with a bony tail about twice the length of its body would
be scarcely, if at all, less remarkable than a reptile with
the feathers and feet of a bird. The learned professor fur-
thermore stated his conviction that this rarissimi avis must
have been a bird of powerful flight; whereupon the Duke
of Argyll expressed his doubts as to the efficiency of the
volant apparatus for such a function, which elicited the
opinion of an eminent ornothologist present, to the effect
"that the bird never flew." Hence we perceive that even
wise men may differ on points which the uninitiated might
consider too plain to admit of doubt. "Let not fools rush
in where angels fear to tread." In discussions in which
Cabinet ministers take part the general pub io will probably
feel a little interest though no political question may be in-
volved.

SERIOUS ACCIDENT IN A LIVERPOOL CIRCUS.—
Mr. H. Delevanti, the trapeze performer in Bell's Hippo-
drome, Liverpool, had one of his ribs and thighs broken
during his aerial display on Monday night. Delevanti was
going through the feats of Olmar, when the knot of one of
the ropes slipped, and he dropped heavily. wire rope upon
which Mrs. Delevanti performed broke his fall, or he would
have suffered even more severely than he did. No time was
lost in conveying the unfortunate man to the Northern
Hospital, where he now lies in as favourable a condition as
might be expected. Delevanti, we believe, tied the knot him-
self ; and as he considered it sufficiently secure to risk his
life upon it, there is every probability that the knot was
good when he commenced his performance. Later on, how-
ever, the strain, together with the effect of the atmosphere,
must heve caused it to slip, and hence the accident.
EXPLOSION AT A FIREWORK MANUFACTORY.--
Yesterdaymorning'between the hours of eight and nine
explosion took place at the factory of Mr.
o'clock,Clitheroe,an
an artist in fireworks, Clitherow-row, Weaver-
street, opposite Peach-street-hill, Bethnal-green, and sur-
rounded by dwellings of poor persons. Among the latter,
at the time of the outbreak, a fearful scene was presented.
Fathers and mothers were miming in all directions with
their children and what property they could lay their hands
on, afraid of the powder magazine blowing up at the end of
the garden. On the police arriving they found the house
nearly blown into ruins, from which came distressing cries
for help. They extricated Miss Ellen Clitheroe, aged 20 ;
Mr. John Clitheroe, aged 60 ; and Samuel Pelham, aged
23, all most frightfully burnt; and they were at once sent
off in cabs to the London Hospital. Mrs. Clitheroe was also
rescued—she was not severely burnt. The firemen by great
exertions succeeded in savingthepowder magazine. The fire
was not extinguished until considerable damage was done.
The cause is unknown, and the property is not insured.
The same premises were on fire about six months ago.
WELLINGTON COLLEGE.--The breaking up at this
school was celebrated on Monday evening with a concert,
given by the boys to the neighbouring gentry, in the spacious
and handsome dining hall. The first part of the programme
consisted of sacred pieces from Mendelssohn, Himmel, Far-
rant, Whitfield, and Handel. Not only were the anthems
and choruses given with all the effect to be expected from a
great number of carefully trained voices, but the solos and
a quartet ware done in a style to please the most fastidious
ear. The second part opened with a duet on the piano by
two little boys, one of them Demetrios Ghika, a Wallachian
prince, whom his father brought to England with the
single object of obtaining admission to this school—by a
mere chance, with success. The little fellow is said to be as
good a linguist as a pianist. " Duke Domum" was sung
as schoolboys do sing it on the eve cf the Christmas holy-
days. Some solos, glees, and madrigals followed, and re-
ceived a double share of applause fcr the prohibition of it
during the first part of the concert. The principal honours
of the evening were carried off by Mr. Heron-Maxwell, the
very youthful son of Sir John Heron-Maxwell, Bart., who
played a solo with remarkable taste and execution cm the
well-known air, "Chime again, beautiful belle," and then
sang Verdi's "Fancy waft me" so sweetly, clearly, and ex-
pressively as to elicit thunders of applause from his school-
fellows and the visitors and extort an encore from the
powers that be, contrary to the order of the day. Once
more each note thrilled through the length and breadth
of the hall, and would have filled a Cathedral. We
will venture to say that air still lingers in the ear of
all who heard it. The National Anthem, which concluded
the concert, reminded all of the deep interest felt by
the Queen in the College, which, so far as her Majesty is con-
cerned, she is resolved shall lose as little as possible by the
sad loss it has shared with her. After a shortened pro
gramme, the masters and scholars, with some of the
visitors, went to evening prayers in the dormitory,
hitherto used for divine service—the last occasion of its
use for that purpose, as the magnificent chapel, from the
designs of Mr. Gilbert Scott, is to be ready for use by
the reassembling of the school on the last week of January
next. The College has this year been very free from illness,
and, as to its prosperity, it may be enough to say that the
admission list is full for several years. The extensive
grounds of the College have now been thoroughly drained,
and their en aspect relieved not only with thriving plan-
tations, but with numerous edifices, including houses for
the steward, gardeners, and other servants of the College.
The foundations of a library have been laid, under the
superintendence of Mr. Shaw, the original architect of the
College. An hotel at the adjacent railway station is con-
templated by a neighbouring proprietor, and the friends of
the boys will be enabled to pay a passing visit to Welling-
ton College without the inconveniences incident to its pre-
sent distance from such accommodation.
The Theatrc-Francais last night gave a repre-
sentation extraordinary in honour of the 223 d anniversary
of the birth of Racine. The pieces performed were part of
Britannic,., Mithridate, and the Pluideurs.
A detachment of the Cont.Ciards commanded by
a captain and a lieutenant, yesterday conveyed the five
flags, recently taken in Mexico, from the Tuileries to the
Hotel des Invali les. On arriving at the Hotel the detach-
ment was received by the havalides drawn up in the court,
having at their head general de Lirancien as representa-
tive of the Governor, who is indisposed, The flags were
delivered to the five invalides selected for the purpose, who
trophies of French valour, now about 400 ip number,
carried them into the `church to be placed beside the cater

LATEST NEWS

AMERICA.

(Per Hibernian.)
NEW YORK, DEC. 13, Morning.

The main body of Gen. Burnside's army crossed
the Rappahannock yesterday, and occupied the
south side of the river and Fredericksburg.
The Confederates have two strong lines of bat-
teries—the first one mile in the rear of Fredericks-
burg, and the second one mile in the rear of the
first.

The Confederates opened fireyesterday from their
first line of batteries upon the Federals who were in
Fredericksburg, and upon those who were crossing
the river, but the Federal batteries along the banks
of the river silenced them in half an hour.
The Federals have concentrated their forces,
and it is supposed that unless th.i Confederates re-
treat, a decisive battle will be fought to-day.
Gen. Sigel has marched to join Gen. Burnside,
and it is supposed that he has now reached his desti-
nation.

The Federal losses have been slight.

The commander of the San Jacinto writes that
the Governor of Martinique would not allow him to
enter the harbour to watch the Alabama, and that
he was obliged to move out one marine league. The
Alabama escaped during a foggy night.

The Federal movements in Missouri are materi-
ally retarded by the rainy season.
The truth of the report that the Federals have
occupied Grenada, Mississippi, is doubted.
The Confederate conscription is being resisted in
East Tennessee.

The Confederate governor of North Carolina has
sent a message to the General Assembly. The
message shows no Union sentiments whatever.

A negro insurrection is reported to have broken
out in Surrinan (?).

In the House of Representatives, the resoluticn
condemning President Lincoln's emancipation pro-
clamation as unconstitutional and unauthorised,
was laid on the table, by a vote of 95 to 47.

The following are extracts from further diplo
matic correspondence which has been published :

In May last the French Consul at New Orleans
writes to M. Mercier, the French minister at Wash-
ington, that General Butler made use of the most
extraordinary language in addressing him. His
first words were almost always, " I will hang you,"
or "I will send you to Fort Jackson."
In June last, Mr. Seymour wrote to the Dutch
minister that the Federal Government disapproved
the conduct of the military authority at New Or-
leans towards the Dutch consul, and regretted that
the misconduct censured had occurred..

The commercial news has been anticipated by the
Africa, via Cape Race.

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THE SUN.
LONDON, WEDNESDAY, DEC. 24, 1862.