The Sun.
London, England, 1865-09-20 00:00:00

Madrid .

Uudiz
Leghorn
Milan
Messina

Genoa
Naples
Palermo

Oporto
Lisbon

SHIPPING INTELLIGENCE —This clay.

LONDON, Sept. 20.—Wind this day at noon—South-
Easterly ; moderate breeze and fine weather, but rather
cloudy. _ _ .

C.A..inlrr, Sept. 19.—Wind S.E.—Sailed—Princess Bea-
trice, for Callao; Tay, for Monte Video; Donna Maria,
for Rio Janeiro.

CLYDE, Sept. 18.—Wind S.W.—Arrived—Cronstadt,
from St. Jago do Cuba.
LOUGH FOYLE, Sept. 20.—Wind S.W.—Arrived—North
American, screw steamer, from Quebec,
SLIGO, Sept. 19.—Wind S.W.—Arrived—Condor, from
Callao.

FALMOUTH, Sept. 18.—Wind W.—Arrived -Elizabeth
Cushing, from Akyab.
QUEENSTOWN, Sept. 19.—Wind S.W.—Arrivled—City
of Limerick, steamer, from New York ; Brothers, from
Sulina.
CROOKHAVEN, Sept. 18.—Arrived—Her Majesty's ship
Gladiator, from Queenstown.
FLrmount, Sept. 19.—Wind S.W.—Arrived—Greely
Wilkins, from Monte Video.
LIVERPOOL, Sept. 18.—Wind S.W.—Arrived—Melitia,
from Pernambuco ; Calphurness, from Quebec : Comboyer,
from Pomaron.
IN THE CHANNEL, Sept. 19.—Wind S.W.—Arrived—.
Savoir Faire, from Calcutta.
Orr PLYMOUTH, Sept. 19.—Wind S.W.—Arrived--
Himalaya, from Sydney.

[EY ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH.'
GILAVESEND, Wednesday Morning.

Arrived, Sept. 19—James and Eleanor, Elizabeth and
Jane, and Margaret, from Cronstadt ; Napoleon and Puret,
from Gravelines ; Gothia, from Hernosand.
Arrived, Sept. 20—Triton, from Onega.
DEAL, Wednesday Morning.
Passed Beachy Head, Sept. 16—Nieolina, from Ulloa for
Carthagena.

Passed, Sept. 19—Caspian, from Hamburg for Cardi .
Passed—Alexandria, from Rouen for Riga.
Sailed—Emile and Jessie, for Newcastle.

The Price of Gold.

The quotation of gold at Paris is about la per mills pm., and
the short exchange on London is 25.22 i per LI sterling. On
comparing these rates with the English Mint price of £3
178. 101 d. per ounce for standard gold, it appears that gold is
nearly 1-I(th per cent. dearer in London than in Paris.
By advic:s from Hamburg the price of gold is 428 per mark
and the short exchange on London is 1:;.61 per X 1 sttrlin
Standard gold at the English Mint price IS, therefere, rather
more than 1-loth per cent. dearer in London than in Ham-
burg.
The Bourse of exchange at New York on London for bills at
profit on the importadon of go'd from the United
60 days' sight is 109; to 1001 per cent. At these rates there
is no
States

billS
immediatelyp
againstn G E ih e
0 ofk Rt
juryAl PEpriignoredso AGAINSTner and t Ah
el 1
h.
e
fLo SPRAGUE.--
Last Ts
t InEei night glandhinaerGgEe
prisoner. An application was at once made to the Recorder
ordered him to be set at liberty.
LOSS OF LIFE ON THE R
IVER.—A melancholy
accident happened yesterday morning to an old
waterman of the name of John Lawton. belonging to Lime-
house. He was crossing the river opposite Deptford,
when, by some mismanagement on his part, his boat ran
foul of a vessel with such violence that it was completely
split in two, and the poor old man WAS immersed
sine the
water. The alarm was immediately given, and eeral
watermen and others put off to his assistance, but the un-
fortunate man instantly sank. Drags were procured, but
his body has not yet been found. Yesterday evening a
youth named Allen WPAdam was drowned in the river near
the Thames Tunnel. The deceased, together with a water-
man, was proceeding up to London-bridge, when they ran
foul of a coal barge, by which the boat half-turned over,
throwing the boy into the water. The
ceeded in saving his own life.

OPENING OF THE FREE LIBRARY AT BIRMINGHAM.
—On Monday the Free Library and Reading Room
at the Midland Institute were thrown open to the public
for the first time. There were applications for vouchers to
the extent of several hundred, but as these have to be
be signed by two burgesses and examined before tickets
can be granted, the number of readers it is not possible to
estimate. The restrictions Placed upon borrowers are only
of such a nature as to prevent loss of, or careless injury to,
the books. During the day the reading room was very
well frequented, and by the very class of people who were
intended to be benefited by the institution. A catalogue,
cf come 170 pages, Las been published for eightpenw,
which will afford c ready means of acquaintance with the
nature of the works contained in the Libra y. 'I he Gallery
ci _Art was also visited by F. large utiraber of our tOWIICs.
2eoplo SOUS the day.-qirmitz,e, •

ALPINE TOURISTS.

(From the Times' Correspondent)
INTERLAKEN, Sept. 16.

September is the finest month of the year all the
world over—at least, north of the equator ; but I
greatly doubt whether there ever was such a Sep-
tember as falls this year to the lot of Germany and
Switzerland. With the single exception of the even-
ing and morning of my ascent of the Righi, I may
well say that I have not seen a speck of cloud or
mist on the mountains ever since I first came m
sight of them. Indeed, even fine weather is a bless-
ing of which we may have too much. We drove up
yesterday to the Grindeiwald, and it was rather a
novel than a pleasant sensation to be broiling so
fearfully in the midst of all that snow and ice. A
mere walk to the Upper Glacier, a short time from
the inn, was too much for one of my companions, a
well-knit middle-aged Seotehman, who well-nigh
fainted from the unusual heat, and whom we had to
leave behind in mid career. There was hardly any
great relief within the greenish cave which Helvetian
industry has dug into the solid ice-mass, flooring it
with planks and gravel, so as to make it dry and
unslippery for the tiniest satin shoe—hardly any
shelter even there from the diaphanous vault as they
would through a polished window-pane. Alas for
the poor glaciers ! alas for the scanty waterfalls; !
The Swiss have lately taken to lighting up their
world-renowned cataracts at night withßengal lights.
Crowds flock to Schaffhausen, to Meyringen and
Brienz, to see the falls of the Rhine, the Giessbach,
and the upper and lower Reichenbachs thus tricked
out. I do not venture to say anything of the
Rhine falls, because its supplies are almost as
inexhaustible as those of Niagara, and because
the sun will have to dry the Alps to their very
Core before it affects the main stream otherwise
than by swelling it all the higher the
fiercer it burns. But as to the poor silver-
thread of the Giessbaeh, which has only the
parched rock-springs of the Faulhorn to depend
upon for its wealth of *radii, why I passed it the
other day from the lake, and it had dwindled down
to such meagre proportions that I could not wonder
at the thrift of its exhibitors if they thought they
could show it to the best advantage as a candle-
light beauty. As to the Grindelwald glaciers, their
mud-stained slopes, which in my time used to come
down to the stream far below the village, are now
melting away like tapers in a Roman procession on
a sirocco-day. Well it is for Switzerland and
Europe that the year, however hard it may die, must
come to its end ; else one would not give much for
the ice-house of the Alps, in spite of its 9,000 to
15,000 feet altitude.

Meanwhile, the effect of this prolonged drought
on the rarefied atmosphere is something magic.
From earliest dawn to latest twilight the naked eye
lords it over the loftiest summits and scans the
deepest chasms as if armed with the strongest tele-
scope. We followed yesterday every step of two
adventurous mountain climbers, as, helped by four
guides, they crept up the crags and cliffs of that
stupendous pyramidal mass which is called the Wet-
terhorn. Up we saw them creeping, creeping, now
half hidden, now hanging over the edge of the bare
precipice. The sight took away our breath as if it
had been that of Blondin on the tight rope above the
din of the great Canadian waterfall, and, together
with that intense feeling of awe, there came on our
nerves a thrill of envy, a longing to be up with

them, to leap from rock to rock, to tremble and
totter on the brink of the yawning abyss. It is thus
that one madman makes many.
But, if such are the days, what shall we say of
the nights—the lengthening nights, the touch of
whose chill almost imperceptibly shrivels up the
rich verdure of the walnut trees, setting off their
embrowned boughs against the gem besprinkled
vividness of the meadow-green ? What of the even-
ings with the pale twilight lingering in the pure
heavens long after the brown mountains and
their deepest shadows are blended into indistin-
guishable darkness ? What of the morning, when
the diamond rays of the great winter stars pierce
through the flimsy gauze of our window curtains, all
fluttering, as it were, with the boding consciousness
of the approaching death with which that first faint
streak of dawn inevitably threatens them ? What
shall we say? Why, that the evening and the morn-
ing are only one more day added to our long holiday
of enjoyment.

SEPT. 17.

The Hotel des Alpes at Interlaken is almost ex-
clusively an English house; at least, by keeping
English hours, you can live here for weeks without
hearing any other language spoken than the Eng-
lish. 'We have a 7 o'clock table d'heite here spread for
us, with a view to accommodate the latest pleasure
seekers, and allow them to see the last blush of the
setting sun on the Jungfrau, before that lovely bride
puts on her spotless attire, and withdraws for the
night. Pleasant it is to sit at that English 7 o'clock
table d'hôte. We were no less than 60 or 70 last
evening; the ladies, in their simple but neat and
careful toilette, the men free from all traces of their
day's toil in their unceremonious morning costumes.
A fine set of people they were, with all their varieties
of age and sex, rank, condition, and tastes, with
one characteristic feature in common—self-respect
and self-control. Here a widow in deep mourning,
a stately dame with a lot of grown-up daughters,
whose bright eyes and rich complexion only receive
fresh lustre from the uniform gloom of their sable
apparel. There a father with his son, the fine old
English gentleman and the chip of the old block,
healthy-looking, cheerful, inseparable from and
necessary to one another, here on the Continent, as
in their old home in Hampshire or Oxfordshire, that
old home where they are all in all to each other,
probably, since a cruel death-stroke made the irre-
parable gap in their too happy household. Beside
me, on the right, three young friends, fresh from
college, full of hope, full of energy, looking forth
earnestly and undauntedly into the world before
them ; on my left, a more than middle-aged matron,
a self-protected, female, new to the world—to the
Continental world at least, looking at things with
obvious, though tolerably well-dissembled perplexity,
the greatest wonder in the midst of all these peaks,
passes, and glaciers being that of seeing herself
among them all, the wonder whether it can indeed
be herself, the same whom so many summers and so
many winters have seen assiduous at her tea and
gossip in her " small but select" circle at Brighton
or Leamington, the very soul of book clubs and
Dorcas Societies, a pillar of her ultra-Evangelical
chapel, a very king-maker among deacons, over-
seers,__ and ministers. Opposite to me a set of hob-
bledehoy brothers, at home from one of the Clapham
academies ; further down a bevy of boarding school
sisters, with bare arms and pink elbows ; at the head
of the table, on the right, a weather-beaten Indian
veteran, with grizzled beard ; at the other end a
smooth-faced divine of the old school, with lank,
glossy hair and unexceptionably starched white tie.
Scattered here and there amid the groups, several
Alpine old-stagers, young in years yet mature in
mountain experience, knowing yet unassuming,
bland, courteous, making no advances, yet meeting
all politeness half-way ; coming in late as a general
rule, hardly looking round for acquaintance, but
slightly nodding at a fellow clubman here and there
as they sit down to their soup and look over the
Wein-karte.
There are no loud voices audible ; the very chil-
dren are awed or disciplined into order. Most of
the assembled guests would have a great deal to say
for themselves. Hardly one of them but comes
from the Oberland ; has, may be, crossed the Furka
and Grimsel within the last twelve hours, or
woke this morning on the top of the Faul-
horn ; hardly one but is off to-morrow to
the Scheideck or the Gemini, or has bold aspira-
tions to Zermatt, and the sea of ice round the
Riffleberg. But your Englishman travels to take in
sensation ; to treasure them up, not to lavish them
out in vain declamation and verbiage. By and by the
talk begins, warms up, becomes tolerably general,
talk between friends, talk among strangers ; no one
here grudges a kind answer to a modest question ;
no one stares at you if you break in upon matters
with which you are unconcerned, or even.if you set
him right on-subjects with which he thought himself
thoroughly conversant. The Alps seem to create an
unwonted expansiveness of heart and soul among
English people, to promote the readiest feeling of

good fellowship. For the moment you are one of us
bound to us by community of objects, habits, and
interests. We are off to the Gemini to-morrow ; we
mean to "foot it," over Spiez, Frutigen, and Kan-
dersteg ; or we wish to try a drive through the Sim-
menthal ; we want a fourth to make up a carriage
full. You may be one of the party, if you choose.
We are not afraid of peevish humours or exacting
tempers ; this mountain air breaks down all selfish-
ness, smoothes down all asperities. It is difficult to
ruffle minds which are thoroughly made up to be
happy. The mutual confidence and benevolence be-
tween Alpine tourists is not the least charm of an
Alpine tour. In most instances, perhaps, those whom
the mountains have joined together the first step on
the plain will put asunder. Knapsack acquaintance
is dropped the moment the alpenstock is laid aside ;
but, not unfrequently also, ties contracted for the
hour will last a lifetime. Men find they have a
great deal to like in each other, if they bare heart
and soul, and for the lifting up of the Prome-
theus window under the seventh rib, commend
me to a common rope tying three or four lusty
climbers to twice as many sturdy guides, and to
night-quarters on the Grands Mulets or the shel-
tered side of the Weiss Thor. Notwithstanding the
advanced season, I hear nothing about me wherever
I go but plans for excursions to the High Alps.
Three of my neighbours on the right were to be off
on the morrow to Zermatt ; two of my vis-a-vis
were in a hurry to reach Chamouny. We saw a
party on the Wetterhorn to-day, as I have stated.
There has hardly been a day since the beginning of
the month without some such experiment on the
same mountain. People talked last evening of a
lady's quite recent ascent of Mont Blanc ; nay, of
another such ascent by a comfort-loving gentleman,
who employed six stalwart guides only to take up
his bed and bedding to the usual gite of the Grands
Mulets. Moralise as you will as to the futility of
the undertaking and the wantonness of the risk,
there is always a good deal of the fire of true
courage in the midst of all the smoke of foolhardi-
ness. It is in the heart of all men, and of all women
too, worth their salt, to love danger for its own sake.
There is no doubt that nothing acted as so strong an
inducement for travellers to visit Switzerland this
year as the tragic catastrophe of the Matterhorn.
Such a godsend to innkeepers, guides, and horse-
hirers as that fatal slip has proved, no anticipation
even of the most favourable weather could have
vouchsafed. I never saw the Swiss rubbing their
hands with so great a delight as they do this year';
such a harvest of gold pieces, bank-notes, and cash
of all metals, and from all European mints, never
was made by Tell's countrymen- since the wars of
Louis•Xll. and Francis I. Our landlord of the
Grand Eiger, at Grindelwald, yesterday declared
himself thoroughly satisfied with his year's work.
" Thoroughly satisfied," y pensez-vous? We have
filled up the bottomless pit ! And as to the
people of the Schweitzerhof, Hotels des Bergues,
des Trois Couronnes, des Trois Rois, &c.,
they look upon new arrivals as a bore and
a nuisance ; they curse the evil star that
never sends a rain without a downpour, that
spoils their business by too great an influx of cus-
tom, and enables an oberkellner to lay aside money
enough to set up for himself, and build his new
establishment right in the teeth of his old master's
premises, taking the fair prospect, the very sun-
shine, and the English mulch cows from him. From
the dining-room of the Hotel des Alpes, which con-
sists of two long low apartments at right angles, all
wainscoted in panels like the chief cabin of a Cu-
nard steamer, it is pleasant, after dinner, to walk
into the large conversation room, and hear the con-
tinuation and conclusion of the table talk. There
is more room for the expansion of lungs and the
flow of souls in the grand salon ; greater facility
for joining fresh troops, or making new combina-
tions, more characters to study, more peculiarities
to become acquainted with. I must say, for the
truth's sake, that since I left Baden I have hardly
mixed with any but English company, and seen
thus but the respectable and pleasing side of summer
holiday makers.

Naval and Military Intelligence.

Major-Gen. Warde, C. 8., commandant at Wool-
wich, yesterday commenced his half-yearly visita-
tion of the district under his command, and which
has this year been extended to the garrison of
Maidstone. The General, accompanied by his aide-
de-camp, Capt. Williams, Capt. Nangle, Deputy-
Assist. Quartermaster-Gen. ; Major Hay, Brigade
Major, and other officers, commenced his inspection
at Purfleet of the detachment and quarters of the
Coast Brigade, R.A., in command of Capt. Ander-
son. He afterwards proceeded to Brentwood, where
it was his intention to pass the night, and make an
early inspection this morning of the troops and
quarters of the 3d division depot brigade Royal
Artillery, five hundred in number, stationed at
Warley, in command of Col. Hay. He will then re-
turn to head-quarters, Woolwich, and will continue
his inspection of the brigades and corps throughout
the garrison, concluding with an inspection of the
depot Royal Horse Artillery, in command of Col.
Turner, C. 8., and the detachment of the Guards,
about 200 strong, at Maidstone.
The sailing merchant vessel Louisa, 1,000 tons,
Commander H. Scowcroft, belonging to Messrs.
Duncan and Co., of East India-avenue, London,
arrived at Spithead yesterday with invalided and
time-expired soldiers on board, consisting of 118
men from various regiments, accompanied by Lieut.
Kelsey, 72d Highlanders, in military command ;
Cornet Donnithorne, 17th Lancers, and Surgeon
Pring in medical charge. The Louisa sailed from
Bombay on the 23d of May.
An attempt to undock her Majesty's ironclad fri-
gate Bellerophon, 16, 1,000 horse-power, on being
made at Chatham dockyard on Monday failed, in
consequence of the tide not rising sufficiently -high
to allow her to be floated over the blocks.' Another
attempt was made yesterdayafternoon, which proved
successful, and the vessel was floated into the har-
bour. Her draught of water, when fairly afloat, was
22ft 6in aft and 16ft forward, her keel being about
18in from the top of the blocks. She was berthed
alongside the floating sheer-hulk at the dockyard in
the course of the afternoon, and at once proceeded
to get up steam in her fore boilers, for the purpose
of testing her engines, which have not been set in
motion since fitted on board. She will receive about
100 tons of Welsh coals in her bunkers to-day pre-
paratory to being taken on an official trial of her
speed at the measured mile.
The screw gun vessel Plover, 5, 80 horse-power,
recently sold out of service, was yesterday taken
into No. 4 dock at Chatham, for the purpose of hav-
ing the copper removed from her bottom, and her
hull payed over previously to being handed over to
the Liverpool firm which has purchased her from
the Admiralty. The price for which the Plover
was purchased was £2,600, or at the rate of about
£6 2s. per ton, being one-fourth the price actually
paid for her a few years since by the Admiralty to
the private firm by which she was built. In addition
her engines and machinery cost nearly £4,000. The
Plover has been only once in commission.
Her Majesty's iron paddle-wheel vessel Oberon,
in charge of Mr. Robb, chief engineer, was yester-
day hauled under the shears in the inner basin, at
Woolwich, to be prepared for commission.
Tier Majesty's 6-
tons, and `lBO-horse geu n paddle sloop Spiteful, 1,054
power, was yesterday taken
into the inner basin of Woolwichreatidilic dockyard, and
•ommenced receiving stores in for sea.
She is expected to hoist her pennant in :s few days
The 3-gun paddle-wheel sloop Alecto, 800 taoyns.s '
burden, recently paid off at Woolwich by Com-
mander Blake, from the south-east coast of America,
was taken into the river yesterday to be broken up,
having been condemned and stripped as unfit for
further service.
The iron paddle sloop Trident liming been stripped
in readiness to be sold by public auction. Her
to her outer hull, now lies off the dockyard at Wool-
wich,engines and a portion of her fittings will be disposed
of separately.
The iron frigate Valiant returned into Portsmouth
harbour yesterday morning on the conclusion of her
trials of speed at the measured mile in StDkes Bay,
and of her caps Wis, anchors, and cables at Spithead.
The Arethusa, 35, screw frigate, Capt. IL J. J. G.
Macdonald, sailed from Spithead for the Channel.
The Octavia, 35, screw frigate, Capt..

steamed out of Portsmouth harbour yesterday on
the completion of her outfit for foreign service, and
anchored at Spithead to take in her powder and
shell previous to sailing westward.
The presentation of the Victoria Crosses to Mr.
Boys, midshipman, and two seamen of H.M.S. ship
Euryalus on Southsea Common, Portsmouth, is
appointed to take place on Friday next. The pre-
sent arrangements are that a marine force only will
be paraded for th 6 occasion. The force will form
in review order on the common about 2 p.m., and
will consist of a battery of six field guns, manned
by seamen ; two battalions of seamen ; one batta-
lion of Royal Marine Artillery, and one battalion
Royal Marine Light Infantry. Her Majesty's ship
Victory, the flagship of the Commander-in-Chief at
Portsmouth, will fire a Royal salute at the moment
of the presentation of the Crosses by Admiral Sir
Michael Seymour, G.C.8., the representative of the
Queen on this occasion.

RAILWAY INTELLIGENCE.

MIDLAND GREAT WESTERN.

The report of the directors states that the receipts
from the railway and canal amounted during the
past half-year to £110,828, and the disbursements
to £88,169, leaving a balance of £22,659, which,
with £4,415, the surplus from the preceding half-
year, made a disposable balance of £27,074. Out
of this the directors recommended a dividend at the
rate of £2 ss. per cent. per annum, leaving a balance
of £2,806 to the credit of the next account. The
receipts on the extension from Athlone to Galway
showed a deficiency of £9,328 on the working of
the traffic for the past half-year, including as usual
the interest on the Government loan. The extraor-
dinary expenditure in the renewal of the permanent
way and bridges was now drawing to a close, and
the directors, as advised by their engineer, had
every confidence that the current half-year would
see the termination of this heavy outlay, which
would place the railway in first-rate condition, and
thenceforth only the ordinary expense Of mainte-
nance would be required. The sum expended
during the half-year on the repairs and maintenance
of the permanent way and stations had amounted
to £27,433. The directors felt that they would
not be justified in placing the whole of this amount
against the revenue of the pasthalf-year, as it would
take away the dividend ; but they recommended
that an ample sum to cover ordinary maintenance
and repairs (£14,502) should be placed against re-
venue, and that the remainder (£12,931) be divided
into four equal parts, one-fourth (£3,233) to be
charged to the past half-year ending June 30th, and
the remainder (£9,968) be distributed over the next
three years, and be paid off in equal half-yearly in-
stalments of £1,616. In respect of the item of £6,363
compensation for losses and accident, the directors
'had resolved to charge £5,265 to the reserve ac-
count, which would then be exhausted, leaving the
remainder, £1,097, chargeable against revenue ac-
count. The sum of £16,073 had been expended on
capital account during the half-year. The traffic re-
ceipts for passengers, goods, and cattle had increased
largely since the commencement of the current half-
year, being for the first ten weeks £5,628 in excess
of the receipts for the same period of 1864, and
which gave the directors reason to hope for a more
encouraging future.