The Sun.
London, England, 1865-12-23 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, SATURDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 23, 18b5.

M.M.........."..A.••••••••....n..........k1am...,,,........YM••••••••,•.1•.11e1a.... i
ADAMS declines the proposition of Earl RUSSELL apology ! These fa voured Envoys, prior to their
LA TEST INTELLIGENOE
1
that a " joint commission" should be formed; departure, receive& 'the customary presents from the .
(REUTER'S TELEGRAMS.)
and the reasons he gives are that the claims submissive Englinh, and went their way in triumph
put forward by the Americans respecting the Ala- after signing a Treaty which, it is almost conso-
bama are to be excluded. This is a regular Yankee latory to believe, is so much waste paper.
reason, and one that points out in a marked manner How Sir J. LAWLENCE, keen-sighted, courageous,
the difficulty which all statesmen will always find in and resolute as he! is, should ever have given his
coming to terms with such impracticable characters `can onsent to such an
The arrangement is what
war nobodycan
and such extortionate claimants as the public men I c understand.
across the Atlantic prove themselves to be. Some I hardly have been the reason, seeing that all the
interest attaches itself to the other correspondence I preparations had been made at heavy cost, the
furnished by the Gazette on the subject of the ' ponies had been purchased, the roads prepared, the
Shenandoah ; and we find therein the old, old story coolies engaged, and all stores purchased. It is
repeated, of nou-responsibility on one side, supposed that the whole affair was considered to be
and of faulty management on the other. so contemptible and annoying that it was thought
Lord CLARENDON declares very truly that well to get rid of it at any cost. But if so, why
England is not answerable for the equipment and begin at all? The damage done to our credit and
escape of the vessel, but this does not satisfy Mr. national prestige throughout the East is really a
ADAMS. He accepts the surrender of the Shenan- very serious evil. The insults offered were
while all
such as
doah, but at the same time is indignant that the
the native mind could fully appreciate,
men were not put on their trial. To this very unrea- their ingenuity will fail to discover much
Boilable demand Lord CLARENDON properly replied satisfaction to our wounded dignity in the fact
that there were no grounds for so doing ; and he of paying double tribute. While we must rule in
expressed this opinion in a very decided manner, the East as well as in the West by law and prin-
leaving no man to doubt the firmness of the reso_ ciple, and not by fear, if we wish to rule at all, it is
lution. His lordship states that the " voluminous
papers," with which Mr. ADAMS furnished Her
Majesty's Government, were duly attended to by certainly not the place where the ruling power can
afford to lay aside any part of the semblance of
dignity and authority. The affair is the more
them, but that there was nothing in them which annoying as the chances are ten to one that we
tended to show that any capture had been made shall only have humiliated ourselves unnecessarily,
by Captain WADDELL or his crew after the termi- and that the whole cost and trouble of the war will
nation of the war had been made known to them ; begin again at a season when the labour will be
and furthermore, Lord CLARENDON adds, that unless increased, the expenses vastly augmented, and the
material facts had been deposed to by witnesses perils of an exhausting season added to the natural
in this country, it would have been impossible for risks and casualties of warfare. So much for Anglo-
any magistrate to have kept persons in custody Indian diplomacy !
upon the statements in those papers.
Such is a very fitting reply to the unwarrantable
demands made by the Government of Washington,
and so far Lord CLARENDON has well inaugurated
his duties at the Foreign-office. There is no use
whatever in mincing matters when it is a case
of national importance like the American
demands respecting these vessels of the
Confederate service. The fact is, that only
too much has been done already in the way of tem-
porising with the Washington Government con-
cerning the various matters in dispute during the
American war. Had our Foreign Office, from the
first, assumed an attitude worthy of this great
country, very different would now be the tone of
American statesmen. Give an inch and take an
ell is a motto most applicable to those sapient ex-
ponents of trans-Atlantic policy; and it is deplorable
to think of the unseemly manner in which the in-
terests of British subjects have been treated in order
to ally the irritation of the Americans. Yet they
are never satisfied, and another and another claim
starts up which we must adjust, andwhich threatens
to last till the crack of d9om. Now that the war
is over there seems to be as much debateable ground
to be passed over as ever, and only a very firm at-
titude on the part of our Ministlrs, and the avoid-
ance of anything like temporising with great ques-
tions, can carry them safely through the difficulty
that lies before them. To attempt to please the
Americans by giving in to their demands, on the
principle of anything for peace, is very much like
touching a nettle tender-handed, and the result is
about equally satisfactory.

ENGLAND AND ABYSSINIA.
A LETTER FROM DR. BEKE.
The following letter from Dr. Beke has been re-
ceived by Reuter's Telegram Company (Limited) :
SUEZ, DEC. 9.
We arrived here yesterday and are looking for
the means of conveyance to Massowah.
There is no news from Consul Cameron and his
companions in captivity, though there is intelli-
gence from Massowah down to the middle of No-
vember. At that date the rebel chief D6resu Gobazye
occupied the country between the capital Gondar
and the river. Sakkazye, Gobazye, the Waagshum,
or hereditary Prince of the province of Waag, was
in Sigree with an army, and a pitched battle be-
tween him and Deresu was imminent.
The Emperor Theodore was gone to Shoa in pur-
suit of Menilek, the Crown Prince of that country,
who had escaped from Amia Magdala in the begin-
ning of July last.
Since Mr. Rassam's departure from Massowah on
October 15th, with 40 loaded camels, nothing has
been heard of him. His road lay through the fron-
tier districts of Bajos Berem, Saka, Kedaref, and
Kalabat, at the chief place of which last-named
district he ought by this time to have arrived.
His progress thence to Gondar may probably
be impeded by the presence of the troops of Deresu
Gobazye.
Padre Giovanni Stella, the head of the Roman
Catholic Mission at Koren, the capital of Bogos, is
reported to have gone to Paris for the purpose of
representing to the Emperor Napoleon the deplor-
able condition of the inhabitants of that country,
from the aggressions and cruelty of the Egyptian
troops in Saka.
A Swedish Protestant Mission is about to be esta-
blished in Bogos, two of the members of which have
arrived at Cairo.
The insurrection in the Egyptian possessions on
the upper Nile is said to be quelled.

The Emperor of AUSTRIA has received both
Houses of the Hungarian Diet. The terms in j
which the address was couched were of the most
flattering description, and carry out the game of
conciliation, which has so far been played with
considerable success. Yet even here some doubts
intrude in the shape of "ifs" and " afters." The
E3IPEROR is informed that when he has taken the
" royal oath," beneath the open sky in the presence
of the millions of the people, " time and oppor-
tunity will be given to settle the measures most
conducive to the public welfare." This desidera-
tum will not be attained, however, until the " pre-
liminary political questions" are settled successfully.
And who can tell when that will be ? The
EMPEROR replied that he felt deeply all the
protestations of regard which they made to him,
and he adverted to the difficulties that impeded the
path of the Diet in arranging the various and com-
plicated affairs before them. " Great and difficult
is the task which assails you," was sententiously re-
marked by his Imperial MAJESTY, and doubtless
most heartily responded to by those who hoard the
declaration. The EMPEROR expressed his sense of
the compliment paid to the EMPRESS in the desire
expressed for her presence in Hungary, and so far
all went smoothly. Those who look beneath the
surface, however, may consider that it by no means
follows that the next visit of the EMPEROR will be
so satisfactory as this has proved to be. We
find that, in the course of his remarks,
his Imperial Majesty points out the mode in which
a satisfactory solution can be arrived at, and this has
a very slender chance of realisation. Thus, " if the
wisdom of the houses of the Hungarian Diet, com-
bined with moderation, corresponds to the extent of
the E3IPEROR'S paternal intentions, this Diet will
form an ever-memorable epoch of newly established
content in the life of the nation, for history testifies
that no labour is too difficult to be accomplished by
the Hungarian people acting in concert with
its King." It remains for the future to show us
whether any of these great prophecies will be realised
or any of these arduous tasks accomplished. If so,
well and good for the peace of Euorpe and the wel-
fare of Hungary ; but if it turn out, as it threatens
to do, that the " paternal intentions" of the E3l-
- are not incompatible with the desire for
absolute sway, veiled by a specious pretence of
nationality, he may find to his cost that his visit to
Hungary has not been the prelude to success nor
the presage of a more prosperous epoch in his reign.

It is no great wonder that the Treaty with Bhoo-
tan has excited a very general feeling of indigna-
tion thrsughout India ; and though the English
public are not very much in the habit of interfer-
ing with Indian politics, it is probable that the
annoyance and mortification so prevalent in our
Eastern Empire will be reflected in this country
when the facts are fully understood. The affair
with Bhootan has been conducted all through in
the most half-hearted and unsatisfactory manner.
.N umbers of valuable lives have been sacri-
ficed, a good deal of money has been
spent, and public feeling irritated and dis-
appointed with protracted negotiations. The
result of it all is that, just as the brief period suit-
able for pushing on the war has arrived, we hurriedly
make peace, and such a peace as an inferior Power
might submit to receive from the hands of a great
and powerful nation, but certainly not such terms
as one of the first nations in the civilised world
should agree to make with so insolent and con-
temptible an adversary. Even such terms as these,
however, are not even final. There is scarcely a
chance that the war party in Bhootan will accept
or sanction them, and therefore the only end at-
tained by this much-talked of Treaty is to waste
the few months favourable to really pushing
forward the war in Bhootan, and consequently to
entail on us the trouble and the loss of life conse-
quent upon a campaign in the hot season. Our
power and influence seem only to have been
exerted to drag the reluctant envoys into
a peace, which is as disgraceful to us as
it is impolitic and unwise. An English
Envoy, the representative of the British Crown
and the British authority was deliberately
and intentionally insulted and maltreated. No
matter what indiscretion or mismanagement
were or might have been on his part or
the part of those who sent him on this mis-
The person of an Envoy is always
sacred, and any insult offered to him is held as
offered to those whom he represents. The
Bhootanese, with all their complex government,
certainly know as much as this, and no one can
hesitate to regard their conduct to Mr. EDEN, and
their extortion of the Assam Treaty, as wanton and
deliberate insults. The event seems certainly to
have justified their temerity, for England, with her
wealth, her power, her forces, and her vast facili-
ties for the transit and support of her troops, has
hitherto proved unequal to the task of extorting the
submission of Bhootan ! Bad as the conduct of the
business has altogether been, the terms of this Treaty
really put a climax to it, and it is not surprising that
even with their experience of the past the Anglo-
Indian public at first refused to believe them. We
are to allow the DEB RAJAH, with whom this Treaty
is made, and whose influence and authority every
one is perfectly aware are merely nominal,
the two months best suited for military
operations to induce ToNGso PENLOW to give'
up the two ARMSTRONG guns which he has in his
possession. TONGS() PENLOW himself, the real
leader of the war, and the head of the strongest
party in Bhootan, is no party to the Treaty. Indeed
the rumour has reached Calcutta that he has de-
nounced the Treaty as being made without his
consent, and that he is recruiting his followers and
looking to his castles ! At any rate the case is bad
enough if he has even consented to the terms, for

sion.

AUSTRALIA.
MELBOURNE, Nov. 25.

The tariff has been rejected by the Legislative
Council, and the Ministers refuse the appro-

priation.

Parliament has been prorogued.
The Queen has been petitioned to recall the

Governor.

Advices from New Zealand state that the natives
had been successfully attacked in the Opotiki dis-
trict. Cava Pah had been captured.

The conviction of the murderer FoRWOOD, whose
name has attained such unenviable notoriety as a
wholesale murderer, will meet with general ap-
proval. Whatever may have been the exact mo-
tive of the wretched man for the commission of
his fivefold crime, there appears to be no reason-
able doubt that he was quite sufficiently master
of his actions to be made to suffer the full penalty
of his guilt. The attempt to set up a defence on
the ground of insanity was only to be expected,
but it was one that, in justice to the public,
could not be recognised by judge or jury. Our
nice distinctions of mental aberration may not,
indeed, be easily discernible by even ex-
perienced scientific observers, but so long as the
criminal can be shown to have exhibited sufficient
coherence and continuity of purpose, sufficient out-
ward calmness and self-restraint to have passed
among his fellow-men without detection, he has
certainly no claim on the clemency of the law or
the forbearahce of his fellows. All violent crime
I may, indeed, be said to be short madness," but it
is a madness which has been proved time after
time to be controllable by the influence of
I fear or self-interest. A mother who murders her
own children, children whom she has watched and
tended, who know her and call her by name, may,
indeed, unless she be one of those human monsters
who are happily rare in any age, be safely considered
as mad ; but a:man like Fonwoon, who betrayed
ample evidence of evil passion, but no failure of
purpose, no lack of ingenuity, in the fulfilment of
his wicked schemes, can claim no such exemption
from the stigma attached to wilful and deliberate
guilt. Whatever the ultimate fate of the wretched
man, it is satisfactory that the jury have done their
simple duty in refusing to admit any extenuation of
his crimes.

OVERLAND MAILS.

MALTA, DEC. 22.

The Pera left here at noon to-day. She may be
expected at Marseilles on the 25th ; letters in
London, 27th inst.
OUTWARD BOMBAY MAIL.

The Delta,, from Southampton on the 12th inst.
arrived here to-day at 11 a.m., and leaves at 6 p.m
for Alexandria.

SPAIN.

MADRID, DEC. 22 (Evening).

The Correspondencia de Espana formally denies
that the Government contemplates contracting a
new loan, or recognising the English Certificates
of the passive debt.

ITALY.

ROME, DEC. 22.

The brigand chiefs Capasso and Antonucci, with
six of their followers, have spontaneously surren-
dered to the Pontifical authorities, in consequence
of the late edict issued against brigandage at
Frosinone. •

The Pope was present at the funeral obsequies o:
Cardinal Ciarchi.

ABOLITION OF CHOLERA QUARANTINE.
MALTA, DEC. 17.

The Board of Health has abolished quarantine
on arrivals from Alexandria and Marseilles, pro-
vided they bring clean bills of health. The Board
of Health of Alexandria has adopted the same
course in regard to arrivals from Malta, a boon
which travellers to and from India, via Egypt, will
receive with great satisfaction. The Board of
Health in Sicily continues to enforce quarantine on
arrivals from Malta, notwithstanding that this
island has been free from cholera ever since the 11th
November. Messina exacts 21 days, but Palermo,
Syracuse, and Traysani are content with seven
days.
Scarlatina has manifested itself at Messina in
the form of an epidemic, principally among chil-
dren, with whom it has proved fatal to many, caus-
ing suffocation after 48 hours' illness.

CONSERVATIVE BANQUET NEAR BARNSLEY.—On
Thursday evening a large Conservative banquet was held
at the Spencer Arms, Cawthorno, near Barnsley, when
nearly 150 of the principal Conservative electors of the
Southern Division of the West Riding dined together, for
the purpose of presenting Mr. W. S. Stanhope, one of the
defeated candidates for this division, with a candelabrum,
as a token of respect and esteem.
TILE BRITISH MUSEUM.—It is probable that when
Panizzi retires from office the post of chief librarian
will be offered to Sir Edmund Head.

FRANCE.

PARIS, DEC. 23.

The Monitor of this morning, referring to the
recent disturbances at the University, says :—" A
small minority of students appear resolved to ob-
struot the lectures. The Government cannot per-
mit the work of the studious pupils to be interrupted
by a few turbulent young men."
Permission to attend the courses has already been
withdrawn from a certain number of these latter,
and a similar measure will be adopted with all who
may take part in the disturbances.
BOURSE, Dec. 22.—Transactions show no feature
of interest. The market closed as follows :

4i- per Cents 97 70
Do. end month —
3 per Cents. 6B 291
"4
Do. end month 6B 371
Credit Mobilier
Do. end month
Bank Shares 3780
Credit Foncier 1325
Italian Loan 65 35
Do. end month 65 50
RAIL'

Roman
Ottoman Fives 43 05
Mexican Loan 49
Do. Bonds 333 75
Russian -
Austrian
Spanish Threes 42
Home Debt —
Deferred

'AYS.
Cash.

Amt.
- ... 842 50

Orleans

Northern — ... 1140
Lyons and Mediterranean..., — ... 853 75
Southern — ... 571 25
Western — ... 550
Eastern — ... " 523 75
Sardinian
Austrian
Lombard — ... 433 75
North of Spain — ... 183 75
Saragossa — ... 220
Ditto to Barcelona — ... 112
Roman — ... 166 25

ALLEGED CANNIBALISM IN INDIA.—The following
ttiextraordinarysohinbelieveextracted
sonesofmistake r
horribleofrom
shte statement,
Pranaonteehnret:mi
codkabatestnteeerirndv
;e2;ra.at Patna,satnTo November 6,
evidence than that contained in the presey;te rater There
paragraph
withoutmustrwa g
re a w:betterdecline__e
" Such is the state of affairs in these districts that people
have commenced eating their own children. The people
in question are not systematically cannibals ; but what
can they do ? Provisions of all sorts aro sold at exor-
bitant rates, or are not at all procurable. Hence they,
must eat something, if body and soul are to be kept to-
gether. The other day the police brought up two women
before the magistrate, and said they were roasting a child
one year old to eat it. From inquiries made by the last-
named' functionary, it appeared that the child had died,
and that one of the females, the mother, was induced by
the other, her friend, both in a state of starvation, not
to consign its dead remains to the river, but to feast on it.
Tho magistrate could not, under the circumstances, in-
flict any punishment on them." Rice, the chief food of the
people of Behar, is sold at the rate of 8 and 9 seers a rupee,
and dali, the second article of consumption, at 7 and 71
seers. Hence it is that they do not scruple to.do Anything.
—Times of India.

we are to increase the sum formerly paid to Bhootan

to £5,000 per annum, which the natives naturally
enough construe into tribute. The "full apology"
demanded for the insults offered to Mr. EDEN was
insisted on, though whether it was actually attained
or not no one exactly knows, but so strong was
the Bhootanese conviction of our weakness and
their strength that even this shadow of submis-
sion proved a serious difficulty. The representatives
of this remarkable little State, which has succeeded
in achieving what half Europe in arms has before
now failed to accomplish—the humiliation of Eng-
land—remained a week with our own political agent
before they could get over this difficulty about the

EGYPTIAN HALL.—A great novelty is on Tuesday
next to be given at Chang's Joss-house at the above
hall. A concert of Chinese music, vocal and instrumental,
arranged by Mr. Marquis Chisholm, who is to preside at
the piano. Chang, whose height is 7 foot 9 inches, is still
drawing crowds to his levees, whilst " Chung Mow," the
Tartar dwarf, who tops 30 inches, still amuses his patrons
by the versatile talent he displays. Lady "King Foo,"
Chang's bettor half, seems never to tire of chin-chinning
her guests, and Mr. Siddons gives a must lucid description
of Chinese matters in general and Chang and his party in
particular. We may add that the hall is replete with
specimens of celestial art, kc.
ALL ENGLAND PLOUGHING MATCHES.—Another
of these popular competitions took place on Thurs-
day at Withington, Herfordshire. The contest lay between
the Ipswich and Bedford firms. Barker, the Ipswich man,
Brown and Purse; from Bedford, and four other first-class
men, contended. The work, as might be expected, was
of the highest kind, and the Champion Prize was won by
Ransome's man, Barker.
DEATH OF SIR GEORGE CURZON BISSHOPP, BART.
—We have to announce the death of Sir George Curzon
B isshopp, Bart., who died a few days back (on the 15th
inst.) at Hastings after a very short illness. The late baro-
net was born in 1823. His brother Edward Cecil succeeds
tuna in the baronetcy.