The Sun.
London, England, 1865-07-27 00:00:00

SWEDEN AND NORWAY.

It might have been imagined that, as Scandina-
vian interests had suffered so severely in the late
Danish war, the Swedes would have been disposed
to suspend, if not to abandon, all those measures
for attack or defence with which they had pre-
viously been so busily engaged. This, however, is
so far from being the case that the Government
and the people appear alike to be determined to
avail themselves of the respite which the pacific
turn affairs have taken in this quarter to make
themselves more than ever ready for the conflict
by sea and land in which they fancy they may
eze long be called upon to take a part ; and
on that account not only is the whole system
of education pursued in the military schools under-
going a thorough revision and reform, but
there has recently been brought forward a scheme
for the reorganisation of the navy, which the
King has already so far sanctioned as to have
given authority to the Minister of Marine to take,
with the least possible delay, the steps that may be
necessary for having it practically adopted. Accord..
ing to this plan, the navy is in future to be divided
into two independent classes—the one to consist of
such vessels as can be sent to sea, and the other to
be composed of a marine artillery, the special pro-
vince of which is to be the defence of the archipelago,
of the capital, and of the internal lakes and rivers
of the kingdom. When carried into effect many
important advantages are anticipated to be the re-
sult of this change, not the least of which would be
the reduction of the number of officers and men
employed, as well as a considerable diminution of
the expenditure which has hitherto been incurred in
that department.
Whilst from this and other reasons the atten-
tion of the public has been directed to these
matters, the appearance of a pamphlet, which is
said to have issued from the very highest source,
has given an increased importance to this question
of military preparation. Its title is " Some
Thoughts on the Organisation of the Swedish
Army ;" and it is strange, although the pamphlet
has been read and commented upon by almost every
one, no critical remarks upon it have hitherto ap-
peared in 'any of the journals or reviews of which
the press of this city provides so constant and abun-
dant a supply. This silence cannot be attributed
to any fear that may be entertained as to prosecu-
tions which might follow the expression of an opi-
nion at variance with that of the anonymous author
of this pioduction, for the press is as free here as it
is in any country in the world and it may there-
fore be concluded that the views set forth are gene-
rally those which are approved of, and such as will,
in the main, be sanctioned by the competent autho-
rities when they may be regularly and officially
explained to them.

But perhaps the strongest evidence that can be
adduced of the military enthusiasm which now pre-
vails here is the perfection to which the volunteer
movement has been brought. Following the ex-
ample which was set to them in England, the young
men of this city, of 'Gothenburg, and of other
places and towns of importance, hastened some
time ago to have themselves enrolled as members
of the different corps of• volunteer riflemen, and
they have in many, or rather in most, instances
been so regular in their attendance at drill, and so
zealous in their acquisition of military knowledge
and habits, that, when called out to take their part
in the annual exercise of the Bevaring, a very large
proportion of them have been reported to be so
well acquainted with their duties as to be entitled
to claim exemption from the performance of those
services as soldiers which they were then, according
to custom, called upon to discharge ; and this will
be admitted by those who have had any experience
of such service to be a boon which will go far to ren-
der the volunteer force still more popular than it might
otherwise have been, and at the same time tend to
maintain its numbers at a figure which, when first
started, it never was expected they could have reached:
The Swedes have indeed reason to be proud of their
volunteers, for when those of this city and suburbs
were pasSed in review by Prince Oscar on Monday,
they went through their manoeuvres in a manner which
would have done credit to regular troops, and obtained
for them the commendation of his royal highness
who expressed himself in terms which were not only
gratifying to the volunteers themselves, but were ap-
proved of by the vast crowd of military men and civi-
lians who were present on that interesting occasion.
Before adverting to other than military matters it
may be mentioned that experiments have been made
by Lieut. Skott, of the Danish army, to ascertain
how far nitro-glycerine could be made use of as am-
munition in actual warfare. These experiments have
been most successful, more especially as to shells and
grenades, and it is therefore by no means improba-
ble that the same revolution will ere long be produced
as to the use of that article for military purposes, as
has already been accomplished in its application to
mines, in which it is now so extensively and advan-
tageously made' use of.
•

In Norway they continue to deprecate the extent
to which emigration from that country to America
is still carried on. The departure of her stalwart
sons from a country so thinly populated is natu-
rally regarded as a great calamity ; but though this
expatriation of her people had been going on for
some time, it was not until 1849 that it had assumed
such proportions' as to excite alarm, and yet since
that time it has been steadily on the increase, having
in 1853 reached 6,050 persons, in 1857 the number
having risen to 6,560, and having in 1861 attained
its maximum of 8,850. It may be satisfactory to
Englishmen to know that of these at least two-
thirds embarked for Canada, while only one-third
went to the United States, though there is reason
to fear that many of those who intended to go to
the British provinces had their destination after-
wards changed, and that consequently many have
fallen victims in the late war. It appears, how-
ever, that war has not been the only cause of mor-
tality in such cases, for, according to a Norwegian
author who has examined the subject most minutely,
it has been ascertained that the proportion of
those who have died on board of the emigrant
greater than if
ships has been seventeen times
those who embarked had remained at home ; but
even this does not check the desire to seek a new
home among those who, for one reason or another,
have made up their minds to try to better their for-
tunes in the " land of promise." It should be re-
marked, however, that neither in Sweden nor in
Denmark has emigration been carried to the same
extent as in Norway, for, whilst it is known that
in a period of 28 years the number of emigrants from
Norweigian ports had reached 73,355, it has been
ascertained that the emigration from Denmark had
not in 40 years exceeded 5,530 persons ; and although
since the abolition of the passport system in Sweden
no correct returns of those who have emigrated can
be obtained, there is good reason to believe that the
average number who have embarked from ,Swedish
for transatlantic ports has not annually exceeded
1,500, which, when compared with the number of
those who are known to have sailed from the less
populous kingdom of Norway, affords convincing
proof of the greater degree of contentment which
prevails in this than in that portion of this united
kingdom.—Letter front Stockholm.

A fire occurred three nights since at Lahey-court
(Meuse), which destroyed 14 houses with their barns
and other outbuildings in little more than an hour.
Twenty-seven families are left homeless by this dis-
aster. The loss is estimated at 140,000 fr., but
most of the sufferers are insured, though not to
the full extent of their losses.

The Court of Orleani has given a decision in con-
formity with the jurisprudence of the Court of Ces-
sation in the affair of the correspondence of MM. de
St. Cheren and de Clairbois, that is, that news con-
veyed in a private letter to a journal cannot be
considered illegal until published.
Mr. Stapleton, a surgeon, of Trowbridge, says
that the servant of Mrs. Kent, Elizabeth Gough, has for
five years been shut out from profitable domestic employ-
ment under a social ban. It is now proposed that a small
annuity shall be purchased for her by a fund raised by
subscriptions, limited to one guinea each, an account
being opened by a committee of gentlemen appointed for
the purpose with the bank of Messrs. Dimsdale and
Fowler, of London, and with the North Wilts Bank,
Trowbridge. . -
. . .

SPORTING INTELLIGENCE—This Day.

GOODWOOD RACES-THIS DAY.
(BY TELEGRAPH.)

GOODWOOD CUP.
3to 1 agst Eltham (taken)
9 to 2 agst Cambuscan (taken)
sto 1 agst General Peel (taken)
Bto 1 agst Union Jack (offered)
9to 1 agst Ely (offered)
10 to 1 agst Breeze (offered)
RACING FIXTURES FOR 1865.

.AUG

Brighton 1
Brighton Club
Airdrie
Lewes 4
Ripon
Huntingdon
Wolverhampton
Paisley
Kuutsford
Reading
Wenlock ll
Radcliffe l4
Woodford and Loughtn l5

SEPTE
Warwick 5
Cheadle
Totness and i3ridgetown 6
King's 'Lynn 6
Leicester 7
Dover 7
Hereford ..... . 7
Bridgewater
Doncaster

OCTO'
Bedford ..... .. .
Caledonian Hunt 'and 8
Edinburgh ............. 4
Northallorton ... . ... 5
Newmarket 2d 9
Perth

Egham l5
Stockton l6
Tiverton l6
Oxford l7
York ...
GreatYarmouth 22
Plymouth
Lichfield 2B
Devon and Exeter 29
Tunbridge 29
Derby Summer 3O
Ipswich
Weymouth 3l
:3113E1i.

Brecon lB
Richmond
Canterbury l9
Hendon (Welsh Harp) 2l
Monmouth 2l.
Manchester Autumn
Newmarket Ist Oct 26
Walsall
Lanark

Leek
West Drayton
Kele()
Newmarket Ho. It
Worcester Autumn

NOVEMBER.
Lincoln Autumn ......... 2 Warwickshire and L eam-
Liverpool Autumn ...... 7 ington Hunt
Shrewsbury

Mr• Cameron's Imprisonment in Abyssinia.

The France publishes a letter from " Count R.
Dubuisson," dated Province of Wolkait, Abyssinia,
April 16, on the subject of Mr. Cameron's impri-
sonment. We extract the following
For the last 18 months the Envoy Extraordinary of
Great Britain has been a prisoner; the representative of
haughty England, with a carcanet round his neck, irons
on his legs, and a chain on his right arm which fastens
him to the left arm of an Abyssinian appointed to keep
watch over him, has been for eighteen months dragged
about like a wild beast in the suit of the Emperor
Theodore. One is astounded to think that the in-
sulted party is England, and the insulter Theodore.
Living as I do, and for a long while have done, on the
spot, among Abyssinian personages, either principal actors
in, or eye-witnesses of, this violation of the laws of na-
tions, I am in a better position than anybody else to give
you authentic and circumstantial details of this affair,
which greatly pre-occupies the English Celina, and is the
occasion of much active diplomacy at Constantinople. The
English Ministry is assuredly not indifferent to the affront,
quite novel for England, which it has received ; but, being
misled by its agents as to the true character of Theodore,
it has taken a wrong course. The English mistake is that,
judging of the substance of things from outward forms,
they suppose the Negous to be a "savage, an inferior being,
a despicable enemy." Mr. Cameron's captivity is due to two
causes. First, the haughty susceptibility of Theodore,
who felt greatly hurt at Lord Palmerston's taking upon
himself to answer a polite authograph letter addressed to
Queen Victoria. It is true that the Queen did subse-
quently write with her own royal hand a very gracious
letter to Theodore. This is a fact, for I have read the let-
ter. But the answer of the "illiterate savage" consists of
these few words, which one is astounded to read on Afri-
can soil—" It is too late." The second reason for the arrest
is unknown in Europe, and more especially at the Foreign
Office ; and this is the main, the serious cause. The first
visit of the English Envoy to the Negous was brilliant, the
reception cordial and majestic, and everything promised the
complete success of the politico-commercial mission of this
diplomatist. Business called him back to Kassala-Soudan,
and there he became great friends with an Abyssinian
prince, whose acquaintance he had made at Gondar.
Whether this prince was one of the numerous
spies that the mistrustful sovereign employs, or
a mere traveller, I cannot undertake to say. How-
ever that may be, Mr. Cameron and the Prince
talked continually about Abyssinia, its prospects, and the
Emperor Theodore and his policy. You may possibly not
be aware that Theodore, terrible in battle, implacable in
victory, after having overturned all the dynasties that stood
in his way, contented himself with confining the children
of the conquered sovereigns in an Amba, an inaccessible
mountain. The following Abyssinian notabilities are now
in that fortress, where they are honourably treated :
Balgueda Area, the first warrior in Abyssinia; the de-
scendants of Oubre, King of Tigris, of Sahalafre, King of
Choa, of Goudchou, Prince of Godjam, of Negoussie,
and of Raz-Ali, King of the Amarah. Nov, in the
course of Mr. Cameron's conversations with the Prince,
the portraits of A these illustrious prisoners were
drawn, and their respective merits and chances dis-
cussed ; and in the comparisons instituted between
the conqueror and the conquered the balance did not
always incline to the side of the de facto monarch. Did
the talkers go further ? In presence of the great misfor-
tune which has happened to Mr. Cameron I shall be silent
on that head. Suffice it to say that when the Consul re-
turned to the Emperor, the angry countenance of the
latter presaged a storm. " Serpent !" muttered Theodore ;
but being too cunning to allow it to be supposed that he
was afraid of a plot, or gave himself a thought about his
vanquished enemies, ho dissimulated the real cause of
his rage, and the representative of England was ar-
rested and loaded with irons, ou the pretext that ho
was responsible for the insult put upon the Emperor by
the Queen, For a long while Theodore dragged Mr.
Mr. Cameron about with him wherever he travelled, but
being at length tired of this following, he has now shut
him up at Magdala, near Debra Tabor, with several other
European prisoners, among whom are two Frenchmen,
M. Bardel and M. Mackerer ; the rest aro Germans or
English. Such are the facts in all their truth. England
is at this moment redoubling her efforts on Mr. Came-
ron's behalf. An English steamer remains constantly
at Massawah, which place the Turkish Governor has left;
and Commander Rassam has started to see the Negous,
and submit to him fresh propositions. He is yet waiting
in vain for permission to enter the country. According
to the lastest intelligence, his messengers had returned
from Theodore's Court with discouraging news. The
Emperor rejected all friendly proposals, and his ultimatum
was, "If the English want Mr. Cameron, they must come
aggressiont
the h t
part' o
and fetch him." It is more than probable, seeing the
first
te
symptom
expatospmeroaftioay
nnin
seriousw
hi which
Theodore
is,
o n a n
of
England he will respond by cutting off the heads of Mr.
Cameron and all the other prisoners. It has been stated
in Europe that orders had been given to put to death all
foreigners in Abyssinia. But that is a complete mistake,
since I am here quietly writing these lines to you, and all
the employds of the colony are extremely well treated when
they make excursions. The Emperor, however, naturally
takes precautions against the intrigues of his enemies, and
suspected persons are not allowed to go into the interior
of the country. The British Cabinet, as a last resource,
has invoked the mediation of the Copht patriarch of
Egypt, who, according to immemorial usage, nominates the
primate of Abyssinia. This, again, was a mistake, for the
primate of Abyssinia, the Abouna, is in complete disgrace,
and his interference, so far from being useful to Mr.
Cameron, would be only likely to aggravate his position.
The negotiation between the Patriarch and England was
carried on very secretly. Two envoys from that high
dignitary have arrived at Kassala in the strictest incog-
nito, and are there waiting for news from Abyssinia. In the
towns of the Soudan there are hotels for travellers, but the
custom is to receive them hospitably in the houses of rich
merchants. The Copht envoy took immense pains to
show themselves as little as possible, and to avoid every-
thing likely to call the attention of the Negous to their
presence at. Kassala. But unfortunately a week before
their agents at Theodore, disguised as pedlars, took up
their quarters in every house along the line of route in
which strangers were likely to lodge, and the Cophts
unconsciously, while fancying they were hiding
themselves, passed their days in more or less com-
promisingf conversation with these gentry. The police o
this "man," who is deemed a savage, is more perfect thantof
that of many civilised states. At the commencemeann
su_
his career, the Emperor was an admirer of Eunroopres
to
his
periority, and endeavoured to attach some foreig
in
the
person reason ton
orepla f
person ; but he found so much
dis tto all Euro-
irst corners, that he has takenle,
considered,
and enjoy
peans, and they aro now very little
serious can be at-
little influence here. Is ot
co-operation of
very
'nix without the
tempted against Abyssi
with the aid of Turkey is trying to
Egypt, and England
h
ether she will succeed.
get this, but I doubt IN

It is stated that Mr. Palgrave, the traveller, has boen
appointed by the Government to go out to Abyssinia, with
a view to obtain the release of British subjects detained in
captivity.

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in a general and domestic remedy : it overturns the foun-
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In obstructions or congestions of the liver, lungs, bowels,
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and eminently successful. They should be kept in every
family, as they are a medicine without a fault for young
persons and those of feeble constitutions. They never
cause pain, or irritate the most sensitive nerves or most
tender bowels. Holloway's pills aro the best known puri-
fiers of the blood, and the best promoters of absorption and
secretion' which remove all poisonous and obnoxious
particles from both solids and fluids.

Railway and other Companies.

METROPOLITAN.

The directors of this company have resolved to
recommend to the proprietors a dividend at the rate
of 7 per cent. per annum on the ordinary stock and
new ordinary shares df the company for the half
year ending the 30th of June last, carrying forward
a balance of £3,400 to the next account.