The Sun.
London, England, 1865-12-04 00:00:00

NORFOLK,

At the weekly meeting of the Norfolk Cattle
Plague Association at Norwich, on Saturday, Mr.
C. S. Read, M.P., in the chair, the • committee ex-
pressed the opinion that it was expedient to reopen
markets. The claims for compensation allowed dur-
ing the past week, after deducting salvage, &c.,
amounted to £1,163, the largest sum ever paid in
one week since the formation of the association in
August. Further claims are now pending to the
amount of £2,000. The balance at the bankers at
the close of November was £9,099, but the chairman
intimated on Saturday that a further rate would soon
be necessary. The magistrates of the Shropham and
Guiltcross Hundreds have issued an order suspend-
ing the entire movement of cattle into and fromthat
district until February 1, 1866. The committee of
the association has voted £5O to assist in the further
prosecution of the homoeopathic treatment of the
disease, which may be said to be at present stalking
through the county unchecked.

AMERICA.

______.~

QUEENSTOWN, DEC. 2.

The Inman steamer Etna, from New York on
the 18th ult., arrived here at 11.15 a.m. to-day
with 219 passengers and P 4,499 in specie. She
landed 66 passengers and proceeded at 11.25 a.m.

The South Carolina Legislature has adopted the
constitutional amendment abolishing slavery, thus securing
the adhesion of the necessary number of States to make
the amendment form part of the Federal Constitution.

Letters from Nashville to papers in Central
Georgia express surprise at the fact that there is a general
movement among the negroes in Kentucky toward the
Northern States. These correspondents state that thou-
sands have already found employment among the thrifty
farmers of the Middle States and New England. Tho
people want to stop the hegira, but don't know how to
do it.
A gentleman, writing from North Alabama, draws
the following picture of affairs : —" Our negro population
is in a fix, and a pretty considerable one that is, the men,
for the most part, roaming about in the exercise of their
new-found liberty, doing but little, and that little bad.
They have no supplies, and how they are to live until
green corn and blackberry time next year God only knows.
Thousands unquestionably will and must die of starvation.
Their old masters' cribs and smoke-houses aro either empty
or closed against them."
There is some uneasiness in Richmond about
alleged preparations for an insurrection making by the
25,000 or 30,000 negroes huddled in tents on the York
River Peninsula, between the towns of Hampton and
Williamsburgh. These negroes have been notified that on
January 1 the lands they now occupy will be turned over
to their former owners, and if the reports are true the dis-
satisfaction caused by a knowledge of this fact has been
increased by the presence among them of free negroes
from the North, who incite also a spirit of insurrection
and revenge. _

The Richmond Times insists upon legislation that
shall compel the negro to perform his contracts where his
master has not failed to execute his part of the bargain.
It says : —"From the Rio Grande to the Susquehanna,
from the planters of Texas, and from thelarmers of Mary-
land, there is not the slightest difference of opinion as to
'freedmen' treating their contracts as nullities. No treat-
ment, however kind, no rational indulgence, however
liberal, make the slightest impression upon these most
inconsistent and fickle human beings. They have no
moral principle where a contract is concerned, and their
instability " exceedeth that of water and sand."

The Macon (Ga.) Journal of the 2nd inst. is in-
dignant at the thought of repudiating the rebel war debt.
It says:—" This so-called Confederate war debt is but
little more than double the actual and necessary expendi-
tures for carrying on the civil government of the State ;
and the whole debt now owing by Georgia, reduced to a
specie standard, will not exceed three or four millions of
dollars. That the good name of a great State should be
bartered for this paltry sum and an unenviable notoriety,
is too preposterous to be entertained for one moment by
any man having one particle of State pride."
A Washington despatch says:—" It is a singular
fact that so groat is the demand for school books in the
South that the Northern publishers are compelled to send
a large amount of their press-work to this city to be done.
In all, over twenty-five presses here are engaged in print-
ing these books. The prices charged for press-work in
Washington are 20 per cent. more than in Northern cities.
One retail dealer in school-books here sold $15,000 worth
last month to Southern booksellers. Three-fourths of all
that go South are sold to the negroes."
Mr. Worth has been elected Governor of North
Carolina by a majority of from 5,000 to 10,000 over Mr.
Holden.

It is officially reported that the mortality among
the negroes during the war against the South averaged
from 30 to 50 per cent. This excessive mortality continues
in many parts of the South.
The States of Wisconsin and Minnesota have
voted against negro suffrage.
The new Legislature of the State of lowa is poli-
tically divided as follows: Senate, Republican 43 ; Oppo-
sition 5. House, Republican, 83 ; Opposition 15. Repub-
lican majority on joint ballot 106—large enough for all
practicable purposes.

- -
The Ohio and Mississippi Railroad have com-
menced a suit against the Indianapolis and Cincinnati
Railroad for damages, amounting to over one million five
hundred thousand dollars, for breaking the contract
existing between the two roads, whereby the latter used
the track of the former from Cincinnati to Lawranco-
burgh.

The following petition has been sent to Secre-
tary Seward by the merchants of Boston :
To the Hon. William H. Seward, Secretary of State.

The undersigned—merchants, mechanics, and other
citizens,—having read the diplomatic correspondence re-
cently published, beg leave respectfully to protest against
further action by our Government in their demands upon
the British Government for compensation for the depre-
dations committed upon our commerce by the Alabama
and other British cruisers.

They respectfully represent that it would be a great in-

jury to this country to weaken, for the sake of the few
millions of dollars involved in the claims of our citizens,
the prospective value of the precedents thus set by the
British Government.

They beg you to remember that, judging of the future
by the past, the time cannot be far distant when the
British Government will be a belligerent, and that
whether against Russia, France, or Brazil, or against its
Indian subjects, the heroic Sepoys, or its oppressed Irish
provinces, its next war, when we are at peace, will give
us the same opportunity in principle, and a hundred
times greater in degree, which her merchants, mechanics
and shipbuilders have had to profit by our misfortunes.
'While her commerce equals ours in tonnage, the value
of her merchandise afloat is always infinitely greater than
ours, many of our ships being usually loaded by the help
of British capital.
Where she built one Alabama or blockade runner we
can build a hundred, provided her precedents aro allowed
to remain. While she has by destruction and alarm
driven about one-tenth of our commerce from the ocean,
we can at the next opportunity, following in her footsteps,
utterly drive the British merchant flag from the ocean,
except when conveyed by a steam frigate. They have
made the most of their opportunity ; their machine shops
and ship-yards have enjoyed a prosperity never before
equalled. Their shipowners and merchants have fat-
tened upon our distresses. They can well afford to pay
out of their profits the petty loss3s which are claimed, and
still have millions of wealth wrung from us remaining.
Our harvest will soon come, but we shall better their
instruction a hundredfold, until not a vestige of British
merchant navigation will remain upon the ocean in rivalry
with ours.

We pray you, therefore, to retain the vantage she has
given us by making no further demands in compensation
for our claims, but rather to use your influence with our
own Government to obtain payment from them for the
losses thus incurred by our own citizens, and to retain in
full force tho precedent set by Great Britain, as infinitely
more valuable than those claims.
Gen. M‘Dowell, in command at California has
issued, under instructions from the War Department, an
order instructing his subordinate officers to take the
necessary measures to preserve the neutrality of the United
States with respect to the parties engaged in the existing
war in Mexico, and to suffer no armed parties to pass the
frontier from tho United States, or suffer any arms or muni-
tions of war to bo sent over the frontier to either belli-
gerent. This is not to prevent individuals from passing
with arms for their personal protection.

Diana of Poitiers in the Glory of her

Youth.

The following animated description of an inter-
view between Francis the First and the lovely
Diana of Poitiers we extract from the last instal-
ment of Mr. Ainsworth's new historical romance
of "The Constable de Bourbon," in the December
number of Bentley's )Miscellany:--
At this moment a side-door was opened, and a
young dame, richly attired, and of surpassing
beauty, entered the chamber.
On seeing the king, she would have instantly
retreated, but he commanded her to stay.
" Do not let my presence alarm you, fair lady,"
he said. " And do not suppose you interrupt me,
for I have finished my conference with the Lord
Constable."

The young dame, who seemed much embarrassed,
made a profound obeisance, but did not advance.
As we have said, she was exquisitely beautiful. Her
features might have been modelled by Praxiteles,
and her figure was tall and admirably proportioned.
She was attired in green velvet, embroidered with
flowers of damask, gold, and pearls, with the
sleeves puffed and quilted, and her head-dress,
which was becomingly fashioned, was ornamented
with pearls and other precious stones.
" I am trying to recal your features, fair lady,"
said the king, approaching her, and regarding her
with undisguised admiration, " but I do not think I
can have seen you before. Such a lovely face as
yours—such lustrous eyes—and such a form—must
have made a lasting impression upon me. Yet you
must have been at court."

" No, sire, my father, the Comte de Saint-
Vallier, never took me to court," she replied.
" How ?" exclaimed Francois, surprised. " Are
you the charming Diane de Poitiers, who, by be-
stowing your band upon the Comte de Maulevrier,
have made him the most enviable of mortals ?"

" It is my misfortune, sire, to be the wife of the
Comte de Maulevrier," she replied.
" Your misfortune ! ha !" exclaimed the king.
" Are you aware that your husband is here?"
" Here, sire !" exclaimed Diane, uneasily.
" Nay, not alarmed," replied Francois, smiling.
" He has not come for the purpose of taking you
back to the Chateau de Breze. He brought me
some important intelligence from Normandy."
" 'Tis Maulevrier, then, who has revealed the
plot," mentally ejaculated Bourbon.
" I should not return with him, if he desired it,"
said Diane. " Your Majesty must understand that
the Comte and I have quarrelled."
" Quarrelled! ah !" exclaimed Francois. " And
so you took refl.:go from the husband you hate with
the Duke de Bourbon—eh ?"

"I do not hate my husband, sire, though he has
compelled me to leave him. I came to the Chateau
de Moulins with my father."
"And you expected to find your father with the
Constable, when you entered so suddenly just now,
eh ?" remarked the king, dryly.
" I did, sire. I came to inform them of your
arrival at the chateau—little expecting to find your
Majesty here. I trust I may infer from your gra-
cious and kindly aspect that the Constable is re-
stored to favour ?"

"He is fully restored," replied the king. " You
will be pleased, I am sure, to learn that I have just
promised him the command of half my Italian
army."
" You have done well, sire," she rejoined. " With
Bourbon in joint command with your majesty, vic-
tory will be assured. You will accompany the
king ?" she added to the Constable, with evident
anxiety.
" I hope to do so," he replied. "At all events,
I will follow as soon as my strength will permit
me."

" Nay, I must have you with me," said the king.
" Right, sire—do not leave him behind," she
whispered.
" I know the way to enforce obedience on the
Constable's part," said the king. " I shall take you
with me to Lyons, fair Diane. He will follow
quickly then."
" Sire !" exclaimed Bourbon, with ill-concealed
vexation, " the countess is here with her father !"
" What of that? I shall not ask his consent,"
replied the king. " The only person who has any
right to object is Maulevrier, and he is not likely
to interfere. The Comtesse de Chateaubriand and
a large party of court dames are in my train," he
added to Diane. " You shall accompany them."
He then continued in a low voice : " I cannot doubt
the great influence you possess over Bourbon.
What you say to him he will obey.' Charge him,
therefore, to join ine a week'hence at Lyons."
And he moved towards the other side of the
chamber, as if to examine the portrait of the beau-
tiful Clara de Gonzaga.
Diane instantly took advantage of the opportu-
nity, aud, approaching Bourbon, said, in a low
voice,
" You have accepted the king's offer? You will
break with the Emperor and Henry VIII., will
you not?"
" It is too late," replied the constable, in the same
tone. " I have signed the compact."
" But consider that the king has promised to
share the command of the army with you ?" she
urged.
" Promises made by princes under such circum-
stances are rarely kept," replied Bourbon. " I can
never be really restored to the king's favour."
" You wrong him," she said. "He is the soul
of loyalty and honour."
" He loyal !" echoed Bourbon. " He is perfidious
as his mother. I will not trust him."

" That is your determination ?"
" My fixed determination," he rejoined.
" Then we shall never meet again—never, Char-
les," she said.
Bourbon made no reply, and his head sank upon
his breast. At this moment the king turned round.

" Have you prevailed upon him, fair Diane?" he
asked.

" Yes, yes, he will come, sire," she answered
hastily. " You will?" she added to Bourbon, with
an entreating look that ought to have been irresist-
ible.

" You have said it," he rejoined.
" That is well, observed the king. " I knew you
could not resist her persua,sion."i
Just then the door opened, and Jean de I'Hopital
entered the room.

" I crave your majesty's pardon for this interrup-
tion," he said, " but I am compelled to attend to my
illustrious patient. It is necessary that his highness
should take the draught prepared for him."
" I applaud your zeal, sir," replied Francois,
" and I enjoin you to use all your art to restore the
prince your master to health as quickly as may be.
Think you he will be able to set out for Lyons in
three days ?"
" I will not answer for it, sire," replied Jean de
l'Hopital, cosulting Bourbon by a look.
" In a week; then?" demanded the king.
" Perchance in a week, sire," replied the physi-
cian. "But he must travel slowly, for even then he
will be very feeble."
" Come hither, sir," said the king, taking Jean
de l'Hopital aside. "Answer me truly, as you value
your life. What ails the Constable ?"
" His highness is labouring under a severe quoti-

dian ague, caught at Montbrison," replied the phy-
sician. " The fever has proved of singular obsti-
nacy, and will not yield to ordinary remedies. We
are under great apprehensions," he added, lowering
his voice, " that it may be followed by some mortal
ailment, as consumption, or the black jaundice.
His state is exceedingly critical, and demands the
utmost care. Were he to take cold, I would not
answer for his life."

" Hark ye, sir," said the king. I know you can
speedily cure him, if you will. Within a week I
expect to see him at Lyons."
" I cannot perform impossibilities, sire," replied
the physician ; " but if it be in the power of medi-
cal skill to further your majesty's desires, you shall
behold him at the time appointed."
Apparently satisfied, Francois then turned to-
wards the Constable, and said :

" Adieu, cousin. I commend you to the care of
your physician. But as I shall naturally be anxious
to hear how you progress, I will leave behind me
the Seigneur Perot de Warthy, who will send me
daily tidings of you."
" That is needless, sire," said Bourbon, im-
patiently. " Since you are pleased to express so
much anxiety about me, I will despatch frequent
messengers to you with the report of my phy-

sicians."

" I prefer leaving Warthy," rejoined the king.
" I can depend on him. Once more adieu, cousin.
We shall meet again at Lyons."
And, offering his hand to Diane, he led her out
of the room.