The Sun.
London, England, 1854-12-26 00:00:00

CHRISTMAS FESTI pi TIES.

The Duke and Duchess of Bedford are entertaining
a di4tinguished circle of friends at Woburn Abbey,
Beds. The gaieties of the season will be prolonged
until the close of the ensuing week at the ducal seat.
The Duke and Duchess of Norfolk have a select party
assembled at Arundel Castle, Sussex, for the holidays.
The Duke and Duchess of Beaufort have a large
party at Badminton. The Duchess Dowager of Beau.
fort and the Ladies Somerset, Mr. and Lady Rose
Lovell, &c., are among the visitors.
The Duke and Duchess of Wellington are seeing com-
pany at Strathfieldsaye, Hants.
The Duke and Duchess of Northumberland intend to
receive a succession of guests at Alnwick Castle, Nor. ,
thumberland, during the Christmas holidays. The poor
on the ducal estate, and also at Stanwick, in Yorkshire,
have not been forgotten by the noble duke and duchess.
The Duke and Duchess of Sutherland's party this
Christmas, at Trentham, Staffordshire, is confined to a
family circle, including the Marquis and Marchioness
of Stafford, the Bari and Lady Constance Grosvenor, &c.
The Marquis And Marchioness of Kildair are also stay-
ing with the noble duke and duchess.
The Duke and Duchess of Cleveland have a select circle
at Raby Castle, Durham.
The Duke and Duchess of Richmond have a numerous
family party congregated at Goodwood-park, Sussex.
The Princess Edward of Saxe Weimar, the Earl and
Countess of March, Lord Henry Gordon Lennox, M.P.,
Lord Alexander Gordon Lennox, M.P., &c., are of the
party.

The Marquis of Lansdowne is entertaining a small
party at Bowood, Wilts. The Earl and Countess of
Shelburne arrived there on Friday. Count and Countess
Flahault, and the Hon. Miss Elphinstone Flahault are
expected there.

. --
The Earl and Countess of Derby have a select circle
at Knowsley, near Prescott. Lord Stanley, M.P.,
joined the circle on Saturday.
The Earl Fitzwilliam is surrounded by a large family
circle this Christmas, On St. Thomas's Day the whole
of the labourers and poor on the noble earl's estate, at
Wentworth, were given an ample supply of the comforts
of the seascin, agreeable to his lordship's annual custom
at this period of the year.
Lord Brougham is keeping up Christmas at Brcugham
Hall, in "The good old English style," surrounded by a
large party. Mr. and Mrs. William -Brougham and their
children are staying with the noble and learned lord.
The Right Hon. Sidney Herbert, M.P., and Mrs.
Herbert, are dispensing their hospitality at Wilton
House, near Salisbury. The Countess (Dowager) of
Pembroke, the Earl and Countess of Clanwilliam, the
Countess of Dunmore, the Earl and Countess Bruce,
the Hon. T. and Lady Emma Vesey, &c., are among
the guests of the right hon. gentleman.
Sir Stf,phen Glynne, Bart., has a small party at
H. award.en Castle. Lord and Lady Lyttelton have ar-
rived there from Hagley Park, Worcestershire ; and
the tight Hon. W. E. and Mrs. Gladstone, from town,

THE CAPTAIN OF THE PRINCE. Mr. John Goodall,
the captain of the fine steamer Prince, which was wrecked
some time ago in the Black Sea, and all hands lost ex-
cept five, was not, as has been stated, a native of Forfar,
but was born towards the end of the year 1823 at
Peasiehill, in the parish of Arbroath, on the Panmure
estate— a place within two miles of Arbirlot. At this
place hia father and grandfather had been farmers, but his
father also served the Crown as a captain in the 2d, or
Qur,en's Own, Regiment during the Peninsular war.
He was present at many celebrated battles, and we aye
glad to learn is still alive. His son, the late captain of
the Prince, while yet a boy, removed to Salisbury, of
which place his mother was a native, belonging to a
highly respectable family, and where he received his
education. His antecedents, or qualifications as a sailo4
are given officially by Mr. Ellis, the chairman of the
company in whose service he was ergaged.
SEXAGENARIAN MEMBERS OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS.
—There are no less than 72 members of the House cf
Commons who claim to be wholly excused on election
committees on account of being more than GO years of
age. The list includes the names of Sir T. D. Acland,
Sir J. Bailey, Admiral Berkeley, Sir George Berkeley,
Mr. Brotherton, Mr. Hume, Sir C. Burrell, Mr. B. B.
Cabbell, Mr. Cofin, Right Hon. E. Ellice, Sir De Lacy
Evans, Mr. W. J. Fox, Mr. Goulburn, Mr. Greene,
Right Hon. J. W. Henley, Sir T. Frankland Lewis,
Colonel Lowther, Mr. Masterman, Mr. J. P. Maunsell,
Mr. H. Drummond, Mr. Muntz, Sir G. Pechell, Sir
R. Price, Lord John Russell, Mr. Spooner, Sir G.
Stricklaad, Mr. Thorneley, Admiral Walcott, Mr. W.
B. Wrightson, and General Wyndham.
SHIPWRECK AND Loss OF LIFE.—The Shepherd, a
Welsh schooner, laden with 83 tons of oats, the pro-
perty of Mr. Thomas Boyd, proceeded from the quay,
bound to Liverpool, on the evening of Tuesday last, in
the charge of James Patterson; pilot. About six o'clock
she passed the Bar in safety, but a heavy storm haviall
afterwards come on she was lost in the gale. 'Yester-
day her rigging was seen floating near Enniscrone, and
her hulk was discovered stuck to a rock on the Puna-
heeny shore. All on board, consisting of the master,
three sailors, and the pilot, perished. The bodies have
been washed on shore, and are now,lying at Pullaheeny.
A gentleman who has just returned from the scene of
the shipwreck, and who has frequently been witne.ss of
the agitation of the sea after the effects of a storm, ta.ys
that he has never seen such a convulsion of the watery
element as that which he has just beheld on the iron-
bound coast of Pullaheeny. Poor Patterson, the pilot,
has left a widow and four helpless orphans totally un-
provided with any means of support. We understand
that a gentleman connected with the mere-intik trale of
this town will immediately solicit subscriptions in their
behalf, and we hope that the sympathising public will
generally
aid in mitigating their deep distress,—.Scalina

LATEST NEWS.

BERLIN, TUESDAY MORNING.

According to accounts received from St. Peters-
burg yesterday, Prince Menschikoff reports that,
up to the evening of the 16th, nothing particular
had occurred before Sebastopol. The unfavour-
able weather hindered the progress of the works,
and the enemy's fire was feeble, more especially
on the side of the English batteries.

THE CRIMEA.
THE AFFAIR OF THE VLADIMIR.
The Russian Government published, on the 17th
instant, in an extraordinary supplement of the
Invatide Busse, the following account of the naval
sortie from Sebastopol on the 6th, an affair which
was described in our letters published yesterday :
"On the 6th of December two steamers, the
Vladimir, Captain Boutakoff, and the Chersonesus,
Commander Roudneff, were sent out from the road-
sted. of Sebastopol, for the purpose of doing some
injury to the French steamer anchored off the bay.
This enterprise was carried out with success
enough ; for while the French steamer was making
haste to sheer off, under the protection of another
steamer, also French, ours succeeded in sending
after it a number of balls, some of which went
plump into its hull. A large English steam three-
decker, that came up to its assistance, having
been lured on in pursuit, approached within range
of the coast batteries, which carried away her main-
yard and injured her paddle-box. On this occasion
we experienced neither loss in men, nor any parti-
cular injury to the vessels."
The "paddle-box" of a three-decker !
The Czar has addressed the following rescript to
Vice-Admiral Novossilsky :
"Informed by the reports of General Prince Menschi-
koff that, since the commencement of the bombardment
of Sebastopol, you have, as commanding officer of the
second section of the line of defence, constantly set an
example of courage and self-denial to those under you,
and tbat by your prudent arrangements, under the heavy
fire of the enemy, you have reduced to nought many of
of St. Vladimir of the First Class, the insignia of which
, whies
haettreetwnpitthq we have named you Knight of the Order
transmit to you, remaining, with our im-
perial well wishes, your affectionate

(Signed)

"NICUOLAS."

THE FRENCH ARMY.
A letter dated from a French officer in the camp
before Sebastopol, says :

" Scarcely a day Passes but deserters and horses reach
our outposts from the _Russian army encamped opposite
ours outside the town ; for horses and men are alike
dying from hunger and privations. We are neither in
want of provisions, tents, fuel, nor clothing, and but for
the rain and the atrocious mud which it causes we
should be comfortable enough. We have dug pits after
the manner of the Laplanders in order to shelter
ourselves. If we had planks to build huts we should
get on famously. The English envy us and ad-
mire the singular industry and facility with which
our raen turn everything to- account for their com-
fort, We are here assembled to the number of
about 80,000 men on a space of four square leagues,
covered with tents on all sides and incessantly travelled
over by a host of carts and horses. It is a curious
and extraordinary moving scene. The poor horses alone
suffer much from the want of shelter and from the mud
in which they are constantly sinking. The greater part
of the magnificent English horses have now become
perfect rawbones and look miserably. The Arab horses
are those which support better than any others the
hardships of a bivouac. I have just had one given me
to replace the one I have lost. It is the same with the
uniforms. The richest and most elegant have become so
grotesque that no mountebank would wear them.
Officers and soldiers wrap themselves up as they can
in skins, paletots, and cabana of every kind from wher-
ever they can get them."