The Sun.
London, England, 1854-06-10 00:00:00

with a bath the jaded faculties, or nerve again the
anxious and harassed mind. It will be our task in the
Journal to furnish to every reader field and free warren,
and means to pursue for himself what experience shows
to be most exquisite as well as the most ennobling of
the attainable pleasures of instructed and civilised men,
—pleasures of which the poor can, in our day, partake
as rightfully as the rich, and which nevertheless have
ever been preferable and preferred in the eyes of wealth
itself to all the others at its large command ; the only
pleasures in which the powers we all need, whatever be
our calling, are strengthened, elevated, and enlarged,
instead of being warped, or enervated, or debased.
Such journals as uurs have a great mission, no doubt ;
but we fear that this mission is often austerely, rather
than accurately, received. It cannot, for instance, be
any business of theirs to crush the exhausted day by an
evening of intricate and heavy disquisitions, or to dis-
gust with reading and study those to whom reading and
study 'Light have proved of incalculable gain ; those, we
say, to whom such appliances, even when considered
merely as means of recreation and pleasure, are in a pe-
culiar degree precious—being to all indeed the best
and least perishable, but to them almost the only sources
procurable of intellectual or refined enjoyment. But
"it skills not" arguing or disserting on so plain a mat-
ter ; it will be enough to reduce the right principle to
practice in our own pages.
We take the opportunity which this notice affords of
saving time and of speaking to many at once, to beg our
contributors, scattered in various places, to remember
that they will not a little aid us by rendering their arti-
cles brief. Tnere is a great art in this. It can never be
done to the right degree without taking immense pains,
nor is it ever successfully done without imparting in-
credible energy, effect, and lite to the production thus
condensed. " Your sermon," said a great critic to a
great preacher (both were eloquent men), " was very ei
hue ; but had it been of only half the length, it would
have produced twice the impression." " You are quite
right," was the reply ; " but the fact is, I received but I
sudden notice to preech, and therefore I lied not the
1(
time to make my sermon short."
So with tales, essays, sketches, travels, biographies,
character-portraits, hints of practical wisdom in common
life, and scientific explanations (these last, however, I
may be fuller, as point, and liveliness, and amusement
must be sacrificed to the most perfect clearness, and the
expounder must make himself understood, however
tedious he may thus happen to become) ; but with the
great mass, we repeat, of the contributions to a periodical
like ours, it is the same as with the discourse of the
orator to whom we have alluded.
But, besides what each article will gain, we have
another reason forlinculcating brevity ; it is this—variety
of matter (and variety we will take care to have) is of
course entirely incompatible with prolixity of writing.
It is a common remark, that learned people are often
found, in practical life, below that level on which they
had been expected to move ; and that brilliant college
celebrities, when they enter the world, sometimes ap-
pear strangely ignorant of things both necessary to ac-
quire and easy to master,—knowing nothing, as it is
said, and fit for nothing. It is not that they have
failed to profit by the studies they have made, but that
there are studies which they have not made at all.
Therefore, while professedly attending to the amuse-
ment of our readers, we will also supply them in a popu-
ler form with that very "course" elsewhere omitted—a
course of "Common Things." There are few kinds of
knowledge that are agreeable, and still fewer kinds that
are useful, or convenient, or creditable, in the various
stations and endless vicissitudes of this vast social laby-
rinth—few, indeed, of these various departments of de-
sirable information which will not find their place and
their time in our quiet pages. We shall be anxious to
promote both the loftier aims of the aspiring student
and the plain, downright bread-winning ability of a less
ambitious and more numerous class of readers. But
" man lives not by bread alone ;" and to speak with hu-
mour to the good-humoured, with courage-breathing
thoughts to the desponding; to beguile a weary hour,
to cheer a weary heart, to nerve and restore the doubting
or the downcast mind, and to add to the best resources
of home recreation,—these objects enter legitimately,
and they enter largely, into the scope of our Journal.

TILE ABSOLUTE COMPACT.

(From the Press of this day.)

The state of affairs on the Continent is critical.

The secret negotiations which a fortnight ago we an-
nounced were in active progress, with the view of termi-
nating the Turkish war, and yet saving the honour of
Russia, have been brought to a successful conclusion, so
far as the German Powers are concerned. Austria, who
claims to act as principal mediator, has agreed to propose
an armistice to the belligerents, preliminary to a general
Congress, which is to settle the terms of a permanent
pence.
Russia has admitted that by the change which has re-
cently taken place in the condition of the Christian subjects
of the Porte the original cause of war has been removed.
A security for these Christian privileges which will not in-
validate the sovereign rights of the Sultan will engage the
solicitude of the Congress.
The free navigation of the Danube is secured by the
' great treaties of Vienna of 1814; and if any doubts have
arisen as to the interpretation of the subsequent convention
between Russia and Austria, respecting especially the
mouths of that important watercourse, Congress will give
to this document that clear intention which both parties
to the convention have always desired.
The treaty which prevents the ships-of-war of foreign
nations from passing the Dardanelles was not intended to
give any advantage to Russia, nor is it an act between
Russia and Turkey alone. All the great Powers, on the
contrary, are parties to it, and one of its principal objects
at the time was to rescue France from the diplomatic iso-
lation in which she had been placed by the imprudence of
M. Thiers, by facilitating her European co-operation, and
thus formally readmitting her to the transactions of La
Haute Politique. Where general interests are so ob-
viously concerned, if revision become necessary, a Con-
gress of the high contracting parties offers a natural
tribunal.
The treaty of Karnadgi is a treaty between Russia and
the Sublime Porte alone; but, if any doubts exist between
the contracting parties respecting the tenour of some of its
clauses, Russia, acting according to diplomatic precedent,
will not decline referring those ambiguities to the solution
of a properly-constituted arbitration.
Russia will mature arrangements for the evacuation of
the Principalities the moment that Austria and Prussia
make a requisition to that effect.
It is stated that, in acceding to these overtures, Russia
has only expressed her willingness to accomplish a purpose
from the first frankly admitted. A. proposition for an ar-
mistice was made by Austria, at the secret suggestion of
Russia, so far back as the autumn of last year, before the
Western fleets had entered either the Black Sea or the
Baltic (vide leading article of the Press, Nov. 26, 1853,
where information to this effect was exclusively given )
If the invitation by Austria to the Western Powers to
join in this arrangement prove unsuccessful, Germany will
remain neutral until. the development of events indicates
its line of duty.
It is considered not improbable at Vienna that if the ar-
mistice be not agreed to, and any event occurs which
draws the war out of the Greek and Sclavonic lirait, Rus-
sia will be invited to join the alliance, offensive and defen-
sive, which has alreacly been formed between Austria and
Prussia.

THE DIMENSIONS OF THE SYDENHAM CRYSTAL
PALACE.—Some of our readers may wish to be reminled
of the d
is 1,608 feet ; the length of centre transept, 408
dimensions of the Crystal Palace. The entire
length
1
feet;nave ilse length of
eotf endthe
width transepts,
centre3l2 f
eet;the w2iodtfheet of ;
transept,
the width of end transepts, 72 feet ; and the projection
of the bays is 8 feet. These dimensions, it will be seen,
are all multiples, or parts, of 24 feet, the distance from
column to column throughout. The height of the first
storey, including the girder, which is 3 feet, is 22 feet
the height of the second storey (including girder), third
storey, fourth storey in centre transept, and fifth storey in
transept, 20 feet in each case. The ribs of the roof
spring at 8 feet above the upper galleries in nave and
transepts. The height from the floor to the centre of
the roof of the nave, and of end transepts, is 106 feet ;
and the height from the floor to the centre of the roof of
the centre transept, 170 feet. The diameter of the octa-
gon column is 7i inches.—The Builder.
MURDER AT CROWLAND, LINCOLNSHIRE.-011 TUOS•
day morninz, between 10 and 11 o'clock, a woman
named Sarah Hickling, was murdered in a public street I
of the town of Crowland, Lincolnshire, by Joseph
Bains, a tailor and draper of the town, who is married
to a daughter by the first wife of the husband of the
deceased. The coroners inquest
's took place on Wed-
nesday, before Mr. W. Edwards, at the George and
Angel Inn. The evidence did not throw any light upon
the motives for the murder, and the only facts proved
in reference to it were, that on the morning in question
Bains was seen to go into the house where the de-
ceased woman lived in South•street. A few minutes
afterwards the deceased came out screaming " Murder I"
She was closely followed by Bains, who had a poker in
his hand, she immediately fell upon the ground, and
Bumps, who was in a very excited state, struck her seve-
ral violent blows on the head and neck with the poker.
He then threw down the poker and ran away. The
witnesses examined did not know of any previous ill-
feeling between Bains and the deceased. A surgeon
stated that the wounds at the back of the head were
the cause of death. When the prisoner was appre-
beneed he was much depressed, and .ssid he could not
sleep az, give exp:anation in regard to
the crime he had committed. The probability seems to
be that he is insane. The jury returned a verdict of
Wilful Murder" against Baine.