The Sun.
London, England, 1871-01-25 00:00:00

A COINAGE GRIEVANCE.

A correspondent directs the attention of the Master
of the Mint to a long-standing grievance with re-
spect to sovereigns. The other day he obtaine l
some sovereigns from his bankers Which on being
weighed appeared to be correct. They were all
weighed at the same time. When some of
these sovereigns were offered. at Somerset-House,
in payment of duties, they were refused on the
score of being light, and it was intimated that they
could only be received on payment of threepence for
each one. If a banker is asked to supply a hundred
sovereigns he puts them in a heap in the
scale, and if they conie up to the de-
sired weight they are considered genuine; but
the chances are that some are heavier than others
when taken separately. A sovereign of the year
1838 is lighter than a Sydney Mint coin, but among
so many mixed sovereigns the excessive weight
would make up for the deficient weight. The
grievance of the matter is this, that at
Somerset House and the Bank of England each
sovereign has to stand on its own meritß, and is weighed
separately. The correspondent thinks that the gold
used in the London Joint Stock Banks ought to be
as good in Somerset House as it. is everywhere else
in the world.

THE NORTH POLAR ARCTIC EXPEDITION.
Captain Sir L. M'Clintock has supplied the Royal
Geographical Society with a very interesting paper,
drawn up from the report of the German officers
who were employed on the recent North Polar
Expedition, which was organised by a Mr. A.
Peterman, of Berlin. Two steamers, the Germania
and Hansa, were specially fitted up for the party in
June 1869. Its members, who made some important
geographical and scientific discoveries, managed to find
plenty of amusement in the dreary regions in which their
lot was cast. Captain M'Clintocik tells us that they
had good sport, making heavy bags of reindeer,
musk oxen, and bears, but as t ;e latter were very
numerous, and approached the ships in considerable
numbers, they were found to be rather unpleasant
neighbours. On the return voyage the ships parted
company, and the party on board the Hansa
appear to have encountered great hard-
ship. For two hundred days they drifted
among fioatingice on the .!oast of Greenland, and were
placed upon short rations. One of the crew became
insana.owing to the privations be was subjected to,
and finally the vessel herself was crushed to pieces
in the ice. Fortunately, the whole of the party
managed to find refuge in the boats, and succeeded
in reaching a Danish settlement, where they
were kindly cared for at the German mis-
sionary station. It is impossible to award too
much praise to Professor Peterman, to whose untiring
advocacy, indefatigable energy, and pecuniary support
the success of this expedition is due.
AUSTRALIAN FEDERATION.

The prospects of a Confederation of the Australa-
sian Colonies are said to be very encouraging. The
sudden expansion of Confederated Germany into a
compact and colossal power, has had its
weight with the colonists, who, not un-
reasonably, considered that the strength and
unity of action resulting from the federal
principle in Germany ought to exist among them-
selves. As the colonies are in different stages of
growth, and could not be expected to have identical
views on the subject, it was wisely suggested by the
politicians of Victoria, who have taken the lead in
the matter, that the Act proposed to the Home
Government should be permissive, and should allow
of other colonies joining the first union from time
to time. When the report was adopted in the Vic-
torian Legislature it was transmitted to the leading
politicians in the other colonies, with a request that
that they would consider the question and ex2ress
their views. Most of them have expresSed them-
selves as very favourable to the - scheme,
and the Victorian Commission has therefore drafted
a Permissive Bill under the direction of the
Attorney-General. Should this pass the Legislature,
and be accepted by one or more of the other colonies
it will be transmitted to the Imperial Government,
which has already approved the Federation scheme.
The longer it is deferred the greater grow the fiscal
difficulties and the stronger marked the local
jealousies and provincial feeling. The actual
circumstances of the Australian colonies, says
one of the leading organs, qualify them
for federation. Without reckoning New
,Zea-
land or Western Australia, they contain a million and
three-quarters of inhabitants, with an aggregate
revenue exceeding that of any of the six minor
kingdoms of Europe, while the varieties of the soil
and climate place at the command of their inhabi-
tants the products of the tropics and of a region as
temperate as England.

888 MAJESTY.

The Queen, accompanied by their Royal Highnesses
Prince Arthur, Prince Leopold, and Princess Beatrice,
walked and drove out yesterday afternoon and this

morning..

Mu. BRIGHT.—A correspondent of the Daily News
says :—" Mr. Bright writes that he is unable to attend
the public meeting of his constituents. There is, how-
ever, said to be no ground for fearing that his health will
not permit him to take his place in the House of Com-
mons at an early date. He is, however, willing to resign
his seat, and offers to do so. It is hardly" necessary to
say that a strong resolution will be proposed at the meet-
ing refusing to entertain such a proposal, and expressive
of sympathy with the right hon. gentleman."
THE APPROACHING MARRIAGE OF THE PRINCESS
LOUISE.—At a meeting of the officers of the Labour Re-
presentation League, the president, Mr. Robert M.
Latham, with unanimous approval, gave notice of a motion
condemning, as uncalled for, the offensive references to
the dowry of the Princess Louise, and expressing his firm
conviction that the working men of England would not
permit their attention to be drawn away from the great
question affecting their own and the country's welfare by
paltry and vexatious attempts to excite unworthy preju-
dices in a matter which in its liberal and exceptional
character commends itself to the hearty approval of the
nation.

My DEAREST LITTLE MOTHER, —
must at once tell you all the details of my last visit a,
Buckingham Palace. I know it will amuse you, dear
mother, and me too.
It is, as G. says, the one really pleasant and thoroughly
comfortable English house, where one feel a son wise.
Prince Albert had asked me to go to him on Saturday at
two o'clock, so that I might try his organ
before I left England; I found him alone, and
as we were talking the Queen came in, also alone. She
said she was obliged to leave for Claremont in an hour,
and then suddenly interrupting herself, exclaimed, "But
goodness, what a confusion !" for the wind had littered the
whole room, and even the pedals of the organ, with leaves
of music from a large portfolio that lay open. As she
spoke she knelt down and began picking up the music ;
Prince Albert helped, and I too was not idle. Then
Prince Albert proceeded to explain the stops to me, and
she said that she would meanwhile put things straight. I
begged that the Prince would first play me something, so
that, as I said, I might boast about it in Germany ; and
he played a Chorale, by heart, with the pedals, so charm-
ingly and clearly and correctly that it would have done
credit to any professional, and the Queen, having finished
her work, came and sat by him and listened and. looked
pleased. Then it was my turn, and I began my chorus
from " St. Paul"—" How lovely are the messengers." Be-
fore I got to the end of the first verse they both joined in
the chorus, and all the time Prince Albert managed the
stops for me so cleverly that I was really quite enchanted.
Then the young Prince of Gotha came in, and there was
more chatting; and the Queen asked if I had written any
new songs, and said she was very fond of singing my
published ones. " You should sing one to him," said
Prince Albert ; and, after a little begging, she said she
would try the `• Fralingslied" in B flat—" If it is still
here," she added, " for all my music is packed up for
Claremont." Prince Albert went to look for it, but came
back saying it was already packed. "But one might
perhaps unpack it," said I. "We must send for Lady
—," she said. So the bell was rung, and the servants
were sent after it, but without success ; and at last the
Queen weat herself, and while she was gone Prince Albert
said to me, " She begs you will accept this present as a
remembrance," and gave me a little case with a beautiful
ring, on which is engraved " V.R. 1842." Then the
Queen came back and said, "Lady is gone, and has
taken all my things with her. It is really most annoying."
I then begged that I might not be made t 6 suffer for the
accident, and hoped she would sing another song. After
some consultation with her husband, he said, " She will
sing you something of Gluck's." Meantime the Princess
of Gotha had come in, and we five proceeded through
various corridors and rooms to the Queen's sitting-room,
where there was a gigantic rocking-horse standing near
the sofa, and two big bird cages, and pictures on
the walls, and splendidly-bound books on the
table, and music on the piano. The Duchess of
Kent came in too, and while they were all talking I rum-
maged about among the music, and soon discovered my
first set of songs. So, of course, I begged her rather to
sing one of these than the Gluck, to which she very kindly
consented ; and which did she choose ?—" Schaller and
sch Oner schmiickt sich !" sang it quite charmingly, in
strict time and tune, and with very good execution. Only
in the line " Der Prosa Lasten andNM," where it goes
down to D, and then comes up again chromatically, she
sang D sharp each time, and as I gave her the note both
times, the last time she sang D, and there it ought to have
been D sharp. But with the exception of this little mis-
take it was really charming, and the last long G I have
never heard better, or purer, or more natural from
any amateur. Then I was obliged to confess that Fanny
had written the song (which I found very hard, but pride
must have a fall) and beg her to sing one of my own also.
If I would give her plenty of help she would gladly try,
she said, and then she sang the Pilgerspruch " Lass dial
mur," really quite faultlessly, and with charming feeling
and expression. I thought to myself, one must not pay
too many compliments on such an occasion, so I merely
thanked her a great many times ; upon which she said,
"Oh, if only I had not been so frightened ; generally, I
have such long breath." Then I praised her heartily, and
with the best conscience in the world ; far just
that part with the long (1 At the close she
had done so well, taking the three following and con-
necting notes in the same breath, as one, seldom hears it
done, and therefore it amused me doubly that she herself
should have begun about it. After this Prince Albert
sang the Aerndte-lied, " Es ist ein Schnitter " ; and then
he said I must play him something before I went, and
gave me as themes the chorale which he had played qn the
organ and the song he had just sung. If everything had
gone as usual, I ought to have improvised most dreadfully
badly, for it is almost always like that with me when I
want it to go well, and then I should have gone away
vexed with the whole morning. But, just as if I was to keep
nothing but the pleasantest, most charming recollection of
it, I never improvised better; I was in the best mood for it, and
played a long time, and enjoyed it myself so that besides
the two themes I brought in the songs that the Queen had
sung, naturally enough ; and it all went off so easily that
I would gladly not have stopped ; and they followed me
with so much intelligence and attention that I felt more
at my ease than I ever did in improvising to an audience.
She said several times she hoped I would soon come to
England again and pay them a visit, and then I
took leave, and down below I saw the beautiful
carriages waiting, with their scarlet outriders,
and in a quarter of an hour the flag was
lowered, and the Court Circular announced, " Her Ma-
jesty left the palace at twenty minutes past three," and
I went off in the raintouto the Klingemans,
news to them my and had the
and doubto
le
pleasure of pouring all
C6cile. • • •
OSBORNE, JANUARY 24. I

The Right lion. Benjamin Disraeli, M.P., and
Viscountess Beaconsfield are expected in town on the 6th
proximo, from Hughenden Manor, Bucks.
A. dinner is to be given to the Rev. Professor
Jowett, on his elevation to the Mastership of Balliol Col-
lege, Oxford, on Friday, the 24th of February.
Sir Roderick Murchison is progressing favourably.
At the meeting of the Geographical Society last even-
ing, Sir H. stated that Sir Roderick bad been
able on the prevpious day to discuss the subject of Green-
land exploration.
THE NEW M.P.—The llcn. Francis Charles
Needham (commonly called Viscount Newry and Morne),
who has just been returned to Parliament in the Conser-
vative interest as M.P. for the borough of Newry, is the
eldest son of Francis Jack, Viscount Newry and Morne
(who sat as M.P. for the same constituency frnm 1841
down to his death in 1851), by Anne Amelia, eldest
(laughter of the late General the Hon. Sir Charles Col-
ville, G.C.8., and grandson of Francis, second and
present Earl of Kilmorey, in the peerage of Ireland, who
himself also represented Newry for some years half a
century ago. His lordship, who was born in London in
August, 1842, was educated at Eton and Christ Church,
Oxford, where he took his Bachelor's degree in 1864, and
proceeded M.A. in 1867. He is a magistrate for Down-
shire, and also for the county of Armagh.