The Sun.
London, England, 1871-01-05 00:00:00

THE NEW SPANISH MINISTRY.

MADRID, January 4 (Evening).
The New Ministry will be probably constituted as
follows :
Mar..,hal Serrano—President of the Ministry and

Minister of War.
Senor Martos—Minister of Foreign Affairs.
Senor Montero Rios—Minister of Justice.
Senor Beranger—Minister of Marine.
Senor Sagasta—Minister of the Interior.
Senor Ulloa—Minister of Public Works.
Senor Ayala—Minister of the Colonies.
The new Ministers will be sworn into office this

evening.
Tranquility prevails in Madrid.

ANNEXATION OF SAN DOMINGO.

WASHINGTON, January 4.

Congress re-assembled to-day. The Senate
adopted Mr. Sumner's resolution, calling upon Pre-
sident Grant for information relative to the negocia-
tions for the annexation of San Domingo, and also
Mr. Sherman's amendment to the Funding Bill,
authorising to increase the issue of Five per Cent.
Bonds to ssoo,ooo,ooo.—lieuter's Telegrams.

AUSTRIA AND PRUSSIA.

BERLIN, January 3.

Count Beust's despatch, in reply to that of
Count Bismarck, has been very well received here.
The circular of the Austrian Chancellor recognises
the newly-constituted German Empire, under the
leadership of Prussia.
The Austrian note also expresses the hope that
amicable relations between the two countries will be
productive of great benefits for both.—Telegraph.
VIENNA, January 4.

The following official announcement has been
published here :—" The sensation news spread in some
Vienna papers in the form of a telegram, alleging the
despatch of special plenipotentiaries from Vienna to
Versailles and Berlin, for the purpose of negotiating
an alliance, is unfounded.—Reuter's Telegram.

At Moretonhampstead a masons' labourer has
been fined fifty pounds for having a private still.

The Belfast Presbytery of the Irish Presbyterian
Church on Tuesday protested against the statement made
by Mr. Gladstone in his letter to Mr. Dease, M.P., that
the adequate support of the dignity of the Pope and his
personal freedom are legitimate matters for the notice of
the Government.

The annual New Year's festivities at the institu-
tion in Great Queen-street, Lincoln's-inn-fields, for Home-
less and Destitute Children, took place on Tuesday, under
the presidency of Sir B. W. Carden. The average num-
ber of boys and girls who are benefited by this charity is
550, and they cost nearly £20,000 per annum. On Tues-
day eighteen servant maids who had kept their situations
for twelve months received each a silver medal from the
hands of Miss Burdett Coutts. Silver medals were also
presented to the six best-conducted boys from the
Chichester and the Farm respectively.
ECLIPSE OF THE MOON.—To-morrow evening
the moon will be partially eclipsed, and the whole phe-
nomenon will be favourably visible in this country. The
first contact with the shadow occurs at 7h. 46m., p.m.,
130 degrees from the northernmost point of the moon's
limb towards the east; the greatest eclipse at 9h. 16m., when
two-thirds of her diameter will be immersed in the earth's
dark shadow, and the final contact with the same at
10h. 47m. The star Delta Geminorum, of 3i magnitude,
will be close to the eclipsed limb of the moon at half-past
nine o'clock, just escaping occultation in London. The
next lunar eclipse, on July 2, will be invisible in these
parts of the world ; the, eclipse of 1872 are very minute,
and the total eclipse of the moon on November 4, 1873,
will be only partly visible at Greenwich, the moon rising
after her total immersion in the shadow.
DEATH IN CHURCH.—Mr. Emsley, the coroner for
Leeds, held an inquest on Monday in a case of sudden
death, which illustrated in a very sad manner the severity
of the weather experienced at the present time. The de-
ceased, Mary Frances Elsworth, was a married woman,
and in company with her husband, had gone to Mean-
wood Church on Sunday, and on the way thither she
complained of shortness of breath, and of pains in her
back and shoulders. About eleven o'clock, during service
she became very unwell, and asked her husband to take
her out. The husband had her conveyed out of the chureh
into the porch, and it was then found she was dead. The
cause of death was congestion of the lungs, accelerated by
the coldness of the weather, and the jury returned a ver-
dict to that effect.

A. STRANGE MISTAKE.—On Friday last a pauper
from the House of Industry, at Shrewsbury, was to be
buried, and all the arrangements were made for the pur-
pose ; the coffin was put upon a bier, and was conveyed by
brother paupers to the cemetery. On arriving there, when
the service was about to be performed, some of the parties
noticed, on lifting the coffin from the bier, that it was ex-
ceedingly light, and a conference took place, the lid was
lifted, and it was discovered that there was a slight mis-
take. It so happened that another pauper was dead in
the house for whom a coffin had been prepared, and,
without proper consideration, the empty coffin had been
taken from the room, leaving the one which contained the
dead body intended to be interred. As soon as the mis-
take was discovered the empty coffin was conveyed back
to the place from whence it had been taken, and the other
carried in due form to its final resting-place in the ceme-
tery.--Birminyham, Daily Gazette.