The Sun.
London, England, 1870-02-22 00:00:00

THE THEOILY OF EVOLUTION'.

was not the first, nor would it be the last, timo tha
the animal in question had done duty.

PRINCE PIERRE BONAPARTE.

THE LEADERSHIP OF THE CONSERVA•

TIVE PEERS.

The following letter has been addressed by Lord
Derby to Lord Colville :
" 23, St. James's-square, Feb. 21.
" l)ii sR COLVILLE,—Whpn f 1-3,ast: or -Rich-

anointed me of the resolution arrived at by
the meeting of the Conservative Peers, held at the
Carlton on Saturday, requesting me to accept the
leadership of the party in the House of Lords, I
felt it due both to them and myself, while promising
an ear:y decision, to requelt that a short interval
might be allowed for the consideration of their
propos d.
" I could not but feel deeply the value of the
confidence thus reposed in me, and my anxiety not
likely to reject a position of possible public useful-
ness was increased by the apprehension that a re-
fusal on my part might, in the present state of
matters, cause a certain degree of inconvenience to
those with whom I have so long acted, and from
whom I have just received so signal a mark of
friendship and regard.

"You will not b 6 surprised that, under these
circumstances, I should have hesitated for some
time before giving the answer which, on deliberate
reflection, I feel it my duty to give.
" It is essential for the satisfactory conduct of the
affairs of a party that its leader should be at once
efficient and experienced. Any deficiency in
these respects is injurious, not only to the
interests of the party itself, but to the proper
conduct of public businets. Now, I need not
remind you that the practice of the House of
Lords is absolutely new to me ; and you will not
suspect me of affected modesty when I say that the
function of party leadership, honourable and im-
portant as it is, does not seem to me one for which
lam by habit or temperament well qualified. To
other claims on my time and attention, though there
e many, I will not refer ; for, if no public obstacle
existed, private convenience should be set aside.
But I am convinced that both to our friends and
the public 1 shoula be of less use as a leader than as
a simple member of the House of Lords, and this
consideration alone decides me, though with sincere
regret, to decline au offer for which .1 shall always
feel grateful.

" Of the work of the House I hope to take my full
share. You will not, I trust, often find me absent
from my place on any important debate, and you
may confidently reckon on such help as I can give.
"I have addressed this letter toyou by the Duke's
rtqw.st, he having, as I understand, left town.—
Believe me, my dear Colville, very sincerely yours,
DERBY.

~ To Lord Colville."

FRAUDS ON THE ADMIRALTY.

It is said that further frauds have been discovered
in the mode of supplying necessaries for the Royal
Navy, and that a number of the public servants are
implicated in the alleged frauds.

THE FOREIGN TRADE.—The import entries of
foreign goods in the port of New York for the seven
months commencing July 1, 1869, and ending January 29,
1870, amount in value to $149,221,512 (gold), against
5140,990,398 during the corresponding period of the
previous year, making an inmeaso of $8,231,114. The
exports of domestic products and miscellaneous goods
during tho seven months ending January 29th, 1870,
amount in value to $120.806,438 in currency, against
$91,773,404 for the corresponding period in 1868- 9,
making an increase of $29,933,031. The exports of
-gold anl silver between July Ist, 1869, to January
19th, 1870, amount to $19,338,914, against $2 ,023,378
during the corresponding, period iu the previous year,
making a decroase of $5,684,434. The Customs duties
r,ceived between July Ist, 1869, and January 29th, 1870,
amount tJ 571,572,2: 6 (gold), against $69,445,951
in the corresponding period of the previous year, an in-
crease of $5,126,27;3. The gibd interest paid out between
July Ist, 1869, and January 2)th, 1870, amounts to
$61,218,t-51, against 5111,234,802 during the previous cor-
zespouding period.

Le Credit into-national says :—" These pens
eclipse anything we have ever had the pleasure of meeting
with, and aro a real boon to literary men and the public
in general." TuE WAVERLEY, PICKWICK, Art) OWL PENS.
—The Iron Trade Circular says :—" From the testimony
of 670 Newspapers the Public may rest assured they are
the best Pens invented." Sold everywhere. Shippers
supplied by the Patentees. Sample Box, ls. 2d. by Post.
—3lAcnvEN and CAAIERQN, 23, Blair-street, Ediuburgh.7—
f Advt.]

The chair of the Geological Society .has been held
for two years by Professor Huxley, who, on retiring,
has favoured the world with his own deductions on
the theory of evolution. Eight years ago, he said,
ho had discussed the subject of
.palaeontology,
.and given his opinions upon it, opinions which
by the light of the more advanced knowledge
of the present day had been since modified. fle
believed that no geologist now held the doctrine that
the whole life of any formation ever died out
entirely, but that replacements had been gradual.
The longer he occupied himself with the biology of
the past, the more (lid ho consider that very littllo
change had Olen place in animal types.

w ANTIES."
The journals which occupy themselves more espe-
cially with fish; flesh, and fowl matters, are just now
interested in the question of horse warrants. Why,
it is asked, should a horse dealer be supposed to give
a guarantee with every animal he sells, when nothing
of the kind is done in any other branch of trade ?
The warrants aro of no value. It is notorious
that the most extensive trickery prevails
in all transactions of the kind. More
'reliance on the ordinary confidence between
buyer and seller would produce much better results.
It may be so; and if the following story, which is
told by one of the sporting papers, be anything like a
fair illustration of average horse dealing, the sooner
things are altered the bVpr : A large stud was
offered to sale at s. A gentleman pur-
chased a horse out of it for a hundred
and thirty guineas, which a few days after had
an attack of staggers. His owner sent him to
the Veterinary College, where he was immediately
recognised as having been under treatment recently,
and pronounced incurable. "And what became of
him ?" asked the purchaser. "His owner gave him
to—the gentleman out of whose stud he had been just
purchased." The horse was sent back to auction, sold
for thirty guineas, and purchased by the same indi-
vidual who had so recently sold him. No doubt it

A decree signed " Napoleon " is published in the
French Journal Officiel, convoking the Chamber of
Judgment of the High Court of Justice for Monday
the 21st of March. The selection of the jurors will
be made by lot before the middle of next week. The
object of this decree is not mentioned; but of course it is
the trial of Prince Pierre Bonaparte for the murder of
Victor Noir. The High Court will meet at Tours, a town
in the interior of France, and far removed from the
centre of revolutionary discontent in Paris. The ex-
traordinary announcement in. the Gazette des n
w m
ibu-
aux—that the preliminary vestlgation shews the
Prince was provoked before he fired the fatal shot—
may be taken as an indication that the offender will
be very lightly punished. Why, if the preliminary
investigation be secret at all, should legal papers be
permitted to sound_ the public by announcements of
this kind ?