The Sun.
London, England, 1848-01-04 00:00:00

THE StIN,, LONDON,

BRUSSELS AND DUTCH PAPERS. '
BRUSSELS, DEC. 31.—The Chamber of Represen-
tatives terminated in its sitting to-day the general
discussion on the budget of war, and passed immedi-
ately to the discussion of the articles, which were suc-
cessively adopted, without any other amendments than
those presented by the Minister of War himself at the
commencement of the sitting. By virtue of these
amendments the budget has sanctioned a reduction of
152,000 f.
The whole of the budget was adopted by a ma-
jority of 61 to 10, and one absentee.
Several Members declared that they gave their vote
for the budget for the army for 1848 with the express
intention that this vote did not in any way prejudice the
question of the reduction of the expenses on the
budgets which have yet to be presented.
M. Van Huffel, M. Dedscker, and M. Lesoume,
expressed themselves very clearly upon this point.
In the absence of formal propositions, it was impos-
sible that the discussion of the budget of war should
have any other result than the present. Those Hon.
Members who impressed upon the Government the
necessity of seriously adopting economical plans have
discharged their duty.
The public now intend to avail themselves of the
legal method which is open to them for sending in
petitions.
The Ohambers have adjourned to the 18th January.
Before separating the Chamber voted the provisional
credit for the departments of Public Works and
Justice.

From the Ist of January the former republic of
Cracow will be assimilated with the otter districts of
the empire of Austria with ;tit that concerns its
political administration. The I-imperial Commissioner,
Count Deym, has caused in important ordinance to
be published at Cracow, which prescribes the admi-
nistration and org?..nization of the new district.
TILE HAGUE, DEC. 30.—The official journal of
this day publ
6-h
44 1. ;...es the following royal decree :
cc e, William 11., &c.,
.seeing the report of our Minister of the Colonies,
under date of Nov. 32, 1847 (secret), our Council
of State (advices of Dec. 7, 1847, lib. C), with ulte-
rior report of our Minister of the Colonies, under date
of the 16th of this month (lib. B, No. 43, and secret),
have decreed and do decree :
" SINGULAR ARTICLE.

" Articles 70 and 71 of the registration concerning
the direction of the government of the colony of Suri-
nam are suppressed and replaced by the following
disposition :
" Commerce and navigation in the colony of Suri-
nam are open to all nations with which the kingdom
of the Netherlands is in relation of amity.
" Special decrees will regulate the conditions of the
admission, and the amount of duties to be taken. Our
Colonial Minister is charged with the execution of
this decree, a copy of which will be sent to the
Council of State.
" The Hague, Dec. 17, 1847.

" WILLIAM.
To the Minister for the Colonies, J. C. Baud."

This decree is accompanied by a disposition from
his Excellency the Minister of the Colonies, stating
that the royal decree shall come in force on the Ist
of May, 1848, and that after that date the tariff of
the export and import duties to be introduced into
the colony of Surinam, as far as concerns the ships
of foreign nations, shall be based in such a manner
that it shall double the dues levied on Netherlands
vessels.—Dutch Papers, Jan. 1.

FATAL ACCIDENT ON THE SOUTH-WESTERN
RAILWAY.—ROINISEY, JAN. 3.—As the half-past nine
o'clock A.M. passenger train from Southampton to Sa-
lisbury was passing over the wooden bridges or viaduct,
about a mile from Romsey, yesterday (Sunday morning),
the. engineer, named Middleton (one of the most expe-
rienced on this line), saw about thirty men at ballast
work, filling a number of carriages with gravel to repair
the road which the late heavy rains had greatly injured,
and misplaced the rails—noticing full a quarter of a mile
before he reached the place where they were at work,
that some of the men were not on the side they ought to
he to avoid danger, he began to whistle, which caused
many of them to get out of the way, three running across
within five yards of the front of the engine, at a time
when she was going at full speed, two of whom were
knocked down, and but slightly injured; the third,
named Bungay, was struck with the buffer, it is supposed
either on the back or shoulder, by which he was driven
on the iron rail, the engines and carriages passing over
his legs, cutting one off about the knee, the other near
to the groin, killing him almost instantaneously; his
fellow-workmen picked him up, and there being an en-
gine on the spot, the body was taken to Romscy. Bungay
had only been a few weeks on the line, previously work-
ing as a farm labourer at the village of Whitenip, near
to Romsey. He has left a wife and five children totally
unprovided for.
CASE or SIMONDS.—We are informed that Mr.
T. 11. Boykett has been retained for the defence of this
new church-rate victim. The trial is expected to take
place in the course of the present week.—Patriot.
The Exeter Gazette excuses itself from publishing
President Polk's Message on the ground that, "it
measures fifteen feet three inches in length of an ordi-
nary newspaper column."
FIRE.—DISTRESSING CASE.—Yesterday morning
a fire broke out, about five o'clock, in a small house
situate No. 3, Labour-in-vain-street, Shadwell, a neigh-
bourhood very densely populated by the poorer classes,
among whom the greatest alarm and confusion was
created. It appears that the house where the fire ori-
ginated was occupied by Charles Harrison, a labourer,
whose aged wife had been bedridden for the last nine
weeks. Yesterday morning, during Harrison's absence
at work, his wife managed to crawl down stairs to her
daughter, who is a widow, with three young children.
Soon afterwards the front room above, which the old
woman had quitted a few minutes previous, was dis-
covered to be on fire. The neighbours, with praise-
worthy zeal, rushed into the house, and, having first
removed the old woman, her daughter, and two of the
children from the house, proceeded to the room above,
where another child was lying on a bed in the apartment
fast asleep, with the flames all around it. The child
was roused, without sustaining any material injury, and
the fire was soon extinguished by the alacrity of the
neighbours, before the parish and brigade engines ar-
rived. The furniture was partially destroyed, and the
immense quantity of water thrown into the house to
subdue the fire rendered it totally unfit for occupation.
The poor family who inhabited it have been totally
ruined by the disaster, and are now without a home or
furniture.
ROYAL MASONIC INSTITUTION.—A quarterly gene 7.
ral court'. of, the,,governors and subscribers 'of this instil'
tution, which vrto established in 17'98, for the purpose of
educating, clothing, and apprenticing to trades the sons
of indigent Masons, was held yesterday evening, at the
offices of the charity, 7, Bloomsbury-square. B. B. Cab-
bell, Esq., M.P., treasurer of the society, presided. After
the transaction of the usual business, the vacancies, 111
which amounted to seven, were filled up, and there being
no other business, the court sephrateil.
LONDON COFFEE AND EATING HOUSE KEEPERS'
BENETOLENT ASSOCIATION.—Yesterday evening a meet-
ing of the members of the above association, founded for
the purpose of relieving aged and decayed members of
the trade, their widows and orphans, was held at the
Freemasons' Tavern; Mr. G. Chislett, president, in the
chair. The report stated that the institution, which has
been established ten years, is increasing in prosperity.
The male and female pensioners each receive 131. per
annum. The balance-sheet ending July last showed
the receipts, from all sources, to be 2821. 16s. 10d., while
the expenditure amounted to 2721. 12s. The funded
capital of the society amounts to near 2,000/.
CALEDONIAN _RAILWAY.— The inspection of this
line, previous to the opening, commenced en Thursday
morning by Captain Simmons, R.E., Government in-
spector, dcotnpanied by Mr. Collester, resident engi-
neer, Mr. Sinclair, locomotive superintendent, and the
several assistant-engineers. They passed over the whole
of the Edinburgh line to Carstairs, from thence along
the line towards Glasgow to the junction with the
Wishaw and Coltness Railway at Gariongill, and along
the latter railway to Motherwell. The inspection was
resumed yesterday morning from Carstairs southwards,
along the main line to Beattock, from whence Captain
Simmons would proceed to London and make his re-
port. From the state of the line it is hoped that the
inspector's report would be favourable. Some days,
however, must elapse before it can be known t? the
officials of the company. The sanction from the Railway
Commissioners is, therefore, now all that intervene to
prevent the directors from naming a day for the opening.
—Scotsman.
WILD NuTmEGS.—Directions have been issued by
the Customs' authorities to the principals of the de-
partment throughout the kingdom, to admit all parcels
of wild nutmegs, out of the shell, at the duty of sd.
per lb. from the present time.
THROWING AT A RAILWAY TRAIN.—On Wednes-
day afternoon the window of a first-class carriage, in
the 3.30 up railway train, was broken, near West Ferry,
by a missile, supposed to be a turnip, most maliciously
thrown. One of the passengers, a young gentleman,
had his face cut by the shattered-pieces of glass. Two
individuals were afterwards identified as the persons who
were present when the missile was thrown, and one of
them as the actual culprit. They were at once con-
veyed to Paisley, when after examination by the Sheriff,
the man who threw it was fully committed to take his
trial. They gave their names as Black, and said they
belonged to Greenock.—Glasgow Constitutional.
A patent has been taken out in America for dis-
pensing with sewing in themanufaature of shirts, collars,
and linen articles. The pieces are fastened together by
indissoluble glue.
COUNTERFEIT
.COIN. -- Large quantities of base
silver coin are now in circulation, especially five-shilling
pieces, which are so admirably executed as to precludedetection,
j
detection, unless by very competent udges.—Bioning.
ham Gazette.
BUSINESS OF THE WESTMINSTER COUNTY COURT.
—The number of causes entered in the Westminster
County Court, during the nine months it has been es,
tablished, up to and inclusive of the 31st ultimo,
amounted to no fewer than 13,394. Of this number
upwards of 12,001) have been heard and decided. At the
first opening of the Court the Learned Judge, D. C.
Nloylan, Esq., sat but four days a week, but the business
became so heavy that soon after he was compelled to sit
every day. During the last week the number of causes
heard each day averaged from 120 to 130.
A Const antieur Metter. of the 15th ult.. states that
in the preceding week there were hut a very tew cases
of cholera in that city, but that, according to letters from
Aleppo, the disease was prevalent in the Diarbeker. It
was also said to have made its appearance at Marrasah.

THE MAGAZINES.
BLACK W 00D.
Among the many thousand readers of« American
Notes for General Circulation.," it cannot be for-
gotten that Mr. Diekena ham occasionally evinced
no small inclination to aid in the establishment of an
international copyright, and that, in doing so, he line
often hurried into disputation, and sometimes soared
into eloquence. One letter of his, addressed to poor
Tom Hood, as editor of the :Yee Monthly, was pub-
lished, if we recollect sightly, in that magazine,
shortly after his return from the United States, and
maintained, with considerable vehemeneel the injus-
tice of that unnatural system which defrauded the
English, while it led to the destruction—because it
tended to the enervation—of the authorship of the
Americans. In Parliament, Sergeant TalfoUrd, the
alter ego of "Bos," has raised his rhetneical voice against
the old ruinous system; and tint of Parliament agita-
tion has not benn panting to effect, if possible, its
annihilation. Hitherto the crusade againct literary
pirating has been energetic, but hitherto, also, it has
been all talh. A publishlna• firm in Edinburgh has
at length acted, e.nd their efforts give every promise
of being eminently successful. The attempt to which
we are alluding—made through the instrumentality
of Blackwood'" Magazine—is altogether of so inge-
nious a character, and angeirs such golden results to
writers and pttblksheis on both sides of the Atlantic,
that we shall transcribe the account of it contained
in the number for January. It will prove, we are
satisfied, an anecdote worthy of preservation in the
History of Literature, and must (to quote the slang
dictionary) be regarded as nothing more nor less
than " a capital dodge," Here then is the amusing
incident recorded in the Note entitled " Blackwood
and Copyright in America."
The publishers of the magazine had for many years
been aware that a cheap American reprint of the work
was in regular circulation to a very large extent,
and they were naturally desirous to put an end to such
an injustice. While they were turning their attention
to the subject, they received in the early part of the past
year a communication from an American gentleman,
suggesting, as an effectual means of redress, the insertion
in the magazine, from time to time, of an article from a
native or a naturalized citizen of the United States, who
would establish a copyright in his own person, or that
of an assignee, and thus either protect the whole work,
or bompel the publishers of the pirated edition to reprint
it in an imperfect form, such as would materially
check their success, and, in either way, break up the
system.
" The tone and talent of this communication seemed
to the publishers to recommend their correspondent as
himself well qualified to lead the way in this most
righteous enterprise, and the result was, the appearance
in the October number of the article " Maga in
America," which has been highly relished on both sides
of the Atlantic. Of this article a proof was dispatched
to Mr. Jay, a solicitor of eminence in New York, who,
with the utmost promptitude, registered the copyright
in his own name, and, presenting himself to Messrs.
Scott, the reprinters, inquired it they were about to
puladsh the magazine, as usual, that month, as he
thought it right to inform them that, by so doing, they
would be placed in a delicate position. On hearing an
explanation, Messrs. Scott were considerably taken
aback, and, although unwilling to acknowledge that the
game was up, they seemed to have a painful conscious-
ness that such was the case. The negotiation terminated
in the mean time, in their agreeing, after various letters,
and not a little conversation, to pay a SUM as copyright,
before they issued the October number, and a like
amount for each succeeding number, until a further
arrangement were made. It would have been very easy
for the proprietors to have brought the reprinters under
heavy responsibilities, by giving them no hint of their
movements, and allowing the October number to be pub-
lished as usual, when Messrs. Scott would have become
liable to a severe penalty for every copy sold. This was
not done, as no blame is attached personally to Messrs.
Scott, who have merely acted under a bad system, in
which any one publisher might think himself free to
seize an advantage which was open to all."
The credit of this clever device is attributable in
three quarters—to the ingenuity of the American
Contributor, to the decision of Mr. Jay, the solicitor,
and, in a particular manner, to the enterprise and co-
operation of the Messrs. Blackwood. We are rejoiced
that active measures like this have been adventured
upon, as they must ultimately give recompense
where recompense is especially due. Another paper
from the pen of the same trans-Atlantic correspondent
enlivens the new number of Blackwood. It is a caustic
notice of the state of "The Periodical Literature of Ame-
rica," and discloses the diseased and unhealthy condi-
tion of the reviews and magazines printed in the
United States According to this contributor, the
principle causes of this unsoundness in the tone and
quality of the periodical literature of Brother Jona-
than are—the system of gratuitous writing, the un-
certainty of payment when payment is promised, the
villanous system of partisanship, and the cheap re-
prints of the choicest of European publications. To
those who object in toto to magazine writing as light
and superficial, he speaks thus :
"First. Do you see any primii facie improbability in
supposing that a mar. may write a very good essay,
who could not write two good volumes octavo; or a racy
and interesting sketch, who could not put together a
readable novel; or a few graceful poems, without having
matter enough for a volume of poetry?
" Secondly. Is a treatise necessarily profound, because
it is long ; or superficial, because it is of practicable
dimensions?
" Thirdly. When you use the term ' superficial,' do
you really believe and mean to imply that periodical
writers are in the habit of discussing subjects which
they do not understand? Would you say, for instance,
that Macaulay's reviews denote a man ignorant of his-
tory, or that Sedgwick knows less geology than the man
who wrote the Vestiges of Creation,' or that Mitchell
knew less Greek than Lord Brougham?"
Of the first and last contribution for January—the
first being a retrospect of " Thirty Years of Liberal
Legislation," and the last being a stricture
on " Ireland and the Ministerial Measures "
we may take occasion to speak elsewhere.
Their tenour can be conjectured. In the
article inscribed " Switzerland and Italy" there.
are sentiments which have caused us as much sur-
prise as they have pleasure, appearing as they do on
the Conservative pages of Maga. While sympathy
is expressed for the Catholic cantons of the Sender-
bund, it is also expressed—and that, moreover, in
earnest language—for the popular movement in the
Roman peninsula. After alluding to the prolonged
prostration of the-Italians,j3/aelrood observes :—" A
new spiritual chief ascends the throne at Rome, by
accident rather than by design—[shall we not rather
say by the express design of a Superior Agency ?]—
he pronounces a few magical words, and in an instant
the sacred fire of liberty, and the desire of resisting
foreign oppression, pervades the whole land." At the
same time that full justice is done to the King of
Sardinia and the Grand Duke of Tuscany, for
the part they have taken in these transactions,
the writer distinctly remarks—" To Pius IX.,
and to the noble conceptions of his prudent nand, the
whole of the recent movements in Italy may be fairly
attributed." This should never be forgotten by those
who give credit to every idle rumour wafted to us
from the shores of the Papal States. if Cardinal
Ferretti has proved a brilliant promoter of the popular
came as Secretary of State, he was made Secretary
of State in the room of Lambruschini by Pius IX.
If Gioberti can agitate in behalf of democracy, Gio-
berti was recalled to the Eternal City by Pius IX.
Whatever may be the future results of his Pontificate,
the first year of the reign of the reforming Pontiff
must ever ensure for him the goodwill and gratitude
of those who are sincere in their devotion to the cause
of civil and religious liberty—witness his famous
amnesty, witness his institution of the national guard,
witness his disbandment of the Swiss soldiery, wit-
ness his beneficent measures in reference to
the Jews of Rome, witness his emancipation
of the press, witness his establishment of re-
presentative legislation in the municipalities.
These deeds crown him with a nobler crown than
the triple diadem of the tiara. When speaking of
the civil war in Switzerland Ebony becomes jocular.
He has been alluding to the elements of tranquillity
for which the Helvetic republic is peculiar :
" And yet, of a sudden, up rises a storm; the Fede-
ration splits; and, before men can come to comprehend
what the mountaineers are quarrelling about, swords are
drawn, shots are fired, a couple of towns are captured,
and the war is declared at an end almost before it was
known to have commenced. It has been like a drama
at the opera. Scene, a rocky district, with a town in
the distance:enter a chorus of peasants, who sing about
liberty. Alarums: a band of soldiers rush In and drive
them off the stage. Grand cantata of the president—
and the curtain falls. Some connoisseurs in the boxes
call for the manager, and ask when the opera is going
to begin, as they wish to intervene: the manager enters
from the side-door, bows humbly, and intimates that
they may have their tickets returned if they please, the
play being over. General disappointment!'
There is a charming little sketch, called " Some-
thing like a Country House," painted in the style of
Watteau. " Evenings at Sea" are continued with the
autobiography of a surgeon. " Flechier's Chronicle
of Clermont Assizes" is a delightful reminiscence of
the eloquent prelate, who is chiefly memorable for
his funeral oration on the Great Turenne. It is fol-
' lowed by a curious and most entertaining memoir of
"Don John of Austria," the illegitimate son of the
Emperor Charles V. ; and that again by " A Night's
Peril," a paper for all who can relish the marvellous.
As the commencement of a new year Blackwood is
large in promise,—and, as far as the monthly instal-
ment is concerned, it is anything but small in
fulfilment.

BENTLEY'S MISCELLANY.

The article in the present number of Bentley
which will be looked to with the greatest interest is
undoubtedly the one entitled, " Government Defence of
the Country," by James Augustus St. John. Mr.
St. John is one
6' Qui moles borninurn multornm vidit et urbes ;"
he has hot uitvely d through, like
but he has sojourned in France and the various coun-
tries, European, Asiatic, and African, which are
I washed by the Mediterranean, Baltic, and German