The Sun.
London, England, 1870-12-31 00:00:00

THE CONFERENCE.

General Loverdo has resigned his post of Director of
the French Infantry and Cavalry oh account of bad health.
The Prussian Administration at Strasburg has forbidden
the inhabitants to rebuild or repair the houses destroyed
or injured during the siege, because they wish the town
to be reconstructed on a new plan.
CRYSTAL PALACE.--One Shilling Day, Friday,
December 30, 1870.—Admission by season tickets, 2,980 ;
ditto on payment, 3,544; total visitors, 6,452.
The Illustrated News states that the will of the
Rev. H. Michell Wagner, M.A., late Vicar of Brighton,
has been proved under £lOO,OOO.
THE COLLIERS SUNK IN THE SElNE.—Thirty-
one seamen belonging to the British ships seized by the
Prussians arrived in London yesterday afternoon, and
have ~been taken charge of by Mr. Mayo, the Registrar-
General of Seamen, pending Earl Granville's orders.
We understand that an enormous number of ap-
plications for the secretaryship and other appointments
under the London School Board have been received, and
from the character and attainments of the gentlemen ap-
plying, we have little doubt that great difficulty will be
experienced in selecting the best men.—Civilian.
RESIGNATION OF THE CHIEF CONSTABLE OF
WonCESTEASHIRE.I—The chief constable of the county of
Worcester has placed his resignation in the hands of the
magistrates. It is understood that there are already two
gentlemen named as candidates for the office, which will
not be filled up till the Easter Sessions.—Birmingham
Post.
MR. CARDWELL AND THE COAST DEFENCES.
Mr. Cardwell, Secretary at War, recently visited Harwich,
with the view of making arrangements for the develop-
ment of additional defences at that port. A contract for
the new works contemplated has already been let to Messrs.
Lee, of Westminster, and operations have been commenced
both at Languard Fort and the Redoubts. Instructions
have been received at Colchester from the Horse Guards
to provide accommodation in the cavalry barracks at Col-
chester for a field battery of artillery.
AMERICAN AND CLYDE IRON SHIPBUILDING.—
We understand that W. R. Garrison, Esq., president
of the United States and Brazil Mail Steamship Com-
pany has contracted with Messrs. Alexander Stephen
and Sons, of Linthouse, Glasgow, for the construction of
three iron steamships of 1,700 tons each, to be fitted with
all modern improvements as first-class vessels. These,
we believe, are the first iron steamers that have been
ordered here direct from the United States of America.—
Glasgow Herald,
THE GENEVA CONVENTION. It is remarkable how
freely the Geneva Convention is discussed by hosts of
writers who are evidently ignorant of its capital stipula-
tions. The red cross by no means confers the privilege of
neutrality without enforcing corresponding duties. The
French are far more deeply to blame for leaving masses of
their wounded behind without surgeons or ambulance
material than the Germans for being. unable, in an enemy's
country, to make adequate provision for them. The
Geneva Convention neutralizes the surgeons and ambu-
lance stores as well as the wounded, and the neglect of the
French to leave these with the wounded, whom they throw
in masses upon the hands of the victorious Germans,
seems to have escaped attention : while the invaders are
blamed for not providin what is beond their
means to provide in an eneg my's Britishcountry.— Medical
Journal.

AN EASTERN ARCHBISHOP IN LONDON.—The
Most Rev. Dr. Cyril B. Benni, Archbishop of Mosul
(the ancient Nineveh), is now in London, stay-
ing at the West End. He was among the
Eastern Prelates who took part in the proceedings of
the Vatican Council. He is now engaged in making
collections to aid in establishing schools and re-
building churches for the Roman Catholics of the Syrian
Rite in his distant archdiocese, who are suffering from
great destitution. We understand that on Sunday week,
the Bth of January, the Archbishop will " celebrate " in
the Syrian Rite, at the 11 o'clock Mass, at the Roman
Catholic Church, Kingsland, near the Dalston station.
Monsignor Benni speaks fluently French and Italian, and
would be happy to confer with any English savants who
are interested in the antiquities, secular and ecclesiastical,
of the East.

The statement that Count Bismarck refused a safe-
conduct pass to M. Jules Favre, which would enable him
to attend the Conference as the representative of France, is
incorrect. When Earl Granville asked the North German
Chancellor to grant such a pass, Count Bismarck replied
that it was then impossible to forward it to Paris,
as the French persistently fired on all who ap-
proached to hold parley, but that he would send it at the
earliest opportunity. Since then Count Bismarck has
communicated with M. Jules Favre, through Mr. Wash-
bourne, the American Minister in Paris, and has informed
the French Minister that a safe-conduct and every
facility would be given him to be present at the
Conference. The sittings of the Conference will
not be held in the large salon at the Foreign Office
known as the Conference Chamber, but in a smaller room
adjoining it, which has already been prepared for the oc-
casion. Although it is not understood that the question
of Luxemburg can well be discussed in the Conference
that meets on Tuesday next, we anticipate no real diffi
oulty on the subject ; for, as the facts of the case become
better known, it grows more evident that, if Prussia was
not without practical and solid grounds for her com-
plaint against the Duchy, France might have retaliat ed.
It can, we believe, be proved on evidence that 1,200 tons
of provisions were conveyed by the Luxemburg Rail-
way to the French ; but also that 30,000 tons were con-
veyed by the same channel to the Prussians. At the
same time we may state that the North German Govern-
ment has not taken any exception to the validity of the
treaty guaranteeing the neutrality of Luxemburg, but
has only accused the local authorities of not observing the
conditions annexed to their privilege ; and that complaint
will, of course, be met by the necessary explanations.
Telegraph.

CHRISTMAS AT VERSAILLES.
Writing from Versailles, December 24, the special
correspondent of the Standard at the King's Head-
quarters, says :—I believe that Christmas and the Reign
of Peace are usually held to be convertible terms ; yet
Christmas has come, and two hostile armies, each of
whose forces we must count by the hundred thou-
sand, are celebrating it in. sight of each other ; in
what number we all know too well. Nevertheless,
there have been unmistakeable signs in the Versailles
shops and in the Versailles streets for days that a merry-
malting festival was approaching. Many of the shops
are now in the possession of enterprising Germans, and
their windows are stocked with the good things which at
the end of December commonly greet the eye. Doubt-
less some of the warriors made purchases in
the hope they may reach little hands they
themselves had taught both to frolic and to raise in
prayer, little hands now clasped about a lonely woman's
neck, who weeps and wonders when, if ever, the bread-
winner will come home from the war. Well, let them
buy what they will, there is no child's puzzle they
can lay their hands on a thousandth part as puzzling
as the painful, perplexing, insuperable contradic-
tions one has to consider when two whole
peoples are arrayed in murderous arms against each other,
and the Gospel of Christ is withal not abolished.
The distant forts greet me with a well-maintained growl.
All day long the same sound has been smiting our ears;
and it is evident that Paris is ,not celebrating Christmas
in a humble spirit. Yet they tell us to-night, that though
there has been heavy firing there has been nothing more;
no fresh sortie, no further demonstrations. It is n')l
fighting weather. I never remember so cold a Christmas ;
and 1 should think that lying out in the open after a wound
for three or four hours would to-day be sure death,
Mr. Lawrence Oliphant, who has just come back from
the Loire, appears to think that there will be a suspension
of conflict in that quarter as long as the present weather
lasts, seeing that both sides stand sorely in need of
repose to recuperate their /energies. I cannot yet
get at the precise truth/ as to the considerable
action which is reported from near Amiens. When
one is told that Manteuffel had 30,000 men, and
Faidherbe 60,000—that the French were pushed
back, but that other details ire wanting—one sees that
no very valuable victory has beert\won. The members of
the " Fourth Estate" muster sti4ingly enough at Ver-
sailles to have organised a Christmas dinner, though it
should be added that it could scarcely have taken place
at all, and would certainly have been only a melancholy
meal, but for the spirit and energy of one amiable
member of our body, who unites with a graceful pen a
mastery of many languages, and a rare musical faculty,
the qualifications upon which depends the successful
ordering of a feast. We sate down 16 guests, the press of
America being honourably represented among us. Mr.
Odo Russell did us the pleasure of joining our circle, and
even Prussian uniforms were not absent from the board.

THE ARMY OF THE NORTH.
Under date Douai, December 28, the special corres-
pondent of the Standard writes :—During the last three or
four days, after my return from the North, I found the
utmost excitement, as may well be imagined, prevailing
at Boulogne, in consequence of the fighting before
Amiens. Fugitives and special messengers came
thronging in by every train with fresh news
each minute of the recent events. The majority I had
the opportunity of speaking to seemed to he of one
opinion- -namely, that Faidherbe had achieved a
decided success ; but that he only followed his plan of
campaign in retreating, rendering in this instance more
imperative by the Saxon corps under Prince Albert
coming up with the intention of surrounding his army.
One affair particularly was brilliant in the extreme. The
33d of the Prussian line, known as the crack regiment
in the service, charged, took two guns, and then con-
tinued up the hill. They had only eight rounds of
ammunition left, and the rush was all the more des-
perate. The French not only waited for them, but
went out to meet them with the bayonet. For an instant
the result seemed uncertain ; but the tremendous pluck
of the Northern Mobiles told its tale, and the Prussians
were sent flying down the hill with irresistible force. An
English officer, who had the good luck to be looking on
the %%hole time, described it to me as one of the most
dashing charges he had ever witnessed. But the same
man, and two or three other persons who arrived yester-
day from Amiens, declared that nothing could equal the
terror of the spectacle the field of battle presented when alll
was over. The cold was so unprecedentedly intense that
the wounded and dying were benumbed in the very act
of trying to crawl off the field ; and even the dead were
frozen in horribly grotesque positions as they fell.
The North is at last thoroughly awakened, and
fully comprehends the clanger. Hitherto she has
been sacred from invasion. Five days back it
was thought that the Prussians had more than enough
to occupy them at Amiens, and to-day they are
not far from the walls of Arras. As though to
add to the sensation, the news spread like electricity
through the town that beyond Douai the line was cut. All
news that comes in the night is difficult to be verified,
and is moreover of a more startling nature. It is cer-
tain, however, that the railway officials refused, in my
own instance, to book as far as Arras. But I was
surprised and delighted to see that all this had no
depressing effect on the people. On the contrary,
it seemed rather to steady them ; and amongst the troops,
that might be under orders to depart at any moment, I
remarked an elasticity and nerve that ought to • have
inspired the utmost confidence. If lam not greatly
mistaken, the men of the North will show before man:
days of what different stuff they are made to the raw ma-
terial that has preceded them. I say, advisedly, before
many days. A big cloud is gathering over the little cluster
of northern fortresses, and its bursting is only a question
of hours.

Messrs. Jay, Cooke, McCulloch, and Co. in connection
with the eminent American Banking House of Messrs. Jay,
Cooke, and Co., of New York, Philadelphia, and Wash-
ington, will open their London house at , 41, Lombard.
Street, on Tuesday next, the 2nd January. The Resident
Partners will be the Hon. Hugh McCulloch, (late Secre-
tary to the United States Treasury,) Mr. J. H. Puleston,
and Mr. Frank H. Evans.
THE GOVERNMENT AND, THE FENIANS.—CORSO-
(pent upon the promised release of the Fenian prison ers,
which is expected to take effect on either to-day, or on
Monday, and the condition of exile attached to their par-
don, a movement is being set on foot amongst the Irish
residents of London and several English provincial towns,
in conjunction with a similar movement in Ireland,
whereby funds may be raised to enable the prisoners and
their families to emigrate, in the absence of any intima-
tion from the Government that the latter will defray this
expense.