The Sun.
London, England, 1870-11-24 00:00:00

A OHAPTEII OF IMPERIAL HISTORY,

A French journalist has published a pamphlet relating
the Causes which led to the present war, beginning with
1866. He says that Bismarck, when Ambassador at
Paris, did his best to make himself agreeable to the
Emperor, and deluded him with the impression that he
(Napoleon )had complete ascendancy over the Prussian repro
sentative. Through this means he arranged the celebrated
bargain by which France agreed to remain neutral whilst
Prussia attacked Austria. Everybody knows the result.
" The Emperor, who thought to out-mancenvre Bis-
marck, was out-manoeuvred by him. The sudden and
brilliant victories of Prussia galled and alarmed him.
The conditions of the peace were still more irritating.
Surprised, beaten with his own weapons, humiliated, and
angry, he completely lost his head, and never afterwards
recovered it. From that moment there was no unity in any
of his plans. His policy became fitful and incoherent.
One day the boldest schemes were broached. Another day
cowardly fears prevailed. M. Drouyn de Lhuys, one of
the few capable Ministers who accepted office under the
Second Empire, vainly attempted to resist the overbearing
acts of Prussia. Frequently it happened that after he
thought he had convinced the Emperor that in a dignified
course alone lay safety, and went away satisfied that his
advice would be followed, he received a little note to in-
timate that Napoleon had changed his mind. If he re-
f used some exo-ibitiint demand of Prussia, or expostulated
with her on some breach of faith, Count Goltz appealed
to the master, and both refusal and protestation were at
once annulled. We shall give two examples which occur
to us. The very day after the victory of Sadowa, Count
Goltz hastened to the Foreign-office at Paris to read a
despatch received from his Government. Prussia, he
alleged, had gone to war to destroy merely the excessive
preponderance of Austria, whose narrow and reactionary
ideas hindered the onward march in Germany ; the King
of Prussia had no idea of conquest beyond adding a few
scraps of territory to his kingdom, the united populations
of which did not amount to more than 350,000 souls ; an
augmentation fully sanctioned by the Emperor in his letter
of 16th June, 1866, which read by M. Rouher to an
applauding Chamber. In a word, Prussia desired an en-
larged frontier, and the day after her great victory, still
thinking the consent of France necessary, she asked it
through her Ambassador. The French Minister replied
by a formal refusal. " Prussia," he-said, "may impose
directly whatever conditions she pleases on Austria; she
may alter, according to her own interests, the Germanic
Confederation, and she may dictate a new con-
stitution to the Bund. But France can never
consent to the territorial aggrandisement of a Power
which is inevitably her rival, and with whom a collision
may any day take place,' seeing that she is her nearest
neighbour." Count Goltz returned to the charge ; but
M. Drouyn de Lhuys maintained his position in energetic
language. On issuing from the Minister's cabinet the
Ambassador rushed to the Tuileries and demanded to see
the Emperor, who gave him then and there an audience.
We cannot say exactly what happened at it; but this
much we affirm, that the day following Count Goltz
returned to the Foreign-office rubbing his hands
and crowing over the Minister, to whom he an-
nounced that the Emperor was more tractable than
M. Drouyn de Lhuys, and had consented to Prussia
annexing territories which represented 4,000,000 souls
It was thus, with the personal complicity of the Emperor,
that the Kingdom of Hanover, the Duchies of Nassau and
Brunswick, the half of Hesse Darmstadt, Lauenburg, the
Hanse Towns and Frankfort, were absorbed by Prussia.
In making this concession, the Emperor flattered himself
that he was paving the way for a future success, when in
reality he was preparing the destruction of the nation he
governed." The pamphlet proceeds to show that the
Emperor's conduct during the Luxemburg affair, and,
indeed, ever since 1866, has been marked by the same
incompetence.

THE COMIC PAPERS.
(From Punch.)

Why will the Parisians, when the siege is over, be the
most intelligent people in the world ?—Because all the
Asses in Paris will have been eaten.

A WORD TO BISMARCK.—Bizzy, you will get no indem-
nity for your enormous expenses out of a ruined France.
Bizzy, Bizzy, you are killing the goose which you require
to lay you golden eggs.
" FAMILIARITY BREEDS CONTEMPT "—Habitual Cri-
minal (to swell betting-man): " To see the Lord Mayor !
Ah ! if they knowod the Lord Mayor as well as you and
I, Bill, they wouldn't make such a fuss about him."
LATEST FASHIONS.—Augusta : " 0, Ada, dear, what a
sweet head-dress ! Where did you get it ? " Ada : " It's
quite new, dear. It only arrived to-day from Paris in a
balloon, or by balloon post."
" RICH AND RARE."—A very valuable cargo is coming
to us from the other side of the Atlantic, a very precious
freight—no less than " ' One Thousand Gems,' from the
Rev. Henry Ward Beecher," No paste amongst them,
we hope.
BEWARE THE BEAR I—Huny Dumpty had a great
fall. So have the various stocks this week in the Money
Market. They, however, will rise again without the aid
of the Queen's horses, by that of a comparatively few of
her men. Tho decline was owing to the Russian demand
for the revision of the Treaty which forbids Russia to rob
Turkey. Thus you see its cause was a Bear speculation.

(From Fun. )

WITH OUR COMPLIMENTS TO Mil. CARDWELL.—Study
the soldier's comfort—pay him well, and feed him better ;
that's a sure way to swell the ranks.
WANTED—HEADS !—A contemporary seems to sneer at
this as improbable :—" The Gaulois says that after the
attempted revolution in Paris on the 31st ult. a letter was
found on the table where Flourens and his associates had
been sitting, apparently addressed to the director of the
bagne at Toulon, and in these terms : ' Citizen, we must
at any price have William's head. Send a hunilred reso-
lute convicts. Make haste; time presses.' The signature
was illegible." Really, it seems the first gleam of sense
that any one in Paris has displayed. " Must have Wil-
liam's head "—or any other man's. That's what they do
want. Nobody in Paris seems to have a head. " A hun-
dred convicts "—good ! They want to arrive at several
convictions in Paris—among others the conviction that
their game is pretty well played out. But we see nothing
bloodthirsty in the letter as read by this light.

(Prom Judy.)

LIKE HIS CIIEEK.-It is asserted, that as Count
Bismarck is certain that Paris will be famine-stricken in
three weeks, he has "changed his policy," and intends to
starve the city into surrender. " Bismarck's Policy "is a
thing not fully understood by anyone but the Count him-
self ; but one may safely bet that it is a policy of
assurance.

BRADFORD SCHOOL BOARD.—There will be no
contest for seats on the Bradford School Board, the par-
ties having met and effected a compromise. The board
will consist of five Churchmen, three Independents, two
Baptists, two Wesleyans, two Roman Catholics, and one
member of the Society of Friends.
THE " EDINBURGH REVIEW" ON THE WAR.—
The article in the last number of the Edinburgh Review
which, as we stated last week, has been attributed in this
country to Mr. Gladstone, has been ascribed on the Con-
tinent, apparently on authority, to Mr. Reeve, the
editor of the Review. At any rate, whatever contributions
Mr. Gladstone's mind may have made to the article, we
believe that he is not the author of it in the ordinary ac-
ceptation of the ascription.—Guardian.
THE IRISH LAND QUESTION.—The Ballymena
tenant farmers have formally admitted that the landlord
and tenant question has been removed from the sphere of
the Legislature. They have held a meeting for the pur-
pose of dissolving the Local Tenant-Right Association,
and of forming in its stead a Tenants' Protection
Society, the objects of which are defined as follows :--
" 1. To teach the tenant farmers that their safety lies
in their union, and to enrol them in a mutually defensive 1
league. '2. To watch the operations of the new law, and
learn from them what protection of their just rights
tenant farmers are warranted to 7pect from it. 3. To
diffuse information among the ten nts respecting those
provisions of the Act that specially affect their interests.
4. To help by advice, by directing the legal proceedings,
and, if need be, by sharing in their expense, any member
of the society who may be threatened with eviction, with
undue increase of rent, or other agrarian imposition."
CAPTURE OF SEVEN SMUGGLERS.—On Saturday
morning, shortly_ after midnight, according-to local papers,
Mr. A. 0. Lo uray, Tide Surveyor of Her Majesty's
Customs, Guernsey, and his six waterside officers, made
a large seizure at Rocquaine Bay, west coast of the
island. On the signal being made the officers surpried
and captured the cutter Mary, of Jersey, registering
fifteen tons, together with three boats, and seven
smugglers, including Albert W. Sherlock, master and
owner, and fifty-seven bales of leaf tobacco, weighing
from two to three tons. The Mary, boats, and-smug-
glers were piloted out of Rocquaine Bay, and brought
in the course of the morning to St. Peter Port Harbour, a
few miles distant. The seven smugglers were landed there
at noon, before a number of spectators. The seizure, says
the Star, is one of the most important and extensive made
for many years in Guernsey, and the operation was the
more difficult on account of the darkness of the night and
the strong breeze blowing. No resistance was offered of any
consequence. The seven smugglers were to be produced
on Monday before the magistrates of Guernsey, and will
" be shortly proceeded against by the Customs authorities
in London.

NAVAL AND MILITARY L.NTELL-.GENCE.
The Urgent, screw troopship, 1,981 tons, 400-horse
power, now in the first class of the Steam Reserve at
Portsmouth. has been selected by the Admiralty for the
service of the party of scientific men who will leave
England to observe the coming eclipse, &c. Captain
Samuel Henderson will be appointed to the command of
the ship.
Lieutenant Alexander B. Brown, P.R. A. S., F. G. S.,
Royal Artillery, has been selected to take part in the
observations on the forthcoming total eclipse of the sun
on the 22nd of December next, and will proceed to the
south of Spain with Lord Lindsay for that purpose.
The detachment of the Royal Engineer Train which
arrived at Woolwich from Chatham on Monday last with
one of the newly-invented pontoon boats, left Woolwich
on their return journey on Tuesday with six field telegraph
waggons, manufactured and fitted complete in the Royal
Arsenal, Woolwich. These waggons are of two kinds,
and specially fitted up for the services they are required
for. One contains the telegraph wires in coils for paying
out on the march, together with the paying-out
machinery. This is accomplished at the rate of six miles
an hour. The other waggon carries the batteries for
working the telegraph and the requisite tools for repairing
the line in case of accidents, and other necessary imple-
ments likely to be required on various occasions and under
different circumstances.
The unarmoured vessels now in- the first class of the
Steam Reserve at Portsmouth, rigged, armed, stored for
six months, and in readiness to proceed to sea on twenty-
four hours' notice, with the exception of having to re-
ceive their crews on board and a certain portion of their
provisions, consist of four frigates, three corvettes, one
gun-vessel, and two gunboats, their aggregate tonnage
being 16,962, the nominal horse-power of their engines
3,910, and the number of their guns 81. Oue of the
frigates is iron-built, with an outer shell of wood, and in
average weather at sea can steam 14.6 knots per hour.
One of the other frigates under like conditions would
steam 13 knots, and the remaining two 12 knots. All the
vessels carry armour-piercing guns of 61 tons, each being
mounted with a greater number of 61-pounder rifled
Palliser shell guns. The two gunboats are of the
Staunch class, and each carries a 12-ton 9-inch muzzle-
loading rifle.
The Immortalitd, 28 guns, 600-horse power, unarmoured
screwfrigate,is ordered to oe commissioned at Portsmouth
on the Ist proximo. The order for commissioning the
Dido, 6, 350-horse power, unarmoured screw corvette,
which had been named for the same date as the Immor-
talitd, is as yet held in abeyance.
We learn that, if no events occur to require its presence
abroad, the Channel Squadron will remain at Portland
during the winter, making an occasional cruise to sea in
division's to exercise the crews of the ships in heavy gun
and other drills.

A contemporary regrets to hear that our last constructed
ironclad, the Sultan, 5,226 tons, with engines of a nominal
1,200 horse-power, requires to have 300 tons of iron ballast

put into her before she is handed over to the Government,
in consequence of her having, like the Captain, too much
top weight.
Rear-Admiral Seymour, Commander-in-Chief of the
new flying squadron, will bolsi his flag at Devonport
about this day week, and the ships under Lis command
(the Russian question permitting) will leave England
during the month, proceeding first to the West Indies,
where the Dido, which is to form one of the squad-
dron, will probably take the place of one of the ships re-
cently arrived on that station.
Captain George Ommanney Willes, C. 8., the chief of
the staff at Whitehall, has, we understand, been devising
a scheme of reductions in the complement of the crews of
our ironclads. We believe the Hercules, Lord Gilford's
ship, will be the first vessel reduced under the new
system.
The Bellerophon, one of Mr. Reed's ironclads, is now
in dock at Portsmouth, and will not be ready for sea until
the early part of the year.
The Marquis of Lorne, accompanied by his Royal
Highness Prince Arthur, visited the Royal Arsenal and
other military establishments at Woolwich, on Saturday
_ _ _

last, and took luncheon at the quarters which Messrs.
Barnes, of Woolwich, have fitted up for his Royal High-
ness's accomniod.stion at the Infantry Barracks.
An order has been issued directing that efforts shall be
made for the immediate enlistment of 1,500 drivers for the
Royal Artillery—the 14th Brigade, Depot, and Royal Horse
Brigade, each requiring au addition of 500. The standard
has been reduced to sft. 4in., the minimum height, with
33 inches girth of chest, and recruiting parties have been
sent out from the garrison, the first result of which was
visible at Woolwich Police-court, on Tuesday, when
nearly forty recruits were attested. Gunners are also
required for the Royal Artillery to an altnost unlimited
extent, the standard being sft. 7in., and 34in girth, but
now they are obtained with more difficulty. The regula-
tion which binds the ordinary recruiting staff to enlist for

"general Fervice," only greatly impairs the usefulness of
that department.

A marriage is arranged to take place to-day at St.
Paul's, South Kensington, between Sir Algernon Peyton,
Bart., of Swift's House Bi,cester, and Miss Laura Webb,
daughter of the late J. Webb, Esq.,
ROYAL NAVAL SCHOOL, NEW-CROSS.—MII3.
Caroline Lucas Rennie has bequeathed £5OO to this
school, which has recently admitted without election five
of the orphan sons of officers lost in her Majesty's ship
Captain.
TAXING-MASTER IN CHANCERY. There is a
vacancy in the office of Taxing-Master of the Court of
Chancery by the death of Mr. George Hume, who died on
Friday last. The deceased gentleman was formerly one
of the Chief Clerks at the Rolls' Chambers.

We are informed by a correspondent from
Belgium that a newspaper will shortly be started there
with a view of keeping the French officers and soldiers
informed of what passes in France, and that, to suit it to
the means of all, the subscription will only be 1 franc a
month.

A. SCHOOL DISMISSED ON ACCOUNT OF HYDRO-
nieDIA.—A correspondent Writes to say that a
school near Dundee was dismissed the other evening in
consequence of one of the boys shewing symptoms of
hydrophobia. It seems the boy had been bitten by a mad
dog, which has since- been shot. The unfortunate circum-
stance created a painful sensation in the school.

With respect to the spread of smallpox in London,
the Registrar-General points out that the eastern dis-
tricts continue to suffer out of all proportion to the rest of
the metropolis. Of the total forty-five fatal cases, twenty-
six occurred in the East districts, Bethnal-green, White-
chapel, and Shoreditch contributing the largest number.
Eight of the victims were infants in their first year of life.
Only two of the whole list of fatal cases were returned as
having been vaccinated.
THE STRIKE IN EDINBURGH.--The Lord Pro-
vost of Edinburgh, who had consented to act as arbiter in
the stonemasons' strike, has given his decision as follows :
—" The Lord Provost, having carefully considered the
statements submitted to him on Saturday last by the
master masons, and also by the men in their employment,
is of opinion that the most equitable decision he can come
to is to halve the difference between the parties, and he
therefore so decides." The masters and men agreed to
abide by his Lordship's decision, and the strike has accord-
ingly terminated. The men will now be paid at the rate
of 61d. per hour instead of 6id.

SHOCKING RAILWAY ACCIDENT.—On Tuesday
morning a fatal-accident occurred at the entrance to the
St. Helen's Chymical Company'slVitrks, St. Helen's, near
Liverpool. An engine and five waggons were standing on
the biding waiting for another waggon to be attached,
which six men were pushing along the- siding, when the
engine was unexpectedly set in 'notion, and came into con-
tact with the unattached waggon. One of the men,
named Patrick Ratigan,•was thrown down, caught by one
of the wheels, dragged for some distance, and frightfully
mutilated. Death was almost instantaneous. Another
man, William Hughes, lies in a hopeless state, his shoulder
blade and four of his ribs being broken, and his legs
dreadfully crushed. The injuries of the other men—John
Dillon, Thomas Neill, John Painter, John Walpole, and
Thomas Mitchel—are not likely to Prove fatal. Medical
assistance was procured immediately, and the injured
men received every attention.—Liverpool Courier.

AN APPOINTMENT FOR THE MARQUIS OF LORNE.
—The intimation conveyed by telegraph that her Majesty
bad granted hoc consent to the marriage of her itoyal
Highness Princess Louise with the Marquis of Lorne
has been received with very lively satisfaction throughout
India. Not a E•ingle comment expressive of aught but
warm approval and hearty good wishes has, as far as we
are aware, been uttered either through the press qr less
public channels. India claims a special , interest 'in the
'coming event, and even goes the length of - congratu-
lating herself upon the prospect of soon having a daugh-
ter of Queen Victoria in Government-house, Calcutta.
One journal (the Ceylon Observer) writes :—" What may
be the future destiny of the Marquis of Lorne
it is hard to say ; but should he shew the needful
capacity, there is one great office of the State
for which his position as husband of the Princess Louise
would seem pre-eminently to fit him, namely, that of
Viceroy and Governor-General of India. Youthful as he
~is, there is no reason why we should not have the Mar-
iquir4 and the Princess taking up their quarters at Govern-
ment-h9lse,,Calcutta, (in: the depatture of Lord .Mayo in.
1874 or 7h.". -,Times of Itiidti, 0ct.124J..
. ~. •

MADA.ME T
BAKER
STRE USSAUS D' EXHIBITION,
ET.

Napoleon 111.
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: Xing' f
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