The Sun.
London, England, 1870-05-19 00:00:00

The Farmer and his Friends.

We have often had testimony on behalf of the
small birds, whose useful services to the agricultu-
rist are so persistently overlooked by would-be
sportsmen. Now, we' have a fresh witness in
favour of .crows, in whose favour there
has not hitherto been much to be said.
A gentleman while visiting Australia was
staying at a farm in the Ballarat district. The farmer
and he when out together, and watched a large
flock of crows alight in a paddock of wheat. The farmer,
justly indignant at what he thought the mischief
being done to his crops, went for his gun and shot
several birds. Curiosity induced the visitor to open
these birds, when it was very soon ascertained that
they had been feasting, not upon the crops, but upon
the caterpillars, whose ravages the wheat, when
closely examined, clearly revealed. The negroes of
Barbadoes call the common black crow a name
signifying "The blessing of God," because they believe
it destroys the cockroaches which infest the island.
The most prejudiced judge must acknowledge that
the evidence brought forward on behalf of our
feathered friends is of a very practical kind, and the
farmer might very safely try "the experiment of
granting them an amnesty during a season or two.
Manufacturing a Panic.

A. singular story reaches us from Vienna, where a
complete panic prevailed on the Stock Exchange
last Wednesday, owing to the circulation of a tele-
gram from Paris announcing the assassination
of the French Emperor. It was circu-
lated by some speculators who were known
to obtain foreign telegrams from the Telegraphic
Correspondence Office before they were communica-
ted to the subscribers. It is of course at once appa-
rent that the telegram was fraudulent, but it
is less evident that it had actually an official
origin. The director of the Telegraphic Office had
for some time suspected that his telegrams were ab-
stracted, and his suspicions fell on a compositor
named Jacobi. He therefore had this fictitious
telegram concocted in order to detect him, and suc-
ceeded in his object. Jacobi confessed his guilt,
and was arrested. The telegrams are in future to
be printed at the Government press. No
doubt it was desirable to detect the offender, and a
startling piece of news was requisite to do so effectu-
ally, but the members of the Stock Exchange, some
of whom are very heavy losers by the experiment, are
complaining, not without reason, that they have been
unduly sacrificed.
A Country for Emigrants.

It is not every one who knows that the city

of Buenos Ayres contains innumerable English houses
of business,English clergymen, English doctors, Eng-
lish druggists, an English bank, half-a•dozen Protes-
tant churches,schools, a liberal constitution,and liberal
laws. Ithas been pointed out that the River La Plata
is perhaps more than any other territory on the
globe the one which promises the largest and happiest
return to the emigrant who will leave England or
Germany, and settle down there. It is said that
under the new administration of the country
a man may enjoy liberty of trade, liberty of opinion,
and religious liberty. He will find that all the great
enterprises in the province are in English and not in
native hands : railways, waterworks, and drainage
systems. There is one drawback, and that is that
the more uncivilised natives, like the Japanese, have
been prone to look upon the foreigner as
an invader who comes to despoil them
of the fruits of their country ; they occasionally
manifest their animosity by murdering the new
comers, just as the coolies murdered some officers of
the 20th 'Regiment, supposing them to be merchants,
in 1864; but these assassinations are latterly
very rare, and goodwill towards foreigners
appears to be extending with the rapid
enlightenment of the time. T•he natives, no
longer oppressed by a tyrannical and irregular form
of Government. are beginning to see that their great
country has for centuries been a waste, when it might
have been fair and productive, and they are, -there-
fore, anxious to welcome• men who are.eager with
themselves to develop the vast and splendid resources
of the land, and to extend the good fame of the Argen-
tine Republic.
English Policy in China.

A. private letter, dated Shanghai, remarks that
there is a great deal of dissatisfaction exist-
ing throughout China at the policy of the
English Government. Instead of leaving some
discretion in the hands of the naval commanders
they have been tied by a recent injunc-
tion of Lord Clarendon's, and the general
forbearance principle has encouraged, the Chinese
officials to snub the • British Plenipotentiary.
The French, it is added, manage these things better.
An outrage on Catholic missionaries being reported
lately, the French Consul went armed
with the power of threats wisely left in
his hands, and the grievance was soon redressed.
The writer adds that the Chinese insult with impu-
nity until threatened, and that unless the English
Government change their policy it will not be long
before there is another outbreak in China. It is, in
fact, merely the old story. The residents in China
are always asking us to give them power to assail
the Chinese at will in reprisals for real or fancied.
insults. Lord Clarendon, on the other hand, adopts
the policy of treating China as a civilised State.