The Sun.
London, England, 1870-12-24 00:00:00

tHE SUN, LONDON, SATITRDA/, DECEMBER 24, 1870.

million homes alike in France and in Germany.
Modern notions are become so intimately knit to-
gether, that it has been simply impossible for closely
allied and neighbouring neutrals to pass the ordeal
of simply observing the progress of this appallinp'.
campaign, in any way scatheless. - 'What England
could do in the way of mitigating the anguish o!
th) sufferers in the great conflict she
has clone, eagerly and spontaneously. But
while affording our *assistance to the sick and
wounded, in kind, in food!and drugs and clothing and
' tender ministrations, she has suffered larselit,
through this deplorable war, from the lots of friends
and relatives, whether Germans or Frenchmen.
There have been, altogether apart from this Franco-
' Prussian war, however, other, and some of them.
peculiarly dire calamities which we have had occa-
sion to endure in this annus mirabilis of 1870 in
our capacity as Englishmen. A. catastrophe like the
all but instantaneous foundering in a gale of wind of
the huge ironclad turret ship The Captain was in

itssif " a heavy blow and great discourage-
ment." A. succession of astoundilig railway
accidents startled the community again only
within these last, few weeks by their deplorable
destructiveness. Among the individual losses which
the nation has had to lament within the lasttwelve-
month, by the abrupt disappearance from the world,
of one of those exceptionally great men, who are the
truest benefactors of the people and the delight of
their own immediate contemporaries—there has
been inscribed upon the ample obituary
of 1870 the loved and honoured name
of the most widely popular author of his
age, the greatest of all our English humorists. The
recollection of that one loss is enough of itself to
revive more poignantly than ever a multitude of
affecting and beautiful associations. The genius of
CHARLES DICKENS was more intimately allied than
that of any other writer who ever adorned our
literature with the whole spirit of this kindly season
of Christmastide. :And it was eminently characteristic
of the great author that his philanthropy was prac-
tical and not simply theoretical or imaginative. A
seasonable reminiscence of this is recalled to mind
opportunely enough by his American publisherin the
course of a memorial paper issued in one of the mis-
cellaneous annuals, the incident being simply this,
that while the author of the " Christmas Carol " was
one day breasting his ;way about nightfall through
a pitiless storm of snow and sleet in one of the

deserted streets of one of the great cities of the
United States, upon the occasion of his last visit to
America, the companion with whom he was silently
fighting his way through the storm suddenly lost
sight of him, was in terror for a moment that he

lad sunk exhausted on the snow, and was being

fast sleeted and snowed out of• recognition,
until gladdened by the sound of the cheery
voice calling to him at soma distance from

the opposite side of the broad thoroughfare, whither

the great novelist had rushed upon the instant to
aid a blind man who had. just fallen, and vas in
precisely that predicament. A seasonable recollec-
tion, we repeat, in regard to one who often and often
enforced so persuasively lessons of beneficence among
his fellow mortals at many a returning Christmas.

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

rerrard to the export of arms calculated to offend the
dignity of a natural ally.

SPECIAL RESERVE FORCE,

The Secretary of War has ordered alterations to I
be made in the Special Reserve Force Circular which
w:is issued last Augus!:. These declare that an
cer is to apply to the Assistant Adjutant-General of
the district instead of to the War Office When he wishes
to be attached to a regiment of cavalry, infantry,
or infantry militia. Officers of the Royal Artillery
and Engineers will be specially appointed for the
purpose of conducting examinations of officers under
one system, to be uniform in its character. Com-
m:lnding officers of Artillery and Engineer Corps
are desired to notify to the Adjutant-General
at the Horse Guards the ' names of those
officers who are prepared to be examined for certifi-
cates of proficiency, so that the examination may be
arranged in districts. Officers of volunteers will not
be allowed to earn the special capitation allowance
,of 20s. or 30s. when they hold a commission in the
militia. Officers of volunteers who have held commis-
sions as field officers and captains in the regular forces
may' be returned in the list of proficients without
examination, the rank which the officer held in the
regular forces being stated against his name in the
return. Officers of volunteers holding certificates of
proficiency will be allowed to have the letter " P."
placed after their names in the army list.