The Sun.
London, England, 1870-01-22 00:00:00

111 El SUN, LONDON, SAT U RDA Y EVENING, JANUARY 22, 1870.

too rare occurrence of a capital infliction
in France has raised, and which a cer-
tain Dr. PINEL has, to the alarm of his countrymen,
answered in the negative. Dr. PINEL'S theory of
death by decapitation is that the body dies quickly
and without pain, for the separation from the brain
deprives the trunk of consciousness. But the brain itself
retains its life for a long period. Though some of the
sources of sensation are cut away, the nerves of hear-
ing, sight, and smell remain active; and, in fine, the
head lives after separation for a period which may
extend to three hours. The question is thought an
important one. A correspondent of the Telegraph
naively points out that things are rather shaky
in Paris just now. A violent political
change might give the guillotine a good
deal of employment, and it may be as well, there-
fore, to know what is the real effect of the instru-
ment before it comes into actual requisition. No
doubt the provision will be a sage one, but an
obvious difficulty presents itself to the
cautious writer. We never yet bad the
pleasure of considering this question in a
practical manner, nor have we the ac-
quaintance of any person who has. But the
testimony of history and the opinions—formed quite
theoretically—of the leading medical authorities are
decisively against Dr. PINEL. Decapitation has
been the fashionable mode of punishment in all
lands and ages—in the East as well as the West, and
yet there is no record, nor has any sign or
symptom worth considering ever been adduced, to
throw doubt upon its efficacy. In fact, the evidence
is all the other way. "It is true enough," says the
Lancet, " that the brain does retain a large quantity
of blood after decapitation ; but it is equally certain
that that blood rapidly becomes venous from
auipiy proves tnat, in complete asphyxia, conscious-
ness is entirely abolished in one minute and a half,
and is, of course, being progressively lowered during
the whole of that time." MoreoVer, the effect of the
shock 'Lust be considered. A blow of far less violence
is enough to terminate consciousness; the shock of the
guillotine must paralyse any functions which would be
in operation after the separation. There are these
reasons for thinking that Dr. PINEL has alarmed his
sensitive countrymen without just cause. But if he
will employ his skill in this happy land, he may be
useful. The strange paraphernalia by which a crimi-
nal is strapped up and marched off in solemn pro-
cession to a gallows, where he is kept waiting until
a fumbling old man ties the knot so clumsily
that the criminal dies of slow torture, will probably
astonish him. If he will exert his powers to dis-
cover how often our dear system d.ees its
work properly, and how often it inflicts a
form of death which. Was never intended, he
will render a great service to the humane public.
After all, the French have a great advantage over
us. Whether decapitation be the better mode of
punishment or not, they know how to do it, which is
more than can be said of the ceremony that we
have industriously practised for so many years.

RATES OF FREIGHT AND CHARTER.

(From the Shipping and Mercantile Gazette.)

The tonnage loading on the berth for India, China, and
the Cape of Good Hope amounts to 54,178 tons, and for
Australia and New Zealand to 37,386 tons.

The freight market, instead of shewing signs of a re-
turn to more activity, seems rather to increase in dulness
and whilst Berth Freights generally continue without ani-
mation, rates for coal to the East remain slack at the last
decline, many of those quoted below being simply nominal.
In homeward chartering the inquiry is almost restricted
to Steam Tonnage. Not much business, has, however, yet
been done, owners standing out for betterrates than those
offered. From Newcastle (N.S.W.) 255. to 275. per ton
coal is offered to Bombay; 275. to an Francisco, and 20s.
to Calcutta.

A fair amount of tonnage has come forward for guano
from the West Coast of South America. The nt ;s are now
655. to Antwerp and 655. to Nantes. Outward rates to the
West Coast are low, and there is hardly any inquiry for
tonnage.
For iron to the United States, 235. and 5 per cent. can
be done to New Orleans, 13s. 6d. and 5 per cent, to Mobile
and 18s. and 5 per cent. from the Tyne to, New York.
Homeward employment is just now rather scarce.

A few fresh orders for coal to the West Indies have
sprung up during the week, more particularly for the
Cuba Ports.• There is nothing new to notice in sugar
chartering from that quarter. Rates for the Brazils and
River Plate have undergone little alteration since the last
report.
For the Mediterranean and Black Sea the tendency of
rates is downwards, and for many of the further ports a
decline of as much as per keel is recorded. From the
Danube to the United Kingdom 7s. per qr. wheat is the
most at present offered ; from the Azoff 455, for 3,000 qrs.
can be got for the opening, and 525. 6d., with the Medi-
terranean options, for Ist--13th June:

TRADE AND FINANCE.

FRIDAY EVENING.

There has been an active demand for money during the
week in connection with the collection of the assessed
taxes, payment of which is now being required by the
Government. The public balance at the Bank of England
has accordingly been on the increase, and the position of
that institution has been materially strengthened, but as
the capital so acquired will be utilised in the course of a
week or two by the purchase of the telegraph system,there
is little importance to be attached to the fact of the cash
holding of the Government being a large one. The dis-
count market has accordingly shewn some strin-
gency, and the Lombard-street minimum has been
nearly equal to the Bank rate throughout the
week. When the purchase of the telegraphs
has been effected, the capital so disbursed will speedily
find its way into Lombard-street, and cause a return of
ease there. We understand that advantage will be taken
of this state of affairs to introduce several important con-
cerns, among which some new submarine telegraph com-
panies will hold a prominent place. Nego'siations are now
beingcarried on for the construction of three otherlines on im-
portant routes as yet unoccupied, and so long as the public
continue to shew an avidity for this kind of investment
there is no doubt that other schemes will be forth-
coming.

Very much has been written on the subject of a pro-
bable panic in telegraph shares, and we hold that such
an occurrence is not, unlikely. It must be borne in mind
that the shares are at present very strongly held, being
mostly in the hands of the constructors, who have taken
them in payment for the first cost of the lines. This being
the case, the shares are not likely to be forced upon the
market, lint will probably be held and be disposed of from
time to time, as opportunity offers. As yet only a small
number has been passed into the market in this manner, but
the supply is daily on the increase. There is, atter all, but
little importance to be attached to a panic in telegraph
shares, should one ever occur, as the amount of capital in-
volved is comparatively small, and barely sufficient to
disarrange the markets. It might produce a slight tem-
porary disturbance, but would have no lasting effect, as in
other panics, where a large amount of capital is in-
volved.

There continues to be a steady feeling manifested in
nearly all departments of trade. The prospects of the year
are good, and for many reasons a steady demand for our
manufactures is anticipated. Cheap bread and lower
prices for meat will have the effect of increasing the home
consumption of all kinds of goods; while the great
addition that has been made to the supply of cotton will
also favourably influence the markets. Abroad stocks
are not large, while the state of the trade for a
long time past has deterred spinners from operating beyond
the cur:mt wants of consumers. The cotton trade is,
therefore, likely to become animated, so soon as prices
shall have receded to any important extent. Large
orders for railway irons aro anticipated, and
throughout the manufacturing districts a feeling
of confidence prevails. Russia will make considerable
addition to her railway system during the current year,
while the United States have already a number of new
undertakings in hand. In the South of Europe similar
activity prevails, and the Continejat is fast being covered
by a network of iron roads which are destined to work a
marvellous change in commerce.

fir Moses Montetioro has beet!' confined to_
room for some days through indisposition.

The Rev. J. Scott, Vicar of Wisbeach, is appointed
a Canon of Ely Cathedral. The consecration of the suffragan
Bishop of Lincoln will take place on Tuesday.

There were rumours existing. in London on Wed-
nesday, thought substantial enough to be telegraphed to
some of our contempoiiiies, to. tholieffeet that Dr. Living-
stone had, indeed, beeniinidered at' last. No confirmation
of tile 6JB:the gISNATicI, '''3ll23LE

LATEST INTELL IGEN OE

(REUTER'S TELECRAMS.)

AMERICA.
(Per French Atlaltic Cable.)
PRINCE ARMUR.

NEW YORK, Jan. 21 (Evening).

His Royal Highness Prince Arthur, accompanied
by Colonel Elphinatone and Lieutenants Pickard
and Fitzroy, arrived here thi3 afternoon, and was
received by Mr. Thornton, the British Minister, and
by Mr. Archibald, the English Consul.
Prince Arthur and party vill stay here to-night
at the Brevoort Hotel, and proceed to Washington
to-morrow.

Ntw YORK, Jan. 21.
The National Steamship Company's steatEship
Queen arrived out yesterday.
The Cunard steamer Calabria arrived out at 10
p.m. yesterday.

The Hamburg and Arne/lean steamer Holsatia
arrived at 6 a.m. to-day.

COMMERCIAL INTELLIGENCE.
CLOSING PRICES.

Gold closed at 120 k; the highest quotation dur-
ing the day was 121 ; the lowest, 1201.
Sterling Exchange on London loB}.
5-20 U. S. Bonds, 1882
66 " 1885.. ll4l.
16 " 1867 ll3l.
10-40 66
Illinois

Erie

Cotton—Mid. upland 2sle.
Petroleum—Standard White ... 31;c.
Flour, extra state,ls.loc. to $5.70c. Corn, old
mixed, sl.2c.
According to Messrs. Moffatt Davidis and Co.'s
report, the receipts of cotton at all ports for ti e
week have been 99,000 bales, and since the Ist of
September 640,000 bales. Shipments to England,
30,000 bales; to France, 7,000 ; and to the Conti-
nent 15,000 bales; and since the Ist of Septem-
ber, 840,000 bales. Stock, 480,000 bales. Mid-
dling upland, 11 1-16 cost and freight per steamer.
PORTLAND, Jan. 21.
The Allan steamer Nova Scotian arrived here
to-day.

THE BRAZILS.

FALMOUTH, Jan. 22.

The London, Belgium, Brazil, and River Plate
mail steamer City of Brussels arrived here during
the night. She brings £1,370 in specie and 21
passengers.

Her dates are—Buenos Ayres, Dec. 17 ; Monte-
video, 19 ; Rio de Janeiro, 27 ; and St. Vincent,
January 10.
At Buenos Ayres and Montevideo preparations
are being made for a triumphal reception of the
contingents from Paraguay.
he report is confirmed of the alliance betwcen
Lopez and the Indians of the interior.
At Assumption great scarcity of provisions pre-
vails, and numerous deaths have occurred in con-

sequence.
It is asserted that dissensionshave arisen among
the members of the Provisional Government.

INDIA.

CALCUTTA, Jan. 19.

For 71b. shirtings, 39iu., 14 by 13, sr. 15a.. and
811 b. ditto, 16 by 15, 6r. 12a., the market is quiet.
40's Bannermill twist, 7a. Fair Bengal cotton,
25r. Jute doss, K, 21r. Exchange on London,
six months, bank bills, 1.111. Four per Cent.
Government Securities, 94k; ditto 5 per Cent.,
1088 ; ditto 5} per Cent., 1128. Freights, rice
375. 6d.

BOMBAY MAIL.
SUEZ, Jan. 22.

The Peninsular and Oriental Company's steamer
China, from Bombay on the Bth instant, arrived
here at seven this morning.

MARSEILLES, Jan 22.

The Peninsular and Oriental Company's steamer
Pera arrived at 8 this morning, and the mails leave
for London at 10.30.

EGYPT.

CAIRO, Jan. 22.
The Khedive pays tLe Agricole shares, and has
furnished his accounts to Constantinople.
Sir S. Baker was at Shendy on the 12th inst.

The very extensive Distillery now being erected
at Belfast, with all recent improvements for the manufacture of
Irish whisky, by Mimic DUNVILLE & Co., who have gained
a world-wide celebrity for their fine old Irish whisky, is to be
called "The Royal Irish Distillery."

ITIOII WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE.
-Morning. Evening.
SATUDDAY '25 min past 5 47 min past 5
SUNDAY 10 niin past 6 86 min past 6
MONDAY 58 min past 6 24 min past 7
TUESDAY.. 52 min past 7 20 min fast 8
WEDNESDAY 56 min. past 8 33 min past 9
THURSDAY 10 Mill past 10 50 min past 10
FRIDAY.. . .BO min past 11 0 min past 12

DEATH. OP ADItMAL SEYAIOUIt:
We regret, to announce the death' of Sir George
Francis Seymour, G.C.8., Admiral of the Fleet. Previous
to his attaining that honourable. position 1n the
Navy in 1866, Sir George was a Lord of the
Admiralty, Commander-in-Chief in the Pacific, on the North
American and West Indian stations, and at Portsmouth,
and was Vice-Admiral of the United Kingdom. He was
the son of an admiral, and grandson of the first Marquis
of Hertford, and was in his 84th year when he died.
The deceased admiral had seen some active service.
In the battle of St. Domingo in 1806 he was severely
wounded on board the Northumberland. He commanded
the Pallas frigate in the Walcheren expedition in 1809,
and other ships until the conclusion of the war in 1814.
In 1820 he was Serjeant-nt-Arms of the House of Lords,
and in 1820 Master of the Robes to William IV.

ART, LITERARY, AND SCIENTIFIC GOSSIP.

The following items are from the Atheneum:—Mr.
Richard Morris is writing a short historical English
Grammar for the use of King's College School.—The Com-
mittee of the Society of Arts has declared in favour of a
reduction of the postage rates on printed matter from hi.
to id. per quarter of a pound.—Garibaldi's work "The
Rule of the Monk," is to be published early in February.
It is to appear in Italian, Spanish, Hungarian, and Dutch,
as well as in English.—The minor poems of William
Lauder, playwright, poet, and minister of the
gospel, referring mainly to that year of famine
and plague in Scotland, 1561, are to be edited
for the Early English Text Society by Mr. Furni-
vall, from Mr. S. Christie Miller's unique originals.—
A " Catalogue of Diurnal Lepidoptera," edited by Mr. W.
F. Kirby, assistant in the Museum of the Royal Dublin
Society, will shortly be published by Mr. Van Voorst.
As it is sixteen years since the last catalogue of all known
species of butterflies was published, a new one is needed.
Mr. Kirby's will not be a mere list of names, but will con-
tain references to a good description or figure of each
species.—A Belgian abbe, M. Thirion, has designed a new
atrial machine. It consists of a pair of parallel boards,
furnished with sails, and connected by jointed rods.
Movement is obtained by the opening and shutting of the
sails and the approximation and shutting of the boards.
The action is kept up by a small steam-engine, which is
placed in the back part of the construction. No experi-
ments have yet been made with this machine.—Professor
Sonnenschein states that decomposition of a body, long
buried in the ground, is accompanied with a change of dark
coloured hair to red, and that the hair shows an acid re-ac-
tion.—Mr. Holman Hunt, who during several months past
has been painting at Bethlehem, has made great progress
with an important picture.—We are informed on the best
authority that there are not to be four opera-houses, the
Colosseum idea having been abandonsd. The things to be
sought for at the time present are not orchestra and
chorus, nor even singers—few as the list is and far be-
tween—so much as composers. We are assured that
ample means for creating a new cosmopolitan opera-house
are forthcoming, and that Sir Micheal Costa will be en-
dowed with plenipotentiary functions.—We regret t 9 hear
that Mr. Balfe is seriously ill.
Nature calls attention to the fact that the great
refractor of 25 inches aperture, constructed by the Messrs.
Cooke, of York, is so near completion that it will be
erected in the observatory prepared for it at Gateshead
early next month. The completion of this magnificent in-
strument marks an epoch in astronomy. Mr. Newall fur-
nished observers with an instrument capable of grappling
with the physical problems which have now to be solved—one
on a level with cur present acquirements.--The Senate of
London University has proposed to establish a Faculty of
Science.—The third volume of Dr. Percy's admirable
"Metallurgy " will shortly be issued. There will still be
another volume to complete the work.

THE ANGLO-FRENCH COMMERCIAL
TREATY.

The debate on the Treaty yesterday (says a Parisian cor-
respondent writing on Thursday) was less interesting
than on the day previous, though the question is
one of so much commercial importance on both
sides of the Channel that it deserves some notice.
The discussion is still going on from day to day, and
it is not easy to say when it will conclude. M. Thiers is to
make a great speech, for which all parties look with
impatience, though of course the ability and
eloquence of the great historian and litterateur
will be ranged on the side of the protectionists.
These gentlemen are growing restive under the "inexor-
able logic of facts," and figures hurled at them by the ad-
vocates of free trade, who cannot be convinced that a
large increase of exports means a decrease of national
manufactures. Formerly the protectionists used to
reproach the free-traders with putting forward
theories unsupported by statistics. Now they have figures
enDugh before their eyes, but they suddenly discover that
no faith must be put in them. English traders must be
flattered at M. Estancelin's method of explaining away
the troublesome numerals which interfere so sadly with
his logic. The official returns must not, he says, be de-
pended on. The value of the imports is under-rated, and
that of the exports over rated. The English importers are
accustomed to make out two invoices—one of the real
price for the purchaser, and another, accorang to which
the import duty in France is raid, which fixes the
value of the goods at 40 or 50 per cent below their real
worth. A month ago some English tissues were imported
at a declared rate of 3f. 25c. The Customs seeing they
were under value charged them at 4f. 25c., and a merchant
at Rouen offered to buy them at sf. 50c. This
was one of the most striking instances cited by M.
Estancelin and it created some sensation in the Chamber;
but unluckily for him it was too circumstantial, for it
called up the Director General of Customs, M. Ome,
who simply remarked that such a case was not
possible, as goods of that price were taxed ac-
cording to weight and not to value! Further, the
Government possessed the right of preemption, and
had the power to purchase imported goods at their
declared price. It would consequently be rather an
unwise speculation on the part of British traders to
undervalue their goods to pass the official inspection.
M. Estancelin thereupon declared that M. Azenne
(the Government Commissioner) had refused to
face a public meeting at Rouen, and that in England
the freedom of the chief cities was offered to the
authors of the Treaty. M. Azenne protested that this was
inaccurate. He had presided over the Chamber of Commerce
at Rouen, and had received delegates from the chief firms. It
was only when he wished to reply that he found there
was a fixed intention to hear no explanations. Later on'
M. Prax-Paris pointed out the inconsistency of the pro-
tectionists in requiring the denunciation of the Treaty
before the parliamentary inquiry. If the inquiry shewed
that the nation preferred the Treaty to a system of
tariffs, the question would. naturally be asked why
had it been abolished. Great complaints have been made,
as you know, of the privilege granted to the Emperor of
signing treaties of commerce without consulting the
Chamber, but 31. Prax-Paris reminded his hearers that
M. Thiers in 1832, M. Duchatel in 1834, and 1,1. Leon
Faucher in 1837; had all failed to reform the tariffs.
The fears entertained at the passing of the Treaty that
France would be inundated with English goods had proved
entirely misplaced, since France had exported to Great
Britain more manufactures than she received from there.
M. Jules Simon is likely to be a valuable champion of
Free Trade, and has commenced a vigorous speech just
before the adjournment.

PAIUAMENTAIVY VOTNG.—A curious suggestion
has been made in the Prussian Parliament by a certain
Count von Frankenberg. He proposes that the votes
on a division should be taken by telegraph, a wire
being attached to the\ scat of each member, and the
vote registered on the dial plate in the wall of the
Chamber, much in the same way in which telegraphic
communication is kept up between the bedrooms and the
offices in some of the large hotels. Ey the process he
thinks that votes could be given and the result announced
in something less than half a minute.

A. NEW MINERAL. The Austro-Hungarian
Consul at Bombay, appears to have been much struck with
Captain Rose's accounts of the new mineral discovered by
that officer, which he proposes to call by the formidable
name of meerschaluminite. Baron Gumpert, the
Consul, has written to Captain Rose requesting him
to send some large specimens of the mineral, which the
baron is desirous of forwarding to Vienna, where its com-
mercial value can be best ascertained, Vienna being the
foremost place for the manufacture of meerschaumarticles.
The baron desired specimens large enough to be practically
tested, but Captain Rose was unable to send him any
larger than a hens's egg, that being the largest pigment
found as yet. The mineral, he says, has all the valu-
able properties of meerschaum, with the additional. d !ant.
age of being absolutely infusible, which meerschaum is not.
Captain Rose in forwarding his specimens asks at the same
time for the Austrian Emperor's letters Talent, for the
protection of a process discovered by him, by which
iron or other metal will no longer rust or
oxydise when exposed to tho normal influence
of water or damp. Steel, he avers, may be treated in the
same manner, and so improved in t;:mper that a native
sword, which had been coated, cut through a brass hinge
on a block of wood as cleanly as if it had been made of
wax, though little force was used. The edge in this case
was quite unaltered. Steel pens thus coated do not
require wiping for months;' while brass assumes the oolcr
of copper, but will not form verdigris with fatty acids.
, ;eakt
_captain Aosq'.o statement.

HER MAJESTY.

OSBORNE, Jan. 21.

Her Majesty, accompanied by her Royal High-
ness Princess Beatrice, drove in the grounds this
morning.

TORN 7ALK.

(From the Daily Westcrn Mail of Jan. 22.)

As economists, her Majesty's Ministers may cer-
tahrly be described as doing a large stroke of busi-
ness, wholesale, retail, and (I was going to say, in
remembrance of some of their at any rate projected
colonial economies), for exportation. Not that they
are gaining very much in the shape of " golden
opinions from all sorts of men" thereby. On the
contrary, as may be recognized at the merest glance
in regard to two or three of the chief departments
of administration, it would be no exaggeration at
all to assert, for example, that no Secretary of State
for War and First Lord of the Admiralty have been
less popular, for a very long time past, in the twin
services, than Mr. Childers and Mr. Cardwell.
And their unpopularity among the red-coats and
the blue-jackets can hardly be wondered, at,
even by the least instructed among civilians.
Promotion, afloat and ashore, seems very much
indeed as though it had come, for the time being,
to a deadlock. Looking eastward, down the
river, there is Greenwich Hospital, hitherto among
the most national of our institutions, a howling
wilderness! Looking westward, up the river, there
is Chelsea Hospital threatened, in regard to its
inhabitants, with a like exiquatur, and with a very
fair prospect indeed of becoming, like Greervvich
Hospital, "silent as the halls of Balclutha." Mr.
Childers, with the assent of his colleagues, has
abolished the office of Governor of Greenwich Hos-
pital. Mr. Cardwell, it is expected, will follow
suit by abolishing the office of Governor of Chelsea
Hospital. llowever that may be, it isjlooked upon
as already ?in fait accompli that there will be a re-
duction in the army by some 10,000 men. So that
we are not only having the candle clipped at both
ends, but we are having a rel-hot poker running
through the middle of it !
One comforting assurance, at any rate, is being
bruited about just now by way of consolation,
namely, that, as the result of the scraping together
of so many candle-ends and cheese-parings from
this and that newly-swept derartment, Mr. LDSVC
will be enabled to announce in a very early budget
a surplus of several millions. Supposing that to be
really the case after all, one might even yet hope
that Mr. Lowe might redeem himself from the odium
of his notorious unpopulaiity—a surplus having
about it an apostolic grace enabling it to cover as
many sins as Charity.
As for the long list of the shortcomings of Mr.
Bruce, as Home Secretary, it would be difficult to
think of anything ample enough to cover these ;
their name is so distinctly legion, and some among
them are al'ogether so monstrous in their extrava-
gance. While Mr. Ayrton contents himself with the
celebration of his advent to the post of Chief Com-
missioner of Public Works (in succession to Mr.
Layard, now Ambassador to the Government, one can
hardly say to the Court of Madrid), by adding to the
few weeks of the usual winter stock of frozen-out
gardeners the great bulk of the ornamental gar-
deners recently employed, with so much advantage,
in the decoration of the various parks here in Lon-
don, Mr. Bruce has gone out of bis way to contrive
a most ingenious method for enabling all the old
spavined cab horses under the whip of the cabby to
ride rough shod over the whole length and breadth
of the metropolis. Never was there a more ludi-
crous reductio ad absurdunt than the Home Secre
tary has now arrived at by means of his newly-
concocted regulatious. According to the system,
as it is now to be arranged, cabby,while still-plying
for hire with the dirtiest hack vehicles in the world,
will virtually be enabled to dictate his own terms to
his fire without let or hindrance. He may snap
his right hand in the face of the police, and his left
in that of his customer. Ile may ch irge for every
child, however young in years—nay, in mouths or
in weeks. He may charge for el ery parcel, how-
ever small or light—providing only it goes outside.

I❑ reference to the lamentable occurrence still
gitating Paris, and by sympathy Loudon, the ho-
micide of M. Victor Noir by Prince Pierre Bona-
parte, it may be as well to recall vividly to mind
the fact that the latter is a member of that branch
of the Bonaparte family always more or less under
a cloud and holding itself aloof from the Napole-
onic dynasty. Prince Pierre, who is not an impe-
rial Highness, is the central figure in the family
group of the great Napoleon's younger brother
Lucien, Prince di Canino—the fourth of Lucien's
seven children by his second wife, Alexandrine
Laurence de Bleschamp. The accused, who was
born on the 12th of September, 1815 (being just
now, consequently, 54 years and 4 months of age),
was oi.e of the ultra-Democrat or Red Republican
members of the National Assembly which was
called into existence in 1848, after the revolution
of February. His eldest sister is Letitia, widow
of the late Right Hon. Sir Thomas Wyse, formerly
M.P. for Waterford, and during the last sixteen
years of his life, and, in fact, up to the time of his
death, her Britannic Majesty's Ambassador at the
Court of Athens.

Although Marshal Canrobert has thought it ad-
visable, under the hand of one of his aides-de-camp,
to contradict in the columns of the Figaro the
statement put forward by that journal as to his
having said that, while the troops under his orders
should be kept out of sight, but in perfect readi-
ness for any emergency, in the event of any blood-
shed by the rioters, he would undertake that in
five minutes Paris should be tranquillised—mean-
ing by the chassepot—everybody feels certain that,
though the words were never uttered by Marshal
Canrobert, they indicate precisely what he had
made up his mind to do. The French army never
was in greater perfection of ditcipline, more ter-
ribly well armed, or more loyal to a man, than it is
at the present moment under the reigning Sove-
reign. Added to which the garrison of Paris is so
placed now, strategetically, that a revolt, however
formidable, can be crushed out at any instant with
inexorable and unerring certainty. •
Numerous though the theatres of London have
become within these last few years by the opening
of such new houses as the (4aiety, the Globe, the
Queen's, the Prince of Wales's, the Charing-cross,
the Royalty, and the Holborn, in addition to the
old established favourites, such as the Haymarket,
the Lyceum, Drury Lane, the Strand, the Olympic,
Astley's, the Surrey, and the Princess's, to say no-
thing of a transpontine place of entertainment,
like the Victoria, or a down-Whitechapel-way
temple of the drama, like the National Standard,
yet another new house is in preparation iu the
heart of the metropolis ! The site selected is the
centre of the northern side of Leicester-square,
where stood the old house, accidentally burnt down
some time back. The architect selected for the
new theatre by its projectors is Mr. E. C. Rubies,
of Southampton-street, a comparatively young man,
but one fast rising into reputation.
Mrs. Stowe's abominable book, from the speci-
mens of it already come to hand, will only s nk
her, on this side of the Atlantic, as it seems to
have done already upon the other, lower and yet
lower in public estimation. A filthier deed of
slander was never perpetrated.

One among cur elder living poets, Mr. R. 11.
Horne, the author of the farthing el is of " 0 ion,"
has recently returned homewards, after an absence
of very nearly a score of years at the other side of
the globe, as an inspector of gold in Australia.
Ills return has been celebrated by the re-i.q3ue
from the press, very opi.ortupely, of a new and re-
vised edition of one of his .most brilliant effamns,
" The Death of Marlowe."
One among our younger living poets, Mr. Gerald
Massey, has, I am glad to announce, just given to
the world what I don't shrink at once from pro

,s.t.ob,

not acing his unquestionable masterpiece. ft is
called, " A Tale of Eternity." It is anything but
what can be termed orthodox in its views—besides
being treated by its author as a " medium" for the
conveying of some of his spiritual experiences.
But the power of it is beyond all doubt. An occa-
sional solecism, not to say absurdity, disfigures it,
where the principal interlocutor, a murderer, and
one who may be called literally a damned mur-
derer, for he speaks in the spirit and not in the
flesh, exclaims :
" Would that the Mighty One had spit on me,
And wiped the blot from His eternity."
Or, again, as where the same lost soul cries out :
" I think Heaven will not shut for evermore,
Without a knocker let upon the door."
With the exception of blemishes like these, the poem
is remarkable as revealing larger powers than
Gerald Massey has hitherto evidenced the posses.
sion of. It is greatly to be regretted, however, that
his publishers, the Messrs. Strahan and Co., have
not shown a little more discretion in their own in-
terests, and a little more consideration for his, than
to have issued the young poet's new work from the
Dress simultaneously with the publication of " The
Holy Grail," by the Laureate.

Another book, but one of a very different cha-
racter, I am tempted to refer to, momentarily and
en passant, upon the very morrow, as it were of its
first appearance. This is the work of two goodly
volumes,- in which Mr. John Cordy Jeaffreson has
at length completed his trilogy on the three learned
professions. With the two previous portions—each
of those also in two large volumes—the public are
already familiar—the " Book about Doctors," and
the " Book about Lawyers." There is now issued,
as their companion, the one just immediately to
hand—the " Book about the Clergy." To the com-
position of these half-dozen volumes, Mr. Jeaffre-
son has conscientiously devoted the labour of a
doze❑ years. And the time has not been thrown
away ; the work, as a whole, being indisputably the
most considerable and durable addition the author
has made to adorn literature. One distinctive pe-
culiarity of the book immediately under notice the
author claims for it—namely, that of the liberality
with which he has endeavoured to relieve the reli-
gious persecutions and persecutors from some, at
least, of the obloquy, by which heretofore they have
only too frequently been bespattered. Generosity
like this is, to say the least of it, refreshing.

Among artistic novelties, I would mention one
which I had very recently myself the gratification
of examining at Florence, in the studio of Charles
Fuller, the sculptor of the exquisite statue of
" Jael" in last season's exhibition of the Royal
Academy in Piccadilly. The production here re-
ferred to, as having been but just now completed
by this gifted artist, is certainly very new indeed
in its character. It is nothing less than the life-
size effigy in white marble of a living personage—a
portrait statue, in fact, of the beautiful Countess of
Dudley. It is a seated figure, expressive, in every
line of it, of graceful repave. Hitherto sculpture
has been almost exclusively called into requisition
as a memorial of the dead. There is no conceivable
reason, however, why it should not be employed
thus iu the celebration of living affection ; and it is
to be hoped that others will follow the hood example
thus set by a munificent patron of art like the Earl
Dudley, and by the skill of a sculptor as accom-
plished as Mr. Fuller, of Florence.

POLICE IN7ELLIGENCE—This Day.