The Sun.
London, England, 1870-11-25 00:00:00

THE LONDON SCHOOL BOARD.

MlRYLEBoNE.—Yesterday evening Mr. Hepworth
Dixon addressed a crowded meeting of ratepayers at the
Lecture Hall, Seymour-street. ;Ilk Finch presided.
Mr. Dixon was received with much cheering, and which
was renewed again and again'duriiig a lengthy address. On
the motion of Col. Dickson and bis. Reed, the usual re-
solution was put and carried unanimously.

EXPLOSION OF A BOILER ON BOARD A VESSEL.—
Yesterday morning, as the steamer Victoria, of Sunder-
land, was steaming up the Tyne past South Shields, her
boiler exploded, killing a youth named Hall, about 16
years of age, and dangerously injuring George Brown,
the engine-man, a native of North Shields. The steamer
was much damaged.
DEATH OF GENERAL CARMICHAEL, C. 13.— We
have to announce the death of General Charles Montan:
ban Carmichael, C. 8., colonel of the 20th Regiment of
Hussars, which took place on Monday last, at Boulogne-
sur-Mer, aged 80. The deceased general, who was formerly
in the Indian 14.riny, had seen considerable service. He
had served in the siege and capture of Callinger in 1812,
against Rewah in 1813, and Alwar in 1814. He was pre-
sent at the siege and capture of Hattrass and Moorsaun,
in 1816-17 ; the Mahratta, and Pinda,ree war of 1817-19,
including the capture of Joud and Rampoora ;
against the fort of Hmneerghur and the Bheels, as
brigade-major, 1823.24. He commanded a light detach-
ment and took possession of the Raj of Jawra Mairpore
in 1837-353. At the end of the year 1838 he marched in
command of the 4th Irregular Horse to join the army of
the Indus as volunteers, and served throughout the cam-
paign in Affghanistan under Lord KPane, including the
forcing of the Bolan and Khojuck Passes, the taking of
Candahar and Khelat-i-G-hilzie, siege and, capture of
Giniznee, occupation of Cabool and Jellalabid, and pas-
sage of the Khyber Pass. In 1834 he was nominated a
Companion of the Order of the Bath, and had also re-
ceived the medal awl 3rd class llotauee Empire.' • •

THE ADDRESS OF THE KING OF PRUSSIA,
The Nolth German Parliament was opened yesterday,
*hen the folloWhik speech from the Throne was de-
livered :

" Honoured Gentlemen of the Parliantent of the.kortii
German Confederation,—His Majesty the King of Prussia
has been pleased to confer upon me the task of opening
the Parliament of the North German Confederation in
the name of the Confederate Governments. ft Would
have afforded his Majesty great satisfaction to have
been present to-clay hi your midst, in order to
thank God from this place for the Buda:marl with which'
the arms of the German forces have been blessed, and tit
express to you the part which the national attitude and
unanimity of the Parliament in affording the necessary
means for carrying on the war have 'had in these successes.'
By the victories, unprecedented in the military history of
the world, which, by God's will, have been gained through
the heroic) valour and sagacious leadership of the Germans,
the ageresslou undertaken by'France against Germany in
July last has been inVellt.d: The French people must have
acquired the conviction that its pregnt power, . nine the
destruction of the armies which were sent into the field
against us, is not capable of coping with the united
military forced of Germany. We should, therefore, be
able to regard peace as certain had our unfortunate
neighbours a Government the members of which re-
garded their future AS inseparable from that of
their country. Ueh a Government would have
seized every opportunity to place the nation, at the •
head of which it had raised itself by its ova
supreme power, in a position to elect a National
Assembly, and to deliberate upon the present and future
Of the country;. But the documents which will be sub-
mitted to you, gentlemen, by the Presidency of the Con:
federation, will afford you proof that those Who .now hold
the reins of power in France prefer to sacrifice the forces
of a noble nation in a hopeless struggle ; the incalculable'
exhaustion and devastation which will be to France the
consequences of the continuance of the war under pre-
sent circumstances must certainly diminish the power
of the country to such an extent that its restoration will
require a longer period than would be the case in tile
ordinary course of war. The Confederate Governments,
however, are compelled with regret to give expression to
their conviction that the peace between these two great
neighbouring peoples, up mn the continuance of which they
calculated less thatt sir months ago, will but be all the
more in danger by the remembrance which the
impression of this war will leave in France the mo-
ment when France, by the restoration of her own
strength, or by the conclusion of alliances with
other Powers, shall feel herself strong enough to ?scorn-
mence the struggle. The conditions upon which the allied
Governments would be ready to conclude peace have
been publicly discussed. It is necessary that they should
be commensurate with the greatness of the sacrifices- laid
upon our country by this war, which though undertaken
without any ground whatsoever, had the assent of 'the
whole French nation. It is, above all things, necessary that
they should establish a defendable frontier for Germany
against the continuance by future Governors of France of
the policy of conquest, which has Been pursued for so
many hundred years, and that this frontier &laid be
settled in such a way as partly to redress the results of
the unfortunate wars which Germany, at a period of in-
ternal division, was compelled to wage by the will of
France. At the same time it is necessary that our South
German brethren should be freed from the Istftheir
of the threatening position which France owes to
former conquest. The Confederate Governments
feel that they can rely upon the North German Parlia-
ment not to refvse the means which are still required for
the attainment of these objects. They are convinced that
now, when it is a question of rendering secure the results
which have been achieved, they will meet in you the
same patriotism and devotion which they found
when the task watt that of accomplishing the now
achieved successes. It is their roost profound wish
that it will be possible to refrain from using the whole of
these means: • In order to afford you a complete survey
of the politica situation; the doyen-Intent-will lay before
you the communications which have recently reached the
Ministry for Foreign affairs respecting the Treaty of
Paris of the 30th of March, 1856, and iu doing which thei
Confederate Governments desire to express their hoper
that the blessings of peace will remain assured to thOsei
nations which have hitherto enjoyed them. The continu- •
ance of the war has not prevented the accomplishment
of a work of peace. The sentiment of unity, which has
been vivified by the common danger and the jointly-won
victories, the consciousness of the position which Ger-
many, for the first time for centuries, has achieved
through her unity, the recognition of the fact that only
by the creation of permanent institutions for the
future of Germany can a fitting legacy of this time of
deeds and sacrifices be assured, have, more rapidly and
universally than a short time back would have been cre-
dible, filled the German people and its princes with the
conviction that a stronger link than that afforded by in'
ternational treaties is needed between the North and the
South. This unanimous opinion of the Governments has
led to negotiations, the first fruits of which, grown on
the field of battle, will be laid before you for approval in
the shape of a constitution for a German Confederacy,
which has been agreed upon by the North Ger:
man Confederation and the Grand Duchies of 'laden
and Hesse Darmstadt; which has been unani-
mously adopted by the Federal Council. The un-
derstanding which has been arrived at upon similar bases
with Bavaria will, also, form the subject of your deliberti-
tions ; and the agreement of views which exists between
the allied Governments. and Wurtemberg respecting the
object to be aimed at, permits us to hope that a similar
agreement as to the mttthod of attaining it will not be
wanting. Honoured gentlemen,—With this, work you
will worthily close a period of activity such as has rarely
been the lot of Legislative Assemblies. In little morel
than three years you have helped to further tile com-
pletion
of the Federal Constitution which was desafided
to your co-operation, by a long list of important
laws, entering deeply into the most varied interests
of the life of the nation, and by the last of these
laws which is submitted to you, before the close
of your legislative existence, this constitution and
the legislation resting thereon are to be extended across
the frontiers which have hitherto separated us from our
South German brethren. 'lle great national thought
which has always guided you in your deliberations will,
with God's help, be brought a decided step 'nearer to its
full realisation by the last discussion for which you
assemble. Herewith, by order of his Majesty the King,
Chief of the Bund, and in the name of the Confederate
Governments, I declare the Parliament of the North Ger-
man Confederation to be opened."
The address was read by Herr Delbruck.