The Sun.
London, England, 1870-12-22 00:00:00

THE STRASBURG LIBRARIES.

Booklovers are hardly yet aware of the full ex-
tent of their losses by this disastrous war. • The
details now furnished of the destruction at Stras-
burg unhappily more than confirm the first
rumours of the disaster. The Temple-Neuf,
which enclosed the library of the town and the
library of the Protestant College, contained many
rare works and manuscripts whose loss is irrepara-
ble. The Protestant library belonged to the
University, founded by the town of Strasburg in
1531, and went on increasing until 1803. The
Temple-Neuf itself was an ancient Dominican church
which was captured by the Reformers. "When the
Strasburg Cathedral was restored' to Catholic worship
by Louis XIV. the Protestants surrendered the old
Dominican Church, which was then christened
Temple-Neuf. According to Oberlin's catalogue
there were 4,300 works, 600 of which were ex-
tremely rare, being printed by some of the famous
printers of the 15th and 16th centuries. The library
of the town as it was called, owed its existence to
Oberlin, who formed it out of the ruins of convents
and monasteries destroyed in the Revolution. It
included the manuscripts and works of the Knights
of St. John, at least such as remained of them, for
900 manuscripts had been previously destroyed. A
third section of the Temple-Neuf comprised the
previous collection of the great historiographer,
Schopflin, consisting chiefly of Egyptian, Greek,
Roman, and Gallic antiquities, and their collection
took forty years. Two hundred volumes were
destroyed by the flames, only one MS. being
saved by chance. It was the Mere von der Minne,
by Gottfried, of Strasburg. Great indignation is
expressed at the want ot common sense and foresight
which neglected to put these priceless treasures in a
place of safety. The ten days' notice of bombard-
ment would surely have sufficed for their protection.

THE CHANNEL ISLANDS TELEGRAPH CABLE.

The group of islands in the English Channel are
henceforth to reap the benefits of the shilling tele-
graph system. After an interruption in the direct tele-
graphic communication of nine years, the new cable
connecting England with those •' most ancient and
most loyal" of her Majesty's possessions, Guernsey
and Jersey, has been completed and handed over to
the Government. It was inaugurated yesterday,
and it is to be hoped that the extension
of t' e postal telegraph system to the islands

HER MAJESTY.

OSBORNE, Dec. 21.

Her Majesty the Queen, accompanied by her Royal
Highness thG Princess Louise, drove out yesterday after-
noon.

Prince Leopold and Princess Beatrice also went out.

MR. BRIGHT'S RESIGNATION.

We have reason to believe that the statements which
have appeared in regard to the filling up of the vacancy
caused by Mr. Bright's resignation, both in the Cabinet
and the Board of Trade, are, to say the least, premature.
There will probably be more than one change in the pre-
sent distribution of offices, if not in the personnel of the
Ministry, before Parliament meets.—Pall Mall Gazette.
The Birmingham Post, one of the organs of the adva,nced
Liberals, says in regard to Mr. Bright's resignation:—
That the Ministry is affected by this change—and that
seriously—it would be idle to deny. Mr. Bright's retire-
ment severs the only conneetion between the Cabinet
and the advanced Liberals ; for even if Mr. Forster
still regards himself as a Radical, his advancement is
counterbalanced by the retrograde step implied by the
admission of Lord Halifax. Ministers can scarcely be
indifferent to the support of the advanced Liberals, and if
they are not, we may presume that the vacant seat in the
Cabinet will be offered to Mr. Stansfeld, whose claims
can scarcely be overlooked without injustice to himself
and to the opinions he represents.

Colonel S. S. Wood, Inspector-General of the
Royal Irish Constabulary, is gazetted a K.C.B.
Mr. T. W. Rowe, F.S.A., is busy on a bust of the
late Archdeacon Hale.

Dr. Hannah, the new Vicar of Brighton, read
himself in on Sunday.
The Church Herald announces the recovery of the
Archdeacon of Taunton.

The Earl of Derby, President of the Liverpool
College, has promised to deliver the prizes to the pupils of
that institution to-morrow (Friday).

. _
As a not unsatisfactory result of the clemency of
the Government, it is worth mentioning that at a meeting
in Dublin to make arrangements for the unveiling of the
statue of Smith O'Brien on the 26th instant, it was
resolved that, in view of the announcement made of the
release of the political prisoners, no demonstration should
be made likely to afford the slightest excuse for the inter-
ference of the authorities ; that the trades assemble at
their club-rooms, and take up the position pointed-out to
them, and that stewards should be appointed to preserve
order.

DEATH OF A FRENCH REFUGEE.—Dr. Hardwicke
held an inquest on Tuesday afternoon at the King's Head
Bloomsbury, on the body of Madame Dallot de la Gene-
vouge. It appears the deceased was a refugee from Paris
and a passport was found sheaving that she left
Boulogne on the sth of September last. She
had since been living at 5, Coventry-street, Lon-
don, obtaining employment as a professor of
music. On Thursday, the Bth inst., deceased went to
reside at 5, Woburn-place, Bloomsbury ; the same evening
she retired to rest about half-past eight, locking her room
door on the inside. About half-past twelve screams were
heard, and on Mrs. Brown, the landlady, looking through
the window, she saw her praying with her' arms raised.
She afterwards began to sing, at the same time flourishing
a dagger. She then turned out the gas, destroyed the
pictures, broke the ornamentb, and damaged the furniture.
The police were called, anal they placed her in a cab
and took her to St. Giles' Workhouse, where
she remained in a state of excitement. Arrange-
ments' were made for her removal to Hanwell, but
when the nurse went to prepare her for the journey she
was found to be dead. In her luggage was found a deed
of separation from her husband, a merchant of Paris, the
deed being dated 1847. A watch, rings, money, and other
articles of value were found, including a document proving
deceased to be entitled to a sum of money. The medical
evidence shewed that the cause of death was effusion of
serum on the brain, and apoplexy, brought on by acute
mania. The jury returned a verdict of "Death from pul-
monary apoplexy, accelerated by excitement and tempo-
rary insanity." They expressed a wish that the Press
would notice the case, and thus bring the matter before
the friends of the deceased.