The Sun.
London, England, 1856-08-25 00:00:00

THE NAVIGATION OF TILE NILE.

A letter just received from Berlin, dated Aug.
23, says :
"Soule particulars hare reached me of the attempts
made by a Prussian sulject, backed by the Prussian Con-
sul in Egypt, to resist the Viceroy's plan of making the
navigation of the Nile a monopoly for the advantage of a
favoured few, may be interesting to your readers. Shortly
after his attaining to his Viceroyalty, Said Pasha con-
ferred on certain favourites the exclusive privilege of
forming a company for the steam navigation of the
Nile ; these parties w,ld their privilege to divers
merchants in Alexandria for 2,2501., and these latter
at once brought out a company, the shares of which
were all greedily bought up in a fortnight. Atten-
tion being hereby drawn to the circumstances under
which this company claimed the exclusive right of
navigating the .Tile in future, numerous protests
were published against the power claimed by the
Viceroy to confer on others !a privilege which was
not oven vested in himself ; and among these pro-
testors the most numerous and energetic were Eng-
lish merchants, but whose efforts were paralised
by the untoward circumstance, that our Consul-General
at Alexandria differed from them in opinion and upheld
the Viceroy's claims. Inquiries made by various parties
received for answer that the Government would not allow
any private person to ply asteamer along the Nile, and that
every precaution would be taken both at Damietta and at
Rosetta to prevent any atte-n:A of the kind. On this a
Prussian, of the name of Leffler, purchased a steamer
for the purpose of bringing the question of right to
an issue, and steamed and to wed from Cairo
to Alexandria under the Prussian flag ; but on
his arrival there, the angry remonstrances of the di-
rectors of the embryo privileged company prevailed
on Said Pacha to forbid him expres ly to continue
his excursions, and to give strict orders to all autho- 1
riVes concerned to prevent his passage by force.
Under these circumstances there was no alternative left
but to yield as regarded the trips of the steamer ; but
Baron von Penz, the Prussian Consul-General there,
has delivered in a formal protest to the Viceroy,
and forwarded a statement of the case to Herr von
Wildenbruck, at Constantinople, with the request that
he will move the Sultan to command Said Pasha in
future to permit every European to navigate the Nile
and the canals of the country without let or hindrance
And thus the matters rests at present.

The decimal system of weights has just been adopt,al
throughout the whole of the Prussian monarchy, as it
had before been in the German Association, and in se-
veral States of the south of Germany.
All the preparatory operations being terminated, the
works cf the additional fortifications to he erected for
the defence of Alessandria commenced on the 18th.
FATAL ACCIDENT.—On Saturday evening Mr. A. S.
Thornton, of the firm of Thornton, Firth, Homan, and
Co., was thrown from a phaeton, in the village of Al-
trinchatn, near Manchester. The unfortunate gentl :-
man sustained a fracture of the skull, and we learn by
electric telegraph that ho expired yesterday morning.
On Saturday morning early, the house of Mr. Wyld,
geographer to the (bleep, in the Strand, was entered
and robbed. The thieves must have had a geographical
taste, as they stole several large globes and atlases, and
a large bundle of acceptances, bank-books, &c. The
police seem to have lacked their usual vigilance, as the
globes carried away must have filled a large van, and
some time must necessarily have been occupied in ab•
stracting the property.
THE SEES OF LONDON AND DURHAM.—It has been
frequently but erroneously stated that no instance is on
record of a Bishop of London or Durham voluntarily re-
signing his see. This, however, is not strictly true ;
at all events, so far as concerns the latter bishopric. We
find it recorded that Nicholas de Farnham, who was
elected Bishop of Durham in 1240, resigned
the bishopric again in 1249. It appears that, owing
to his advanced a„ e, he had been from the
first unwilling to undertake its duties ; but he sur-
vived his resignation no less than seven years, as he
died in 1256. The terms under which he resigned, and
the precise amount of his retiring pension, we need
scarcely say, are not recorded.
RETURN OF A FREE•SOILER FRONT A SLAVE STATE.—
The last American mail brings the news of the election
to Congress by Mis,,ouri of Mr. F. P. Blair, the first
avowed opponent of slavery extension yet elected from
a slave state. He was opposed, moreover, by a regular
democratic pro•slavery candidate, and by a candidate of
the American party. Mr. Blair, shortly after the Pitts-
burg convention, wrote an able letter indorsing the prin-
ciples of that body. His denunciation of the repeal of
the Missouri compromise act, his reprobation of the
party in power, and of the excesses of its " Border Ruf-
fian" allies in Kansas, exceeded in vigour and intensity
the language of any so called fanatics upon slavery
topics at the north.

THE AGAPEMONE.—The followers of Prince, of " the
abode of love," have commenced a sort of mission for
the diffusion of their doctrines. Their first meeting was
held at Bridgwater, and was convened by a placard thus
worded :—"The Agapenione—the Testimony of what
God has done to redeem the earth will be publicly made
known at the Clarence Hotel, come and hear," &c. The
"missionaries" were three pervert clergymen, the Rev.
S. Starkey, Rev. S. Thomas, and Rev. J. Cobb. Their
discourses were in one strain, pointing to Prince as the
Messiah, and urging the people to pr,pare for his judg-
ment. The preachers were listened to with impatience by
the auditory, and an attempt was made to draw them
into tililiAll449ll, but they refuoeil to Loll( any argumout.
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