The Sun.
London, England, 1860-02-16 00:00:00

the recognition of the necessity of thoroughly
reorganising our purely defensive armaments.
Thirty millions set apart iu a single year
to this end, attest how energetically the good
work of revision and reorganization is going

LATEST'

NE W

AMERICA.

The following telegrams have been received at
Mr. Reutor's office :

PARIS, FEB. 15.

on by sea and by land ! Meantime the nation itself
is responding to the executive with a will by raising
corps upon corps of Rifle Volunteers. The duties
devolving upon the latter prove, moreover, after all,
not by any means so very arduous or so very diffi-

The Moniteur of to-day publishes a decree of the
Emperor suppressing the Bretagne, published at

St. Brieux.

The report of M. Biflault, the Minister of the
Interior, which precedes the decree, mentions as
a reason for the suppression, the publication of an
address of three deputies to the Emperor, which,
by lamenting that the incertitude being prolonged
would separate all sincere Catholics from the cause
of the Emperor, is a sort of protest against the
policy of the Government as regards the Roman
question.
The journal Bretagne, in publishing this address,
added,—The only reply given to this address was
the suppression of the Univers.
The Minister, in his report, expresses a belief
that if the population were consulted they would
separate themselves from the three deputies, and
not from the cause of the Emperor.

cult ! Hear what the Hero of Aliwal has to say upon
the matter in the way of brief enumeration : " Toaze

not our youths," he observes, " as volunteers with

the minutiae of drill—a few things are alone neces-
sary. To march in quick time, to march in column,
form line, gain ground to the right and left, to
a dvance again in line, to extend and occupy
br.dges or walls ; a rallying square may be prac-
tisett Soldiers require these alone in the field.
Then, to be good shots. Pluck enough they have,"
he co,itinues ; adding finally, " and with prompt
obedience, England's regular army so nobly
supported, and its members so increased,
can, may, and will defy the —!" We
are vastly mistaken if these words of Sir
HARRY Smuufs do not hearten the riflemen who
have already enlisted, and encourage others to fol-
low their patriotic example—tending very rapidly
now to enhance our 80,000 to 100,000 volunteers,
just by way of a commencement !
And not alone is the good cause forwarded by
the cheery trumpet call rung out of the lips of
an old soldier like the hero of Aliwal. Others can
act vigorously in the way of timely encourage-
ment ! How P—let the following scrap of pro-
vincial intelligence answer : it relates to a munifi-
cent proceeding on the part of the brother of Sir JOHN
RATCLIFF, the late Mayor of Birmingham. " A
worthy example," we read in the columns
of a provincial contemporary " has been set by Mr.
CHARLES RkTCLIFF, wbo has announced his inten-
tion to equip a company of 100 men at his own
cost, excepting only the sum which the rules of
the association oblige every volunteer personally
to contribute." If—announced Mr. CHARLES RAT-
CLIFF—the requisite: number of men would, tin
obedience to this rule, subscribe, each, D.—
he himself would fully equip another com-
pany of volunteer& ! The thing has in consequencebeea
done—and we hope the new company will be known
henceforth by the name, style, and title of the
RATCLIFF Volunteers. Let it be borne in mind
that the estimated cost of a company like this is
just £l,OOO per annum, and the extent of the muni-
ficence will be all the more clearly appreciated.
If other men of wealth and position would but follow
in the track marked out by this generous-hearted
citizen, our 100,000 riflemen would soon mul-
tiply to 500,000 or to 1,000,000

It is impossible, says the minister, to tolerate the
open and almost official spread of internal division

in
i the midst of the inhabitants of Bretagne who are
known as being so religious and so devoted to the

Emperor.

They attempt to abuse their faith and to present
as an enemy of the temporal power, and almost of
the Holy Father himself, the Prince who has given
to Rome the forces to protect his Holiness.
The Moniteur also contains a decree appointing
the Marquis de Lavallette as ambassador at Con-
stantinople.

LITERATURE.

BERLIN, WEDNESDAY EVENING.

The general discussion of the matrimonial law
in the first chamber closed to-day. In the vote on
the first two paragraphs all the amendments and
also the original proposal of the government were
rejected. The first chamber has therefore rejected
the civil marriage in every form.

NAPLES (via Marseilles), FEB. 11.
The Ministry has not yet been changed, and
reforms have been vainly expected.
The army in the Abruzzi is short of provisions,
through the carelessness of the administrations. A
heavy fall of snow has taken place today, and has
interrupted the communications. There is no fur-
ther news from Sicily.

ROME (via Marseilles), FEB. 11.

The Duke de Gramont has presented MM.
Cadore, Gabriai, and Moges to the Pope. In the
event of the Duke de Gramont leaving Rome the
Marquis de Cadore would remain as Charge
d'Affaires of the French Embassy. The state of
affairs in this city is more satisfactory, and a rise
has taken place in Roman Consols. Desertions
have been numerous at Perugia since the procla-
mation of General Fanti.

THE VOCAL ASSOCIATION, ST.
JAMES'S HALL.

Yesterday evening the first subscription concert
of this society took place. It was on the whole
most successful, but owing no doubt to the un-
favourable state of the weather the hall was not
crowded. The chief attraction of the evening was
Mdlle. Euphrosyne Parepa, whose beautiful voice
excited universal admiration, and frequently elicited
the warmest applause. She was encored in an
enthusiastic manner after both her solos, the " Sha-
dow Song" and the " Laughing Song." The for-
mer exquisite ntorceau she rendered with true ar-
tistic ability, and the Laughing Song was very
generally appreciated, and afforded considerable
amusement to the audience from the energetic style
into which the songstress entered into the spirit of
the piece. Mendelsshon's hymn, " Hear my
prayer, oh God," was the first subject of the perfor-
mances, which was sustained by Mdlle. Euphroyne
and the chorus of two hundred singers. It was
executed very ably and appeared to give general
satisfaction. The most successful and striking of
the part songs was a hunting song of Benedict's,
" Rise, sleep no more." '1 his was delivered with
admirable effect, and its spirited strains called forth
most vehement applause, and an unanimous encore.
Another effective song was " The Mariners of Eng-
land." This glorious national ode could not have
been brought before the public at a more appro-
priate time than the present, and it will doubtless
be again performed at the ensuing concerts. The
programme of the evening's entertainments was
varied by a trio of several voices which was very
pretty, and formed an agreeable diversion to the
powerful singing of the united chorus singers.
There was also a solo on the pianoforte by Mdlle.
Marie Wieck; who played with considerable skill,
and whose performance was well received. On the
whole we may regard this first evening of the vocal
association as a decided success, and many lovers of
music will desire that it may be the herald and
precursor of similar entertainments. Mr. Benedict,
it is needless to say, performed the part of conductor
in an excellent manner.

TETUAN, FEB. 14.
An important enlargement of the Spanish
squadron is expected.
Marshal O'Donnell has ordered a reconnaissance
of the Riff.

The inhabitants of this town have fraternised
with the Spanish soldiers.

The police of Tetuan has been entrusted to
.a
municipality composed of the principal inhabitants.

OUTWARD CALCUTTA AND CHINA MAILS.

The following telegram has been received at Mr.
Reuter's office from the Peninsular and Oriental
Steam Navigation Company, dated Feb. 15 :
" The Indus and Vectis arrived at Malta on the
14th inat., and continued their voyages to Alexan-
dria the same evening. The Valetta left at the
same time for Corfu."

DRESDEN, FEB. 15.

The Dresden Journal asserts, in a letter of its
Vienna correspondent, that France has requested
the Pope to make proposals for settling the ques-
tion of the Romagna.

THE SUN, LONDON, TRURSDAY EVENIN'O, FDDRUARY 16, 1860.

-y. ~ x

SOUTHAMPTON, THURSDAY MORNING.
The screw steamer Teutonia, with New York
advices of the Ist inst., passed Hurst at 9.55 a.m.

QUEENSTOWN, FEB. 15.

The Montreal Ocean Mail Steamship Company's
steamer Nova Scotian, Capt. M'Master, which left
Portland, Maine, on the 4th inst., has arrived. She
landed the Irish mails only.

The City of Manchester put into Newfoundland
on the Ist inst.

The America arrived at llalifax on the 2d, and
the North• American at Portland on the 4th inst.

Mr. Pennington (Republican) was elected Speaker
on the Ist by a majority of one vote.

NEW YORK, FEB. 3.

Yesterday a fire broke out in Elm-street, by which
50 persons perished. The hat factory of Brooklyn
blew up to-day. The explosion was caused by the
bursting of a boiler ; 15 of the workmen were buried
under the ruins.

The Glasgow line of steamers has been with-
drawn and put on to the Liverpool route.
Stocks lower and dull. Cotton dull and de-
clining. Flour and corn dull, but unchanged in
prices.
Provisions unchanged. Sugars heavy; declined y.
Sales small.

Freights to Liverpool—For cotton, 7-32 d. to id.;
for flour, 2s.

NEW ORLEANS, FEB. 2.

Sales of cotton amount to 8,000 bales. The
market is dull. Sales slow, but prices unchanged.
Freights to Liverpool, 9-16 d.
SAVANNAH, FEB. 2.

Cotton depressed.
'MOBILE, FEB. 2.
Cotton market quiet, and prices have declined 1.
Sales, 4,000 bales.

Ceylon. By Sir James Emmerson Tennent. 2 vols
Longman. Third notice.
It is almost impossible to overrate the vast
amount of desirable and delightful reading that these
volumes contain, and, indeed, no can form a correct
notion of their merits without perusing them. It
is not surprising, therefore, that this work should
have been the great success of the season, the book
of the day ; and, although it is now some little
time since its first appearance, the recent announce-
ment of a fourth edition proves that it is only
approaching the zenith of its fame, instead of
passing away into the oblivion that often enshrouds
many books at first sight most promising and
prosperous; The account of the " Ruined Cities"
is very interesting ; and, indeed, a peculiar charm
seems always to attach itself to the records of the
faded glories and departed splendours of the mighty
monuments and palatial edifices that once arose,
the proud trophies of man's majesty and supremacy,
but now, crutribling in decay, they bear a sad and
solemn witness to his finite powers and limited
achievements. The antiquity of these cities is one
of the most remarkable things that strikes the
attention ; the chronicles which celebrate their
pristine greatness seem to appertain to an epoch
which, as Macaulay observes, "is lost in the
twilight of fable." The city of Anarajapoora is
the fasoured possessor of the sacred 80-tree—the
Victorious, Illustrious, Supreme Lord, the Sacred
80-tree—the planting of which forms the grandest
episode in the sacred annals of Ceylon. The
annexed account is most interesting :
The To-tree of Anarajapoora is, in all probability, the
oldest historical tree in the world. It -was planted 288
years before Christ, and hence it is now 2,147 years old.
Ages varying from one to five thousand years have been
assigned to the baobabs of Senegal, the eucalyptus of Tas-
mania, the dragon-tree of Orotava, the Wellingtonia of
California, and the chesnnt of Mount Etna. But all these
estimates are matters of conjecture, and such calculations,
however ingenious, must be purely inferential; whereas
the age of the 80-treo is matter of record, its conservancy
has been an object of solicitude to successive dynasties, and
the story of its vicissitudes has been preserved in a series
of continuous chronicles amongst the most authentic that
have been handed down by mankind.
Compared with it the Oak of Ellerslie is but a sapling ;
and the Conqueror's Oak in Windsor Forest, barely numbers
half its years. The yew-trees of Fountain Abbey are be-
lieved to have flourished there twelve hundred years ago.;
the olives in the Garden of Gethsemane were full grown
when the Saracens were expelled from Jerusalem ; and the
cypress of Sonia, in Lombardy, is said to have been a tree
in the time of Julius Ca3sar ; yet, the 80-tree is older than
the oldest of these by a century, and would almost seem to
verify the prophecy pronounced when it was planted, that
it would " flourish and bo green for ever."
The degree of sanctity with which this extraordinary
tree has been invested in the imagination of the Buddhists,
may be compared to the feeling of veneration with which
Christians would regard the attested wood of the crose. To
it kings have even dedicated their dominions, in testimony
of their belief that it is a branch of the identical fig-tree
under which Gotama Buddha reclined at Uruwelaya, when
he underwent his apotheosis. When the king of Magadha,
in compliance with the request of the sovereign of Ceylon,
was willing to send him a portion of that sanctified tree to
be planted at Anarajapoora, he was deterred by the reflec-
tion that "it cannot be meet to lop it with any weapon;"
but, under the instruction of the high priest, using ver-
milion in a golden pencil, he made a streak on the branch,
which, " severing itself, hovered over the mouth of a vase
filled with scented soil, into which it struck its roots and
descended. Taking the legend as a sacred law, the Buddhist
priests to the present day object religiously to "lop it with
any weapons," and are contented to collect any leaves
which, severing themselves, may chance to fall to the
ground. These are regarded as treasures by the pilgrims,
who carry them away to the remotest parts of the island.
In the part devoted to the consideration of " The
Southern and Central Provinces, we meet with
details • of the manners and customs of the
people, which are at all times most interesting
to dwell upon. The dress of the Singhalese is
very curious, the men arrange their hair like
females. It is worthy of notice that seventeen
hundred years ago Ptolemy slluded to the length
of hair among the people of Taprabane. " The most
precious inheritance of a Singhalese is his ancestral
garden of cocoa nuts, the attempt to impose a tax
on which roused the populace to rebellion; and it is
curiously illustrative of the minute subdivision of
property in Ceylon that in a case which was decided
in the 'district court of Galle within a recent period,
the subject in dispute was a claim to the 2,520 th
part of ten cocoa nut trees." It is observed that in
no quarter of the world does the cocoa nut flourish
in such rich luxuriance as in this part of Ceylon,
and all that has been told of the advantages accruing
from the broad fruit and other plants is as nothing
compared with the blessings conferred on Ceylon
by this inestimable palm. The Singhalese even
assert that it pines when beyond the reach of the
human voice, and declare with excitement and pride
the " hundred uses" to which it may be applied.
A most pleasing description is given of the scenery
around.Galle, the road being one continuous avenue
of cocoa nut trees. "The enjoyment of the scene
was indescribable; the cool shade of the palm-
groves, the fresh verdure of the grass, the bright
tint of the flowers that twined over every tree, the
rich copper hue of the soil, and the occasional
glimpse of the sea through the openings in the der.se
wood, all combined to form a landscape unsurpassed
in novelty and beauty." The travellers were, how-
ever, incominoded with the inseparable drawbacks
of hot climates and the chief of these were the mos-
quitoes; it is here stated its characteristics- are so
remarkable as fully to justify the supposition that
the mosquito was the plague inflicted upon Pharaoh,
and not the ordinary fly. This conjecture seems
based on most valid grounds, and the description
given of the insidious insect certainly fulfils the idea
that the aggregate of such a tribe would be a far
more grievous infiction that the presence of the
common fly. The cinnamon groves of Cey-
lon have often been descanted upon, and soe
space is, of Course, given to their history, bat the
glory has, in a manner, departed. It is said that
" this renowned laurel, onto guarded among the
treasures of the Indies, is now comparatively ne-
glected for the homely but more profitable palm ;
and again, that the " present aspect of the cinn" a-
mon gardens which surround Colombo exhibits
the effects of a quarter of a century of neglect." It
is, indeed, melancholy to learn that these far-famed
spots are relapsing into wilderness, and that, while
all. writers on Ceylon have dwelt on their beauty
and luxuriance, henceforward it will remain to
speak of their decay. Among the other supersti-
tions of the people they assert that, at Randy, the
" sacred tooth of Buddha" is preserved. It is, how-
ever, supposed, on most anquestionaVe authority,
that this wonderful relic was destroyed, and that
the tooth now exhibited is a substitute ; but if the
inhabitants choose to deceive themselves, they will
doubtless derive as much benefit fro n the latter
production as from the former one. The remarks
on the Coffee regions are well deserving of notice ;
the amount produced is really remarkable, as the
following passage will show :
Should prices in Europe continue such as to encourage
enterprise in. Ceylon. and no unforeseen occurrences ob-
struct the influx of immigrant labour in India, Mr, Forpl.
son looks forward to the day when a quarter of a
of cultivated acres, together with the native corps, may
furnish two million cwt. of coffee us the annual production
of the island.
However large this estimate may seem, it must he borne
in mind that the actual expansion of the irede has hitherto
justified in every previous conjecture as to the capabilities
of the colony; within twenty years, the value of the coffee
exported has risen from £107,000 in 1837 to £1,296.736 in
1867; and whatever uncertainty may be felt for the future,
as to the probablo consumption ft proilvojor, so mnmiensolV
augmented, it must by Loin in mind that already market's
are opening In which the demand seems susceptible of al-
inoet infinite extension. Prance, last year, received more
than one-third of the coffee sent from Ceylon; a very conside-