The Sun.
London, England, 1860-04-05 00:00:00

FRANCE AND BELGIUM.

The following is the despatch addressed by the
French Government to its diplomatic agents abroad,
in order to reassure the Powers as to the intentions
of France in respect of Belgium and the left bank,
of the Rhine :

" Paris, March 19, 1860.
" Monsieur,—ln the despatch which you have
dome me the honour to write me you announce that
you have forwarded to -- the communication of
the Emperor's Government, under date of the 13th
of this month, relative to Savoy and the county of
Nice, and you add that the principal Secretary of
' Sate of reserves to himself the taking advice
of the Council before making known to us the an-
swer of the Government. In the meanwhile
I think it desirable to resume with you the discus-
sion of a point which I merely indicated in my pre-
vious correspondence, and to insist especially on an
objection which was brought forward in the dis-
cussions to which the question gave rise.
" Analogies, in fact, are alleged, and these are a
starting-point for distrust. But do these analogies
rest on facts, and does there truly exist a relation
between our position with regard to the Alps and
our situation on the Rhine? Without doubt the
treaties of 1815 had constituted in the North a state
of things not without resemblance and connection
with that which still exists at this day on the side
of the Alps. The kingdom of the Low Countries

hail been created with a view similar to that with
which the territorial limits of Sardinia had been
settled. Like Sardinia, it had the custody of posi-
tions which permitted it to deliver up the ap-
proaches and entrances of our territory to foreign
armies.

"After a duration of 15 years the arrangements
have been greatly modified, with the concurrence
of the great Powers themselves. Belgium has been
formed, and its neutrality, acknowledged by Europe ,
has covered from that time all that part of our
frontier which was exactly the most exposed, and
for which France might feel the most reasonable

anxiety.
" In a word, whatever of a menacing nature for
us, in the North, was presented by the treaties of
1815 has been made mere matter of history by the
Conference of London. We have no longer on
that side any sort of guarantee to demand, and
our plan of defence, supported by our most im-
portant strong places, shelters us completely
from dangers analogous to those of which we
should have more than ever to take aecount at
another point, if Piedmont, with its new propor-
tion', remained in possession of territories which
give access to the very heart of the empire. On
the Rhine the peril has disappeared, while it has
increased in the Alps.

,‘ Thus the situations the similarity of which it
is attempted to show present no point of resem-
blance, and the potent considerations which oblige
us to claim the aunexatim of Savoy are without
any possible application to the state of things in
the east and in the north of France. This combina-
tion will complete that which Europe itself has
adopted by effacing the last trace of stipulations
manifestly conceived in a spirit of distrust and
aggressiveness towards us; and, far from finding
therein a source of disquietude, Germany will only
have occasion to see in it a new condition of the sta-
bility and duration of the peace.

" TIIOUVENEL."

KEW GARDENS.—These gardens will be open to
the public (free) on Good Friday and during the holidays.
The collection of camellia japonica or Japan roses, and
many rare and beautiful plants from China, Australia, and
New Zealand, are now in fine flower. The recent addition
to the museums are of a highly attractive character.
NEW CANNON.—On Monday and Tuesday last
experiments were made at the Mound, Woolwich, with a
new gun manufactured by Messrs. Brown 7 and Hughes,
Newport, Monmouthshire. The gun is of semi-steel iron
(homogeneous), and is of the same internal diameter and
bore as Sir W. Armstrong's 12-pounder. The rounds were
tired as follows :-10 rounds of each up to, and inclusive of,
8 shots, making 80 rounds ; and when this point had been
attained the copper venting of the gun, which had been
pat in by the authorities at Woolwich, gave way, and
prevented the completion of the programme in-
tended for 100 rounds. The gun was carefully
examined, and has not sustained the slightest damage
from the severe tests with which it was proved. The
makers say it can be manufactured at half the cost of Arm-
strong's or Whitworth's, can be used as either muzzle or
breech loader, and is capable of being rifled with either
Lancaster's, Armstrong's, or Whitworth's systems.—
Mechanics' Magazine.
FALMOUTII.—A most lamentable accident, at-
tended with the loss of three lives, occurred off this port
yesterday forenoon. The pilot Joseph Sharrock, belong.,
ing to No. 13 cutter (attended by two men named Henry
Coffin and John Rowe, all of this town), was in the act of
boarding the Dutch schooner Catharine, from Rio de Ja-
neiro, for the purpose of piloting her into port, when the
boat was struck by a sea and upset. Sharrock and Coffin,
although they :apparently clung to the boat, soon disap-
peared after the Catharine, close hauled, Thad passed them
on her weather side and thrown them a rope. Rowe
hour,
by
ma-
naged. to hold otinmbeyththeemboosattsftorrenuupowuasrdeffsorotfs
werehalf
madek
during which
the pilot cutter to reach him, though blowing a heavy gale
with a high sea running. On their first tack they fell
short of him, but so close that they beard the
"Mind you reach me the next tack." poor
.fellow
call, On coming up
again they were able to throw him over a
ex-
haustion he was incapable of la • rope, but from
pug hold of it, and at the
same moment was engulphed by the heavy swell. Sharrock
and Coffin have left widows and children.

PICKLED CORPSES.—It is not generally known
that at Coppet, on the lake of Geneva, the residence of the
late Madame de Stael, and her father and mother, the
celebrated Monsieur and Madame Necker, the latter are
not there buried, but preserved in a huge vat of spirits of
wine. The curious, and they are not few, rush there to
see this most paintul as well as disagreeable of sights. It
was so much the desire of Monsieur Necker that he and
his wife shcald be pickled in this strange manner, that
fearing his own family might not carry out his wishes, hethe
left a certain sum to be paid yearly 7the town
t;owrnthat pur-
supply of a certain quantityspirits
.9
his grandson, Monsieur la
ns winecose to the house,
ii p
ando pur-
pose.
p. a r
tTiharl
yv vat
hid is
bpyl atcreede
trees
in
which t ohfegros. _
_ ....
i Baron de Stael, had planted round it. —court Journal.

HIGH WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE.
Tits DAY. Morning, lh. Sm.—Afternoon, lh. 9m,
To-uos.Row.-Morning, lh. 50m.—Afternoon, 2h. 10m,

THE POST-OFFICE AND
NEWSPAPERS.

Scarcely a clay elapses that we do not
receive complaints of newspapers missing,
being toe late, or arrking several posts be-
hind time. This is an intolerable nuisance
to our subscribers, and is, besides, highly
prejudicial to ourselves. Where rests the
evil ? It is idle to complain, for polite
answers and promises avail nothing.
Surely Sir Rowland Hill will have some
merciful consideration, and endeavour to
redress the grievance. It is a double griev-
ance, for we are made to pay for not send-
ing the paper, which is often kept back till
next morning, which loses a day to our
subscribers; who truly say that old news is
ne news, causing anger rather than benefit.
If the General Post-office be not large
enough, then extend it, or build another
capacious enough for every purpose, be the
cost what it may. It will serve for all
time. We make this suggestion in a spirit
of good-will, and hope that good may come
of it.

Sun Office, April 4, 1860.

It is now some years since we first drew atten-
tion to a promising young company, entitled the
Madras Irrigation and Canal Company, for the
construction of works of irrigation, &c., in the dis-
trict of Orissa ; and we are truly glad that such
Company has now attained, through the patronage
of the public and the favour of Government, a very
enviable position in its career of success. Not only
have the promises held out been more than realised,
but the example has stimulated a corresponding
spirit of enterprise, not only in this country but
also in India. Nor is this to be wondered
at. All that capital in this country wanted
was a fair field for remunerative investment,
and the broad awl fertile regions of Hin-
dostan presented that desideratum. Though blesses
by nature with ever-teeming products of what a
genial climate can produce, it yet labours under
certain disadvantages which militate considerably
from the bounties of Nature; and these consist
principally from the parched character of many
parts of the soil. Like the wind, the sun warms,
but it also dries up and burns the surface of the
land to very pulverised dust. Nor could this be
helped or avoided by any ingenuity hitherto brought
to bear, for no cloud-spread umbrella could over-
shadow the land of the Sun. Like Egypt, it was
fertile to a tenfold degree ; but, unlike Egypt, it
had not an annual overflow of the reinvigorating
waters of the Nile to restore its parched fecundity.
True, the Monsoons came periodically, but not to
nourish gradually the surface of the waste—no, they
were a waste of waters in themselves, precluding
real benefit by the violence of their precipitancy
and scouring away the very soil they were sent
to cherish. Like the avalanche they overwhelmed
the village confiding under the shelter of its
shadow.

But now art has taken a wise lesson from na-
ture, for, indeed, almost all our arts are but copies
of the true original ; and the enterprise of the
Madras Company suggested the fruitful idea of
imitating the natural overflow of the Nile by a
system of irrigation, so as to replenish the vigoir
of the parched surface to its natural fecundity, and
thus restore the desert to become the fruitful gar-
den of man, and spread the benefits of agriculture
hand in hand with the blessings of civilisation.
The success of this first enterprise is but the be-
ginning of a new era in the history of the'land of
plenty—a land which only needed the ingenuity of
mind and the auxiliary aid of machinery to set an
example whose benefits will confer blessings on
generations yet unborn, and bring the starving
sterility of vast regions into boundless plains of
cultivation, enriching the capitalist and recom-
pensing the labourer.
In another part of The Sun we publish a memo-
rial which the Cotton Supply Association
have addressed to Sir CHARLES WOOD the
secretary of State for India, calling his
attention to the extensive area embraced by British
India, and the enormous extent of works of public
utility required to place that territory in even a
proper state in order that its resources may be
fairly developed. The memorial goes on to say
that it is manifestly impossible for the Govern-
ment by its own efforts to effect much in that
direction, whilst it is equally clear that the surplus
capital of free enterprise of England, if made avail-
able, will, with rapidity, supply all those of such
works as do not of necessity and exclusively belong
to the operations of Government. It then dwells
on the stupendous benefit a speedy and exten-
sive construction of works of the nature re-
ferred to in various parts of , India would
produce to the co tton trade, and therefore to the
general cominunif,y of this country ; it is diffi-
cult to overrate t he numerous civilising influ-
ences and solid: advantages which would
thereby necessaril) j flow to the native Population,
and especially wh( in accompanied by the introduc-
tion there of a larg ;4) body of English civil engineers
and others, of ski) J and education, such as would
be employed by pi rate companies." There can be

no doubt whatever of the benefits that would re-
sult to India, and likewise to England—the more
especially as the free growth of cotton would relieve
us from our uncertain and perilous dependence

upon the slave States of America.
All that the memorialists ask should be freely
granted by our Government, for it is clear that
the surplus private capital, skill, and energy of
Great Britain are capable of producing such works
as may be required with a rapidity and advantage
as will redound to the honour of the country, and
diffuse such unlimited blessings on the native po-
pulation as will for ever put an end to rebellion,
and render India another name for freedom and
ha•

opiness.

The news from India are very favourable. The
introduction of a paper currency seems to afford
universal satisfaction—so far as the matter is yet
comprehended. It only wants time to work out
beneficially. Mr. WILSON is said to have brought
a little Saxon energy to the work of
regeneration in the financial difficulty that
so long beset the land. He finds the
deficit of the current year to be £8,241,019, and
the estimated deficit of 1860-61 £6,500,000 ; and to
the task of meeting the latter his budget is directed.
He tells us at starting that he does not proposeto rely
wholly upon fresh taxes for the purpose. The military
expenditure is to be largely reduced ; the civil will
not bear it. The army is to be relieved of all civil
duties that it may gain in efficiency what it loses
in point of numbers ; and, beyond the very import-
ant reduction effected hereby, he proposes an
amended tariff Act, a license tax, a tobacco tax,
and an income tax. The income tax is to be levied
by the aid of runchayets, or by such means as the
local executive of each district may direct ; a very
important and very wise determination. The rates
are, as stated in our last issue, 2 per cent. upon
incomes of £2O to £5O; 4 per cent. upon incomes
above £5O.

" The continued exemption of indigo from ex-
port duty, and the raising of the import levy upon
yarns from 5 to 10 per cent., have created consider-
able remark ; but it is not likely that any active
opposition will be raised to any part of the budget.
" The plan proposed by Mr. Wilson for a State.
paper currency is stated in a telegraphic message
from our special correspondent to be the following:—
" The present issue of notes by the Bank of Bengal, the
Bank of Madras, and the Bank of Bombay is to cease.
" ' Commissioners are to be appointed to control the new
issues of State notes, which may be had for cash at all
treasuries.

" Notes issued from district treasuries will be conver-
ible on demand at those treasuries, and at the Presidency

treasury also.

" Notes issued from the Presidency treasuries will be
convertible thereat alone, and will not be payable at district

,reasuries.

" As security against these notes, every treasury is to
retain one-third the amount of its issues in cash, the re-
maining two-thirds are to be invested in Government secu-

rities.

" The profits accruing from the issue are to belong to
the State.
"' There is to be a uniform State paper currency, the
notes constituting a legal tender. They are to vary in
amount from sr. to I,ooor.
" ' India to be divided into circles. The notes issued in
each circle to be also a legal tender at the Presidency of
that circle.
" An Issue Commissioner to be appointed for each Pre-
sidency, and a Deputy Commissioner for each circle. These
officers to be responsible only to the (Home) Council for
India—not to the Indian Government.
" ' The reserve of coin is to equal one-third of the issue.
" ' Merchants' bullion immediately exchangeable for
notes on the Treasury.
" ' There is not to be a gold currency.' "

The insurrection in Spain has ended almost be-
fore it began. ORTEGA, the Governor of the
Balearic Isles, who landed at the head of his troops,
had to fly from the vengeance of his own men, who
on finding they were deceived became infuriated, and
instead of answering to his appeal of " Long life
to CHARLES V 1.," shouted " Vivas for the QUEEN!"

The quarterly report of Dr. LETHEBY, which we
publish in another column, contains some striking
features. The health of the immense population of
this vast metropolis can never be a matter of indif-
ference, and the careful analysis of the average
numbers, by a man whose ability and experience
qualify him for the task, affords a good test of the
efficiency of our sanitary regulations, and the gene-
ral wellbeing of the community. Notwithstand-
ing the unsatisfactory statistics of the health of
London, which we gather from the Registrar-
General's weekly report, Dr. LETHEBY'S returns,
at first sight, seem to indicate an improvement in
the public health. On a closer examination, how-
ever, the facts do not bear the same aspect. In
the course of the last ten years the average number
of births in the quarter within the city has
been 935, and the deaths 838. In the quarter
which has just closed the respective numbers
were 852 and 828. It is therefore evident, as Dr.
LETHEBY stated, that the reduction of the death-
rate has been much less in proportion than the
reduction of the birth-rate, and this indicates, he
tells us, " not merely a great falling off in the num-
bers of the population, but also that the season has
been unusually unhealthy. In the central and
western divisions of the City, for example, the
deaths have exceeded the births in a rather large
proportion, for in the former the deaths were 280,
and the births but 269; and in the latter the
deaths 242, and the births only 219 ; besides which
it will be remarked that in every one of the city
sub-districts, excepting the north and south divi-
sions of the Western Union, the births are greatly
below the averages for the season, and even in
these divisions they have risen but from 210 to
219." These facts Dr. LETHEBY considers to be
significant not only of a fluctuation in the number
of the population, but a change in its character.
The inference he draws from them is that some
parts of the City are becoming so exclusively
devoted to trading and commercial purposes that
they shut out that portion of the community which
maintains its numbers. This is a state of things
scarcely desirable, but it is the natural, and perhaps
inevitable result of the immense amount of trade
and traffic carried on within the limits of the City.
The great
and lamentable increase
of
was also alluded to by Dr. LETHEBY, who
ho smallpoxstated
that his attentiox was still directed to the progress
of this disease, and to the examination of the pro-
tective power of vaccination. The increase of
deaths from seven to twenty-two gave, he asserted,
inquiries
prove idea of the great prevalence of the malady. The
statistics which he gave as the result of his
prove that of the fatal cases 70 per cent. had not
been protected by vaccination, and of the recoveries
72 per cent. had. The beneficial effects of vaccina-
tion can therefore scarcely be questioned, in dimi-
nishing the terrors of the disease, if not altogether
removing the danger of infection. Unfortunately a
strong prejudice appears to linger among the lower
classes respecting it, and while this is the case there
is little hope of the extinction of the malady.
The meteorological statistics given in the report
are very interesting, as exemplifying the great in-
fluence exercised by the changes of temperature
upon the general health. It appears that the ave-
rage temperature of the quarter has been 40.6,
which is nearly the mean of the last 43 winters ;
but this average has not been maintained, for dur-
ing the month of January the temperature was
• nearly 5'5 degrees above the average, and late in
the below it. The daily range has
quarter as far

• - •••
Q.U.I • VA,
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, • biTo
7„, `,, nr • '
N.% .•

THE SUN.
LONDON, THURSDAY, APRIL 5, 1860.