The Sun.
London, England, 1869-05-11 00:00:00

OUR NEW INDIAN POLICY.

The Bombay Gazette is informed that a British president
is to be established at Herat. The post is to be filled by
Major Pollock, Commissioner at Peshawar. The Gazette
very justly terms this "startling news." The project of
founding a residence at Cabul was thought bold, but
Cabul is at no great distance from the Indian frontier,
whereas Herat is far on the other side of Affghaoistan, and
close to the Persian boundary. Nevertheless, the scheme,
if properly carried out, promises some advantages. If we
are to have a resident to watch Affghan politics, he might
as well be established at Herat, for there he could ivatsll
Persian politics also, and as Persia is in league 'With
Russia—the Shah is the Czar's vassal, in fact—this
point is of great moment. " There can be no
doubt," says the Gazette, " that the Ameees visit
to India has offended the Shah ; there cau be little
doubt, also, that the Shah has a desire to encroach on
Affghan territory, and one of the prominent things which
the Ameer thought it necessary to seek from the British
Government was pr3tection against Persia. It seems that
the ex-Ameer and his nephew, Abdool Rahman, the per-
sonage who was lately defeated by Shere Ali, has escaped
and got clear off to Persia, where they are now meditating
a fresh raid on Affghanistan with the aid of the Shah.
Shere Ali is fully alive to the dangers which menace
him, and is making great preparaticns at CabuL

AN INDIAN JOB.
The Times of India has been thrown into considerable
excitement by the announcement in a Madras paper
that Mr. Waymouth Gibbs, formerly tutor to the
Prince of Wales, has received the appointment
of legal member of the Governor-General's Council
in succession to Mr. Maine. The Bombay Gazette
calls this a surprising report which-requires confirmation,
but the Times of India fears that the news is only too true,
and that a job is to be inflicted on India. "Nine-
tenths of the community are consequently asking ' Who is
this Mr. Gibbs?' and the remainder, 'What has Le
done to show himself fitted to occupy so distin-
guished and responsible a position?' To both these
questions only one answer can be given : He was tutor
to the Prince of Wales.' It is felt, therefore, ant, how-
ever the appointment may turn out, Mr. Gibbs will owe
his position, not to the operati( n of the principle of natural
selection, but to Court influence—the persistent pressing,
probably, of some half promise made years ago." The
Indian j.mrnal adds that many admirably-qualified men
could have be !n found, bath in England and India, to take
this post. There are Mr. John Prune Norton, Mr.
Fitzjames Stephens, and Mr. llublmso, for instance.
Certainly, if this appointment has been made, there ap-
pears a just ground for complaint. Maine, author of the
admirable treatise on " Ancient Law," we know, and
Stephens and Norton we know, but what manner of man
Mr. Gibbs is must be left for the decision of time. He is
no doubt a gentleman and an excellent tutor, but he is no
lawyer, except in the sense of having " eaten his dinners"
at one of the Inns of Court.
ANCIENT JERUSALEM

There seems to be no doubt that the city of Jerusalem
destroyed by Titus remains buried under the foundations
of the modern town, and that many most valuable relics
may yet be brought to light. The explorations at Jerusalem,
under the direction of Lieutenant Warren, are
resulting in some highly-interesting discoveries. The
city is built upon a bill intersected by valleys, but it is in
the depths of these latter that the ruins of the ancient
capital of the world are to be found buried under clibris to
the depth of thirty, fifty, and even ninety feet. The mode
of exploring is by sinking shafts through the mass of
accumulated rubbish down to the ruins below. Some
fifty shafts have been sunk, and at the bottom of
one the foundations of the old walls of the
Temple Area have been found ninety feet below the surface.
Mysterious characters, at present unintelligible, are to be
seen on some of the stones. The exploration of the
Birket Israil, or Pool of Bethesda, has revealed
a vast vaulted reservoir nearly 100 feet in depth.
Its extent is still being investigated. In a part of the
Haram Area a tank mouth was lately entered, and was
found to lead to a large structure sixty-three feet long by
fifty-seven wide, vaulted very much like a church. There
is every reason to hope that the full investigation of these
ruins will yield the moat important discoveries ; but as
every shaft sunk must be lined with wood, and as the wood
soon decays at Jerusalem, the work is very costly.

It was industriously spread that Fred. Douglass,
the great uegro orator, declined to accept an appointment.
On inquiry this has proved to be untrue ; and people de-
sire to learn how the report originated, some one having
profited by the office it is reasonably supposed would
otherwise have been bestowed on a man so distinguished,
representing a body who are now considered citizens of
the Union. In a private note to the editor of the Inde-
pendent, Mr. Douglass says—" It is quite true that I never
sought this office, or any other ; but it is equally true that
I have never declined it; and it is also true that I would
have accepted it had it been offered."
Thurlow Weed has returned in slightly improved
health, with his daughter, to New York.
According to German statistics, more than
250,000 emigrants left Europe in 1868 to find:homes in
America. Of these 120,000 embarked at Liverpool, 66,000
at Bremen, 44,000 at Hamburg, 20,000 at Havre, and about
2,000 at Antwerp.
President Grant has made it a rule to teceive no
callers on Sunday, and has forbidden his Secretaries to
bring him any letters or telegrams except on important
public business, or in answer to something he has called for
For one of the offices in President Grant's gift
there are, it is said, the following applicants : " A Bloomer
! woman, a loyal negro, a reconstructed rebel, a Repub-
-
lican Irishman, a wounded soldier, and a red-hot politi
cian." Each of them is "confident of success."
Mons. A. Chevalier, the aeronaut, who is to cross
the Atlantic in a balloon this summer, has nearly
exhibition of
this novel and magnificent balloon at Landman's Park,
STRANGE FREAK.—The inhabitants of Bordeaux
twopirnetoorfnsinaginsttameikcitioelsea oc flo
locatti
ri ne
g
from the summwere greatly astonishedi
t
of ishe
thed f:flag, said to be a piece of a eurta7n, on which was drawn
a heart pierced by an arrow, and underneath w.-re the
words "Liberte, Paix." The spire is about 375 feet in
height, and extrenwly difficult of ascent. What interest
or fantasy could have induced auy man to perform such a
feat at night puzzles one. Two workmen have bun em-
ployed to get down the banner. - Gironde.
The undernatnecl have been nominated Naval
Cadets—Charles Alexander Furlong, Ilorac3 Ar-
mytage, William J. Serle Macarthy, James John-
stone, and Alexander William Ainslie.

DesvILLE and Co., Belfast, are the largest
holders or 'Whisky in the world. Their Old Irish Whisky is re -
commended by the medical profession in preference to French
Brandy. Supplied in ca,shs and cases for home use or exports.
tion. Quotations on application to Messrs. Dunvillo and Co.,
Belfast; or 4, Beaufort-buildings, Strand, Loudon, W.O
vcrtisement.

PHE LATEST EDITION of " THE SUN "
J. 1151.31 ES begs to inform his friends and the public
generally that he supplies the LATEST EDITION of "IMF
BUN " as soon as published.—No.lo, Hampstead-road N.W.

THE SUN" NEWSPAPER.--(_. R. GLENIE.
Sporting Library, 4, Connaught-terrace, Edgeware-road
delivers the LATE EDITION of "THE SUN " at the earlier'
possible moment after leaving the press. He is able to deliver
copies in Town, the Suburbs, and in many parts of the country
at a comparatively early hour the same evening, say 40 miles by
9.45 o'clock__