The Sun.
London, England, 1860-12-07 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, FRIDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 7, 1860.

M. de Persigny took possession of the Home Se-
cretary's office yesterday. He inaugurated his functions
by seizing five of the Loudon papers.
The ;Scotsman says :—No more Cabinet meetings,
we have reason to believe, will be held until about the
middle of January. It is understood that the question of
Parliamentary Reform, with reference to next session, has
not yet been under discussion in the Cabinet. Parliament
will, according to present arrangements, be summoned to
meet for the despatch of business on the sth February.
ST. MARK'S HOSPITAL.—The Lord Mayor has
become the president of this charity for the year ensuing,
thus following the example of his predecessors in office
since the foundation of the hospital, in the year 1835.
THE DISTRESS AT COVENTRY.—The Hon. and
Rev. G. M. Yorke, as Rural Dean of Birmingham, has
initiated a movement on the part of the clergy in that town
for the purpose of obtaining subscriptions for the relief of
the distressed ribbon weavers at Coventry.
DESTRUCTION OF THE SHIP NOTTINGHAM BY
FIRE.-LIVERPOOL, Thursday.—Late this afternoon a
despatch was received here announcing the total destruc•
tion of the ship Nottingham, by fire, and the safety of the
crew. The ill-fated ship only left Liverpool on the 17th of
November last, on a voyage to Bombay. She was a vessel
of 543 tons burden, and belonged to Messrs. Imrie and Co..
of this town. The despatch does not give the date of 07,e
fire, or how it originated.

THE CATTLE TRADE.—NOTTINGHAM, Dec. 5.--
Here to-day there was a tolerable supply of fat beasts of
varied quality. The demand proved firm, and superkir sorts
sold at the extreme prices of last week, and secondary and
ordinary pretty well supported their value. rue supply of
calves was small, and with a dull sale late rates were made.
Sheep were in good supply, but a heavy sale at previous
currencies. Store lambs sold at former terms. -Prices—
Beef, 6s 6d to 7s 6d per stone of 141 b ; mutton, Gd to ild
calves, 61d to ild per lb.; store lambs, 25s to BOs each.
THE DUKE OF NEWCASTLE AND THE KINGSTON
ORANGEMEN.—The " Orange difficulty " is still exciting
great interest in Kingston, where the Orangemen contem-
plate erecting an equestrian statue of King William in the
public park, provided the city council will grant the site,
which does not seem likely, as the proposition created great
excitement when laid before that body. On the other hand
the Roman Catholics and opponents of the Orange Institu-
tion talk of erecting an equestrian statue of the Duke of
Newcastle.— Canadian _Yews.

THE REVIVING PROSPERITY OF CANADA.—The
signs of revived prosperity are observable on every hand.
The revenue, instead of being deficient, will be in excess of
the country's requirements ; and farming lands, which a
short time ago were either unsaleable altogether et only sale-
able at a very low price, now bring as much, I verily believe,
when sold for cash, as they would have brought in the flush
times before the crisis of 1857. The difference is, that there
are now no speculative sales, that all the lands now sold are
purchased by parties who intend at once to enter upon them
with the view to their immediate improvement. In short,
the demand for farming land is a real and not a fictitious
one. In this respect the country is in a more healthy con-
dition than it has been for years. Land held by private in-
dividuals can still be bought for reasonable prices, though
the tendency is decidedly upward ; and as a proof of this I
may mention the fact of a farm of wild land having been
sold a few days ago, in Adjala, 50 miles north of this city,
for 40 dollars an acre.—Correspondent of Canadian News.
TIIE PROPOSED DEFENCES OF LIVERPOOL—At
the weekly meeting of the Mersey Docks and Harbour
Board, held yesterday, a letter was read from the War P,e-
partment, requesting that the Board would make arrange-
ments for the transfer of the two sites agreed on for bat-
teries, viz., at the Bootle Land Marks and on the Salisbury
Pier, either under an absolute conveyance or on a lease for
999 years, at a peppercorn rent, the tenarcy to be deter-
mined at any time by the Department. The subject was
referred to the solicitor to the Board for a report. Mr.
Mendel said he hoped the Board would be spared the ex-
pense of a fort on the Salisbury Pier, or indeed of forts at
all, particularly after the entente cordiale manifested daring
the recent visit of the Empress of the French. Mr. Arnold
said he thought with our splendid Volunteer force and the
enormous means of defence at the disposal of the Govern-
ment we need not trouble ourselves much about forts.
Telegraphic blunders are sometimes as ninny as
they are serious. Thus, one Mr. Brown, a prominent
gentleman, being ill at Toronto, it was telegraphed to his
family that "Mr. Brown is no worse." The family got it
" is no more," and sent up a special train for the remains.
A young lady was taken sick while visiting in Cleveland,
and the good folks were dumfounded with the report that
" she has had a child." It should have been "has had a
chill."—Conzmercial Bulletin, Boston, -U.S.
THE FRENCH ARMY.—It is said that the
formation of a fourth battalion for each regiment of infantry
is considerably advanced. This new arrangement will add
40,000 men to the French army. A great number of pri-
vates who had leave of absence for six months are being
recalled to their regiments at the expiration of their leave.
A funny canard is published by the &port.
According to this sporting authority, the Emperor, as
soon as he shall have completed his history of Julius Czcsar,
intends to present himself as a candidate for the French Aca-
demy upon the strength of it. By way of rendering this news
feasible it is remarked that the first Emperor, when Gene-
ral 13onaparte, livas elected to the Institute. But the
pretended precedent is nothing worth. Between a
general and an Emperor there is an abyss. Moreover, it
is well known that there does not exist in France a body of
men more hostile to the Emperor and his policy than the
Academie Francaise. His expression of a wish to be a
member of the envied forty could only mean their extinc-

ton.
TIIE DUKE OF BRUNSWICK AND HIS DIAMONDS.
-An account was given some time back of proceedings
between the Duke of Brunswick and a printer named
W eisener, relative to the printing by the latter of a cata-
logue of the former's diamonds. Weisenor brought an
action against the Duke before the Civil Tribunal to obtain
payment of 9,830 f. for the printing, and the case was heard
on Saturday. He stated that the duke had himself drawn
up the catalogue, which comprised upwards of 1,200 objects,
the total value being represented to be the enormous sum of
15,300,000 f. An account of the weight, origin, form, and
value of each article was given, and as, besides, a history of
the most celebrated diamonds was added, the catalogue ex-
tended to 250 pages. The duke beforehand agreed to pay him
31e. per page for each copy, and that sum multiplied by the
number of pages and the number of copies stiuck off
made the 9,830 f. claimed. On the part of bis highness it
was contended that no stipulation as to price had been en-
tered into, and an offer of 3,500 f. was made as amply suffi-
cient remuneration for the work done. The Tribunal, after
hearing pleadings for both parties, decided that the sum to
be paid by the duke should be 6,000 f. In the course of the
pleadings it was mentioned incidentally that the duke is
now negotiating for the purchase of two diamonds, his offer
for one being 1,100,000 f., and for the other 3,000,000 f.
NEW FOSSIL REMAIN S.—The Academy of science
has received a highly interesting communication from M.
Albert Gaudry, whom that body had sent to Greece on a
geological mission. M. Gaudry last week produced a tibia
with its peronrous, and much larger than any of those of
mastodons or elephants in possession of the Museum of the
Garden of Plants, its length being nearly three feet. Sup-
posing the same proportion to exist between this bone and
the rest of the skeleton as there is between the tibia and
body of the mastodon and elephant, the total stature
of the animal must have been nearly 14 feet.
This tibia, found at Pikermi, has, moreover, other ana-
tomical peculiarities of little interest to the general
reader; we shall therefore only mention that its greatest
breadth is about 14 inches, and its smallest three. X.
Gaudry has also found other bones belonging to the same
animal, among which there is a retula, nearly seven inches
long. All these pieces belong to the hinder parts of the
animal ; among those of the fore parts there is a cubitus,
which in its present mutilated state measures about 34
inches, but seems to have originally been upwards of 40.
M. Gaudry believes that these bones belong to the
Dinotherium, the most gigantic of all mammiferous ani-
mals of the Old World, the head of which has been toler-
-0,1- well dotactibed, while its members have hitherto re-
mained unknown, or nearly so. In 1855 M. Gaudry had
found some bones of another gigantic ruminant, which he
and M. Lartet had denominated the giraffe of Duvernoy.
But having now found a complete head of this animal in
Greece, M. Gaudry thinks it necessary to ascribe it to a
new genus, which he calls " Helladotherium" (meaning
"animal of Greece"), preserving Duvernoy's name for the
species. This animal participates of the giraffe, the ante-
lope, and ox. Its head is about 20 inches in length, it has
no horns, and has six grinders in the upper and as many in
the lower jaw. It differs completely by its other charac-
teristics from all the other ruminants hitherto described.
MURDER OF A LUNATIC.—On. Wednesday an
inquiry took place at the Rainhill Asylum, before Charles
E. Dliffield, Esq., coroner, as to the cause of the death of a
patient named John Irving, who, it appears, has been in
the asylma since the 26th of November last, when he was
removed thither from the Liverpool workhouse, having pre-
viously resided at 33, Shadwell-street, Liverpool. He suf-
fered from paralysis as well as being mentally affected, and
he died on Monday evening last from injuries received from
another patient, named. John Flynn, a native of the East
Indies, who has been confined in the asylum for a period of
six years under the Secretary of State's warrant, as a
criminal lunatic, for housebreaking. The jury, after con-
salting a short time, returned a verdict of" Wilfulamurder"
against Flynn.

RAILWAY ACClDENT.—Yesterday morning, as a
goods train from Carlisle towards the south vas passing
over the North Union Railway, it was run into by a coal
train from the Springs branch, situated about a mile and

•
a half south of Wigan. The Springs branch is a line from
the Ince Hall Colliery. The driver of the Carlisle train see-
ing the signal at the junction indicating that he was to
come on, did not slacken speed. When the coal train came
upon the line it was too late to avoid a collision, and the
driver and stocker of the goods train both jumped off their
engine. The driver, however, sustained a fracture of two
fingers. The engine was turned round and upset, so as to
block up both tracks of the main line. The traffic on both

was stopped for about five hours. None of the men on the

coal train were injured, but several waggons in both trains
were battered to pieces.