The Sun.
London, England, 1869-01-12 00:00:00

THE ALABAMA CLAIMS.

The Washington correspondent of the .New York Time:,
writing on the 29th ult., states that the Alabama nego-
tiations have suffered no serious delay, notwithstanding
the change in the British Cabinet. The answer to Mr.
Seward's amendments to the protocol, which amendments
were printed in brief in the Times of Dec. 1, was received
from Reverdy Johnson, by telegraph, on the 19th instant.
The British Government accepts all of Mr. Seward's
amendments, to wit ; It agrees to abolish the distinction
between the Alabama claims and other claims contained
in the original draft of the protocol, which eliminates
from the treaty the fourth, fifth, and sixth articles,
which articles, as they originally stood, also required
that in the peculiar class of Alabama claims a unanimous
decision of the commissioners should be required, but the
distinction between the claims being abolished, this
requirement falls with it, and Mr. Seward's amendment
that a majority be sufficient to decide any case is acceded
to. Great Britain also agrees to the amendment that the
commission shall sit in Washington, and that the umpire
selected shall be subject to the ratification of the Senate.
On the 20'h instant Mr. Seward replied to Mr. Johnson's
despatch, proposing several additional modifications, none
of them, however, of a very serious character. He desires
that the treaty shall be styled a " protocol " instead
of a "convention ;" but this is not indispensable.
He further desires that the protocol be signed here
instead of in London, so that it may be immediately
transmitted to the Senate, together with the Naturali-
sation and San Juan Boundary Treaties, now ready to be
sent in, though this is not indispensable. He further
proposes a change in the mode of selecting the umpire, to
wit, that when the commission cannot decide a case, they
shall report their disagreement to their respective Govern-
ments, and :f an umpire be not agreed upon by the said
Governments within six months, then the commission are
to select each side a name for itself, and the umpire is to
chosen by lot.

Mr. Charles Saville Roundell, the late candidate
or Clitheroc, bits accepted the post of private secretary to
Earl Spencer, Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland.

The subject of Mr. Gladstone's communication to
Good Words is announced as " The Duties of a Citizen of
a Free State."

The Journal de Paris contains a piece of news.
The only surviving son of the Duke d'Aumale, a lad of
14, the Duke de Guise, broke his leg in the hunting-field
in Worcestershire last Tuesday. He is in a fair way of
recovery.

A MEMORIAL OF PRESIDENT LINCOLN.— car-
penter in Washington prizes amang his best treasures
scrap of paper on which is written :—" If you have
piece of board to spare, please let Tad have it.—A. LIN-
COLN." It was brought to him by the boy while he was at
work at the White House.—New York Tribune.

The other day at the Sheriffs' Court, in Glasgow,
curious question was raised as to whether a chimney-
sweep could claim to be carried as a passenger. Broadfoot,
a master chimney-sweep, sued the proprietors of an om-
nibus for having refused to carry him in their conveyance.
The defendants sfated that they bad no personal objection
to Mr. Broadfoot, but they objected to his sooty clothes.
To have taken him as a passenger would not have been
consistent with a due regard to the other passengers. The
sheriff, having heard witnesses, sustained the defence. He
held that the defendants were not bound to carry the chim-
ney-sweep, because it would have been oppressive to thu
other passengers for them to have done so, and injurious to
the general traffic.

Some interesting particulars concerning the Island
of Cephalonia, on the coast of Greece, were given by Sir
John Sebright, the Englisn Consul. It appears that the
currant crop in 1867 was abundant beyond all precedent,
and the quantity of fruit throughout was of superior excel-
lence. The yield amounted to no less than nine thou-
sand two hundred tons, the greater quantity of which was
exported to the British isles. In consequence, however, of the
tremendous fall in price oaused by the glut, and merchants
calculate that they lost from 30 to 40 per cent. on the capital
embarked. It is now suggested that an agitation should be
commenced in favour of obtaining from the British Govern-
ment the entire abolition of the duties on currants imparted
into England, where the principal, almost the only, market
for the article is found.

To the Paris journal, La Liberte; seems to be en-
trusted the onerous duty of keeping up the supply of candi-
dates for the Spanish throne. It uplifts and debases the
princes of every house with an indifference which would have
been monstrous in any other age, but which is perfectly en
regle in this generation of royal bankruptcy. It has now
the pleasure of stating that the Italian Government, still
harping after Spain, has withdrawn the candidature of the
Duke of Aosta, and substituted Prince Thomas, son
of the late Duke of Genoa, the nephew to King Victor.
This young pretender is only 14 years of age, and the
change has been made in order to gratify Prim's predilection
for the sweets of a regency. The candidature is supported
by Russia and Prussia, and the Italian journals are much
in its favour. Prince Thomas is now at Harrow finishing
his studies.

A NEW FAMILY KNITTING MACHINE.—This
latest example of Yankee ingenuity has been brought to
Leeds
within the past few clays by Mr. W. Wemysu
Kennedy, of Edinburgh. Unlike the circular knitting
machines hitherto in use, which knit merely a
straight tubular web, the Lamb machine is fitted
for all descriptions of work, plain or fancy. The prin-
ciple is the same which a lady employs with her hand.
knitting needles, and the saving in time achieved
may be judged of from the fact that a yard of plain work
can be produced in ten minutes, and a pair of socks in
half an hour. As in the case of the improved sewing
machines, all the work accomplished by this wonderful
invention is complete. The heels are knitted into
stockings, the toes are narrowed off, and the mechanism
is such that either two or two score needles may be
employed. The machine can be attached to a common
table, and is easily operated by hand, with a crank.
Tlic American papers give the particulars of a
singular railway accident which occurred recently. On
the night of the 22nd ult. the eastern-bound train of the
Sioux City Railway was thrown off by a broken rail,
near Farley, and the rear car, containing about thirty
passengers, was precipitated over a forty-foot embank.
meat. The growth of young timber elwcked the violence
of the fall, or fearful loss of life must have ensued.
So great was the force with which the car was thrown
from the train, that the rear platform of the car which,
preceded it was carried sway. Roth ends of the car
thrown off were a wreck, and the scene within it beggars
description. The capsizing of the car threw the passen.
gers over and among each other in confusion. The stove
was hurled from its place, and one man was thrown upon
it ; another had the misfortune to have it rolled over him
As soon as the passengers and attach6s of the train could
hasten to the rescue they did, expecting to find the dead
and dying on every hand, but not one passenger wo.,
dangerously injured. The car was, however, fired by 04
store.

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC 40171INALS.

The Times observes that England lies sick of pauperism,
and robust as may be the constitution of the patient, this
constant and increasing drain upon it is a very serious
• matter. The new and somewhat peculiar mendicity
' society now being tried at Blackheath seems to offer one
of the most successful methods yet tried of dealing with
the evil. The society works in concert with the
relieving officer of the district, and by a system
of ticket-giving entirely dispenses with direct relief,
except in two cases, that of a starving beggar who
has a piece of bread given him, and of a destitute man
going to get employment who receives a third-class ticket.
The Times thinks the conjunction of the parish officers
with the society a most important feature in this plan.
So long as the two systems— he system of public universal
relief and the system, or no system, of private charities—
go on together side by side, without mutual concert,
there must be waste, confusion, and inefficiency.
There can be no guage of pauperism no com-
plete register of individual cases of mendicancy,
and no uniformity in the administration of relief.
These jarring systems weaken the sense of
responsibility in the Poor-law officials. Guardians are
disheartened, who see that while they are trying to keep
down mendicancy the public are doing all they can to
encourage it. Relieving officers naturally grow careless if,
for aught they know to the contrary, the pauper who
applies to them for relief to-day received yesterday, or
may receive to-morrow, far larger assistance from some
charity or private benevolent hand. And then
society, absorbed in private almsgiving, cr content-
ing itself with subscriptions to general charities,
relaxes its vigilance upon the administrators of the
Poor-law ; and the result is in some cases indis-
criminate relief, in others defective relief or the improper
refusal of it, and all the irregularities notorious in the
present workhouse system. We do not, of course,
imagine that the authors of the Blackheath Mendicity
Society have discovered a panacea for pauperism. Such
an institution does not attempt to stop any of the sources
of pauperism except the great one of promiscuous charity,
and its success must much depend upon the energy and
fidelity of the relieving officer; and in many of the large
parishes the staff of the board of guardians as at present
constituted is inadequate to sift the cases of mendicancy,
and the ordinary public relief is disbursed with next to no
discrimination. On the other hand, such a society evidently
tends to strengthen the bands of the Poor-law authorities.
The members of it must be keenly alive to the necessity
of a good Posr-law system with good men to work it, and
relieving officers will not only obtain through the society
valuable information respecting their districts, but will be
more likely to discharge their duties efficiently knowing
they are watched and criticised by those without. Though
local in operation, the proposal is, so far as it extends,
systematic and complete, it admits of indefinite extension,
and while moderating, in proper cases, the inevitable
harshness of the poor laws, it increases their general
efficacy.
The Standard comments upon the changes which the new
Bribery Act will be likely to produce in Irish elections. The
motion in the Common Pleas in Dublin, in the case of the
Sligo petition, throws light on the contemporary history of
Ireland. The petition was against the return of Major
Knox, the Conservative member for the borough of Sligo.
The motion decided on Friday was an application on the
part of Major Knox to leave the place of trial changed from
Sligo to Dublin. It was contended that the excited state of
the neighbourhood would prevent a fair trial of the petition,
The decision is of great importance, being the first in
favour of a change of venue under this Act, and it is also
of consequence in shewing the condition of this part of
Ireland. The evidence proved that a great deal of intimi-
dation had been used to check the support of Major
Knox, and the Standar,/ observes that these scenes
throw some light on the marvellous sway which
the bishops and priests exercise in Ireland. It
is not the mere terror of disobeying them that
gives weight to their words. It is that in some
of the subtle ramifications of the Roman Catholic religious
system the priests have always the means of making their
wrath felt, and their flocks cannot see any escape from
the toils short of absolutely breaking with their Church.
This policy is a dangerous one to push to extremes. It
must sooner or later alienate the Irish masses from the
Roman Church, as it has done those of France and Italy,
but meanwhile it may be painful enough to convulse
our whole political system and render constitutional
government in Ireland a hollow mockery. If the
priestly party find that their violence defeats its object,
they may seek some more legitimate means of carrying out
their views. The promptness with which the Irish Court
of Common Pleas has recognised the dangers of the evil in
the present case is a hopeful augury.
The Daily News compares the manner in which the
criminal law is carried into effect in New York and in
New England, and illustrates the difference by two recent
verdicts. In one case a man, named Cole, committed
fearful murder, and was acquitted on the ground of in-
sanity, though there was no evidence to that effect. In
Plymouth, Massachusetts, ou the other hand, a highly
respected church deacon was tried for murder, and con-
demned to twenty years' imprisonment, though his motile.
had been insane, and the asylum physician gave
it as his opinion that the deacon was insane when th
murder was committed. Had it not been for a doubt
whether the murder had not resulted from a struggle, lie
would have been executed. The leniency of New York is,
in the Opinion of the Daily News, a dangerous symptom.
We are debarred from supposing that the jury was in-
fluenced by hostility to capital punishment, for it is now

the custom in the United States, in all procedures for
murder of the first degree, to interrogate each juryman on
that point, and to retain only such as are favourable to capital
punishment. But whatever may be the causes of this extra-
ordinary verdict, the salient fact is that a man freely
walks the streets of New York to-day, who, in almost
any other civilised community, would be confined or
executed as a danger to society. And when such a fact
is possible we need not wonder at Erie-wars, Whiskey-
ring-aristocracies, or fraudulent voting. The condition of
society
in New York has been much used to illustrate the
ultimate tendencies of popular government ; but when we
turn to the populous towns and cities of New England,
where the governmental forms are even more radically
democratic than in New York, we find life and property as
secure as in any other part of the world. The fact is, the
people of New England are remarkably democratic in
their dealing with crime, as they showed some years
ago, wheit they hung the Harvard Professor, Dr. Webster,
and as they have now again shewn in dealing with the
hitherto respectable and rigidly righteous Deacon Andrews.
By the side of Plymouth Rock right still means right,
and wrong wrong, as it did when the lowly pilgrims bui'
there the first pine-wood State-house and church in one.
New England has a large society for the abolition of
capital punishment, but so long as the penalties
for crime remain on the statute-book they are carried
into effect with certainty, and without regard to persons.
It is to be hoped that the extreme to which matters have
gone in New York will lead to a reformation. Street bogs
led to street pavements. The highwaymen who occupied
London after dark at the close of the seventeenth century
led to the lighting of our streets. We anticipate, therefore,
that things there will go on from bad to worse, while we have
no doubt that there are enough upright and sensible men
in New York to take care that the lessons of evil shall not
be lost, and that eventually even the whiskey-ring shall
find, in a strict sense, the end of that rope of which it
would seem enough has certainly been given to it without
fulfilling the prophecy of the proverb.
The Telegraph states that eaormous mischief or nal
good may result to the Church of England from therm eet-
ing held at the Freemasons' Tavern. It is for the purpose
of considering how the ritualistic clergy should act in view
of the recent decision of the Judicial Committee of the
Privy Council. According as the chiefs of the High
Church party give prudent or rash advice, so may the
Church receive new vigour or lose a host of zealous sup-
porters. The three traditional canses tie before the ritualists.
They may defy or evade the judgment; they may accept
it, and make the best of their new position; or, submitting
to it under protest, they may agitate for a revision of the
Prayer Book. We may rather anticipate that, yielding
for the present to the Privy Council, they will emphati-
cally protest against the decision, and agitate for a
revision of the Prayer Book. To that policy Englishmen
could have no objection. Apart from the question
whether the ritualistic aims are wise or not, such a course
is manly, straightforward, and English. Moreover, it is
the course suggested by the divines who revised the first
Liturgy of the English Church. In the preface to the
Prayer-book those great divines use words which seem as
if they had been written with an eye to the present
troubles, and the importance of which it wouli
he difficult to overrate. " The particular forms
of divine worship, and the rites and ceremonies
appointed to be used therein, being things in their own
nature indifferent kuld alterable, and so acknowledged, it
is but reasonable that upon weighty and important consi-
derations, according to the various exigency of times
and occasions, such changes and alterations should be
made therein as to those who are in places of authority
Acrb] from time to time seem either necessary or
expedient." In other words, the Prayer Book tells the
Ritualists that if they wish for a revision of the Liturgr
they roust use the ordinary means to persuade the
people of England that such a change is desirab!e. Hence,
as Sir Robert Peel's advice was " Register ! Register !
Register !" the advice which they might fitly receive is
" Agitate ! Agitate ! Agitate !" To-day that course is
open to the ritualistic meeting ; it may be taken or re•
jected ; but in either case the cunsecinences may lio
momentous, and, if the iiolicy of defiance or evasion 1N
adopted, the result Lucy be at once disastrous am'
irreparable.

The star 1)-ml:es some observations upon a pamphlet
lust published, on the working classes, written by A
Daughter of the ppopl,. It is not wanting in ability,
but its tone is prejudicial, and the writer forgets that the
best missionary arnong the poor is political progress.
The Daughter of the People labours under the
disadvantage of knowing too much. A woman so
well informed may be as prejudiced as possib!e
against agitators, but all her anger against them does
not prevent her leaving on her readers' minds the
impression that the agitators and the trades unions are
often right, and that the masters and society are often
wrong. If she will think a little more deeply this Daughter
of the People will perceive that agitators of the bad sett
can only flourish where injustice and ignorance co-exist.
Bind them together for the burning—give education and
free political institutions—and all classes will thrive and be
at peace, though no class may exhibit superhuman virtu
pr self-control.

../ib,":
tlTi
~T , 4
'I.- ~,....to
,
it_iff 11 lA, ***ev-i-------*----- t.i:Trill [AT

HER MAJESTY.

OSBORNE, Jan. 11.
Her Majesty walked and drove in the grounds
this morning, attended by Lady Churchill.
Princess Louise walked out, attended by the
Hon. Florence Seymour.

Prince Leopold and Princess Beatrice also went
out.
Earl and Lady Constance Grosvenor and Lady'
Elizabeth Grosvenor left Osborne to-day.

POLICE LVTELLIGENCE-77tis Day.

MARLBOROUGH- STREET.
STREET OUTRAGE.—Alfred Anderson, described
as a barber, was charged before Mr. Tyr whitt with
attempting to rob and assaulting Miss Rose Ema-
nuel, residing at 22, Henrietta-street, Manchester-
square.

Miss Emanuel said that about nine o'clock the
previous evening she was walking along Coventry-
street in company of her parents' servant, when the
prisoner and another man pushed against her and
nearly knocked her into the road, and directly
afterwards came up to her again and put his hand
against her pocket, but she prevented him taking
anything from her. The prisoner then called her
a bad name and knocked her down in the road, and
had anything been passing she would have been
run over. Determined not to let the prisoner
escape, she followed him until he was taken into
custody.

The complainant's evidence having been corrobo-
rated,

Police-constalle John Harris, 77 C, said that
while crossing Piccadilly the previous night about
9 o'clock he heard a cry of "Stop thief," and seeing
two females running after the prisonr he stopped
him, and asked what was the matter. The prisoner
replied, " Oh, nothing ;" but on the complainant
coming up she said that the prisoner bad attempted
to rob her, abused her, and knocked her down, and
he then took the prisoner to the station.
The prisoner's defence was that be had mistaken
the complainant for another sort of person.
Mr. Tyrwhitt said it was clear that the prisoner
was one of those dangerous fellows who haunted
that part of the town at night, and his defence was
only an aggravation of his offence. He would be
committed for six months' with hard labour.
ROBBERY—A KIND PROSECUTOR.--Richard Hold-
way, in the employ of Mr. Daniel Howard, uphol-
sterer and decorator, 26, Berners-street, Oxford-
street, was charged before Mr. Tyrwhitt with
stealing thirteen and a half yards of carpet, of the
value of £3 7s. 63., the property of his employers.
Alr. Jeans, pawnbroker, of Cleveland-street, said
that on Saturday morning the prisoner brought a,
roll of carpet an I offered it in pledge, and, in an-
swer to his questions, said that he had purchased it
at Howitt's, in Holborn, and had the receipt for it
at home. He sent his assistant with the prisoner to
see the receipt, but on getting to his place the pri-
soner said his children had torn it up. Yesterday
the prisoner came again respecting the carpet,
which be (Mr. Jeans) had detained, and on his
pressing the prisoner for a further account of the
way he became possessed of it, he said that in an
unguarded moment he had taken it from his em-
ployer, and that if he would let him have it again
he would replace it.

Mr. Howard identified the carpet as his property
and said the prisoner had been employed by him
for two years. He wished the prisoner to be dealt
leniently with, although, at the same time, he felt
that, baying a number of persons in his employ an
example ought to he made. The prisoner, who
seemed very dejected, made no defence.
Mr. Tyrwhitt committed him for two months
with hard labour.

WESTMINSTER.
AN EXTRAORDINARY FANCY FOR PLANTS A.SP
FLOWERS.—Emma Clarke, a showily-dressed girl
of about 17, was placed at the bar charged with
stealing two geraniums in pots from 197, Bucking'
ing Palace-road.

William
Cammeaton, 311 B, said that at about
one this morning he saw the prisoner step from the
doorway of 197 with something /concealed under
her cloak. Witness stopped her, and found she had
the garden pots and plants concealed.

Mr. Arnold—Was she sober ?
Witness—Yes, your Worship, she was.
Mr. Arnold—What did she say ?
Witness—She said she foind them.

Charles Valleys, 197, Buckingham-palace-road'
said that the plants were safe at his parlour windo''•
A. person could reach and take them by getting
upon the railings. He did not wise to prosecute
her far taking them.

Mr. Arnold—You don't mind her taking them'
perhaps rather like it.

Prisoner--I am very sorry.
Sergeant Matthews—This is not the first tiro:
the prisoner has been here. She was charged tsi
or three years ago with another girl for comnaittiog
the same offence.

Mr. Arnold—What was done with her ?
Peter Smith, 163 B, said she was convicted and
fined 2s. 6d. on that occasion.
Mr. Arnold (to prisoner)—What do you sal' t°
this statement that you have been previously coil'
victed of a smilar offence?
Prisoner--It is true.
Mr. Arnold—You seem to have a great fancy f°C
things of this sort. I shall now convict you of
unlawfully possessing, and fine you 205., or in ue-
fault 10 days.

MR. P. B. PHILLIPS'S READINGS.—Lest evening
new "reader" appealed to the judgment of the metropoli-
tan public. The debutant was Mr. P. B. Phillips, Wh°
gave his first reading in England in the Victoria Sall,
Archer-street, Bayswater, choosing his subjects from the
works of Shakepere. Hood, Dickens, Tennyson, and others'
Mr. Phillips has many qualities which fit him for the port
of a reader—among others an expressive countenance, Or
a strong clear voice. He reads prose, whether serious °
humorous, a great deal better than poetry. His rendersu%
of " The Death of Joe" from 44 Bleak House," and a oorai°
sketch from "All the Year Round," entitled "Pray ems
ploy Major Namby," was really excellent. He renddre
full justice alike to the tender pathos of the former end t°
the rather broad humour of the latter of these selectiooSt
and his exertions were rewarded in the one case by the
laughter, and in the other by the tears of his appreciatili
auditors. " The Song of the Shirt," " The Bridgs
Sighs," "The May Queen," and the trial scene from the
" Merchant of Venice," concluded the entertainment. %
the close of the reading Mr. Phillips was recalled to IP.
desk and loudly applauded.

_ .
A NEW METAL.—For a considerable time 9
variety of experiments have been carried on by gesetrs.
10„
Pyko, of Thavies Inn, to test the quality of a new
combination, called Abyssinian gold, which they 1131:01
discovered, and a result has been arrived at that far al
ceeds the most sanguine expectations. Tho new meta
has all the appearance of 18 carat gold; in weight as
as in colour, it does not tarnish, and, most im
ortant of all,
it takes the most brilliant polish, and is alikepthrought
The most exquisite articles of jewellery have been 131'..-
up in the new metal, and without the applicatioo
of aquafortis it is quite impossible, even for an ,f;
porienced person, to discover the real quality of k-„,
"gold," as it withstands rubbing and scraping. At
time aluminium bronze was to supersede gold as a
in which articles of jewellery would be beautifully su
cheaply manufactured, but the old fault, namely, Jr a
colouration, soon showed itself, and thus it was threly t
aside. With the now metal now at command that gr°,,,
d !feet has been most successfully surmounted, anti ill,. I
very short time the Abyssinian gold will come into Vile
use, especially as its cost will not be above one-fourth -
t hat charged for even jewellers' gold.
TILE THAMES.—Yesterday the water, which r
03
considerably on Satui day, and flooded the low-lying
,13,1305,
to a considerable depth at Maidenhead, Windsor, -r-'"de,
Egham, Staines, and the district around, began to I'o'
The " Cobler," the noted watermark by which it is ka'),:ia
whether the Thames is in or out of bounds, was tit
visible out of water yesterday morning, and last nig':
was plain that the river had rapidly gone down to warue
rt
proper level.
Yesterday being the anniversary of the claath o
General Count Zamoyski, a requiem mass for the I'o°l.,
of his soul was celebrated at the Polish chapel, Clegly
street, by the Rev. E. Podolski, which was attended or
many of his countrymen residing in London, who clo
cease to deplore this irreparable loss to Poland.