The Sun.
London, England, 1867-01-01 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONLON, TUESIMi EVENING, JANUARY 1, 1%7

circumference, having its course due west. From
Denver it ascends Clear Creek to Empire City,
crossing the Snowy Sierra at Berthauds Pass, and
descending immediately into the Middle Park. From
the snowy Sierra to the Sierra Wasatch it crosses
the valley of the great Colorado down by the White
river to the Green, and up by the Wintah river to
Wasatch. Then it continues along a succession of
parks and valleys uninterrupted by other great alti-
tudes, and along the borders of a river through a
country lying low and protected among mountains,
with a fertile soil and a climate genial at all seasons.
The through distance by this Pass is 403 miles, a
saving alike in space and in'the practicability of the
route. The Western division penetrates the mountains
of Nevada and California, through one of the most
difficult countries ever undertaken by engineers.
The scenery along this road is sublime in its gran-
deur, and awe-striking in its sublimity. Bridges
span chasms, tunnels penetrate mountain summits,
and the line winds round precipices and crosses
gorges by viaducts leading over roaring torrents.
Ten thousand men are at work, and some of the
most difficult sections have been completed. One
summit tunnel penetrates 1,700 feet of rock. Diffi-
cult as the work undoubtedly is, the Californians
have pledged themselves to run their cars to the
Salt Lake City, from San Francisco, under three
years from this date ; and not only are they the most
energetic of Americans, but accustomed to penetrat-
ing mountains and moving hills.
It is confidently said that the route will be com-
plete throughout in four years, when San Francisco
will take a similar position on the Western to what
New York has taken on the Eastern Coast. But
Philadelphia is awaking to her own advantages, and
moving in her own interests. It is asserted that
the true Atlantic terminus is that city—that the
road from ocean to ocean, from city to city, is direct,
cutting the Union into halves. A steam line from
Liverpool to Philadelphia has already been formed,
and in a few months the boats will be plying.

We beg our readers who take an interest in this
grand new highway to retain in their recollection
the sketch we have given, as we will recur to the
Union Pacific lines frequently and more in detail
hereafter.—Anglo-American Times.

Marvin, of Florida, and Governor Orr, of South
Carolina, iu their respective messages to the several
State Legislatures, oppose the Constitutional Amend-
ment. Governor Worth wants the negroes to emi-
grate to the Northern States, at the expense of the
Bureau. Governor Orr, on the contrary, wants a
Homestead Law passed, and the negroes retained,
and would provide for the indigent. He does not
regard free labour as a failure, though the grain
crop is unusually short, and the cotton is very
deficient. Outside the war debt, South Carolina
owes $5,250,000.

A member of Congress elect from Georgia, Hon.
W. A. Woolford, has applied • successfully to the
Boston Tract Society for 100 Sunday school
libraries for the white and black Sunday schools of
his district.

During a recent investigation into certain
establishments in New York charged with evading
the Government tax, some curious disclosures
have been made concerning the liquors with which
that city is supplied. One house has been turning
out vast quantities of an article retailed in Broad-
way at 10 and 15 cents per glass, which is com-
posed of the following ingredients :—" To forty
gallons of common whisky add thirty gallons of
water, five gallons of the tincture of Guinea pepper,
one quart tincture of pillitory, two ounces of
acetic cether, one and a. half gallons of strong tea,
and three ounces of pulverised charcoal."
TELEGRAM TO THE POPE.—ANSWER OF THE PON-
TIFF.—As our readers are aware, the prelates lately
assembled in council at Billtimore sent a cordial
greeting to his Holiness through the Atlantic Tele-
graph. It left Baltimore on the 9th of October and
reached Rome the same afternoon in about fifteen
minutes, making allowance for difference of time.
The wording of the telegram was as follows :
" Seven archbishops and forty bishops, met in coun-
cil, unanimously salute your Holiness, wishing you
long life, with the preservation of all the ancient
and sacred rights of the Holy See." This despatch
carried joy and consolation to the afflicted heart of
the Pontiff, as appears from the following letter ad-
dressed by his direction to our Most Rev. Arch-
bishop by Cardinal Barnabo, dated October 24 :
"The telegram which the Bishops of the States of
the American Union assembled in council had the
happy thought to address to the Holy Father proved
to be of great comfort and consolation to His Holi-
ness, and so highly did he appreciate its spirit that
he ordered it to be immediately published in the
official journal of Rome, for the edification of his
Roman people and of the faithful at large. His
Holiness looks with interest for the acts and decrees
of the Plenary Council, which he expects to receive
in due time, and from which he hopes a new im-
pulse and continued increase to religion in the
United States will result. He has, however,
directed me to express directly to your amplitude,
and through you to all your colleagues, his
great pleasure, and to request you to thank
them for the interest they have taken and
still take in defending the Holy See and in
vindicating its contested rights. Moreover, his
Holiness has learnt with satisfaction that the
Papal loan is succeeding also, through the co-opera-
tion of the American Episcopate. He thanks them
particularly for this, and nourishes the hope that
such co-operation will not cease, and that thence a
prosperous result may be obtained. In the mean-
time, I pray the Lord that He long preserve and
prosper you.—Rome, from the Propaganda, Oct.
21,18G6.—ALEXANDER CARDINAL BARNABO, Secre
tary. To the Most Rev. Martin John Spalding,
Archbishop of Baltimorc."—Baltimore Catholic
Mirror.

PUBLICATION OF BANNS IN AMERICA.—In some
of the New England States the banns are published
by out-cry from the pulpit on three public occasions,
or the names of the intended matrimonial contract-
ing parties are posted up in the church vesti-
bule for the same length of time. 'We have seen in
a Massachusetts church, by the side of the door, a
small recess in the doorpost having a pane of glass
in it, behind which these notices were posted.
But this latter fashion was not a good one, as too
many people ou Sunday visited this matrimonial
bulletin after the first bell ringing, as they would a
newspaper-office bulletin, merely to learn the news,
but did not enter the church. The better way was
found to be to post the names on a pillar inside the
building. All sorts of devices were resorted to by
which the law might be satisfied and yet the wed-
ding be kept secret. Sometimes the publication
would be made in the most delicate " fine hand,"
and posted wrong end up at the top of the pillar.
Many of the more curious worshippers on entering
would mount a chair in order to decipher the an-
nouncement before they could compose themselves
to prayer. The old Connecticut fashion was to
read the banns before the sermon, but it was found
to furnish such a fund for whispering and gossip
during sermon time that it came to be the fashion
to make the marriage announcements the last
thing at the afternoon service, thus avoiding dis-
cussions in church, and proving an inducement
to attend the afternoon service. A singular occur-
rence at St. Louis the other day is what has led us
to make these remarks. A Roman Catholic clergy-
man was reading the usual proclamation in the
Marriage Service, when a lady stepped forward and
stated that the intended groom had promised her
marriage, that she held him to his agreement, and
forbade the union. The priest refused to finish the
ceremony, and the couple were forced to go to a jus-
tice of the peace, who made it a mere matter of
dollars and cents, and performed the legal cere-
mony.—Cleveland (Ohio) .Herald.

The Rev. Mr. Adams, cf New York, is preparing
for publication the jourr al and correspondence of
Audubon, the naturalist.

The coal fields of Americ9, cover an area of
225,000 square miles. It is estimated that they
will last that country 6,000 years.

_ -
Three clergymen of the British American provinces
have recently accepted settlements with congrega-
tions in Boston.
Mr. George Bancroft's last volume has given
offence to many students of American history.
Professor Greene, a grandson of General Greene,
of the revolution, has written a pamphlet refuting
Mr. Bancroft's statements concerning his grand-
father.

of Gokok and Desnoortoys, bison's horn work, and
other articles of native workmanship. Scinde
will exhibit musical instruments, books, stationery,
furniture, lacquered turned work, embroidery,
porcelain, earthenware, fancy pottery, cutlery,
carpets, tapestry, gold and silver thread, cotton, and
woollen fabrics, shawls, jewellery, weapon, knives,
apparatus for spinning cotton, ropes, &c., shoe-
makers' tools, articles of harness, &c., saddlery,
together with models of boats, &c. The articles
from Poona will embrace figures, in wood, ivory,
and earthenware, brass work, perfumery, manu-
factures, &c. In addition to the articles exhibited
by the Bombay Government, the Rao of Cutch in-
tends sending some swords and shields inlaid' with
gold and silver, spears, daggers, bichwoos (crooked
daggers) inlaid with gold and silver, plated mugs,
muffineers (vessels for containing perfumery), card
cases, cigar cases, flower holders, toasting forks,
paper knives, rose-water sprinklers, thimbles, pen-
holders,—all of silver, some wine labels made of wild
boars' tusks mounted with silver, silks, cottons,
chintzes, &c., all of which are of Cutch manufacture,
The Jam of Nugger, H.H. the Rana of Poor-
bundhur, the Thakoor Sahib of Morvee and the
Thakoor Sahib of Goudal also intend to contribute
a number of articles of native manufacture, most of
which will be of considerable value.---:Times of India,
Nov. 28.