The Sun.
London, England, 1858-12-25 00:00:00

FRANCE.

41 per Cents. 97
Do. end month —
3 per Cents 73 15
Do. end month 73 35
Bank Shares
Credit Mobilier
Do. Account

' Credit Poncier.... 695
Belgian 4i . ...... 100
Piedmonteso (5) .. 93 75
Roman .......... 93
Austrian •
..... 94 25
Spanish Threes .. 47 75
Home Debt ...... 43 50

Cash. Account.
Orleans
Northern
New ditto. 845
--•
845
Lyons and Mediterranean BB5 885
New ditto
Geneva 620 •
625
Midi
Southern
590 • 688 75
Western 607 50 610
Eastern
Grand Central
Sardinian
425 • 420
Austrian 640 •
638 75
sight paper 25f. llfc. ; money,
Exchange on London, at si
25f. 9c. ; three menthe, -paw, 244. b 7.
c.;
95c. money, 24f.

BELGIUM.
The Belgian Senate at its sitting of the day
before yesterday adopted three bills which had
been previously voted by the Chamber of Repre-
sentatives. One was for a credit to pay the funeral
expenses of M. Partoes, the late Minister of Public
Works; another for granting a pension of 3,000 f.
to his widow ; and a third, reducing the duty on
patentes (licences to trade) hitherto paid by. Belgian
and foreign boatmen by 51/-- per cent. The loss to
the revenue by this redaction will be about
160,000 f. a year.

The following is a more detailed account of the
proceedings relative to the proposition of M. Dolez,
in the Belgian Chamber af
Representatives. When
the general debate on Art. 4 of the second part of the
Penal Code was concluded, that gentleman, who was
the president of the committee on the bill, proposed
that the examination should be then considered at
an end, and that the c
Bider the whole bill.
adopted, the debate came committee should recon-
This proposition being
to a close. The Chamber
then took up the consideration of the budget of the
Foreign-office, when a proposed addition of 43,000 fr.
to the allowance of Ministers at foreign Courts was
opposed by MM. Coomans, De Muelenacre, and De
Vandenpeereboom. Eventually, the House divided
on the point, when the Government project was
adopted-by 37 votes to 24,

SPAIN.
The Madrid Gazette of the 19th contains an ac-
count of the presentation on the previous day of
M. Barrot to the Queen as French ambassador at
her court. The court carriages, as usual on such
occasions, conveyed the ambassador and the persons
of his suite to the palace, where they were received
with the usual Ceremonial. M. Barr of addressed
her Majesty as follows :

Madame,---I have the honour of delivering into
your royal hands the letters from nay august
Sovereign which accredit me at your court as
his ambassador. These letters give to the mission
which has been confided to me its true t character;
they, in fact, express the sentiments of Iligh esteem
and inviolable friendship with which his Imperial
Majesty is animated towards your royal person,
and the lively desire which he feels to see strength-
ened more and more the bonds of friedship and
good neighbourhood which ought always to unite
France and the fine and noble country over which
you have been called by Providence to reign. The
Emperor is deeply convinced that the deyelopment
•

PARIS, FRIDAY.
Prince Jerome yesterday gave private audiences
to the following Ministers Plenipotentiary :—M.
Corvaia, of the Republic of the Equator ; M.
Alberdi, of the Argentine Republic ; M. de Marco-
leta, of the Republic of Nicaragua ; and Baron
d'Adelsward, of Sweden and Norway.
The Debats thus observes on the appeal of
M. Montalembert, and the explanation certainly
throws a new light on the effect of the altered
sentence, which will surprise many readers :
" The most important point to be noticed is that
of the two articles, 1 and 3, of the law of July 27,
1849, alluded to by the judges of the First In-
stance, Art. 3 is the only one alluded to in the
new judgment, Now, Art. 1 being the only one
by virtue of which M. de Montalembert was
brought within the purview of the law of Feb.
27, 1858, relative to measures of public safety, it
follows that M. de Montalembert is relieved from
this consequence. Further, the Court reduces the
imprisonment from six months to three. Such are
the essential differences which we observe between
the judgment in the first instance and that just
rendered. The result shows that M. de Monta-
lembert's appeal was not, as has been pretended,
without any serious object or real interest for him,
since the effect of the judgment of the Court of '
Appeal is to d;scharge him from all the most serious
consequences of the judgment of the court
below."

Vice-Admiral Romain-Desfosses, Commander-in-
Chief of the Mediterranean squadron, has visited
all the vessels of the Russian squadron. Each ves-
sel gave him a salute of 11 guns, and the French
ship of the line Algesiras returned each salute.
Vice-Admiral Jacquinot, Maritime Prefect of
Toulon, the day after, visited the flag-ship of the
Russian Admiral. He also received a salute of 11
guns, which was returned by the French flag-ship,
the Bretagne. The Napoleon had been making
experiments near the Iles d'Hyeres with a cannon
of a new model. The result is not stated.
The Moniteur publishes the following report to
the Emperor from the Prince Minister of Algeria :
" Sire—ln creating the ministry which you have
deigned to place undr my charge, and in forming
in it the direction of the affairs of Algeria and the
direction of the colonies in general, the idea of your
Majesty was not to maintain the separation of those
two services, but on the contrary to unite and to
impart to them one common impulse. Could, in
fact, the object of the institution of a Ministry for
Algeria and the Colonies be attained, if, for instance,
the administration ofjustice, ofpublic instruction and
worship inAlgeria continued to be separated from that
of the same services in the other colonies ; or if, in
matters of finance, public works, and commerce,
those services should continue to be managed on
different principles ? I thought, from the first day,
of substituting for that territorial division a divi-
sion of the services according to their different at-
tributions, but it was advisable not to embarass the
progress of affairs by any sudden change. At pre-
sent there is nothing to prevent this organisation,
the necessity of which has been confirmed by ex-
perience, and it is moreover desirable that it should
be accomplished before the commencement of the
next year. I have consequently the honour to sub-
mit to your Majesty the subjoined decree, which
suppresses the direction of civil affairs in Algeria
and the direction of those of the other colonies,
and which approves of the division, according to
their attribution, of the services of the Ministry of
Algeria and the Colonies.—Accept, &e.,
" NAPOLEON (JEROME.)"
The report is followed by the decree above alluded
to, signed by the Emperor.
BOURSE, Dee. 24.—The market has been very
flat, owing to reports about the new Industrial
Bank, and to the uncertainty as to its attributes.
Threes have been done at 73f. 25c., and are now
at 73f. 350. ; Mobilier varied from 975 f. to 982 f.
50e. ; Austrian, 638 f. 75c. to 641 f. 25e. ; Lyons,
885 f. to 887 f. 50c. ; Orleans, 1,392 f. 50c. to 1,395 f. ;
Southern, 588 f. 75c. to 590 f.; and Northern, 1,005 f.
to 1,006 f. 25c. The following were the last quo
tations

A number of Spirit-rappers in Dudley, Tipton,
and the neighbourhood, have formed a society. On
Sunday afternoon they held a meeting for " prayer
and inspiration," and professed to have held com-
munication with the spirit of John Wesley, who
had commissioned them to preach the doctrines of
John the Baptist in Dudley, promising if they
obeyed this injunction to assist them; but, if they
failed, threatening them with the deprivation of
the power of speech. Thus " direeted,' a body of
them proceeded to the Primitive Methodist Chapel,
New George-street, Dudley, where the congregation
(about 500) were assembled for evening service.
Mr. Rollason, of Oldbury, was the preacher, and
was in the midst of his discourse, when a Mrs.
Stocks (a woman well-known in Dudley), seated ix
the gallery—the appointed leader of the Spirit-
rappers—extending her right arm, and upturning
her face as if in prayer, with many strange gesti-
culations, burst forth, crying—" Lord, I thank
Thee that Thou hast permitted me to come to this
congregation, and to talk to poor sinners of their
souls!" About twenty other Spirit-rappers simul-
taneously commenced similar displays of ges-
ticulation and action, groaning and shouting.
The minister stopped his discourse ; and the
functionaries of the chapel went about to
the Rappers to endeavour to procure silence
and order, but this only added fuel to the flame;
the shoutings and noises only became louder, the
Rappers calling on the Deity in the most revolting
way. One man, a carpenter, held one of his arms
upright and stiff, and declared he could not put it
down. One woman, a member of the congregation,
was so much alarmed that she was attacked by
fainting fits, and was carried out. One man asked. Mrs. Stocks how she could so conduct herself, be-
ing one of a "wicked and-adulterous generation "
herself'. She took no notice, but continued to de-
nounce judgment, &c. So great was the tumult
within that hundreds of persons collected outside
the building; and some time elapsed before the
riotous Rappers could be ejected and quiet restored.
Mrs. Stocks has been called on to give an explana-
tion, and she says she and her friends did what
was dictated to them, on peril of losing their speech.
The circuit minister of the Primitive Methodist
body, aided by the stewards, is investigating the
matter, and has demanded a public apology for
these unseemly proceedings. If this be refused,
then the Rappers will be brought before the magis-
trates on a charge of disturbing religious worship,
under the act which renders offenders liable to a
penalty of £4O Unless some effectual stop be put
to these strange freaks, it is apprehended that vari-
ous other congregations will receive similar noisy
visits from the Spirit-rappers.—Manchester Guar
dian.

THE SUEZ CANAL REPUDIATED.—The Pres'se
d' Orient speaks of a circular of the Porte which utterly re-
pudiates all responsibility with respect to subscribers to the
cutting of a canal through the Isthmus of Suez, and adds
that the Sultan has not yet given his approval to the en-
terprise.
ROMAN REMAINS.._ Roman remains, /consisting
of fragments of columns more than three feet in diameter,
stones of a large size richly sculptured, portions of walls,
some medals, and numerous fragments of pottery, have just
been found in the park of a gentleman, named Caillau, at
Cantles (Indre-re-Loire). According to Gregory of Tours,
a Roman temple stood on that spot, and was demolished by. St. Martin. From the investigations already made, it ap-
pears that the temple must have been about 100 feet long
by about 25 feetwide. At Andelot (Haute-Marne), Roman
baths in a good state of preservation and other antiquities
have been discovered.
THE MISTLETOE.—Mistletoe, formerly called
" All heal," was probably used on account of the respect
paid to it by the Druids. The ancients had a superstition
regarding this custom which it may not be out of place to
mention here. According to their mystic religion, which
gave to every tree its attendant spirit, and every grove its
divinity, they believed that the sylvan deities, finding it too
cold in winter in their forest homes, sought a shelter in the
dwellings of man, if prepared for their reception by being
adorned with evergreens, in which they remained till the
spring, when the people returned the boughs to the forest
from whence they came, trusting that the wood spirits, in
gratitude, would watch over and protect from all danger
those who had afforded them a shelter from the frosts of
winter.—ComAnion for Youth.