The Sun.
London, England, 1867-02-18 00:00:00

'THE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 18 1867.

sperm oil, 12,000 barrels whale oil, and 530,000
pounds of bone. The home consumption during the
year has been 20,667 barrels sperm oil, 60,969 bar-
rels whale oil. In 1865 the home consumption was
32,664 barrels sperm oil, and 64,992 barrels whale
oil. The stock on hand in importers' and specula-
tors' hands at the close of the year is 12,700 barrels
sperm oil, 21,000 barrels whale oil, but the stock
of whalebone is not yet accurately ascertained."

of the llumbolt river, in the Nevada, where it is
gathered by the Indians, who strip off the bark from
the dried wood, and make from it very fine and
strong nets. The fibre is said to be finer and
stronger than common hemp, longer than flax, more
abundant in proportion to the wood, and more
easily separated from the wood than either. Native
hemp is also formed in many parts of California,
especially in the moist lands of the Sacramento and
San Joaquin Valleys.
A college for young coloured men has been esta-
blished at Washington called the " Howard
University."

A mulatto slave in Brazil has carried off a
national prize medal for the best work of sculpture,
and also received a paper of manumission. His
statue is a Cupid.

A white man in St. Louis became enraged at a
negro, the other day, and was about to strike him
with a brickbat, when the coloured man fell back
on reserved right : " Look here, white man, don't
you strike me wid dat are rock—don't you do it,
eah. I'd have you to know dat when you strikes
me, you strikes a Bureau !"
A coloured man in Wilmington, North Carolina,
has had letters of administration granted him as
executor of the estate of another coloured man,
deceased. It is probably the firs: instance of such
a grant or such administration at the South.
Communications from Texas represent that in
the north-eastern counties of the State the freed-
men are more oppressed and brutally treated than
in the days of slavery. Says the report, " The lash
is more cruelly administered than ever before ;"
and freedmen who have cultivated land and raised
crops have been robbed of all the fruits of their toil.
A member of the grand jury of Red River
County was heard to say that they dared not
indict these criminals known to them to be
guilty. Outrages, from cold-blooded murders
down, have occurred, and there is no one
to whom the blacks can appeal for redress.
A recent letter from Austin gives an account of the
murder of two freedmen—one near Austin, and the
other at Home Bend. The murderers were white
men. A case is reported where a freedman at
Prairie Lea was cruelly whipped for addressing a
young man as " Tom," instead of " Master
Thomas." Another was shot for refusing to lend
his bottle of whisky to two white men. The civil
authorities will not take any steps
to bring the
offenders to justice. In Panola County there
exists a gang of five or six white men who
live by robbing the freedmen. The citizens
themselves are afraid of them, and the civil
authorities powerless, because witnesses dare not
testify against them. The military commandant at
Victoria having refused to assist the Freedmen's
Bureau officers, General Griffin, the military com-
mander of the State, has issued an order to the
effect that all military officers must assist the
Bureau in the contingencies provided for in the
Bureau and Civil Rights Acts. The only cheering
news from the State relates to labour. General
Kiddoo, in a recent tour of observation, found the
negroes actively making contracts for the ensuing
crop. In spite of immigration there is still a
paucity of labourers.
The oldest stove in the United States, if not in
the world, now warms the hall of the capitol of
Virginia, n Richmond. It was made in England,
and sent to Virginia in 1777.

Theatrcal and Literary.

LIVERPOOL THEATRES.

The growing taste for things theatrical in the
" good Old Town" has, during the past three or
four months, engendered a brisk competition be-
tween the several managers, resulting in the pro-
duction of entertainments equalling any, and sur-
passing many, of the most successful efforts of the
Metropolitan theatres ; the difficulty now being not
in finding a plan to pass an enjoyable evening,
but in selecting one among
the many places of
amusement, each excellent in its own particular line.
Monday next will be a red-letter day in the diaries
of Liverpool playgoers; each house, to judge by the
announcements put forward, having determined to
surpass all its previous efforts.

At the Prince of Wales " Anthony and Cleopatra"
is to be produced, with gorgeous scenery by Grieve,
and musical effects of a very ambitious character,
Mr. Walter Montgomery being specially engaged
to play Anthony. Mr. Henderson is said to be de-
voting all his energies to the getting up of this his first
great Shaksperian revival, and his experience in
the production of spectacular entertainments, coupled
with the vast resources of his new house, has
raiied the expectations of his patrons to a high
pitch. - - _

At the Theatre Royal Mr. Byron will introduce
Miss Madge Robertson, a young lady who has
already achieved considerable success in the higher
walks of her profession. Miss Robertson is the
sister of Mr. T. W. Robertson, one of the ablest
dramatic writers of the day, and this fact alone will
insure for her a warm reception in Liverpool, where
Robertson's comedies are well and favourably
known. Mr. Arthur Stirling is also engaged. True
to his burlesque proclivities Mr. Byron supplements
the foregoing attractions by the production of one
esques, in which Mr.
principal character.
Stirling's brief but
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successful engagement is to be succeeded by the
T. P. Cooke National Prize Drama, it True to
the Core," with beautiful scenic effects, by
the Messrs. Brew. This " Sailor's story of Eng-
land's glory" ought to become the success of
the season in the great metropolis of the maritime
world. At the " Varieties," which had a brilliant
opening on Alonday last under Mr. English's excel-
lent management, and which has fully realised the
most sanguine expectations, the great Vance and the
wonderful gymnast Verreck are to make their first
appearance before a Liverpool audience. The re-
nowned Laurie ballet troupe are also engaged.
Mr. Barney Williams is playing in Philadelphia,
in a local drama entitled the " Philadelphia News-
boy." He will shortly arrive in England, accom-
panied by Mrs. Williams, to fulfil an engagement
at the Theatre Royal, Liverpool.
Mr. T. W. Robertson's new drama, " Shadow
Tree Shaft," is having a successful run at the
Princess's Theatre.
On Thursday evening Mr. Charles Dickens read
" Dr. Marigold " and the " Trial from Pickwick"
to a large and fashionable audience at St. George's
Hall, Liverpool.

Mr. Arthur Sketchley has been introducing
" Mrs. Brown " in Liverpool, where the worthy
lady had a highly flattering reception.
_ _ _

Mr. Falconer has arrived in New York, where he
is making preparations for the production of his
celebrated drama " Omagh," at one of the Broad-
way theatres.

The following were the leading features in the
New York amusements during the week ending
Wednesday, January 23 :—At the Winter Garden,
Mr. Edwin Booth has appeared four times in his role
of Bertruccio, in Tom Taylor's " Fool's Revenge,"
a version of " Rigoletto," and renewed the impres-
sion of many of his admirers that he has no cha-
racter displaying more power than that of the con-
flicting jester and father. A new face (to New
Yorkers) has supported him, in Miss Rachael Noah,
from the Boston Theatre, who has displayed much
grace and no small proportion of juvenile power,
as Fiordelisa, the daughter of Bertruccio.
Mr. Booth has also re-appeared as Romeo, with the
very sweet and pleasing Juliet of Mad. Methua
Scheller. On Tuesday
evening, the 22d, at the
Winter Garden, Mr. Booth was the recipient of a
very handsome and costly medal, nearly a year in
preparation, from editorial and other friends, in re-
cognition of his wonderful success as Hamlet.—
At the Olympic the Richings' English opera troupe
have been very successful, and given a constant
change of operas to fine houses. The troupe, which
numbers Miss Richings as prima donna, Miss Zelda
Harrison as secundo donna, Mr. Castle as tenor, Mr.
Campbell as baritone, Mr. Seguin as basso, &c.,
commenced with " Martha" on Monday evening,
the 14th, and followed with " Maritana," " Fra
Diavolo," " Don Pasquale," " Somnambula," and
the " Doctor of Alcantara"—all within the one
week, and all given with rare excellence. The
season bids fair to be a triumph for the

Olympic. —At the Broadway Theatre Mr. John
E. Owens has concluded, and the Worrall Sis-
ters commenced an engagement on Monday
evening, the 14th, in the fairy piece " Cam-
aralzaman and Badoura" and the farce " Out
to Nurse." They have been very flatteringly re-
ceived.—At Niblo's the " Black Crook," with still
new dances and dresses ; at Wallack's " Ours,"
worthily popular, and giving no signs of debility ;
and at the New York Theatre " Centrillon," still
attracting on the "Black Crook" system, though
by no means its equal in any regard.—Manager
Lester Wallack generously gave a benefit to the
families of the lost on the Fleetwing, on Monday
evening, the 21st, the whole company taking part.
—At Barnam's Mrs. G. C. Howard and " Uncle
Tom's Cabin" have continued very successful, while
the Van Amburgh Managerie, now one of the finest
and costliest collections in the world, has supplied
undoubted and beneficial attraction to thousands
upon thousands of the children and their elders.—
" Horse Comedy" and the " Jockey Club Races "
have been the leading comicalities at the New
York Circus, where the season is and con-
tinues one of the most successful known to that
cliss of amusement in New York.—Mr. Bate-
man announces the closing concert of the Bate-
man Concert Troupe for the season of 1866-7, at
Steinway Hall on Wednesday evening, the 23d
January.—The Caledonian Club held their annual
ball at Irving Hall on Friday, the 11th, with an
excellent attendance and the festivities spiritedly con-
ducted, though a little tardy iu commencement,
under the management of Chief M'Lellan, Ex-Chief
Mitchell, &c. The sons and daughters of Scotia, as
well as their guests, enjoyed the occasion hugely.—
The Grand French Opera has continued, at the
Theatre Francais, Offenbach's " Orphee" being the
feature of the week ; while at the Thalia Theatre
the German troupe have also been giving grand
opera, in the " Marriage of Figaro," with Madame
Frederici as prima donna.—Mr. A. H. Pease's grand
annual concert took place at Steinway Hall on
Saturday evening, the 19th, with the marked and
pleasing features of the assistance of Madame
Gazzaniga, Madame Camilla Urso (the vieliniste),
&c.—Mr. llartz still remains at Dodsworth's Hall,
with his marvels of the " Head in the Air,"
" Growth of Flowers," and other diablcrie.

There are now in Paris 63 political and 511 non-
political journals.

The honour of setting up the first printing-press
belongs to Massachusetts. The first newspaper
published in North America was the Boston News
Letter, begun in 1704 by John Campbell. The
Boston Gazette, published in December, 1719, by
William Brooker, and printed by James Franklin,
was the second newspaper. Then came the New
England Courant. The Boston Weekly Rehearsal
and Boston Evening Post were next established by
Thomas Fleet, whose mother was the veritable
" Mother Goose." The first newspaper published
in Gotham was the New _York Gazette, by William
Bradford, in 1726. Then came the New York
Weekly Journal, which was noted for the raciness
of its advertisements, of which the following is an
example :—" Whereas the wife of Peter Smith has
left his bed and board, the public are cautioned
against trusting her, as he will pay no debts of her
contracting. N. 8.-1 he best of Garden Seed sold
by the said Peter Smith at the sign of the Golden
Hammer."