The Sun.
London, England, 1867-09-16 00:00:00

Department, it appears, had decided on adopting
the new pack-saddle recently patented by Lieut.
APAlahon, and having a sufficient number made bf
contract for the present emergency ; but, on account
of the qualities of the Otago saddles, tested in actual
warfare and in the jungle, it was considered prudent
to defer actual use of the APMahon saddle for
foreign campaigns for the first time in a countrl
where any alterations or change would be impossible/
and to avail themselves of a system well known
and approved by experience. The APAlahon saddlo
is to be thoroughly tested at home and secured for
future use. Tenders arc to be issued immediately
for the manufacture by private contract of sonic
5,000 or 6,000 of the Otago saddles, to be made °f
various sizes for different animals, which, it is stated,
will occasion no delay in the expedition, as the
mountain guns and equipment will not be completes
and ready for shipment before the first week in the
ensuing month, which will afford abundant time to
complete the contracts to any reasonable amount
required.

The 65th (2d Yorkshire, North Riding) Regiment
of Infantry, under the command of Lieut.-Colonel
Wylde, C. 8., arrived at Portsmouth Dockyard
yesterday morning, from Aldershot, by special,
train, via Farnborough, and embarked on board
her Majesty's screw transport Orontes, Captain
Phelps, in the following strength :-35 officers, 621
men, 58 women, 73 children, and 8 horses. The
Orontes will sail this morning for Queenstown, and
after disembarking there the 65th will return to
Portsmouth with the depot of the 2d Battalion of
the 60th (King's Royal Rifle Corps) Regiment.

Tuurt
C °

HER MAJESTY.

BALMORAL, Sept. 14.
The Queen and Royal Family went out as usual
yesterday. Pcincc Christian went deer stalking•
The Right lion. Gathorne hardy arrived at the
Castle yesterday, as the Minister in attendance on
her Majesty.

Mr. Hardy had the honour of dining with the
Queen and Royal Family.

CHARLES DICKENS.

All will rejoice to hear, says the London Review
of Saturday, in an article rather after date by th°
way, that the report, to which we alluded a fort-
night ago, of the precarious state of Mr. Dickens's
health, is entirely devoid of truth. How it orig"
nated we know not ; but there appear to be certain
persons who find a singular and occult pleasure 10
inventing and circulating false reports with refer'
ence to the health of men of eminence. Mr. Dickens
is at the present time perfectly well, and is busy, at
his country residence, Gad's-hill-place, near RocheS‘
ter, on a new work which is to appear in one of the
American journals. Fortunately for himself and for
his readers, he understands the art of preserving his
constitution from the ravages inseparable from the
pursuit of any intellectual occupation, and especially
incidental to the calling of a writer of fiction, who
has to go through a world of emotions (and sonic
of them very painful emotions), over and above
those which he shares in common with all other
human beings. The mere act of imaginative crea-
tion is exhausting ; and in proportion to the inten-
sity, power, and vividness of the creation is the
degree of " wear and tear" which the artist suffers.
Hence the temptation, which writers are not always
strong enough to resist, of recruiting their energies
by the ready aid of stimulants. Mr. Dickens follows
a wiser course. He seeks the great restorative
processes of nature, and, by a country life, by early
hours, by a large amount of exercise in the
open air, and by attention to the great sanitary
laws of life, balances the activity of his head by
fair play to his physical being. He does not con-
sider genius any warrant for neglecting such
matters ; and so we may hope to have him working
among us, and increasing the stock of our pleasures'
for many years to come. Some doubt having been
felt as to the reception he would be likely to meet
with in America, on account of the way in which he
wrote about the United States some quarter of
century ago, the New York Tribune remarks :—" It
is not necessary to deprecate, as some of our contein-
poraries incline to do, a possible hostility towards
Mr. Dickens on the part of the American public.
No such feeling exists. Our people do, in-
deed, remember the ' American Notes,' and the
satirical chapters in MartinChuzzlewit,' and are, no
doubt, of opinion that, as a matter of taste, gr.
Dickens might well have been more gracious. Batt'i
on the other hand, our people like free speech, nu,
appreciate frankness—not forgetting that truth
should be the North Star of authorship, and that
there is a good deal of truth in what Mr. Dickelie
said about us on returning from his first visit to this
country. From the first until now the great
novelist has been true to his duty. At bole
as well as abroad he has attacked every forte
of social abuse, and rebuked injustice, ond
.
laughed at folly, and inculcated sound Pllll
ciples, and faithfully laboured to refine the
character and extend the scope of 111111230
happiness ; and in pursuing that work he has neces-
sarily struck hard blows, and offended arrogant 10
justice, and wounded self-love, and aroused enmity'
But he has not aroused enmity. Of all peoPi
on earth, the Americans are necessarily foremost t 0
recognise a spirit that has purely and powerfully
laboured for the advancement of the human race
and they recognise such a spirit in Charles Dickeos*
To remind them that he once satirised some of their
follies and eccentricities, or that he somewhat pus,
took their character and institutions, is not to blind
their eyes to his genius, or deaden their sense of WS
great achievements."

We are requested to state that the Baroness
Adolphe do Rothschild did not supply flowers for the de-
coration of General Garibaldi's apartment on his late re-
ception at Geneva, as was erroneously reported, and that
the Baroness remained entirely aloof from the proceedings
onnected with the reception of the General.—Times.
A USTRALIANABORIGINES.—The Melbourne Airs
states that the marriage of two educated aborigines was
celebrated on the 10th of July with considerable cerernoo9
at the mission station Bamahyuck, Gipps Land, il3 thepresence of a large number of spectators. In Tasmania,
aborigines have come to their last man, William Lao
" a bluff young gentleman of 26 or 27 ;" but there are three
aboriginal women living, none of them young. Lsoleel
embarked for England in the Ethel, and hoped to be r°-
ceived by the Queen.
CHOLERA. ON TIIE TYNE.—The collier brig jarroWs
reached the Tyne on Friday, with one of her crow, Cb3rZ,.
Knight, aged 30, ill of cholera. He was attended by
Coward of South Shields, who found him in a state of 6)0
lapse, and he died in the afternoon. His remains Were
taken out to sea on Saturday and sunk in deep water.
ro,
Jarrow had discharged a cargo at London from Heleivgf°„a
and the deceased had joined her in the Thames for the r''
down. Ho was in his usual health until ThursdaYl3.!t,,
when ho was seized at sea with a violent attack of dlaof
rhcea and vomiting. It is said that the Jarrow had one
her crew dead at Gravesend also. The Jarrow is one of
.
the old collier class, tho rest of her crow remain hol.
Sho will be kept in quarantine until Monday.
FILE AT A FLOUR. MILL.—A fire broke out coyly
yesterday morning at the flour mill, Southall, which rivv_cri,'
very destructive. The local engines were soon at
attempting to extinguish the flames, but it was I°Aiis
necessary to solicit the aid of the London Brigade•
was obtained, but the fire had obtained such a hold a
.6
building that little could be saved. All the upper fle°,°l,lo
were destroyed, and the granaries in the lower part 0, '
building were much damaged.
THE Moons.—Grouse shooting commenced °llO
several of the moors in the neighbourhood of Sliefaold.%,
Thursday, but looked at from a sportsman's point of VlO a
it was almost a complete failure. The moors being erctic„.
a month later than the usual time was a merciful arra'igii
ment to save the lives of the birds, so that there irligh,tbi-s
all probability bo some good sport the following pow'.
arrangement has fully answered the end intended, for
the
birds are now so wild and strong that it was a very d`
cult matter to get within range of them, and on the 13'3 A
field and other moors scarcely any of the bags eVeobttt
de-
four brace. The birds are by no means numerous,
those that were seen and the comparatively few that v'ocrS
shot appeared to be perfectly healthy. Had tho
been open on the 1201 August scarcely any grouse Nvuin,
have been left for breeding purposes. As it is a larg.o ha
her will escape even the most crack shots, and it is t?co3
hoped that they will repay the moderation which basb
progol3).
shown them by having numerous and healthy
"Wle..ilktd Inclepenatnt.