The Sun.
London, England, 1860-12-17 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 17, 1860.

Ift HE BUCKLEYS IN LONDON, at the ST.
JAMES'S HALL, Piccadilly, Every Night at 8, and
a Day Peformance on Saturday Afternoon at 3. Full Pro-
gramme and Tickets may be obtained at 28, Piccadilly, from
10 till 5, and at the Principal Libraries and Musicsellers.
Admission, Stalls, 3s. ; Area, 2s. ; Gallery, ls.—Doors open
at Half-past Seven, and Saturday Afternoon, at Half-past
Two. *** Grand Change of Programme !

ROYAL ALHAMBRA PALACE • MUSIC
BALL.—Admission, Sixpence.
OPEN NIG HUN at Seven o'clock.—Six Thousand Every
Evening, Seeing is believing.

ARGYLL ROOMS, Windmill-street, Piccadilly.
The Handsomest and best proportioned rooms in
Europe, are open for C(nTERTS and DANCING, Conducted
by the well-known artiste Mons. ANTONY L. AMOTTE, of
Parisian cele,)rity. Boulcourt, the greatest Cornet player
in this country, plays solos nightly. Doors open at half-past
Seven, Dancing at Nine o'clOck. Admission, One Shilling.
N.B.—A magnificent Smoking and Reading,-room is added to
this establishment.

MHE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY ROOMS,
High Holborn.—The Best Entertainment in London
consequence of the great influx of strangers to the Me-
tropolis during the CAT fLE SHOW, and the kind patron-
age the establishment always receives on this occasion, the
oncert will commence at halt-past Seven, and Dancing con-
tinue one hour later than usual. The Smoking and Refresh-
ment saloons are most commodious, especial regard being
paid to the comfort of the visitors, and the Reading-room is
well supplied with English and Foreign Journals. Mr. W.
M. Packer's celebrated Band will perform Overtures and
Selections from the standard Operas, and a choice programme
of dance music. The Wines and Refreshments are of the
very first class. Admission, ls.

TEETH-1860—Post free, three stamps. A
TREATISE EXPLAINING Messrs. GABRIEL'S
IMPROVEMENTS in ARTIFICIAL TEETH and
PLEXIBLE CORALITE GUMS, whereby one set will wear
longer than three ordinary ones, and being fitted without
springs, wires, or metals, and without any operation, prove
a valuable desideratum to all who have occasion for the den-
tist's services. None but pure first class materials and
workmanship employed, while the expense is even less than
half the ordinary cost. To be obtained only of Messrs.
Gabriel, dentists to the Prince Dottajana, established 1815,
see diploma, No. 110, Regent-street, W., (next Mechi's) and
:33, and 34, Ludgate-hill, City.
.‘ The advantages obtainable by Gabriel's system render it
pre-eminently superior, and the nearest approach to pert ea-
tio yet attained.' '—Observer.
" ,abriers treatise should be read by all who value health;
their .ystem will save much money and more annoyance."—
Morning' Herald.
For a :dons reasons it is necessary particularly to note the
name, and that the entrance to the city establishment is up
the private passage between Benson, the silversmith's, and
he State Fire Insurance Office.— Liverpool, 134, Duke-street;
Birmingham, 65, New-street.
4

Aut. DARgy G',RIFFITH ON AFFAIRS
ABROAD.

(From the Devizes Gazette.)
Mr. Darby Griffith, having announced a public address
to his constituents and the inhabitants of Devizes on sub-
jects of " political interest," to be delivered at the Town
Hall, was met there on Tuesday evening by a crowded con-
course. The hon. gentleman's address was long, and em-
braced too wide and miscellaneous a crowd of topics to admit
of more than the most cursory notice at our hands. The
first, and by far the greater part of it, consisted of a series
of sketches and anecdotal memoranda relating to his recent
tour in Southern Europe, which were strung together in
chronological order, and formed altogether an amusing and
not uninstructive melange, richly characteristic of the races
of people there inhabiting, and the' political movements
with which the different sections of the Austrian empire
and the Italian peninsula are now convulsed. Interspersed
were descriptive and classical allusions to various places of
interest visited by the hon. gentleman—the ancient Dacia,
Pest (with Buda), Hungary's capital, and its neighbouring
regions; the victorious crusade of Trojan eastward thereof,
and the spots his arms and his subsequent achievements
made memorable in story. Mr. Griffith then took his audi-
tors through the provinces passed in his route to Italy, via
Fiume, Pola, and Trieste. The three latter places were
conspicuous as noted seats of the arts, &c., in ancient
Istria; and the wondrous proportions and general aspet of
the famed amphitheatre of Pole were well described by the
hon. speaker, as were the geographical, physical, and other
noteworthy features of Fiume—which, though the only
part of Hungary proper, could not be depended on as a•
secure harbour. Reviewing the political and social state
of these southern Austrian provinces Mr. Griffith said that
it was no longer a doubtful fact that they were ripe for
insurrection, and that the embers of revolution are
smouldering impatient for outbreak. Hungary's grie-
vances were unquestionable, and a spirit of conciliation
had not marked Austrian supremacy—yet it were unwise
in the former to attempt to achieve any so-called " na-
tional independence," and worse than doubtful policy for
England to favour so questionable an enterprise. Austria
had been our old ally, and if—as really now appeared to be
the case—now that the Metternich policy is not completely
paramount in her councils, Austria desired to introduce
reforms into every branch of civil and judicial administra-
tion, and to heal old sores—better would it be, both for those
communities and the interests of Europe generally, were
Austria Proper and her dependence to accommodate matters
and come to some understanding. (Cheers and counter de-
inonstrations). Austria, it was true, had long, and after
every lesson received both in Hungary and Italy, persisted
in a course the reverse of conciliatory. Her agents and
subordinates were insolent and overbearing after every suc-
cess. They exasperated, where their true policy would be to
win over by gentleness and moderation. To instance an
atrocious case within his own cognl.sance ; An Austrian
officer lodging at a lady's house, on the first storey of which
ran a balcony fronting his own suite of mesas and others
unoccupied, and which the lady herself temposarily used,
went out on the same to smoke a cigar, when finJing his
landlady at the other end taking the evening air (in Soutlxern
fashion) he ordered her off I She declined to retire, mild])'
stating that that part of the balcony fronting the unrented
apartments and opening from the windows thereof belonged,
by established usage, to those apartments. Impatient of
resistance to his arrogant behest, this gallant soldier em-
ployed force to obtain its demand, to which, as the high-
spirited dame opposed her own, the military policeman
snatching his sword from its place in the house, cut her
down, and so disabled her from continuing the unequal con-
flict. But the sequel was the worst, as the cold-blooded and
cowardly incident caused no particular sensation, and was
unnoticed by the authorities. (Shame I shame I) The cases
of Hungary and Venetia were, however, widely different—
Hungary had formed an integral part of the Austrian Em-
pire since 1437—Venetia had only been annexed for 46
years. Her liberation was both just, and in his (Mr. G.'s)
opinion, inevitable. There were other points of difference.
The condition of the. Hungarian peasantry was shown to
be greatly better, particularly in the comfort of their cot-
tage homes, to that of our own agricultural labourers.
On the condition of the liberated Italian provinces, that of
Naples in particular—the chivalry of some, the good and
the bad management of the revolutionary leaders, the in-
discretion of Mazzinian and other chimerical theorists, the
sinister action of priests, the hot zeal of those who aim to
spread the revolutionary element into neighbouring coun-
tries, thereby jeopardising all themselves have lately won,
Mr. Griffith descanted in full, dwelling with much feeling
on unsullied and unselfish patriotism of Ricasoli and
cotemporaries of his type, and passing a warm eulogy on
the single-mindedness and unmatched military skill of
Garibaldi. Trojan's column at Rome, "purified" by a Pope
of its heathenish profanity, and with a statue called that of
St. Peter on its summit, was made a topic for much merri-
ment by the hon. speaker, who did not spare his Holiness
in citing some of the " lying wonders" which are used to
support the system of fraud and superstition upon which
the ecclesiastical edifice he presides over is based. Decayed
to the core, that edifice of imposture and crime was now
tottering to its fall. Mr. Griffith closed his address by
referring in some detail to the events of the last Parlia-
mentary session, his votes and speeches, his freedom from
party shackles, a defence of his own course in the matter
of the late Ministerial scheme of reform. 110 said—There
is one imputation that has been rather freely bandied about
in certain quarters upon members of Parliament who may
have taken part in the duties and the discussions of the
session which really appears to me almost too contemptible
for serious notice—namely, that they have been actuated
by personal vanity and love of notoriety in bringing their
views and convictions before the house, oftener perhaps
than might be acceptable to some of its members. Why, can
it really be supposed that a member sent touch an assembly,
the great council of the nation, and we may almost say of
the world, could be actuated by such a miserable considera-
tion as personal vanity in the attempted discharge of such
duties, or would a stimulus of o low and grovelling a nature
be likely to inspire him with the moral courage necessary to
support him in standing up before so critical and severestn
audience, in the maintenance of the convictions he may
entertain, irrespective of the tendency of the popular or
party cry of the moment ? The noble lord the member for
Middlesex, in a speech some weeks back, appears to have
invented a very ingenious classification of the House of
Commons in relation to this subject. He said, I believe,
something of this sort, that in regard to privilege of speak-
ing, the House of Commons might be divided into the class
of, first, the Ministers, who would in the course of their
duty have to speak a great deal ; then secondly, the leaders
of Opposition, who would have to criticise the acts of the
Government, and therefore must have a good deal to say;
thirdly, would come the class of county members, who were
men of high respectability and great social influence, and
whatever fell from them, therefore, was entitled to great
attention, as they attended largely to the important
business of committees of the house, and used the pri-
vilege of speech with moderation and discretion. Fourthly,
came all the borough members, and they might be consi-
dered as rather an intrusive lot—no doubt those who re•
presented large constituencies and important interests
might properly have something to say about the local in-
terests they were conversant with. The member for Man-
chester might speak about cotton—the member for Liver-
pool, about decks and shipping. The member for Sheffield
Wight have a word to say about cutlery and hardware, and

of Leeds, about the woollen manufacture—but for the
whole tribe of representatives for small boroughs, they
ought to know their proper place among the Parliamentary
hierarchy--the less they said the better, and their appro-
priate function was fulfilled when they had followed
their party into this and that lobby, and supported by
their docile and silent vote the Minister or the Opposi-
tion of the day. (Laughter.) Now, with every pos-
sible respect for the county members, whose respecta-
bility of character in common with the noble lord, I
highly appreciate, I must demur to the doctrine that
the policy or principles of the Government or Legislature
ought to reside chiefly in their hands. The county mem-
bers are in fact the representatives, more than of any other
element, of the property of their respective counties, and of .
the territorial interest of the great families connected with
it—and it would be held to be presumptuous in general for
any candidate to come forward for a county who was not
by himself, his family, or connections, the representative
of s large body of peers and landed proprietors. As a class,
therefore, the county members are almost the last who
ought to have a preponderating influence in the House of
Commons ; and in fact the great Reform Bill was levelled
more than anything else, at the modification of the great ter-
ritorial interest which at that time prevailed in the constitu-
tion of the House of Commons. For myself, concluded the
hon. gentleman, I shall not be induced, by the employment
of any unworthy imputations or sarcasms of the nature to
which I have adverted, from continuing to exert all the
vigilance at my command in checking whatever may ap-
pear to me to be abuses of administration either of principle
or practice, and in endeavouring to obtain good and honest
government for the people. I have no object in entering
that assembly, except to discharge, withhonesty and fidelity,
the trust I have undertaken ; and if I might use such lan •
guage, I would venture to say that, like the votary of a
beautiful though erroneous creed, I would keep alive the
sacred fire of honesty and patriotism on the altar of my
country, even in the midst of the vitiated atmosphere of a
self-seeking and luxurious generation—or in more homely
but sincere phrase, I would, in the language of the Cate-
chism of the Church of England, endeavour to do my duty
in that state of life to which your favour, your considera-
tion, and, I would humbly hope, some portion of your con-
fidence, may have called me. (Cheering.)
At the conclusion of the address, a vote of thanks to the
hon. gentleman, proposed by the Rev. Mr. Manning, and
seconded by the Rev. Mr. Thrupp, was carried by accla-
mation.

perfectly correct. This morning, however, almost
immediately after leaving Tung-chau they observed
large bodies of soldiers moving toward Chang-keia-
wan ; these increased in numbers after they had
passed through that town, and when they reached
the place which it had been decided was to be oc-
cupied by the allied armies, they found it in posses-
sion of the Tartar army, drawn up behind long
lines of intrenchments, only recently completed
(some portions indeed were not finished), with bat-
teries placed at various points, in which there
were a great number of field guns already in posi-
tion, while others were being brought up as rapidly
as possible. Seeing at once that either some foul
play was intended, or that there was some most
fatal misunderstanding—which of the two it was
not difficult to guess—Parkes questioned several
officers as he rode along as to the meaning of all
these movements of troops and preparations for re-
sistance, to which they replied civilly enough that
they did not know, as they were only acting in
obedience to orders which they had received from i
their superior officers, to whom they referred him
for any further information he might desire to have.
Anxious to find some person in authority the party
pushed en to the extreme front of the Chinese posi-
tion, and Parkes was still engaged in vainly search-
ing for one when the advanced guard of the English
army came in sight. There would, at that moment,
have been no difficulty in the way of their all reach-
ing the English lines in safety ; but Parkes felt
that the first thing Sir Hope Grant would do
would be to ask him for an explanation of the fact
of his finding a Tartar force drawn up in order of
battle on the very ground which he had been
given to understand was to be occupied by the
English, an explanation which after his conversa-
tion with the Commissioners the day before, it was
entirely out of his power to give. Knowing this,
and unable to find any officer of sufficient rank on
the ground to whom he could apply for informa •
tion, he came to the resolution of at once returning
and seeking of the Prince of I himself an explana-
tion of the extraordinary proceedings that were
taking place, and requesting him to use his autho-
rity in withdrawing the Tartars, and so preventing
a collision between them and the allied forces. He
at the same time requested Loch to ride on and in-
form the Commander-in-Chief of all the circum-
stances connected with their visit, and of what he
was about to do. As soon as this was settled he
started for Tung-chau once more. Loch went on
to the general, and Col. Walker and the others
remained just inside the Chinese lines, intending
to wait until Parkes should return, accompanied
by Bowlby, de Normann, and Lieut. Anderson,
commanding the escort of Fane's Horse, who, not
dreaming of any danger, had remained behind
when the others left early in the morning, think-
ing to come out quietly later on in the day. In
my last letter I told how Loch, after giving. his
message to Sir Hope Grant, asked for and received
permission to go back and rejoin Parkes, and was
accompanied by Captain Brabazon of the Artil-
lery, with two of Probyn's Horse, carrying a flag
of truce ; also how Col. Walker, after waiting for
nearly two hours riding up and down the Chinese
lines, was attacked and had to ride for his life,
fortunately with all his party reaching the English
army in safety, one or two of them only being
slightly wounded; but I was unable to give you
any more information respecting the fate of the
former, or of Parkes and the' others, beyond what
was contained in a letter which had been received
from the Prince of Kung, a brother of the Empe-
ror, and the newly-apppinted Commissioner in place
of the Prince of I, to the effect that the number of
prisoners in their hands was upwards of 30, and
they were well and well treated, the truth of which
statement your readers will be better able to judge
of when they have read the account of what was
done to the eight who have as yet been returned to
us. _ _ .

It appears that when Parkes reached the Temple
where they had passed the night, he found Bowlby
and De Normann had gone out for a walk, saying
they would return in time for breakfast. After de-
siring the escort to get their horses saddled and to
be in readiness to start at a moment's notice, and
leaving a message for the other, he proceeded in
search of the Commissioners. He had some diffi-
culty in finding them, but at last, with the aid of
the Prefect of the town, discovered them in a
small shabby temple outside the walls, and
evidently not at all well pleased to see him. He
immediately addressed himself to the Prince of I,
and requested to be informed whether the position
occupied by the Chinese army had been taken up
with his sanction and knowledge, and whether he
was aware of the imminent risk there was of a
collision taking place between it and the French and
English troops if it was allowed to remain where it
was. The reply of the Prince was not only
evasive, but given in a half jeering, half insolent
tone, which Parkes had never observed him make
useof before. When pressed to give a direct an-
swer, he admitted that he was aware of troops being
there; but what could Parkes expect—he had not
been willing to settle the day before the point re-
specting Lord Elgin's seeing the Emperor in person,
so that he could not consider that matters were as
yet entirely. arranged ; and even if he had wished
or should wish to withdraw the Tartars, he was not
the Commander-in-Chief—but Sang-ko-lin-sin—by
whom alone such an order could be given. Mr.
Parkes pointed out the absurdity and falsity of
such a reply, but to no purpose; and, after some
further conversation, which he at once saw would
lead to no satisfactory result, and was continued by
the Prince in the same insolent, indifferent tone as
that in which he had commenced it, he left the
Commissioners, throwing upon them the entire
responsibility of having broken off the negotia-
tions. It was evident to him either that the Prince
was really unable to exercise any control over
Sang-ko-lin-sin and his army, in which case it
was useless to waste time in talking to him; or,
what was more probable, that in consequence of
the arrival of large reinforcements of Mongolians
and Tartars from beyond the wall, subsequent to
the starting of the allied forces from Tien-tsin on
the 9th September, and the appointment of the
Prince of I and Muh-Yin as imperial commissioners,
it had been resolved by the war party at Pekin to
make Sang-ko-lin-sin try the issue of another battle,
and that the interview he had had the day before,
and possibly the previous one, at which Mr. Wade
had been present, had been arranged simply with
a view to gaining time, and allowing the fresh troops
to be brought to the front, which result having
been attained the Prince of I was indifferent as to
how soon he threw off the mask and allowed him
to see what was really intended; hence the differ-
ence of his manner on the two days.
On his way back to the Temple, where he had left
the escort, he met Loch, who, having arrived there
safely with Brabazon, had come on to look for him ;
they, returned to the Temple together, found every
one in readiness, and started off on their return to
the army at a sharp canter. They passed without
difficulty through Chang-keia-wan, and continued at
the same pace for some distance on the other side of
it, when they came upon large masses of Tartar
troops, both infantry and cavalry. As they went
along a considerable body of the latter began to
gallop alongside on either flank, blowing up their
matches, getting ready their matchlocks, and clos-
ing gradually down ou them. Seeing this, and
feeling that as they were carrying a flag of truce
it would not do to have the appearance of running
away, they came to a halt for the purpose of
deciding on what was the best to be done. The
moment they did so the Mongol cavalry closed up
in great numbers in front and on either side,
completely shutting up the road in the direction
in which they had been going. An officer came
forward, and, in reply to Parkes, who told him that
they were under a flag of truce, and wished to pro-
ceed without delay, said that he knew such was
the case, but as guns had been fired and the action
must have already commenced, he could not allow
them to pass without the permission of his General,
who was close by. I omitted to mention in its right
place that shortly before they halted they heard at
no great distance a discharge of gingals and heavy
guns, which were probably those fired at Colonel
Walker and the dragoons as they made their
escape. For a moment they thought of attempting
to cut their way through the troops in front of
them, but, besides that, it was almost impossible
they should have succeeded in doing so, they felt
it was their duty to exhaust every reasonable
means of getting out peacefully before committing
any act which might be construed into a violation
of the flag of truce on their part. As the Chinese
officer had spoken with great civility, and
to show where his General was to be found, Parkes
decided on trying to see him, and asked Loch to go
(
with him, which he at once consented to do, anl,
took with them one of Probyn's two Sikhs, carry-
ing a white flag. They arranged with Lieutenant
Anderson that they would return as quickly as pos.
Bible, but that if they did not come soon he had
better not wait, and that if on attempting to move