The Sun.
London, England, 1860-12-28 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, ''nIDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 28, 1860.

the Lord-Advocate. Mr. BLACK had been guilty I
of aiding the defeat, for the session, of the Minis- I
terial Reform Bill ; and also of withdrawing a good
and popular measure in regard to the Annuity-Tax,
after having taken it to a second reading; and of ,
doing it in favour of the Lord-Advocate's obnoxious
measure, This measure, however, was the only
offence of the Lord-Advocate, as he had, of course,
supported the Reform Bill of his Government ; but
the perpetuation of the Annuity-Tax was quite
enough to irritate exceedingly the now very nume-
rous inhabitants of Edinburgh, who, since
the great Disruption, have had to support the
"Residuary Church," as they term it, by com-
pulsion, and their own Free Church by
their voluntary contributions. When to
them we add a considerable number of previously
misting Dissenters, it is not wonderful that the
author and the accepter of a bill which has resulted
in fixing for perpetuity a tax as odious in Edin-
burgh as Church-rates are in all English towns, or
as the abolished ministers' money was in Ireland,
wa cannot wonder that the t wo members found th em-
selves in pretty hot water. The result of the meeting,
indeed was, after all the care taken to pack it, that
the LORD PROTOST could not tell which side were
in the majority; he, therefore, gave the benefit of
the doubt to the accused members, who will cer-
tainly find themselves much more at ease on the
floor of the House of Commons than they did on
the platform from which they addressed those who
loudly denied that they vt ere their representatives.

Mr. BLACK, who spoke first, was unquestionably
the greater sinner. His. conduct had been—" Old
Tfrhig"—to the backbone. While a £6 franchise
was a party move, in opposition to Mr. DISRAELI,
he voted for it as an amendment to throw out the
antagonist of the Whigs. We 'are not giving too
dark a view of Mr. BLACK'S conduct,'_ for the
BLACK view itself is this—" At that time, and in
the circumstances we were then placed, I was dis-
posed to recommend £6. And why ? because, in
the first place, Lord JOHN RUSSELL had moved
and carried a resolution against Mr. DISRAELI,
proposing among other things £6 as the limit of
the franchise, and on that occasion I voted with
'my party in what was really a party motiou,
and thus got in some degree committed, although,
if I had voted on the other side, I should have been
worse committed still, for then Mr. DISRAELI, for
the Protectionist party, showed their willingness to
offer the same bribe to the Radicals, or to come
even lower, and Mr. BRIGHT, besides many of
those who glory in the name of Advanced Liberals,
would hardly be content with a £5 franchise, but
would only take it as an instalment. All parties
in the House of Commons appeared to me to be
committed to the lowering of the franchise, and in
these circumstances I was disposed to recommend
the highest limit that was likely to be got."

A view this certainly which needs not the addi-
-1 tion of any paint political of ours to make it darker
in the eyes of all hearty Liberals. We believe,
however, that Mr. BLACK spoke on Monday the
sentiments of a whole battalion of " Old Whigs"
who would hardly like to speak so frankly them-
selves, Mr. BLACK openly says, "1 wanted Mr.
DISRAELI out, and Lord PALMERSTON in—Reform
of Parliament, in any popular sense, I had, on re-
flection, turned my back upon ; it was useful, very
useful, to eject Conservatives, but there its utility
ended. Mr. Desraeli was ready to give as low a
franchise, if not a lower one, than Lord .Tohn Russell,
and for that very reason lam all the more gratified
that I helped to turn him out." We thank Mr.
BLACK for these honest revelations. We know
that no man is more deeply in the councils of the
" Old Whigs," and as we always attributed to them
the political meanness of turning out the Conserva-
tives, not in the interest of reform, but of party
merely, and always predicted that we should get
a better franchise from the Tories than from the
Whigs, we are glad to have our views of Whig
policy confirmed from so well informed a quarter.
We beg, however, in fairness, to acknowledge
that we do except Lord JOHN RUSSELL from
the charge of indifference to his own measure. We
believe his amendment to eject Mr. DISRAELI was
factious ; but we have little doubt that, afterwards,
his slow pace with his own bill was due to the
Anti-Reform party in the Coalition Cabinet, of
which party the Premier is notoriously at the head.
It was the old Whigs, in and out of the Cabinet,
who used the very respectable citizen of Edinburgh 1
as one of their tools, that really "put the spoke in 1
the wheel'' in the Reform Bill of last session.

We certainly shall not follow Mr. BLACK in his
recitation of the old reasons of recreant Liberals for
rejecting the franchise when formally proposed by
Lord J-OHN RUSSELL, which they willingly accepted
from him as a promise in order to get their party
back to power. This much we say of all the clique,
that we regard them as we should commercial men,
whQ, having the means to pay, yet refused to
honour a bill which they had accepted. Would that
they could be as summarily dealt with. It was not
the Tories who deprived us of Reform last session.
They were, at least, but subordinate actors. Mr.
DISRAELI had declared that he would let it pass.
Afterwards, when " Old Whigs" began to whisper
to the Tories "Why did your leader serve us so ?
we looked to him to get rid of the bill for us—go
at it, and we will back you "—then, indeed, the
Tories gladly followed the promptings of their
Liberal friends, and the disgraceful process com-
menced of smothering the bill with talk. This we
believe to be the true history of the Whig Reform
Bill of 1860, and we must say that it was, politi-
cally, a BLACK business.

THE CAPE OF GOOD ROPE MAIL,

PLYMOUTH, FRIDAY.

The Celt, with the above mail, arrived here this
morning. She left the Cape on the 21st ult., St.
Helena on the 30th, and Ascension on the 4th inst.

The Celt brings 25 passengers, among whom are
Major Mannsell and Assistant-Surgeon Crisp of
the 59th Regiment, and Captain Hall of the 13th.
Her cargo comprises 1,369 bags of copper-ore,
100 tons of antimony, 320 bales of wool, and a
small quantity of wine.
British Kaffraria was proclaimed a separate
colony on the 30th October.
The territory between the rivers Keiskamma and
Great Kei constitutes this new dependency.
A league had been formed in the Eastern pro-
vince to procure a separation from the West.
Influential meetings in favour of this movement
had taken place in all the principal towns of the
East, and large sums had been subscribed with the
same object.
Sir George Grey was still at Cape Town. But
little progress had been made in public business.
The public journals complained of the delay.
Several souvenirs from Prince Alfred had arrived
and been distributed.

The 13th and 59th Regiments were holding
themselves in readiness to proceed to New Zealand.
Admiral Koppel was last heard of at the Manritius.
The Brisk had captured the slaver Manuela with
765 slaves on board.

The slaver Lyres, taken on Oct. 13, had been
condemned.

The Hornet had arrived at the Cape.
The lassie, a vessel belonging to Cape Town,
had been discovered to have gone slaving.
The ship Lord Clyde, from Calcutta for London
had been burnt.

Immigration prospects were favourable, as there
was plently of work at outlying places. Proceed-
ings had been taken for the naturalisation of
Adam Kok and Griguas as British subjects under
feudal tenure.

Letters had been received from Zanzibar, and
also from Mr. Moffat. Commercial and monetary
affairs at the Cape had improved.

DOVER, Thursday.—lis Royal Highness Prince
Alfred, attended by Major Ccwell, R.E., and Captain Du
Platt, arrived here last nightby the 7 10 train, and, after
dining at the Lord Warden liotel, embarked in the mail
packet John Penn, specially 'rdered for the service of the
Prince; and, under the supeintendence of Capt. Jenkyns
proceeded to Ostend, en you eto Germany. His Royal
Highness was received at therailway station and attended
to the packet by Major-General Crawford, Major Jones,
A.D.C., Mr. J. G. Churchyard, &c. The weather had
been very tempestuous the p•evious night, but had mode-
rated during the day. After the departure of the Prince,
however, the wind began to blow hard again from E.N.E.,
and during the night freslened into a strong gale. The
John Penn, nevertheless, a-rived off Ostend at one p.m.,
but a dense fall of snow and sleet were so blinding that the
packet had to feel her way hto harbour by soundings, and
at length got alongside tin: quay at 2.30 a.m., when the
Prince landed, and remainal at the Bath Hotel until the
departure of the German train at 7.15 a.m. The weather
came on so bad last night that the Belgian Government
packet remained in Dovpr harbour all night, and left with
the mails this morning. It is understood that Prince Alfred
will return to England about the 6th of January.
His Excellency, the Earl of Carlisle, who has
been staying on a visit to the Duke and Duchess of Suther-
land at Trentham, has left for Castle Howard, his lordship's
seat in Yorkshire. •
We understand a marriage is arranged to take
place between Lieutenant-Colonel Cust, of the Grenadier
Guards, and Lady Florence Lascelles, sister of the Earl of
Harewood.
We hear a marriage is arranged to take place
early in the spring between Miss Victoria Russell, eldest
daughter of Lord John Russell by his first marriage with
Lady Ribblesdale, and Mr. Henry Montagu Villiers, eldest
son of the Bishop of Durham, and nephew of the Earl of
Clarendon, K.G. The fair betrothed is a goddaughter of
the Queen.
The funeral of the late Marquis and Earl of
Dalhousie took place on Wednesday.
A testimonial; a service of plate of the value of
120 guineas, was yesterday presented to Mr. G. N. Tyrrell,
late chief superintendent Of the London or southern division
of the Great Western Railway, by the working staff.
The Weekly' Register denies the statement that
the late Duke of Norfolk left a large sum 'to the Pope. It
says that when the will is proved, it will be found to con-
tain fto legacies. •
The Paris correspondent of the Weekly Register
asserts that since tho return of the Empress Eugenie, the
Emperor has declined to allow her to attend any meetings
of the Council of Ministers, as formerly. The writer says
that the Empress has presented Cardinal Morlot, her con-
fessor, with 100,00 Q francs, as an offering to the Pope.
The last number, of the Bulletin des Lois contains
a decree, dated Dec. 17, approving a convention between
the Minister of the Interior and MM. Bower, Trotter, and
Curtis, for laying down a submarine telegraph between
France and the United States.
The half-yearly meeting of the Canada Company
took place yesterday. Out of the funds in hand in London,
amounting to £26,044, the directors recommended the pay-
ment of a dividend of £2 10s. per share, free of income tax,
which was agreed to.
The tobacco manufactory at Florence, a Govern-
vernment establishment, caught fire on the 21st. A quan-
tity of tobacco was destroyed to the amount of about 8,000 f.,
but the establishment was insured at Venice and Trieste.
The fire is considered to have been accidental.
THE WEATHER.—SOUTHAMPTON, Thursday.—
The severe frost and cold continue. We had another heavy
snowstorm last night, and a considerable quantity of snow
has also fallen at intervals to-day. There is now (5 p.m.)
every appearance of a further heavy fall, with the wind from
the east.

CRYSTAL PALACE—The revels attracted a large
concourse of visitors yesterday, numbers of whom found
their way to the lakes, and amused themselves on the ice.
The Palace was lighted up in the evening, and the enter-
tainments went off with perfect success. One Shilling Day,
Thursday, Dec. 27.—Admissions on payment, 6,350; ditto
by season tickets, I,3Bo—total visitors, 7,730.
EXECUTION AT DURHAM.—The execution of
Milner Lockey for the murder of Harrison, at Urpeth, took
place in front of Durham Gaol yesterday morning. Along
with Lockey, Thomas Smith, for the murder of John Baty,
at Winlaton, also suffered the extreme penalty of the law.
GALLANTRY AT SEA.—At the Liverpool (tempo-
rary) Sailors' Home; Mr. Imrie, chairman of the Liverpool
Local Marine Board, on behalf of the President of the
United States, presented to Captain Donaldson, of the
Liverpool ship Roderick Dhu, a valuable sextant, bearing a
suitable inscription, in acknowledgment of his gallant con-
duct in having rescued the crew of an American vessel.

ACCOMMODATION FOR THE COAL. TRADE AT THE
BIRKENHEAD DOCKS.—The Mersey Dock Board, at their
meeting yesterday, agreed to meet the demands of the coal
trade at Birkenhead, by letting a large quantity of land on
the margin of the great float at the rate of ls. 3d. per yard
per annum for seven years, and to expend £4,000 in laying
down lines of rails, &c. During the discussion which took
place on the subject, it was elicited that the coal trade of
Birkenhead had increased from 62,000 tons in 1851 to 300,000
tons in the present year.
THE IRON TRADE.--DUDLEI, Dec. 27.—The
iron masters of the district held their preliminary meeting
this afternoon at the hotel in this town. There was a nume-
rous attendance, and the feeling of those members of the
trade who were present was very unanimous in favour of
maintaining the prices agreed upon at the last quarter
day.: The new rules, under the Mines Regulation and In.
spection Act of last session, which the mine owners of this
part of the kingdom have resolved to submit to the Secre-
tary of State for his approval, formed almost the only topic
of discussion.
THE IRON TRADE.—BIRMINGHAM, Dec. 27.—The
usual preliminary meeting of the ironmasters in the South
Staffordshire and East 'Worcestershire district was held to-
day, at the Hotel, Dudley. There was a very full attend-
ance, and a resolution for maintaining existing prices during
the ensuing quarter was passed with only one dissentient.
Very little discussion took place upon the present inactive
condition and probable future prospects of the trade, the
proceedings being for the most part confined to a conversa-
tion upon the special rules under the Mines Inspection
Act, which the mineowners have adopted, and which, after
the requisite publicity has been given to them, will be sub-
mitted for the approval of the Secretary of State for the
Home Department.
LONDON AND NORTH-WESTERN RAILWAY.—
A special general meeting of the proprietors was held yes-
terday, at Euston Station, the Marquis of Chandos in
the chair, for the puypose of creating £208,125 stock of
the company, and authorising the issue of the same, or
so much thereof as may be required in exchange for stock
or shares now held by the shareholders of the Warrington
and Stockport Railway Company, in the proportion of
£9 58. London and North-Western stock for each £lO
stock .or shares of the Warrington and Stockport Com-
pany, in pursuance of the powers contained in the War-
rington and Stockport Railway Leasing Act, 1859, for
the purchase of such railway. And also for the purpose
of creating £496,884 additional capital in shares, in pur-
suance of powers contained in the several Acts of Parlia-
ment relating to the company. And also for the purpose
of authorising the appropriation and issue of the said
capital, and of stock already created, to the shareholders of
the Shropahire Union Railway and Canal Company, in
exchange for the stock or shares now held by them, in the
proportion of £5O London and North Western stock for
each £lOO Shropshire Union stock, in pursuance of the
resolution of the special general meeting of the company
held on the 21st day of June, 1860. The noble chairman
explained that the object of this meeting was of a purely
formal Ohara, far, and propoaod roaolotiond in accordano•
with the terms of the advertisement by which it had been
convened. These having been agreed to, the meeting
adjourned.

SERIOUS DAMAGE TO RYDE PIER.—In the heavy
gale of Tuesday night a great deal of damage was done
both on shore and afloat. Two schooners, the Havelock
and the Thomas, and the ketch Rose, were driven through
Ryde pier. the Thomas, collier, was the first; she was
driven broadside on, and made a clear sweep of it. She was
followed by the Havelock, also a collier. The Rose cut her
way through in another part of the pier. Several lighters,
&c., were sunk. The Thomas and Havelock were both
moored to the Pier Company's moorings, and all the da-
mage done them and the pier, it is understood, will fall on
the Pier Company.

THE GREAT JEWEL ROBBERY.—James Thomas
and Elizabeth his wife, were yesterlay placed before Mr.
Arnold, the magistrate, at the Westminster Police-court,
charged with being concerned in the late robbery of £2,000
worth of jewellery from No. 3, Lowndes-square, Belgravia,
the residence of Lady Talbot de Malahide. The main
evidence against the man was tho finding of a hat, with his
name and address pasted in the inside of it, on the roof of
the adjoining house to 'the one in which the robbery was
committed. There was no evidence against the woman.
She was ordered to be discharged, but the man was re-
manded. None of the stolen property has been as yet dis-
covered.

A MAN ROASTED TO DEATH, AT HULL.-0,11
Tuesday night, a young man was found in the hold of the
sloop Hope, of S wainefleet, near Goole, lying in the Queen's
dock, at Hull, roasted to death. The deceased obtained a
living by frequenting the vessels and subsisting on what
the seamen gave him. The accident was first discovered
by John Bayes, a sloopman, whose vessel was lying along-
side the Hope. Observing smoke and sparks issuing from
the hold of the Hope, he proceeded at once to pour buckets
of water down wail the fire was extinguished. On de-
scending to see what extent of damage had been done, he
discovered the deceased lying at full length near the cabin
stove, with the upper part of his body and one of his arms
burnt to a cinder. The deceased, it is supposed, went into
the cabin to warm himself, when the fumes from the coke
overcame him, and while lying on tko cabin floor his dress
aught Are.

'IET NEWS.

(REUTER'S TELEGRAMS.)

DEPARTURE OF THE QUEEN OF NAPLES.

MILAN, DEC. 27.
The Perseveranza states on good authority that
the young Queen of Naples has left Gaeta.

GAETA, DEC', 24
The bombardment continues day and night. The
firing is replied to by the besieged.

VIENNA, DEc. 28.
The official Mener Zeitung contains two Imperial

decrees :

The first orders that in view of the present
extraordinary state of things the forced currency
of bank notes (zwangcours) in Lombardo-Venetia
shall be maintained.

The second orders that the payment of the inte-
rest of the national loan shall be effected in bank
notes with the corresponding agio.
The decrees are preceded by two reports of the
Ministers of Finance, stating the motives for pro-
posing the measures.

PARIS, FRIDAY MORNING.

The Moniteur publishes the text of the treaty
concluded with China, and a despatch of Baron
Gros detailing the ceremonials which accompanied
the signing of the treaty.

A letter from Messrs. Mires and Co. has been
published, announcing the extension of the sub•
scription to the Turkish Loan, and stating that
120,620 bonds have already been subscribed for.

TURIN, DEC. 27.

The official Gazette of to-day publishes four royal
decrees, dated Naples, Dec. 17, declaring the pro-
vinces of Naples, Sicily, the Marches, and Umbria
to constitute an integral part of the State of Italy.
The King will leave Naples on the 28th inst.

PARIS, DEC. 27 (Evening).

The Pays says :—" The tendency of public opi-
nion presages that the 3aribaldian party will
obtain the majority at the elections to the Italian
Parliament, Count Cavour has the intention of
retiring, at least provisionally, from the Sardinian
Ministry."

CONSTANTINOPLE, DEC. 19.

The Sardinian ships are still detained at Galatz
and Sulina. Their cargoes of munition: have been
sequestered by the Hospodar, in compliance with
orders from the Porte.

The Principalities aro agitating in favour of

Hungary.

BERLIN, DEC. 27.

The ireuz Zeitung publishes a telegram from
Vienna, stating that the Emperor has already
sanctioned the resolutions of the conference of
Gran, and has resolved upon convoking the Hun-
garian Diet for February next.