The Sun.
London, England, 1860-12-27 00:00:00

THE gf-N,_ LONDON, THURSDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 27, 1860.

YA

P R OE S S'S THEATRE.-

Lessee and 'tanager, Mr. A. Harris.

THE SUN.
LONDON, THURSDAY, Di3C• 27, 1880.

The Chinese War at a certain and positive end
is turning out to be rather a Chinese Peace at a
very insecure and vague commencement. The
fugitive Emperor, HIEN-FUNG, it appears, is after
all not likely to return Pekin-wards quite so soon
as was expected. Neither will the Anglo-French
allies, we are now led to conjecture, find them-
selves enabled to return immediateiy,with anything
like prudence, from the scene of their. recent warlike
achievements. The Celestial Empire, there is now
every apparent probability, will be bei,gre many
more months can have elapsed in a conflag-ration
of rebellion against the abhorred Tartar dynasty
from one extremity to the other. It was hardly
within reason to look for any result other than this
as the sequel to the late ignominious discomfiture of
that detested and alien race recently driven in a
panic flight by (as we have already called the Allied
Forces) a comparative handful of Europeans, driven
forth in craven terror and confusion out of the capi-
tal of the empire far away into the distant wilds of
Tartary. Moreover, in addition to the degradation
of the Tartar rulers thus proclaimed by the events
themselves that have in their regard so very recently
and notoriously come to pass—there is that impor-
tant article in the new Treaty negotiated by the
Allies with the appalled and terror-stricken Govern-
ment—that all-important article which provides for
the publication far and wide throughout the vast
extent of the Chinese Empire, the publication far
and wide throughout that country of the total
prostration and abject submission of the old and
hated Tartar Government.
The announcements that will then have to .be
made to a people numbering in all from 300,000,000
to 400,000,000—a people already either ripe for re-
volt, or in a state of open, armed, and triumphant
rebellion—will include amongst their number
acknowledgments of a weakness so contemptible
that the publication of those same announce-
ments can hardly fail, by any chance whatever,
to be the signal for an overwhelming revolutionary
outburst. What admissions indeed will there
not have been made in this way to the Chinese
people by their Tartar Government ? The latter
will thus, among other things, have been con-
strained formally and deliberately to acknowledge
that they have given in their assurances of regret to
France and England, to the " outer barbarians" of
Western Europe for that miserable ambuscade of a
year and a half ago at the Taku fortifications.
They will have to confess that they have promised
to pay down in hard coin to their conquerors
indemnities of no trivial magnitude—to France an
indemnity of two millions and a half, to England
an indemnity, we must still believe, approximating
to just doable that amount—for it will be actually
deplorable if Lord ELGIN should prove to have
extorted from the murderers of our heroic tars on
the Peiho, and of our other lamented countrymen
who were lately prisoners at Pekin, one dolt, one
tael less than the round sum of £5,000,000 sterling.
The Chinese EMPEROR and his advisers will fur..
thermore have to trumpet throughout the length and
breadth of the whole Empire—through the reso-
nant scroll of this last notable Treaty with France
and England—they will have to trumpet thus
throughout the length and breadth of China— the
cession of Kowloon to England, the opening of
Tien-tsin to the commerce of Europe, the
admission of the Anglo-French Ambassadors
en permanence within the sacred and awful
precincts of the violated capital of the Empire, the
restoration of churches, schools, and cemeteries,
to the survivors of the Catholic missionaries,
from whom they were now two hundred years ago
torn by violence. These and other acknowledg-
ments of a nature hardly less strikingly significant
of the completeness of the late discomfiture of the

rulers of the Chinese—those hated rulers them•

selves IN ill now, by one of the binding articles of
the Treaty, have to promulgate, we cannot but
think, to their owa inevitable destruction. The
publication of the Treaty under the actual circum-

stances of the empire must unavoidably act (we are

perfectly satisfied of this) like the application of

a vast number of lighted torches to a mass

of dried and detonating combustibles.

we haire to do, now that the Tartar dynasty and

its Ministerial and Military supporters have
pledged themselves to this most rash and insensate

proceeding on their part, is to wait and listen

patiently until there comes to us, sooner or later,
the reverberation of the stupendous explosion.
While we are thus waiting and listening for tid-
ings of the new and wide-spread revolt of the

Chinese people against their Tartar Government—it
is pleasant to think of the surprizes in store for us

all, both in France and England, upon the arrival

'rom China of the costl7 works of Oriental art corn-

.ng to us in the shape of spoil from the summer

palace of Yuen-min-yuen. Treasures such as these

have never before this left the shores of the Chinese

Empire to gratify the curiosity of Europeans. Ima-

gine among this wonderful spoil from the Hamp-
ton Court Palace of Pekin—the effigy of an elephant

of natural size in gilt and bronze enammelled ! An

edition of the writing of CONFUCIUS embellished

with notes in the handwriting of the Emperor
HANG-DI, a very mighty potentate, no doubt, but
in the 'Journal du Havre absurdly likened to the
Great NAPOLEON ! Together with literary and
artistic works like these, the whole of the gor-
geous wardrobe of the Chinese EMPRESS, or rather
of the Tartar EMPRESS of the CHINESE. From the
which, by the way, may probably come
a hint or two to the ladies of Paris
and Belgravia not altogether unworthy of their
future consideration—the results of which may
possibly present themselves to view before very
long, through the illustrations of Le Foilet. Already,
indeed, this new page of Modern History, but just
now opened at the late seat of war in China, shines
temptingly and untiringly before the observant
European like the resplendently illustrated and
emblazoned page of a new Oriental entertainment.
It is the land of ALADDIN we are reading of—and
in the rub we have recently had with the Chinese
we seem to have had a rub also at the Wonderful
Lamp.

The secession question in America is becoming
one of which our gamblers might make an excel-
lent subject for a bet. The chances seem so even
and the points to be considered afford such scope
for guessing, that it may well puzzle Americans
themselves perhaps more than us who look on from
a distance, to say whether Secession or Union will

win:

There is one thing in favour of secession which
most of us overlooked at first. This was quite
natural, since the threateners of secession complained
of one thing only—the election of a Republican
President. That was to be quite sufficient to
justify the South in severing its connection with
the North ; it would be a sectional and hostile elec-
tion, and the section which vas vanquished had
full right to withdraw from union with its
conqueror. Soon, however, both Mr. DOUGLASS,
LINCOLN'S opponent, and the President, showed
that it was impossible to justify separation from
the Confederacy on account of a perfectly consti-
tutional election ; and the Disunionists were
reminded that some overt act on the part of Mr.
LINCOLN and his government, was in all reason
necessary to justify so violent a measure. Then,
the "Personal Liberty Laws" of some of the
Northern States were alleged, as insults
demanding some violent remedy. Yet these
laws, very singularly, were denounced
most by just those States whose slaves
could not run away except through other
Slave States ; plainly showing that they, like
Mr. LINCOLN'S election, were only a pretext. These
laws, moreover, did little beyond preventing the
abuse,
law. against freemen, of the infamous fugitive
slave
The truth then came out, that the
Southern States see at last that they have lost all
their trade and commerce, or nearly all, to the
North, and they think that they may, by a bold
stroke, at once bring back their commerce and
avenge themselves for the first great Presidential
defeat they have ever known.
Most of our readers are probably hardly aware of
the enorteous difference between the commerce of
the Slave and Free States; and as the American
Federal revenue, with the exception of land sales,
is nearly all derived from customs, the contributions
of each to the expense of the general Government
are in the proportion of the customs. In the year
1858 the Free States entered goods to the amount
of 249,446,139 dollars; the Slave States, the same
year, entered but 33,167,011 dollars' worth of
imports. 7 For the year 1855, Mr. ROWAN HELPER
gives the following figures from official sources :
Tonnage. Exports. Imports.
Free States 4,252,615 .. 167,520,693 .. 236,847,810
Slave States.... 855,517 .. 107,480,688 .. 24,586,528
In the Post-office the discrepancy is on the
same scale. For the year 1855 the total receipts,
in the Free States, were 6,390,238 dollars; in the
Slave States, 2,220,043 dollars. While the cost of
transmission was actually nearly equal, being,
in the Free States, 2,608,295 dollars; and in the
South, 2,385,953 dollars—showing to what an
extent the North provides the South with postal
advantages. Whatever advantages the South
derives from the Federal - Government, it has at
least hitherto had them uncommonly cheap. In
1854, for instance, the customs of the States
amounted to about sixty-four millions of dollars, of
which the Southern States contributed only about
five millions!! At the present time Mr. EDGE
says they contribute only about three and a half
millions, out of about Ally millions dollars to the
State Customs.
Let our readers not skip these few figures.
They speak marvels for the deteriorating effect of
slavery on commerce. Until so lately. as 1816 the
Slave States took the lead in imports less a million
of dollars ; and it must be galling beyond endur-
ance to the public men to see themselves distanced
so enormously by the Free States in commerce,
and its wealth diffusing blessings, as in everything
else. It is remarkable that when in 1833 South
Carolina, and the South generally, were in favou r
of " nullification", General JACKSON made the
shrewd observation that " the tariff was only
a pretext, and disunion and a southern
confederacy the real object—that the next
pretext would be the negro or slavery
question." The prediction seems to be verified.
The same State takes the lead; she boldly comes
out now with the summons to all the Slave
States to join her in a Southern Confederacy,
and she is again also proclaiming aloud that the
South must regain its lost commercial position,
and that Charleston is to become the New York
of the South. In one respect the South has,
commercially, heavy ground of complaint against
the North—the federal tariff is a protectionist,
not simply a revenue tariff. The South has always
seen clearly that free trade is its interest. The
Northern States of America are as bad as France
has been for their fear of free commerce. They
have compelled the South to purchase their dear
manufactures, when by a merely revenue tariff'
they might have raised a mueh larger sum for
federal purposes. The Americans, the Northern
States especially, are half a century behind Eng-
Isnd in commercial freedom.
There seems to be little doubt then that com-
mercial aspirations are very much the life and
strength of the Secession cry. The Presidential
defeat is, no doubt, deeply felt and resented, but
the more wide-awake politicians of the South
think that all this mortification and anger may
be turned to another account. They are anxious,
therefore, for precipitation. The Union party in
the Southern States, and it is much stronger
than it dare avow itself to be, invents
reasons for delay. This the Separatists
fear above all things. Time might soon
show that Northern ascendancy was, after all,
not so bad to bear, as it is mortifying to Southern
vanity, and time and reflection would certainly
show that commerce could not be created at
will. Capital would not risk itself in a slave
state, and a slave state could neither command
eapital nor turn the present course of trade at its
pleasure. No Northern Confederation created a
New York or a Boston, and no Southern Confedera- ,
tion could turn a Charleston into a second New
York. Men whose interests were at stake would
Noon perceive this, and the political heats would

soon cool down when once it was seen that Dollars

were in danger.
Somehow, we can hardly bring ourselves to
believe that the Union is in permanent danger.
A foolish vote. and professed separation, there may
be in one State or in several, but it remains to be
seen by what overt acts effect would be given to the
vote. It is doubtful whether a State would go so
far as refusal to pay federal custom, or as claim-
ing the federal property lying in the State, and
doubtful whether the seceders would like the bur-
den of paying for their own post-office, and the
heavy charge of an independent Government.
They might, perhaps, keep for some time out of
foreign wars, and need no army on that account,
but—their worst enemy will be in their
own bosom. A brutally oppressed population
equalling themselves in numbers in some
States are a foe before which they even
now continually quail, which compels them in
many places to sleep as it were on their arms, and
which might, any day, kindled by some unthought
of spark, prove a conflagration which should
sweep the whole land, and consume the oppressor.
Indeed President BUCIIANAN would have us believe
that this fear haunts even now the hearth of
every matron. And so it ought. Every slave-
holding nation richly deserves to live in fear. But
what is the use of these men, trembling with a
guilty conscience before their own victims, talk-
ing of secession—a secession sooner or later to
servile war—a certain secession to increased diffi-
culties and unbearable responsibilities. A good
deal of ma a d talking, probably a few mad votes,
and finally " thinking better of it," seems, there-
fore, to us, the most likely result of the present
commotion in the United States, though under
such peculiar circumstances, no one could ven-
ture on a " political prophecy."

The glorious frosty weather of the last few days
has come to enhance—for the wealthy and well-to-
do at least—the seasonable enjoyments of Christ-
mas. Ice three inches and a half in thickness
tempted yesterday 10,000 people at a time to dis-
port themselves, either on skates or shoe leather,
on the ice in Regent's-park, and also on the Serpen-
tine. The Long Water in Kensington Gardens,
again, had some 6,000 skaters and pedes-
trians on its frozen surface together. The
Round Pond within view of the old Palace, 2,000
others ; the ornamental pool in St. James's-park,
4,000 others. The more ardent among the lovers
of this graceful and athletic wintry exercise, ap-
peared to be making a day of it in earnest, with,
as a matter of course, all the customary conse-
quences—immersions, falls on the ice, broken heads,
broken limbs, and more or less severe contu-
sions. They sent contingents, moreover, to
all the other frozen sheets of water in the
suburbs of London and its immediate neigh-
bourhood, among other places to the Hamp-
stead Ponds, to the ponds on Clapham-common, to
the ice in Victoria-park, and at the Crystal Palace
out at Sydenham. The professional men, confined
in their offices all day, enjoying their sport
after nightfall by the light of flambeaux and
by that also of coloured Bengal fires rendering the
snowy scene more than ever picturesque. It will
be well while the bright side of the picture is
brought thus vividly before the public view, it will
be especially well and seasonable to remember the
other, the dark side also—resulting from weather
that yesterday morning brought the thermometer
down to 27 degrees, and caused the barometer to
be indexed during the day at 29.54, with
a wind keenly north easterly. What is one man's
meat, says the proverb, is another man's poison ;
what is life to us, is death to you. A season like
this the delight of the sliders and skaters—is the
severest 'part of the whole twelvemonth for the
humbler sections of the community, and, conse-
quently, the time of all others when the multiplied
wants of the poor, put to the sharpest test the capa-
bilities and resources of even the most thriving of
our great charitable institutions.

What's in a name ? Much ! Very much indeed.
The Warrior, clad in armour, is to be launched
on Saturday, said a gentleman at a
party. "I. wonder," said another, " what
will they call the great iron ship building at
Chatham ? The Wonderful, of course, exclaimed a,
third. "Not so," said a lady, " it should be called
THE IRON DUKE!" Bravo I bravo I!" exclaimed
the Whole Party. For, rejoined the Lady, we
'have had an Iron Duke on Land, and now we
ought to have one on the Water to keep him in
countenance." A general cheer saluted the forth-
coining IRON DUKE.
Letts's Almanack and Bills Due Book for 1861
has appeared some time since, and fully sustains
its previous well established reputation. It com-
prises a very full analysis of the Treaty with
France, the Aets of last Session of Parliament—
London and Country Bankers—Tide Tables—in
short, everything that can interest the Commercial
Man as well as the Man of Business, and deserves
well of the Public support.

THE BISHOP OF WORCESTER.—The new Bishop
of Worcester, Dr. Philpot, was first wrangler in 1829, the
present accomplished and scientific Duke of Devonshire
being second wrangler. The contest between the two was
very close, and a few days after the duke (then Mr. Win.
Cavendish) carried off the first Smith's prize, Mr. Philpot
being second prizeman. Dr. Philpot is generally and
deservedly respected in Cambridge, He was Vice-Chan-
cellor on the occasion of the inauguration of Prince Albert
as Chancellor of the University, and on that occasion, a
on every other public appearance which he made, acquitted
himself to the entire satisfaction of the University. Dr.
Philpot is not in religious opinions a party man, and there
is, perhaps, no party in the country which will not consider
the appointment a good one.—. Derbyshire Courier.
SOUTHAMPTON, Wednesday.—The screw steamer
Bremen, belonging to the North German Lloyd, Capt. II:
Wessels, will not leave this port for New York till Satur-
day, her departure having been delayed by the time occu-
pied in fiiting her with a new screw.
WEST SUSSEX,—The election of a member of
Parliament for West Sussex, in the room of the Earl of
March, now Duke of Richmond, took place to-day in the
County-hall, in the city of Chichester. Major Barttelot, a
Conservative, and member of one of the oldest families in
Sussex, was elected without opposition.
PRICE OF GOLD.—The quotation of gold at Paris
is about 11 per mile premium, and the short exchange on
London is 25.171 per £ sterling. On comparing these rates
with the English mint price of £3 17s. 101 d. per ounce for
standard gold, it appears that gold is rather more than
1-10th per cent. dearer in Paris than London. By advices
from Hamburg the price of gold is 424 per mark ; the short
exchange on London is 13.4 per £ sterling. Standard gold
at the English mint price is, therefore, about 2-10ths per
cent, dearer in Hamburg than in London. The course o,
exchange at New York on London for bills at sixty days'
sight is 100 to 102 per cent., at which rate there is a profit
on sending gold:to the United States.

CRYSTAL PALACE.—The nnmber of persons on
the different pieces of water was about 6,000, of which fully
half were congregated upon the lower lake. The ice was in
. the firmest and most capital order, and not a single accident
occurred. The Humane Society have, however, sent down
a body of men in case of casualties.—One Shilling Day,
Wednesday, Dec. 26.—Admissions on payment, 20,334;
ditto by season tickets, 2,953.—T0tal visitors, 23,287.
A letter from M. Kossuth to a friend in Paris
contains the following passage relative to Count Ladislaus
Teleki, who has been delivered up by the Saxon authorities
to the Austrian police :—Had he really travelled rith a
false passport? I do not know. But I declare, on my
honour, that he travelled on his private affairs only, and
that his excursion to Germany had nothing whatever to do
with politics.

Owing to the authority given by M. Mires to the
Turkish Government to draw in anticipation for a certain

sum on account of the new loan, a rather numerous supply
of bills, at three months' date, drawn upon him by finan-
cial houses at Constantinople, appears to hare been remitted
to London within the last few days.

REMOVAL OF THE COURT TO THE ISLE OF
W IGHT.—According to present arrangements her Majesty
is expected at Osborne, on Wednesday the 2d of January.
Lady and the Misses Graham have arrived in
Park-street, from Vienna.
The Right Hon. B. Disraeli and Mrs. Disraeli
have passed through town for Haldon House, Exeter, oa r.
visit to Sir Lawrence and Lady Palk.
The Right Hon. Sir Edmund Head, Governor-
general of Canada, and Lady Head and the Misses Head
have left Farrance's Hotel on a visit to the Duke of New-
castle at Clamber Park.
The Right Hon. B. Disraeli and Mrs. Disraeli
have passed through town for Haldon House, Exeter, on a
visit to Sir Lawrence and Lady Palk.
We are requested to contradict the report of the
weak state of the Earl of Yarborough ; his lordship's health
is, on the contrary, greatly improved.
We understand that a marriage will shortly take
place between Capt. Ferguson, of the Grenadier Guards,
only son of Admiral Ferguson, of Pitfour, N. 8., and the
Hon. Mrs. Ferguson, and Miss Hood, eldest daughter of
the Hon. Colonel and Lady Mary Hood.
Lord Panmure will now become Earl of Dalhousie
—the title of marquis falling with its late possessor. The
Dalhousie estates, to which his lordship succeeds, are valued
at about £5,000 a year.—Deindee Advertiser.
Accounts from Athens announce that the Greek
Government is actively engaged in preparing for the
crisis which menaces the East. It is said that a grerat
French banking. house has consented to raise a 'can of
20,000,000 f. for its use. The Greek'Government, it is
added, proposes to devote the amount of the loan to the
increase of the army and navy.
DEATH OF THE RECTOR OF LINCOLN COLLEGE.—
OXFORD, Dec. 26.—The Rev. James Thompson, D.D.,
rector of Lincoln College, expired this afternoon at the
college lodgings, after a. serious illness of six months' dura-
tion, at about half-past one. The rector was elected to the
headship by a majority of the fellows, after a contest which
obtained certain notoriety in 1851, previous to which he
held the rectory of Cublington, Bucks, to which he had
been preferred by his society, and from which he was re-
called for that purpose. He proceeded to tiv, degree of
8.A., 1823; M.A,, 1.8`26; 8.D., 1833; and D.D., 1852.
The patronage is in the gift of the fellows of the college.
Dr. Thompson was a firm and consistent Conservative.
A SOLDIER KILLED BY HIS COMRADE.—On the
night of Tuesday last a shocking event occurred at the Hut
barracks, occupied by the Military Train Corps at the en-
campment at 'Woolwich. It appears that some dispute
took place between John May, a private of the 2,1
battal, on
of the corps, and a comrade nampa Knight, the
latter accusing the former of keeping possessiok of a pipe
which belonged to him. May left the barracks, but was
pursued by Knight, who attacked him in a savage =inner,
and May fell heavily, receiving a fractured skull from con-
tact with a large stone. The sufferer was soon conveyed to
the hospital of the corps, where every attention was paid
him, but the injuries received were so extensive that he died
within two hours after admission. On hearing of his com•-
rade's death, Knight ran away from the barracks, and,
although several pickets were sent in pursuit, be has not
yet been found. Information of the occurrence has been
sent to Mr. C. J. Carttar, coroner for 'West Kent, who will
hold an inquest on the body.
MURDEROUS ASSAULT.--A seaman named Pat-
rick O'Brien, belonging to her Majesty's steamship Cum-
berland, is now an inmate of the Royal Marine Hospital,
Woolwich, having, it is feared, received fatal injuries from
a brutal and cowardly attack made upon him by four pri-
yates of the Woolwich division of Royal Marine Light In.
fantry. It appears that on the afternoon of Christmas-
day O'Brien, who had leave of absence from his ship, now
at Sheerness, fell in with the Marines at Woolwich, and,
after treating them at several publichouses, proceeded to
an eating house where the party had supper, for which
O'Brien paid 2s. 6d. each, After leaving this house the
Marines induced O'Brien to accompany them to a dark
alley, leading from High-street, where they knocked him
down, and kicked him so severely that the front portion of
his skull was beaten completely in. The sufferer was found
by the police lying apparently dead in a pool of blood,
having been robbed of his money and watch. A Marine
named John Jones was yesterday apprehended at the bar-
racks on a charge of being concerned in the outrage, and
the police are actively in pursuit of the other offenders.
THE GRAND DISTRIBUTION OF TWELFTH CAKES.
—Louis Dethier appeared at Bow-street Police Court to
answer a summons issued against him at the instance of
the Government, for unlawfully keeping an office in the
Hanover-square-rooms "to exercise, keep open, chow, and
expose to bo played, drawn, and thrown at by lots, num-
bers, and figures, and by other ways, contrivances, and
devices, a lottery not authorised by Act of Parlia-
ment, Ike." A long examination took place, the magis-
trate advising Mr. Dethier to return the money he
had received, and not to proceed any further with the
illegal " distribution," Mr. Sleigh, the barrister, said
that could not be done, as the subscriptions had been in-
vested in plums and sugar for the cakes. Mr. Selfe said
the " distribution" would not be allowed to be proceeded
with. Mr. Dethier said he really did not know what to do.
The magistrate said he would give him time to rsake up
his mind, and accordingly adjourned the further hearing
of the summons ; but, in the event of the lottery being
proceeded with during the time the case remained unde•
sided, ho would most ocrtainly put the act into full opera-
tion against Mr. Dethier, and the effect of that would be
that he would be sent to prison without the option of a
fine.

EMIGRATION TO THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE AND
AUSTRALIA.—The ship Royal Albert, of 663 tons, Captain
Welch, sailed from Southampton on Christmas-day for
Table Bay, with free emigrants, selected from the agricul-
tural and artisan classes by the Hon. William Field. They
are under the charge of Surgeon-Superintendent Adair, and
comprises 34 married couples, 59 single men, 57 single
women, 36 children, and four infants ; being a total of 224
souls, equal to 202 statute adults. The emigration to the
Cape at the colonial expense, under the Local Act of 1857,
now amounts to 7,838 souls. The Royal Albert is fitted
with a sea-water-distilling and cooking apparatus patented
by Mr. Gravely, of the firm of Winchester and Co., of
London. This is a very valuable invention, as it affords
ample means for cooking and bread baking for the whole of
the passengers on board, while at the same time it
produces most excellent fresh water, and in sufficient quan-
tity for the daily consumption of all the people on board,
with a consumption of fuel but little in excess of an ordi-
nary passenger-cooking range. It is also fitted with a steam
whistle, useful as a fog signal. The ship Ascendant, 517
tons, Capt. Hopper, also sailed on Christmas-day from
Southampton, with 215 Government emigrants, equal to
199 statute adults, for Melbourne, in charge of Surgeon-
Superintendent J. O'Brien. These emigrants comprise 20
married couples, 3 single men, 144 single women, 24 chil-
dren, and 4 infants—of whom 100 are English, 47 Scotch,
and 68 Irish.
THE NEW AMERICAN PRESIDENT.—Abraham
Lincoln is a gaunt giant more than six feet high, strong
and long-limbed. He walks slow, and, like many thought-
ful men (Wordsworth and Napoleon, for example), keeps
his head inclined forward and downward. His hair is wiry
black, his eyes are dark-grey ; his smile is frank, sincere,
and winning. Like most American gentlemen, he is loose
and careless in dress, turns down his flapping white collars,
and wears habitually what we consider evening dress. His
head is massive, his brow full and wide, his nose large and
fleshy, his mouth coarse and full, his eyes are sunken, his
bronzed face is thin, and drawn down into strong corded
lines, that disclose the machinery:that moves the broad
jaw. This great leader of the Republican party—this
Abolitionist—this terror of the Democrats—this honest old
lawyer, with a face half Roman, half Indian, so wasted by
climate, so scarred by a life's struggles, was born in 1809,
in Kentucky. His grandfather, who came from Virginia,
was killed by the Indians. His father died young, leaving
a widow and several children. They removed to Indiana,
Abe being at that time only six years old. Poor, and
struggling, his mother could only afford him some eight
months' rough schooling; and in the clearings of that
new, unsettled country, the healthy stripling went to work
to hew hickory and gum trees, to grapple with remonstrat-
ing bears, and to look out for the too frequent rattlesnake.
Tall, strong, lithe, and smiling, Abe toiled on as farm-
labourer, mule-driver, sheep-feeder, deer-killer, wood-
cutter, and, lastly, as boatman on the waters of the Wa-
bash and the Mississippi.—Once a Week.
ENGLISH BIRDS IN AUSTRALIA.—The English
birds at the botanic gardens are now all in a bustle. They
seem perfectly awake to the character of the season. The
little warblers are busy nest-building, and in performing all
the other tender offices which mark their proceedings at
spring time. The larks are already multiplying, and the
thrushes have nests both in the aviary and in the open air.
The starlings and blackbirds which were brought out by
the Lincolnshire and the Essex occupY a building in
the Botanic Gardens reserve which is usually devoted, in
the winter, to the accommodation of the alpacas and other
quadrupeds. Here they will remain until their plumage
lost or disordered on the voyage—is restored, when they
will be removed to the aviary, and thence to the open air. A
similar house holds a number of thrush es that are nest-
building in the orange and Japanese spindle trees which
are placed there. In the aviary the same interesting pro-
cess is going on. There the goldfinch, the linnet, and the
Java sparrow have nests, as well as the thrush and the
quail—due care, however, being taken for the separation of
the peaceable from the pugnacious birds. The pheasants
are engaged in egg laying, and for the work of incubation
the assistance of some barren fowls has been secured. The
whole of the arrangements for the preservation of the
birds which have been sent from England, and the propa-
gation here of the feathered tribes of the old country—
thanks
to the indefatigable Dr. Mueller—are as complete
as can be desired. The fish which arrived by the Lincoln..
shire—tench, dace, and minnow—have been deposited in
the tank of the Zoological Gardens, and appear to be
thriving admirably. 11
y means of pipe communication with
the Yarra the fish are constantly supplied with fresh water,
and appear to be as well off as in their native streams. A
number of the pheasants, blackbirds, thrushes, and larks
received from England have been set free in the islands of
Western Port, and no doubt they an fairly established
there.—XeMourne 4trgus,

IL E T N 14] Al:

(REUTEL'S TELEGRAMS.)
THE CALCUTTA AND CHINA MAILS.

The Ceylon, with the heavy portion of the above
mails, left Malta at 4 p.m., on the 22d, and 1113 Y
be expected at Southampton on the 31st inst.
The Bengal arrived at Suez on the 15th inst: