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.
.I\l'Alahon, and having a sufficient number made by
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 country
where anyalterations or change would be impossible,
and to avail themselves of a system well known
and approved by experience. The ..APAlahon saddle
is to be thoroughly tested at home and secured for
future use. Tenders are to be issued immediately
for the manufacture by private contract of some
5,000 or 6,000 of the Otago saddles, to be made of
various sizes for different animals, which, it is stated,
will occasion no delay in the expedition,
mountain guns and equipment will not be completed
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. as the

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.

Tonal

HER MAJESTY.

BALMORAL, Sept. 14.
The Queen and Royal Family went out as usual
yesterday. Prince Christian went deer stalking.
The Right Hon. 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.

MR. CHARLES DICKENS.

All will rejoice to hear, says the London Review
of Saturday, in an article rather after date by the
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 origi-
nated we know not ; but there appear to be certain
persons who find a singular and occult pleasure in
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 hid
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 some
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. lie 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 11
fair play to his physical being. Ile does not eon-
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 a
century ago, the Nw York Tribune remarks :--" It
is not necessary to deprecate, as some of our contem-
poraries incline to do, a possible hostility towards
Mr. Dickens on the part of the American
No such feeling exists. Our people do, in-
deed, remember the American Notes,' and th°
satirical chapters in MartinChuzzlewit,' and are, ne
doubt, of opinion that, as a matter of taste, Mr'
Dickens might well have been more gracious. Bet',
on the other hand, our people like free speech, and
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. Dickens
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 home
as well as abroad he has attacked every form
i
of social abuse, and rebuked injustice, and
laughed at folly, and inculcated sound. Prin.'
ciples, and faithfully laboured to refine the
character and extend the scope of human
happiness ; and in pursuing that work he has neces-
sarily struck hard blows, and offended arrogant in-
justice, and wounded self-love, and aroused enmity.
But he has not aroused enmity. Of all people
on earth, the Americans are necessarily foremost to
recognise a spirit that has purely and powerfully
laboured for the advancement of the human race ;
and they recognise such a spirit in Charles Dickens.
To remind them that he once satirised some of their
follies and eccentricities, or that he somewhat mis-
took their character and institutions, is not to blind
their eyes to his genius, or deaden their sense of his
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.
AUSTRALIAN ABORIGINES.---The Melbourne Argus
states that the marriage of two educated aborigines was
celebrated on the 10th of July with considerable ceremony
at the mission station Bamahyuck, Gipps Land, in the
presence of a large number of spectators. In Tasmania the
aborigines have come to their last man, William Lannon
" a bluff young gentleman of 26 or 27 ;" but there are three
aboriginal women living, none of them young. Laneel
embarked for England in the Ethel, and hoped to be re-
ceived by the Queen.
CHOLERA ON THE TYNE.—The collier brig Jarrovir
reached the Tyne on Friday, with one of her crow, Charles
Knight, aged 30, ill of cholera. He was attended by Dr*
Coward of South Shields, who found him in a state of col-
lapse, and he died in the afternoon. His remains were
taken out to sea on Saturday and sunk in deep water. The
Jarrow had discharged a cargo at London from llelsingfors,
and the deceased had joined her in the Thames for the ran
down. He was in his usual health until Thursday last,
when he was seized at sea with a violent attack of diar-
rhoea and vomiting. It is said that the Jarrow had one of
her crew dead at Gravesend also. The Jarrow is one e'
the old collier class, the rest of her crew remain healthy'.
She will be kept in quarantine until Monday.
FIRE AT A FLOUR MILL.—A fire broke out early
yesterday morning at the flour mill, Southall, which propel
._
very destructive. The local engines were soon at Wert
attempting to extinguish the flames, but it was foul?"
necessary to solicit the aid of the London Brigade. Ti"fj
was obtained, but the fire had obtained such a hold of the
building that little could be saved. All the upper 1:1°°15
were destroyed, and the granaries in the lower part of tee
building wore much damaged.

TILE MOORS.—Grouse shooting commenced on
several of the moors in the neighbourhood of Sheffield 00
Thursday, but looked at from a sportsman's point of view
it was almost a complete failure. The moors being oPenea
a month later than the usual time was a merciful arrange-
ment to save the lives of the birds, so that there might in
all probability be some good sport the following year. This
arrangement has fully answered the end intended, for the
birds are now so wild and strong that it was a very dill"-
Theseebniradasdatrhee be
cult matter to got within range gf them, and on the Brad-
those that were
field and other moors scarcely any of the bags exceeded
four brace.
shot appeared to be perfectly healthy. Had- the rnoeria
been open on the 12th August scarcely any grouse won_
have been left for breeding purposes. As it Is a large h!lual,
ber will escape even the most crack shots, and it is t-'een
hoped that they will repay the moderation which has
shown them by having numerous and healthy progeny.--
yo
mnpoarma teiavne means
y numerous,f
ew t lat vbel:etd
ASfheAld Inclepcndent. .