The Sun.
London, England, 1858-12-14 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 14, 1858,

LATEST NEWS.

The following telegrams have been received at
Mr. Iteuter's Office, Dec. 14th :

AIARSEILLES, MONDAY, DEC. 13.
The Hongkong Journals bring news from China
to 28th Sept.
The forces of the Chinese rebels are increasing.
The town of Nanking is surrounded and the Go-
vernment of Pekin threatened by the revolt.
Seeing that its financial resources are much ex-
hausted Government becomes more conciliatory
towards foreigners. It is on this account, therefore,
that Government has recalled the governor of Can-
ton, and has allowed the importation of opium
under certain regulations.

Advices from Manilla of the 22d Oct. assert that
he Government of Cochin China has refused to

negotiate.

CALCUTTA.

Splendid fetes took place here on the 9th Nov.
The East India Company's stocks are rising, and
trade is reviving, but communication with the in-
terior of India is still difficult.

covered by the sum resulting from the sale of the
railways."

NAPLES.

A letter from Naples of the 7th says :—" The
rejoicings at the approaching marriage of the here-
ditary prince with the Princess Maria of Bavaria
are great, and foremost in congratulation is the
King himself, who is said to carry the portrait of
his daughter-in-law elect about with him, showing
it to many. To manifest his pleasure, he gives the
bride 20,000 ducats' worth of jewellery as a mar-
riage present, to the infinite annoyance of the
Queen, who thinks him far too liberal. An apart-
ment in every palace in the kingdom has been
assigned and embellished for the future residence
of the newly-married pair. The marriage, it
is: said, is to take place on the 19th at Caserat,
where the bride and bridegroom will remain in
private till after the anniversary of the death of the
prince's mother, when they will come to town,
and give balls and other festivities in honour of
their marriage. The theatrical performances here
at present are really good. lone, or the Last
Days of Pompeii,' a new opera of Petrilla's, has
been most successful. Verdi's ' Simon Boccanegra'
has also found favour, and San Carlo has seldom
been better attended. The Royal Accademia balls
will be unusually brilliant this winter. This is .a
less crowded but more aristocratic season than
we have had for many years. Lord Stratford de
Redcliffe and family, Lord and Lady Londonderry,
Lord Sheffield and family, the Hon. Somerset Cal-
thorpe, the Hon. Georgina Browne, Lord and Lady
Holland, Lord and Lady Lismore are numbered
among the visitors. The weather has been wet,
but very mild, promising now to be really fine,
the barometer having gradually risen high, and a
brilliant sun shining at this moment."

HAY3IARKET THEATRE.

"The Tide of Time" is the alliterative and not unsug-
gestive title of a new play by Mr. Bayle Bernard, which,
on its production at this theatre last night, was received
with cordial applause. Mr. Pendarvis (Mr. Chippendale)
dwells in ease and affluence upon his ancestral estate in
Shropshire. He has all the noble social qualities usually
attributed to that most popular of all traditional person-
ages, the fine old English gentleman, but he has his weak
points also, and of these not the least conspicuous are
an irrational aversion to the improvements of modern
times, which he simply regards as innovations, and a
morbid horror of people who affect to be gentry yet have
no pedigree to sustain their pretensions. His daughter
Mildred (Miss Reynolds), a high-spirited girl, proud but
generous, shares the virtues and peculiarities of his disposi-
tion. She is engaged to be married to Sir Dormer Brazenby
(Mr. Compton), a booby baronet residing in the neighbour-
hood, who fancies himself a philosopher, and is eternally
devising all manner of impossible schemes for the regene-
ration of society. He has a plan of his own for demolishing
London, and rebuilding it on the unheard-of plan of curves
and semicircles, and he carries about with him a piece of
tin ware which he calls his "cerebral regenerator," and
which is nothing more or less than a tin cap contrived to
expand and contract the various bumps on the human
head which phrenologists suppose to be indicative of vicious
or virtuous propensities. These aristocratic but somewhat
eccentric people have one common object of horror in the
person of an enterprising manufacturer, Mr. Spalding
(Mr. Howe) who has given mortal offence to Mr.
Pendarvis by erecting a cotton-mill within view
of his drawingroom windows. Spalding is a man
of yesterday, and " late in the afternoon," too ; never-
theless he has a glorious heart, and the sequel proves that
he has a far better title to the character of a " gentleman"
than some other persons of more ancient lineage. It so
falls out in the chapter of accidents that misfortune over-
takes the house of Pendarvis. The county bank fails, and
the old gentleman is a severe sufferer His false friends of
course fly from him, and the philosophic baronet is one of
the first to turn his back upon him. The slighted manu-
facturer, however, shows that he is made of truer metal.
He comes generously forward with an offer of pecuniary
assistance, and makes the most disinterested efforts to
retrieve the fallen fortunes of the family. In this
design he is cordially assisted by his friend Molehill
(Mr. Buckstone), an admirable character, and also by Miss
Mildred herself, who, finding that young ladies who lose
their nerves must make up their minds to use their
muscles, discards the affectations and frivolities of fashion-
able life, and only studies to manage her father's household
with the care and frugality of a prudent housewife. After
much retrenchment and good management, the family is
restored to something like its ancient prosperity, and Spald-
ing finds the reward of his benevolence and magnaminity
in the acquisition of the heart and hand of the haughty
Mildred, who, like her father, has lived to learn the truth of
the classic maxim, " Virtus sola nobilitas." The piece is
'from last charmingly written, and contains more witty say-
ings, and more genial sentiments, expressed in ornate and
poetic language, than any drama that has been produced on
the London boards for a very long time. The characters
are vigorously conceived and not less effectively contrasted,
and the dialogue is unexceptionably to be admired. The
acting was excellent, and the performances of Miss Rey-
nolds, Mr. Buckstone, Mr. Compton, and Mr. Howe in
particular, deserved, and did not fail to obtain, the warmest
commendation. The house was crowded.

ROYAL ITALIAN OPERA, COVENT-

GARDEN.

The following letter has been addressed to the
editor of the Morning Post :

Sir,—l fear that the announcement which Miss Pyne and
Mr. Harrison have made in your paper of to-day, respecting
the opening of the English opera at the Royal Italian
Opera, Covent-garden, might create an erroneous im-
pression.
Miss Pyne and Mr. Harrison say in their advertisement
that I have let the theatre to them " for a succession of
seasons, extending over several years."
I should feel very much obliged if you would kindly
permit me to make known, through your columns, that I
have only let the theatre for the winter months, and that
my regular Italian opera season will commence on April 2
next.—l remain, sir, your most obedient servant,

FREDERICK GYE.
Royal Italian Opera, Covent-garden, Dec. 13, 1858.

Sir George and Lady Dashwood have left Cla•
ridge's Hotel for West Wycombe Park, Bucks.

Captain Hunter and Mrs. Hunter have left Cla
ridge's Hotel for Burnley Hall, Norfolk.

Viscount and Viscomtesse de Berg have arrived
at the Brunswick Hotel, from the Continent.
Lord Sondes arrived at his residence last even-
ing, from Ehnham Hall, Norfolk.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer and Mrs. Dis-
raeli have left Grosvenor-gate on a visit to the Marquis
and Marchioness of Salisbury, at Hatfield House, Hert-
fordshire.

Viscount and Viscountess Campden are still at
Claridge's Hotel. The 'Viscountess is slowly recovering
from her recent illness.

The Countess of Powis and the Earl of Powis
and the Ladies Herbert are passing the season at Powis
Castle.

The Earl and Countess of Craven will leave
Gorhambury Park in a few days, on a visit to the Earl and
Countess of Clarendon, at the Grove, near Watford.

Mdlle. Theresa Ferni, the sister of Caroline and
Virginia, who are now-delighting. the Viennese by their
performances on the violin, met with a terrible accident on
the sth at Lausanne. The wheel of a railway carriage
went over the left arm of the poor girl, and completely
crushe,d it.

A letter from Corfu of the 7th says :—" Mr.
Gladstone sailed this morning in H.M.S. Terrible for the
Southern Islands and Athens. He will return here on the
22d."

TIIE TEA TRADE, Dec. 13.--The deliveries in
London estimated for the week were 818,4771 b., which is an
increase of 34,7921 b. compared with the previous state-
ment.

A letter from Florence., in the Indipendente of
Turin, states that the King of Prussia's health has not
improved there, and that the air of Florence does not seem
to agree with him. Ho never goes out, and the Queen is
seldom seen in public.

The Officzal Journal of the Two Sicilies annwnces
that a commission has been formed at Naples to collect sub-
scriptions for a monument to Charles 111., the first King;
of Naples of the present dynasty. The designs of the monu-
ment have already been executed by the sculptor Salvadore
Irdi.

VERDI'S NEW OPERA.—Accounts of the new
opera of " Simon Bocca Negra " at Naples, represent
Verdi's last work as being of the most uproarious cha-
racter. All sorts of noises—bells, cannon, anvils, and
hammers, monks roaring vespers, and finally, a chorus of
Newfoundland dogs barking, appear to diversify the ope-
ratic score, and to give emphasis to the instrumentation.
THE REFIIRM MEETING AT SHEFFIELD.—We
understand that, in accordance with the wish of the meet-
ing last Monday, Mr. Roebuck and Mr. Hadfield have con-
seated to give up the arrangement which they had entered
into to address their constituents next Wednesday. Mr.
Roebuck, however, having other engagements up to the
end of the first week in January, finds it impossible to visit
Sheffield either in the Christmas or the following week, as
requested in the resolution passed at the meeting. He has,
however, undertaken to come about the middle of the
second week in January. Mr. Hadfield has agreed to come
at the same time. It is expected that the meeting will be
more than usually interesting, as we understand it is the
intention of Mr. Roebuck to express his opinions not only
upon the question of Parliamentary reform, but also upon
the aspect of affairs in respect to our foreign policy.—
Shejkld Times of Saturday,

SUBMARINE TELEGRAPH FOR TASMANIA.—In a
few days the screw stsamer Omeo will leave the river with
the telegraph cable which is to connect Victoria with Tas-
mania. The contract has been superintended here by
Messrs. Brown, Dunn, Salmon, and Co., and we feel sure
that the manner in which it has been executed will afford'
every satisfaction to file colonies. The cable is a single
conductor of 240 miles in length, and is to be laid from
Cape Otway, Victoria, to King's Island, and then
continued to the mouth of the River Mersey, in
Tasmania, whence a land line will be carried to
Launceston. There is a telegraph already in opera-
tion between Launceston and. Hobart Town, and' thus
both the principal cities of Tasmania will be placed
in communication with Melbourne, and, through it, with
Adelaide, and in a very short time with Sydney also. The
telegraphic communication with the capitals of three Aus-
tralian colonies and Tasmania will thus be complete—an
immense advantage in every point of view. Captain Mac-
meikan, to whom is intrusted the command of the Omeo, is
under contract to lay the cable on his arrival out.—Austrei-
lien and New Zealand Gazette..

ASTRONOMICAL PHENOMENA. The planet
Saturn rose on the 11th inst. at 8 minutes past 8 p.m., on
the 21st at 26 min. past 7, and on the 31st at 35 min. past F.
On the 22d an occultation of this planet by the moon will
take place; with the curious circumstance that the immer-
sion will commence from the dark side of the moon, so that
the planet will seem to disappear from the heavens without
any visible cause. The occultation will commence at 20
minutes past 9 ; some of the satellites will be the first to be
eclipsed, and then a portion of the ring. The passage will
last 45 minutes. Venus will, on the 13th, be in inferior
conjunction witk Mercury, and from that date the former
will only be visible early in the morning. The sun will
enter Sagittarius on the 17th, and will touch the tropic of
Capricorn on the 22d, at 21 minutes past two
the exact time of the winter solstice. Jupiter is now visi-
ble close to the horns of Taurus, and is extremely brillia} t.
In the same constellation we also find Uranus, which Will
cross the meridian to-night at 33 minutes past 10,, and
again on the 21st at 52 minutes past 9 p.m. Neptune
is also visible at present in the constellation of Pisces,
near the tail of Cetus, or the whale ; its next lAssage
through the meridian will occur on the Ist Jan. next, at
half-past 4 p.m.—Galignani.
ILL-TREATMENT OF LUNATICS AT ACOMB-HOUSE,
YORK.—At the York assizes, on Thursday, the grand jury
for the city returned a true bill for misdemeanour against
Mr. Metcalfe, the recent prbprietor of Acomb-house Re-
treat, near York, for an assault upon Mrs. Turner, who
was alleged to be a lunatic, and who was under his treat-
ment for some time as an insane person. Mr. Seymour,
who appeared for the prosecution, applied to his lordship
for a Bench warrant to apprehend Mr. Metcalfe, who was
now abroad, and also what amount would be required if
Mr. Metcalfe were admitted to bail. Mr. Baron Watson
stated that he knew nothing of the charge ; but on Friday
some further proceedings took place, and it was understood
that a Bench warrant would be issued, his lordship stating
that Mr. Metcalfe must be held ,to bail on his own recog-
nisances of £loo.—York /load. •

TILE FRENCH BUDGET.

(From the Times' City Article)
The French Budget for 1860, just published in
the Moniteur, cannot be regarded as a document of
much importance, since it deals with a period the
requirements of which at this moment it would be
idle to scan in any country, and more particularly
in France. According to his hopes, M. Magne will
then find the revenue not only sufficient for the
service of the year, but such as to afford the means
of raising the salaries of the smaller public officials
and the magistracy, whose fidelity is thus for the
present inexpensively stimulated, and to yield an
extra £BOO,OOO to be applied to the sinking fund.
The rest of the statement is devoted merely to an
expose of the manner in which the budgets of the
past four years have been kept free from deficits,
and as no allusion was necessary to the heavy an-
nual increase of debt by which that equilibrium has
been maintained, the entire report will doubtless
convey to most of the readers for whom it is intended
an agreeable impression. " I may affirm," says M.
Magne, " with more assurance than ever, that since
1854 the deficit of the budgets, the primary cause
of the floating debt, has not increased one centime."
But capitalists cannot forget that France has added
to her national debt at the rate of more than
£12,000,000 per annum for the last. ten years. As
this, hover cannot go on uninterruptedly it may be
hoped to operate as a warning in favour of peace
and the advantage of cultivating commerce. M.
Magne mentions that the budget for 1859 was formed
with an estimated surplus of £320,000, and that
the recent experience of the revenue movements of
the country tends to show that even a more favour-
able Calculation might have been made. It would,
therefore, appear obviously in the power of the
Emperor to cease from this date the constant resort
to the loan-market.

The following figures give a complete view of
the public debt of the French Empire. The total
charge to the State for interest on the debt for the
year 1858 is estimated at £20,915,345, as under :
£
Interest to stockholder
Sinking fund (not necessarily employed in the
redemption of stock)
Interest on special loans for public works, &c. 392,875
Interest on floating debt 1,700,000
Life annuities in commutation of stock

£20,915,345
On the 14th of last month, according to a decree
published on the 4th inst., the interest due yearly
to stockholders is £12,777,205 —namely,
Interest. Amount of Stock.
41 per Cents., produced by £
reduction of 5 per Cents 6,881,117 153,711,000
Old 41 per Cents.
4 per Cents
3 per Cents. 5,770,215 192,340,500

£12,777,205 £348,313,775
It thus appears that £348,313,775 is the present
nominal amount of the funded debt of France, and
it is supposed that this is held by about 1,100,000
stockholders, whose average share is about £3OO
nominal capital, and £l2 annual interest. The last
return, showing the number of holders of each de-
scription of stock, was on the Ist of January, 1857,
when the total debt was £321,279,698, and the
proportions were then as follows :
No. of Holders. Amount of St&
41 per Cents., produced by •
reduction of 5 per Cents 778,235 £152,683,260
Old 41 per Cents
4 per Cents.
3 per Cents.

1,027,784 £321,279,698
The small investments are here shown to be chiefly
in the 44 per Cents., since, although there is rather
less of that stock than of 3 per Cents., it is divided
among more than treble the number of holders.
The explanation is probably to be found in the fact
of 41 per Cents. having been given in 1848 to the
savings banks' creditors in lieu of their deposits. It
will be noticed that nearly half the public debt of
France is in 4 per Cent, stock, and as the market
price of that stock is considerably under its right
proportion to the market price of the 3 per Cents.,
it has been supposed that holders of the former
would willingly exchange into the latter for a little
less than half as much again nominal capital, and if
they did so, of course there would result a saving of
interest to the Government, while the stockholders
would apparently be compensated for the sacrifice
of interest by the relatively higher price of the
security they would voluntarily have accepted.
This is the idea under which rumours of a conver-
sion were spread some weeks since, but it is doubt-
ful if such an operation could be extensively carried
out without affecting the proportionate quotations
of the two stocks to an extent sufficient to defeat
its object, while the guarantee against further re-
duction, given when the 5 per Cents. were con-
verted to 4 per Cents., which subsists for some
years longer, might become a technical obstacle to
the measure, even if it resulted generally from the
voluntary option of stockholders. The policy, more-
over, would be improvident, since in some state of
future prosperity, after the guarantee shall have
expired, a reduction of the 4,1 per Cents, to 4 per
Cents. might perhaps be effected, naturally, without
adding to the principal of the existing debt.

EXTRAORDINARY PROCEEDINGS IN
ST. PANCRAS WORKHOUSE.

Some further extraordinary proceedings are re-
ported in connection- with St. Pancras. It is stated
that the assistant-surgeOn of the workhouse, a young
man, seduced some of the female inmates, and with
the view of concealing his conduct, resorted to pro-
ceedings which resulted in the removal of one of
the women to the infirmary. He then took to
flight, and in his concealment was visited by the
Rev. Mr. Pugh, the chaplain. The reverend gen-
tleman, refusing to give up the address, has been
dismissed, and three months' salary given him in
licit of notice. The circumstances under which the
visit was paid are detailed in the following letter
addressed by Mr. Pugh to the vestry, with a view
to avert his dismissal from office, as recommended
by the board of directors :
St. Pancras Workhouse, Dec. 8, 1858.

" Gentlemen,—l beg most respectfully, to memo-
rialise you as to the subject of my dismissal from
the chaplaincy of the workhouse, which was yester-
day resolved on by the directors of the poor, and
will be brought forward to-day for the purpose of
being confirmed by you. The facts of the case are
as follow : _ _ _

"On Saturday last I received a letter from Mr.
Muikett, requesting me as his minister to repair to
him, as he was hindered by circumstances from
coming to me, to console his disturbed mind, and
to give him spiritual aid in his indescribable
sorrow. Being led to the belief that the sins he
adverted to were not of a darker character in the
calendar of crime than misdemeanour, and noticing
from the strain in which he wrote that he was in
the lowest state of despondency, and fearing that
if left unadvised in such a state of mind he might
be led on to commit a crime that would preclude
his repentance and acceptance with God, I hastened,
as instructed by himself in a secret manner, to ob-
tain his address. Here again I was enjoined to
keep his address a profound secret before I obtained
it. I then called upon the penitent, and offered him
the required consolation.
" On Monday evening last I was requestell to
attend Mr. Wyatt at the workhouse, which I did,
and was asked by that gentleman to give up Mr.
Muskett's address.

" Considering the obligations I was under as a
minister of the gospel, I felt the impossibility of
complying with the request.
" I then left him, and consulted our judicious and
respected vicar, who is also rural dean, and the
proper ecclesiastical authority to afford advice on
'such an occasion; and after he had learned all the
particulars of the case, both from a secret letter
which I produced, and other particulars from
myself, he has given me permission this day to in-
form you that he fully concurs in all the steps I
have taken.
" I have also been privileged with the opinions
of two of the most eminent barristers in the profes-
sion (which opinions I read to the directors yester-
day), who also approved of my proceedings. These
being the best authorities, both ecclesiastical and
temporal, which I could under any circumstances
procure, I fully hope and trust you will defer to
their authority such a measure of your considera-
tion as their position in their respective spheres
merit.
" I beg, in conclusion, to assure you that I regret
exceedingly the circumstances in which I find my-
self reluctantly placed, my profession and promise
pledging me to keep the secret of Mr. Muskett's
address inviolable, and the directors on the other
hand wishing me to betray the secret. I shall only
Just observe, that from you, gentlemen of the vestry,
obtained my appointment, and I implore you to
protect me in the same.—l remain, gentlemen,
your obedient servant,

" THOMAS PUGH.

" To the Vestry of St. Pancras,
Middlesex."
_

It is stated that Mr. Pugh has laid the whole
matter before the vicar of St. Pancras, the Rev.
Thomas Dale, as rural dean, who has in his turn
laid the subject before the R►ev. Dr. Sinclair, the
Archdeacon of Middlesex, and the Bishop of Lon-
don ; and that they all three concur in the pro-
priety of the course which he has pursued in this
matter.

HABIT.—An American paper tells of an editor
who went soldiering and was chosen captain. One day at
parade, instead of giving the orders—" Front face, three
paces forward," he exclaimed " Cash, two dollars a-year in
advance,"