The Sun.
London, England, 1858-01-05 00:00:00

THE DANISII QUESTION.

The report; of the Commission of the German
Diet on the question of the Duchies is ready. It is
drawn up by the Bavarian Envoy, and is said to be
a very able document. It has been read to the
Commi 's on, and is down in the order of the day for
the next sitting of the Diet on Thursday next, the
7th inst.
The New Prussian Gazette publishes the text of
a note addressed by the t:ussian Minister of Foreign
Affairs to its representative at Copenhagen calling
the attention of the Danish Government to the
important phase at which the question has now
arrived :

" Tne Germanic Diet," says the despatch, " has a
right to pronounce itself in virtue of the 31st article of
the final act of Vienna. We do not doubt, M. le
Baron, that the Diet, in the exercise of that right and
in the accomplishment of an obligation which cannot
be questioned, will observe the forms and remain within
the limits prescribed by the Ftderal institutions.
" His Majesty the King of Denmark, as Duke of
Holstein and of Lauenburg, has therefore an opportu-
nity of coming to an explanation with his co-Estates on
the different points of this much-to-be-regretted diffe-
rence and on the intentions which guide him in the
execution of engagements contracted towards the Con-
federation in 1852.

" Tile Russian Government thinks that on these
explanations will depend the issue of an affair which
attracts the attention of all Germany, and which ever
keeps Denmark in suspense. It is needless, therefore,
for it to say how earnestly it hopes that the King will
take advantage of the opportunity offered to him to
follow the concidatory views which animate him, and
to give an unquestionable proof of his intention to main•
tain the engagements agreed upon between his Majesty
and the C nfederation in 1852.
" Russia has abstained, as she ought, from interfering
in these qm stious, which, in her opinion, come exclu-
sively under the cognizance of public law in Germany ;
bat she could not remain long indifferent at the
prolongation of a state of things of a nature to compro-
mise the peace of the North of Europe, and which cannot
in any manner serve the real interes's of Denmark.

"The Russian Government hop.s that his Majesty
will give such explanation to the Diet as will not close
the path to an amicable arrangement, which is as much
in his own interests as becoming the dignity of his
Crown. * * *

" Your Excellency is authorised confidentially to
communicate the wishes of the Imperial Cabinet, and, i°
requ, ated, to leave a copy of this despatch in the
hands of the Danish Minister of Foreign Affairs."

CLIDEICEI RANKS —PROPOSED GOVEB.NMSNT MEASTIRE.,
-It Will probably be recollected, that, at the opening of
the parliamentary session, Lord Palmerston, in answer
to a question put by Mr. Trelawny, pledged himself to
introduce a bill in reference to church-rates during the
present year. We learn from a quarter well informed as
to the intentions of Government, that the proposed mea-
sure will simply be the substitution of pew rents in the
nave, or in other parts of the edifice which will not inter
fere with, or infringe upon, the accommodation of the
poor ; and this power will be vested in the churchwardens
of large towns only. In rural parishes, where the
population is imitNi and scattered, it is not intended
to make any alteration in the law. The Government
entertain the conviction that, were the rate removed, it
would be impoesib e to maintain toe churches in such a
state of preservation as is to be de,ired. This attempt
to settle the vexed question of church-rates will probably
not meet the views of the abolitionists, although it may
conciliate many of them in the assurance that it is a step
in the right direction. One important element in the
matter is, that the scheme will not excite strong opposi-
tion from the Church party.—Doncaster Gazette.
AMERICAN SLAVERS.—A despatch, dated Norfolk,d_yrks
United States,
,D Theec. bark v
21, published
G
bliiishierdin.
LtheewiTsi,e3ws
York
papers, says
from the coact of Africa, arrived here to-day. She was
captured as a slaver in the Congo river, by a boat expe-
dition, commanded by Lieuts. Walker and Cummins, of
the United States' sloop of war Dales. The brig Wind.
ward, supposed to be a slaver, was also captured, and
will be here in a few days. The British steamer Elector
had seized the bark Clara B. Williams, and an American
schooner about the same time. Many slavers are re-
ported to be on the African coast. Twelve had been
captured after the arrival of the Dale there. She was
to leave for St. Helena. Her offic!re and crew were
all well." . .

ACCIDENTAL STABBING.—An inquest was held at
Crouton, on Friday, touching the death of Mary, infant
daughter of Wm. Pye, weaver, of Creston. On the 18th
e agradrden the adjoining
child c rti Soon
ng, and
ult. the deceased, who was 18 months old, went out of
her parents' house to play with a cousin and a little boy
named
i hnTegh(tlooemcseaeaossed
wieranmtonowdthaes thhinrae matter she found blood
ce,zlng freely from her daughter's forehea I. She irnnae-
diately took her into the house and examined the wound,
which was about an inch and a half in width, but not
very deep. She then called Mr. Hilton, surgeon, to
attend her daughter, but despite his efforts the child lin.
gered in great pain, and died upon Thursday morning.
The boy Almond states that the accident was occasioned
by the deceased running against an open knife be had in
his hand. The jury returned a verdict that the deceased
had died frern the effects of being accidentally cut with
a knife by Thomas Alinend.—Preston Guardian.
SINGULAR CLAIM.---The Hartlepool bench were en•
gaged on Thursday in adjudicating in a rather sieguler
ease, the first of the kind ever brought before them, and
one which was probably never contemplated by that
Fection of the Merchant Shipping Ac; which gives
power to magistrates to decide upon all claims in dis-
pute for services rendered to vessels in distress, or in
dangerous circamstancee On the 26th November, the
sea being very rough and stormy, the F•glia Jenny, a
large fine-looking Austrian ship, ceturnande I by Capt.
Mattei Secelenich, from London, in bal'ast, mode for
the harbour of West Ilertlepool, in command of a North
Sea Pilot. The tide had Wien considerably at the time,
there being then on!yr 15 feet of water on the bar. The
Figl;a Jenny drew 15 feet; the consevenco was that
she grounded outside of the harbour piers, and was in a
dangerous position. A `Neat Hartlepool pilot got en
board to render his assistance, and was requ.steJ by the
captain to take him on shore for the advice of the Aus-
trian consul. The pilot did so, and at the same time,
as neither he nor the captain could converse together, he
took him to the house of an interpreter, Jehn B,tist, who
at his request was engaged by the captain to go off to
the ship and interpret the orders of the captain and the
pilot to the crew. Batist, a landsman, went off to the
ship at great personal inconvenience and danger, and
remained on board from 3.30 till 10 p.m. The vessel wan
got off the ground in the evening,
and taken into the
harbour. Batist continued daring the four following
doys to attend upon the captain as int.' preter, arid
then sent him in a bill for 8/. 53., being 5 guineas for
his services on bard the vessel, and Si. for his after
services. The pilot gave evidence as to the importatice
of the services rendered by Batist, without whose aid,
he said, he should have been unable to make his .orders
F understood by the crew, in older to g t the vessel off the
ground; and had ho net cee,ol.,A
Batist or some other
Persrn to interpret, he would have been obliged to ern-
ploy an Englishcrew, at a much greater expenso than
Betiei'a claim. The Bench decided that the services
rendered by Bunt, though not anticipated in the act as
" salvage services," were yet of such importance that
they deemed the sum claimed not an exorbitant one, and
they made an orde! f)r Si. 53., stating that they could
not interfere with the land portion of the claim.
Mr. Walter Savage Lawlor has the following dedica-
tion in a new work with a qualut title, which he has
just pubii.nhed :—" W. S. Lauder to L. Koesuth, ;
President of Hungary—At your gate T lay
my fagot of
'Dry Sticks,' and go away. I offended you by
attempting to bring fortune thither, whom I aever
solicited to favour me personally. my zeal was
inconsiderate, but, perhaps, it ought to have offended
less that lofty pride to which alone I was ever ole:iequieu.
Permit me to offer the only amends I can—permit me
to show my respect and reverence toward the man who
has worthily occupied a higher station than any one in
this country can attain. The eloquence of Milton and I
Demosthenes failed in the suppor. of their cause—the
same cause and the same eloquence as yours. Supply
me with your English, and I may be able
at last to
express wy veneratiou cf your virtues.