The Sun.
London, England, 1866-08-11 00:00:00

COURSE OF EXCHANGE—Last Evening.

Amsterdam Short. 11 17/

Ditto 3 Months. 12 1i
Rotterdam
.1/

11 181
12 2
12 2
25 6H
25 62.;
13
25 80
25 55
25 60

• Antwerp
Brussels •

25 51i
25 57-

Hamburg
• • Paris

-13 101
Short 25 20 •

Ditto • 3 Months. 25 47f
Marseilles
Frankfort on the Maine 1204
Vienna — 13 50
Trieste — 13 50
Petersburgh - 27f
Berlin - 6...274

Madrid
Cadiz
Leghorn
Milan

434
27 45i
85
27 .85

Genoa
Naples

27 .85
27 .85

6 28

46
28 10
28 10
28 10
28 10

A very satisfactory meeting has been held by the
Royal Insurance Company (Fire and Life.) The
results declared for the year were highly favourable,
notwithstanding the adverse experience in fire
business during the last few years, which this com-
pany admits in common with all others. Neverthe-
less the Royal shows a small profit for 1865, and de-

dares its usual dividend, amounting to 17f per cen

to the original shareholders, after payment of which
there will be a credit balance of £62,076 in the

profit and loss account, besides a sum of £116,913
as fire reserve. The net fire premiums of the year
amounted to £414,733, and the new policies issued
in the life department were for £886,663, exclusive
of proposals to the amount of £189,947 which were
found inadmissible. The directors likewise report

that the accumulated life funds had been increased
during the year by £103;146.

GREAT RIOT BETWEEN FRENCH AND ENGLISH
NAVVIES AT EDENBRIDGE.--The village and neigh-

bourhood of Cowden was, on Saturday night, thrown into
a state of great excitement in consequence of an alarming
riot between the English and French navvies employed
in the construction of the Surrey and Sussex line of

railway. It appears that the French engineers em-
ployed by the contractors, Messrs. Waring Brothers, have
engaged some 500 French navvies to compete with the
English navvies (about the same in number), who were
earning 6s. a day, the Frenchmen engaging to work for 4s.
per day, and some even as low as 2s. 4d. In consequence of
the Frenchmen working for so much less money than the
-Englishmen, the Englishmen came to the determination on
Saturday of driving every foreigner off the line. At about half
past ten o'clock in the evening they went to farmhouse
at Blowers-hill, occupied by the Frenchmen, and put their
threat into execution, turning them out, and smashing the
windows at the same time. When they went to the house
they found the occupants, men, women, and children, all
in bed. The English navvies rapped at the door for some
time before the landlord would open it, but as soon as he
did so they struck him down with a bludgeon, and turned
the Frenchmen, with their wives and children, out of the
house in their bedclothes, and one poor woman, who had
been confined about a fortnight previously, pleaded hard
that she should remain in the house, but they turned her
out also with the rest. No policemen were present at
this time, but a man rode off to the police-station at
Tonbridge, and Superintendent Dance soon dis-
patched a body of police, headed by himself, to the spot.
Their arrival stayed further damage, except that in the
meantime several huts had been pulled down by them, until
Monday morning, when the English navvies, armed with
bludgeons some 21 feet in length, drove the Frenchmen in
herds before them to the Edenbridge station, where the
police were already awaiting them. The French-
men had drawn their knives, and were brandishing them
about, and no doubt the riot would have resulted in a
general slaughter had it not been for the interference of
the police, numbering about 60. When at.Edenbridge
station the English navvies were kept in the village,
and the Frenchmen above the station, the police being
stationed between them, arrangements being made for
other bodies of police, together with a detachment of
military to be in readiness when called upon. Several of
the French navvies proceeded to Oxted, in Surrey (on

another line), but the greater portion remained at the Eden-
bridge station, under the protection of the police, until
orders are received from the Home Secretary how they
are to be disposed :of. On Monday morning all the beer-
shops wore closed in Edenbridge, excepting two, in con-
sequence of the riot, and business was to a certain extent
at a standstill. The greater portion of the English navvies
resumed .work on the line on Tuesday morning, and the
town was generally quiet. An Englishman was brought
before the Tonbridge magistrates and remanded.
NEW MODE OF CORRECTING COMPASS VARIA-
TIONS.—Few things are more annoying to the
mariner than the compass variations which, especially in
the navigation of iron ships, he has to provide against. An
extremely simple and ingenious mode of ascertaining the
deviation has, however, been devised by a naval com-
mander connected with the Naval Academy at Annapolis,
Maryland, U.S., which will remove all difficulty in the
matter. It is proposed to take an ordinary compass card,
and erect upon its centre a fine copper wire, from 4 to 6 or 8
inches in height, and perpendicular to its plane, at the moment
of the sun's meridian passage, as indicated by the noon ob-
servation of latitude, note the direction of the shadow cast
by the wire on the compass card. The angle contained
between this direction and that of the north and south line
of the card will give the variation and local attraction com-
bined. Small errors are involved in this method, but the
approximation is close enough for the purpose for which it
is intended. As there would, of course, be no diffi eulty in
making this wire a permanent fixture to the card, it will
be obvious that this arrangement would enable the devia-
tion of the compass to be daily tested.—Mining Journal.
The Moniteur publishes a circular, extending
over six columns of the official journal, from the Minister
of the Interior to the Prefects of departments, explaining
at great length the extended attributes of the councils-
general, in consequence of the bill which received the
Emperor's sanction on the 18th July last.
THE MOORS.—The prospects of sport for the
opening of the grouse shooting next week on the vast range
of hills running from South Yorkshire into Derbyshire
and Cheshire are anything but encouraging to sportsmen,
and the season promises to be one of the worst which
has been experienced for some years past. On Boardhill
Flats, and on the adjoining grounds of Sir Lionel
Pilkington, there are only a moderate number of
young birds, whilst at several of the other shootings not far
distant but few birds are to be seen. This is more apparent
from the number of old birds running in pairs, showing
that they have no brood. On the extensive range of
moors belonging to Mr. Stanhope, and which is generally
well stocked, there is a great dearth compared with
former years. Higher up, at Holmfirth, where there is
rather more shelter, and where the herbage is much earlier
than in the more open plains, birds are slightly more
plentiful. The scarcity of birds in all parts of the country
has no doubt been caused by the heavy snow which lay on
the ground so long, and which not only cause thedde-s
struction of a large number of eggs but also of d the birds
after being hatched.
PROROGATION OF CONVOCATION.—(TIIIS DAY.)
ro-
-The Convocation of the prelates and cl
rma erg of the
wince of Canterbury was this morning fo y prorogued
gF
by the Archbishop, at the Jerusalem Chamber, until
Fri-
day, the 26th of October.
The Earl and Countess Granville have left town
for Studley Park, Yorkshire, ou a visit to the Earl and
QQ110309 49 ctre7.