The Sun.
London, England, 1866-04-02 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDOIN, MON DAY EVENING, APRIL 2, 1866.

regard to the loss on the income tax, we must of Saturday res petting this affair. It actually goes
notice that a great proportion of the total loss on so far as to declare that Austria has ordered arma-
the year occurs in the quarter just ended, owing, meats without any provocation having bepn received
it is said, to arrears in the collection. Altogether from Pruss is ; and that these are of such aiin&that
the returns of the quarter show an increase of there is no reserve left the Berlin Government bht
£349,814 against a decrease of £1,734,000, to arm also in self-defence. It is now rendered
there being only three 'heads on which an necessary for Prussia to find guarantees, and, there-
increase is recorded, excise, crown lands, and mis- fore, to effect this desideratum a reform must take
cellaneous, while there are four items of decrease, place in the Federal Constitution. The assurance
including thesomewhatstartling figure of £1,213,000 of some people is really annoying, and we should,
on property tax alone. Still the buoyancy with indeed, be greatly puzzled to state what claim
which every reduction of a tax or duty is speedily Prussia has in those minor States that they should
repaid to the Exchequer is most encouraging to our alter their laws and change their Constitutions to
financiers. "It is plain that we shall look in vain suit her plans and further her ambitious projects.
for any considerable reduction this year, but there
is no reason whatever to regret the steps already
taken towards lightening the public burdens. The
tea duties, indeed, are in a fair way to
atone for the sixpence taken off by the
increased consumption of the article, and
we shall find the same compensating principle
at work in other quarters. Thus the estimated
receipts from stamps were £9,290,000, £290,000
having been allowed for the reduction of the fire'
insurance duty, whereas the stamps have brought
in £9,560,000, this being £270,000 in excess of
the estimate, or more than repaying the whole fire
insurance reduction by £lO,OOO ! It will be always
the same in matters of this kind, where heavy
burdens not only depress the energies of the people,
but hinder enterprise and cramp their industry.
The principles of free trade freely applied are
directly profitable to the financier who has courage
to resort to them, as they are conducive to the
comfort and stimulating to the progress of the
people.

The Government Reform Bill has at length
found some decided partisans. Stroud has long
bar e the reputation of a Liberal borough, and its
citizens appear to be resolved to maintain its cha-
racter. It prides itself on returning a Liberal mem-
ber, although at the meeting last Thursday the con-
duct of their representative was very severely
criticised. Mr. HousMAN'S Parliamentary career
has been, it must be confessed, not altogether satis-
factory. Possessed of striking talents, a brilliant
and vigorous speaker, he is uncertain and incon-
sistent. Ile abuses the Liberal party, . and his
trenchant satire is often doubly severe, be-
cause it is based on truth, as was the case
in his recent speech on Mr. CLAY'S educational
franchise, but he seems to find it much easier and
pleasanter to destroy than to construct. He satirises
the Liberal party—well and good—but then he lays
himself open to satire and reproach in his turn.
The Stroud electors complain bitterly that he has
failed to represent their principles, and a very
stringent resolution was carried, With only two dis-
sentients, declaring that the Right Hon. EDWARD
Ho RMAN no longer possessed their confidence.
What will come of this movement remains to be
seen ; but there are a good many more professing
Liberals who have failed to represent their con-
stituencies, or to show any real heartiness
in the cause of Reform. Granted that
the Cabinet are not over zealons on the matter,
it would require very little fervour on their part to
come up to the temperature of the great body of
their supporters. They have done little enough, it
is true ; but in doing that little, they have not
been met half way. The whole question is in an
unsatisfactory condition, and at the root of the
indifference in Parliament lies the discordance be-
tween the reforming constituencies and their repre-
Men who can speak as well as Mr.

Her MAJESTY has sent an autograph letter to Mr.
PEABODY, which will afford great satisfaction to the
Public in general, and more especially to those who
have had time and opportunity to judge of the ex-
cellencyof that gentleman's works. QueenVicToniA
is always very happy in her selection of the favoured
few who are honoured by those communications ;

•
but we venture to assert that seldom if ever has she
fixed upon one more deserving of the honour of
princes and the homage of the great than Mr. PEA-
BODY. Her MAJESTY expresses her wish that Mr.
PEABODY should not leave England without being
'assured " how deeply she appreciates the noble act
Of more than princely munificence by which he has
sought to relieve the wants of the lower classes of
her subjects residing in London." Very truly does
her MAJESTY declare that it is an act wholly without
parallel, and also one which " will carry its best
reward in the consciousness of having contri-

buted so largely to the assistance of those who can

little help themselves." Still it is always of conse-
quence that those who are placed in responsible
positions should show by their approval that they
recognise and appreciate the works of those who
exert themselves in the high and holy effort to im-
prove. the social condition of their brethren. It

may well be said that the harvest is plentiful, but the
labourers are few, and all honour to those who join
the faithful few. It may be said that only a limited
number can have means at their command to effect
great objects, but how seldom do we find the dis-
position to give largely among those who are the
most largely endowed with this world's goods. We
trust the example set by Mr. PEABODY will be fol-
lowed hereafter, if even only in a small degree and
to a lesser extent, for benefits cannot fail thus to
accrue to the classes who so greatly need assistance.
In every respect we are glad to find this passage in
the QUEEN'S letter :—" The QUEEN would not,
however, have been satisfied without giving
Mr. PEABODY some public mark of her sense
of his munificence. She would gladly have
conferred upon him either a Baronetcy or the Grand
Cross of the Ordar of the:Bath, but that she under-
stands Mr. PEABOBY to feel himself debarred from
accepting such distinctions." Her MAJESTY feels
naturally, under these circumstances, that nothing
remains for her but to give Mr. PEABODY an
assurance of her personal feeling in the matter,
and she seeks to mark this by asking bim to accept
a " miniature portrait of herself, which she will

desire to have painted for him, and which,
when finished, can either be sent to him
in America, or given to him on his return, which,
she rejoices to hear, he meditates to the country
that owes him so much." This graceful letter does
honour to the gracious lady who has written it, and
also to the generous recipient of it. Since her acces-
sion to the throne the QUEEN has distinguished her-
self for nothing more than the deep interest she has
always` taken in the welfare of her poorer subjects,
and thus she can of course enter fully into the meri is
of one who, like Mr. PEABODY, has done so much in
their cause.

After many contradictions have appeared respect
ing the various rumours of war between the two
great German Powers, we find ourselves again face
to fate with assertions which seem to reiterate the
likelihood of the occurrence. At Vienna, yesterday,
the journals declared war to be inevitable, and one
sign of the times may be seen in the fact that ex-
tensive contracts for the supply of corn have been
entered with the Credit Austadt, which institution
may probably become a Government Establishment.
In Paris the state of things in Germany is the chief
topic of conversation, and the Constitutionel
declares that in any case France is safe,
thanks to the wise policy which has been
adopted. La France mentions that all is
being prepared for the emergencies of war, and
that commanders-in-chief are already appointed
Certainly this looks as if things had proceeded to
extremities, and as if diplomacy was put aside for
a military solution of the problem which has per-
plexed for so long a period the two nations. As for
Prussia, with her various manceuvrcs, she does not
seem very likely to prosper. It is stated that Herr
BISMARCK'S attempt to get the assistance of the
middle States of Germany has been a complete
failure. If so, it is an ominous commencement, and
as a failure at the outset is always a very
bad thing, we may auger ill for his future
tactics. In reply to the Prussian Minister
the several Governments have stated that the
Federal laws would be " contravened" if they were
to espouse either side in the dispute that is now so
imminent. It is also mentioned in some private
communication'from Berlin that the Austrian Am-
bassador at Berlin, in an interview which he held
the other day with Count BISMARK, asked, in very
explanation concerning the
earnest language, for an ,
military preparations of Prussia.
All these items of intelligence may well confirm
the idea already so prevalent of disturbances tak-
ing Place, anal, indeed, we can hardly see now
how peace is
in the face of
expecting the' commencement to be preserved, for
one thing for com
back and to make concessions
neither Power is
likely to draw
many lookers-on who are eagerly
•
can be imparted to the ,
of hostilities. It is
promises to be made, and for
charges to take place, when all is covered by the
veil of diplomacy, and a convenient air of mystery
but quite another
thing for Governments to retract •
their assertions
and forego their demands when •
preparations have
been made to let slipthe dogs of war, and all Europe
is ringing with the exciting intelligence. It •is axnus-
itg to notice the tone taken by the N..tional Z • ettung

LATEST INTELLIGENCE.

(REUTER'S TELEGRAMS.)

-4,- -

TEE EASTER BENEDICTION.
ROME, APRIL 1 (Evening).

The Pope gave to-day the benediction Urbi et
Orbi. The crowd on the occasion was enormous,
and his holiness was received with cheers.

The ex-King of Naples and his family, the Prince
and Princess of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, the Count of
Flanders, and the Diplomatic Corps were present.

BOMB AY MAILS.
MALTA, APRIL 1.
The China leaves at 9 p.m. to-day for Marseilles,
where she may be expected on the 4th inst.

BRA
BOURSE, March 31, Ti
closed at the following qi
41 per Cents 96 25
Do. end month —
3 per Cents. 67 50
Do. end month 67 40
Credit Mobilier 630
Do. end month
- U 12113 - -

N C B.

[me o'clock.—The market

Lotations :
Bank Shares 3560
Italian Loan 57 90
Do. end month 57 60
Mexican Loan 46 75
Do. Bonds 301 25
Spanish Threes ... 40 75
Home Debt
Deferred

Do. end month —

RAILWAYS.

Cash.

Orleans
Northern
Lyons and Mediterranean
Southern
Western
Eastern
Sardinian
Austrian
Lombard
North of Spain
Saragossa
Ditto to Barcelona
Roman ... 87 50

Acct.
860 -
- 1110 -
- 870
- 548 75
- 560
- ... 535

- - ... 105 -
- - ... 377 50
- - ... 388 75
- - ... 160 -
- - ... 202 50

MAGAZINE-DAY.

BLACKWOOD.—" Sir Brook Fosbrooke " is con

firmed, and it is quite a relief to find that Trafford is
about again after his accident. The various cha-
racters in the story are ably described, and the inci-
dents striking. It is quite a piece of poetical justice
when Colonel Sewell hears some of his own doings
n India described by somo young officers who had for-
gotten the name of the miscreant referred to. " Shrewsbury
School, Past and Present " is a paper that will please some
readers, and, indeed, the more a general knowledge of our
public seminaries is diffused the better. It is truly said
that "standing on the border-land of England and Wales
few places have been of more account in British history
than the pleasant town of Shrewsbury," Mwythig, as the
Welshmen call it to this day. It is satisfactory that this
interesting account here given winds up by the remark that
Shrewsbury stands high for the renown of her scholars,
and that the Royal Commissioners term the series of emi-
nent names belonging to the school a " magnificent list.'
The Porson Prize for Greek verse at Cambridge has
been almost monopolised by the school, "Shrewsbury
scholars having won it eighteen times in the last twenty-
six years." "Memoirs of the Confederate War for Inde-
pendence" are continued, and are as interesting and ani-
mated as heretofore. "Miss Marjoribanks" in this instal-
ment is very exciting and eventful. The election results
in the return of Lucilla's candidate, and altogether some
crisis is about to take place in her life. A curious episode
is the reappearance of Barbara Luke at a most inopportune
juncture, and Mr. Cavendish's sins in days gono by were
visited on him, for she was a regular Macploy, and by
flaunting in and out from " kirk to market," as it were, she
became the topic of conversation, and covered her quon-
dam admirer with confusion. " Cornelius O'Dowd" takes
up the Fenian pest this month, and declares that he finds
considerable resemblance between the two plagues now in-

fasting us, " Fenianism and the Binderpest." The
new " House" also engages the notico of this
universal critic, and he truly declares that no-
thing distinguishes the English House of Commons from
all foreign assemblies so much as tho fact that great
ability alone does not impress there. Intellectual supe-
riority will not sway it alone ; but a man must possess
those traits of character and temper which are popular in
society. "Demonology at Home and Abroad" is a curious
paper that will be entertaining to some. " The Condition
of the Government" does not hold out a very fair prospect
of success for the Ministry, and with merciless precision
we find sketched out before us all the mishaps and misad-
ventures which the members of the Administration have
fallen into since the commencement of the session. It is
not an enviable catalogue, beginning with the significant
debate on the cattle plague, and ending with the confusion
of the new Reform Bill. The description given of the
state of the Government is almost ludicrous in its inten-
sity of wretchedness. Yet, who can say that it is only
because a political opponent looks into the state of their
fall that the agony of their position is so piled up. " The
condition of her Majesty's Ministers is at this moment as
pitiable as their worst enemies could desire it to be. They
have contrived in the course of four or five months to
render themselves contemptible in the eyes of the whole
nation. No man of any note in Parliament, be his political
opinions what they may, has the smallest confidence in them
—their internal divisions, barely concealed at the outset,
are become common topics of conversation at all the clubs,
and the course into which their legislation—or, to speak
more correctly, their attempts at legislation—has fallen,
points to one issue, and only one, which cannot now be far
distant."

FRASER.—A melancholy interest attaches to the
first paper which meets us in this number —an
article on Grote's "Plato" by the late Dr. \Vhewell.
It contains the last words, as the editor reminds us,
which the world will ever have from his pen, and
was prepared for the press just before the fatal
accident which so suddenly terminated an honoured and
valuable career. Of Dr. Whewell, in the brief preliminary
notice, it is remarked that " Few men of his generation
have been, during the course of a long life, so constantly
and prominently before the public; and fewer still have
had a more steady allowance of fame and success in so
many different walks of literature." in illustration of the
variety of his acquirements, it is observed that the occupa-
tion of the two professional chairs which he held in suc-
cession required a wide range of intellectual power, being
totally distinct from one another—mineralogy and casuis-
try, and there was scarcely any branch of literature or
science to which he turned his attention that he did not
thoroughly master. The essay upon Mr. Grote's "Plato"
can therefore scarcely fail to attract the first attention of
the reader. Dr. Whewell's remarks on the Dialogues will
remind the student of some of the earlier sections in the
first volume of his " llistory of the Inductive Sciences.'
In speaking of the drama of Charmides, he asks what good
can come of playing against each other the different mean-
ings of Sophrosyne ? " Plato's proceeding in this and the
like dialogues is not a search of truth, but school-boy exer-
cises on the meaning and application of words," and he
thinks Mr. Grote to have been misled, like many pre-
ceding critics of Plato, by the belief of a profound
meaning, and a systematic philosophy existing in Plato's
mind, when there was in fact, at the time when he wrote,
no such thing." Leaving this interesting essay, to which
circumstances have given a double value, we come to a
story or sketch called " The Passion of Martin Holdfast,"
written with vigour and even eloquence, but somewhat
unsatisfactory nevertheless. " Thoreau" is a memorial of
a gifted American, whose works and powers aro less known
among us than they deserve to be. An article on the native
army in India recommends its total abolition, and in its
place the strengthening and improvement of the police and
of the civil establishments; and, above all, the government
of the people in accordance with their established customs
and principles, and not in compliance'with artificial Eng-
lish theories. " The Reform Bill and the Government"
discusses the much-vexed question in 'every aspect which
can support Earl Russell's Ministry, but we should be glad
to know what the Jamaica question has to do with the ex-
tension of the franchise that certain politicians so deter-
minedly unite the two to the detriment of a fair examina-
tion of both. "From London to Rio de Janeiro" is the
continuation of an entertaining paper, and amongthe other
articles are an account of the native tribes on the Zambesi,
and a further instalment of " The Beauclercs."
COLBURN'S UNITED SERVICE.—The United Ser•
vice opens with a notice of Baron Ambert on tlik
battle of Austerlitz, contrasting it with the inde.
cisive but bloody battle of Frederick the Great at
Zorudorf, but we think very needlessly, for who ever
hears nowadays of Zorudorf or even of Frederick
himself, unless indeed we think of the hero that was, and
laugh with derision at the hero that would be, urged on to
his destiny by his evil genius, the " bold, bad man," Bis-
marck, whose restless rapacity is hurrying on a kindred
spir4 to his destiny. Let us hope, for the benefit of hu-
manity and the vengeance of the Dane, that it may be
speedy and soon." As to Frederick and Zorudorf,
with his vinegar flask to sweeten or qualify sour Prussian
water, they are not worth altogether one pinch of the im-
mortal Nap's snuff, while gazing on, amidst his devoted
Marshals, at the fatal descent of the allied enemy down the
hill, of dismay to the one and of hope to the other. "Let
them go down quietly," said Napoleon to Marshal Soult,
"how long will it take :you to go up ?" " About twenty
minutes," said the rapture-gazing Marshal; and off he
galloped, with his gallant heart burning with emulation, to
be first on the hill, when forth burst the sun of Austerlitz,
as they waved the banner of victory on the summit.
Them were deeds worthy to be chronicled to all future
time, for "their like bath not been nor will ever be more."
There is an article on turret ships, very much in favour of
the Admiralty, and their very late conviction that the time
has come fur trying if they can build a seagoing turret-
ship. After all the world has been fairly disgusted at
their mean jealousy in not permitting the gallant inventor