The Sun.
London, England, 1866-12-25 00:00:00

FAMILY GA THERINGS.

It is rather a fashion (says a Saturday Reviewer)
among the cheerful young cynics who have seen to
the bottom of all things alike in this world and the
next to scoff loftily or acrimoniously, acc3rding to
temperament, at the practice of observing holidays
and festivals. They esteem it a mark of the very
highest superiority to keep protesting that Christ-
mas-day, for example, bores them ; that it is neither
a Sunday nor a week day ; that people would be
much better employed in attending to their affairs
than in going to church and afterwards over-
eating and over-drinking themselves ; that family
gatherings are a mistake, because relations gene-
rally agree best when they are apart, and so forth
It may be noticed that, as a rule, the people who
thus gird at their neighbours are themselves not much
taxed with work, and therefore have no reason for
enjoying one day more than another in their year
of indolence. Again, on principle they object to the
whole theory of the family, preferring to look at the
individual as the unit of social life; and hence the
name of a family gathering recalls all those ideas
which jar most unpleasantly with their conception of
duty to self as the first and highest of all possible
duties. They scoff at the notion of people being mirth-
ful and gladsome at Christmas, only because they
scoff at the notion of mirth and cheerfulness at any
and all times. Considering that all life is a mere
piece of acting and pretence, nothing better than a
badly organised kind of puppet show in their far see-
ing eyes, it is perfectly natural that they should be
more than usuallycontemptuouswhen the puppets give '
themselves airs of enjoyment, and try to make-
believe that life has some real advantages about it
after all, which do something towards making it
worth having. The agreeable cynic of modern times
despises pleasure as bitterly as an old Puritan hated
it. The Puritan detested the unseasonable joviali-
ties of Christmas bemuse he thought them wicked
in beings with souls to save. The cynic in patent
leather boots and lavender kid gloves who has suc-
ceeded him as the Mentor of mankind detests jovi-
ality, because he looks on it as an impudent attempt
on the part of a shadow to pass himself off as a
reality.
In some respects the nnaimiable theory about the
celebration of anniversaries is in accord with other
and wider tendencies. Circumstances combine to
lessen, not the old strength of the sentiment of the
family, but at all events to lessen the number of
occasions on which it may be realised and exhi-
bited in the old-fashioned gatherings of which one
reads in the novels of a couple of generations back.
What may be called the superstition that clung
about the ties and duties of family, like everything
else of a similar kind, fades away before the ad-
vance and penetration of a rationalistic spirit into
all sorts of sacred nooks and corners. The sense
of family obligation is, very likely, stronger than it
ever was. But it is a prosaic kind of obligation ;
and, above all, it is narrow. People who can only
call themselves relations arc thought less and less
of. A man cannot deny that his second cousin or
his great-uncle is of kin to him, but then, unless
kinship is of the very closest and most direct sort,
he does not feel that it ought to count for any-
thing. Ile excludes from a practical sense of kin-
ship all who do not belong immediately to own
special twig of the family branch. Of course any
decent person will admit the claims of anybody in
the direct ascending or the direct descending line.
A man's father and mother, or his grandfather and
grandmother, his children or his grandchildren, can-
not be excluded from the very slenderest and
most select conception of the family. But do
people look upon uncles and aunts and cousins and
nephews as close kinsfolk in the way in which they
used to do ? Blood is still thicker than water, it
is true. Other things being equal, a nephew
stands nearer than a stranger. Only a constantly
diminishing weight attaches to the argument in the
nephew's favour. Where, a generation ago, the
nephew's start might have been represented by 100

drds, t would now probably
thing like 10, or even five. A:
thicker than water, the difference
attenuation tends to become evcry day more trifling.
For instance, persons who live in large and busy
towns concern themselves much less with their less
near relations than people do who live in the coun-
try. A man may live in the same town with his
uncle without knowing anything of 'what the uncle
is doing, and without seeing him more than three or
four times a year, and then only by accident. In
the country, as a rule, this is quite different. Men
and women know all about the doilies of their cog-
nates, take a keen interest in them, and, in the ab-
sence of a quarrel, meet frequently. In thoroughly
country districts anybody would be thmight " un-
canny" who evinced any respect for the systematic
observance, and in a religious spirit, of the ancient
rites of the family. Speaking with levity or flip-
pancy of a Christmas or a New Year gathering
round the patriarchal heart would be nearly as bad
as scepticism about the Pentateuch. Yet in big
towns there is very little of this reproach attached to
a neglect of family
meetings. A man may boldly
profess himself bored at the prospect of
having to dine or spend a day wth a parcel
of dull and stupid people, just because they
happen to come from a common great-grand-
father. lle may even positively decline to assist at
the ceremony of the annual celebration of the family
dulness,
.or stillness, or quarrelsomeness. Nobody
living in town would on this account stigmatise him
as a cold and heartless person. But, further afield,
indifference to the rite of the sacred pudding would
pass for something about as bad as indifference to the
services of the Church. Indeed, it would be treated
as the thin end of the wedge. A man who refused to
partake of the Christmas morsel in company with
pompous uncles and unkindly critical aunts would
appear, to the unsophisticated minds of country
places, to have entered into fatally rationalistic
courses.

There are plenty of reasons why it should come
to pass that family ties sit more lightly than they
ever did. Increa sci-ardour for business, for instance,
is one of the -he range of social ambition is much
higher than it used to be. Men want more money,
and consequently they are forced to devote both a
great deal more time and a great deal more attention
to money-making. The obvious result of this is a
diminished capacity for thinking and caring about
other people. There is scarcely room, in an ordi-
nary mind engrossed with the harassing anxieties
of affairs, for anybody besides his wife and children.
They alone more than fill up the spare corners of his
attention. And this increase of the intensity of social
ambition acts in a still more palpable way upon the
family. England becomes too small for the number
of her sons. llowinany families are there now of
which some member does not find his way to India,
to Australia, to Canada, to China, to New Zealand?
It is no longer the black sheep only who leave home.
More often they are now the most energetic and
promising members of a house who cut asunder all
retaining ties, and resolve to push their fortunes in
remote colonies and dependencies. India, above
all, makes dire gaps. The Christmas gathering is
thus most painfully curtailed. It seems as if whole
and entire families never met together nowadays
as they used to do in the days of our grandfathers.
From the point of view of mere feeling this is very
saddening. Yet nobody denies that a man had
better dine alone at Shanghai on Christmas Day,
if he is making some way in the world, than dine at
home with his grandmother and his parents and all
his uncles and aunts and cousins, if he is making no
way in the world. Loneliness, and a sense of the
disruption of family ties, are obviously not the
worst sources of gloominess that may befal a man.
For all this, however, it requires some fortitude for
friends at home to think tranquilly of the solitary
man spending his first Christmas at Shanghai. One
must be a bit of a Stoic to look at his empty place

in church or at table, when we remember for how
many years his place was not empty. Of course this
is nonsense, our cynic tel!s us; Christmas Day is
only a day coninte un ware, and he dines alone at
Shanghai 364 other days as well every year. if you
admit this, but humbly add that anniversaries bring
these things more vividly before one, our ready
friend sets you down as an incorrigible sentinlen-

talist, inaccessible to considerations of pure reason,
and incapable of looking at the bare facts. As if the
bare facts were any the worse for being adorned
with gracious and tender sentiment ; or, to borrow
a simile from Mr. Carlyle, as if there were any
harm, or anything other than good, in having a soft
silken inner lining to the rough garment of one's
existence.

There is another aspect in which the family gather-
ing has altered. Every day'we seem to get more and
more removed in practice from the old conception
which made the domestic servant a quasi-member of
the family. It is not that people ignore that
they have a duty to their servants. They recognise
this perfectly in theory, and in practice even they
strive to realise it in a general way. But the
socially scientific idea of duty to servants is widely
different from the exploded patriarchal idea. It is a
question whether, in spite of the attractive grace of
the patriarchal idea, it was not, in fact, much worse
for the servant than even the arid mercies of social

science. The patriarch always had the power of
life and death over his servants, as over the rest of
his family. The modern householder may be cold,
and stiff, and unsympathetic towards his servants,
but at least he does not bastinade them, nor have

them decapitated. Still it would make a great im-
provement if we could superadd to the modern the
more ancient theory ; and, while recognising the
liberty of the inferior, could recognise the duty of
protection and of a measure of friendship for him or
her. Considering the extent to which they are cut
off from their natural family, it would not be more
than just or humane to give them a more admitted
place in their artificial or adopted family. It will be
a long time before we get back to the feudal plan of

dining at table with the family retainers, even with

the distinction of dining above and below the salt.

Meanwhile the best thing is to recognise their right
not merely to improve themselves, which is the idea

of social science, but to enjoy themselves with as
much of true jollity as the temper of modern times

will permit.

Foreign Mail Packet List.

THEATRE ROYAL, HAYMARKET,
Sole Lessee and Manager, Mr. Buckstone,

TO-MORROW EVENING, A MERE CHILD. Messrs.
Howe, Gordon, White, .tic. ; Mesdames Chippendale, Fitz-
william, Laws, Rebecca Powell, &c.
Alter which, A LESSON FOR LIFE. Messrs. Eothern,
Chippendale, Compton, Howe, Kendal, Gordon, Rogers,
Braid, Vincent, Sm.; Mesdames Chippendale, Wright, Moore,
bre.

Followed by JENNY LIND AT LAST. Messrs. W.
Farren, White, Rogers, &c ; Miss lone Burke.

To conclude with a GRAND BALLET DIVERTISSE
MENT. Mdlle. Sophia.

Commence at Seven.

THEATRE ROYAL ADELPIII.
Sole Proprietor and Manager, Mr. B. Webster.
TO- KORROW EVENING, at Seven, A SISTER'S
PENANCE. Miss Kate Terry, Miss Hughes, Miss Emily
Pitt; Messrs. H. Vezin, BilLington, Ashley, Eburne, Ronur,
and Stephenson.
To conclude with the New Grand Burlesque of THE
MOUNTAIN DHU; or, THE KNIGHT, THE LADY,
AND THE LAKE. Messrs, J. L. Toole (his first appear-
ance since his provincial tour), Paul Bedford, Ashley, K.
Homer, and C. J. Smith ; Mrs. Alfred Mellon, Miss Furtado,
Miss Hughes, Miss Emily Pitt, &c.

ROYAL OLYMPIC THEATRE,
New Management—Boxing Night.
MR. AND MRS. CHARLES MATHEWS.

ROYAL STRAND THEATRE.
Sole Lessee and Manageress, Mrs. Swanborough.
On Boxing Night, NEIGHBOURS. Messrs. Parselle,
Belford, and G. Murray; Misses Swanborough, Johnstone,
and Hughes.
After which, will be produced the Grand Burlesque of
KENILWORTH Messrs. Thorne, James, and Fenton;
Mesdames Swanborough, Johnstone, and Raynham.
To conclude with BOOTS AT THE SWAN.
Commence at Seven.

HOLBO-RN THEATRE ROYAL.
Sole Proprietor and Manager, Mr. Sefton Parry.
On Boxing Night, a new Farce, MY TURN NEXT. Mr.
Belmore, Miss Foote, Miss Lennox.

After which, Boucicanit's drama of FLYING SCUD.
Messrs. Neville, Belmore, Blake. Garden,Vollaire Mesdames
F. Josephs, C. Saunders, B. Foote, flaym nd.

THEATRE ROYAL, ASTLEY'S,
Under the Sole Management of Mr. H. C. Nation.

On BOXING MG HT, and every evening during the week,
the periormancea will commence at Seven o'clock with a
Comic Drama, entitled DELICATE GROUND

Concluding with, i►t a quarter to 8, the Great NATION-AL
Pantomime, written by Charles Igillward, and entitled
HUSH-A-BYE, BABY, UPON THE 'FREE TOP. In the
Grand Burlesque Opening, Misses Caroline Parkes, Nelly
Nisbett, Polly Marshall, Fanny Gwynne, Neliy Burton,
Fanny Howard, Lizzie Kelsey, Mrs. CAulfleld ; Messrs.
Atkins, W. H. Stevens, Arthur Milano, Miss Bessie Sim-
monde, Premier Danseuse ; and the favourite Children
Danseuses, Misses Fanny Higgs, Florence and Annie Wright,
will appear. The Harlequinacie will include—Clown, the
Original Little Rowelia; Pantaloon, Mr. Beckingnam ;
Harlequin, Mr. Honeywood ; Harlequin ( la Whatteau).
Miss Ester Austin (from Paris); Columbine,', Misses Gros-
venor and Simmonds. The truly magnificent Scenery painted
by Messrs. Julian Hicks, H. Y. Hall. and numerous assis-
tants. The Dances, including an entirely novel and charac-
teristic Ballet of Ladybirds, arranged by Mr. Milano.
N.B.—Mr. W. H. C. Nation begs to announce that MORN-
ING PERFORMANCES of this, the best Children's Panto-
mime in London, will be given every MONDAY, WEDNES-
DAY, and SATURDAY, being the only Morning Perft•rm-
ances on the Surrey side of the water. First Morning Per-
formance on Saturday, Dec. 29, at Two o'clock.

Box-office open from Eleven till Four. No charge wha'
ever for bills or booking.

It will be absoiu ely necess,iry, to prevent disappointment,
that seats should be secured in adv +nee.

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Orders by Post punctually attended to.

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MOSES and S ON,
• Ready-made and Bespoke Tailors, Habit Makers,
Woollen Drapers, Hatters, Hosiers, Boot and Shoe Manu-
facturers, and General Outfitters for all Classes.
E. MOSES and SON respectfully invite an inspection
of their STOCK, which will be found to comprise all the
most fashionable styles and an extensive assortment of the
newest fabrics.
A very large and well-assorted stock of OVERCOATS,
pandrices: Winter Clothing generally, at their usually moderate
The following are the London addresses of E. Moses
and Son:-
154, MINORIES.
155, MINORIES.
156, MINORIES.
157, MINORIES.
83, ALDGATE.
84, ALDGATE.
85, ALDGATE.
86, ALDGATE.
87, ALDGATE.
88, ALDGATE.
89, ALDGATE.
506, NEW OXFORD-STREET.
507, NEW OXFORD-STREET.
508, NEW OXFORD-STREET.
1, HART-STREET.
2, HART-STREET.
3, HART-STREET.
137, TOTTENHAM-COURT-ROAD.
138, TOTTENHAM-COURT-ROAD.
283, EUSTON-ROAD.
Also,
19, BRIDbE-STREET, BRADFORD, YORKS.
20, BRIDGE-STREET, BRADFORD, YORKS.
MOSES and SON'S ESTABLISHMENTS
are CLOSED EVERY FRIDAY EVENING at
sunset till SATURDAY EVENING at sunset, when
business is resumed till Eleven o'clock.
All articles axe marked the lowest price in plain figures,
from which no abatement can be made.
Any article not approved of will be exchanged, or the
money will be returned.

Of late years we have seen many changes and
alterations in our customs and manners, but we trust
that
Christmas
hthriestaaa
days will be far distant when the approach
does not meet with a hearty welcome
in England, for it is a record of the good old times
which we would not willingly lose sight of. Noth-
ing tends more to foster unity of feeling among
various classes than to have a common point to start
from, and to form as it were a mutual ground, so
that social distinctions and differences may in a
approach
sh
otfherehasgreat measure be lost sight of
never been a year in which the
Christ-
mas mirth and festivities have seemed more unsuit-
able to some, for since the dull season last came
round what sorrows and sufferings have not been
the lot of many ? A catalogue of misfortunes seem
to have formed in a great measure the epitome of
this year's calendar, and whether we look abroad
or at home we may see the traces of losses and sick-
ness, and the sad gaps exhibited that have been made
by the arch-destroyer—death. As if we had not
already more than enough to fill up the dreary tale
within thelast seven days we have heard of the awful
accidents in the mines which have been the cause
of so much distress. However the true work

Lists of Prices with rules for Self-measurement and
Fashion Sheet, with Patterns and "History of London,"
gratis and post free.

A. POPULAR HISTORY of LONDON from
the Invasion of Julius Camar to the Present Time.
Part the First, from B.C. 55 to A.D. 1066.
E. Moses and Son, corner of Minories and Aldgate ;
New Oxford-street, and Tottenham-court-road, Loudon;
And Bradford, Yorkshire.
Gratis and post free on application.

HIGH WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE.
THIS DAY.—Morning, 4h. 20m.—Afternoon, 4h. 46m.
To-Mmutow.-Merning, 511. Gru.—Afternoon, sh. 30m.

z. . 1 cif )1
.4.
Ate...7* ..... ~...-x ~, '
,
*
*.... ..:,.,....z..,,,,,„pr. 4).1! -0 4

LONDON, TUESDAY, DEC. 25, 1866.

The recurrence of the time-honoured festival of
Christmas, always so widely and universally
celebrated among ourselves, bids us look abroad
and see how our continental neighbours are
likel 3 to the welcome season. With the
Frenchman Christmas day is secondary as a
fete, whatever it may be as a religious festival ; as
among our Scotch kinsfolk the first day of the
year is with the French the great anniversary holi-
day, when greetings and good wishes are exchanged,
and when pleasant companies assemble in family
gatherings. When we begin to think of how
Christmas is E peat abroad, therefore our thoughts
naturally turn to Germany, where the customs and
affections of the people are in some respects more
kindred to our own, and where Christmas is still
the clay of most cherished associations. It cannot
be a very peaceful celebration one would think that
will be held this year at Berlin. The schemes and
intrigues of BISMA RCK and his master have prospered
beyond their wildest dreams, but yet before the tower
is completed it is already tottering to its fall. The
reckless ambition, the shameless hypocrisy which,
under the pretence of defending national rights and
liberties, have absorbed independent states in the
circle of the Prussian dominions, have not indeed
been without a temporary success ; nevertheless, if
Ring WILLIAM and Count BIS3IARCK choose
to moralise over their Christmas gaieties they

of Christmas need not be stayed on account
of these trials, grievous though they have
undoubtedly been, nor need we always insepa-
rably associate the time with the gayest rounds
of mirth, and the most exuberant display of spirits.
If so few circles could depend on meeting to cele-
brate the time, because the youngest and brightest
must ever and anon find their paths clouded ; the
true lesson that Christianity should teach is that of
unity, that the strains that swelled the song of angels
on the first Christmas morn may still linger in our
minds, though they echo through the shades of
eighteen centuries—" Peace on earth, good-will to
men." Those who seek to illustrate the principles
contained iu these words need never pass a dull or
an unprofitable time, although they do not spend
their holiday season in the sounding halls of revelry,
amid the glitter of wealth, or the gaiety of the
light-hearted.

, To each and all this Christmas season should be
a treat in the landscape of their lives. The rich
may well rejoice that they have such an oppor-
tunity afforded to them of making others sharers in
their treasures, or of letting in a gleam of kind
times to them, and irradiate what is Loo often the
selfish tenure of their
satisfied at the r lives. The busy can be
spite from their labours
which this time generally affords them,
and as for the poor they have especial cause for
thanksgiving. Christmas is their esp.xial and se

MR. SOTHERN.—TO-MORROW EVENING
can hardly be very well satisfied with the
FOR 1131.?E,xi"13y Tom Taylor, Haymarket Theatre.G-NIGHT), in a New Comedy, "A LESSON position they have gained. They have hope-
lessly alienated the sympathies of England. and
have aroused the national jealousy of France. Brs-
manic must be uncomfortably conscious
policy leaves open only too many opportunitiesthst fhoirs
o
" picking a quarrel," should
smaller States Franceld
s fitnesd f
Prussia
growing too strong. T
Ger-
many may be ready enough now to acknowledge,
le droit du plus fort; but should an equally strong
pretender appear upon the troubled stage of Ger-
man politics, they will be glad enough to avail
themselves of the excuse and break off from their
despotic leader. As for those free States whom
Prussia has forcibly incorporated with her own ter-
ritory, it is only too certain that they would, if they
had the chance, throw off the yoke forced upon
them under the specious plea of German unity by
the advocates of the real cause of nationalities.
The retribution which deliberate wrong-doing
usually brings upon both rulers and people has cer-
tainly not been long in overtaking some of the
offenders against poor Denmark. Austria, who
leagued with Prussia as the joint executors of the
will of the Gorman Diet, has been bitterly punished.
She found that the same course which was pursued
against Demark was to be followed with respect to
herself, and she was less inclined to admire it. The
occupation of the Duchies was, we were told at
first, only undertaken in the interests of the Duke
of AUGUSTENBERG ; but here are the Duchies for-
cibly dissevered from Denmark, and the Duke
AUGUSTENBERG is about as far from his throne
as ever. He served as a very good pretext for
the transparent designs of Prussia, but all the
smaller States of Prussia were so blinded by their
eager desire to extend the importance of their Con-
federation that they did not see, or would not
believe, the snare, and have ended in the total dis-
ruption of the Confederation itself. They are likely
to pass through some bitter experience before they
regain their former position, and others, besides the
Kings of HANovEn and of SAXONY, may well look
back with regret a few years when German unity
was still a theory, not a disappointing fact, and
when Germany itself meant eomething more than
an ever-growing Prussia.
The disaffection of the Liberal party in Prussia
itself must be anything but reassuring to the heads
of the State. This wise and benign Government,
which is so competent to administer the affairs of
such divers nations, fails strangely in giving satis-
faction to its own people. Free thought, free
speech, civil liberty in all its phases, is not the
possession of the King of PRUSSIA'S subjects under
BISMARCK'S enlightened Administration. They
must learn to be contented without such trouble-
some additions to their blessings ; but, unfortu-
nately for BISMARCK, he cannot control Europe,
and he is well aware that his conduct is being dis-
cussed pretty sharply in more than one neighbour-
ing kingdom on Christmas-day. Austria, if she
can conciliate Hungary, and learn how to conso-
lidate her vast possessions by the bonds of loyalty
and contentment, has yet a fine future
before her beyond the limits of the
Fatherland. Italy has advanced so rapidly
on the path of progress and unity that she
is fast realising the visions of her poets and
romancists. Denmark, stripped of so much, is yet
rich in the peace and prosperity of her brave and
simple people, their freedom, their loyalty, their
devotion to their dynasty. Through the agency of
the fair Princess DAGMAR, too, she has just found
an alliance more durable than that of Cabinets and
diplomatists with her most powerful northern neigh-
bour. This alliance can hardly be welcome at Berlin,
since it would easily enable Russia, if she chose to
combine with France and Austria, to curb the un-
scrupulous flight of the Black Eagle. Prussia,
however much she may plume herself upon her
military triumphs over unprepared or unequal foes,
could never stand against such odds. It is an ill-
assured victory that she has wen, and to obtain it
she has sacrificed national truth and honour, the
respect of men of all nations, and that confi-
dence which no one can feel in a Power who bends
her obligations so completely to her wishes. It will
be, we fear, but a dreary Christmastide in Germany,
though no doubt every effort will be made to keep
up a good appearance, and to pretend that the great
and startling changes which have taken place since
last year have been entirely in accordance with the
popular wishes, the rights of nationalities, and the
general feeling of Europe. Before another Christ-
mas has come round we may see still more startling
changes, though none can teach us more forcibly
the moral that the gains won by hypocrisy and
aggression are neither enjoyable in the present nor
encouraging for the future.

liar holiday, and in some respects they can claim a
greater share in its privileges, for He whose day it
is when He dwelt on earth came not to dwell among
the rich, the titled, or the powerful, but was the
lowliest of the lowly, and had not where to lay His
head. Who can, then, boast of pomp and power
on a day which records His advent among us in
lowliness and humility ? Who can complain of his
poverty at a period which renews the thoughts of
Him who left the Throne of Heaven to be born in
a manger. All our distinctions, which sometimes
seem so great to us here, sink into their native in-
significance, and resolve themselves into their primi-
tive nothingness.
It is well that it should be so. This festival is
either worth nothing or a great deal ; it is as nothing
if we are to let pride and selfishness, bitterness and
complaining show themselves according as tempta-
tions of different stations of life suggest themselves.
It is worth a great deal if we will all look faithfully
and truthfully upon it, and recognise its meaning
and its character. The rich and the poor
meet together and the LORD is the maker
of them all, is a true saying, and never more applic-
able and appropriate than at this time. They meet
as divided by the accidents of birth and station, but
united by a common tie, for they celebrate this fes-
tival of Him who redeemed them, and before whose
throne they must one day stand at His second
coming upon earth. What would this world be if
He had never came to visit it ? and how can the
rich look at their unfading treasures, and the poor
dwell upon their better inheritance, in a more im-
pressive manner, than by cultivating kindly feeling
one towards another, and acting in a spirit worthy
of the dweller in a Christian land, and the servants
of the PRINCE OF PEACE. Masters and servants,
employers and employed, should ponder over these
things at this special season, and contrive to make
this festival truly a time of peace and quiet.
The family gatherings that now abound are mos

interesting sights, and far exceed in real enjoyment
some of the more splendid affairs of grander man-
sions. There are, however, many who cannot join
in the brilliant throng, and mix in the social circle
of happier days, but each who has the power
should do something to cheer and solace their
loneliness and affliction, and thus show that
they really comprehend what should be the
celebration of their times. Again, all who have
abundance of means should seek to improve this
time by bestowing what they can spare upon
those who need. They may not be permitted to
witness another anniversary of their SAVIOUR'S
birth, and what better thought can cheer their last

hours than the remembrance that they have served
the poor, whom he left to them as a precious
legacy and a solemn trust. We have seen, then,
how, in many ways, Christmas may be kept, so as
to form, as it is right that it should, a landmark in

our years, as they roll on to bear us nearer to him

whom we this day delight to honour. The hum o:

business and the strife of politics may well be
hushed for a brief space, while we think of those

better things which shall last when they have all

waxed old as a garment and are put away for ever,
Solemn thoughts like these need spoil no right re-
joicings ; and when the time for merriment is past,

all may go cheerily to their work again, refreshed
by the interchange of kindly feelings, and gladdened

by the thought that they have not missed a chance

of improving their opportunity.

Christmas muss

afford to all some relief, even in a secondary sense ;
while, if they follow out its meaning still further

and higher, they may realise that it brings them

glad tidings of great joy to cheer the weary world
around them, and to be the herald and harbinger of
that better world to come, where peace and charity

shall eternally flourish.

CORRESPONDENCE FROM PARIS.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)
PARIS, Monday Evening.
The official part of the Moniteur records the recep-
tiou yesterday at the Tuileries of M. Djemil Pacha,
the new Turkish ambassador, to present his letters
of recall to M. Safret Pacha, and also the creden-
tials which appoint him as the successor of the
latter functionary. M. Djemil Pacha made a speech
expressive of the desire of the Ottoman Porte to in-
crease the relations and cordiality and friendship
between France and Turkey. The Emperor replied
in the same spirit. Mr. John Bigelow, the American
Minister, had a private audience of the Emperor,
to take leave, and Major-General Dix, his successor,
was also received by the Emperor. The General,
in his address to his Majesty, expressed the desire
of the United States to cultivate cordial and friendly
relations with France. The Emperor thus replied :
—" I thank you, General, for the sentiments which
you express to me in the name of the Government
of the United States. The historical recollections
to which you allude form a sure guarantee that no
misunderstanding will trouble the amicable rela-
tions which have so long existed between France
and the American Union. A faithful and sincere
understanding will, I have no doubt, turn to
the advantage of industry and commerce which
every day astonish the world by their prodigies,
and will insure the progress of civilisation. Your
presence among us cannot fail to contribute to this
happy result by maintaining the relations to which
I attach the greatest value."
In its bulletin the Moniteur says :
" The American papers bring us very incom-
plete extracts from the diplomatic correspendence
which has just been submitted to Congress. Among
these extracts is a despatch, dated November 23,
addressed by M. Seward to M. Bigelow. The
French Government has never had any knowledge
of this document. The journals of the United
States, however, confirm the good understanding
-which exists between the Federal Government and
that of the Emperor.
A letter received in Paris, from Cherbourg,
dated Dec. 21, gives some rather startling news.
It says :
" A „Ministerial despatch, which has surprised
every one, has been received this evening by the
Maritime Prefect. It gives orders that the iron
armed division of the Channel, under the com-
mand in chief of Vice-Admiral Baron La Ron-
ciere de Noury, is to take in provisions and com -
bustibles, and be ready to sail at the first signal for
hMearegetnhtea acnodmtmheatiFdlearnsdraerealtoopseanil
eirTa,hwere fllolrexmicoad.
the secret despatches which will be remitted to them
at their departure." The letter then mentions
various changes which are to take place in the sta-
tions of other vessels, and proceeds—

" People here are lost in conjectures as to the
' mission of the Division, and even in official quar-
ters nothing is known about it. It is, however,
generally supposed that the vessels employed in it
have the orders to protect the transports which are
engaged
back our troops from Mexico.
The which are to bring back the French
vessels
troops are expected reach Vera Cruz towards the
end of January. The embarkation will commence
in February, and will be finished by the 15th of
March."

The Oaks Colliery Explosion.

Count de la Ferrango has died suddenly from the
rupture of a blood vessel at Frobsdorff. The Count
was a man of some note in the political and diplo-
matic world.

A fog has prevailed all day in Paris, and it has
been very cold. At five this afternoon there was a
slight fall of snow, and there seemed every proba-
bility of more snow during the night.
The streets of Paris have presented a scene of
great animation and excitement to-day. Crowds
surround the shops to see the mar vels of French
arts and industry, and thousands hay e flocked to the
churches. To-night all Paris will " keep it up."
The first order of the night is the Midnight mass,
and, that over, according to old tradition, there

will be black pudding suppers in all directions, the
consumption of which may be counted by tons.
They are supposed to be made of pork, but pigs at
this season, whatever may be the desire to oblige,

,J I
are scarcely to be had in sufficient quantities to fur-
nish forth the cormorant demand for black
puddings.

The Cardinal Archbishop of Reims, Senator, died
yesterday at his residence, in the 75th year of his
age.

BARNSLEY, Monday Afternoon.
' It appears likely that the course adopted by the
mining engineers of extinguishing the vast body of
fire in the mine by sealing up the two shafts will be
attended with success ; therefore it is not expected
that the last resource in such cases, the flooding of
the mine with water, will be necessary. Were the
water to be allowed to run into the workings, as
was the case at Lund-hill and Edmund's Main, it
is questionable whether it would pay the proprietors
to get it out, and the result would probably be the
abandonment of the pit. With the workings ex-
tending over 1,900 yards on the dip the expense
of cleaning out the water would be something
enormous, and in all probability require the sinking
of a new shaft. On Saturday the furnace and No.
1 shafts were sealed up—the former to the extent
of 117 yards from the bottom, and the latter 92
yards. Nearly 4,000 tons of spoil were put down the
two shafts, on the top of which was a layer of fine
puddled clay, five yards thick. On Sunday the re-
port issued was to the effect that the furnace drift
had sunk three yards since the previous day, whilst
there was about 80 yards of water on the top. To-
day there was a meeting of mining engineers at the
King's Head Hotel, which was attended by the
leading men in the kingdom, including Mr. Wood-
house, Mr. Forester, Mr. Potter, and the principal
local viewers. After taking into consideration the
report presented to them of what had been done
since the last meeting, it was agreed that the No. 1
shaft should be filled up in the Melton-field seam,
a little below the No. 6 drift, leading into the pump-
ing shaft ; that a scaffold in the No. 2 shaft, at a
point marked on the section, be lowered from the
surface to that point, together with a pipe three or
four inches in diameter placed at the side of the
scaffold, for the purpose of allowing the gas to
escape, such pipe to come to the surface, and to be
turned into a cistern of water at the top. The
meeting then adjourned until Jan. 7.

LA TEST INTELLIGENCE.

(REUTER'S TELEGRAMS.)

Speculation is rife as to the probable time when
the colliery will be opened out, and an attempt
made to reach the bodies. At present there can be
no doubt that there is a great fire raging below, and

it remains to be seen whether the steps taken will
be effectual in extinguishing it. Of the men brought
out alive after the first explosion only five are now
alive, four having been buried in the vault at
Ardsley Churchyard on Saturday.
Another victim has been added to the already long
list of killed. On Saturday forenoon Thos. Hard-
castle a young boy, died from the effect of burns sus-
tained in the Oaks Colliery on the day of the sad
calamity. Out of the 18 bodies recovered alive on
the day of the sad catastrophe only three, or at most
four, are still living, and one of these is not expected
to survive long. A young man named Keithley is
in a very precarious condition. The Barnsley Sub-
scription fund amounts to nearly £5,000. On
Friday a town meeting was held at Birmingham to
raise subscriptions for the benefit of the bereaved in
connection with the late colliery explosions in York-
shire and North Staffordshire, when, at the close of
the meeting, the mayor stated that the sums already
received amounted to about£4oo,including £5O from
the Grocers' Exchange. Messrs. Chance Brothers
had subscribed £5O to a fund in Oldbury.