The Sun.
London, England, 1859-12-23 00:00:00

Commence at 7.

ROYAL PRINCESS'S THEATRE.—
Lessee, Mr. A. Harris.
Re-engagement of the Wonderful Dancer, Mons. Espinosa.
First appearance of Mdlle. Marietta Rosetta, Principal Dan-
sense of La Scala, Milan ; and first time of the Delapierre
Family. These highly-talented Children will appear every
night. The Royal Princess's Rifles on parade every evening.
On MONDAY (Boxing-night) the new drama, HOME
TRUTHS. Messrs. a Melville, J. G. Shore, F. Matthews,
Miss C. Leciereq and Mrs. Charles Young.
After which, a new Christmas burlesque pantomime, by H.
J. Byron, called JACK THE JIANT KILLER ; or, Harle-
quin King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table.
Jack, Miss Louise Keeley—Harlequin, Mr. Cormack -Panta-
loon, Mr. Paulo--Columbine, Miss Caroline Adams—Clown,
Mr. A. F. Forrest.
Morning Performances on Monday, January 9, 16, and 23 -
commence at two o'clock.

'MEW THEATRE - ROYAL, AD ELPHL
Sole Proprietor and Manager, Mr. Beni. Webster.

Tins EVENING, THE DEAD HEART. Messrs
B. Webster. J. L. Toole, David Fisher, Paul Bedford, Stuart,
Billinfr,ton, C. J. Smith, Eburne, Moreland; Miss Woolgar,
and Miss K. Kelly.
Followed by the successful piece of extravagance, called
DINORAH UNDER DIFFICULTIES. Messrs. J. L. Toole,
F. Bedford, C. J. Smith, Eburne, and Miss K. Kelly.
Doors open at half-past six—Commence at seven. Box-
Oillee open from 10 to 5. No charge for securing seats,
nor fer bills of performance. All fees to servants of this
establishment are strictly prohibited.
Acting Manager—Mr. Win. Smith.

ROY AL ST. JAMES'S THEATRE,
King-street, St. James's. Lessee, Mr. T. B. Chatter-
ton. The nearest Theatre to Chelsea, Pimlico, and West-
minster, the Park being open to carriages and foot passen-
gers all hours of the night.

To-Morrow, SATURDAY (Christmas Eve) a new Farce,
GARIBALDI'S ENGLISHMAN. Messrs. Barrett and C.
Young.

Followed by a new sketch, A HOUSEHOLD FAIRY.
Miss Wyndham and Mr. H. T. Craven.
To conclude with the new pantomime of PUNCH AND
JUDY. Introducing, Miss Lydia Thompson and the Corps
de Ballet. Clown, Harlequin, Columbine, and Pantaloon, and
the wonderful Performing Dogs.
Reduced Prices—Gallery, 6el; Pit, Is. The Box-ofEce open
from 11 to 5 daily. Doors open at hall-past six ; perform
ance commences at 7.

ASTLEY'S ROYAL AMPHITHEATRE,
Westminster-road.

Sole Lessee—Mr. William Cooke, his Farewell Season.

THIS EVENING, the grand melo-dramatic production,
by Tom Taylor, Esq., called GARIBALDI; illustrating the
principal events in the Life of the Great Italian GeneraL
To be followed by New and Brilliant Equestrian Changes in
the Arena, introducing a vivid Four-horse Scene by John
Henry Cooke, as the Neuman Conqueror - More Wonders by
the Educated Elephant—Elegant Equitation by Miss Emily
Cooke, the Queen of the Circle—Young Alfred Cooke's sur-
passing evolutions on a naked Courser—Electrifying Feats
by the Athenian Athletes, J. H. Cooke and Crouses—Novel
Flag Exercises on horseback by Madlle. Jenny—Varied by
those heralds of fun, the Clowns, Mimes, and Drolls.

To commence at 7.
Especial Notice.—Three Grand Morning Representations
of the grand new Pantomime, entitled HARLEQUIN TOM
MOODY; or, Old Towler the Huntsman and the Goddess
Diana, on Monday and Saturday, Dec. 26 and 31, and Monday
Jan. 2, 1860, at Two o'clock each day.

CANTERBURY HALL CONCERTS.-
EVERY ,EVENING. Sterndale Bennett's MAY
QUEEN.
And a Grand Se:ectton from Meyerbeer's new opera of
DINORAH.

Comic Vocalists —Messrs. George Hodson (the Irish Come-
dian and Mimic), W. T. Critchfield, and E. W. Hackney.

Several interesting Pictures are added to the Fine Arts
Gallery. The suite of Halls have been re-decorated and
beautified, and constitute one of the most unique and brilliant
sights of the metropolis.

ROSA BONHEUR'S celebrated PICTURE of the HORSE
FAIR. is now added to the already magnificent Collection of
Paintings in the Canterbury Hall Fine Arts Gallery. The
gallery is open from 5 till 11 on Sunday Evening.

TILE WEATHER.-Sux OFFICE, DECEMBER 23.

THERMOMETER, IN THE SHADE.
42—highest since noon yesterday.
39—lowest this morning and during the night.
40—this day at noon.

BAROMETER-29.50.
WIND, Easterly; light, with dull wet weather.

HIGII WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE.
'Dug DAY.—Morning, 12h. 57m.—Afternoon, lh. 2lm.
To-monnow.-Morning, 41m.—Afternoon, 2h. 6m.

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THE SUN.
LONDON, FRIDAY, DEC. 23, 1859.

M. DE LA GUERRONIERE has had both a very
easy task and a quite impossible task. It was easy
to show that the Romagna could not be replaced
under the Government of the POPE without viola-
ting religion, morality, and public policy to an ex-
tent which could not be tolerated ; but, to show
that the poor Romans ought not to enjoy the same
privileges a 3 the Romagnese, is beyond the power
of the Imperial Essayist or of any other. Our author
thinks he has found the solution of a grand diffi-
culty. There are those who would strip the POPE
of his temporal power; there are those who would
give him back all he ever had, if they could. M.
DE LA GUERRONIERE thinks he has found the
happy middle path. He is an impartial
arbitrator, and his award is a compromise.
Give the Romagnese the liberty they have seized;
keep the Romans in the blessed slavery for which
they may thank General GUYON and his master.
In a part of his argument Englishmen will of
course follow him with ease and a certain degree of
pleasure. Any elaborate proof that the POPE
ought not to receive back at the hands of Europe
a territory full of subjects who detest his rule ;
that even if he ought, neither can France re-enslave
the liberated, nor Austria be allowed to domineer
in Italy again, nor Naples venture to interfere,
without an Italian civil war with Piedmont ; that,
therefore, the Romagna must enjoy what it has
gained. Any Well-argued case like this is
to Englishmen but a clever performance on a
different ground to their own. We have an axiom,
and, by that axiom, all is easily settled—that every
nation ought to be left to choose its own rulers.
The writer himself indeed is compelled to admit
this principle; for he mentions how France herself
has acted on it, and aided other nations to do the
same. Louis NAPOLEON and his amanuensis will
find all plain sailing thus far. Of course Arch-
bishop CULLEN and his noisy followers will ana-
thematise the writer and his master ; but all
sensible Catholics, as well as all other British free-
men who prize their: own liberties, will agree in
the EMPEROR'S views so far as the Romagnese are
concerned.

But what about the Romans and the master
imposed on them by French bayonets ? It must
be evident that M. DE LA GUERRONIERE has not '
been able to invent a single argument on
which he himself seriously relies. If the
POPE is to retain Rome only in virtue of such ar-
guments as he has brought forward, its doom is
sealed. Had the writer dared to speak out, he
would assuredly have said, " There is not a single
respectable reason for enslaving, the Romans, more
than the Bolognese, to the POPE, but if we do not
find something like reasons for it, there will he such
a hubbub with the French clergy that the Empire
itself may be shaken !" IVe have not the slightest
doubt that the Imperial author of the pamphlet as
well as its literary godfather, are both of precisely
the same way of thinking as ourselves, and are
quite as prepared as we are to pitch tiie temporal
power:of the Porn: into the Tiber.
One of our author's grand reasons is, that
the head of 200,000,000 of Catholics must
not be the subject of any single power.
To which the ready answer seems to be
" exempt him, then, by special treaty or convention,
from subjection to any power in whose territory he
sees fit to reside." Say that Rome shall continue
to be his residence,—then let his cathedral and all

the land and buildings he requires for a residence,
for himself and his ecclesiastical staff, be exempted
from the jurisdiction of the Government of Rome.
Let him have the privilege of ambassadors and
other representatives of nations. Let his appeal in
any dispute, and appeals against him also, be to
all the Catholic Powers. Let his person be sacred ;
as being, in a sense, the common representative of
Popedom, and let him be supported in a degree of
dignity worthy of his position, by the contribu-
tions of all the Powers who avail themselves
of his headship over their faithful ones. The
pecuniary suggestion we, and others, had nfade be-
fore our author proposed it. To us the kind of free-
dom from subjection we now suggest seems far
preferable to the miserable freedom he now enjoys.
The freedom to keep his seat as long as the French
keep him on it ! We doubt not, on the other hand,
that the Romans would be but too happy to acquit
him of all allegiance to any civil rulers they might
chose, and to confer on all Popedom the convenience
of keeping its spiritual head at Rome responsible
to Popedom only.
There is something ineffably ludicrous in the
picture M. DE LA GUERRONIERE draws of the
condition of the happy creatures whom he contends
must be left in the papal cage. " Destiny," he
tells them, places them where they are. Rome
would be but a town if the POPE were not
a Prince ; now she is the " Eternal City." She is
to be " a small corner of the earth free from the
passions and interests which agitate other peoples,
and devoted solely to the glory of GOD." They are
to be a people who will be ruled less by a King
than by a father !" (Perugia!) Their "rights will
be guaranteed rather by the heart of the Sovereign
than by the authority of laws and institutions" (!)
—" no army, no forces, no magistracy !" The
Roman will be for ever disinherited of that noble
portion of activity which in every country is the
stimulus of patriotism ; his contemplations must
be on " the arts," and " the study of ruins." There
" can be no aspiration either to the glory of the
soldier, or the triumphs of the orator or the states-
man"—and much more, in this strain, is the poor
Roman indulged with, as the picture of the nega-
tive beatitude assigned him by his Majesty the
Emperor of the FRENO4II.
We really do believe that all this must be meant
as serious fun. Such a description of men, emas-
culated by ecclesiasticism, we never saw before. It
is the picture of an ecclesiastical harem, in fact, in
which the POPE and priests are the immaculate
Sultanas and concubines, and the poor Romans the
political eunuchs who serve and keep them. If
our proposal of making the POPE an independent
person, not an independent prince—which, as a
petty one, can never be—be not adopted, then we
should suggest that the Romans who retain the
passions and aspirations " of men should be pro-
vided with a locality elsewhere, and the old city
handed over literally to the priests. Let every
woman be excluded the city, and the unmarried
POPE reign over a community of unmarried monks
and clergy. Archbishop CULLEN will recruit for
them.

Nothing could well be more thoroughly delight-
ful, as nothing could certainly be more entirely
characteristic, than the principal speech delivered
last evening, at the London Tavern, by Mr.
CHARLES DICKENS, in his capacity as Chairman at
the annual dinner there given in aid of the funds
of the Commercial Travellers' School. Listening
to an after-dinner speech like that is more warming
to the heart, or to those mysterious anatomical
regions popularly termed " the cockles" of the
heart, than any number of glasses of the fruitiest
old crusted port in all the bins of all the
cellars of all the wine merchants of
Oporto, or, for that matter, of Portugal. It
must certainly be far better for digestion. And it
is calculat3d, we do sincerely believe, as we do also
most earnestly hope, to forward materially the in-
terests of a very benevolent and praiseworthy in-
stitution. An appeal thus coming before the Com-
mercial Travellers of this country ought surely to
be received by them as little less than irresistible.
It comes in so un-questionable a shape ! So genial,
and frankly, and fervently enforcing the claim of
these schools upon their kindlier consideration—
doing this, moreover, of all good seasons of the
year, at Christmas!
The excellent Secretary of this very excellent
charity has often before now shown his tact in
caring for its interests, in appreciably forwarding
its prosperity, by his selection of the eminent men
who have consented, under his appeal to their gene-
rous sympathy, to fill the chair upon these annual
occasions of mingled conviviality and benevolence.
As he (Mr. GEORGE MOORE) himself reminded the
assembled guests yesterday when responding later
in the evening to the customary toast of his own
health as Secretary, they have had there presiding
over their festivities in succession such men as
Sir BLLWER LYTTON, as Mr. CHARLES DICKENS,
and as Mr. W. M. THACKERAY—worId famous in
the highest department of the most popular branch
of literature. And now once more they have had
there as Chairman again over their proceedings
that incomparable humourist whose last work
of imagination we hardly hesitate to pro-
nounce as in many respects in our estimation
his masterpiece. The author of that exquisitely
pathetic " Tale of Two Cities," however, spoke
last evening less in the spirit of his latest than in
that of his earliest serial production. The frequent
parenthetic interlarding of (laughter), (loud laugh-
ter), and (rears of laughter) which will be observed
elsewhere in our impression of this evening, in the
accurate report there given of his speech of yester-
day, will afford sufficient evidence at a glance that
the chairman was addressing his audience with the
broad humour of the Author of " Pickwick." And
when we come among other similar fragments of fun
to that record of his about the hotel at Leeds, " where
he happened to be staying about seven weeks be-
fore, where the chamber appurtenances belonged to
a period far anterior to the present, and where the
night candles were nothing less than mutton trun-
cheons of the most exaggerated dimensions—
(roars of laughter)—and couldn't by any possi-
ility be blown out." (Great laughter.) When
we come to reminiscences like those we have a crowd
of other irresistibly ridiculous Inn recollections
crowding upon us from his own pages
from those all but real realms of laughter !
Mr. PICKWICK in that double-bedded room
with the single lady—when his nightcap strings
were hopelessly entangled in a knot ! "My friend
the waiter" who eat most of the pudding and
nearly all of the chops prepared for poor little
DAVID COPPERFIEI.D. The Yorkshire School-
master, in his short trousers, and with his one eye,
mending a pen in the coffee-room of the Saracen's
Head, Snow-hill! The river-side public-house, in
the backyard of which QUILP, performinc, a demon
dance in a paroxysm of exhilaration round the dog
kennel, nearly drove its occupant into a state of
hydrophobia! And so on, for the remembrances
throng upon one so abundantly as to threaten to be
almost interminable. The facetious likening of his
own embarrassments as to the copious supply of ora-
tory expected from him as Chairman, to the anxiety
of mind burthening the life of Mrs. Todgers from the
strong passion and insatiable thirst existing among