The Sun.
London, England, 1866-08-30 00:00:00

THE UNITED STATES AND MEXICO.

PROCLAMATION OF PRESIDENT JOHNSON.
-WASHINGTON, August 17.
The following is the text of President Johnson's
proclamation concerning the Emperor Maximilian's
decree for the blockade of Matamoros :

Whereas, a war is existing in the Republic of
Mexico, aggravated by foreign military interven-
tion ; and

Whereas the United States, in accordance with
their settled habits and policy, are a neutral power
in regard to the war which thus afflicts the Republic
of Mexico ; and
Whereas, it has become known that one of the
belligerents in the said war, namely, the Prince
Maximilian, who asserts himself to be Emperor in
Mexico, has issued a decree in regard to the port of
Matamoras and other Mexican ports, which are in
the occupation and possession of another of the said
belligerents, namely, the United States of Mexico,
which decree is in the following words :

" The port of Matamoros, and all those of the
northern frontier which had withdrawn from their
obedience to the Government are closed to foreign
and coasting traffic during such time as the empire
of the law shall not be therein reinstated.

"Art. 2. Merchandise proceeding from said ports,
on arriving at any other where the excise of the
Empire is collected, shall pay the duties on impor-
tation, introduction, and consumption ; and on
satisfactory proof of contravention shall be irre-
missibly confiscated. Our Minister of the Treasury
is charged with the punctual execution of this
decree.

" Given at Mexico the 9th day of July, 1866."

And whereas, the decree thus recited by declar-
ing a belligerent blockade, unsupported by compe-
tent military or naval force, is in violation of the
neutral rights of the United States, as defined by
the law of nations, as well as of the treaties existing
between the United States of America and the afore-
said United States of Mexico ; Now, therefore, I,
Andrew Johnson, President of the United States,
do hereby proclaim and declare that the aforesaid
decree is held by the United States to be absolutely
null and void as against the Government and citi-
zens of the United States ; and that any attempt
which shall be made to enforce the same against the
Government or citizens of the United States will be
disallowed.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand,
and caused the seal of the United States to be
affixed.

Done at the city of Washington, the 17th day of
August, in the year of our Lord, 1866, and of the
independence of the United States of America the
91st. ANDREW JOHNSON.

By the President,
WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State.

FRANCE.

PARIS, Aug. 29.—Two o'clock.—The market
opened nearly at the closing prices of yesterday, but
very little a ctivity was manifested, and up to the
present time but few transactions have taken place,
and though but slight alterations have occurred they
have all been in an unfavourable sense. Being on
the eve of the liquidation, business seems to have
relapsed into the hesitation which characterised it
during the earlier part of the month. French Threes
of PM 60c.. or 91e. lower ; Italian Fives
at 55f. 25c., or a fall of 40c. ; Mobilier at 667 f. 50c.,
or a decline of 2f. 50c. ; Credit Foncier and Comp-
toir d'Escompte at 1,360 f. and 897 f. 50c., a loss of
2f. 50c. The railway market has been very inani-
mate.

Three o'clock.—The market has shown rather
more firmness during the last hour, and closed as
follows :

q per Cents 99 25 Bank Shares 3605
Do. end month — Italian Loan 55 55
3 per Cents. 69 60 Do. end month 55 50
Do. end month 69 65 Mexican Loan 27 75
Credit Mobilier ... 665 Do. Bonds l7O
Do. end mouth ... 667 50 Spanish Threes
Credit Foncier 1360 Home Debt
Do. end month 1360 Deferred
RAILWAYS.

For Account.
Orleans
Norther; ll5O
Lyons and Mediterranean BBO
Southern 533 75
Western —
Eastern
Sardinian —
Austrian
Lombard 405
North of Spain
Saragossa
Ditto to Barcelona
Roman.

122 50

TRADE WITH JAPAN.—In point of value the trade
with Japan showed an immense expansion in the
year 1865. The imports brought by British vessels rose
from 5,693,647 Mexican dollars in 1864 to 11,560,509 in
1865, and the imports in foreign vessels from 1,157,640 to
2,634,262 dollars. Tho exports in British vessels rose from
9,941,404 dollars in 1864 to 16,186,823 dollars in 1865, and
the exports in foreign vessels from 630,818 to 2,303,407
dollars. But the increase in,tho value of the exports from
Japan was owing chiefly to the enormous rise in the price
of Japanese silk ; the quantity shipped in 1865 was rather
less than in 1863, although costing nearly a trebled price.
As very high paces fag. to secure an increased supply, it is
thought probable that we obtain as much of the annual
production as can be spared for exportation. The tea trade
is checked by the imperfect preparation of the leaf in Japan,
and the quality is more suited to the American than the
English market. There was an enormous expansion of the
import trade with Japan, caused by the increasing demand
for foreign manufactures in that country, which, not hav-
ing (like China) a redundant population, can obtain cloth-
ing more cheaply from foreigners than from its ow, n cot-
tage looms. There was iu 1864 an extraordinary increase
in the demand for cotton manufactures, which might be
owing partly, perhaps, to the failure to a great extent of
the cotton crop of 1865 in Japan; and also to the high pl:ce
of raw cotton in 1861 having tended to drain the country
of that article. A remarkable feature in, the export trade
of Japan in 1865 was the shipment of upwards of 1,500,000
sheets of silk ova. Although only recently participating
in the trade of the world, Japan is already clothed to a
considerable extent by foreign looms ; and if, by helping to
make up for the ravages of disease in the European s'lk-
worm, she should be the means of reviving this important
industry, it will be a signal instance of the advantages of
the extension of commercial relations.

STATISTICS OF JOBING.—One Hierocles, in the
early Christian days, spent much of his time in researches
into this highly momentous subject; being the first author
upon it. Ile left behind him, as the harvest of his labours,
Twenty-one Jokes, which we may securely believe were
all that to his knowledge existed up and down the world,
after as many as five hundred years of its Christian life
were spared, in addition, :as many people are aware, of a
previous four thousand. Twenty-one jokes in four thousand
five hundred years! Which is as much as to say that the old
world made a joke once in about two hundred and fifty
years, and then took breath. What a stale, worn, threadbare
thing that first joke must have been when the second joke
was. made ! The stock of fun was, of course, compa-
ratively rich then ; there was a glimpse of fertility.
What an extraordinary run there must have been upon the
little stranger! So we see that for forty-five centuries the
world was in the habit of preparing its jokes with a stupen-
dous degree of deliberation and forethought; and the in-
habitants of the universe (who lived, however, snugly, in
a tiny corner of it) maintained themselves respectably and
comfortably during that period on twenty-one facetim.
But a marvellous revolution was impending. Tho world
was meditating (speaking jocularly) a gigantic and as-
tounding spring. From twenty-one jokes, the Hieroclean
legacy, to twenty-one millions, was like one step accom-
plished in a moment; or, in ordinary language, in about
thirteen hundred years. Everything is comparative.
Those first forty-five centuries joked so slowly that we
get somehow into a way of looking at them as if they had
been mete chronological atoms. Adding thirteen new
centuries to the old forty-five, brings us very nearly down
to the age in which we live ; for argument's sake, say
quite to it. We stand at twenty-one million jokes. Are
we content ? May twenty-one million jokes be regarded
as high-water mark ? The greatest nation in the world
ought to rest and be thankfur with such an enormous for-
" All (40 Year Road."

I 1 I
ti-IfUrt -1-53 tiff I
.„ -

HER MAJESTY.

BALMORAL, Aug. 28.
The Qeeen, attended by the Hon. Emily Cath-
cart, went out yesterday morning.
In the afternoon her Majesty, went up Craig
Cluney with Princess Louise, attended by the IIon•
Emily Cathcart.

Princess Louise, attended by Lady Churchill)
rode to Abergeldie in the morning.

THEATRE ROYAL ADELPITL

-- -d, -

MR. J. L. TOOLE'S BENEFIT.

The annual benefit of Mr. J. L. Toole took pige
last evening, and, as on former similar occasions, it
was quite an ovation, the house being, as we were
informed, the largest ever known at this theatre.
Hundreds of persons were turned away before
seven o'clock. The performances commenced with
the favourite comedy of " Paul Pry," which was
admirably put on the stage, all the characters being
well sustained. The moment Mr. Toole appeared
as Paul Pry there was a Jong-continued burst of ap-
plause. Colonel Hardy was well delineated by Mr. C.
H. Stephenson. The Mrs. Subtle of Mrs. Billington
and the Phoebe of Mrs. A. Mellon were charmingly rd"
presented, and the more subordinate characters were
very well played. We remember the original Paul Fri
of Liston and the Mrs. Subtle of Mrs. Glover, an',
the highest praise we can award to Mr. Toole and
Mrs. Billington is to say that their working out the
two characters bears a favourable comparison ww
the performance of those highly-gifted artists of
former days. Is Mr. Toole's Paul Pry there
.
much originality in the conception of a part whlell
requires much judgment. Mr. Toole's success was
a brilliant one. A new farce (never acted) followed,
entitled " Keep Your Door Locked," in which Mr.
Toole took the chief character. The story turns 1113°/1
the fact of au old miser inhabiting an apartment, into
which, as a rule, he allows no one to enter ; but the
door is a ccident ally left unlocked, and the miser, w htl°
boasting that he never gives money to anybodh
that he returns or destroys all begging letters from
poor relations, is regularly stormed by various re-
latives, who wheedle him out of £6O under the most
extraordinary circumstances. Mr. Sowerberrf, the
miser, was most humorously played by Mr. Toole
Matilda (Mrs. Billington), the chief plotter to
tort money under false pretences from Sowerberrit
deserves much praise ; and the united efforts of I\lr'
Toole and Mrs. Billington kept the house in a e°ll'
tinuous roar of laughter. The piece is written. by
Mr. Matheson, who has recently gone to Amerte°'
The performances concluded with the grand bur-
lesque opera of Helen ; or, Taken from the Greek'
in which Mr. Toole played Menelaus. Up to the „
close of the evening's entertainment Mr. Toole "
friends repeated their tumultuous applause.

Drowning of Four Schoolboys at Brighton'

A lamentable accident happened at Brighton yo'
terday morning, resulting in the drowning of four
young gentlemen, under circumstances peeuliarlii
painful. They were pupils at the boarding-seb°°
of -Mr. Frederick Taylor, Stafford-house, Bucking"
ham-place, Brighton. Mr. Taylor is a member of
Society of Friends, and the four boys were sons °
parents of the same persuasion. The bathing regula-
tions in force at Brighton, and in the adjoining Parise
of Hove, direct that no bathing is to take place
from the open beach after eight o'clock in the nlor3lo
ing, and up to that hour only from bathing placed
,
appointed by the authorities. One of those bat')
ing places in Hove is opposite the Sussex COllOl.
Cricket Ground. It is said that the bottow°
there is of a rather dangerous character, liable. to
shift and change with the weather, and 1)0113.°
rocks protruding through the sand. In certau3
conditions of the sea the sand is washed o'3/
from the rocks, leaving holes and gulleys that
.aro
extremely dangerous to persons who cannot 01111.
At low water there is a bank of sand some distance
out, and if persons wade to it during the 4i turn ''°
the tide they are 'cable to be overtaken by the water,
so that they cannot return to the shore across the
intermediate channel without assistance. Ab°l/t
half-past 7 yesterday morning Mr. Taylor took 5
number of his scholars to this place to bathe. 11°
himself went into the water, and there was nothiage
to indicate that special caution was required. Soul
of the lads made their way to the bank of sand v 3"
other bathers, and were there enjoying themsei..,°o
as lads are wont to do, when suddenly an outc"
was made, and it was discovered that a lad named
0
Clark, who was in the water at the eastern Willa
of the bathing place, was in imminent danger a
drowning. Mr. Taylor had just previously Ca
all his lads in from the water, and most of them Wer
on the beach. At first he thought that Clark Iv.ao 0
one of the boys he had brought down, and ran to Or,
all the assistance he could. Ultimately, Clark l`R-0
got out in an insensible state, or nearly so, anclillisr3
taken in a fly to the residence of Dr.
Western-road, Hove, where he was soon placed
of danger. Meanwhile, Mr. Taylor had returned
to the part of the beach where his clothes were, 10
saw that four of his boys were missing. Some youtbt
were on the beach where Clark had been brougre
ashore, and Mr. Taylor, thinking his boys Ictel
amongst them, sent thither. Further search (Pieria
el;cited that the four lads, whose clothing was '3or
on the beach, had neither returned to the shore 13.
were afloat in the water. Every means vibleo
suggested itself was used to find them, but it W-00
not until an hour later that one of the bodies via
discovered on the ,edge of the sand-bank. It. W-
that of William Bottomley, aged 12, whose pare/ito
reside at Birmingham. It had drifted a consiued,
able cl'stance to the east of the bathing gr°tl,3,
It was immediately brought to shore and e;et
mined by Dr. Bacon Philips, who, 31.6,
us'ng, for half-an-hour, proper means of restister
tation, pronounced life to be perfectly extinct. t,
another body was recovered, still further to the e 550,
ward. It was that of a boy named Samuel Durj
1
whose parents reside at Reigate. He was about ,O
years old. An elder broler came down with 131 a
to bathe (both being pupils at Mr. Taylor's),
1
he, too, is one of the drowned. The fourth 1113°4
tunate boy was named Samuel Kidd, aged abol-
t,
th°
years. His friends reside at Bristol. As t°
ntl3B
precise circumstances under which the poor yo-5,110
lost their Jives noaiing is at present known•
attention of every person is the immediate 22°171,0
bourhood was so taken up with the danger 0f {ti
boy Clark, who was saved, that this shocking fat' 00
appears to have been entirely unobserved until ieo
late. Even if the lads shouted for help theiricril
must have been lost in the confusion caused err
Clark's risk, for no one, so far as can yet be a5°00..
tamed, heard a cry or saw a struggle in that dlro,
tion. The bodies recovered were taken to the 13ru,,it
wick Tavern, Holland-road, Hove, where they Pio-
an inquest. Up to dusk last evening the MO IV ko
I, boa
had bodies had not been recovered, though
had been dragging all the afternoon.

CHATHAM CONVICT PRISON.—A spirit of instivr
es °f
dination having of late been manifested among
the mere daring of the convicts at the St. Mary's C,cliftled
Prison, Chatham, consequent on the recent change °P-,.coeir
in the diet of the prisoners, the dissatisfaction of the ',to
viets found vent, during their dinner-hour, a day ortt 00
since, in several open acts of insubordination,
time, it was feared, would lead to a repetition of t'ws, 00
turbances enacted at the same convict prison fesVciri
since, which then resulted in the assistance of the rn"-% t
being called in. On this occasion, however, the go'l.narer- °cl
and other officials of the establishment were well Prer-a
for any contingency of the kind that might arise, •vg-
the mutinous spirit developing itself several of the Ivo
leaders were at once seized, placed in irons, and °D•rit
solitaiy confinement to await instructions from the •""llco
tor-General. The whole of the circumstances 110° ltd
been investigated, the result being that 12 of the c°,ureot•
who ware proved to have taken a leading part in the tm
oral
enod disturbances were each ordered to undergo eclai-
punishment, which was inflicted yesterday within tliviKed
son, in addition to which the convicts flogged will b°
in separate cells for some time, be reduced to a lower Siva
sis
and forfeit all the privileges they formerly enjoYeu• siber
this decisive action on the part of the officials, no ftl'
attempt s ilvtibiadivati9ll tiaa manifested itself

...L.
sot

P an 3
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Presi

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nto

AL, Aug. 28.
I. Emily Cath-

vent up Craig
.ed by the Hon.

ady Churchill,

LPHI.

FIT.

'oole took place
ar occasions, U

ng, as we were
t this theatre.

away before
,mmenced with
7,7' which was
Laracters being
Coole appeared
ed burst of el -
ated by Mr. O.
irs. Billingto
charminglyre-
:haracters were
ginal Paul Fri
s. Glover, and
Mr. Toole and
orking out the
mparison with,
!ted artists a
Pry there. IS
a part Whleb
's success was
)ted) followed,
in which Alr'
Dry turns upon
partment, into
inter ; but the
Etemiser,Whil°
r to anybodh
g letters from
)y various re-
Lnder the most
)werberry, the
)3, Mr. Toole I
plotter to e%.*
n Sowerberrh,
efforts of J
ouse in a COW
is written by
Le to America'
le grand bar'.
'om the Greek,
Up to the
Mr. Toole °
clause.

It Brighton.

Brighton Yes'
caning of four
ces peculiarbi
)arding-scb°
use, Bucking"
member of the
s were sons of
thing
[joining pariS.
to take place
c in the mo°'
)athing place°
E those batb-
ussex Count/
- the bottoill
cter, liable to°
, and boll?'
In certal:
washed away
illeys that
.or°
cannot 00'
mome distanc,
he " turn "

bOr'
Of inBll ti of
goVeri • t
US. onorie,
ary's `'.l-"e tea
mug° e'-,colr
a of the too-
a day or 00
Which eta.
,n of th° arg
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f the
the gene ca
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Lroi;et,h:
riog;
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m
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have to
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