The Sun.
London, England, 1866-12-08 00:00:00

Suicide in China.

There is a well-known Greek story of a penniless
man who, going out with a rope in his hand to
hang himself, found a purse of money which in-
duced him to throw the rope away; whereas the
owner of the purse coming back to look foi his
property, and finding only the rope instead straight-
way hanged himself. A still more curious tale of a
similar kind is told by the China papers. In the
native city of Shanghai the parents of a young lady
lately married having fallen into distressed circum-
stances applied to her for assistance, and her hus-
band allowed her to give them a coat for the pur-
pose of being pawned. The daughter, however,
being anxious to render further aid without her
husband's knowledge, secreted $l6 in the pocket of
the coat. The old man did not discover this and
took it to a pawnbroker, who, noticing the money
on unfolding the garment, kept his counsel, and
quietly advanced $2. Soon after the husband dis-
covered that his wife had given the $l6 to her
father, and made so much noise about it that the
young lady disposed of herself by hanging. In this
way the news of the robbery committed by the
pawnbroker became known to the parents, and the
old mother took the matter so much to heart that
she poisoned herself with opium. Lastly, the
pawnbroker, getting alarmed on hearing that his
dishonesty had already caused two deaths
drowned himself in a well. This story is very
characteristic of the Chinese feelings in regard to
life, and similar incidents not unfrequently occur.
Some years ago, for instance, an accomplished young
lady at Canton, who had been unfortunately mar-
ried to a coarse and stupid husband, was bewailing
her fate to a party of sisters an.' female cousins,
and declared her intention of committing suicide.
On this the other young ladies declared that since
such was married life, they would die too ; and so
the whole bevy joined hands together, and walking
into a fish-pond deliberately drowned themselves.
Again, three men imprisoned in Hongkong gaol on
a charge of piracy determined to make away with
themselves rather than have the bother of a trial.
At some height in the cell where they were impri-
soned was a small window guarded by two iron bars
and the problem which these worthies had to solve
was how the three of them were to be hanged on the
two bars. From the positions in which they were
found in the morning it would seem that the third
man had assisted the two others in hanging them-
selves from the bars by their tails ; that then he had
cut down one of them by gnawing through the tail
with his teeth, and, using the dead body as a stool,
to be afterwards kicked over, he had contrived to
suspend himself.
All this, too, was done so quietly
as not to attract noticetheithe w
of
in w.p
adsoent—rywho was
pacing outside beneath
Gazette.

LONDON GAZETTE.—Last Evening.

FOREIGN;lOartla,
pDpErco.v6e of M. Eduard
.
RoTsehuebQueenConsul
leas
sbeen e
at Malta for the Free Hanseatic City
of Lubeck.
The Queen has also been pleased to approve of Don
Lewis F. linossi as Consul at Gibraltar fur the Republic
of I'eru.
DEC. 4.

Tho Prussian Ambassador has made known to Lord
Stanley that in consequence of the union with the Prus-
sian Monarchy of tho Kingdom of Hanover, of the Elec-
torate of Hesse, and of the Free State of Frankfort-on-
the-Maine, the Consular posts of the aforesaid coun-
tries aro abolished and united with the Prussian Consular
Service.

DEC. G.
BRITISH CLAIMS ON MEXICO.
The following notice has boon issued from her Majesty's
Consulate at Mexico to British subjects having claims on
the Mexican Government :
jaaNtyo,aticesaibsieheetraebays
may
yen to such of her Britannic Ara-
the Mexican Treasury, that they
soon as possible, within the te of Majesty's Consulate,f!oin the
present date, addressed to hor y
order that they may be handed over by that otlirecet to,,tdheel
Commission sitting in this Capital, in the
Puente del Espiritu Santo," No. 3, and may
ded between
in accordance with the Convention
c°llc•inu Mexico, on
the British and Mexican Governments, 1.
the 26th June, 1866.—Mexico, Oct. 10, 1866 . bet examined
DOWNING-STREET, D.EnC. ;ow 1
II Alleyne
The Queen has been pleased to app
Haynes, Esq., to be a Member of the
of Barbadoes, and George Blanks t
the
Coast Settlement
of the Legislative Council of Et)%siqu.n, V gef tab; Island
on the Western Coast of Africa 1.
, MALL, DEC. 7.
WAR-OFFICE, FAL
Royal Regiment of Horse _ James Baillie to be GuardsLieu-
-—Major and Brevet-
Lieutenant-Colonel Duncan
s; e , jtii% i
aB r eovvve te-ne oLI oenweila Hugh
tendt-i3Caoiliolinee, lw, bhyo prue
trierhebas
purchase, with the rank of
Williams to be Majoir, Jo
the Army, vice D. J. Baillie ;
Lieutenant-Colonel n
Fitzgerald Rushout Rushout to be
~Tice Williams ; Cornet Robert
Steuart-
Lcaieputtaeina,anbtyCphuarrelheas
Dalrymple . sarossett-Muirhead to be Lieutenant,
ADMIRALTY, DEC. 5.
Light Infantry —First Lieutenant Walter
Royal Marine .
bypurchase,
to be First Lieutenant and Quartermaster,
Julius . Birket
vice Wroot, promoted.
vice Rushout.

COURSE OF EXCHANGE•--Last Evening.

Short. 11 16 11 17
Amsterdam 3 Youths. 11 13 11 19*
Ditto
Rotterdam
Antwerp — 25 40 25 45
Brussels
Hamburg — 13 8/ 13 9
Paris
Short 25 15 25 221
Ditto 3 Months. 25 35 25 42
Marseilles
Frankfort on the Maine 119/ 120
Vienna — 13 20 13 2il
Trieste — 13 20 13 271
petersburgn
Berlin
Madrid
Cadiz
Leghorn
Milan
Genoa — 27 20 27 25
Naples — 27 20 27 25
Palermo
_ _ _

Messina
Lisbon
Oporto 5l 511

NOTES

:FROM
TRAINING DISTRICTS

(THIS DAY).

NEWMARKET.
The Bury Hill was well patronised this morning,
and about the earliest out at exercise was D'Es-
tournel, who followed Leybourno in some smart
trotting and cantering, and then went a mile and a
quarter gallop. Ravioli galloped about a mile, led
by Seabikia. The Rake had a nice steady gallop
with Friponnier of over a mile ; and Van Amburgli
went for nearly a mile and a half, at a quiet pace
though. The Hermit galloped a mile and a bit ; so
did Knight of the Garter. Stradbrokc went betty/.
than a mile, sharpish. Dragon trotted and ear,
tered, but Enchanter and Imprator had
mile gallop at a fair speed. Broomielaw
is leading the Hermit. Trocadero trott,Jd
with Gladiateur. Wild Agnes took Avl:on,
Archimage, and Honesty a mile and a quarter ; and
Bonibastes led Julius, Pericles, and Flying Scud a
similar gallop. Amongst the other animals in.
healthy exercise were the Nailor, Apsley, Nike, La
Puce, Vespasian (leading yearlings), Breadalba.ne,
Blinkhoolie, King Charles, Pedagogue, Tempest,
Assineboine, Beauclerk, Friday, Cecrops, Cyclone,
Ettrick, Londesborough, Numa Pompilius, Guy of
Warwick, Lord Brownlow, Barrington, Hippia,
Janua, Jasper, Falkenstein, Cerf Volante, Long-
champs, Regalia, Chepstow, Argentel, Star of India,
&c., &c. The Begum has left here. Charles
Raynor was married to Miss Holland last Wednes-
day ; but we are sorry to add that though Jemmy
Mann is gradually recovering, R. Cotton is seriously
indisposed. A report is current here that Jemmy
Grimshaw is to be married to one of Joe Saxon'4,
daughters in the early part of next year.