The Sun.
London, England, 1866-11-23 00:00:00

THE SUN, LOIN L ON, FIiIDA V E ENING, NOVEMBER 23, 1866.

in favour of the King. The Patriarch Cardinal,
Trevisanato, and the clergy of the diocese of Venice,
have presented an address to Victor Emmanuel, in
which they express " the Catholic and sincere
homage of their fidelity."

When it became known at Paris that the New
York Yacht Club had, upon the occasion of the
Great Exhibition, organised a match between New
York and Havre, for a prize to the amount of
400,000 f., the Parisian Regatta Club placed at the
disposal of the President of the New York Club a
gold medal, with its arms, which is to be presented
to the winner.

It is announced that the Champ de Mrs will be
irrevocably opened to the public on the Ist of
April next. The works are immense and diversi-
fied, but they proceed with mathematical precision.
The woman found dead at Lille, in reference to
whom her Lusband, M. Rosseau, wrote to his friends

to announce that the death of his wife had been
mentioned by a "deplorable error," turns out to be
a woman named Matton, who had recently arrived
at Lille from Paris. She was a person of bad cha-
racter, and had not long been released from prison.
No explanation has yet been given of the circum-
stances connected with her death, or by what means

the corpse came in the cellar. The mystery has
been an exciting topic at Lille.

There was a Cabinet Council yesterday at Com-
piegne, at which the Emperor presided. Th e
Empress was present at the Council.
The number of postage stamps sold in France,
which only reached 19 millions in 1849, increased
to 414 millions in 1865, and the estimated number
is 450 millions for the present year. This number
is much less than that consumed in England.

Nothing official has been published relative to the
recommendations of the Army Commission. It is,
however, reported that it will propose to fix the
effective army at 360,01'0 men instead of 420,000.
By the new arrangements it is said that the Govern-
ment will in future have at disposal 1,080,000 men,
viz., active: army, 360,000 ; reserve, 480,000 ;
mobile national guard, 240,000 ; total, 1,080,000
men.

M. Louis Joseph d'Orteque, a writer of note, and
one of the editors of the Journal des Debats, who
died very suddenly, aged 65, was buried to day.
The funeral was attended by troops of friends.

A soldier, named Jalabert, aged 107 years and
eight months, has just died at Basset. He was at
the capture of the Bastille, and fought against the
Vendeeans in 1794.

There is more than usual gaiety and festivity ai
Compiegne just now. The amusements are shoot.
ing, smoking, billiards, card-playing, and theatricals.

A day or two ago no less than 193 birds fell to the
Emperor's gun, more than the number killed by any
other gentleman of the party. It will give great
pleasure to every one to know that his Majesty is
quite well. Sometimes he has been seen walking
about by himself smoking his cigar, followed by his
dog Nero, which, if possible, is as attached and
faithful to him as his people.

The Late Shower of Met Pons.

The Dumfries Courier states that the best ac-
count it has seen of the late shower of meteors is

that furnished by Professor Grant, of the Royal
Observatory, Glasgow, to the Glasgow Herald, and
then gives the following extract from Professor
Grant's article :

"The expected shower of meteors was observed here
under eminently favourable circumstances. About mid-
night the ccnstellation Leo had ascended in the east above
the horizon, and as the point of emanation of the meteors

is situated in this constellation, it might have been ex-
pected that henceforward the phenomenon would assume
a more prominent aspect. Shortly after one o'clock the
heavens everywhere became beautifully clear, and we had
the good fortune to obtain henceforward a magnificent
and uninterrupted view of the phenomenon. At 1 hour
15 minute 3 the heavens had assumed an extremely im-
posing aspect. Multitudes of beautiful meteors were
now everywhere visible, but especially in the
eastern
heavens, where the constellation
Leo was
ually ascended in his course
regionto be
seen o f
ho
gradually
towards the meridian. Hundreds of the meteors far sur-
passed in brilliancy the stars of the first magnitude. In
multitudes of instances they were brighter than Jupiter,and
some of them even equalled Venus when she is at hergreat-
est brillancy. Their prevailing colour was white, but some
had a yellowish tinge of light, while others had a blueish
tinge. In every instance they were accompanied by a straight
narrow train of well-defined light, of a beautiful emerald
green colour. The length of the train varied much for the
different meteors. Many of them extended over an arc of 30

deg., 40 deg, or 50 deg., and some were even of still greater
length. As stated, they were almost without exception
straight in the direction of their length, and their course
among the stars presented clear indications of the emana-
tion of the meteors from a common region of the heavens
situated somewhere in the constellation Leo. The meteor in
every case first presented itself to observation, and then,
as it pursued its course westward through the heavens,
it was seen spitting out its beautiful train of green
light. In general the meteor and its train were visible for
about three or four seconds, but in some instances they
continued in view as long as five seconds. At 1 hour
18 min. a whole group of brilliant meteors was seen
to burst out, and diverge like a fan from the radiant
point in Leo. The appearance which the heavens every-
where now presented can only be compared to the effect
produced by the general discharge of a vast number of
rockets. At 1 hour 20 minutes I counted the number of
meteors visible in one minute, and I found them to
amount to fifty-seven; but this in all probability did not
exceed one-third of the number really visible in every
part of the heavens. Shortly afterwards it became evident
that the earth had passed through the thickest of the
shower. At 2 hours 42 min. the most remarkable pheno-
menon of this kind presented itself to us in the constellation
of Ursa Major; but unfortunately none of us caught the
commencement of it. The blaze of light which this meteor
emitted at the time of vanishing was extraordinary. It left
behind it a curved residue of faint. light of sensible breadth,
and having the form of a horseshoe. This singular pheno-
menon continued visible in the heavens for twenty minutes
after it first attracted our attention. At 3 hours the num-
ber of meteors visible in a minute had diminished to two
or three. It may be remarked that the constellation Leo
indicates the region of the heavens in the direction of
which the earth is at present travelling in virtue of its
annual motion round the sun.

" The Novembe meteors are bodies in all probability
analogous to the small planets which revolve round the sun
between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, and to the meteors
which physical astronomy indicates as probably revolving
round the same body within the orbit of Mercury. Meteors,
like comets, may be said to be indefinitely great in number,
although the aggregate mass of those which revolve in the
vicinity of the hitherto discovered bcdies of the planetary
system must necessarily be small. What purpose they
serve in the economy of creation it is difficult to discover,
but that their existence is connected with some important
operations of nature is a conclusion which must occur to
every thoughtful mind.

"It may bo mentioned that tho average height of tho
meteors above the earth's surface has been found to be
about 70 miles."

We have authority to state that the Admiralty
have directed a copy of the published correspon-
dence between Mr. Buxton, M.P., and Lieutenant Brand,
R.N., to be sent to Commodore MiClintock, at Jamaica,
with instructions that if Lieutenant Brand is unable to
deny the authenticity of the letters imputed to him, he is
to be immediately superseded and sent to England, as
having been guilty of conduct inconsistent with the cha-
racter of an officer and a gentleman. We are also autho-
rised to state that any rumour to the effect that Lieutenant
Brand has received promotion from the present Board of
Admiralty is entirely without foundation.-3forning Post

terrifies the people. In the large cities there are
resources to satisfy these demands, but in the vil-
lages the reign of desolation is established. The
poor are compelled to pay all they have in support
of taxation, and to leave themselves without the
means of procuring food. In the meantime the
prisons are filled with inoffensive citizens. Nothing
is respected ; neither age nor sex. There is sorrow
in families, disgust in the army, and alarm every-
where. Fear, however, is more prevalent among the
Government than elsewhere. As " the thief fears
in every bush an officer," so the Spanish Govern-
ment at this moment sees revolutionists in all
directions. This alarm induces despotic acts,
domiciliary visits are paid, the secret of correspon-
dence is violated, and despotic acts multiply. The
Government, in its anxiety to discover conspirators,
has taken a step which may bring it to grief. M.
Berger, Marquis d'lsidori, a French subject, has
been arrested at his hotel at the unseasonable hour
of three o'clock in the morning, upon some imagi-
nary idea that he has been connected with plots.
In conclusion, the letter says :—" The continuance
of this state of things is impossible, and from day
to day some great catastrophe may be expected, for
despair and misery drive people to extremity."
The accounts from Italy state that the clergy of
the annexed provinces evince the utmost enthusiasm