The Sun.
London, England, 1866-04-25 00:00:00

THE SON, LOINDo.N, WEDNESI)AY EVENING, _APRIL 25, 1866.

Mere', show to pacify the angry feeling of LATEST INTELLIGENCE. MR' CHARLE
the people, always to• believe that " Britisher's" (REUTER'S TELEGRAMS.)
ase going to defraud them. The PRESIDENT

and the British Government are believed to be con-
sidering whether negotiation and legislation cannot
be employed to adjust the matter. We should hope
that such will prove to be the ultimate course
adopted. Anything like a collision between Eng-
land and America would be fatal to the newly-
reviving prosperity of the States ; while the extent
and almost inexhaustible wealth of the Northern
fisheries renders any contention about them as un-
necessary as it would be ill advised and disastrous.

ITALY.

FLORENCE, APRIL 25.

The journals of this city publish news from
Venetia, according to which the Austrian Govern-
ment has ordered all its land and naval forces to be
placed upon a war footing by the first of May next.
All soldiers on furlough are said to have been re-
called and armed, and arrangements made for an
extraordinary concentration of troops in the pro-
vince of Rovigo.

The Nazione believes that Austria desires to mask,
under the pretext of measures of defence against
Italy, an infraction of the and vstanding between
the two great German Powers for mutual disarma-
ment. " Prussia," says the Nazione, " much more
thanitaly, should at once direct her attention to the
Austrian armaments in Venetia."
The rumours of a conflict in Rovigo between
the Austrians and a body of Italian volunteers is
absolutely unfounded.

PRUSSIA.
BERLIN, APRIL 25.
The semi-official Provinzil Correspondenz of to-

days says :
" The reform of the Federal Constitution will be
undertaken with an earnest determination to carry
it through. From present indications it is evident
that the Prussian Government is striving to establish
the Federal organisation upon a basis which shall
secure the solid rational development of Germany
in all positive and practical matters, especially in
the organisation of the national army and fleet, the
common treatment of questions affecting German
commerce, such as the customs, railways,
telegraphs, and posts, the due representation
of these interests before the Federal Diet, the com-
mon representation of Germany by Consuls, and
the protection of German subjects abroad.
Count Von Bismarck will receive to-day the
Roumanian deputation which arrived here this
morning from Dusseldorf, where Prince Charles of
Hohenzollern is at present staying.

AUSTRIA.
VIENNA,-y says2s.AaPßlL:_
The Oesterreichische Zeitungof
to-day

"Nothing is known in well-infoPmed circles in this
city of the alleged incursion of freebooters into
Venetia, or of the reported encounter between them
and the Austrian troops near Rovigo."

RUSSIA.
ST. PETERSBURG, APRIL 25.

The man who recently attempted to assassinate
he Czar is named Varokosow, and is a native of
he province of Saratof. He is a hypochondriac.

TURKEY.
CONSTANTINOPLE, APRIL 25.

The Sublime Porte has instructed its Ambassador
in Paris to protest at the next sitting of the Paris
Conference against the election of Prince Charles
Von Hohenzollern to the throne of the Principalities,
and against any infraction of the Suzerain rights of
the Sultan, as settled by treaty.

SPAIN.

MADRID, APRIL 24, Evening.

To-day the Minister of Finance brought forward
in the Congress a bill for assisting the railway
companies by lending them Treasury bonds upon
the security of a deposit of railway bonds.

THE BOMBAY MAIL.

SOUTHAMPTON, APRIL 25.

The Peninsular and Oriental Company's steam-
ship Syria arrived here this morning with the heavy
portion of the above mail, 133 passengers, £1,988
in specie, and 255 packages of general cargo. She
experienced east-south easterly gales across the Bay
of Biscay and up Channel. On the 16th inst. she
spoke the bark Dorothy, of Shields ; on the 17th
the brig Azof, of Plymouth ; and on the 20th the
bark Mary Elizabeth, of Cardiff, and the Belgian
bark Alcida. The steamers Dido from Liverpool
and Cromwell and Sabrina from Cardiff have
arrived at Gibraltar. Exchanges and freights at
Gibraltar unaltered.

INDIA AND CHINA FLAILS.
SUEZ, APRIL 23.
The Messageries Imperiales steamer, Cambodge,
with the above mails, arrived here to-day.

FRANCE.
PARIS, APRIL 25.

The Constitutionnel of this morning publishes an
article upon the German question signed by M.
Paulin Simayrac, demonstrating that France could
do nothing better during the German difficulty than
preserve, with entire neutrality, all liberty of action
and every means of influence for the moment when
they might be usefully employed. " Facts," the
writer continues, "justify the course taken by the
Emperor. Left to themselves Prussia and Austria
have agreed to disarm, but it is very doubtful
whether foreign interference would have more
easily or promptly obtained a similar result."
The traffic receipts on the Atlantic and Great
Western Railway for the month of March amounted
to $388,480, against $399,870 for the correspond-
ing month of last year, showing a decrease of
$11,390.
The bulletin of the Paris Observatory gives the
following as the atmospheric situation yesterday :
—" A barometrical depression exists over Spain,
the Mediterranean, and Central Italy. Under
its influence the wind is blowing rather strongly.
from N. and E. throughout France. The sky con-
tinues clear, and the sea is calm on the coasts of
the Atlantic and the Mediterranean. A gale
took place on Sunday over the Adriatic, advancing
from the E. The wind is strong at Florence,
Ancona, and Lesina, and is menacing the Medi-
terranean."—At Paris yesterday the weather was
fine but colder, the wind being from the N.E. At
three the thermometer marked 16 Cent. (60-4.5
Fahr.)
The Imperial Commission for the Exhibition of
1867 has decided that, in order to have a complete
record of the progress of the works for the new
palace, weekly photographs of them shall be taken
to be appended to the reports of the architects and
engineers. _ _

The Academy of Fine Arts has just elected as
corresponding members N. Jerichan, of Copenha-
gen, in the room of N. Kiss, deceased, and DI. Hess,
of Berlin, in place of N. Strak, promoted to the
rank of foreign associate.
BOURSE, April 24, Three o'clock.—The market
has closed on the following quotations :
Bank Shares 35G0
Italian Loan 53 60
Do. end mouth 53 60
Mexican Loan 4l
Do. Bonds 2BB 75
Spanish Threes
Home Debt

41 per Cents 97
Do. end month
3 per Cents.
Do. end month 67 70
Credit Mobilier
Do. end month 603 25
Unis —
Do. end month —

Deferred
AYE.
Cftsh.

ILAIL'

Acct.
- ... 830
... 1120
- ~. 853 75
550

Orleans
Northern
Lyons and Mediterranean
Southern
Western

542 50

Eastern

--
537 50
__. - •••

North
Sardinian
•
.
Spain •••
- • --
••" 331 4986 2278 5755 0050
Saragossa
Ditto to Barcelona
•••• 5$ •

'S READINGS.

" Doctor Marigold" and " The Trial from

Pickwick.''

(LAST EVENING AT THE ST. JAMES'S llama)
Any one who has never heard and seen one of
these Readings by our great Novelist can form no
conception whatever of their remarkable and
wholely exceptional excellence. According to all
ordinary acceptations of the phrase, a Public Read-
ing means nothing more than a piece of elocutionary
display, signifies nothing better (at the best)
than a specimen of clever, occasionally of brilliant,
and in very rare instances indeed of even af-
fecting declamation. It is no extravagance,
however, to assert at once that Mr. Dickens's
Readings are nothing whatever of this kind. They
are no mere recitations. They are distinct im-
personations. They arc visible, audible, sub-
stantial incarnations of an extraordinary variety
of characters—with the distinguishing peculiarities
and idiosyncracies of which the vast majority of
the audiences listening to Mr. Dickens's Readings
have long previously been perfectly well fami-
liarised through his writings. But the consum-
mate art with which these creatures of the author's
imagination become realised to the eye and ear
through these so-called Readings—as though, one
by one, they were brought actually before us, ac-
cording to Mr. Gladstone's unpleasantly anatomical
and sanguinary phrase, in flesh and blood—no one
who has not been present upon one of these occa-
sions can even proximately conjecture. With a
light, elastic step, and a face radiant with health
and animation, there steps upon the platform, and
advances towards the reading-desk, one whose fea-
tures, thanks to photography, are almost as well
known by this time as any one among those famous
books of his which have won for him his world-
wide and delightful reputation. A small volume
lying open on the reading-desk, with the author of
that volume standing there before it—behold all
there is upon these occasions in the way of prepara-
tion or in the shape of accessories. And yet, though
this is literally all there is before us during the
two hours occupied by one of these Readings, it
is almost impossible to imagine how real, how
actual—as if presented to our view and hearing,
as already remarked, in living flesh and blood—are
the people, the creations that are brought before us
by the protean form, the variable manner, the
flexilevoice, the mobile features of the great Novelist
of whose brain they were previously no more than
the subtle and intangible emanations. Of all
his numerous successes, however, in this way—that
is in his extraordinary manifestation of power
in the impersonation of his own creations—be-
yond all manner of doubt and question, the most
wonderful in its way, in every respect, as a
complete and perfect realisation, is the very
latest of all, the one that he has but just now
realised as Dr. Marigold. In spite of its being Mr.
Dickens in propria persona, who is there all the
while conspicuously before us in his own unmistak-
able identity—it is, at one and the same time,in every
glance of the eye, in every inflexion of the voice, in
every casual movement, in every syllable articu-
lated, in every sentient line about the mouth,
in every emotional tone imparted to the
voluble words poured forth in that irrepressible and
irresistible patter—the itinerant Cheap Jack himself,
and no other than the itinerant Cheap Jack, that we
are listening to ! It is Doctor Marigold, and no
other than Doctor Marigold, who thus holds us spell-
bound, who thus commands, at his own absolute will
and pleasure, our tears and ourlaughter—now alter-
nately, now at one and the same moment ! It is
Doctor Marigold and not Mr. Dickens ! The trans-
formation, the transmutation one might rather say,
thus literally accomplished, is so complete, is BO
absolute in its way and of its kind that,
to all intents and purposes, he who is thus talking
to us for the best part of a whole hour, as nearly
as possible exactly one whole hour, is—not a gentle-
man in evening costume, but a rough chap in a
sleeved waistcoat--whose favourite attitude (though
he stands before us all the time) is sitting down—whose
taste (in the way of personal jewellery) runs in favour
not of mere diamond studs but of good-sized
mother-of-pearl buttons--whose cherished necktie
instead of being a delicate ribbon of white cambric,
is a pretty loud-patterned shawl wore loose and easy !
And perhaps the most wonderful thing of all about
this Monologue of " Doctor Marigold " is this,
that just as distinctly as ho thus brings him-
self visibly and audibly before us, we have
also brought before us by him, in succes-
sion, through the medium of his variable look,
and voice, and manner, all the other charac-
ters who come to be associated with him, who get
mixed up with his story, who are mentioned by
him in his rapid and chequered recollections.
There's the Parliamentary Dear Jack on the
footboard of his cart, the hustings, tempt-
ing his hearers to a bid with all sorts of lots on
their own terms, take 'em, or leave 'em—their
own railways carried and their neighbours railways
jockeyed—all their sons in the Post-office--Bri-
tannia smiling on them—the eyes of Europe on them
—the Wrongs of Men and the Rights of Women—
total abolition of flogging in the army, or a dozen
for every private once a month all round ! There's
Little Sophy—with her bright eyes still wet, and
her little face still flushed, and her shining dark
hair all curling natural about her shoulders—hold-
ing on with a love strong in death to the poor Cheap
Jack's neck—clinging tenderly to the last to his
worn sleeved-waistcoat ! There's Doctor Marigold's
Own Wife, before marriage and after—courted
from the footboard, and drowning herself in de-
spair—when first seen like one of your lovely Suffolk
dumplings, biling over with beauty—when last seen
banging her self (when the Furies took her) to that
extent that she was forced to be held ! There's
:Mm's Travelling Giant, Pickleson by name, though
known upon his travels by the more euphonious
title of Rinaldo di Velasco —the languid young man,
with a little head and less in it, with the feeblest
circulation, and a voice apparently coming from his
eyebrows ! One whose excessive languor our
reflective Cheap Jack thinks must be attri-
butable somehow to the distance between 4is
extremities ! That elongated specimen of male
youth, capable, even in the midst of his con-
stitutional dejection, of being cheered almost
beyond belief by the gift of no more than a
sixpence (poor Pickleson we are told, being kept as
short as ho was long) and so bricked up by merely
two threepennorth's of gin and water, that he sings
off-hand, without being asked for it, the Favourite
Comic of Shivery-Shakey, ain't it cold I There's
Mim himself—the Giant's Proprietor—a wery hoarse
man and a most ferocious swearer—now ferocious
outside his own carawan—now swearing most hor-
rible and terrific, at the slackness of the public, in a
pink calico pay-place up a green-baize alcove lead-
ing to an Auction Room! There's Doctor Marigold's
very Dog, too—that sagacious animal of whom we
are told that whenever Sophy's mother was going to
break out, he would spontaneously wake up, even
out of the soundest sleep, give a howl, and bolt—
the dog about whom we learn that he taught himself
to bark at any one who bid as low as sixpence—alto-
gether an animal not unworthy of consorting with
that other noble specimen of his species, the P ug Dog,
with his muzzle blackleaded for an evening party,
and his tail extra curled by machinery ! There's even
the blushing butcher who gets handed to the front
to take the lot he didn't bid for—constrained some-
how to become a purchaser in spite of himself by the
irresistible patter of this incomparable bamboozler
among Cheap Jacks —who'll throw us iu a warming-
pan for nothing, and lend us a toasting-fork for
life
—tempting us now with a frying-pan, artificially
flavoured with beefsteaks to that degree that we have
only got for the rest of our lives to fry bread and
dripping in it, and there we are replete with
animal food —now with a genuine chronometer
watch in such a solid silver case that we may hammer
at the door with it when we come home late from a
social meeting, and rouse our wife and family, and
save up our knocker for the postman—now
with a rolling pin of such uncommon excel-
lence that if the baby can only get it well into
its mouth when its teeth are coming, and rub its
gums well with it, they'll come through double in a
fit of laughter equal to being tickled! There's
Sophy Nu aber Two—dumb, but realised to us (how