The Sun.
London, England, 1866-10-10 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONL ON, WEDNESDAY EV ENING, OCTOBER 10, 1866,

until the faculty and institutions of self-government
are developed." It is probable enough that another
century may elapse before the French people attain
their full political development. " Time," says Sir
J. K. SHuniEwogra, "is required for all great
changes, and any attempt which is not in
harmony with this law is certain to fail.
Certain great forces are in constant action, and
they refuse to be hurried in their course. If, how-
ever, their natural development is impeded they
gather strength, and at last break through the
ordinary succession of events." The speaker
clearly showed the truth of this when he reminded
his hearers how ephemeral and unstable the forms
of government created by revolutions generally are.
They express the prevailing feeling or sentiment
of the moment. They have their origin in the
strong convictions or vivid anticipations of
enthusiastic minds, but unless they accurately
represent the actual growth of the state, and the
slow but steady progress of the people, they are
certain to crumble and fall. All sanguine expecta-
tions of the rapid evolutions of new forms of go-
vernment in nations, ill prepared by their ante-
cedent conditions, are not warranted by the ex-
perience of history, and generally all sudden
transitions in national policy partake of the character
of revolutions and of their weakness in the presence
of surrounding conditions not in harmony with
them. One of two things must result from such
rapid changes—either the new condition must
subordinate all surrounding conditions to itself or
it must collapse and perish. Where any strong
conviction or principle has gained ascendancy, and
has been really based upon the public convictions,
and, in harmony with the spirit of the time, it has
produced most striking effects. Thus the desire for
the elevation of the masses and for the amelioration
of suffering have within the last few generations
worked marvellous changes. Sir J. SHUTTLEWORTH
briefly catalogued the most important of these, but
even then the list was a long one. If we look back
to the state of our prisons, the condition of our
penal law, the ignorance of the labouring classes,
and the political situation of the great body of the
people in the last century, we shall realise in some
measure the vast and beneficial advance which has
been made. And, happily for the country, the same
civilising and elevating influences are still at work,
and all we have to learn from the experience of the
past is to wait with patience for their gradual effects.
Looking back with the eye of a philosophic histo-
rian over the busy pages of our English annals, Sir
J. SnUTTLEIVORTII traces the ancient degra-
dation of the serf in the miserable condi-
tion of our paupers. The ancient Saxon
idea of personal dignity and civil freedom can only
in the present day be fully carried out by a liberal
system of national education. The half-pauperised
agricultural labourers and the unlettered small
tenant farmers are still, politically speaking, the
thralls of the landlord of the soil. The changes
which were thus apparently made centuries back
are not even yet fully developed. While the facts
thus ably set forth are in some sense discouraging
to the ardent reformer they are full of suggestive
information, and they afford him grounds of hope
that the real principles of social progress, however
tardy in their development, yet possess within
themselves a germ of vitality and endurance which
no opposing influence can weaken, no tyranny can
subdue.

CORRESPONDENCE FROM PARIS.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)
PARIS, Tuesday Evening.

The negotiations between Prussia and Saxony,
which, as already known, were temporarily sus-
pended, have been renewed. King John accepts the
bases proposed by Prussia for the regulation of the
military arrangements of Saxony with the Direct-
ing Government of the Confederation of the
N or th.

The Gazette du Nord, of Hanover, says that the
document giving up the possession of that country
to Prussia contains the following regulations, among
others :

" We order all the inhabitants of the ancient
kingdom o! Hanover, in future united to our mo-
narchy, to recognise us, from this moment, as their
legitimate Sovereign and King, and to pay obedi-
ence to our laws, ordinances, and commands.

" We will protect every one in the possession and
enjoyment of his private rights, justly acquired,
supposing that they will be faithfully administered
until the Prussian Constitution shall come into ope-
ration in the country, when we alone are to exercise
legislative power.

" We wish to preserve the laws and institutions
of the countries which hitherto have formed part of
the kingdom of Hanover, and to maintain all par-
ticularities, so long as they do not operate to the
prejudice of the requirements resulting from the
unity and interests of the State."

The Government has received, officially, the news
that Victor Emmanuel signed the treaty of peace
between Austria and Italy on Saturday last. The
ironclad Italian squadron left Ancona on the 30th
of September for Tarentum. Great numbers of
addresses continue to be sent to the municipal autho-
rities in Italy expressive of satisfaction at the signa-
ture of the treaty of peace.

Although the inundations happily have subsided,
accounts arrive daily which show the immense ex-
tent of the disaster. The Government has done all
in its power to relieve the sufferers, and private
charity is so active that the Moniteur cannot find
space to detail the subscriptions.

The other day an ingenious scoundrel went to the
Restaurant in the Rue deßivoli, and had a copious
and excellent dinner, washed down with expensive
wine, coffee, and liqueurs. When he had finished
he asked for pen and ink, and calling the
waiter asked him to deliver it to the first policeman
whom he should meet in the street, and wait for an
answer. The waiter took the letter. When opened
the contents were found to be as follows :—" Mon-
sieur le Sergant de Ville, I have just committed an
offence. If, as is your duty, you wish for proof of
the fact come back with the person who will deliver
this letter to you and arrest me, for I am guilty.
Your servant, Leon H--, a tumbler." The police-
man came immediately. On perceiving him he got
up and said, " Here I am." Addressing himself to
the Restaurateur, he said, " I have had a good
dinner, but I have not a centime to pay for it. To
avoid any scandal I have informed the police, and I
now deliver myself up." The unpleasant customer
then walked quietly with the policeman to the Pre-
fecture.

Viscount de Laferriere has been appointed Cham-
berlain to the Emperor, in the room of M. Bac-
mein, recently deceased.
A man has been arrested on suspicion of being the
murderer of the woman of the town, named Tis-
seraud, in the Rue de Ponthicu, near the Champs
Elysees, of which I gave an account about a month
ago. He is a man of 32, a valet de chambre out of
place. At his lodging two razors were found both
spotted with blood. Other circumstances strengthen
the suspicions of the police.
The papers published in the south of France
give an account of a strange and serious revolt
among the young prisoners iu the Penitentiary of
the Isle of the Lsvant, near Toulon. The esta-
lishment is destroyed, burnt, and pillaged. The
steamer Robuste was hastily despatched from Tou-
lon, having on board the Sub-Prefect, the Pro-
cureur-Imperial, and 140 soldiers, under the orders
of a chief of battalion, and 20 gendarmes, com-
manded by a captain. The insurrection was
fomented by some young Corsican prisoners who
had only been'at the island two days. After hav-
ing mastered the director and wardens of the prison,
the insurgents set fire to the oil petrole and spirits
which were in the prison. A terrible explosion was
the newt) and 14 of the conspirators were either

suffocated by the flames or perished in the ruins.
Had it not been for the devotion of the superin-
tendent of the Semaphore the director of the prison
would have perished. This courageous man suc-
ceeded in delivering the director, who was about
to be engulphed in the flames. He, however, was
attacked while endeavouring to execute his perilous
task, and was pursued, ill treated, and thrown into
a hole, his thigh being broken by the fall. The es-
tablishment is completely destroyed. At the time
of the return of the Robuste fourteen dead bodies of
the insurgents had been found under the burning
ruins. The insurgents did not make any resistance
to the armed force. The amount of injury to pro-
perty is estimated at from 40,000 f. to 30,000 f. The
cause of the revolt is said to be the refusal of the
demand of the insurgents to have an unlimited
supply of tobacco and six hours of recreation every
day.

A Paris paper in giving an account of the death
of the crocodile which escaped from the aquarium
of the Agricultural Hall, London, says that if tears
be shed for his memory they will only be crocodile
tears.

A Scotch lady residing at Florence, who recently
had an interview with Garibaldi, says he always
carries with him an oak stick, on which is beauti-
fully chased Scotch thistles. It was a present
from some Scotch workmen, and the lady told Gari-
baldi that he had many partisans among the Scotch.
Garibaldi has suffered much from the last campaign,
and is ill and thin. His hands are very lean, and
he is still very lame. The letter adds that Gari-
baldi treats his soldiers like a father.

Verdi's new opera of " Don Carlos " is under
rehearsal, and it will be produced early in December.
It was at first stated that Sardous's new comedy
would not have any title. On second thoughts,
however, the author intends to call it " La llaison
Neuve."

The accounts from the vintages are more favour-
able since the fine weather, but upon the whole it
seems to be feared that even where the produce has
been abundant the quality of the wine will not be
so good as it was last year.
The sea serpent is neither dead nor asleep—at
least if we are to believe an account sent from Barie
to the Guienne. The account says that some bold
sailors who were crossing the Garonne when that
river was overflowing its banks, perceived between
the two waters a serpent of enormous length and
fatness, which upon the approach of their boat
made a tremendous plunge and disappeared. The
Guienne does not favour its readers with any de-
scription of,this monster, but possibly it was " very
like a whale."

The weather has been bright, beautiful, and warm
throughout the day, but in the vicinity of Paris, at
the distance of a few miles, the fields were covered
with frost before the sun rose. An intensely cold
wind prevailed in the early part of the morning
yesterday.

The West Riding Reform Demonstraton•

- - ... - - -

The Leeds Mercury says it is reasonable to conclude
that at least 100,000 persons were present on the
Moor during the afternoon, while many thousands
more witnessed the procession through the streets.
Many persons, it adds, whose calculations may be
adopted with some confidence, have made an esti-
mate even as high as 150,000. The same paper thus
describes the scene on the Moor when the proces-
sion arrived :

" As the time wore on, and 2 o'clock, the hour at
which the van of the great procession was expected
to appear at the corner of the Moor, approached,
the spaces immediately in front of the platform be-
came more and more densely crowded, and had the
appearance of five great semicircles of spectators ex-
tending for many yards, in front of each other, and
touching each other with their far spreading wings.
Beyond these bodies, and on the portion of the slope
that may be regarded as the hollow of the slope run-
ning through its length, there were for a long time
comparatively few people, and at no period of the
afternoon were they so closely packed here as they
were lower down. The ridge of the slope, however,
vied with the neighbourhood of the platforms in the
animated appearance it presented, for it was covered
long before the platform proceedings commenced by
an immense throng whose numbers grew at a rapid
rate, after the procession began to pour over it on their
way to the platforms. Passing across the table land
of the Moor, one could not fail to be impressed
even more with the vastness of the grand total of the
most moderate estimate of the demonstration, for
this great space was covered with a crowd certainly
by no means close, but, from the very capacity of
the place, of huge dimensions. The great bulk of
it was gathered at the two points, which, as we have
said, were from the first selected by a vast number
of spectators ; the others were either wandering
towards the west side by the Moor or were careless
where they took up a position, and so remained pre-
pared to be wherever circumstances should place
them. At 2 o'clock, with great punctuality, the
music of the bands were heard in the distance, and
the first banner of the procession appeared over the
brow of the slope shortly afterwards. From that
time even until 3 the host continued to pour down
towards the platforms, the unma.rshalled who
awaited them breaking up, easily and without dis-
order, into two masses, between which they passed
to the various positions that had been assigned them.
The line was, however, preceded by a carriage which
contained Mr. Beales, Mr. E. A. Leathani, Mr. Ald.
Carter, Mr. Alderman Tatham, and Mr. B. Kell,
which bore those gentlemen straight down to No. 3
in the centre of the line of platforms, amidst loud
cheers from ten thousand throats. They were fol-
lowed by the first portion of the procession, who
bore down on the same point and soon swelled the
crowd assembled there to huge dimensions. On the
procession rapidly swept down the slope, like a broad
mountain torrent, and broke up into streams that
now bore us away, now to the far left, now to the
right ; in the various channels that seemed in their
unvarying regularity to have been formed by them
through the long course of time the throng grew
ever denser. The arrangements were of the most ad-
rnirable description, and though the numbers were
so great, there was not the slightest confusion, and
the stream poured along without the slightest break
or the least inconvenience either to the proces-
sion, or the masses that hemmed it in. Nor was
less remarkable the patience and the quiet good
humour which the crowds before the platforms
exhibited in waiting for the commencement of the
platform proceedings. At length there seemed to be
somewhat of a lull in the advancing line ; though
their banners still floated gallantly in the breeze
they seemed to be fewer in number, and many were
of opinion that the end was at hand. Whether that
was so or not, Mr. Alderman Carter, amidst loud
cheers, at length opened the business of the day at
No. 3, and soon at all the platforms the orators were
busily engaged."

NEW LIFEBOATS.--The people of Bristol and
Clifton and Cheltenham have recently presented to the
National Lifeboat Institution the cost of two lifeboats and
their equipment, including transporting carriages. The
Cheltenham lifeboat, which is 82 feetlong, aad which is to
be stationed at Burnham, on the Somerset coast, was to be
publicly exhibited at Cheltenham to-day. The boat was
to be named by Lady Charlotte Schreibir, and afterwards
launched into a lake in the neighbourhood of the town.
The Bristol and Clifton lifeboat, which is of the same di-
mensions as the Cheltenham boat, left London to-day
for Bristol, where it is to be publicly shown on Saturday,
and where, like Cheltenham, most extensive preparations
are being made to give a hearty welcome to the boat of
mercy. The presentation will take place at Clifton, and will
be made by Mr. Commissioner Hill. This boat will after-
wards be named by Miss Florence Hill, and launched into
a lake at Clifton. This boat is to be stationed at Lossie-
mouth, a-dangerous point on the Scotch coast. It should
be added that the Bristol and Clifton lifeboat fund owes
mainly its origin to the Histrionic Club of those places.
Bristol had previously given the institution the cost of a
lifeboat, which is named the " Albert Edward," after the
Prince of Wales. It is stationed at Padstow, on the shores
of the Bristol Channel, where last winter it saved during
a fearful midnight storm. 17 lives from the wrecked barque
Juliet of Greenock.

THE LATE HARRY GIiDISHAIY.—We are in-
formed that the accidental assurance company with which
this unfortunate young man was assured, as mentioned by
the correspondent " Argus," was the Railway Passengers
Assurance Company, of 64, Cornhill, London, with whom
he had effected a policy against accidents of every descrip-
tion for £l,OOO. This amount will therefore be payable
to hie widow.

LA TEST INTELLIGENCE.

(REUTER'S TELEGRAMS.)

AUSTRIA AND HUNGARY.

VIENNA, October 10.
The convocation of the Hungarian Diet is ex-
pected to take place immediately after the publica-
tion of the treaty of peace with Italy. The Diet
will meet in the middle of November, at which
period all the other provincial diets will also as-
semble.

The surrender of the fortresses and war material
in Venetia has already commenced.
A rumour is current in diplomatic circles that
Baron von Friesen, the Saxon Plenipotentiary, has
concluded the negotiations with the Prussian Go-
vernment.

The King of Saxony is said to have ceded the
fortress of Konigstein to Prussia, and to have also
agreed to place the Saxon army under Prussian
command.

ITALY.

FLORENCE, OCt. 10.

The Austrian garrison evacuated Peschiera to-
day, which was then occupied by the Italian troops.
It is stated that the Austrians will quit Mantua
to-morrow or the day after.
An affray took place at Verona on Monday be-
tween some of the Austrian troops and the inhabi-
tants. Perfect order, however, now prevails in
that city.

SWITZERLAND.

PARIS, Oct. 10.

Several cases of cattle plague having recently
occurred in the cantons of Grisons and Schaffhausen.
The Minister of Agriculture has without delay
suspended the execution of the Ministerial Ordinance
of the 2d inst., in as far as relates to the frontiers
of Germany and Switzerland, from the Moselle to
Upper Savoy.

HESSE DARMSTADT.
DARMSTADT, Oct. 9 (Evening).
The Grand Duke has issued a decree, dated the
7th inst., dissolving the Hesse Darmstadt Estates.

BAVARIA.
muNicir, Oct. 9 (Evening).

Councillor sf State, Pfistermeister, and Minis-
terial Secretary, Lutz, have given in their resigna-
tion, and will be succeeded, the former by Herr
Nauraayr, and the latter by Herr Feilits.

THE WEST COAST OF AFRICA.

LIVERPOOL, OCt. 10.

The Royal Mail steamship Lagos, from the West
Coast of Africa, has arrived here. Her dates are
Benin, Aug. 24 ; Fernando Po, Sept. 2 ; Came-
roons, Aug. 30 ; Old Calabar, Sept. 1 ; Brass river,
5 ; New Calabar, 4 ; Bonny, 4 ; Lagos, 7 ; Accra,
9 ; Cape Coast Castle, 11 ; Cape Palmas, 13 ;
Sierra Leone, 19 ; Bathurst, 23 ; Teneriffe, 29 ;
and Madeira, Oct. 2.
The Lagos brings 21 passengers and a fair cargo.
The general health of the Europeans at the Rivers

was good.
Endeavours were being made to reconcile the na-
tives of Bonny and New Calabar.

THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE MAIL.
FALMOUTH, October 10.

The Diamond Company's steamer Kaffraria,
Donald, commander, arrived here this afternoon.
Her dates are as follows :—The Cape, Sept. 3d ;
St. llelena, Sept. 12th ; Madeira, Oct. 2d. She
brings the mails, 34 passengers, 1,330 bales of wool,
500 bags of rice, and 500 bags of copper ore, and
sundry packages. She has experienced strong
easterly winds from the Cape de Verd islands. The
Kaffraria brings 14 days' later news from the Cape.
The colonial elections had been proceeding briskly,
and among the candidates there bad been some more
conversions to the principles of responsible govern-
ment.

A memorial to his Excellency the Governor, ad-
vocating the enactment of protective duties to
colonial industry, was about to be circulated in Cape
Town, and it was believed would be numerously

signed.