The Sun.
London, England, 1866-12-25 00:00:00

Christmas Numbers of the Periodicals,

lAs radiant in colouring as the holly boughs—
, as variously composed as the plum-puddings—as
plentiful as blackberries in October—are the Christ-
mas numbers poured forth by the popular periodi-
cals of the day every December. The most modestly
attired, the cheapest and yet the most seasonably
welcome of them all, has already been noticed by
us, and that too at some length—meaning, of
course, Charles Dickens's Christmas Number of
All the Year Round; this time entitled " Mugby
Junction." A collection of stories, giving us a good
deal of the romance of our railway system ; and the
sale of which is understood to have already very far
advanced beyond the astonishing number of 260,000
—thanks less to its own intrinsic merits doubtless
than to the fair fame of its immediate predecessor,
the incomparable " Doctor Mangold." Besides
the blue-green fourpenny Christmas Number of the
greatest of all our Christmas Tale-tellers, however,
there have dropped in, now one by one, now by twos
and by threes, in resplendently parti-coloured
coverings, clusters of Christmas Numbers appealing
to every taste, grave and gay, prose and verse,
stories upon stories, pictures upon pictures.
Routledge's, and Warne's, and Beeton's have com-
peted with each other by the brilliancy of their
illustrations, by the variety of their contents,
by the celebrity of their leading contributors, by
the popularity of the artists engaged upon them,
and last, but not least, by their cheapness.
Once a Week has spoken in the same way
seasonably enough upon the approach of that festival
proverbial for coming but once a year—to wit, Merry
Christmas ! London Society, after the same fashion,
has again made good its annual claim to be ad-

mitted into itself—in association with all kindfio
_ . .

hilarious home-festivities, dinners, balls, private
theatricals, games of romps, and cosy chats by the
fireside. Punch's Almanack, though amusing
enough upon the whole, again makes us wistfully
recall to mind that irreparable loss which came home
to us, one and all, when the ill-tidings were heard
more than a year ago that John Leech had died
prematurely while a children's party was taking
place in his house. As for the Fun Almanack, it
would be well worth its price thricetold if only
for that wonderful group of likenesses (hardly
in any way distorted, they are so true to the
life--such veritable likenesses) by Bab (who
is Bab ?) portraits of the leading dramatic
critics of the day—John , Hollingshead, John
Oxenford, Leicester Buckingham, G. F. Tom-
Ens, and E. L. Blanchard. The Band of Hope Re-
view again wins a wintry welcome with its rich store
of boldly-drawn and beautifully-executed wood-
cuts—the very cover of the publication, a cover
richly colour-printed and varnished, is well worthy-
of being framed and glazed for preserva-
tion on the nursery walls. The same
equally well might have been said of the British
Workman, had the subject selected for that still
larger publication only been a trifle more attractive.
Chambers's Edinburgh Journal revives in its Christ-
mas number our recollections of Albert Smith's
Mont Blanc, by recounting a similar exploit in
scaling the Monarch of the Mountains. As a mat-
ter of course, however, The Illustrated London News
by the splendour and variety of its embellishments,
sets all competition at defiance, considering the
price at which it is published and the scope of its
enterprise as a Christmas gala-number, full of fun,
frolic, and festivities, described in thoroughly
readable letterpress, and delineated in admirably
executed drawings.

Separate stories, again, drop in, here and there, from
the press—as in the instance of Alfred Garduer's
interesting Christmas tale, entitled, The Cloud and
the Beam, recalling to mind the world-famous

" Trap to Catch a Sunbeam."
Almanacs, too, still continue to follow each other
in rapid succession—one of the last that has come to

hand being M'Corquodale and Co.'s surprisingly

comprehensive and perfectly reliable one for the
Railways—an indispensable broadsheet for every
well appointed counting-house in the United King-
dom. Anson's Dranzatic and Musical Almanac, again,
still bears off the palm, or the bell, or however

you may like to express it, as the companion to the
box-lobby and the green-room. the Law Almanac
for the New Year is, according to usual custom,
issued as a most acceptable and valuable supplement
to the Law Times. Blackwood's Shilling Scribbling
Diary also reappearE very acceptably, as does the
same publisher's more compact and portable Diary
No. b.

atwi
do rt
ettalbr.

HER MAJESTY, &c.

OSBORNE, Dec. 24.
The Queen walked and rode in the grounds this
morning, accompanied by Prince Arthur.
Prince and Princess Christian drove out. Princess
Louise walked in the grounds, attended by the Hon.
Caroline Cavendish ; and Prince Leopold, Princess
Beatrice, and Prince Henry of Prussia, went out.

The Queen will hold a Council at Osborne on
Friday next, the 28th inst., at one o'clock.
Despatches were received yesterday at the Colo-
nial-office from the Governors of the Cape of Good
Hope, Natal, St. Helena, and Heligoland. De-
spatches were sent to the Governors of the settle-
ments on the West Coast of Africa.
The Right Hon. Spencer Walpole left town yes
terday for Cambridge.

The Marquis and Marchioness of Salisbury will
receive a large party at Hatfield House, Harts, during the
festive season.
The Earl and Countess of Clarendon and Lady
Emily Villiers have arrived in Paris, on their return from
Italy, and are staying at the Hotel Mirabeau.
Sir Robert Peel, Bart., M.P., has returned to
Drayton Manor, near Tamworth, from visiting Lord Clan-
brock, at Clonbrock Park, Ireland.
Sir Stafford Northcote, Bart., M.P., left town on
Saturday for Pynes, Exeter.
The Duke of Richmond, as Chancellor of the
University of Aberdeen, has given his casting vote i
favour of Mr. Grant Duff as Lord Rector.

RECEPTION OF THE AMERICAN
MINISTER IN PARIS.

PARIS, Dec. 24.
Major-General Dix yesterday presented to the
Emperor hii credentials as Envoy Extraordinary
and Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States,
accompanying the presentation with the following
speech :

" Sire,—ln presenting my credentials upon the
part of the President of the United States, I am
charged by him to express his best wishes for your
Majesty and for the prosperity of the French Em-
pire, as well as his sincere desire that the good un-
derstanding at present subsisting between the two
countries may be perpetual. Since the establishment
of their Government it has always been the aim of
the United States to cultivate friendly relations
with all nations. There are especial reasons for their
desire to entertain the most amicable relations with
France. They can never forget that she afforded
them most opportune and most effiacious assistance
in recognising their independent and equal rank
among the other nations of the earth. The two
countries—France during your Majesty's reign, and
the United States during the corresponding period
—have made extraordinary progress in the indus-
trial arts, and the applications of science to practical
uses. Each upon its side occupying an eminent
position at the head of the civilisation of two vast
continents, the influence of their sympathetic
movement in giving expansion to ideas and im-
printing progress upon material interests, so im-
portant to the welfare of nations, cannot fail in
making itself powerfully felt, and with advantage
far beyond their immediate action. I feel con-
vinced of not exaggerating the sentiments of the
Government and the people of the United States if
I say that it is their sincere desire to see this union,
which attached them to France in times gone by,
ripen in the future, to change into still closer and
more cordial friendship. I shall esteem myself the
happiest of men if, during the accomplishment of
my official duties towards your Majesty's Govern-
ment, I am in a position to contribute, in any degree,
to this object so intimately bound up with the pro-
sperity and the happiness of the two countries and
with the interests of humanity throughout the entire
world."
The Emperor replied :

" I thank you, general, for the sentiments you
express towards me in the name of the Government
of the United States. The historical reminiscences
you call up are a sure guarantee that no misunder-
standing will arise to disturb the friendly relations
so long existing hetween France and the American
Union. A loyal and sincere agreement will, I
doubt not, contribute to the profit of industry and
commerce, which daily astonishes the world by their
marvels, and will secure the progress of civilisation.
Your presence among us cannot but contribute to
this happy result by , upholding the relations to
which I attach the utmost value."

Recovery of the London Steamship.

The steamship London, belonging to the Dundee,
Perth, and London Shipping Company, which NO
lain on the Horseshoe Shoal, in the Tay, since the
18th November, 1865, was on Saturday taken off
and brought up to Dundee. It will be remembered
that the London left Dundee on the afternoon of
the day mentioned (18th November, 1865), with a
cargo of goods valued at £12,000, and a number of
passengers on board, on her weekly trip to London,
and that when about two miles below Broughty
Ferry she came into collision with the Harvest
Queen, coal laden, from Newcastle, then coming
up the channel of the river. The result of the col-
lision was that the London went upon the Horse-
shoe Shoal, where she sank, her passengers escaping
with difficulty, some on board the Harvest Queen,
and some on board a tug sent to her assistance.
The Harvest Queen, after proceeding up the river
about three miles, sank upon the Newcome Shoal,
within a short distance of the south shore, where
she was nearly dry at low water. After a good
deal of difficulty she was brought off several months
ago, and has been renovated, and is now again in
the coal trade. In order to recover the London
it was resolved first to take out the cargo ;
and this was effected by Captain Hicks and
several divers under him. The value of the
goods recovered amounted to £9,000, or three-
fourths of the original value. After this had been
done several attempts were made to raise the steamer
by Mr. Page, of London, Admiral Keppel, and
others, but without success, and it was generally
considered that there was no hope of her recovery,
and that the loss of £15,000, at which she Was
valued, would have to be submitted to. In the end
of September, however, air arrangement was made
with the Messrs. Gourlay, engineers and iron ship-
builders, Dundee, to endeavour to raise her, and
of ter some preparations the first attempt was made by
them on the 24th November, but without success.
It was then found that several of the leaks, which
were supposed to have been closed up by the divers,
were still open. These were carefully closed up
under the superintendence of Mr. Macnidder,
manager for the Messrs. Gourlay ; and it was re-
solved to make another attempt to raise her ou
Saturday, the tides being then at the lowest. Ac-
cordingly, the steamer Queen went down on Friday
afternoon, with two powerful pumps on board, 10
addition to two which had been erected on the Lon-
don, and at three o'clock on Saturday morning 3
vessel left Dundee with a fifth pump. The weather
was favourable. At half-past seven the two pul°P°
on board the Queen and the two on the Loudon
were set agoing, being wrought by the Queen's
engines, and they were kept going until 9 o'clock,
when, on putting down the lead, it was found that
the London had risen two feet. The fifth pump 1°313
then added, and by a quarter past nine she had risen
four feet. At half-past nine the two tugs Atlas and
Samson took the London in tow, when she
came away with them. The tide was then mak"
ing, and she was slowly floated up to Dundee, the
pumps working all the time. The hull, when seen,
appeared a melancholy spectacle, being c)vered with
barnacles and mussels, and the masts all gone. Tn:‘,
London was beached in the afternoon to the east
the Camperdown Dock, where she will receive
partial overhaul, previously to being taken into the
dry dack to be thoroughly renovated.