The Sun.
London, England, 1866-06-16 00:00:00

At E. MOSES Sr SON'S.

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PLAIN FIGURES THE LOWEST pnicEs_,
MA
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At E. MOSES ezi SON'S.

LONDON, SATURDAY, JUNE 16t 1866.

The arrival of the Cuba gives us news which
proves that the days of Fenianism are numbered.
The raid into Canada has so far realised STEPHENS'S
fears that it has induced the American Government
to take active measures for the repression of the
Fenians. It was well known that the PRESIDENT
was waiting his opportunity for arresting their pro-
gress, not being desirous to give them unnecessary
importance by premature interference, but now
that an open breach of the neutrality laws has
placed them indisputably in the wrong, he has
issued a proclamation warning the citizens
of the States against aiding them, and directing
the national officials to arrest and bring to justice
all persons so employed in defiance of the Federal
laws, and empowering General MEADE to employ
the Federal land and naval forces to prevent the
carrying on of the said expedition. "The Federal
land and naval forces" employed against the
Fenians may well remind us of breaking a butterfly
upon a wheel, and General MEADE having com-
manded an army through a campaign need
not be much overawed even by the terrors
of the Hibernian heroes. Still more effec-
tive as a deathblow to Fenianism is the
arrest of SWEENY and ROBERTS. SWEENY was ar-
rested at St. Albans, and ROBERTS, the president of
the Senate faction, in New York. Warrants have
also been issued for the arrest of other prominent
Fenians ; and although STEPHENS is still at large in
Washington, it is npt likely that he will be able to
restore the shattered fortunes of Fenianism. It is
true that the usual spirit of Irishmen has been
strongly shown, and that so far from being
deterred by the sound of danger the first attempt
of real fighting has given fresh energy to the
recruiting, in two days 2,000 Fenians being enrolled
at New York, and large contributions being made
to the Fenian treasury. This is not likely to last
long in face of the resolute opposition of the
Americans. The vessels guarding the St. Lawrence
River have orders to sink any boats attempting to
cross with Fenians on board, and arms and supplies
have been seized in all directions. They have been
compelled to evacuate Fort Erie, having been pre-
vented from receiving the expected reinforcements
the few men they left on duty were captured by the
Canadians, and the four hundred who left were
captured by the Federal boats. British troops
and Canadian volunteers are arriving at all exposed
points of the frontier in large numbers, and the
apprehension of further raids is pretty well ended.
It is, indeed, generally believed that the vigorous
action of the American Government will cause a
permanent and immediate abandonment of the
scheme for a Fenian invasion of Canada. It is
quite time that these mischievous conspirators were
restrained. They have duped the credulous into
parting with their money; they have encouraged
disaffection and unsettled many weak-minded
and enthusiastic persons for no possible end,
save the temporary aggrandisement of a few ambi-
tious and designing men. If anything were needed
to enlighten their credulous followers as to the
absu,rdity and arrogance of their pretensions, it
wouiLd surely be found in the disputes among them-
selves, the rival factions, the antagonistic leaders.
It is not likely that STEPIIENS will be mad enough
to attempt the fulfilment of his boasts about the
invasion of Ireland, and should be endeavour
to do so his proceedings could be at once
stopped without much trouble, so that we
may consider that we have nearly heard of
the last of Fenianism. We are glad that the Wash-
ington Government should have acted with vigour
and decision in this matter, since it would have been
quite unworthy of them to have suffered so mani-
fest a breach of their national vows in revenge for
fancied slights or injuries. The Fenian leaders were
anxious, if possible, to embroil the two nations, by
getting up a quarrel at the fisheries. Happily they
have failed in this benevolent attempt, but we can
only hope that before long the good sense of the
American people will consent to rut the question
of the fisheries on a better and
_firmer footing, so
that it may not be left to give opportunity to evil-
disposed and mischief-making persons to carry out
their malicious purposes.

The Prussians have settled the point by at last
commencing the war in earnest, and yesterday all
hope of preserving the peace of Europe was over.
The Prussian troops entered Saxony and Hanover,
and have thus precipitated matters. The decision
of the Diet, which gave so much offence to the
representative of Prussia, has been considered by
that Power as a cases belli, and acted upon accord-
ingly. Many may be surprised at the haste
which has just been displayed, but no doubt M.
B ISItALCK is of opinion that there is no time to
lose,
must
make
anclthat, as all, or nearly all, Germany
has declared against him and his policy, he
pstrruenssgiath.
b good by speed what he lacks in
There is no disputing the fact that
egins this contest with great disadvantages,
the disparity of numbers' between them and their
opponents is very great. At all events there is no
denying that the Prussians must now bear the
onus of having commenced hostilities.
They evi-
dently rendered diplomacy unavailing by their
forcible
sentry into Holstein, and now they have
at once set aside all hope of adjustment by their

dazided movements of yesterday. The Hanoverian
troops are retiring into Gottingen for concentration
with the Malik Brigade and the Bavarian army.
It would have been, of course, much more fortunate
for the interests of Prussia if she had succeeded in
gaining over the various States to her side, because
now, for instance, she would have the support and
co-operation of Hanover, instead of marching at a
disadvantage.

The notice of the semi-official Norddeutsche
Zeitung is simply ridiculous. It states that hence-
forth it will publish news from the Elbe Duchies
under the heading of Prussia, and intelligence from
those States belonging to the Confederation un-
der the title of " Middle European Group of States."
This is just a specimen of the arbitrary manner in
whichthe Prussians conduct matters, and treat those
States which are unfortunate enough to offend
them. Surely it will be quite time enough for
Prussia to change the names of places, and alter
existing arrangements when she has concluded a
successful war, instead of jumping at conclusions
and assuming the right to dictate terms to the sur-
rounding places. The time of the departure of the
King of PRUSSIA and Count BISMARCK for the
camp is not yet fixed upon, but will shortly take
place. Nothing is likely to be left undone by the
authorities that can tend to excite animation or en-
thusiasm in the Prussian troops, but they will find
it no easy matter to succeed in their venture
This war, for which Prussia is alone responsible, is
inimical to the feelings of the Prussian people,
and nothing can make it palatable to them.
They have long complained of the course which
their Government has thought fit to pursue, and
now things have reached a climax through their
perversity and infatuation. The official Staats
Anzeiger of Berlin publishes an article on the trans-
actions of the Diet, and declares that the Prussian
Government has been compelled to take a step
which materially changes the existing state of Eu-
rope as it is now established by treaty. The mobi-
lisation of the Federal army against a member of
the Confederation is said to be directly opposed to
existing rules and regulations, and the Austrian
motion has therefore violated Federal and European
laws. This is a very good excuse, but, like the wolf
in the fable, llerr von BISMARCK had quite deter-
mined to pick a cause of quarrel, and it only re-
mained to him to take whatever the doctrine of
chances might send.
The news of yesterday will, by this time, have
spread dismay and consternation in many directions,
and indeed the present generation has seen nothing
to equal it. Now that war has certainly com-
menced, it will be very difficult to foretell
what may ensue, but, at any rate, it is
not difficult to declare that the war will not
soon be over. Too many interests are at stake, and
too many conflicting passions will be aroused, for it
to be possible to make terms readily. The alliance
between Italy and Prussia, of course, complicates
matters still more than was at first expected, and
will materially retard the settlement of affairs. The
Italians have done themselves no honour by this
movement. It was a mean and paltry endeavour to
take advantage of an enemy when in difficul-
ties, and all kind of consistency was taken
from their conduct by the fact that
they leagued with a greater despot than
the one they opposed. We have also yet to see
what part France will play in this drama. Although
it is announced that warlike interpretations must
not be put upon the EMPEROR'S letter, we must all
feel that circumstances can alone decide the course
of the EMPEROR ; and who can at the outset of a
war like the present predicate what he shall or shall
not do ? No doubt, had the Conference taken
place, the French Government would have done its
utmost to preserve peace ; but as it has turned
out otherwise their action during the struggle will
rest with the. suggestions of the future, and that
time can alone unravel. Prussia will have no right
to object to the interference of France, when she
has already mixed herself up so completely with the
affairs of other States, and put herself so obtru-
sively forward in urging her claims and represent-
ing her views.

Austria will now need all her wisdom to act dis-
creetly and at the same time with firmness—a false
move now may seriously impede her progress here-
after and militate against her success. The time
for vigorous and decisive action has come, and
half measures will not avail at this momentous
juncture we have now arrived at. All must regret
this unseemly disturbance of the peace of Europe
for no earthly reason but to favour the designs of a
crafty and unscrupulous Power. Nothing is more
conspicuous in the affair than the change which has
come over this country with respect to Prussia and
her people. A short time ago the interest taken in
the contest by the English would have been
very great, and doubtless a strong desire
would have been expressed to render assistance,
but now the good wishes of our people do not go
with them to the encounter that lies before them.
They see, on the contrary, in this new conjuncture
a development of that mischievous policy which has
so long interfered with the interests of nations and
militated against the balance of power in Europe.
In peace the Prussian Government respect no rights,
and in war they recognise no claims that other
nations may put forward or possess, and from such
a Power what can we expect ?

The experiment which was made yesterday off the
Isle of Wight, with regard to the efficiency of the
turrets of the Royal Sovereign, left Captain
COLES in possession of a signal victory. In spite
of all the coldness, the prejudice, the official
injustice, against which his invention has had
to struggle, its intrinsic merits are so great that
whenever it gets a fair trial it achieves immediate
and undoubted success. In some respects, indeed,
the' trial submitted the vessel to a severer test
than she would undergo in an action, seeing
the motion, the distance, and many other things
might tell in her favour. Four steel shots of 2501 b.
each were fired from the 12k-ton guns mounted in
the central battery of the Bellerophon, which was
moored 150 yards from the Royal Sovereign. The
shot employed against the Royal Sovereign were not
therefore of the character to be expected in ordinary
warfare, and were, it is said, made for the purpose.
The result, however, was all that could be de-
sired, and although some slight damage was done
to the minor portions, the turret itself
iwtodrikdedonasthferefielrystadtatyh.e clotsemoafnthuelereexfpoerrei,mbeents as
oi
tcon-
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certain that if
i shotf the
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the base
se
would
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st
remainl
perfect,Afterthaisndw
itihoeahrtteivi
revolving
v unin-
jured.ryiini
complainn lna
ofci triflingne
perfections, which may easily be removed, of defi-
ciencies which can be readily supplied ? Captain
COLES'S system has been submitted to a test of ex-
traordinary severity, with indisputable success, in
presence of competent authorities. What further
excuse can the Admiralty bring forward for their
persistent neglect of his claims?

A singular accident happened some weeks ago to
a chill in Manchester. He was flying a kite in a "croft'
near his own home, and in walking or mulling backwards
fell into a hot lime. pit, whereby he was so severely burned
that on Monday last he died from the effects of his in-
juries. At the inquest a vevtict of accidental death was
returned.

CORRESPONDENCE PROM PARIS.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDMT.)

PARIS, Friday Evening.

The .3loniteur confines itself to a summary of
telegraphic news respecting Austria and Prussia.
It contains, however, a letter from Frankfort, dated
June 12, which has some significant passages. The
letter says that " everything leads to the anticipation
of a decisive crisis between the Austrian and Prus-
sian Cabinets, and even for the Confederation. The
occupation of Altona by the Prussians, and the re-
treat of the Austrians to the other side of the Elbe,
precipitated the crisis' Some Cabinets spoke of the
Federal execution to force Prussia to convoke the
States, but this proceeding would have entailed
only delay without increasing the chances of con-
ciliation. The motion of Austria in the sitting of
yesterday would compel the Diet to take its course
immediately. Austria defends her policy by the
discord which results from the entrance of the Prus-
sians into Holstein. She declares that she con-
siders this movement as a menace against Federal
peace, and that in consequence it is necessary to place
under arms the resources of all the corps, so
that the army may be ready to march in a fort-
night."

The course adopted by the Legislative Body shows
that the Opposition, however desirous to cavil on
minor points, is prepared to support the Govern-
ment through any eventuality in case of war, as it
has agreed to grant all the supplementary credits
asked for by the Minister of War. M. Rouher
confirmed the satisfactory statemeut in regard to
French finances, to which I have alluded, and
said that at present there was no reason to sup-
pose that the warlike aspect of affairs would ren-
der necessary any change in the Budget of 1866,
to which the Chambers had agreed. If, however,
events should take such a turn as to induce the
Government to make any change in its financial
proposals, it would be its duty; to have recourse
to a fresh session of the Legislative Body to pro-
vide for any emergency. This declaration was
received with great applause, expressive of the
satisfaction of the Chamber with its present
financial position.
A murder and suicide has just taken place at
the barracks at Valenciennes. Brigadier Riffeld
having sentenced a trumpeter of the 7th Hussars
to be confined for two days for an infraction of
military regulations, the offender was so irritated
that he fired a pistol at him. The murderer then
shot himself with a pistol, and fell down dead
close to his victim.

The cholera has disappeared from Nantes ; at
least it is to be hoped so. There have not been
any fresh cases for the last day or two, and the
patients in the hospital seem to be also recovering.
The official railway tables show that the total
receipts of all the railways for the first three
months of the year amount to 29,088,170 f., against
24,007,646 f. during the first three months of 1865,
being a total increase of more than 5 millions.

The Fontainebleau Races will conclude on Sun-
day, when the silver cup, presented by the Emperor,
and 5000 f. in money, given by the Administrator
des Havas will be run for. Seven horses are en-
tered for this race.

On the 16th of November last the wife of a
butcher residing in the Rue St. Victor disappeared,
and nothing was known about her until the day
before yesterday, when her body, in a state of de-
composition, was found in the Seine near the pont
de I'Archeveche and taken to the usual receptacle.
It was impossible to recognise the features, but a
gold brooch was still attached to the fragments of
her dress, and her husband has identified this article
as having belonged to his wife. The police imagine
that the woman was thrown into the Seine, because
the husband states that there had not been any
quarrel, and that no reason existed that she should
absent herself from home.

A:woman, to whom public attention was directed
some thirty years ago, has just died in an abject
state of poverty in the Rue des Postes. She was
the daughter of Morey, the accomplice of Fieschi,
in endeavouring to murder Louis Phillipe by means
of an infernal machine, as he was riding in his car-
riage along the Boulevard du Temple in 1835, to
review the National Guard. After the execution of
her father this woman retired into Burgundy to live
with her aunt, who kept a small inn. The aunt
died and left her the furniture and a few hundred
francs. She returned to Paris, and in the name of
Rose Flamand she opened a little wine and spirit
shop in the Rue Dauphine. In 1818, however, the
shop was broken open and the thieves took away
all the property the woman possessed. Reduced to
very great poverty she latterly obtained a scanty
subsistence as a charwoman. W hen the body was
found at the woman's miserable lodging, there was
a portrait round her neck, and from the inscrip-
tion underneath it is known that Fieschi, the in-
tended regicide, was her father.
There is really no news this afternoon, but plenty
of reports have been current throughout the day of
an alarming tendency, the consequence of which
was to produce much depression at the Bourse.
The 3 per Cents. closed at a decline of half a franc,
and there was about the same fate in the 41 per
Cents. In many securities the decline was very
great. The Credit Agricole fell 12f., and the
Credit Mobilier, 10f.

The evening lloniteur is unusually destitute of
news, and the absence of it is so calculated to
throw discredit upon the made-up rumours of some
of the other evening papers that I do not think it
worth while to notice them.

THE AUSTRIAN ARMY.—In consequence of nume-
rous applications to the Austrian Embassy, we have been
authorised to state that the notice issued by the Austrian
War-office respecting the employment of medical men in
the Imperial army and navy does not apply to foreigners.
Only in case the number of medical men who studied in
Austrian or German Universities should prove insufficient
will the Austrian War-office be authorised to accept the
services of foreign surgeons. It will then issue a notice
to that effect.

SOCIETY FOR THE ENCOURAGEMENT OF THE FINE
ARTS.—At a numerous meeting of this society, held on
Thursday, at their rooms in Conduit-street, Mr. N. Cave
Thomas delivered a very interesting lecture "On the
Quantitative Analysis of the Beautiful." Mr. Thomas
first showed that the fundamental form of phenomena
is quantitative on the conclusion both of the meta-
physical and positive philosophy. But, not to con-
sider the subject from a point of view so remote from
general thought and reading, he drew attention to the
fact that the beautiful (which in the first part of his
lecture was restricted to human beauty) divides itself into
three phases. Colour, light and shade, and form, which,
analysed, yield quantity as their fundamental form. The
beautiful, therefore, must be inseparable from some defi-
nite quantitative relation, and being quantitative is amen-
able to the method of averages to determine it, yielding
the mean as its principle. Mr. Thomas then traced the
mean as the law of natural rectitude in the solar system in
support of the particular induction, and then brought for-
ward the favouring opinions first of the poets, then of the
painters, Sir Joshua and Hogarth, rejecting the objections
of critics who believe the question to be incapable of solu-
tion ; and, finally, as an argumentum clenchi, showed that
the mean or central human form as being that of perfection
is undeniably supported by Christianity. The second part
of the lecture was devoted to considerations of harmonic
proportion, founded on the calculus of ratios, in which
Mr. Thomas traced the same principle holding good in
colour, music, architectural proportion, &c. This lecture
concludes a series, tracing the same immutable law in
science; morals, education, &c., which will shortly be pub-
lished in a collected form, under the title of "The Central
Science." It was listened to with great interest and atten-
tion, and at its close an animated discussion took place.

HEALTH OF SCOTLAND.—The Registrar-General
reports that in the month of May there were regis-
tered in de eight principal towns of Scotland 3,542 births,
precisely the same number as in May, 1865 ; 462 mar-
riages, a smaller number than in May, 1865, but above the
average of the last 10 years ; and 2,518 deaths, a far larger
number than that recorded in any May of the last 10 years,
and 353 above the average, allowing for increase of popu-
tation. This great excess of deaths was not caused by
epidemics, but by an increase of the deaths from ordinary
diseases, more especially from those affecting the respira-
tory organs. 431 persons died from inflammatory affec-
tions of those organs, and 378 from consumption. The
zymotic class of diseases caused 19.6 per cent. of the mor-
tality, typhus 6 per cent. 28 persons died from diarrhoea,
6 from dysentery, 2 children from cholera. 40 per cent. of
all the deaths were of children under 5 years of ace. The
meteorological returns for the eight towns (mean position,
lat. 56.12, height 126 feet above sea level) show a mean
temperature in May of 48.5 deg., being 2 deg. below the
average of the preceding 10
years ; and a rainfall of only
1.41 in., being 0.92iu. belxv the average.
NiTao s YOUR DMOR ?-.II9EISPisi'S raL§.