The Sun.
London, England, 1866-01-10 00:00:00

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

SIR,—As many of your readers may feel anxious
to know the result of the corn averages for the
seven years to Christmas, 1865, published by
authority in the London Gazette of this evening,
viz. :

Wheat ss. 111 per imperial bushel.
Barley 4B. 2± ~
Oats
. , _,, ..- ~4-,+n frvr their infrwinnfinn that the valve
of each £lOO of tithe rent charge will for the year
1866 amount to £97 7s. 91d.

It appears from the following statement from my
" Annual Tithe Commutation Tables " that the
lowest average value of £lOO of tithe rent charge
during the 30 years which have elapsed since the
passing of the Tithe Commutation Act was in the
year 1855, viz., £B9 15s. 84d. ; and that from that
time up to the year 1861 the average gradually in-
creased £22 7s. Bd., or about 3t per cent. per
annum, up to £ll2 3s. 1.1 d., or the highest value
during the whole period. From 1861 the septen-
nial average value has been gradually receding in a
similar ratio.
For tho Year Xs. d. For the Year £s. d.
1837
1838 97 7 11 1853 ...... 91 13 54
1839 95 7 9 1854 9O 19 5
1840 9B 15 91 1855
1841 lO2 12 51,- 8/
1856
1842 lO5 82f 1857
1843 lO5 12 2} 1858 ...... 105 16 3£
1844 lO4 3 514 1859
1845 lO3 17 llf, 1860
1846 102 17 81 1861 ...... 112 3 4'4;-
1847
1848 lO2 1 0 1863
1849 lOO 3if 1864 lO3 3 10f
1850 9B 16 10 1865 ...... 98 15 101-
1851 96 11 41 1866
80 Years £3,026 9 44
General Average for 30 Years £loo 17 71
I am, Sir, yours, &c.,
CHARLES M. WILLICH,
Late Actuary, University Life Assurance
Society.
2, Montpelier-square, Rutland-gate, Jan. 9.

THE ART JOURNAL FOR JANUARY inaugurates this
New Year of grace, 1866, in a manner worthy of
its reputation. The two principal embellishments
are exquisitely beautiful—the one, Thomas Faed's
charming Scottish interior, " The Mitherless Bairn"
—the other, Monti's lovely " Sleep of Sorrow and
Dream of Joy." There is yet a third singularly
graceful engraving—illustrative of one of the great
Sir Walter's heroines, a sketch from the Waverley
Portrait Gallery, sweet Phoebe Mayflower, from
" Woodstock." Without any disparagement to
either Mr. Hamerton's Liber Memorialis, or Mr.
Ruskin's Cestus of Aglaia, the palm is still borne
off, among all the literary contributions to the
Art Journal, by its accomplished and indefatigable
Editor, Mr. S. C. Hall, who this month con-
tributes another of his attractive series of
biographical Recollections, entitled, " Memories
of the Authors of the Age ; or, Written Por-
traits (from Personal Acquaintance) of Great Men
and Women of the Epoch"—a delightful paper
on Robert Southey, some time Poet Laureate,
and in a very peculiar and pre-eminent manner
the Man-of-Letters of his generation. From this
very agreeable paper, recording Mr. S. C. Hall's
personal.recollections of Robert Southey, we extract
the following anecdotal footnote :
Southey indulged, at times, in mild and gentle satire,
such as left no festering wound. In Mrs. Hall's album he
wrote the following. I must premise that the autographs
of Joseph Buonaparte and Daniel O'Connell occupied the
"opposite page." On the same page are the autographs
of Amelia Opie and Maria Edgeworth :
" Birds of a feather flock together,
But vide the opposite page,
And thence you may gather I'm not of a feather
With some of the birds in this cage.
" ROBERT SOUTHEY, 22d October, 1836."

Some years afterwards Charles Dickens, good-humour-
edly referring to Southey's change of opinion, wrote in the
album, immediately under Southey's lines, the following:--
" Now if I don't make
The completest mistake
That ever put man in a rage,
This bird of two weathers
Has moulted his feathers,
And left them in some other cage.

Mr. S. C. Hall's paper on Southey should be re-
ferred to in its entirety, however, precisely as it here
appears in this January number of the Art Journal
—a number giving the happiest augury for the
ArtiJournal in the New Year.

A Birmingham contemporary announced that the
wire and principal materials for the new Atlantic cable are
being manufactured in that town. The cable will be laid
dont in the ceuree of the 011fillipg kwanatr.

LA TEST INTELLIG-ENCF.

(REUTER'S TELEGRAMS.)

- -

AMERICA.
ARRIVAL OF THE DAMASCUS.
(Via Greencastle.)
NEw Youx, Dec. 30, 2 p.m.
The following are the heads of the news brought by the
Damascus :

It is semi-officially denied that General Schofield has
any political mission in Europe.
The New York Times states that the Mexican Cor-
respondence will be submitted to Congress immediately,
and that Congress will be allowed to determine the policy
of the Government upon the Mexican question.

A rumour is current at Washington that France, Eng-
land, Spain, Italy, and Austria have formed an alliance to
keep Maximilian on the throne.

Intelligence from Vera Cruz to the 16th reports that the
French havo reoccupied Chihuahua, and hold Piedras
Negras.

It is semi-officially denied that General Shofield has any
political mission in Europe.
The Australasian and City of Washington have arrived
out.

The rumour is again current at Washington that the
French Government has assured the United States that
the French will withdraw from Mexico, the Federal Go-
vernment giving an assurance that the United States would
not interfere with the Emperor Maximilian's occupancy of
the Mexican throne.

It is stated that Senator Wilson has had an interview with
President Johnson, jn which he informed him that the
Radical Republican party disapproved his reconstruction
policy, and would not support him if he interfered with
Congressional legislation upon reconstruction. Mr. John-
son is represented to have expressed confidence in the pre-
sent and future success of his reconstruction policy, and
refused to give any assurance that he would refrain from
interference.

General Strong, who has returned from Texas, reports
fearful destitution amongst the black and white inhabi-
tants. Lawlessness and crime, as well as a spirit of seces-
sion and of hostility to the Government, prevails through-
out the interior.

The Governor of North Carolina has assumed office, and
assured Mr. Johnston of his hearty co-operation in re-
storing harmonious relations with the Federal Govern-
ment.

The New York Times asserts that the correspondence
with France regarding Mexico will be laid before Congress
as soon as it assembles. It is represented that the cor-
respondence will show that the Government has at no
time had any purpose or thought of abandoning the
Munroe doctrine. It has pursued the course which
seemed most likely to secure the practical establishment
of that policy, and at the same time save the country from
the expense of another war. The whole matter, concludes
the New York Times, will now be submitted for Con-
gressional action, and if Congress sees fit to insist upon a
more hasty solution of the problem at the cost of war, no
obstacle will be placed in its way.