The Sun.
London, England, 1866-01-09 00:00:00

Naval and Military Ir-Aeiligence.

VALETTA, Jan. 3.—Her Majesty's ship Racer, 11,
screw corvette, Commander L. Brine, left port on
the Ist inst. for the Piraeus, Smyrna, and the Gre-
cian Archipelago. She is expected to be absent two
or three months. The Surprise, 4, gunvessel, Com-
mander G. Tryon, will be ordered home shortly,
after being nearly five years in commission. The
Enterprise, 4, ironclad sloop, Commander Rowley,
was taken into dock on the Ist inst. The Italian
ironclad San Martino is still in dock. The Caradoc,
2, paddlewheel despatch-vessel, Lieut.-Commander
E. Wilkinson, at present in the hands of the dock-
yard, will leave, when ready for sea, for Constanti-
nople, to be placed at the disposal of the British
Ambassador, Lord Lyons. The Pelican, 17, screw
corvette, Commander R. P. Cator, was to be at
Ras-el-Ranais, Coast of Barbary, on the Ist inst.,
to attend on the telegraph steamer Hawk. Sub-
Lieut. R. W. Evans, of the Victoria, has been pro-
moted to the rank of Lieutenant, vice Lieut.-Camp-
bell, deceased, and Sub-Lieut. Crawford Caffin, of
the Caledonia, has also been promoted to Lieute-
nant's rank, in consequence of the death of Lieut.
Cardale. Lieut. Selby, commanding the Tyrian,
gunboat, having been promoted to the rank of Com-
mander, Lieut. P. J. Murray has been temporarily
appointed to command that vessel until the arrival
of Lieut. H. F. Hovenden, nominated by the Lords
of the Admiralty. Mr. C. J. Reddie, midshipman
of the Racer, and Mr. W. S. Taylor, midshipman
of the Enterprise, have been appointed to the Cale-
donia. The former appointment has since been
temporarily cancelled. The Meeanee, 60, Capt. G.
Wadehouse, was inspected on the 27th of Dezember
by Vice-Admiral Sir Robert Smart. She went on
the 28th for target practice, and returned the same
afternoon. The Tyrian went out the same day for
practice. The Arethusa, 35, screw frigate, Capt.
J. J. G. Macdonald, was inspected on 28th
by the Commander-in-Chief. The Cossack, 20,
Capt. R. D. White, has not yet arrived from
Boudroum. Lieut. the Hon. H. B. Hamilton, of
the Victoria, is to be tried by court martin; f_.•l the
6th, on board the Hibernia, for drunkeimets. Oa
the same day will be tried T. Fitzpatrick, private
Royal Marines, for insubordination and striking a
sergeant. Lieut.-Col. Jas. Johnstone, commanding
the Bth (King's Own) Regiment, died on the 29th
of December, at Fort Manoel, after a long illness.
His remains were interred in the Ta Braxia Ceme-
tery ou the Ist inst., with the usual honours. The
Austrian brig Unione, arrived on the 28th of Decem-
ber from Marseilles, brought to this port Capt. John
Gray, with 12 seamen, being the crew of the Eng-
lish bark Resolution, of Sunderland, which foundered
on the 17th of the same month, at a distance of about
20 miles to the north-west of the island of Galita.
The Resolution was laden with a cargo of grain
from Trieste, and was bound for Cork or Falmouth.
The following " temporary hydrographical notice'
has been issued by the Commander-in-Chief, Vice-
Admiral Sir Robert Smart, dated from the flagship
Victoria, 23d of December, 1865 :—" Mr. Yeoman,
master of the British bark Vigilia, reports having,
on the afternoon of the 19th of July last, touched on
a shoal with about 12ft. water on it, Cape Mata-
pan bearing north k east, Ovo Island east south,
magnetic. These bearings would place the shoal
in lat. 36 deg. 3 _min. 30 sec. north, long. 22 deg.
33 min. east. This shoal is not laid down in the
Admiralty charts, nor is it mentioned in ' Lawrie's
Mediterranean Directory, 1856 ;' but a shoal is
mentioned in a ' Book of Sailing Directions for the
Mediterranean,' published by Mr. J. S. Hobbs,
F.R.G.S. (1848), as existing south west from
Cape Matapan, distant 19 miles, in lat. 36 deg. 3
min. 30 sec. north, long. 22 deg. 34 ruin. east." The
following passengers have lately arrived here from
England:—Col. Romer, R.A., Capt. Cairn, Lady
Hamilton Chichester, the lion. Mrs. Macdonald
and two children, Capt. and Mrs. Bridson, 4th
Regiment, and son. The following have left for
ssEt.:sgahwl
an, R.A., amn ,
ananpd e yt,
Lieutenant Rh
i.A
s Excellency. , ea
Gpt J.
S.
. co..
Sir H. Storks. Her Majesty's ships in Malta har-
bour are as follows :—Victoria, Hibernia, Cale-
donia, Gibraltar, Royal Oak, Meeanee, Arethusa,
Resistance, Hydra, Assurance, Surprise, Enter-
prise, Firefly, Tyrian, Psyche, Caradoc, Cocka-
trice, and Hearty. The Cossack is on her way to
Malta, the Phoebe is at Athens, and the Racer is on
her way to the Piraeus; the Chanticleeris at Patras ;
the Pelican is on telegraph service; and the Ra-
coon, Skylark, and Redpole are at Gibraltar. The
Board of Health at Naples having issued clean bills
of health, consequent on the cessation of cholera, it
is expected that arrivals thence will soon be received
here in pratique, and that commerce with that place
will resume its former activity. The quarantine at
Leghorn on arrivals from Marseilles was abolished
last week ; and arrivals in Sicily from Malta are
now admitted in free pratique, after the customary
visit by the sanitary authorities. Greece has re-
duced the quarantine on arrivals from Malta from
11 to five days.

The head-quarters and six companies of the 28th
(North Glocestershire) Regiment, consisting of 20
officers, 419 men, 39 women, and 40 children, un-
der the command of Lieut.-Col. Roberts, have Ar-
rived at Aldershott camp from Plymouth. On
Thursday the companies were inspected by Colonel
Macbea,n, 2d Brigade, acting Brigadier, who ex-
pressed himself well satisfied with their appearance.
They occupy quarters in the centre block of the
permanent barracks, and arc attached to the 2d
Brigade.
The Ist Battalion 17th (Leicestershire) Regiment
at Aldershott, lately attached to the 2d Brigade at
that station, having been transferred back to the
3d Brigade, was inspected on Thursday by Briga-
dier-Gen. Renny, who made a most minute examin-
ation of the married and other quarters, the library,
canteen, hospital, the men's kits, and everything
connected with the regiment. Every department
was found to be well ordered, the men smart,
cleanly, and active, and the general condition of the
regiment highly satisfactory.

It is not improbable that a vacancy will shortly
be created in the Admiralty by the retirement of Rear-
Admiral the Hon. James Robert Drummond, one of the
Junior Lords.

_
LONDON, TUESDAY, JANUARY 9, 18GGe

The affairs of Prussia again seem to promise a
complication, and upon the opening of the Prussian
Assembly stormy
scenes may be expected. The
circumstances which took -place last year were very
significant ones, aud-..this- year the Opposition
threatens to become faimore Violent and unmanage-
able. It is rumoured that the star of the inimitable
Count BISMARCK will no longer be so much in the
ascendant, and that even now it is on the wane.
Certainly he has run a long .race of remarkable
success of a peculiar kind—neither brilliant nor
glorious, but still of a very notable kind. It was
not likely, in the doctrine of chances, that this state
of things should last much longer, because the
course pursued by Count Bls3ancic did not depend
upon individual exertions or character for Success
to much as upon general incidents, and the adoption
of a peculiar and particular policy
gaining ground,
and being received with favour by the KING, the
Chambers, and the people. The affairof
the
Duchies came iu most opportunely to, aid
schemes of the wily Count,. and make his worst
opponents mute, while those who differed from him
in a more moderate degree became his tolerators,
if not his actual partisans for the nonce. The other
great Powers of Europe did not present insuperable
obstacles to the fulfilinent of Herr BISMARCK'S
plans, and, with one thing and the other, they
seemed rather to favour his schemes than to thwart
them. What with the connection of the royal ,

family of Prussia with our own, and the most un-
wise and unworthy policy of oar Government,
England pursued a policy which virtually rendered
all possible assistance of a negative character to the
nefarious designs of the great German Powers.
France, for many reasons, did not, and could not,
interfere. In nothing has the French Emperor
been more consistent than in the resolve made in
the early days of the Empire, not to allow the
entente cordiale with England to be disturbed or
ever interrupted. In consequence of the attitude
which this country assumed it would have been im-
possible for any other nation to take up the cudgel
in defence of Denmark without compromising itself
with our Court and Cabinet in some way or other.
Austria, for prudential motives, was mixed up too
much with Prussia to allow her to refuse to join in
the plunder even if she ran a likely chance of losing
her share in the spoil. Russia was not likely to be
actuated by any conscientious scruples as to another
country pursuing a course of spoliation, and hence
the very Power which was really the most indepen-
dent did the least, and said the least, in the work of
protesting against the encroachments of the allied
Powers of Germany, and in some degree vindicating
the rights if they could not resent the wrongs of
Denmark.

A change has now come over the spirit of their
dream, and many signs and tokens appear which
indicate that the designing Minister of Berlin will
realise the truth of the proverb, " All is not gold
that glitters." The Government of the CZAR thinks
it high time to make a stand against the encroach-
ments of Prussia, and to intimate, if not exactly to
declare, that hitherto has Count BISMARCK gone,
but must not hope to go further unmolested or un-
checked. It is one thing for the Imperial Govern-
ment to give the go-bye to a sort of ex parte ar-
rangement by which the King of DENMARK was
despoiled of part of his possessions, and the whole
of Germany in some degree profited by the change ;
but the case assumed a very different aspect when
it became evident that all the rest were pushed
aside in order that Prussia might step in and take
the lion's share. Austria was propitiated by some
concessions, but the lesser States were entirely
ignored, and the inhabitants of the Duchies them-
selves entirely disregarded. The end of all this
would have been that Prussia and Austria would
have contrived to sortir d'affaire with an increase of
territory, and this would not suit the Court of St.
Petersburgb. France, besides, would have put in
a word before the annexation of the Duchies was
entirely completed, and a friendly suggestion is
often more difficult to withstand than an intimation
of a more serious character. After consenting to a
kind of quid pro quo arrangement, how could the
line be drawn exactly which would define where
France should end its demands or Prussia begin its
remonstrances?

In fine, the schemes of Herr BISMARCK are threat-
ened with many inimical influences abroad, and at
home he has even more real danger to apprehend.
Next week the Prussian Chambers will be opened,
and then the tug of war will commence in earnest.
In the plenitude of his power, and in the zenith of
his success, with the glories of a victorious war and
the achievements of an advantageous peace, the
Prussian Minister found it hard work to con-
front the Assembly, and to hold his
own against the vigorous onslaughts and
determined opposition of the more independent
members. Now that the tide has turned, and that
his glory, if not departed, is in some degree shorn
of its brilliancy, and dimmed in its lustre, Herr
VON BISMARCK will not find his position a very en-
viable one. A fallen favourite has in all ages, and
in all countries through the historic records of re-
mote antiquity, and the more domestic chronicle of
modern times, been an object of the most pitiable
kind, and presented a fruitful theme for the dra-
matist to exercise his powers, an appropriate study
for the novelist to sketch, and an admirable instance
for the poet to present of the vanity of human
wishes. In the case of Count BISMARCK scorn and
indignation have been the only sentiments which he
has inspired in the minds of honest and honourable
men in the days of his prosperity, and when the
period arrives which will put an end to his long
career of baseness and treachery the only feeling
will be that he has met a doom he richly deserved.
" Where'er he turns he meets a stranger's eye,
His suppliants scorn him, and his followers fly,"

is the inimitable description of the dark days that
waited on an English notability, and the same may
yet prove true of the man who has so long monopo-
lished the favour of the Court, and been dominant
over the constitutional rights and popular privi-
leges of Prussia.

The great indignation which his financial
schemes excited in the Chambers was made
manifest at the end of the Dano- German
war, and it is not likely that they will be
now regarded with a more favourable aspect
when time has shown and experience proved how
impossible it will be for the wily statesman to
realise his schemes so as to conduce to the ad-
vantage or credit of the country. The possession
of the Duchies seems very likely to be as agree-
able and profitable as the fruit on the shores
of the Dead Sea. Herr BISMARCK may not
find the ashes so pleasant to his taste as
the promise of the prize led him to sup-
pose. In the most unscrupulous and barefaced
manner the Prussian Government appropriated
money without the consent of the Chambers, and
refused to alter the Budget, which did not meet
with the approval of the Deputies. The session of
last year closed very stormily, and ominous
clouds now overspread the political horizon at
the dawn of another session. Before its close
we may witness some of the wrongs of Denmark
avenged in the fall of the unscrupulous propounder
of the policy of annexation. As for the people
of Prussia, they have neither achieved success in
the vindication of their constitutional liber-
ties, nor have they done what is some-
times called of greater importance, and held to be
characteristic of greater excellence, they have not
shown that they deserve success. On the contrary
they have allowed themselves to be cheated, in
order that their rulers might cheat others, and if
this generation shall pass away before they re-
cover their lost position they have only to thank
their own want of principle.

The periodical meetings of the Royal Geographical
Society usually afford some interesting information.
In spite of the exertions and enterprise of our pre-
sent hardy race of explorers, in spite of the gradual
knowledge acquired in the pursuit of commerce and
by the love of adventure, in spite of all the facilities
of modern travel, and the powerful auxiliary steam,
there still remains a goodly portion of the habitable
globe of which we know very little. The interest
of our geographers at present centres chiefly upon
Africa, and certainly when we look at that vast
continent, just fringed as it were by civilisation and
organised communities, we can only wonder that
so much time has been suffered to elapse
without greater efforts being made to explore the
interior. All the, forces of nature certainly frown
upon the intruder, while the human beings whom
he meets are, generally speaking, to be classed
among his most dangerous foes. We have had in
this generation, however, a good 1_ any travellers

of sufficient hardihood and determination to brave
the risks to health and life, the hardships, the
sufferings of various kinds which the African ex-
plorer must make up his mind to undergo, if he
would add to the store of general knowledge and
enrol his name on the list of successful explorers.
Dr. LIVINGSTONE, the lamented Captain SPEKE
and his companion GRANT, Captain BURTON, and
Al. DU CHAILLU have all enriched our stores, and
given us most interesting records of the wild and
uncivilised races of the interior. Such information
serves to excite more than a passing interest, and
to stimulate more than an idle curiosity. To
civilise Africa we must first know our ground be-
fore we can hope to carry intelligence, commerce,
and religion among those untutored hordes of
savages; we must learn something about their ways
and their relative positions. We must know the
features of the country itself, for it will not
do for the instructor to be dependent upon the
information which his pupil may choose to
afford any more than it would be well for the
merchant or the trader to place himself and his goods
at the mercy of the cupidity abd cruelty of the
natives.

The interest excited by the several accounts
which the explorers have given from time to time
has been very great and lasting. They have bad
naturally to contend against difficulties at home as
well as abroad, and many of their narratives were
held to be almost too marvellous for credence.
" Gentlemen of England who lived at home at
ease " seemed to think it showed superior ability
and acuteness to dispute and to doubt everything
that was said by those who had actually visited the
places and peoples they described, and appeared to
find ground for complaint and suspicion in the fact
that life in Central Africa was not in all respects
conformable to our recognised standard of social
existence, or rather, perhaps, that it did not fully
carry out the received and established theories.
Al. DU CHAILLU especially had reason to complain
of the suspicion with which his statements were re-
ceived in some quarters. No doubt, in common
with all travellers, he tried to make the best of a
good story, as well as to arrange his facts in the
most effective manner, but that they were
facts there seems no reason to deny. At
the meeting last evening, at which M. DU
CHAILLU was present, he delivered a very inte-
resting address. No less an authority than Pro-
fessor OWEN spoke strongly in his support. The
learned Professor pointed out to the -audience that
all the statements for which M. DU CHAILLU had
been most attacked had been borne out by subse-
quent evidence. He had made the unwelcome
statement that he had encountered a race of canni-
bals which had been called in question, probably
because it was opposed to those theories of human
innocence and refinement in an uncivilised state
which are now so popular ; yet Captain BURTON,
who subsequently travelled over the same districts
that M. DU CHAILLU had explored, confirmed
the statement. As for the gorilla, man's original
ancestor, as some of our philosophers would fain
have us believe, Professor OWEN expressed his con-
viction that if M. DU CIIAILLU had given a false
account of those animals, he should have discovered
some traces of the falsehood from his own know-
ledge of the conformation of the animal, whereas
he had not the slightest reason to question the
traveller's statement. Mr. DUN KIN, of the Green-
wich Observatory, remarked upon the multitude
and accuracy of M. Du. CHAILLU'S astronomical
observations ; and Sir RODERICK MURCHISON,
the President of the Society, informed the com-
pany that his friend M. Du CHAILLU had
undertaken this last journey entirely at his own
expense, having devoted to it the whole of the pro-
ceeds of his successful work oa Equatorial Africa.
This fact makes it the more to be regretted that
owing to an unfortunate accident the traveller's
journey was cut short, and he also lost the
greater part of his instruments and other valu-
ables. The account which M. DU CHAILLU gives
of this disaster is short and simple. He had
penetrated some 200 miles further than had yet
been explored, when he reached a village in which
one of his men, for what reason is not stated, fired
off a gun. This shot killed two of the na-
tives, upon which the villagers, not unnatu-
rally, became excited, and attacked the party with
their bows and arrows. M. DU CHAILLU ordered his
followers to retire, which they did at first in good
order, while he kept behind, thinking he was less an
object of resentment than his followers. Unfortu-
nately a panic seized his party, and, taking head-
long flight, they threw away everything they
carried. g. DU CHAILLU had, of course, no choiae
but to make the best of his escape after them, leav-
ing with great mortification and regret most of his
valuables behind him, which it was impossible for
him to rescue by himself. Thus, having lost his
ammunition as well as his instruments, it was use-
less to continue his journey, and therefore he re-
turned at once to Europe.

Of the people and country through which he
passed M. DE CHAILLU gave an interesting account.
His researches, it will be remembered, have been
prosecuted from the western coast, just opposite the
position on the eastern side from which our other
explorers have started. M. DE CHAILLU thinks,
from the resemblance of the words mentioned by
GRANT, SPEKE, and BURTON to the language used
in the district which he traversed, that the
tribes of Eastern and Western Africa were origi-
nally one common stock. He renewed his
acquaintance with gorillas, but saw no reason to
alter his previous account. Further to the east he
met a race of singularly diminutive people, whose
average height was about 4 feet 5 inches. This
statement was received with some doubt by the
Chairman of the meeting, though there seems no
impossibility in one tribe of men being smaller than
their fellows than there is in the superior height of
other races. Perhaps M. DU CHAILLU may have
underrated their size, as he admits that he was only
able to examine one or two of them, but in matters
of this kind it is well not to judge hastily.
The travellers as usual underwent great hard-
ships and for some time suffered severely from
want of food, having only two monkeys to divide
between a party of twelve persons during four days.
The small-pox ravaged the country of Asturia
during his visit and spread misery and death on
every side, so that his trip was a somewhat unfor-
tunate one. He has, however, succeeded in bringing
back some valuable details, and we trust that he
will be enabled, should health and energy be spared
him, at some future time to extend the area of his
observations, and complete the arduous, though
honourable, task which he has set himself.

PROFESSOR SIMPSON.—The Queen has been
pleased to confer a baronetcy upon this distinguished
Edinburgh Professor. This is, we believe, the first time a
baronetcy has been given to a Scottish professor, or to a
medical practitioner in Scotland.

We regret to learn that Sir William Hoste, Bart.,
the second senior Captain in the Fleet, and Groom-in-
Waiting on her Majesty, is dangerously ill, but little hope
being entertained of his recovery. Sir William was born in
1818, and has one son, born in 1860.

Captain Robert Hall, R.N., at present Private
Secretary to the First Lord of the Admiralty, will in all
probability succeed Captain William Loring, C. 8., as Cap-
tain Superintendent of the Pembroke Dockyard. Captain
Loring, who is now senior Captain in the Fleet, and also
Aide-de-camp to the Queen, will vacate both appointments
ou promotion.