The Sun.
London, England, 1861-12-18 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, DECE MBE R 18, 1861.

THE SUN.

LONDON, WEDNESDAY, DEC. 18, 1861.

Some Americans here tell us that there will be
no war now. They are aware that their country
ig too weak to fight a first-rate Power while all
their energies can make no sensible impression on
a civil enemy at home. They will therefore, we are
told, make their submission this time, but with a
purpose in reserve. The war of Secession is to be
settled, and then will be the time to insult England,
pick a quarrel with her, and show that the stripes
and stars can flog all the world. When we thus
write we give not mere rumour, but the lan-
guage which has been held by Americans
of high social position and extensive practical
knowledge, within the circle of our acquaintance.
We may regret it. We may endeavour to shew
the unreasonableness of such feelings and determi-
nations on their part, but we fear it is a fact not
to be doubted that they exist—that the gentle-
men whom we have in view but too accurately
represent a common feeling in the North at this
moment.

Happily, if the present clouds blow over, there
will be little danger from fresh ones. The fully
prepared state of England is the conductor which
conveys harmlessly away the present wrath of Ameri-
cans, and when the next threatening occasion comes
the Canadian boundaries will also be in a state
safely to conduct a second gathering of anti-English
wrath to the earth. We are little concerned about
the future, that will take care of itself, nor, indeed,
about the present, except that, in common with all
the civilized world, we must regard it as an atrocious
crime should the Americans force on a war, simply
to keep possession of two persons whom they have
illegally captured. Never had we less reason to
fear a war so far as confidence in our resources to
meet it is concerned, but if war there be, never
surely would so much blood be shed for a cause, on
the other side, so wholly unjustifiable. Our readers
will have seen day by day, how energetically our
Government is preparing for the worst—most
wisely—should it come, all will say so; should it
not come, we may deem it certain that the cheaper
and more really humane course of adequate prepara-
tion, has prevented the more costly and painful one
of tempting the other party to attack by our want
of preparation.

So far as it goes the news of this morning is a
little more peaceful. We are not told in the tele-
Rram how, when, and where the declaration was
'ls4e by the PRESIDENT that he meant to be pru-
dent in his foreign policy, and that there was no

fear of war with Great Britain except, in the very
unlikely ease•of her seeking a pretext for it. Assum-
ing that he has thus expressed himself, it shows that
ho feels for himself, what all the world must
know of his case, that he has as much work on his
hands of the belligerent kind as he can attend to.
The slight fling at us of supposed absurd, or undig-
nified conduct may be tolerated under the necessity
which a comparatively illiterate and ill-bred man
feels of saying something with a little bounce in it,
when he has been expressing himself with un-
familiar moderation. It means nothing. It is
wholly intended for the ears of New York, and we
must now add, Boston: When it is added that no
anxieties are felt by the administration on the sub-
ject, we suppose we are to understand, that they
contemplate no conduct on their part, which could
give rise to a war.
There are other matters of some interest. The
question of the abolition of slavery in the District
of Columbia is referred to a committee. No fact is
more disgraceful to the free States than their having
so long winked at the abomination of retaining
slavery and even a slave mart, in the little territory,
ten miles square originally, which was placed under
the absolute control of Congress. It was the
brand of the slave-power on the whole admini-
stration of the States, and was justly resented
by all the opponents of slavery. There
seems also, unless some special circumstances
qualify the act—something much bolder than we
have yet read of in the liberation of a fugitive slave
at Washington by the Federal Government itself.
Some Federal successes are spoken of—one in
eastern Tennessee, in which many Confederates
were killed ; another, of the retreat of the Con-
federates in Missouri ; but we have learned to
receive such accounts with caution, nor would they
be of any value unless they really support the
PRESIDENT'S assertion, that all the border
States are secured for the Union. At Port Royal
the troops appear to be making reconnaisances, and
are even said to have approached within 20 miles of
Charleston—to have captured some batteries and
spiked the guns. The Confederates were destroy-
ing the cotton, but already much of it has been
seized. The slaves appear to be waiting the time
when they can join the North with safety. Other
points near Charleston and Savannah are threatened.
It is even said that General Wool, at Fort
Monroe, has demanded troops for an advance on
Richmond. If this movement, which was one of
the first expected here, could be effectively executed,
General BEAUREGARD must retreat or have M'CLEL-
LAN in his front and WOOL in his rear.

A few days more, and we shall have buried
our Dead. Monday, the twenty-third instant, is
the date fixed for the solemn sepulture of the
remains of his Royal Highness at Windsor. The
Prince Consort breathed his last, it appears, in
the King's Chamber—the very same apartment
in which the two last sovereigns, GEORGE IV.,
and WILLIAM IV. expired. The remains of his
Royal Highness will, at. noon on Monday, be
interred among all that is mortal of the later
Kings of England. In compliance with a wish to
that effect expressed by the Prince himself, the
Funeral ceremony will be conducted as privately
as may be in any way compatible with the re-
spect due to the memory of the august position
of the deceased. It is but fitting that the dead
body of the Husband of Queen VICTORIA should be
conducted to its last resting place with a certain
awful pomp and ceremonial. There will be no
Lying in State, however, no Torchlight Proces-
sion. The inner coffins have already been sealed
or soldered up, by which means, almost more effec-
tually than by the old aromatic system of embalm-
ing, the ravages of decomposition are for a long
while repelled. In testimony of which we have
only to recall to mind the extraordinary revelation
of NAPOLEON'S remains, twenty-one years ago, at
the period of their disinterment. When, upon the
innermost coffin being opened for a few instants'
inspection of all that might be left to view of the
world's great " Conqueror and Captive," his re-
mains, after nineteen years' repose in the tomb,
were found to be yet in a perfect state of preserva-
tion. As was sung at the time by the northern
lyrist—

" Tranquilly there Napoleon lay revealed,
Like a king sleeping on his own proud shield."

Beyond all the pomp proffered to the memory of the
departed Prince by the religious rites and the
courtly pageants with whichhis inanimated form will
on Monday next, be conveyed to the Royal Vault,
at Windsor, there is the prolongation and perman-
ence of that universal sympathy for his Royal
Highness's QUEEN-RELICT which has already been
lavished upon her great grief, and which will
never be wanting to her MAJESTY in the abound-
ing sensitiveness of the popular remembrance.
Whenever those pass away from the public scene
whom we all recognise as having done their part
nobly in the general interests, the instinctive
yearning is, with the multitude at large,
to attest to after times by some fitting Testimo-
nial—not so much the fame that is independent
of all merely perishable monuments, as the grateful
appreciation of that fame by the contemporaries
of the great or good man gone. This instinctive
eagerness on the part of every generous-hearted
community will not fail in due course to lead to
the suggestion of more than one appropriate evi-
dence of the estimation in which the illustrious
Consort of our Gracious Sovereign was held
throughout his not merely brilliant but eminently
useful career, among the people:whose affections he
had secured during more than one entire half of his
existence, during the chief part of one quarter of a
century of his—in literal truth—most exemplary
life. The Poet Laureate may possibly, a little later
on, be enabled to exclaim, with a less egoistic
exultation than did HORACE—Exegi nzonunzentum
ere perennius. Certainly up to this moment the
Court Elegiast has never had so profoundly affecting
and therefore, in one sense, so resplendent an op-
portunity for the manifestation of his splendid
powers as a perfect master of his art and of our
emotions, and as the latest, and far from the least of
the glories of our national literature. A tribute
from the hand of ALFRED TENNYSON to the
memory of the gifted and gracious Prince, whose
irreparable loss to the Crown and the Country, the
whole nation is now lamenting—a memorial Poem
from the hand of the Laureate is what the English
People will look for confidently. It is s hat alone
might be reasonably counted upon, as the natural
effusion of the loyalty of one who has 'impressively
itnhsactr ibbeelv do theed and
choicest
honouredoutpouringss
o vEit N
oEfI hisSOVEREIGN
genius toe
apostrophises at the outset of his Dedication as—
" Revered VICTORIA!"

Bronze and marble likewise, as a matter of
perpetuate for after-
ttlibms oe
sl ute
the
memory
certaintyo
of
twhiel lg
grateful admiration of the
PRINCE CONSORT'S own immediate contemporaries.
Our public places will not—we may rest assured—
lack evidence that his name, and his great powers,
and even his comely form and features, are still trea-
sured up in the national remembrance. If we were
to look about us, hero in the capital, for some con-
spicuous site upon which to erect in his honour,
let us say, a bronze equestrian effigy of
his Royal Highness, we should be disposed
to point to that empty pedestal which has been so

long standing unoccupied in the north-west corner
of Trafalgaz -square ! Only that such a suggestion, if
seriously made, might bo construed into anything
rather than a whol!y respectful compliment,
seeing that whatever statue may be placed
upon that vacant pedestal will stand there
in companionship with the effigy of King GEORGE
the Fourth, the soi-disant First Gentleman—
(save the mark!) in Europe ! Supposing an
equestrian statne of His Royal Highness the
PRINCE CONSORT to be eventually placed upon
the pedestal we are "low suggesting as its site—
it would stand there, however, more, let us say,
in scornful and lofty contrast to than in anything
at all like companionship, with CHANTREY'S statue
of the Heartless Voluptuary. Posterity might
then draw a vivid and impressive moral enough
upon looking alternately on this effigy and on this !
Here the pure-souled, gentle-hearted, gifted, re-
fined, laboriously energetic and Constitutional
PRINCE! There—we lack epithets sufficiently
emphatic, within anything like courtly limits, to
express our mingled contempt and loathing for the
vile qualities combined to make up the selfish and
self-complacent idiosyncrasy of that " Adonis of
Sixty," who aspired, after the most bathetic way pos-
sible, to obtain the repute of the First Gentleman of his
age in all Christendow. Brighter,then,by the contrast
if possible would shine forth the memory of the august
Prince whose premature demise we are all of us
now mourning from our very hearts, and whose not
only inoffensive but benignant and noble life will
form one of the most charming episodes to be recorded
upon the national annals by some future MACAULAY.
Apart from all other Testimonials, however, there
is one of an immediate—and though to a certain
extent of a comparatively fugitive, still of a
very signal and resplendent kind, that may
within the next few months evidence, if
we care to avail ourselves of it, in a re-
markable manner, and to the whole world, the
depth of feeling with which England now pours
forth upon the memory of the deceased Prince—
her admiration, her affection, and her gratitude.
The forthcoming International Exhibition, that is,
of 1862 down at South Kensington ! It was a scheme
dear to the heart of the dead Prince. It will
bo a grateful tribute to his memory if that project,
in the furtherance of which he himself personally
took so profound an interest, be carried into com-
pletion to the utmost extent of our powers. To be
inaugurated we will hope, when completed; by the
eldest son of its chief promoter, and it may even be
said its actual originator, by his Royal Highness the
Prince of WALES—now more than ever the Hope
of England.

The Austrian Government has published its own
financial account, and a pretty one it is. Whether,
like the Emperor of the FRENCH, FRANCIS JOSEPH
has made a clean breast of it, may well be doubted,
but the best face put upon it is a sorry one. It is
deficit year after year, apparently hopeless deficit,
and that while it is proposed to increase the army
expenses by about one-half. The means of cover-
ing these deficits is of course the old one—" credits."
In English, borrowing. One consolation is men-
tioned ; the deficit for 1861 was expected
to be about six millions and a-half ster-
ling—it is now expected to be about four
millions. To this, however, is appended the re-
mark which, if we understand it, quite destroys the
consolation to be derived from the other, that
" The excess of expenditure not fully provided for
is close upon six millions." The estimated loss in
Hungary, owing to its unsettled condition, is said
to be a million and a half—it is doubtless, all things
taken into account, more than quadruple of
that sum. Another fact stated is rather a dark
one—that the total decrease of revenue in the
year 1861 is within a fraction of £11,000,000 !
What will Mr. JOHN ORRELL LEVER say to this
after his pamphlet on the resources of Austria ? We
confess our inability to reconcile all these state-
ments; but we may be quite sure that the
worst of them are the most to be relied on. In
the face of all this, such is the condition of
Hungary and Venetia, that five millions
and a quarter more are asked for the army !—an
army which already beggars the State by requiring
about eleven millions. To help out of all these
difficulties the National Bank is to pay £8,000,000
for a renewal of its charter, as a loan, with-
out interest, to be repaid by instalments,
which we wish it may ever get. The Lottery loan
was to do its part, but it seems it is not taken up ;
we are sorry to see figuring among the receipts of
the financial administration, £300,000,000 of the
English loan. Who are the Englishmen;and what
is their security ? Perhaps Mr. LEVER can tell us.
The State domains, we read, are to be sold, not as
in India to cancel State debt, and so lighten the pub-
lic burdens, but to meet current expenses. This
seems to us too much like what we express by
the very humble phrase—" going to the dogs."
The Rump Reichsrath mean while is doing things
in grand style. It is passing all kinds of measures,
so that our very liberal contemporary, the Herald,
lis in extacies with the improvement in Austria.
The half of the Deputies are to legislate actually
as if all were assembled, for every part of
the Empire, but the obstinate Hungarian pro-
vinces. It is blessing the empire with such fran-
chises, as even France knows not in regard
to the press and personal liberty, which is
not saying much, some will think, for
their value. The independence also of the judges
is to be secured, and the budget voted by the
loyal Reichsrath—in fact Hungary's perversity is
to be shown up, in preferring franchises, laws,
and institutions a thousand years old, to the new
liberties bestowed on Austria by a hand which
can at any time withdraw them.

We are authorised to state that the funeral of his
late Royal Highness the Prince Consort will take place in
St. George's Chapel, Windsor, on Monday next, at twelve
o'clock, and that, in accordance with the understood wishes
of his late royal highness, the funeral will be a private one.

The Secretary of the British Legation at Brussels
has requested us to contradict the statement which has ap-
peared in a telegram published in the London journals that
he had left Brussels for London on a political mission. The
statement is totally devoid of foundation,

The King of Hanover's intended visit to this
country is postponed.

The Countess of Sefton and Lady Cecilia Moly-
neux will leave town to-morrow.

Lord Churston has left Farrance's Hotel for
Luplon, near Torquay.

Sir Cornwallis and Lady Caroline Ricketts have
arrived at their residence in Grosvenor•-place.
The Right lion, B. Disraeli, M.P., and Mrs.
Disraeli have left Grosvenor-gate for Torquay.

Mr. and Mrs. Washington Hibbert and the
Misses Washington Hibbert have arrived at their residence,
34, Dover-street.
Mr. and Mrs. Scott have arrived at Farranee's
Hotel, from Midcalder, Lanarkshire.
GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.—We are authorised to
state that the meeting of the Geological Society this even-
ing, and the meetings of the Royal and Linnyean Societies
to-morrow evening, will not take place, in consequence of
the lamented death of the Prince Consort.

The mildness of the temperature both in Paris
and in other parts of France continues extraordinary at this
season of the year. In the capital at 8 o'clock on Saturday
morning the thermometer stood at 7 8-10ths above zero
centigrade (46 Fahrenheit) ; at Havre, 9 9-10ths centi-
grade (40.75 Fahrenheit) ; at Marseilles, 11 5-10ths centi-
grade (52.75 Fahrenheit) ; Montpelier, 13 centigrade (55.50
Fahrenheit) ; Algiers, 14 3. 10ths centigrade (58.75 Fah-
renheit) ; and Brussels, 17 7-10ths centigrade (6350 Fah-
renheit) . At Moscow the glass stood at 6 6-10ths below
zero centigrade (22.50 Fahrenheit), and at Nicolaiew, 16
4-1011.2 centigrade (2.76 Fahrenheit),

HAYMARKET THEATRE.—The performances at
this house to-morrow evening will be for the benefit of Mr.
J. W. Wilde, a gentleman with whose zealous and assidu-
ous attention to the convenience of the audience the patrons
of the Haymarket Theatre have been long familiar. The
entertainments announced for the occasion are of an unusu-
ally attractive character; ane, this fact, coupled with the
general sense of the merits of the bengficialre, will doubtless
ensure a numerous attendance.

ASTLEY'S AMPHITHEAPRE.—The pantomime at
this establishment is from the pen of Mr. Nelson Lee, and
is founded on the well-known story of "John Gilpin's Ride
to Edmonton." The main incidents of the pantomime are
brought about by the aid of one Nickola, the witch of
Edmonton, who, in her hatred to Queen Mirth, resolves to
annoy and cause trouble to one Giles, who is in love with
Dolly, the servant of Mrs. Gilpin, Queen Mirth resolving
to protect the maid and her lover. The scene opens with
the abode of Nickola, who summons all her agents to use
their power to perplex Gilpin; and render his day of plea-
sure one of torment and misery, sending forth her imps to
fret and teaze Gilpin's horse, and protract the union of the
lovers; in the course of which Johnny Gilpin's horse exe-
cutes some wonderful tricks, urged by the demons of horse-
flesh, thus depriving Gilpin of his day of enjeyment. But
by means of the Fairy Mirth the steed makes his way to
one Calender's, from which, by her magic, she transports
them to her fairy home.

CHANCELLORSHIP OF CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY.
—By the death of his Royal Highness the Prince Consort
the Chancellorship of the University of Cambridge becomes
vacant. The election of a Chancellor must be within 14
days after the vacancy, and is Imre burgensiton. His Royal
Highness was elected in 1847, on the death of the Duke of
Northumberland, on which occasion he wastpposed by the
late Earl of Powis. On the part of many members of the
University a desire prevails to elect the Prince of Wales as
successor to his father, but his extreme youth it is thought
may be a bar to that wish being fulfilled. Among other
gentlemen whose names are freely mentioned in connection
with the Chancellorship are Lord Palmerston, of St. John's
College, M.A., 1806 ; the Duke of Devonshire, of Trinity
College, who was second wrangler in 1829 ; the Earl of
Hardwicke, of Queen's College, LL.D., 1835; the Marquis
of Lansdowne, of Trinity College, LL.D., 1811; the Earl
of Zetland, of Trinity College, M.A., 1815; th© Duko of
Buccleuch, of St. John's College, M.A,, 1837; and Lord
Lyndhurst, of Trinity College, at present Lord High Steward
of the University.

THE HERBERT MEMORTAL.—A meeting of the
subscribers to the Herbert memorial took place yesterday
at the Council House, Salisbury, to receive the report of a
committee appointed at the general meeting held a few
months ago. It stated that the sums received and promised
up to the 3d ult. were for the Convalescent Hospital £3,095,
for the statue £1,078 ls. 6d., and for disposal by the com-
mittee £369 12s. The committee recommended that the
statue should be of bronze. They estimated the cost at
£2,000, and proposed to intrust its erection to Baron Maro-
chetti, an artist in whom Lady Herbert was known to have
confidence. With regard to the second object subscribed
for, they recommended the adoption of the existing hospital
at Charmouth, which was established by Lady Herbert.
They thought the funds collected should be laid out in good
securities, and that the interest should be employed in aug-
menting the funds of this institution,which has been hitherto
dependent on voluntary benevolence, they at the same time
reserving a right, if they thought fit, to remove the home to
another spot. They trusted Miss Nightingale would yet be
able to bestow her care upon the institution,and so discharge
a service of love to tho memory of the chief whom she so
highly prized. Mr. T. H. S. Estcourt, the chairman, after
referring in touching terms to the death of Prince Albert,
proposed the adoption of the report. The resolution was
seconded by Mr. C. Bleeck, of Warminster, and unani-
mously carried. A committee was then nominated to carry
out the purposes of the recommendation contained in the
report, consisting of Mr. G. Wingfield Digby, of Sherborne
Castle ; Mr. J. H. Jacob, of Salisbury ; and Mr. Hinsman,
of Dumford House, Wilts.
THE PROSECUTION OF THE "DUBLIN MORNING
NEWS."—The action for libel brought by Mr. Hardy, the
sub. sheriff of Armagh, against Mr. Alex. M. Sullivan, of
the Dublin Morning News, occupied the Court of Queen's
Bench from Thursday morning till Saturday afternoon.
The alleged libel amounted substantially to the state-
ment that the juries empannelled in Ulster were drawn
from one political party, that party being the deadly
foes of Catholics. Further, that while an Orangeman
could ensure himself a jury composed of his co•religionists,
a Catholic could not have a single Catholic on his jury.
Sergeant Armstrong, Mr. Whiteside, Mr. Macdonough,
and Mr. Kaye appeared for the plaintiff; and Sergeant
Sullivan, Mr. John O'Hagan, and Mr. Hamill for the de-
fendant. The jury found a verdict for the plaintiff on all
the issues, with £5O damages.

FATAL OUTRAGE IN IRELAND.—The Dungannon
correspondent of the Freeman's Journal, writing on the
15th inst., says :—Early this morning a large number of
persons went to the residence of Francis Dixon, who has
absconded, being largely in debt, which was in charge of a
care-taker named Joseph Donnelly, placed there by Dixon's
creditors until the furnitare, &c., were sold for their benefit.
The party tried to force the front door, and being refused
admittance went to the back door and forced it in; they then
entered the kitchen, when Donnelly discharged a gun at
them, and shot dead one of the party named Patrick Hillan,
a farmer. Donnelly, as well as ten others of the attacking
party, are in custody. It is supposed this attack was at the
instigation of Joseph Corroran, nephew to Dixon, who
wanted to retain possession of the house and lands in oppo-
sition to the creditors.

MELANCHOLY OCCURRENCE.—On Wednesday last
a married woman named Jeffery left her home to go to her
mother's, taking her infant of eight months old in her arms.
She had passed over the bridge between Stanford's-end and
Timlin-barn, and appears to have rested at the Weirs,
where the noise and sight of the running stream seemed to
have turned her giddy, and she fell with her babe into the
stream. Though weak from the effects of a long illness,
she managed to get out without help, and went to the house
of Mrs. Russell, at " Broomses," at which time she was
almost paralysed, and the child was dead in her arms. Mrs.
Russell, with great kindness and energy, set to work to
restore the mother, and most fortunately succeeded. Ilad
she not fallen into such good hands, there is every proba-
bility that in a short time she too would have been a corpse.
The infant, a fine grown child, shows plainly on its arms
and sides the marks made by the poor affr,ghted mother
grasping it to save its life.—Maidstone Journal.
DEATH FROM A CAT'S BITE —The Courier de
1' _lsere records the death of a farmer named Journet, at
Paladra, in that department, under the following circum-
stances :—Journet had promised to give a cat about six
months old to one of his neighbours, and one day last week
he shut it in a basket to have it ready. When his neigh-
bour came, Journet went to take the animal out, and she
bit his little finger, but so slightly that he thought nothing
of it. The next day he tended his cattle as usual, and
passed the afternoon in breaking hems till evening, when
the finger became intolerably painful. A surgeon was sent
for, who made an incision and dressed the wound; but the
whole hand was soon after affected and turned quite black,
as did also the arm. Other doctors were then consulted,
but in spite of all that medical skill could do, the poor man
died on the fifth day after receiving the bite. As to the cat,
she is alive and apparently quite well.

TYNE SEAMEN.—SHIELDS, Monday Night.—The
annual meeting of the South Shields Loyal Standard Asso-
ciation held to-day has brought out much of the fine
qualities of head and heart for which Tyne sea-
men are eminent. At noon the men went in procession
to church, with their bands playing solemn music and
their banners half-mast high, and the annual dinner
of the men was held in the Golden Lion Hotel As-
sembly-rooms afterwards, the Mayor of the borough, Mr.
Wallis, presiding, and ho was supp Drted by the clergy, Mr.
Alderman Robinson, the town clerk,and other warm friends
of the sailors. In proposing the toast of " The Queen" the
shairman was visibly affected. He spoke in very tender and
feeling terms of the bereavement sustained by her Majesty
through the death of her Royal Consort, and evoked the
sympathy of the audience for her Majesty in her great I, iffic-
tion. The toast was drunk in solemn silence, and the Na-
tional Anthem was sung by the seamen m:th much fervour
and deep emotion. It was a very impressive scene indeed.
The South Shields Loyal Standard Association has 1,775
members, 280 having been added this year. It is an asso-
ciation that has been established since 1821, for the mutual
relief of shipwrecked members, or for the relief of their
widows and orphans. Within the period mentioned £49,956
13s. has been spent in the manner described, and this year
152 shipwrecked members, and the widows and orphans of
61 poor fellows drowned at sea have received sums of money
from the society, the amount disbursed being £1,579165. 7d.
A similar society is in operation in North Shields.
THE CURSE OF THE STATES.—" It is a well-
authenticated fact," said De Tocqueville, "that at the pre-
sent day the most talented men in the United States are
very rarely placed at the head of affairs. The race of
American statesmen has evidently dwindled most remark-
ably in the course of the last 50 years." When that was
said, there were still Webster, Clay, and Calhoun to be
named. Now we are among Tylers, Polka, and Pierces,
Yet there has been no dwindling of American intellect.
The evil is that the pursuit of politics has been degraded
into a trade, in which the conditions of American states-
manship enable hordes of needy and unprincipled adven-
turers to speculate. These men fill at a presidential con-
test the election committees, which name delegates for the
convention that has to choose a party candidate. The mem-
bers of the party convention come from sections of the
country widely apart, and with diverse interests. Every
man of E b lity has by his vigorous action on some question
offended this or that section. Ballot follows ballot, and th•
lot falls at last on the man who is too insignificant to have
made enemies. The work of a presidential election is thus
done by two opposing packs of placehunters, each in full
cry, and the pack that runs down its game demands imme-
diately after to be fed. The greed of office by the noisiest
political adventurers, and the consequent insecurity of office
in place-holders, confines the desire, and secures too com-
monly the rewards of place to the least worthy, to hungry
men eager, especially during their short tenure of official
life, to thrive by the plunder that every honest statesman
of the North has during the present year had loudly to de-
plore.—Dickens's 6, MI the Ivor Romcf."

LATEST NEWS.

THE CIVIL WAR IN AMERICA

(PER BOHEMIAN, via PORTLAND AND LONDON-
DERRY.)
NEW YORK, DEC. 7.

Despatches from Washington state that Presi-
dent Lincoln had declared that it was his intention
to preserve a prudent policy in regard to foreign
relations, and that there need be no fear of war with
Great Britain unless the latter should seek a pre-
text for hostilities.

The despatches add that no anxiety is felt on this
subject by the Administration.
Mr. Breckenridge has been expelled from the

Senate.

A committee has been appointed to inquire into
the expediency of abolishing slavery in the district
of Columbia.

The Federal Government has ordered the release
of a fugitive slave confined at Washington.

The Unionists of East Tennessee have routed a
large Confederate force at Morristown, killing large
numbers.

Advices from Port Royal state that the regiment
which made a reconnaissance towards Charleston
went within 20 miles of the city, and captured
three batteries, the guns of which they spiked.
They found quantities of cotton, but the Con federates
were destroying much of that article. The party
returned in safety.

An attack on Fort Pulaski, Savannah, is hourly
expected.

The Federal troops have evacuated Tybee Island;

The Confederates in Missouri are retreating.

General Wool has asked the Government for
troops to advance on Richmond from Fortress
Monroe.

It is stated that, in consequence of the Trent
affair, the West India Mail Company has ordered
its agents to furnish no more coal to United States
vessels.

A Dutch fleet, consisting of 11 vessels, arrived
off Laguyas on the 17th ult., in order to demand
satisfaction from Venezuela for a violation of the
Dutch flag.

COMMERCIAL INTELLIGENCE.
NEW YORK, DEC. 7.

Stocks are a shade firmer. Cotton continues to
advance. Middling upland is quoted 31c. Sales,
3,500 bales. Flour, State and Western, buoyant.
Wheat a shade firmer. Corn unchanged. Pro-
visions dull and inactive. Sugars quiet. Freights
to Liverpool declining.

THE MAIL STEAMERS.

SOUTHAMPTON, TUESDAY NIGHT.

The Union Steamship Company, under contract
for the conveyance of her Majesty's mails to the
Cape of Good Hope, &c,, have received instruc-
tions from the Government to arm their steamers
forthwith.

PARIS, DEC. 18.
The following is a summary of the speech made
yesterday by M. Troplong in the Senate.
M. Troplong spoke at great length on the sup-
pression of extraordinary credits by the Emperor,
on the privilege to be granted to the Corps Legis-
latif of voting the Budget by sections, and on the
limits to be fixed to the transfer of voted supplies.
He, however, declared himself opposed to all idea
of re establishing Ministerial responsibility, which,
he said, formed the basis of a Parliamentary system
of government expressly repudiated by the Freu ch
Constitution. Referring to the advantages of the
system of transferring credits from one department
to another, he said,—

"During the last war in Italy all France thought
that immense and hasty efforts had been made to
prevent our being forestalled by Austria, whereas
the fact was the victories of the French army com-
menced before it had hardly been provided for, and
that.without any transfers or extraordinary credits.
" In our day it is difficult to pursue an obscure

policy.
" The Emperor shows by the measures now under
discussion the loyalty of his policy.
" The real and infallible preparations for war in
France are a good system of enlistment, the disci-
pline of the soldier, order in the administration,
and the martial genius of the nation.

" France, although unprepared, is always ready,
even against those who have taken their measures
long beforehand. (Applause.)
" The Committee does not, however, reject the
hypothesis that measures might quietly be taken
in presence of great external dangers. The system
of transferring credits has been instituted for that
purpose; but these precautions cannot long remain
concealed."

Treating of the financial question and the exist-
ing deficits, M. Troplong called attention to the
great things that had been done since 1850, and
said, " They have served to raise the French name
to the highest rank ; to link the chain of our
victories ; to carry our civilisation and our influence
to the extremity of the world ; and, lastly, to free
Italy from a foreign yoke."
In conclusion, M. Troplong maintained that the
amount of the floating debt was comparatively less
than in 1848.

VIENNA, DEC. 17.

The Oesterreichische Zeitunq of to-day announces
that the Budget, will be communicated to both
Houses of the Iteichsrath to-morrow.

Baron Schmerling will make the communication
in the name of the Emperor.
The Parliamentary Clubs ha ve agreed upon the
course to be pursued in reference to the Budget.

The resolutions of the Reichsrath on financial
questions will be as legal as if all the provinces of
the Empire were represented.
These resolutions will, however, only refer to the
non-Hungarian provinces.

VIENNA, DEC. 17.
The Budget was presented to-day to the Council
of the Empire.

The following is a summary of the financial state-
ment made by the Minister of Finance :

The revenue for 1861 was estimated at 300,000,000,
the expenditure at 314,000,000, and the deficit at
6,5,000,000 florins.

This deficit was to be covered by means of several
credit operations, which would, moreover, leave a
balance of 8,000,000 florins in the Treasury.
The returns for 1801 are not quite completed, but
the deficit is expected to amount to about 40,000,000
florins.

The excess of expenditure, which was not fully
provided for, amounts to 69,000,000 florins.

The unsettled state of things in Hungary has
caused a loss to the revenue of 11,500,000 florins.
The total decrease in the revenue of 1861 amounts
to 109,500,000 florins, which will be covered by
credit operations.
The National Bank has not been applied to for
a. loan, nor have any public bonds been issued.
The estimates for 1862 are as follows :—The
Court and Civil Administration, 99,750,000 florins;
Army, 108,500,000 florins; interest on the Public

Debt, 124.500,000 florins; sundries, 21,800,000
florins ; or altogether about 354,500,000 florins,
The revenue for 1862 is estimated at L 96,500,000
florins, and the deficit at 58,000,000 florins.
The army estimates show an increase of 52,000,000
florins.

The deficit is partly to be covered by increased
taxes and partly by credit operations with the
National Bank, the charter of which is to be re-
newed in return for a loan of 80,000,000 florins,
bearing no interest.

Twenty millions of this loan will be repaid in
monthly instalments of 1,000,000 florins each, and
44,000,000 by 1870.
The State domains are to be sold at certain fixed
periods.

Twenty-three millions of the Lottery Loan of
1560 have not bean taken up.
The Financial Administration has, however, re-
ceived from the agents 100,000,000 florins for
bonds of that loan, and £3,000,000 of the English
loan.

The National Bank is to be made independent of
the State.

On the conclusion of the Ministerial statement,
the Council of the Empire appointed a committee
of nine members to examine the Budget.