The Sun.
London, England, 1861-03-30 00:00:00

which could not be mistaken that the labour of the
year was not yet over. The sky lowered in the
direction of the Weser, whence a storm threatened
to break upon the Rhine, and he found that his
irruption into the Cherusian land was only the
signal for a general war, and that battles must be
fought, and many a soldier lie low ere the army
would rest in its winter quarters." If Arminius
was looked upon with jealousy by the Adelings or
nobles, he was beloved by the people, and his in-
fluence over them was very great ; he was soon at
the head of a powerful army, and although fre-
quently defeated in pitch battles, where the disci-
pline and superior arms of the Romans gave them
the advantage, he continued so to harass them on
their marches, and to cut off stragglers to such an
extent, that in the end Germanicus had to give up
the contest, and although on his return to Rome he
was treated as a conqueror, and was honoured with
a-triumph, the Romans never again held authority
in Northern Germany, and the Barbarians increased
in strength until the tide of events turned, when,
in the fifth century, the prestige of the Romans
waned, and in their turn the once conquerors of the
world were subjected to the miseries and humilia-
tion which, in the days of their power, they had so
wantonly inflicted on their neighbours. Throughout
the work Mr. Smith has taken great pains to fur-
nish his authority for every statement, and in
many instancep he quotes from two or three ancient
authors, and 'explains his reason for his opinions.
The compilation:of so extensive a extending
over such a length of time, and going back to so
remote a date when history and fable were so often.
confounded must have been a labour of years, and
we regret that Mr. Smith did not live to see his
valuable book published; This task has, however,
been performed by his son, who informs us in his
preface that he has been obliged to omit the
many valuable notes of his:father, on account of the
great additional expense that would have been.
incurred by their publication—this is to be re-
gretted, as much valuable and interesting infor-
m ation would doubtless have been found in them.
Mr. Smith commences his history in the earliest
ages, and gradually as he advances describes the
changes in manners, laws, and customs of the people
from the tithe of Caesar, who is his first reliable
authority until he reaches the period of Charle-
magne. As a book of reference, both as regards
Germany and the Roman empire this work is
valuable, and as a study of the customs of the,
ancients highly interesting.

Useful Information for Engineers. By WilliP.m
Fairbairn, LL.D., F.R.S. Longman.
This is a second series of lectures which ha•ie been
delivered by Mr. Fairbairn. The success of the
publication of the first series has induced him to
publish, in an extended farm, his later lectures.
This volume contains much valuable information,
and the results of various experiments carried on
under his own superintendence of on the meeha.
nical properties of glass and resistance of glass
vessels to collapse—on the tensile strength of
wrought iron at.varioas temperatures—the tensile,
strength of rivet iron, and other subjects. His first
lecture is on popular education, which subject ha
treats with a liberality to be expected from a man
of the author's general opinions. He advocates
strongly the scientific education of working engi-
neers, and the lower orders generally. A lecture
on the rise of civil and mechanical engineering, and
its progress to the present century, contains much
that is interesting. The reader is introduced to
Telford, Smeaton, Brindley, and other celebrated,
engineers of the past century ; and in the continue,-
tion of the subject in a succeeding chapter, which
brings the science of engineering down to the pre-
sent time, those of the present age are introduced.
The rise and progress of steam navigation and rail-
ways is carefully discussed ; and much general in-.
formation is to be found under the head of " The
properties of steam, its management and applira-
don." Throughout, these lectures are highly inte-
resting, combining as they do much valauble
information, with interesting details, and. the his-
tory of the lives and successes of eminent Alen. To
all those in any way connected with 'engineering
this work will prove most useful.

THE ROMAN CATHOLIC BIAMOPS 137- THE
LEBANONt

The Moni\teur publishes the following letter from the
Roman Catholic Bishops of the Lebanon to 'the Interna-
tional Commission in Syria, in reply fo certain accusations
brought against them in the British Parliament :

" Beyrout, March 15..
"It was with affliction and grief that we read, In the
Independence Beige of the 11th of February, the article of '
which a copy is hereto annexed. If this article, based on
declarations made in the House of Commons by Lord John
Russell, in the sitting of the Bth of February, concerned
only ourselves, we should not have taken the trouble of re-
futing it ; but it concerns the Christian populations, whom
it is attempted to represent as unworthy of the sympathies
which their calamities have procured them on the part of
the sultan's Government and of the great European Powers
who have so generously hastened to their relief. It is there-
fore a bounden duty for us to re-establish the facts, and we
are encouraged in so doing by the conviction that we shall
not appeal in vain to the reminiscences of his Excellency
Fuad Pasha, to the good faith of Lord Dufferin, whose
thought must have hem imperfectly interpreted, and to the
sentiments of justice of the representatives of the European
Powers.
" When his Excellency Fuad Pasha was about to under-
take the repression of the Druses he called around him six
Christian bishops and requested them to name such of the
more notable Christians, conscientious men and well ac-
quainted with passing events, as might be able to give him
information respecting the guilty parties. The bishops re-
plied that the functions with which they were invested for-
bade them taking any part in a question which belonged
exclusively to the judicial authorities. Fuad Pasha ad-
mitted the justice of that observation, and explained that
he did not wish' them to act in a judicial capacity, but
simply to give him the names of persons on whose in-
formation he could depend. The bishops then gave the
names of 16 most respectable Christians, all laymen, who
were charged by his Excellency to supply the &formation
he wanted, and who all engaged on oath to say nothing but
the truth. Some days after these notables handed to his
Excellency a list containing the names of 4,600 Druses,
Mussulmans, and Mutualis, living in the Lebanon, the Anti-
Lebanon, and the Hauran, and chosen from among 30,000
combatants, and not from among only 8,000 Druses, as it is
pretended, at the same time indicating the nature of the
crimes imputed to each of the persons included in the list.
" His Excellency again summoned the bishops to his pre-
sence to inform them that he well knew all the Druses to be
guilty, but that the number given was too great, and tha
it was necessary to select only the most guilty. The bishops
replied that they had no knowledee either of the list or the
persons mentioned in it, and that, owing to their character,
it did not become them to take any part in the affair. But
the 16 Christian notables, when again consulted by Fuad.
Pasha, replied that the list they had drawn up by his orderit
was only intended as information to enlighten justice, wad
that neither they nor the Christian population would Qrink
of demanding that the repression should affect so great a
number of victims. However, at the demand of his Excel-
lency, they then reduced the list to 1,200 of those most
compromised, leaving the judicial authorities to asdertain
their guilt, and the Government to fix the extent and num-
ber of the punishments.
" The bishops have therefore had nothing to do with the
repression, and the notables only undertook to supply his
Excellency with the information he needed for his guidance.
As for the document mentioned in the Rouse of Commons,
the undersigned bishops declare that they never signed any
such paper, and that it would be utterly impossible to pro-
duce anything of the kind.
" Such are the facts. In recalling them to the memory
of the Commission, the undersigned bishops venture to re-
quest its members, in the name of the Christians against
whom this strange calumny has been raised, in order to
deprive them of the sympathy of civilised nations, to own_
municate this declaration to their respective Governments,
and to publish it, so that the interest of which the Syrians
are the object may not be diminished by the thought that
they have shown themselves unworthy of it.
" TOBIAS Aomsr, Bishop of Beyrout.
" BOUTHROS BOSTANY, Bishop of St. Jean &Acre.
" BASIL CHAHIAT, Bishop of Zahleh and polka.
" MALATHIOS, Bishop of Baalbeck and dependencies. ,