The Sun.
London, England, 1861-02-02 00:00:00

E s
1.1
N E AA' zy.

(REUTER'S TELEGRAMS.)

PARIS, FEB. 2.

The Moniteur of to-day annouices that the
Senate has agreed, by 122 against 2 votes, to the
Senatus Consultum, in reference to the publication
of the r:,-ports of the sittings of the Corps Legis-
latiff.

It also announces the close of the extraordinary
session of the Senate.

Four hundred muskets, destined for the reac-
tionists in the Abruzzi, have been seized by the
French at Ticovaro.

ROME, FEB. 1.

Reports are current in official quarters here that
last night the firing at Gaeta was very violent
on both sides, but that little damage was done

in the city.
For several hours a Sardinian gunboat fired
near the Convent of the Holy Trinity, but when
the battery Transylvania replied the gunboat re-
tired.

NAPLES, JAN. 31, 4.54 P.M.
The elections are favourable to the Govern
meat.

The Republican party has been beaten at Naples
and in the provinces.
The siege operations before Gaeta are being
actively continued by the Sardinians. The firing
is feeble on both sides.
Prince Carigban has left Mola di Gaeta.

TURIN, FEB. 1.

On the 28th ult. Genral Sonnaz attacked the
reactionary bands, who were entrenched at Banco,
and obliged them to surrender.

PESTH, FEB. 1.

In to-day's sitting of the municipality of this
city M. Deak read the projected address in reply
to the Imperial rescript. This address was opposed
by M. Szilagyi as being too moderate, but was
defended by M. Eotvos, who caused its adoption
by the Municipality:

PARIS, FEB. 1.

The Pays say s :—" Admiral Le Barbier de Tinan
has arrived here on a special mission, and has de-
manded instructions before reassuming the eom-
mand of the fleet in the Mediterranean."

FRANCE.

PARIS, FRIDAY

We learn that General della Marmora, sent by
the Piedmontese Government to present the con-
gratulations of Victor Emmanuel to the King of
Prussia on his accession to the throne, is much
dissatisfied with his reception at Berlin.

A telegram from Constantinople, of the 29th
January, announces that the Turkish Government,
being requested by Russia to require the prolonga-
tion of the French occupation in Syria, replied
that it would insist on the faithful execution of
the convention with France.

Accounts from the ports of Brest, Cherbourg,
Lorient, and Toulon state that large supplies of
copper and iron have been received there for the
use of the dockyards. Orders which were given
at Rochefort to construct two steel-plated frigates
have been transferred to Brest and Cherbourg.
Nine hundred seamen have arrived at Toulon to
complete the crews of the ships of war in that
harbour.

• Some of the provincial journals having stated
that Marshal Niel would this year be appointed
to command the camp at Chalons, the Propagateur
of Lille contradicts the report, and states that it
has grounds for asserting that Marshal de Mac-
Mahon will again have the command. The camp
is to be formed in the beginning of March, and
to consist of 60,000 men.
The Semaphore of Marseilles states that nume-
rous detachments have lately passed through that
town, on their way to Rome. On Wednesday
last, 90 men of the 19th Regiment of the Line
embarked on board the steamer Carmel for Civita
Vecchia.

Preparations ate now in propress for establishing
a new line of electric telegraph between Paris and
London by Dieppe and Newhaven. Three wires
from Paris will meet one from Havre at Malaunay,
and the four will cross the Channel from Dieppe
to Newhaven. When this line is completed France
will be connected with England by 12 wires—four
from Calais to Dover, four from Boulogne to Folk-
stone, and four from Dieppe to Newhaven. These
last are especially intended to connect Lyons, Bor-
deaux, and Marseilles directly with London.
BOURSE, Feb. I.—The following are the last
quotations :

4f per per Cents ... 97 20 Credit Fancier —
Do. end. month.... Belgian 41 —
3 per Cents
Do. end month 67 90' Roman
Bank Shares 2900 Austrian
Credit Mobilier.... 660 Spanish Threes 47&
Do. Account 662 50 ; Home Debt

RAILWAYS.
Cash. Account.
Orleans 1395 .. 1387 50
Northern
New ditto B9O
Lyons and Mediterranean 915 917 59
Geneva.. — 370
Southern .. 513 75 .. 516 2.5
Western
Eastern
Sardinian
Austrian
Lombard

Exchange on London, at sight, paper, 25f. 22ic.; money,
25f. 191 c. ; ditto, three months, paper, 24f. 87c. ; money,
24f. 85e.

GAETA.

A letter from Gaeta of the 29th states that the
fire of the besiegers had become heavier during
the last day. The fortress had fired moderately,
chiefly for cutting off the convoys of munitions
going to the Piedmontese. The fleet, since the
22d, remains quiet at Mole. Another letter from
Gaeta, dated the 30th ult , says :—" Last night
the Piedmontese threw two thousand shells into the
town. The houses have suffered a little, but not the
fortifications. Today the firing is not heavy.
The Piedmontese have unmasked another battery,
but they keep as far off as possible. The fortress
uses rifled cannon.

Diritto of Turin, dated Caprera, 20th ult., request-
ing it to state that a letter, addressed under his
name, to the Neapolitans, on the 11th of November
last, that is, two days after his departure from
Naples, is a forgery.

LITERATURP:.

The Wild Huntress. By Captain Mayne Reid.
Author of "The Scalp Hunters," &c. 3 vols.
Ben tley. •
This is 41. stirring and spirited narrative which is
replete with vigour and vivacity. Few can fail to
be delighted with its perusal. The change is a
refreshing one from tales of fashionable life at
home, and stories of quiet domestic people, to the
records of bold deeds of daring enterprise, and
PERUGIA, FEB. 1. I relations of

" Hair-breadth 'scapes and hairbreadth snares,
Hair-brained perils, 'ventures, cares,"
that befell the dwellers in the wilderness of the back-
woods, or the wanderers over prairies and through
forests beset with foes on every side from the
savage Indian to the saintly Mormon. The story
begins in the backwoods. We are told that " the
white-headed eagle, soaring above the spray of a
Tennesean forest, looks down upon the clearing of
the squatter." There is a striking account given
of the means employed by these builders in the
wilds, and the author observes " Such a pic-
ture is almost peculiar to the backwoods of
America. Some may deem it commonplace.
For my part I cannot regard it in this light.
I have never looked upon this primitive
homestead of the pioneer without receiving from
it an impression of romantic pleasure. Something
seems to impart to it an air of vague and mystic
grandeur. Perhaps I associate the picture with
the frame in which it is set--the magnificent forest
that surrounds it, every aisle of which is redolent
with romance. Such a scene is suggestive of lore
and legend—of perils by flood and field always
pleasant to be remembered—of desperate deeds of
heroism performed by gallant backwoodsmen or
their equally. gallant antagonists—those red war-
riors who once strode proudly along the forest
path, but whose upright forms are no longer seen
under the shadow of its trees." The interest and
excitement of the story commence at once, for in the
first scene the reader beholds the elements of war-
fare in the apparently tranquil and peaceful scene
of the squatter's cabin. The two daughters of
Hickman Holt are introduced, and they are

lovely maidens to dwell in so wild a scene
Marian and Lilian are very different in all but
affection for each other. They were half-sisters,
being the daughters of different mothers, from
whom each derived her peculiarities. Marian is
the heroine, and gives her name to the work, as
she afterwards became, partly from choice, partly
from necessity, "The Wild Huntress." Hickman
Holt, the father, is a very distinct style of man; "we
behold a personage of unwonted aspect, a man of
gigantic stature, with a beard reaching to the second
button of his coat, and a face not to be looked upon
without a sensation of terror—a countenance
expressive of determined courage, but at the same
time of fierceness, untempered by any trace of a
softer emotion. His co3tume is common enough on
the banks of the Mississippi ; the colossal form is
not rare, but the fierce and somewhat repulsive
countenance—that is, more individual." An im-
portant person in this story, who plays no mean
part in its intricate and involved labyrinth, is Josh
Stebbins. At the time of his introduction to us he
has just entered on a new vocation. " The ci-devant
attorney's clerk—whilom the schoolmaster of
Swampville—is now an apostle of the Latter-day
Saints." He is about as despicable an addition to
the rank of that wretched community as any who
ever joined them. The object of this horrible man's
schemes was to lure away these flowers of the forest,
the beautiful Marian and the lovely Lilian, to the
Salt Lake Settlement, where he destined them for
the harem of the Mormon Prophet. Marian very-
imprudently, in a fit of pique at the supposed defec-
tion of her lover, Frank Wingrove, a young back-
woodsman in their vicinity, agreed to marry Josh
Stebbins, long a suitor for her hand. She was fur-
ther impelled to this by her father assuring her
that some dreadful calamity would befall him if
she did not consent to become the wife of
Stebbins. For a long time we lose sight of the
maiden, and when she reappears it is as the wild
huntress. She soon found out for what purpose
she had been decoyed away, and that the marriage
with Stebbins had been a false one, in order to
get her to leave her home by a sure pretext. She
fled away, and after many perils she dwelt among
the tents of an Indian tribe, whither her preserver,
a brave trapper, had conducted her. Meanwhile
Stebbins returned to the squatter's cabin, and told
a plausible tale, which induced Holt to depart with
Lilian and accompany his supposed son-in-law to
the Mormon settlements. A party of brave adven-
turers, including Win grove, the lover of Marian,
and Edward Warfield, followed in the track of the
caravan. Their adventures were most remarkable,
and the passages which relate the escape of War-
field and his subsequent meeting with Marian are
most exciting, and reach to a pitch of
thrilling interest. Sad as the sufferings were
that befel that little band of intrepid pilgrims,
they were most fortunate for the immediate fur-
therance and ultimate success of their scheme.
Had not the tragic events occurred they would not
have met with Marian, and they would not have
gained the invaluable assistance of the Utah chief,
through whose agency and instrumentality they
were enabled to penetrate in disguise into the
tents of the Mormons, and carry off the beautiful
girl destined for so dreadful a fate, and who had
not the spirit and-strength of her sister to extricate'
herself from peril or to protect herself if wandering
alone. The crisis soon came—the very first evening
of their arrival the discovery of the flight was
made, and the pursuit started. In consequence of
Marian's dog Wolf, who had been her brave
defender in many a danger, and who was left
behind, the cruel hunters reached their prey, but
an unexpected detection took place in the person of
the gigantic Holt, who followed in the train of
Mormons with the apparent object of reclaiming
his daughters. When the parties met face to face,
he turned round on Stebbins and compelled him to
confess the treachery of his conduct in holding a
threat of a charge of murder over his head for so many
years. Holt's second wife had committed suicide ;
but the appearances were so suspicious that Stebbins,
then an attorney's clerk, took advantage of them,
and threatened to prove Holt guilty at any time he
chose to make his statements public. With the
barrel of a rifle on his breast, the cowardly wretch
acrid the vile traitor was forced to confess, and then
Holt would have suffered him to depart, but Win-
grove rushed forward and proclaimed his conduct
towards the sisters. As may be supposed, the rage
of the indignant father knew no bounds; and
if ever one human being was justified in taking
away another's life, it was when the " squatter's"
unerring aim deprived the " Saint" of life. It was
a joyous return home of the long-separated family
to the banks of Mud Creek, and few wanderers ever
met with more adventures within a year than
did these heroes and heroines of the wilds.
A bright picture is drawn of the transformation
which the original dwelling of the squatter under-
went before it became the home of Warfield. and
Lillian. " Ala! the squatter's clearing, with its zig-
zag fence, its girdled trees, and white deadwoods,
it is no longer recognisable; the log hut is replaced
by a pretentious frame dwelling, with portico and
verandahs—almost a mansion. The little maize-
patch, scarcely an acre in extent, is now a splendid
plantation of many fields, in which wave the golden
tassels of Indian corn, the broad leaves of another
indigenous vegetable—the aromatic Indian weed'
—and the gossamer-like florets of the precious
cot ton plant. Even the squatter himself
you would scarcely recognise in the respect-
able old gentleman, who, mounted upon his
colt, with a long rifle over his shoulder, rides around
looking after the affairs of the plantation, and
picking off the squirrels who threaten the young
corn with their destructive depredations." This
scene reminds one of the lines of Campbell—
" To see a world from shadowy forests ivon
In youthful beauty wedded to the sun,
To skirt our home with harvests widely sown
And call the blooming landscape all our own."

Few tales of these distant regions and these scenes
of 'wild life can surpass in exciting :interest,' glow.
ing descriptions, and vivid delineations the
works of this author, and " The Wild Huntress"
is not inferior to some of his earlier and
celebrated productions. From first to last, it
abounds with adventures and narrations,
of the most brilliant kind, that are related with elo-
quence, and also with so much graphic force that the
wildest events appear probable from the manner in
which they are described. Those who desire to
peruse a vivid and varied sketch of forest life and
wild adventures, combined with a romantic tale of
bold and brave heroes, and of lovely and noble
heroines, cannot do better than possess themselves
of this work. H they seek amusement, they cannot
be disappointed ; if they wish to meet with inte-
resting knowledge of Indian life, they will find it to
the fullest extent ; and if they would be charmed
and fascinated by "fair women and brave men," they
will meet them in the daughters of the squatter on
the banks of the Obion, and in:those devoted deli-
verers who tracked their path through parils and amid
dangers that might have proved the test of many a
knight of old, who won for his guerdon the golden
spurs and the hand of his " layde love." This novel
can therefore be fairly recommended as a brilliant
and successful attempt to pourtray and personate
the types of a noble race now fast disappearing,
rogl the adventures of an interesting family doomed