The Sun.
London, England, 1861-12-20 00:00:00

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

Sin,—Many and just are the observations that daily ap-
pear in the public prints on the subject of female fashions
and dress, and of late more particularly regarding the use,
or rather the abuse, of crinoline. If ladies choose to dis-
figure themselves by walking in a hen-coop, little comment
is necessary, the affair is their own ; but by so doing they
abandon the beauty of the female form, and bring to mind
the interesting person so long exhibited in London as a
Hottentot Venus.
Public attention towards female dress is now more seri-
ously called by the mischievous practice of tight-lacing and
the compression of the bosom, whence arise consequences
of a fatal kind, too often preventing mothers from fulfilling
the most endearing of maternal duties. Nature, ever care-
ful and foreseeing, prepares in time, if left to her own ope-
rations, theAmale bosom for those duties; and as a girl
ripens into womanhood the bosom expands, the breasts en-
large, forming not only the most useful but tho most beau-
tiful feature of the female form.

Unhappily, the style of dress in the present day prevents
this natural protuberance ; no provision is made in the dress
for the expansion of the breasts, and their intended utility
is too often injured, if not altogether destroyed, by an un-
natural compression. Hence a long train of evils at the
time when their perfect healthfulness is required—soreness,
inflammation, abscess, cancels; and the necessity, so adverse
to nature, of a stranger's breast to suckle the new-born
infant.

Without inquiring what must be the feelings of a young
mother when looking on at her offspring receiving at the
breast of a stranger the nourishment that nature intended
her to provide; without speaking of it philosophically as
regards the imbibing from a stranger the temper, habits,
humours, or diseases, or even personal appearance, I claim
attention only to the result so melancholy of compressing
the bosom in early life; and so prevalent is this state of
things nowbecoming that in too many cases,',it may be said,
the wetnurse accompanies the midwife.

In countries less highly civilised, when naturo unsophis-
ticated is left to her own operations, wetnursing is un-
known ; enlarged breasts accompany parturition, and the
child receives its natural food. Affectation or a mistaken
notion of modesty may have led to the practice above al-
luded to. The breasts are, or ought to be, a visible part of
the female form ; they are intended by nature to be pro-
tuberant, then why not allow them to expand ? No
modest exposure is necessary ; for let it be remembered
"that the fairest bosom is not so fair as imagination paints
it," and by their absence the beauty and symmetry of the
person are destroyed. What would be said of a female
statue with the bosom as flat as a deal board ? or what
would a sculptor say if asked so to produce it ?
Let mothers, then, look well into this matter, and reform
at once the style of dress of their daughters when growing
into womanhood. Let room be given for the expansion of
the bosom and the natural protuberance of the breasts.
Many anxious moments will be spared to them and their
daughters when young wives ; and very probably many an
infant's life be saved by a return to the wholesome mode of
dress well remembered by those born in the last century as
it is by me, all OCTOGrgI\TARIAN.

LATEST NEWS.

PARIS, DEC. 19.

The Paris papers publish a telegram from Bresu-
lau, dated the 19th inst., which states that since the
arrest of the Administrator of the diocess of War-
saw the authorities have made the clergy and the
superiors of the convents responsible for the
churches remaining closed.
The keeper of the Bernardin Church had been
imprisoned for refusing to open it.
The Basilian Church, belonging to the United
Greeks, had been opened by force. The wax tapers
were lighted by the soldiers, who compelled the
priests to officiate.
The offices of the Bank of Warsaw and the
Finance Commission had been searched, and two
of the clerks arrested. Two others managed to
escape.

The system of repression had become more severe
in Volhynia.
The prisons of Kiew and Zitomir were crowded.
Forty students of the University of Kiew had been
sent to Siberia.

TURIN, DEC. 19.

In to-day's sitting of the Chamber of Deputies a
letter from Signor Rattazzi was read announcing
that the state of his health compelled him to resign
the Presidency of the Chamber.
Signor Minghetti proposed that the Chamber
should express a desire that Signor Rattazzi might
retain the post at least until the end of the
Session.

The proposal was unanimously agreed to.

Baron Ricasoli declared that the Ministry would
not prorogue the Chamber until the bills presented
by the Government had been fully discussed.
According to news received here from Naples,
the band of Cipriani has been routed, with the loss
of 100 killed and 20 prisoners.
The Bourbon General Marcelli was arrested while
in the act of receiving a letter addressed to him by
Francis 11.

The eruption of Vesuvius is diminishing in force.
The sismograph, however, continues to indicate
slight shocks of earthquake.

STOCKHOLM, DEC. 19.

According to advices received here, Gen. Rokas-
cowsky, the new Governor of Finland, has officially
declared that the Emperor of Russia intends to
convoke the Diet of that province as soon as the
Committee of the Estates, which meet in January
next, have terminated their labours.

In consequence of this announcement the city of
Helsingfors was illuminated.

It is asserted that the censorship is to be
abolished.

INDIA.

BOMBAY, DEC. 18.

The Friend of India states that Sir Charles Wood
has decided that the seat of the Government shall
be removed from Calcutta to the Hills.

The export of cotton from Bombay to England
during the present year is estimated at 920,000
bales.

Sir Bartle Frere will, it is rumoured, succeed Sir
George Clerk in the Governorship of Bombay.
The Semiramis, of the Indian navy, has been
wrecked on the Island of Johanna.

Shirting advancing; 81,1 b., sr. 10a. per piece.
Twist firm. Cotton, new broach, 180. Copper
sheathing, nominal ; tile, 58rs. Malwa opium,
1,455 per chest.
Exchange on London, 2s. 10. Government
Securities.-4 per cents., 84 ; 5 per cents., 961 ;51
per cents., 104.

Freights active and advancing. Cotten 50s.
(BY TELEGRAPH TO BOMBAY.)

CALCUTTA, Nov. 25.

Shirtings firmer. Mule twist slack. Copper
sheathing, 41rs. ; tile, 40rs. Indigo and silk active
and advancing. Linseed quiet.
Exchange on London, 2s. 0:d. to 2s. Old. Go-
vernment Securities.-4 per Cents., 843. to 84:91 ;
51 per cents., 1041 to 105. Freights nominal.
Seeds, 60s.

FRANCE.

PARIS, THURSDAY.

We regret to announce the sudden death, which
occurred yesterday, of Count Albert de Pourtales,
Prussian Ambassador to the Court of the Tuileries.

The Moniteur publishes the following note :
" Different letters, inserted in foreign journals, persist,
with incredible obstinacy, in propagating reports of minis-
terial modifications in France. Sometimes it is a minister
who has tendered his resignation ; at another, some other
personage has refused a ministry offered to him ; at another,
there is to be an exchange of portfolios ; and next, the
minister is about to disappear by the suppression of the
department itself. All these rumours propagated abroad
are completely unfounded. Not only is there nothing to
authorise them, but they have not even the semblance of
reality, and there's nothing in:the facts to give a shadow of
pretext for those inventions. It has happened at other times
that ministerial modifications having become probable, have
opened a path to conjecture more or less probable, but at
present there is nothing to explain this gossipping of the
foreign press. Since the decree of the 14th November, no
ministerial change has ever been in contemplation ; no
minister has tendered his resignation, and no offer of a
portfolio has beenmade—in a word, no kind of modification
has been thought of either in men or things. Will not this
categorical contradiction, which applies to all the reports
circulated on the subject, suffice to convince the journals
which have served as the echo to them, that they ought no
longer to abuse the credulity of their readers P"

BOURSE, Dec. 19.—The little buoyancy which
was apparent in the market yesterday has again
disappeared, business has been very limited, and
prices show a slight decline. Threes, for the Ac-
count, are now at 67f 20c. Railway share market
also heavy.

The following are the last quotations :
ft per per Cents ... 94 65 Credit Foncier llBO
Do end month.... 94 75 ; Belgian 41 —
3 per Cents
Do. end month 67 20 ' Roman
Bank Shares 2945 Austrian
Credit Mobilier.... 715 —1 Spanish Threes 49
Do. Account 717 50 ; Home Debt