The Sun.
London, England, 1861-03-26 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY EVENING, MARCH 26, 1861.

THEATRE-ROYAL, HAYMIRKET.
Lesmee, Mr. J. B. Blackstone.
On EASTER MONDAY (April 1)„ will be performed
A DUKE IN DIFFICULTIES. Mrs. Stirling, Miss F.
Haydon. Mrs. Wilkins, Miss Fanny Stirling, Mr. ttuckstone,
Mr. Compton, Mr. Howe. &v.

Alter which, will be revived, with entirely new scenery
and effects, and all the original music by the late Sir Henry
Bishop, the melodrama of.THE MILLER AND HIS MEN,

Cemmenoe at 7.,

NEW THEATRE-ROYAL, ADELPHI.-
Sole Proprietor and Manager, Mr. B. Webster.
Novel Attraction for the Passion Week. —;TO-NIGHT
( enesday), and every evening during the Week (Friday ex-
cepted), the celebrated Italian Illusionist, Chevalier ANTO-
NIO POLETTL in his extraordinary and wonderful enter-
tainment of NATURAL and CHYMICAL MAGIC; and
Pell's (the Original Bones) Ethiopian Minstrels. Doors open
at half-past Six, commence at Seven. Box-office open To-
morrow (Wednesday), Thursday, and Saturday, from 10 to 5.
No charge for booking.

ADELPHI, NEW THEATRE-RON-AL.
Sole Proprietor and Manager, Mr. Ben). Webster.
On EASTER MONDAY, a new drama, AIAGLIORE,
PRESTIDIGITATOR. Messrs. B. Webster, J. L. Toole,
D. Fisher, Ac.; Miss K. Kelly, Miss El. Simms, Ac.
After which, OUR FEMALE AMERICAN COUSIN.
Miss Julia Daly.
Doors open at half past 6—Commenee at 7.

CANTERBURYstmi-H nsterALL-road. CONCERTS!!!
We
Proprietor ........C. Morton.
A Grand Selection from Verdi's new Opera,
IL CORSARO,

(This opera has never been produced in this or any other
country, except at these Concerts), having met with that de-
cided success which charactisei the most popular works of
this great Master, will be performed EVERY EVENING ;
together with a Selection from LA FIGLIA DEL REGGI-
mENTO, by Donizetti,
Principal Artistes—Miss Russell, Madame Maria, Miss
Tyrrell, Mr. H. Herbert, Signor Tivoli, H. Drummond, and
C. W. Bernard. Director, Arr. F. Jonghmans.
The Comic Department comprises Messrs. E. Marshall, A.
B. Hollingsworth, J. Blanchard, F. Bell, W. IL Welland, and
the Brothers Conrad.

John Martin's Three celebrated Pictures will remain on
view a short time longer in the Fine Arts Gallery of the
Establishment.

T H E OXFORD,
No. 6, OXFORD-STREET.
Madame Parepa, Miss Russell, Madame Marietta, and Miss
Poole ; Mr. Swift, Mr. George Genge, Mr. Charles Greville,
and Mr. Santley ; •Mtss Rosina Collins (the celebrated Vio-
liniste), and Mr. Levy, in addition to a host of talent, will
appear at
THE GRAND INAUGURATION CONCERT
THIS EVENING (TUESDAY), March 26
THE OXFORD, 6, Oxford-street.

HIGH WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE.
Tsui DAY.—Morning, 112. 30m.—Afternoon, lh. 52m.
To-uomtow.-Morning, 2h. 11m.—Afternoon, 2h. 20m.

THE WEATHER.—SUN OFFICE, MARCH 26, 1861.
THERMOMETER, IN THE SHLDII,
58—highest since noon yesterday.
44—lowest this morning and during the night.
58—this day at noon.

BluoNrETzu-29.70.
WIND--South-Wasterly—light ; with cloudy weather.

LONDON, TUESDAY, MARCH 26, 1861.

To-day we have before us the instrument which
defines the mode in which one of the greatest social
and political changes of modern Europe is to be
effected. It is a change in what is now called
Europe, but the country and the inhabitants are,
as they were in ancient times, Asiatic rather than
European, and the manifesto or decree of the CZAR
has in it quite as much of the Tartar as of the
Western character. Allowing for the effect of
contact with a higher civilisation, and the improved
education of the Czars themselves, since the time of
PETER TIIE GREAT, we may trace in this remark-
able document the hand of the divinely appointed
Ruler of the people, their chief Priest as well as
their King, their Father as well as their Monarch,
in short all that a Russian peasant understands by
his customary cry of—" GOD and the CZAR."

The institution, whose end is now commenced,
and which is, at most, not to outlive two years, is by
no means so ancient an institution as some imagine.
It was originated in 1599, only, therefore, about
two hundred and sixty years ago, by the usurper
BORIS GODUNOFF, and its original intent seems to
have been to restrain the wandering habits of the
people, to make them amenable to regular Govern-
ment, to induce them to commence habits of civili-
zation, and perhaps as much as anything to make
it possible to levy taxes on them, and to raise sol-
diers from among them. It was not a European
but an Asiatic feudalism. The right in the soil was
held to be with the nobles, and the peasants were
settled in localities, in which they had to pay
to their chief three days' labour in
the week, for the right to cultivate
their share of the village or communal soil, the
other three days for themselves. This was the
simple origin, it would appear, of all the oppressive
usages which the nobles have for nearly three
hundred years engrafted upon it, Russian serf-
dom has not been in many respects so bad as
American slavery ; on his own land the serf was a
sort of freeman, and his master could not sell his
children or separate husband and wife; but he
could send him into the army, or vex him by fixing
days for service inconvenient to him ; or if he were
in a city, and thriving as a tradesman, could order
him home at once to his village and to agricultural
service; and in numberless ways he had acquired
a power to make his life intolerable to him, if dis-
posed to tyranny. At this moment, however, the
strange fact is, that while Anglo-Saxon Republicans
in America are seceding and recombining in order
to maintain a far worse system of slavery than that
of Russia, the despotic CZAR is doing his utmost to
strike the fetters off his faithful and devoted

peasants.
And ALEXANDER 11. will do it too. Some of us
may feel a little disappointed not to see in the Im-
perial manifesto an immediate freedom conferred
on the serfs ; but besides that we ought to call to
mind our own West India apprenticeship, we
cannot, with our imperfect acquaintance with the
details of Russian peasant life and relations, take
upon us to pronounce that the CZ AR has not adopted
the best course after all. We may be confident that
he is sincere ; the conduct of the House of
ROMANOFF towards its own serfs proves that. We
may be sure, too, that he is " master of the situa-
tion." The nobles dare not resist him. They dare
not resort to the good old Russian substitute for
dissolving Parliament, the assassination of their
EMPEROR ; it would, they know, and indeed say,
be the signal for a universal massacre
of their order ; they are but about 100,000
among forty millions of serfs, who would
certainly take a bloody revenge for the mur-
der of their protector. Hence, though they
have submitted with an ill grace, and tried every
obstructive and delaying measure which did not
appear like direct Opposition, and which would
not create a rebellion, they have never dared to
refuse obedience to the Imperial will. The pea-
sants on their part have waited with exemplary
patience, knowing that they and the CZAR had
the nobles secure and helpless between them, and
that the final result could not be long delayed.
It is not a little striking to us
Westerns to
notice the religious as well as paternal style of
this remarkable historical document. The CZAR
speaks of himself as he common father
Of all, and of the nobles as dwelling

originally in affectionate patriarchal rela-
tions with their peasantry ; and he laments
that, in the course of years, " The simplicity of
morals diminished as the diversity of the mutual
relations became complicated, as the paternal cha-
racter of the relations between the proprietors and
the peasants became weakened, and, moreover, as
the seigneurial authority fell sometimes into hands
exclusively occupied with their personal interests,
those bonds of mutual good will slackened, and a
wide opening was made for an arbitrary sway which
weighed upon the peasants, was unfavourable to
their welfare, and made them indifferent to all
progress under the conditions of their existence."
He commends, however, the present nobles
of the Empire for what they certainly
well knew to be no merit of theirs —he,
on his part, " came to the conviction that the work
of a serious improvement of the condition of the
peasants was a sacred inheritance bequeathed to us
by our ancestors—a mission which, in the course of
events, Divine Providence called upon us to fulfil."
And then, turning to the nobles, he adds :—" We
also count upon the generous devotion of our
faithful nobility, and we are happy to testify to that
body the gratitude it has deserved from us, as well
as from the country, for the disinterested support
it has given to the accomplishment of our designs.
Russia will not forget that the nobility, acting
solely upon its respect for the dignity of man and
its love for its neighbour, has spontaneously
renounced rights given to it by serfdom actually
abolished, and laid the foundation of a new future,
which is thrown open to the peasants."
Though not easy for us to appreciate the precise
bearing and probable working of all the arrange-
ments, this much is quite clear,—the peasant will
for two years remain liable to the obligations of the
old regwie; though we know from our own ex•
perience in the West Indies that their masters mar
be glad to commute sooner an exceptional position
unpleasant to both parties. A certain portion of
his land he is to have as necessary to his main-
tenance, and for the purchase of the remainder ho
may arrange with his landlord ; a fixed rent is to
be paid, if the landlord can get it from a person
who is not a tenant at will. And for the
settlement of all disputes on terms and
arrangements between peasants and landlords,
special courts are to be extensively created.
Government is to aid with loans for the purchase
of the property, but how the vast amount requisite
for the conversion of the land into the property of
the peasants, needy too, as se many of the nobles
are, and unable to live without fair payment, it is
difficult to understand.

We must, however, hail the measure as one of
the best omen. It will render war impossible for
Russia till the arrangements are settled—when the
peasants become small freeholders or copyholders,
then time will be too valuable in a country posses-
sing so much spare land, to be wasted in war.
A middle class will also arise, and Czars may be-
come in tithe the fathers of domestic industry and
progress, rather than the domineering plagues of
Eastern Europe.

It will be a fearful calamity if London is again
to witness a strike among the building operatives.
Already there are serious threatenings of it. But,
GOD grant that these ominous tokens of an appa-
rently oncoming evil may be speedily and utterly dis-
sipated ! It is doubly alarming because the thou-
sands upon thousands of workmen in this branch
of trade have barely as yet begun to recover from
the disastrous consequences brought upon them-
selves last year by an unequal, it might even be
termed a suicidal, struggle of a precisely similar
character. But it should besides this be borne in
especial recollection, before it may turn out to be
too late, that between the past strike, the dreadful
strike of 1860, and the seemingly future strike,
apparently in some points of view the inevitable
strike of 1861, there has befallen these unfortunate
bricklayers, these hodbearers, these toiling Israelites
among the masterful Egyptians by whom they are
employed, another and a very severe trial, for which,
however, they themselves are in no way respon-
sible—an ordeal allotted to them by an inscrutable
dispensation of Divine Providence. Midway between
the bygone summer of 1860 and the approaching
summer of 1861, there came that severe and length-
ened wintry season, which necessitated the inter-
ruption, for so long a period, of all kinds of build-
ing operations, throwing out of employment the
very men who most needed work, and that, more-
over, at the precise period when they most urgently
required it, both by reason of the severity of the
weather and of the calamitous prolongation of the
then recent idleness to which they had, during so
considerable a portion of 1860, been voluntarily
subjected. It must be quite manifest to any one,
upon an instant's reflection, that another strike
coming now so soon after its lamentable predecessor,
(that preceding strike having been, in its turn,
almost immediately followed by a frost that in
London alone threw hundreds of thousands of the
industrious population upon the charity of their
fellow-creatures), must prove, should it most lament-
ably come to pass, in spite of every endeavour to
prevent its appalling apparition—must prove, in
that deplorable contingency, disastrous beyond all
reasonable calculation.

The sufferings caused by the " turn-out" in
1860 are surely not yet forgotten. They will
hardly be forgotten for years to come by the
sufferers themselves. They still live vividly enough
in the recollection of all amongst us who looked upon
them as sympathising spectators, as spectators
struggling—how inadequately, it is woeful yet, to
this moment, to have in remembrance !—struggling,
each in his own way, as sympathising spectators
to minister some mite, some drop, some atom of
relief or comfort to those who were being sacrificed
to the Moloch Conspiracy.
The sufferings again, the yet more recently and
yet more wide-spread sufferings, consequent upon
the severity of the last winter and its long con-
tinuance as a preventative of labour, cannot in
their turn have in any way faded out of the
memory of the mass of the population. It was,
too, visible all through that death-dealing frost,
to be lost sight of, or to be regarded by
anyone as a matter of uncertainty. It
stalked howling through the streets, day
after day, in the form of clusters of working-men,
fathers of families most of them, pleading for a dole
of charity from the passers by. It besieged in
hungry crowds the offices of the police magi-
strates, where relief in kind was distributed
to n umerous applicants as from the Conventual grille
of the Middle Ages, or, in later times, from the
buttery hatch of the Old English country gentle-
man. At this moment we do verily believe that a
bonfire of really terrible dimensions (remembering
the frightful significance of each little pasteboard
flake composing it!) might be made in one of the
public places of this capital, a huge and mo,t
melancholy bonfire, composed entirely of the pawn-
tickets for poor furniture and poorer cicthing not yet
redeemed from those readily accessible bankers and
usurers of the masses, pawn-tickets obtained for the
bare necessities of existence, for the daily crust and
the nightly garret-roof—by reason, first of all of
that accursed strike of 1860, and secondly, and,
141Ets ! how soon afterwards, of that Wintry

season that has but just now terminated.
Yet already, hard upon the heels of these redupli-
cated calamities, come these -sinister forebodings
that in the summer of 1861 the strike of 1860 will
be repeated. It is scarcely credible that men, to
their own grievous detriment, and to the mental
grief and bodily anguish of their wives and children,
should thus obdurately persist in acting in a manner
so miserably insensate. Why, the strike of last year
—which at its close, recollect, proved to have been
utterly abortive, realising none of the objects for the
attainment of which it was rashly originated—why,
that strikeof last year was so visibly evil in its effects,
was so glaringly pernicious and destructive, that it
absolutely told its tale upon the periodical returns
of the Bills of Mortality. True, that throughout the
mournful history of that terrible strike, the opera-
tives who ceased labour, the operatives who were
the first and the most grievous of all the sufferers
from it, evidenced, from first to last, the noblest
capacity for endurance, the most affecting calm—(a
calm stoical, however, in its stubbornness, rather
purely Christian, seeing that it was, so to speak,
wilfully self-necessitated)—the most affecting calm
under a world of accumulated privations. Yet all
these were virtues born out of wrong—
virtues utterly thrown away and lost
fruitless of any good whatever, for
they result, as we all know, in nothing but death,
disease, and wretchedness.

Bearing in mind, moreover, that latterly there
has been a distinct conciliatory advance made by
the masters to the workmen with a view to the recon-
ciliation of these long existing differences—here
surely is afforded to both the very opportunity for
the effectual prevention of the recurrence of these
most miserable strikes, the very opportunity (for
their effectual, and we will hope, permanent pre-
vention) which by all those who like ourselves are
merely looking on at the disputants, as it were,
from without, could most eagerly have been desi-
deratcd, The advance which is understood to have
been now made by an intelligent cluster of the em-
ployers is one simply to the effect that by paying the
labourer henceforth by the hour instead of as
hitherto by the day, the bone, as one may say,
would be taken out of the wrist of each noisy leader
of the nine hours' movement. Instead of paying
the workmen as hitherto by the day—a system
yielding about 335. a week to the better class of
mechanics, and about a pound sterling per week to
the ordinary day labourer (pay yielding remu-
neration at the rate of 61-d. an hour to the former,
and 4d. an hour to the latter, that is, to the
ordinary day labourer) instead of paying
them thus, it is suggested that the employers
should remunerate the employed by the hour, thus
placing the time of the employed more at his own
disposal and apportionment. It is proposed more-
over that while paying the skilled mechanic by
the hour his pay should be set down, not at the
rate of 61d. per hour, but at the rate of 7d.—the
day labourer still receiving his 4d. What may be
thought eventually by the workmen of such a com-
promise as the one just now particularised, time
alone can demonstrate. Let us only trust most
earnestly that the concession made now by the
masters in offering any proposition at all with a
view to a reconciliation of all differences on the
question, and to the obliteration of all heartburn-
ings in the past, may be so far responded to by the
honest-hearted workmen themselves, that the latter
may evidence in return a reasonable amount of
moderation. A repetition of the strike may thus
most surely be guarded against ; and instead of our
beholding masters and men any longer idly and
periodically breaking straws together, while the
former are seriously injuring their fortunes, the
latter wearing their hearts out meanwhile in use-
less longings and cruelly self-inflicted privations—
we may hear at length that they have mutually
and wisely contented themselves in one way or
another with simply splitting the difference.

M. KOSSUTH bas certainly got money's worth for
his notes, even should he never be able to use one
of them. The affidavit we publish to-day will be
read not only by most Englishmen, to whom it will
be, notwithstanding its legal form, a positive treat,
but it will be read all over France, the French
EMPEROR having an interest rather in its publica-
tion than its suppression ; it will find its way all
through Germany itself, and not be easily kept out
of Austria proper, while the Italians will cordially
welcome it to their tongue and to their country.
Nothing can keep it out of Hungary, for Lord
JOHN RUSSELL will be unable to send her
MAJESTY'S steamer the Banshee, to carry off copies
of the affidavit, as she carried away the Hungarian
arms to Constantinople ; and the clear assertion of
undeniable truth by the ex-Governor of Hungary,
will brand FRANCIS JOSEPH not only as a usurper
in Hungary, but as a traitor to the hereditary
claimant of the throne, FERDINAND V. It is said,
indeed, that the present court of Austria are endea-
vouring by every means to get FERDINAND to abdi-
cate the throne of Hungary, as he did that of
Austria, that they cannot persuade him to do it,
and that they consequently keep him a virtual
prisoner. Quite certain it is, however, that if
KOSSUTH'S appointment to be Governor-President
of Hungary be passed by, there is no evasion of the
fact that FERDINAND V. is the living and rightful
King of Hungary. Our courts of law, appealed to
by the Emperor of AUSTRIA, will certainly thus far
do him justice ; the pleadings will prove that
that he may be Emperor of what he calls Austria,

but that he is not King of Hungary. The court
itself would almost seem, however reluctantly, to be
obliged to enter into the inquiry. How can it sus-
tain a demand from the King of Hnngary, unless
the plaintiff can prove that he is really King ?

We shall wait with some interest to see what Sir
HUGH CAIRNS' client will have to say to all this.
His counsel, it will be remembered, found this
reply so puzzling that he had to apply for an ex-
tension of time to put in his rejoinder ; what ability
can do for Count APPONYI and his Master, Sir
HUGH CAIRNS will assuredly do ; but we
do not see how he can turn a usurper into a King,
that King being yet living in the dominions of the
usurper himself ; and his subjects being unanimous
in asserting that he is still their King.
M. KOSSUTH proves, indeed, that he is himself
still in the position to which he was elevated by the
Diet, and the duties of which he solemnly
swore to fulfil. That if FRANCIS JOSEPH
were King of HUNGARY he would have
no power to issue notes ; that hs is the only person
authorised to issue them ; that the Royal Arms
spoken of by the plaintiff do not exist in Hun-
gary ; that the use of the emblem, so called by the
plaintiff is the right of every Hungarian, and spe-
cially of the nobles, to which class KOSSUTH
belongs ; that the notes are in no sense " spurious
notes" being only what they profess to be, and
imitations of no other notes in existence ; and

'Luther, that he had not attempted, and did not

intend to attempt, the introduction of these notes
into Hungary while the present system of forcible
dominion existed there. He explains also the
purpose for which he wanted them, which was to
do justice to the persons who suffered by the
Austrian confiscation of the Hungarian notes of
1849, and its shameless robbery of the national bul-
lion from the Hungarian Treasury on which that

circulation was based. The answer appears to be
superabundantly complete on all points, and we
do not wonder that, on behalf of his client, Sir
HUGH CAIRNS asked for time. We hope he
will get nothing else for him.

The Marquis and Marchioness of Chateaurenard
have left Wilton-crescent, and taken up their residence at
Albert-gate House.

Earl Brownlow has left town to join Lady Marian
Alford at Rome.

The Countess of Antrim was safely delivered of
a son on the 22d inst., at Glenarm Castle, Ireland.

Viscountess Palmerston will have an assembly
on Saturday, the 13th of April, at Cambridge House.

Lord and Lady Herbert have left Belgrave-
square, for Wilton House, near Salisbury, for three weeks.

Their Serene Highnesses Prince Frederic of
Schleswig-Holstein-Augustenburg and Prince Victor of
Hohenlohe•Langenburg arrived at Windsor Castle on Sun-
day night.

The Archbishop of York has left Claridge's Hotel
for the Archiepiscopal Palace, York.
The Duchess of Leeds and Miss Lane Fox are
passing a few weeks at St. Leonard's-on-Sea.

The Marquis of Exeter has arrived at Claridge's
Hotel from Burghley House, Stamford.

Sir Henry and the Hon. Lady Alildmay have
arrived at their house in Eaton-place, from Dogmerstield
Park, Hants.

The Right Hon. R. A. C. and Lady Mary
Hamilton have arrived at Farrance's Hotel, from Lincoln-
shire.

The Hon. George and ilrs. Barrington have
arrived at their residence in Hertford-street, from visiting
Viscount and Viscountess Barrington at Beckett House,
Berks.

Lord and Lady Itokeby leave town on Thursday
for Hazelwood House, Herts, for the Easter holidays.

Lord and Lady Foley have left Grosvenor-square
for Worksop Manor, Notts.

Lord Courtenay has arrived at the Hotel Bristol,
Paris, from a tour in Algeria.

Mr. and Mrs. Barton and family have left
Claridge's Hotel for Paris.

Mr. and Mrs. Dudley C. Majoribanks have
arrived at the Queen's Hotel, Upper Norwood.
THE LATE DUCHESS OF KENT.—COWES, March
25, 1861.—Out of respect to the memory of her late Royal
Highness the Duchess of Kent, the inhabitants of Cowes
closed their shutters during the day of the funeral, the flags
on shore and afloat were hosted half-mast high—the Royal
Standard and the other flags at the R. Y. S. Castle were
also at half-mast, and orders were given for the guns to be
fired minutely from the R. Y. S. battery; but a letter was
received from Dr. Davids, stating that the Rev. Mr. Hughes
was so dangerously ill that the firing of the cannons might
cause his death, they were, therefore, not discharged. The
rev. gentleman was doing duty for the Rev. J. B. Atkin-
son, at the Old Church, at West Cowes, on Sunday even-
ing, when, in the middle of his sermon, to the dismay of
his eongregation, he was seized with paralysis ; he became
almost inaudible, his sermon was suddenly brought to a
close, and it required the assistance of Dr. Gibson and one
of the churchwardens to remove him from the pulpit.
THE NEW ACT ON BANK OF ENGLAND PAYMENTS.
—Yesterday, the act which received the Royal assent on
Friday, was issued respecting certain,payments to and from
the Bank of England in relation to the National Debt. The
primary object of the Act is to reduce the scale of allowance
to the Bank for managing the public debt as much as
Eio,ooo a-year. The new allowance will commence from
the sth of April next, the commencement of the financial
year. Besides, a new regulation as to the balances on the
dividend account, there is an important alteration with re-
gard to the transfer of stocks and annuities, including the
East India stock. The provision recites that the closing of
the transfer books before the half-yearly payments has
caused great inconvenience " by reason of the stock so
transferred carrying the right to the current half-year." It
is considered desirable to increase the facilities of transfer,
and the act provides that the books may be closed on any
day in the month preceding that on which the dividends are
payable, and the proprietor of the stock shall bo entitled
to the then current half-year's dividend, and the person
to whom the transfer is made after the closing of the
books shall not be entitled to the then current half-year's
dividend on such stock. It is further provided that the
period for which the books are closed shall not exceed 15
days.
SETTLEMENT OF THE BATH STRIKE.—The differ-
ences between the operative masons and their employers
have been settled, and on Monday the men resumed work.
During the last few days deputations from the employers
and employed have met several times to discuss the points
at issue. The result of their conferences was a recommen-
dation to their respective bodies of the following arrange-
ment, to which both parties have agreed :—The employers
to give their men an immediate advance of 4d. per day, and
to allow them to leave work at four o'clock on Saturdays ;
and the men, on their part, to promise to make no further
demand within 12 months from the present time. Either
party must give six months' notice of any intention to
make any alteration in the rate of 'wages nr the hours of
labour. The operatives have thus gained the whole of
their demands, and the only, exaction made from them is
that they shall not strike again:within a year, and that they
shall give six months' notice of any intention to strike.
The advance of wages already made in several branches of
the building trade has induced the plasterers and painters
of this city to form a society, with a view to the improve-
ment of their condition.

FRANCE AND ITALY.—Although England may
lend every succour to Piedmont, the Government of that
country is, and will continue to be, the intimate and insepa-
rable ally of France. It is in compliance with the persis-
tent advice of Louis Napoleon that Piedmont displays the
most surprising activity in augmenting her fleet. There
are at this moment constructing no fewer than eight frigates
and four corvettes in the dockyards of Genoa, Naples, and
Castellamare, where there are constantly employed more
than 5,000 shipwrights ; two iron plated frigates are also
now constructing near Toulon, on account of Piedmont,
and a contract has been concluded in France for two other
vessels of the same description. In a few days a project of
law will be presented by the Government to the Italian
Parliament, demanding a supplementary, credit of 30,000,000
of francs, exclusively destined for the construction of six
other frigates.

CURIOUS OMEN, OR COINDIDENCE.—On Wed-
nesday night, or rather Thursday morning, at three o'clock,
the inhabitants of the metropolis were roused by repeated
strokes of the new great bell at Westminster, and most per-
sons supposed it was for a death in the Royal family. There
might have been about 20 slow strokes, when it ceased. It
proved, however, to be due to some derangement of the
clock, for at four and five o'clock WI or twelve strokes were
struck instead of the proper number. On mentioning this in
the morning to a friend, who is deep in London antiquities
he observed, that there is an opinion in the City that any-
thing the matter with St. Paul's great bell is an omen of ill
to the Royal family ; and ho added, I hope the opinion will
not extend to the Westminster bell. This was at eleven on
Friday morning. I see this molting that it was not till
one a.m. the lamented Duchess of Kent was considered in
the least danger, and as you are aware she expired in less
than 24 hours. Ido not pause to comment on this curious
coincidence, but to ask whether any one can give any fur-
ther particulars as to this opinion.—Cwrespondent in
" Notes and Querns.,'

ELECTION LAW AMENDMENT BILL.—The Cor-
rupt Practices Prevention Act of 1354 expires in August,
and Sir G. C. Lewis has therefore brought in a new bill
to be substituted for it, in the main renewing the existing
law, but embodying alterations suggested by the select
committee which considered the subject last year. The elec.
tionauditors are not continued ; the scheme proved a failure ;
but all payments are to be made through an authorised
agent, and as the publication of election expenses affords
protection against illegal expenditure to candidates and
their friends really desirous to avoid it, an account is
to be rendered to the returning officer and published in
local newspaper. The pecuniary penalty for bribery,treating,
or undue influence is reduced from £5O to £2O, and that for
accepting a bribe to £lO, and the clause requiring that the
penalty be sued for in the superior courts is omitted. The of-
fence of treating is extended ti the corruptly providing enter-
tainment by a candidate for 1 irsons other than electors, with
a view to influencing the election, and the votes of all who
corruptly accept such entertiimaent and of voters paid for
furnishing it are to be void. No money is to be given to a
voter for travelling expense:, but conveyance may be pro-
•ided for him at county elections. The clause pro-
viding for payment of coss by the prosecutor on the
failure of an indictment for bribery is discontinued,
as not in accordance with he ordinary course of crimi-
nal law, and tending to iglispose any one from prose-
cuting. It is made a niMemeanour for a person em-
ployed by a candidate for ihe purposes of an election to
vote thereat. There are sone clauses for regulating legal
proceedings, and proceedino before election committees;
treating may be proved befov proving agency. A certificate
of indemnity given by Comnissioners to a witness racking a
true disclosure is to extend .nly to such prosecutions and
punishments as he was liable to at the time when he gave
his evidence. County polling districts may be altered on the
petition of 50 voters. A commission of inquiry may be
issued on the joint address 0) both houses, where a petition
alleging extensive bribery, beating, or other corrupt prac-
tices at any election is presorted within a limited period
after the time for presenting election petitions. Ono re-
commendation of the commitme is not adopted, the resolu-
tion carried by Mr. Ayrton Ly a majority of taw, that any
person in the employ of ancthr be at liberty to absent him-
self for the time necessary fo; the purpose of voting for the I
place where he resides withost being subject to any loss of
wages, or other penalty.
EXPLOSION AT HOUNSLOW POWDER MILLS...s.A
working charge explosion :ook place at the Hounslow
Powder Mills of Messrs. Crrtis and Harvey on Saturday
evening, just previously to tie cessation of work. The re-
port was unusually loud, but as the material was in a very
imperfect state the damage due is unimportant, and what
is far more satisfactory no person was in any way inillrod•

FUNERAL OF HER ROYAL I: UGLINESS

THE LATE DUCHESS OF KENT.

(From the Court Circular.)

The remains of her late Royal Highness the
Duchess of Kent, attended by Colonel Lord Tames
Murray, Equerry to her late Royal Highness, and
the Hon. Spencer Ponsonby, Comptroller in the
Lord Chamberlain's Department, were removed
from Frogmore-house, at four o'clock yesterday
morning, to St. George's Chapel, Windsor, and
placed near the tomb of her late Royal
Highness the Princess Charlotte. Four of the
members of the late Royal Duchess's household fol-
lowed in a second mourning coach. Viscount Castle-
rosse, Vice -Chamberlain of the Queen's household,
received the body.

At half-past 10 o'clock those who had the honour of
receiving the Queen's commands to attend the ceremony
of the funeral were conducted to seats in the choir. The
Belgian, Hanoverian, Portuguese, Prussian, and Saxon
Ministers, Earl Granville, Viscount Palmerston, and Lord
John Russell, were on the north side. The Earl of St. Ger-
mans, the Duke of Atholl, and the Marquis of Ailesbury
occupied seats on the south side of the choir.
The remains of her late Royal Highness were moved at
10 minutes before 11 o'clock to the nave, and shortly after
the Royal Family and other Royal personages were con-
ducted by Viscount Sydney, Lord Chamberlain, from the
Chapter-room of St. George's Chapel, to their places in the
procession. The remainder of those appointed to take part
in the procession passed from \Volsey's Chapel to their
places.

The Canons of Windsor present were the lion. and Rev.
Edward Moore, the Rev. Lord Wriothesley Russell, the
lion. and Rev. Charles Leslie Courtenay, and the Rev. Fre-
derick Anson.

The opening sentences of the Burial Service—a chant
adapted from Beethoven—were sung by the choir while
the procession moved up the nave to the choir of the
Chapel. The body was placed in front of the altar at a
quarter past 11 o'clock. The coffin, of crimson velvet, was
covered by a pall of black velvet, bearing eight escocheons
of the arms of the late Duchess of Kent.

The Hon. and Very Rev. Gerald Wellesley, the Dean of
Windsor, stood in the front of the altar and read the first
part of the Burial Service. The anthem (Luther's Hymn)
was performed, the solo part being sung by Mr. Tolley, a
gentleman of the choir. The Dean continued the service.
" I heard a voice from Heaven" (Croft) was sung by the
choir. Dr. Elvey presided at the organ.'
The Dean concluded the service, and the coffin was then
lowered.

Sir Charles Young, Knight, Garter King of Arms, pro-
claimed the style of her late Royal Highness :--
"Thus it hath pleased Almighty God to take out of this
transitory life unto His divine mercy the Most Illustrious
Princess Victoria Maria Louisa, widow of the Most High,
Most Mighty, and Illustrious Prince Edward, Duke of
Kent and Strathern, and mother of her Most Excellent
Majesty Victoria, by the grace of God, of the United King-
dom of Great Britain and Ireland Queen, Defender of the
Faith, whom God bless and preserve with long life, health,
and honour, and all worldly happiness."

The Prince Consort and the Prince of "Wales were
attired in mourning, and wore the riband and badge of the
Most Noble Order of the Garter. The other Royal per-
sonages in the procession, the Foreign Ministers, and the
Queen's Ministers and officers of State present at the cere-
mony were also attired in mourning, and those who are
members of Orders of Knighthood wore their respective
insignia.

The service was concluded at 25 minutes before 12 o'clock,
his Royal Highness the chief mourner and the other Royal
personages were conducted out of the chapel, the "Dead
March," in Saul, being played by the organist.
The chaplains to her late Royal Highness, the Rev.
Messrs. Fisher, Pitman, and Pitt, and one of the Equerries
of the Royal Duchese, Lord Howden, did not take part in
the procession, being unable to attend. Lady Anna Maria
Dawson, the Hon. Lady Phipps, Lady Charlotte Dundas,
General Sir Robert and Lady Gardiner, and Dr. Robertson,
of Balmoral,'who had been honoured by the Queen's com-
mand to attend the funeral, were also unavoidably pre-
vented from being present.

Their Serene Highnesses Prince Frederic of Schleswig-
Holstein-Augustenberg and Prince Victor of Hohenlohe-
Langenburg arrived at Windsor Castle on Sunday night.

OXFORD, MARCH 25.—DEGREE DAYS.—Congre-
gations will be holden for the purpose of granting graces
and conferring degrees on the following days in the ensuing
term :—Wednesday, April 10; Thursday, May 2; Friday,
May 10; Saturday, May IS, Candidates for degrees are
required to enter their names in a book kept for that pur-
pose at the Vice-Chancellor's house on or before the day
preceding the day of congregation.

CONSECRATION OF THE BISHOP OF WORCESTER.
Yesterday morning the ceremony of consecrating the Right
Rev. Dr. Henry Philpott, who has been nominated by the
Crown to the bishopric of Worcester, rendered vacant by
the death of the Right Rev. Dr. Henry Pepys, took place
in the private chapel of Lambeth Palace.

The Brighton Railway traffic return shows this
week an increase of X 2,005, and the South• Eastern an in-
vl ,0000.

The traffic receipts of the Great Western Rail-
way of Canada, for the week ending March 8, were
£9,410 sterling, being £667 more than in the correspond-
ing week of last year.

The traffic receipts of th© Grand Trunk Railway
Company of Canada, for the week ending March 2, were
£13,008 sterling, being £1,407 more than in the correspond-
ing week of last year.

EXTRAORDINARY HUMAN SKELETON.—As the
workmen employed in sinking a foundation for the enlarge-
ments now being made in the parish church of Mullioger,
Ireland, were pursuing their work at the east end of the
building, they discovered amongst the other remains of
human beings, the perfect skeleton of a man measuring over
seven feet in length, and which appeared from the im-
mense size of the skull and other portions—such as the
bones of the hands, jaw-bones, &c.—to have equalled in its
other dimensions its extraordinary height. Its position
war considerably deeper in mother earth than that at
which human skeletons are generally found. There was
barely sufficient appearance of a coffin to prove that it had
received proper interment, but everything connected "with
it indicates its having occupied its lonely tenement for
several centuries.

FATAL SCAFFOLD ACClDENT.—Yesterday morn-
ing a frightful occurrence took place in Great Marlborough-
street, by which a bricklayer was almost instantly deprived
of life. It appears that the deceased was at work on a scaf
fold erected to repair the front of a house, when a putlog
slipped and the unfortunate man fell with great violence to
the foot pavement from the height of 50 feet; he was in-
stantly removed in an unconscious state to Middlesex. Hos-
pital, but was dead before he reached the institution, his
skull having been completely shattered by the fall.
REDUCTION OF THE ARMY IN IRELAND.—In
consequence of the extremely peaceable condition of every
part of the country, in which the military has been acting
for a long time pastas an armed police, it is, we understand,
the intention of the War-office to reduce the troops sta-
tioned in this country by at least one-third of their present
number. Arrangements, it is stated, are being made to have
this plan put into execution as soon as possible.—Freaman's
Journal.

THE SHAM FIGHT AT BRlGHTON.—Yesterday
afternoon, in accordance with a requisition to the mayor,
a public meeting was held at the Town-hall, Brighton, to
adopt measures for a general holiday in that town on
Easter Monday, in order to afford an opportunity to all
classes of the inhabitants to witness the volunteer review.
The chair was occupied by the mayor—Mr. F. Algar—and
resolutions were adopted in accordance with the objects of
the meeting. Lord Ranelagh, who is now residing at the
Bedford Hotel, is actively engaged with other officers
in making various arrangements for the event, and at
the last Ineeting of the Brighton directors and guar-
dians it was resolved to place at his lordship's disposal for
head-quarters the newly erected Industrial Schools, which
are situated on the scene of action, in the vicinity of the
race-hill. The grand stand will be occupied by the Lord
Lieutenant of the county, the Earl of Chichester, and
other distinguished visitors, with the band of the sth Dra-
goon Guards, which will attend by permission of Colonel
Calthorpe. The several corps of volunteers will proceed
to the ground by various routes, and will enter the race-
course by the south end, passing between the two lines
of spectators, The whose force is expected to be on the
ground at half-past eleven o'clock, and two lines of
defence will be formed, to meet a supposed enemy, whose
force is conceived to have landed at Shorehr,m and to bo
advancing therefrom. One defensive line will face the
grand stand and extend for about a mile, whilst the second
will stretch its length from the head-quarters to Oven.dean.
The artillery on the extreme left will first open fire on the
supposed enemy, and the several evolutions ineWental to a
conflict in the battle-field will then be carried out in accor-
dance with a programme laid down. The most complete
arrangements will be made for the accommodation of the
public, who, from the nature of the etc selected, will
obtain an excellent view of the spectacle
LADY DOCTORS.—" Mrs. 1)oetor Elizabeth
Blackwell, describes the successful efforts of herself and
sister during nine years in foundirag the New York Infir-
mary for Women and Children, iu which poor women and
children are treated by these l adies,—the main object being,
however, to provide ladies who are engaged in the study of
medicine opportunities for seeing and assisting in practice,
presenting such guarantees to the profession of intelligence
and earnestness on the part of its students that they may in
time gain admittance to other medical charities. Tho In-
firmary has a board of consulting physicians. With re-
gard to the question in medical ethics, whether women
should be allowed and encouraged to practise medicine,
Mrs. Blackwell says :—' It may be interesting to the pro-
fession here to know that it was settled in Englamd two
years ago, when the General Council of Medical Educa-
tion and Registration of the United Kingdom received the
testimonials of a lady-physician (herself), and enrol led her
name in the medical registrar for 1859.' "—Medical Times
and Gazette,

LATE -
LATEST NEWN

PARIS, MARCH 2G.

The Noniteur of to-day announces that the in-
terest on Treasury Bills has been raised to 4, 41,
and 5 per cent. respectively.

TURIN, MARCH 25.

In to-day's sitting of the Chamber of Deputies
M. Audinot made an interpellation (of which he
had previously given notice) in reference to the
affairs of Rome. He expressed his belief that the
Government of the Pope was incompatible with the
liberty and independence of the country and the
civil rights of any civilised nation. He asked the
Ministry whether any negotiations were being
carried on for the purpose of terminating the foreign
intervention at Rome, or what other measures the
Government had in view for the solution of the
question ?

Count Cavour replied :—" We have a right to
have Rome as the capital of Italy. The city of
Turin is ready to sacrifice her position. But we must
go to Rome with the consent of France, when all
sincere Catholics will be convinced that the Church,
far from suffering, will gain by it. The union
of the temporal and spiritual power has always
and everywhere been a source of evil. When we
enter Rome we shall proclaim ample liberty to the
Church, and this liberty shall be guaranteed by a
special statute. If the Court of Rome persists in
the union of the two powers of the Papacy, its
policy will be responsible for the schism which
might result therefrom."
This speech was much applauded.

PESTH, MARCH 26.

The Congregation of the Comitat of Posega has
adopted a resolution declaring the Council of the
Empire to be an institution incompatible with the
constitution of the kingdom.
The Congregation has also protested against the
sending of representatives to the Council of the
Empire.

ITZEHOE, MARCH 25.

The Speaker of the committee for examining the
Danish proposals made an interpellation to-day, in
which he stated that the budget had not been sub-
mitted to the Estates of Holstein, as had been
announced by the Danish Government to the Eng-
lish Government.

The Royal Commissioner replied that he would
refer the matter to Copenhagen, and requested the
Assembly in the meantime to adjourn the discus-
sion of that question.

ITZEHOE, MARCH 26.

In yesterday's sitting of the Estates of Holstein
the proposition of the Committee that the proposal
of the Danish Government, in reference to the
bases of a Constitution for the whole kingdom
should be rejected, was unanimously agreed to.
In reply to the interpellation respecting the
budget made by the spokesman of the Committee,
the Royal Commissioner stated (in addition to
what was reported yesterday evening) that the
discussion of the budget, in so far as it con-
cerned Holstein, would certainly be readily per-
mitted to the Estates.

SHANGHAI, FEB. 6.
The troops at Tien-tsin are shut in by ice.
The mail of the 10th October was the last that
had been landed.
General Collineau died on the 15th of January.
Tontai is levying a heavy tax on the native
dealers.

The Yangtze expedition is to leave on the 9th
inst.

The rebels are making demperate efforts to go
south.
Business is completely suspended.

CANTON, FEB. 15.

The Fearnought has been beeched near Hong
Kong. The Spartan has put back to Foo-chow-foo,
having grounded.
It is reported from Japan that the Secretary of
the American Legation had been murdered at
Yeddo.
The British and French Ministers had tied to
Yakshama. The United States Minister remained
at Yeddo.

SINGAPORE, FEB. 22.
A French mail service has been established be-
tween this place and Saigon.

;POINT DE GALLE; MARCH 3.
Lord Elgin left yesterday for Suez.

FRANCE.

BOURSE, March 25.—The market remains in
the same inanimate state, but with the prices of
Saturday generally well maintained. Threes, for
the account, are now alternating between 68f 15c
and 68f 20c. Railway shares quiet, but firm.
The following are the last quotations :-
41 per per Cents ... 95 90 j Credit Foacier 940
Do end month.... 95 90 Belgian 4} —
3 per Cents
Do. end month 6B 20 Roman
Bank Shares .. 2880 Austrian
Credit Mobilier.... 665 Spanish Threes 4B
Do. Account ...... 662 50 ; Home Debt

RAILWAYS. '
Cish. Account.
Orleans 1417 50 .. 1420
Northern
New ditto 9OO ..
Lyons and Mediterranean 955 .. 953 75
Geneva 3BO ' .. 381 25
Southern 542 50 .. 542 50
Western
• Eastern
Sardinian
Austrian
Lombard 475 .. 472 50

kariS, 7
14e
~
, ,
_ •
se 4
• f-
dr:"Z7.1.410 ..'
n; • ' 7175. 44.
- -ri • • * •-•••.'••••

THE SUN.