The Sun.
London, England, 1861-01-01 00:00:00

Creditors of the Australasian Land and Emigra-
tion Company (Limited) are required to prove their claims
in the Court of Bankruptcy on the Ota January.
The delay in the arrival of the later and anxiously
expected advices from Now York is explained by the severe
character of the weather in the Atlantic, as experienced by
the steamers which have just come our.
A dense fog spread over Southampton Water and
the Solent yesterday, and the mail pickets Seine, Ceylon,
and Tagus could not come into the Southampton dock in
consequence, although they reached the Needles early in
the day. Steam tugs were sent in search of them to bring in
their mails, and had great difficulty is finding the vessels.
THE. MURDER BY D2,OIVNIING IN TIIE RIVER
CLYDE.—In this case, on Saturday, 0. Cue Glasgow Circuit
Court, John M'Fadyen was found gtilty by the jury of the
murder of the child Alexander Shields. His counsel craved
a verdict of insanity. The prisoner was condemned to
death at Glasgow on the 19th inst., het it is expected the
sentence will be remitted on the grocnd of imbecility.
DEATHS FROM STARVATION AND COLD.—Yester-
day Mr. Humphreys, the coroner, had three inquests, at
each of which a verdict was returnedthat death was caused
by destitution, starvation, and cold.
WATCH NIGHT.—Not only ia all the Wesleyan
chapels, but in many of the neetrpolitan churches, were
religions - services performed until a few minutes before
twelve o'clock. The new year was received in silent
prayer, and, after a hymn had bern sung, the congregation
separated.
COVENTRY DISTRESS.—te Rev. Canon Milkr
has issued an Urgent appeal to lis parishioners of St, 'Mar-
tin's, Birmingham, on behalf o the destitute and starving
artisans of Coventry and their amines. A parish meeting
with the same object is to be hdd to -morrow.
THE PRINCE CONSORT IN CAMBRIDGE.—eam.-
bridge was honoured with a Vsit by his Royal Highness
the Prince Consort yesterday, she ostensible object being
the inspection of Madingley-lall, and the preparations
making thereat for the receptionof his Royal Highness the
Prince of Wales.
THE HETTON COLLIEIY EXPLOSION.—The
Hetton Coal Company have uncertaken to provide for the
families of those who were left cestituto by the late explo-
sion in one of their collieries. 21r. Nicholas Wood, one of
the partners of the company, sad it was at first the inten-
tion of the proprietors to subscribe £l,OOO to a fund for the
relief of the afflicted ; but the owners of the colliery sub--
sequeatiy determined to extend their munificence b
viding for the widows and children, the former fq-z life or
till re-marriage, the latter till they were able to provide for
themselves.
A NEW WAR IN PARTRY.—Under this heading
a correspondent of the Morning News at Ballinrobe an-
nounces that Lord Plunk-et was in attendance at sessions
in that town on Friday last, "on a process of ejectment
against some wretches on his property."
THE WEATHER IN IRELAND.—Our frost and
snow have disappeared completely under the influence of a
rapid thaw, which set in on Friday night, accompanied by
a strong breeze from the south-east, which on Saturday
night grew into a perfect hurricane. Some damage to
shipping along the east coast is reported.
,DUTCH RHENISH RAILWAY.—The receipts for
the fortnight ending Dec. 15 amount to £5,972 145., and for
the corresponding period of last year to £5,421 13s. 2d.,
showing an increase of £551 Os. 10d. in favour of the pre-
sent year.
CAPTURE OF COINERS AT BRADFORD,--On
Saturday night Detective Hartley:and Sergeant Sugden and
other officers broke into an apparently unoccupied dwelling
in the locality of Maachester-road, and there found two
young men, named Thomas Williams and Benjamin i
Woodhead, engaged in the act of coining base half-crowns
and base florins.
MEDALS FOR THE POPE'S IRISH BRIGADE.--
The Zorning News has the following announcement :
"We are enabled to state for the information of the soldiers
of StlPatrick's Battalion, that in a few weeks the medals
ordered by the Roman Government for the late campaign
will be ready for distribution, 12,000 medals are now being
struck off. A small portion have reached Ireland, but none
will be distributed until the entire number for St. Patrick's
Battalion reach this country. This will, we understand,
be in about a fortnight. We shall inform the members of
the battalion at the earliest moment of the arrangements
for the distribution of these honours."
SURREY GAS CONSUMERS COMPANY.—A special
meeting of this company was hold to consider what steps
should be adopted on the expiring of Mr. Croll's lease.
Mr. Croll offered ..42,2,000 a-year, in addition to that which
he now paid, if his lease was renewed. This was objected
to, as it was thought the company could obtain a better
dividend if they carried on the work themselves. On the
question of profit, Mr. Croll said he had not made £5,000
a-year, but he would not tell the meeting the exact sum.
The proceedings were brought to a close by a committee
being appointed to consider the whole subject.
Among the advertisements drawn up for the
temptation of the Parisian public at this present-giving
season, is one of a calculating machine, " able to perform
all the operations of arithmetic," for 150 francs. Another
offers "un baby mecaniqui," and we are told that if we were
to see it walk and fight, and hear it cry on being put to bed,
we should call it un petit diablotin.
RAILWAY SIGNALMAN KILLED.—At an early
hour on Saturday morning, an accident, attended with a
fatal result, occurred near the Sudbury Station of the Lo-
ndon and North-Western Railway. It appears that a
policeman, named John 3facnamara, in the Service of the
company, was proceeding along the line to the Brent
branch signal-post, to relieve the signalman, who had been
on night duty, when he incautiously ventured between the
metals, by which the 6.15 a.m. train from Euston station
was approaching, and was struck down by the engine and
frightfully injured, the entire train passing over him and
completely severing his legs from his body. The driver
did not observe the dangerous proximity of the unfortunate
man, owing to the obscurity of the atmosphere, until it
was too late to arrest the speed of the train, and when
assistance was rendered life was extinct.
ABOLITION OF FEES TO CORONERS.—To-day
all fees to county coroners will be abolished under the act
of last session, and henceforth they will be paid by salary,
to be fixed by justices in session on an average of the last
five years. In the event of disagreement, the Home Sec-
retary is to determine the amount to bo awarded. Every
five years a revision of the salaries may be made.
Thaw has set in in Paris, and has rendered the
streets both unpleasant and dangerous. The snow, which
is only melted on the surface, is extremely slippery, and
many accidents have occurred.
CLOSING OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM.—From
this day to the 7th inst. inclusive the British Museum will
be closed to the public, in accordance with' annual usage.
During the recess a strict investigation will be instituted
as to the condition of the books in the reading-room, and
of the works supplied to students from the library of refe-
rence, and the entire collection in those departments will
be compared with the catalogues, in order to ascertain the
precise nature of the dilapidation the volumes may have
sustained. The recent wanton abstraction of some valuable
maps of the Chinese Empire from a folio atlas has induced
the trustees of the national collection to order every pre
caution to be taken to obviate the recurrence of so disgrace
ful a transaction.

CO-OPERATION IN ROSSENDALE.—We (Bury
Times) are told that the Raw•tenstall Manufacturing Com-
pany are endeavouring to treat with Richard Ashworth,
Esq., for the purchase of his extensive works at Fall Barn,
including the mill, machinery, cottages, eze. Appointed
valuers have made an examination of the property, and tho
estimated value is £70,060. We understand that the con-
cern has been conducted very prosperously.
THE LATE ATTEMPTED MURDER AND ROB-
DERY IN DUBLlN.—Joseph Dwyer, the young man ac-
cused of being the person who attemptedto rob and murder
the porter Mullholland, in Blackhall-parade, on the even-
ing of the 27th inst., is now in the ben& of tho poEoc. IZo
was arrested in a back room of the houso No. 64, Church-
street, between three and four o'clock yesterday evening.
The door of the room in which he was found was unlocked.
On the officers entering and seizing him he submitted
without a struggle.

ACCIDENT AT DEVONIDORT.—About 11 o'clock on
Saturday morning last an accident occurred at Devonport.
In consequence of a deficiency of docks in the yards long
enough for the new class of ships lately introduced into the
Royal Navy,'there being only ono (at Keyham) barely
capable of receiving the Himalaya, Messrs. Kitt and Son,
contractors, have been converting two docks in the Devon-
port Dockyard, one inside the other, and called the stern
dock, into a now dock, which will be 360 feet long, and of
proportionate depth. The excavations aro well forward, the
division between the two docks is no more discernible, and
a large quantity of the worked stone which formedthe sides
of the old docks has been roughly piled up just within the
old tidal gates of the original outer dock, which are kept
closed. On this pile a temporary tramway has been laid,
and on Saturday one of the contractor's drivers was con-
ducting over it a truck laden with a heavy block of granite
for facing the new dock. The dock lies 'nearly east and
west, opening into Hamoaze, and the driver was going•
from south to north. When partly across, the truck got
off the rails, and rolled toward the dock. Seeing the im-
pending danger, the driver, calculating on the strength of
the hoi se, which was a powerful animal, thought by putting
Baleful towards the sea, to save the horse, if not the stone
or the truck. His efforts were, however, unavailable : the
truck with the stone ran over, the horse was pulled with it
by the chains, and the driver held on by the bridle so long
that all were precipitated together. The accident quickly
attracted a thousand spectators, who fully expected to find
man and hrsr,-,e The horse, which had one of
his fore legs broken, stood on the other three, and yielded
with much docility to the guidance of a stranger, a soldier,
the first person down. The driver stood up ; he could not
speak, but placed one hand on his face, and pointed to it
with the ether. llis head had been violently dashed
against a block of granite, which broke his jaw ; he was at
first conveyed to•thc dockyard surgezy, and then sent to
his home in a cab. The accident is attributed to the
slippery condition of the rails in consequenceof the state of
the weather,

LATEST NEWS.

PARDON OF COUNT TELEKY.
(REUTER'S TELEGRAMS.)
PARIS, TUESDAY MORNING.
The Moniteur has commenced publishing in
in its non-official part, a daily political review.
That of to-day contains the following :
" The Fmperor of Austria has received Count
Teleky, and announced that he would grant to him
a full and complete pardon, on condition of his
conducting himself henceforth as a faithful sub-
ject.
" Count Teleky promised this, and left the Impe-
rial Palace a free man."
The 21Thniteur also publishes a decree conferring
on General Montauban the Grand Cross of the
Legion of Honour.

VIENNA, JAN. 1.
The official Wiener Zeitung says :—" The Em-
peror having summoned Count Teleky to his pre-
sence, accorded to him the cessation of the pending
proceedings against him, and set him at liberty.
Count Teleky promised to give up all his political
connections abroad, not to cross the frontiers of
the Austrian empire, and to abstain from all parti-
cipation in political affairs."

LIVERPOOL, JAN. 1

The screw steamship Great Britain, Captain
Gray, from Melbourne, was reported off Voel Nant
at 8 o'clock this morning.
The American ship Golden Star, from Mobile
for Liverpool, has been totally lost on the coast
near Wexford.

The captain, his wife, and servant, and 15 hands
were drowned. The mate and six hands were
saved. The cargo consisted of upwards of 3,700
bales of cotton.

LISBON, DEC. 30.
The Royal Mail steamship Magdalena, which
arrived here this morning from the Brazils, will

leave for Southampton at 2 p.m., with 48 pas-
sengers, and $27,726 in specie.

PARIS, DEC. 3

Russia has made complaints here on account o,
the revolutionary agitation in the Principalities.

Prince Couza has offered to Austria certain
guarantees in reference to the Hungarian refugees.
The report that some governments have recently
taken collective steps at Paris in reference to the
question of Gaeta is without any foundation.

VIENNA, DEC. 3

The Creditanstalt has given notice that it will
pay the 5 per cent. interest on the 2d January
next.

This notice has had no effect on the money

market.

BOOKS OF THE SEASON.

The Pilgrim's Progress. By John Bunyan. A
New Edition, with a Memoir and Notes. By.
George Offer. Illustrated with One Hundred
and Ten Designs by J. D. Watson. Engraved
on Wood by the Brothers Dalziel. Routledge.
Among the numerous elegant books that appear
at this season it is gratifying to meet with so excel-
lent a work as this, and which has become a stan-
dard one in the literature of our country. Artistic]
skill and elegant taste have combined to render this
production admirable in its entirety. Those who
peruse this volume will agree in the opinion that
the following hope has been fully realised :—That
veneration for the memory of Bunyan has stimu-
lated the editor's most anxious care to render this
edition a correct fac simile of what the aithor
himself published. The memoir of John Bunyan
is most interesting, and it will afford to many a
clearer insight into the character of that remark-
able man, The strange contrast which his earlier
years presented to his later ones is thus strongly
touched upon :—" The history of mankind does nq
furnish so remarkable'a memoir as that of the prince
of allegorists. From the most degraded state in
the ranks of human nature, he was, by Divine
tuition, fitted to become an exalted minister of the
Gospel, a Christian hero, exhibiting that mighty
conquest over sin and death by which the portals
of life are opened to exquisite enjoyment and to
an infinite and eternal extent.' It is a
remarkable thing that in this period of
lawlessness two such characters as Milton and
Bunyan should hove existed. It is said that
one was a decided republican, whose sublime poem
of "Paradise Lost" has graced the literature of this
country ; the other as decided a royalist, whose
" Pilgrim's Progress" has been proved a most im-
portant blessing, not only to this nation, but to the
whole world. The accoant given of the imprison-
ment of Bunyan is very interesting, and it is worthy
of attention that he wrote the "Pilgrim's Progress"
while in prison ; this was, indeed, finding the way
to lead captivity captive, as is remarked by the
editor in the notes, they imprisoned him
to prevent his preaching .to a few believers,
and from that prison by this book he shed a
sacred lustre not only over all Britain, but to the
uttermost ends of the earth.
"For though men keep my outward man
Within their looks and bars,
Yet, by the faith of Christ, I can
Mount higher than the stars."
The following impressive mention is made of the
effect produced by this extraordinary work. " Thus
by an irresistible impulse from Heaven upon the
mind of a prisoner, for Christ's sake, did
a light shine forth from the dungeon on
Bedford-bridge which has largely contri-
buted to enlighten the habitable globe.
It has been translated into most of the languages
and dialects of the world. Even the Caffrarian
and Hottentot, the enlightened Greek and Hindoo,
the remnant of the Hebrew, the savage Malay, and
tho voluptuous Chinese—all have the wondrous
narrative in their own language." It is unneces-
sary to dwell at any length on the text of a work
which is well known to all readers at all versed in
general literature. Depreciated because not under-
stood by some, and overrated because of the exag-
gerated ideas of others, this composition in its own
real merits is sure to impress powerfully and to in-
fluence rightly all who at all can read its meaning
and possess the key to its storehouse of inexhaus-
tible riches. Some of the symbols of our faith are
herein pourtrayed to us, and many are often more
ctruok• by an allegory which brings mighty things
more immediately before the eye and sense than
they are by the exact expression of the solemn
truth or the inspired prophecy. The most impor-
tant points in the narrative are made plain to the
simplest comprehension and intelligible to all but
the wilfully hardened heart and darkened mind.
The progress of the pilgrim from this world to
that which is to come is a theme which is of in-
terest to every individual, and of importance to
every mortal, and that this passage is thorny and
this path is beset with danger none can
deny. Non est ad astra terris e via
is a truth that all around soon teaches. When we
find Christian in triumph reaching the hill of dif-
ficulty, and lying down to rest in the Chamber of
Peace within the walls of the Palace Beautiful, and
when at last having overcome all obstacles, and
fought in courage his arduous battle, he passes
through the overwhelming floods, and is conducted
by the shining hosts of heaven to the glorious gate
of the Celestial City, does not the reader behold a
picture of the inward peace that passes all under-
standing that must attend the reflections of the
just;
" What nothing earthly gives or can destroy,
The soul's calm sunshine and the heartfelt joy."
and again does he not see, reflected though it may
be through a glass darkly, a vision of the better life
to come, whose glories are spoken of with reverence,
as the eloquent enthusiast seeks to impart a
glimpse of the dazzling lustre of the shining city
to the benighted pilgrim on a darkened road, and
to the harrassed souls struggling on in despondency
and gloom. This work is now illustrated in a
manner worthy of it, and some of the engravings
are most admirably executed. Among the best are
the Pilgrims ascending the Last Hill, when the
hosts of heaven came forth to welcome them. The
Valley of the Shadow of Death is a giaLkl. sketch,
and seems to bring before one a vision of an awful
abyss, and which carries out the idea expressed in
the lines beneath it
"Poor man, where art thou, now thy day is night ;
Good man, be not cast down, thou yet art right;
The way to Heaven lies by the gates of hell
Cheer up, hold out, with then it shall go well,"
Christian climbing the Hill of Difficulty is a very