The Sun.
London, England, 1868-04-14 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY EVENT.

imposed task. It is no light thing to say that the
Volunteers have done more during the years the
force has been in existence than their most sanguine
and enthusiastic well-wishers could have expected
at the time of their first enrolment, but it is never-
theless true in the fullest acceptation of the term.

The telegram which we publish to-day from Sir
ROBERT NAPIER, bearing date March 17, records
progress more rapid than we had reason to expect.
The last accounts were not altogether satisfactory,
inasmuch as the difficulties of the route were on the
increase, and theinformation obtained from the na-
tive princes appeared to be not altogether reliable.
The selection of the wrong road to Muzno had lost
the force some eight or ten days, and all the skill of
our engineers will not obviate all the difficulties
which nature herself interposes to an advance. The
news which Sir STAFFORD NORTIICOTE has just re-
ceived from the vicinity of Ashangi, however,
is full of encouragement. Sir ROBERT NAPIEIt,
writing on March 17, says that he expected
to be at Lake Ashangi on the following day with
700 men. STAVELEY was one march only in the
rear with six mountain guns and 1,400 men. Two
marches further back were 1,500 more with four
Armstrong guns and two mortars on elephants, so
that a formidable body of troops, 3,600 in all, are
fairly en route and close to their journey's end. Sir
ROBERT NAPIER confirms the accounts of the diffi-
culties of the advance. On the day previous he
had crossed two ranges of mountains during the
march, the highest being near 10,000 feet. This
is no light obstacle for an army to surmount, and
probably THEODORE relied upon such natural pro-
tectors to render him invincible in his stronghold.
Notwithstanding his " big gun," he can form but
little idea of the capacities of European artillery,
since, as we know, the big gun is a formidable
hindrance to his movements. The notion that an
invading force could ever make their own roads as
they advanced, and still more that they should con-
struct a railway from the sea to the foot of the
hills, would have no doubt been ridiculed by THEO-
DORE and his counsellors as a preposterous vision.
Yet he must by this time be fully aware that he
has to deal with men of a different stamp from any
which he has previously encountered, and even the
superstitious awe which gives him his strongest
bold over his ignorant people will lose
its force in presence of the incomprehensible
marvels wrought by the invading force.
THEODORE himself by this time must be somewhat
doubtful as to the result of an actual encounter, and
some even conjecture that when Sir R. NAPIER'S
force arrives he will give him a courteous reception,
and willingly deliver the captives into his handß,
declaring that all the time his intentions have been
most friendly towards the English. The improved
treatment of the captives of late certainly goes to
confirm this theory, which, if realised, will bring
the Abyssinian expedition to a successful close
without bloodshed. Sir ROBERT NAPIER states in
his telegram that THEODORE is close to Magdala
with his guns, and that ho will probably
make his stand there. The better treat-
ment of the captives continued, and they were
well. The troops also were in good health, which
is highly satisfactory. Sir R. NAPIER has, it would
seem, asked for another European regiment, find-
ing no doubt that the greater dependence to be
placed upon them more than outweighs any defi-
ciency in the way of experience of climate or
country. The news from Abyssinia, which has
always been full of interest, will now be watched
more closely than ever, and we hope that soon after
the reassembling of Parliament Ministers will be
able to announce to both Houses the successful ter-
, mination of an anxious and difficult, if not a dan-
gerous, undertaking.

Among the good old Easter customs preserved
among us the traditional banquet at the Mansion
House is not to be overlooked. Formerly politics
were allowed to mingle in the festivities of the
evening, and her MAJESTY'S Ministers were the
prominent guests, but of late there has been a
change in this respect. Politics and all their pro-
blems and perplexities are felt to be unsuited to a
holiday season. Ministers themselves are glad to
forget them as far as may be, and the world at large
would rather have a change of ideas:from the all-
engrossing topics of the season. So it has
gradually con.e to pass that the civic
banquet to Ministers has been deferred to
a later period, when every one is in working order,
and when holidays are not to be thought of until
the !recess, and the Easter entertainment has be-
come, as it was meant to be, a mere friendly and
social gathering, more in the spirit of Easter plea-
sure trips and Easter extravaganzas than of dry de-
bates and anxiously-reckoned divisions. Last even-
ing Ireland and the Irish naturally occupied a pro-
minent part of the general attention. The visit of
the Prince and Princess, on which they start to-
day, was a pleasant matter for comment, and
presented a delightful contrast to the regret,
which, during the last twelvemonth, has been
so constantly expressed at public dinners for the ill-
ness and seclusion of the amiable and popular
Princess. To-day she starts for what is to her a
new country, to win new hearts among her future
subjects, and the warmth and cordiality of her re-
ception will, no doubt, do more to strengthen the
alliance between the two countries than a thousand
speeches or proclamations. The Lord Mayor, in
referring to the royal visit, said that he had been
invited to be a spectator of the approach-
ing ceremony at Dublin, and he would go
there with the greatest satisfaction, hoping to
pomote a good understanding between the
Corporations of London and Dublin. The
other loyal and constitutional toasts were duly
responded to, and some interesting speeches were
delivered. The Bishop of ROCHESTER, who had
delivered the address to the Christ's Hospital
'scholars, 750 in number, expressed the interest with
which he had fulfilled that duty. The Solicitor-
General, in proposing the health of the Lord
Mayor, remarked upon the distinctive charac-
teristics of the British merchant. He observed
that the advent of no person as the chief represen-
tative of the Corporation had been looked to with
more hope than that of the present Lord Mayor,
who had fulfilled the expectations of his friends.
Altogether the entertainment was agreeable as well
as brilliant, and made a pleasant conclusion to the
holiday.

Paris seems just now to be very like the troubled
sea, for a week cannot elapse without our hearing
of some contretemps which ruffles her serenity, and
disturbs the calculations of the most astute. This
is very much to be regretted, for the constant con-
fusion thereby created must cause loss, and entail
grievances, great and small, in many quarters ; but
so it is undoubtedly , and if for a brief space of time
we rely on the hope that all is quiet at
last, the next telegram is sure to disap-
point and perplex us. It is now said
that the EMPEROR himself had to do
with the intimation about peace and war, which
was supposed to have merely been the suggestion of
M. LIMAYRAC, and, as might have been expected
in consequence, the effect on the Bourse was moat
unpropitious. It is the more unfortunate that all
this misunderstanding should have arisen, because

there was really no foundation for the matter in
dispute. France will not begin the work of disar-
mament, it is said ; but really after all that
was pretty well known before the communication
which seems to have set Paris by the ears, and
frightened the sober and sedate out of their pro-
priety. In the best interest of our lively neighbours,
we wish that something could becontrived by means
of which more reliance could be felt, and that they
should not always be like one who beats the air,
rather than one of sense and experience, engaged in
the discussion of great national questions of Moment
and importance to themselves and others. It is not at
all wise on their part to allow the crafty and
insidious Minister of Prussia the opportunity of
witnessing so many panics. They had better take
things more as a matter of course, and not allow
themselves to be so unhinged by these every-day
occurrences. If they could keep their minds more
evenly balanced, and resolve to look at the conse-
quences of things more than the signs and tokens
which may deceive them, the result would be in-
creased security to their own institutions, and their
position with regard to their Allies would be rendered
infinitely better and more dignified.

THE NATIONAL PORTRAIT EXHIBITION.

On Saturday we attended at the soi disant Private
View of the Third, and, we regret to add, Conclud-
ing Exhibition of National Portraits, now opened
to the public at South Kensington. Like its two
predecessors, it is full of interest, and possesses a
peculiar and exceptional interest never before apper -
taMing so distinctly to any art collection. It
is sequential, and it is chronological. Each
picture undertakes to represent the vera
effigies of the individual portrayed. The por-
traits are no fancy portraits--eio litnnings done
from memory—but delineations taken down from
the life, line for line, tint for tint. For, each of
these portraitures, in other words the respective
originals—as a rule—gave sittings. The result of
all this being (we may be certain of that) a series of
extraordinary veresimilitudes. Altogether, we
now have, there, on view amongst us, in the South
Kensington Museum, between nine hundred and one
thousand portraits, many of them as like as life.
Nearly athousand ! Avery mob—of celebrities! Be-
ginning with the 40th year of the reign of King George
the Third, namely, immediately at the close of the
last century, the present collection brings the whole
series down to a date immediately contemporary to
ourselves, down to 1867. Twenty years more of
the reign of George 111., the whole of the reigns of
George IV. and William IV., and thirty years of
the reign of our present beloved Sovereign are thus
illustrated according to the felicitous notion first
thrown out by the ex-Premier the Earl of Derby,
who has been enabled to see thereby for himself
his own happy thought realised magnificently
under the approval of the Crown, and with the
hearty ce-operation of the Imperial Government.
The mere catalogues of these three noble Exhibi-
tions are fraught with a remarkable and an en-
during interest. Art collectors who have one
spark of patriotic enthusiasm in their nature, will
gladly secure these three enthralling catalogues,
and, binding them up together in one goodly
volume, accord them a place of honour upon
their book-shelves. As is very well known,
the pictures thus collecte I together are
simply on loan to the South Kensington
Museum for a given time for the purposes of Public
Exhibition. Sauntering through the Galleries the
visitor finds himself or herself in the motliest throng
imaginable. Princes and Demagogues—squinting
Jack Wilkes, for example, and bloated but tight-
buttoned and well-strapped-up Fum the Fourth—
Poets and Philosophers, Statesmen and Philan-
thropists, Inventors and Navigators, Orators and
Warriors, Actors and Divines, Architects and
Novelists, Painters and Men of Fashion, Sculptors
and Celebrated Beauties, the genus honzo in all
its marvellous diversities of how shall we term
it ?—proclivity or aspiration ? Here (147) is
bare-armed Mrs. Trimmer of educational fame,
and whose said bare arms would be rather
alarmingly suggestive of the swinge of the
birch-rot, only that her face is of the kindliest well
imaginable. Here (160) is William Roscoe, the
,nueificent art patron and sympathetic biographer
of Lorenzo the Magnificent—himself ludicrously
portrayed in that absurdest artificial integument
ever contrived for human legs, the tight-fitting
once
thought Yonder otnod er
be
a poet,(l6 is
but looking about as William Sotheby,
much like a poet as the Duke of Wellington di I !
Yonder (180) is good, noble-minded, noble-souled
William ‘Vilberforce, with a sidelong gaze,
writhing himself into the awkwardest attitude
—just as he is represented doing (according
marblewwe
are
to what was evidently his wont) in his white
Abbey. One while
Sir Charles Bell, the
setffiargtlyed in
to Westminstergne
a s
anatomist of the hand in the Bridgwater Treatises,
reeois
a picture (236) that we should otherwise have sup-
posed to represent the make-up of somebody for the
part of Mr. Peter Wilkins in a dramatized version
of Boz's Sketch of " Miss Jerninaa Evans and the
Eagle"—the " fascinater," coiled in the centre of
Sir Charles Bell's forehead, being a very ditto to the
" aggerrawator" in the centre of Mr. Peter Wil-
kins's. In the portrait of Basil Montague (183)
we have a genuine Napoleon face—while in that of
the dramatist Morton we have the very facial coun-
terpart of M. Thiers. The fourth bay (247 to 270)
is chiefly noticeable for the various portraits
of Sir Walter Scott, by Saxon (247), by
Grant (249), by Reeburn (252), and by Leslie
(263),as well as for thomas Feed's delightful picture
(257), in which the groat Sir Walter is depicted as
surrounded by his famous friends and contempo-
raries(including among them Moore, Crabbe, Camp-
bell, Wordsworth, Hogg, Wilkie, Lockhart, and
and others), at Abbotsford. In No. 261 we
recognise James Lonsdale's admirable likeness of
Dr. John Lingard, the English historian, a pic-
ture lent by Ushaw College. In the gorgeous
painting by T. Brigstocke (526), also lent by
Ushaw College, the late Cardinal Wiseman, arrayed
in full pontificals, wearing over his scarlet robes as
a Cardinal a gold-embroidered cope, having ou his
head a jewelled archiepiscopal mitre, and bearing in
his left hand a jewelled archiepiscopal crozier, is
in the act of blessing with his lifted right hand—his
train being held the while by a boy-acholyte. Near
this picture is one by Lomas (520), representing the
late Father Faber of the Oratory, Brompton, read-
ing a book. And hard by that, West's full-length
portrait of Father Mathew (552), the Apostle of
Temperance. E. M. Ward's portraits of Thackeray
(531) and Macaulay (538) will be turned to with
the liveliest interest, representing those two great
writers as they do each in his respective workshop
—his library—one on Campdeu Hill, the other in
Palace Gardens, both at Kensington. The
handsomest head in the whole collection is
that of John Philip Kenable as Richard 111. ;
the loveliest face there, that of Master
Lambton, son of the late Earl of Durham. One
great improvement we would suggest to the autho-
rities of the South Kensington Museum, in any
future reprint of the Catalogue or Catalogues,
namely, an alphabetical index of the names and
numbers attached to each for ready reference. The
Collection is one to be visited and examined, and
commented upon not once only, but time and again
during the period it is on view as a public Exhi-
bition.

MALVERN COLLEGE.—The athletic games this
Easter were very successful, and showed great improve-
ment on those of last year. The seniors' sport was as
follows :—T hrowing the cricket ball : 13.trdwell, 83 yards
1 font 6 ; ii. Ramsbotham. Long jump :i. Mealy, 17
feet 3 in. ; ii. Robinson 1. High jump : Blethwapt and
Mealy tied at 4 feet 11} in. Hurdle race, 120 yards, over
8 flights : i. Mealy ; ii. Robinson 1, time 19 secs.-100
yards : i. Smith 4; ii. Smith 2—quarter of a mile : i.
Smith 4 ; ii. Smith 2, time 611 secs.—mile : Norman led
for the first three laps wheu he was passed by Ingham;
about 50 yards from the finish Walker, who had been lying
third, came with a rush, and won by five yards; ii. Ing-
ham; iii. Norman. Tho junior school showed excellently,
both in running and jumping. •

G, APRIL 14, 1868.

CORRESPONDENCE FROM PARIS.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)
PARIS, MONDAY, April 13.

At the risk of being reckoned by your readers a
" pessimist," I am compelled to revert to the matter which
is the one topic of discussion here—the probability of war.
Every day the prospect becomes more gloomy, and even
the " optimists" are beginning to lose their confidence.
It is not so much that any sudden and extensive military
movement is being made in this country. That is quite
unnecessary. For nearly two years France has been arming,
and is now in such .a state of preparation that she could
bring a million men into the field in a few days. What
chiefly alarms us is a coincidence of many circumstances,
some of which may seem trivial, and which may re ally be
so, but which are nevertheless interpreted to signify a good
deal. General Raasloeff has left Paris, and has returned
to Paris without going to London. What of this ? you
may ask. Well, this is what people say here. They
declare that the Danish War Minister has come to
Paris on a similar errand to that which brought the
Italian General Govone to Berlin two years ago. True,
the semi-official journals tell us that he was merely taking
his Easter holidays, and was visiting the French and
British capitals in order to see what progress had been
tnade in the art of war. But no one believes that. One
journal professes to give a minute account of the matter
which did bring the General here. It says that he had
several interviews with the Emperor, and assured him that
Prussia was reeking a quarrel with Denmark in order
to conquer the whole of that country, and so obtain
the command of the Baltic ; that he promised he
would bring into the field 60,000 men ; and that he has
bought 60,000 Chassepot rifles. I don't pretend to
attach much ciedence to this story. Nevertheless,
Ministers of State—especially military Ministers—don't
travel several hundred miles for nothing. Another sig-
nificant incident is the formation of a new camp at Saint
Maur, near Paris. The manoeuvres are to commence on
Wednesday, and to continue until September. Another
matter on which I lay some stress is the publication of
certain articles in the semi-official journals one—declaring
that the recent disturbances in Belgium arose through the
dissatisfaction of the people with their political condition
and With their "feeble" king.; and another, republished
from the Augsburg Gazette, declaring that Bavaria will on
no account enter the North German Confederation, but
will maintain her independence.
Together with the prevalent rumours of war there has
been a revival of the Congress project. It is said that
Napoleon mentioned the matter to Lord Clarendon when
he was here, and it is also reported that Bismarck is now
taking up with the idea. A Congress would be of no
avail now, and would in all probability only hasten hosti-
lities.

We have had a wretched Easter. The weather was
atrociously cold. In Strasbourg the snow was two or
three inches deep ; at Marseilles one of the most violent
" mistral" gales ever known chilled the Provencals to the
bones. Here the sky seemed to harmonise with men's
thoughts—with the prevailing discontent of the present
and its dear bread and slack trade, with the alarms for the
future as every day the " black spots " seem to grow
larger and blacker. Nevertheless, there was a great
crowd of holiday-makers on Easter Day, especially
in the neighbourhood of the Place du Trail°,
and along the road to Vincennes, where there
were innumerable shows and booths and huge piles
of pain d'ipice (Anglice ginger-bread) and dariole. Con-
cerning this last piece of Easter confectionery I may
mention that it absorbs every year 450 sacks of flour,
about 22,0001 b. of butter, 15,000 dozen eggs, 1,000 sacks of
potatoes, and 35,0001 b. of plums. The cakes are sold at a
sou each. _ _

While the bourgeois were eating in the Place du Trone,
the Court were going through their devotions at the
Tuileries. The service was unusually grand in consequence
of the baptism of the infant sons of Marshal Canrobert
and the Duke de 'Montmorency taking place after High
Mass. The Emperor and the Empress stood sponsors
for both children. The singing was particularly good,
Mdlle. Nilsson performing Auher's "0 Salutaris hostia."
After mass an antique copper basin was placed in the
quire, and then the baptisms proceeded in the middle of a
crowd of most distinguished persons. After the two ser-
vices, which lasted an hour and a half, the Emperor
received several general officers, and the Prince Imperial
drove out in a carriage-and-four in the Bois de Boulogne.
At some of the churches the clergy had made great efforts
to obtain a handsome contribution to Peter's pence, and
had got up lotteries in order to help that object.
Some interesting scientific discoveries have been men-
tioned lately in one of the Paris journals. The first is
that the Calabar bean is an antidote to strychnia. The
second destroys by spasmodic contraction. The first taken
alone paralyies, and thus directly neutralises the action of
strychnia, if given after that poison. The bean has been
found useful in cases of lockjaw. Another discovery, or
rather development of an old discovery, is the, applicoiAon
of electricity to persons suffering from suspended anima•
tion. Messrs: Onimus and Legros have been trying many
experiments. Among them they subjected a frog to the
action of chloroform, and, its heart being exposed, they'
watched the gradual subsidence of the beatings of that
organ. When it had stopped they applied a strong current
of electricity to the animal, and immediately the heart
began to beat again. A rat, to all appearances dead, was
restored to life in like manner. 'The experimenters con-
sider that as death is often caused by asphyxia, by mere
cessation of the heart's action through feebleness, many a
life might be saved by the galvanic battery.

It appears that the Hanoverian officers who have been
condemned for high treason• endeavoured to seduce from
their allegiance a number of Prussian soldiers at the time
the Luxembourg business threatened to involve Prussia
in a war with France. The officers are now in the last-
mentioned country, and as there is no extradition treaty
between the two Governments, the condemned are per
fectly safe so long as they keep out of their native
country. _

The reaction against Kossuth has set in with vigour.
Like the Bourbons, he has learnt nothing and forgotten
nothing during the last twenty years, and thinks that the
Hungary of 1868, with its constitutional sovereign and
its representative assembly, is the Hungary of 1848
rebelling against an illegally ruling king, and placed at
the mercy of foreign invaders. One of Kossuth's old
colleagues of the revolution has entered the lists against
him, and is everywhere received with enthusiasm, while
those who still cherish their old idolatry are put to
confusion.

Among the items of Italian news, we learn that a young
man has been sentenced to four months' imprisonment for
endeavouring to pull down a statue of Victor Emmanuel
at Turin during the disturbances after the battle of Men-
tana ; that emigration to the United States is going on
from Genoa to a considerable extent ; and that the cele-
brated statue which the French Government paid a large
price for as an antique, is beyond all question the work of
a poor Florentine sculptor now living, named Giovanni
Bastianini, who sold for £2O the bust which was bought
for the French Government at £5,440. This sculptor is
said to be a very clever artist, and if works of art were
sold according to their intrinsic value, instead of at fancy
nrices, he would be a wealthy man.
The Calcutta correspondent of the Times describes the
Council Chamber. at Calcutta, which is, however, a by no
means remarkable room, and its chief attractions are the
portraits of great Anglo-Indians like Hastings, Clive, and
Wellesley. The admission of strangers is by ticket, and
the demand for the necessary passes was unusually large
when Mr. Massey introduced his Budget last mouth.
Probably no previous Budget since the introduction of tile
income tax by Mr. Wilson had been so much canvassed as;
the present one. For a long time it was believed that an
income tax was inevitable, independently of a loan
public works. Then came rumours that the income
had largely exceeded the estimate, and that no
such impost would be needed. This agreeable
presage proved . correct. Mr. Massey, in the midst
of a very large audience, announced that he had a
surplus of £790,000; which, however, was only the unex-
pended balance of the loan of £1,000,000 sanctioned last
year for extraordinary works. This surplus is applied to
the reduction of the loan for irrigation works and Bombay
advances. Mr. Massey proposed to renew the license tax,
and reckoned that he should have an income of £48,586,900
to meet an expenditure of £48,358,710. He argued that
the- income tax should be reserved for a pressing emer-
gency, and he said with regard to the public, debt of India,
that 27 millions out of 64 were held by Europeans in
India, 15A millions by Europeans in England, 101 millions
by natives in India, and 10 millions promiscuously. To
tax the fundholdera would be to throw a heavy burden
chiefly upon widows and trustholders. The merchants do
not like the reimposition of the license tax, but the cor-
respondent thinks that they aro well able to bear so light
an impost. In truth, Indian taxation is a mere " fleabite,"
and, including the opium tax, which really does not affect
the great majority of the population, taxation is only
7s. 34d. per head as compared with £2 7s. 9d. in England,
and £3 3s. 74d. in the United States.
The Italian Government are beginning to awaken to tne
importance of diverting the overland traffic for India from
France to Italy, Passengers making use of the Brindisi
route are to be allowed to pass without examination of
their luggage. It is now proposed to prepare a summary
of news on board the steamers from Alexandria to Brindisi,
and telegraph it immediately on the arrival at the latter
port, and thus anticipate by several hours the telegrams
sent vid Marseilles. It will be necessary, however, to
accelerate the Mediterranean voyageS very considerably.
For instance, Lady Lawrence was eighty-five hours doing
the distance, instead of the arranged seventy-two,

THE ROYAL VISIT I'D IRELAND.

(FROM OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT.)
DUBLIN, MONDAY.

I have arrived in this magnificent old city, the capital
of Ireland, the seat of representative Royalty, the liveliest,
raciest, and jolliest community in the wide circle of her
Majesty's dominions. Dublin, as any person who has
resided in it any time can testify, is always in good
humour with itself. It cannot help being so. Its people,
in sunshine or shower, in prosperity or adversity, try to
be happy. They give and relish good dinners and suppers,
they dearly love picnics and evening parties, they glory in
balls, concerts, and theatres ; they drink champagne with
gusto and whisky-punch with their whole soul, and if
they do get sick or " out of sorts," in difficulty or in debt,
they still keep pleasant countenances, wear an air of
rcderche abandon, and play off their rich wit and juicy
humour with the resolute determination of frightening
" the blues," and driving dull care away.
The city is now, in the immediate prospect of the arrival
of their Royal Highnesses the Prince and Princess of
Wales and other members of the It o3ral Family, in a state
of feverish excitement. Business, except in the way of
house-painting and decoration and for purposes of display,
is almost at a stand-still. Nothing is talked about save
processions, balls, reviews, and other matters of interest
associated with the advent of the heir apparent to the
British throne. These, and these alone, form the absorbing
topics of conversation and discussion on 'Change, in public
offices and newsrooms, in hotels and restaurants, at social
parties and in the streets- eve t in ancient Trinity itself,
the students of which, to the number of 300, have peti-
tioned for " a clear term," in common with all the sections
and classes of her Majesty's subjects in the metropolis of
" the Green Isle."

I should fail to convey to you anything like an idea of
the intense excitement that prevails. You could have no
conception of it in London, where Royalty is so often seen,
and where the " white heat" of feeling so common to the
Irish is scarcely ever recognised or known.. No doubt
Dublin has seen and welcomed her Majesty on three
different occasions —first in August 1849, when she re-
ceived,an ovation to which she has done ample justice in
her recent volume ; second in August 1853, -When she
visited the Great Industrial Exhibition; and third in 1861,
when she passed through to inspect the troops at the
Curragh of Kildare, to view the magnificent scenery of the
Wicklow hills, and to feast her eyes on' the autumnal
splendours of the beautiful Lakes of Killarney. It has
also seen and welcomed the Prince of Wales—first in Sep-
tember 1861, when he honoured by his piesence a grand ball
in the Mansion House, given by the Right Hon. Richard
Atkinson, the then Lord Mayor, and again in May 1865,
when, representing her Majesty, he inaugurated the Great
International Exhibition in the presence of 10,000 of the
elite of fashion of the city and the adjoining counties. Still,
there is held to be much in the forthcoming visit, not less,
if not more attractive than in any of the previous ones—
indeed, there is no need to dispute the fact that what
lends special charm to it is the appearance, for the first
time in Ireland, of the Princess of 'Wales. " The Rose of
Denmark " is really idolised here, especially by the ladies,
who, though they may have never seen, believe in her
beauty and her virtue ; and she, it must be confessed,
will prove the great source and centre of attraction.

The various arrangements which have been in progress for
the reception of the Royal visitors are now rapidly drawing
towards completion. You have, I see, published them
as they have been made, and therefore it will be unneces-
sary for me to repeat them at any length. For the
sake of convenience, however, I will briefly sum-
marise them, so as to give at a glance the
whole of the programme. Their Royal Highnesses and
suite will leave Holyhead to-morrow evening, and will be
escorted to Kingstown by a squadron of men-of-war. The
preparations at Kingstown are not extensive, and, with
the exception of the display of flags and bunting by the
ships in harbour, will not be very attractive. The Royal
party will land at twelve o'clock, and, accompanied by
the Lord-Lieutenant and the Marchioness of Abercorn,
will proceed through the streets of the city to the Castle.
Along the entire route, seven miles in length, every window
ha 3 been engaged, and a vast number of platforms have
been erected and let at high prices. On Thursday their
Royal Highnesses will go to the Punchestown Races—
the Irish equivalent for the English Derby. The
Lord Mayor will give a splendid ball at the Mansion
House on Friday evening. The citizens have engaged the
Great Exhibition Palace for a grand national gathering,
and are decorating it in a magnificent manner. It is
expected that 10,000 persons, representing the nobility and
gentry of the island, will be present. This is to come off
on Wednesday the 22nd. In addition to these two
balls, there is to be one at the Castle on Monday next,
to be given by the Lord-Lieutenant and the
Marchioness of Abercorn. The installation of the Prince
as a Knight of St. Patrick will be the mcst imposing
feature of the visit. As two clays have not elapsed since
you printed the elaborate programme, I will content
Myself with barely mentioning that the ceremony is to
take place in St. Patrick's Cathedral, and that it will form
one of the most splendid spectacles which has been wit-
nessed in Ireland during the present generation.
Not the least interesting feature of the visit will be a
grand review in the Park on Monday. Nearly 10,000
horse, foot, and artillery will be on the " Fifteen Acres "
under the command of Lord Strathnairn and under the in.
spection of the Duke of Cambridge, who will be the guest
of the Commander of the Forces. Of course the Royal
party will be present, and if the day be fine the concourse
of spectators, I need not say, will be enormous.

In addition to what I have described as associated with
the Royal visit, the Prince of Wales will uncover a statue
of Burke, by Foley, placed on its pedestal last Vriday, in
front of Trinity College and on a line with the statue of
Goldsmith ; that he will be present at a cattle show and
conrersazione of the Royal Dublin Society on Tuesday; and
that he will receive addresses from the Dublin and other
corporations of Ireland.
The weather is now very fine, and the prayer is
universally that it may continue so-till at least the Royal
visit and festivities are over, and over with the in-Ipr essive
effect which everyone so heartily desires t, ice.

HIGH CHURCH RITUALISTS _IND IRISH

BOMANISTS.

The following letter, addressed by Mr. Disraeli to the
Rev. Arthur Baker, rector of Addington, Bucks, a con-
stituents of the right hon. gentleman, has been published
" Hughenden Manor, Maundy-Thursday, 1868.
" Reverend Sir,—l have just received your letter, in
which, as one of my constituents you justify your right to
ask for some explanation of m 3 lieged assertion that the
High Church Ritualists had beei !ong in secret combina-
tion and were now in open co: "ederacy with Irish
Romanists for the destruction of the union between
Church and State.

"I acknowledge your right of makini this inquiry; and
if Ido not notice in detail the various E gesti°llB in your
letter it is from no want of courtesy, but from the neces-
sity of not needlessly involving myself in literary contro-
versy.

"You are under a misapprehension if you suppose that
I intended to cast any slur upon the High Church party. I
have the highest respect for the High Church party; I be-
lieve there is no body of men in this country to which we
have been more indebted, from the (lays of Queen Anne to
the days of Queen Victoria, for the maintenance of the
orthodox faith, the rights of the Crown, and the liberties
of the people.

" In saying this. I have no wish tp intimate that the obli-
gations of the country to the other great party in the Church
are not equally significant. I have never looked upon the
existence of parties in our Church as a calamity ; I look
upon them as a necessity, and a beneficent necessity. They
are the natural and inevitable consequences of the mild
and liberal principles of our ecclesiastical policy, and of
the varying and opposite elements of the human mind and
character.

" When I spoke I referred to an extreme faction in the
Church, of very modern date, that does not conceal its
ambition to destroy the connection between Church and
State, and which I have reason to believe has been for
some time in secret combination, and is now in open con-
federacy, with the Irish Romanists for the purpose.

" The Liberation Society, with its shallow and short-
sighted fanaticism, is a mere instrument in the hands of
this confederacy, and will probably be the first victim of
the spiritual despotism the Liberation Society is now
blindly working to establish.
"As I hold that the disso'.ution of the union between
Church and State will cause permanently a greater revo-
lution in this country than foreign conquest, I shall use
my utmost energies to defeat these fatal machinations.
" Believe me, rev. sir, your faithful member and servant.
" B. DISRAELI."
" The Rev. Arthur Baker, A.M., Rector of Addington."

FLOWERING SUNDAY. —A very pretty custom
prevails in the country districts of South Wales of assem-
bling in the churchyards on Palm Sunday and spreading
fresh flowers upon the graves of friends and relatives.
After the late mild winter, spring flowers are unusually
plentiful, and on " Flowering Sunday," as Palm Sunday
is called in this locality, all the churchyards were dressed
in bright flowers and wreaths of evergreen. The custom is
not by any means confined to the lower classes, and
in many of the graveyards flowers of hothouse culture
were mingled with the more modest field flowers,

&ITT- Mtn:

HER MAJESTY.

WINDSOR CASTLE, April 13.
The Queen went out in the grounds this morning,
accompanied by their Royal Highnesses Princess
Louise and Prince Arthur.

LATEST INTELL EGENCE.

(REUTER'S TELEGRAMS.)

THE WAR IN ABYSSINIA.

Sir S. Northcote has received the following tele-
gram from Sir R. Napier, dated from near Ashangi,
March 17 :

"My camp, with 700 men, will be at Lake
Ashangi to-morrow. Stavelcy one march in rear,
with six mountain guns and 1,400 men. Four
Armstrong guns and two mortars on elephants,
with 1,500 men, two marches in rear of Staveley
Country very difficult. Crossed two ranges of
mountain in march yesterday; highest near 10,000 ft.
Theodore close to Magdala with his guns. He will
probably make his stand there. Captives well;
better treatment continues. Troops all well."

PORTUGAL.

LISBON, Apirl 13 (Evening.)

Disorderly bands of unemployed workmen pa-
raded the streets to-day, and many of the shops
were closed. The Municipal Guards have patrolled
all day. Several members of Count Peniche's com-
mittee went with a petition to the Minister of the

Interior.
Public order has been maintained.

HAMBURG, April 14.

General Raasloff, the Danish Minister, arrived
here yesterday evening upon his return from Paris
to Copenhagen.

CROOKIIAVEN, April 14 (Noon.)

The Inman steamship City of Boston, from New
York on April 4th, is now passing Browhead Signal
Station en route for Queenstown.

BRAZIL.

Per the Estramadure, via Lisbon.
Rio DE JANEIRO, March 24.

No news has been received from the seat of war'

Exchange on London has been negociated at
from 18 to 20 ; on Paris, at 490 to 512. Coffee
good first, 7,900 to 9,200 reis. Total shipment
since the departure of the last mail, 39,838 bags;
of which 2,690 were for the Channel, 8,341 for
Europe, 3,310 for the Mediterranean, and 2,549
for the Baltic. Sales, 39,838 bags ; stock, 125,000
bags ; freights, 375. 6d.

BAHIA, March 29.

Exchange on LOndon, 20 to 21. Sugar, whites,
2,300 to 2,500 reis. Cotton, 11,200 to 10,200

rem.

PERNAMBUCO, April 2.

Exchange on London, 191 to 24. Sugar, white/
4,800 to 4,900 rein ; browns, 3,300 to 3,500 red'
Cotton, 11,800 to 11,700 rein.

LISBON, April 13.

The Messageries Imperiales steamer Estramadare
from the Brazils arrived here at eight o'clock tbo
evening. She brings 773,074 f. in specie, and
diamonds valued at 1,019,000 f. The Navarre
arrived at Dakar on the 3d inst., and the Seine at
Pernambuco on the 28th March.

FRANCE.
BOURSE, April 13.—Three o'clock.—The market
closed as follows :

ti, per Cent.
End of month —
3 per Cent
End of month 6B 95
Credit Mobilier
End of month 256 25
Credit Foncier —1428 75
End of month —
RAILWA

Bank Shares 3IGO
ItaP.an Loan
, End of month•••
AlAyie,.. Loan 19
Do. Bonds
Spanish Threes
Home Debt
Deferred ...

Account
Orleans ... 857*
N orthern
Lyons and Mediterranean
Southern-- 572*
Western
Eastern • • —
Sardinian
Austrian 552
Lombard 368
forth of Spain 74 .
Saragossa
Roman 45