The Sun.
London, England, 1868-01-04 00:00:00

THE SUN, LOsiilloi4. SATURDAY EVENING-, JANUARY t 18E8.

MISCELLANEOUS NEWS.

.From the Anglo-American Nmes.)
PARIS, Jan 1, 1868.
The attention of France has of late been almost

exclusively concentrated upon her Budget, or at
. _

least upon that part of it having reference to the

increase of the standing army, and the arrange-
ment of the term of military service. The bill in-
troduced by the Government has encountered the

most vehement opposition; yet after a series
of the most brilliant debates, partly owing

,o the injudicious tactics pursued by the Op-

position, who brought forward a counter proposi-
tio❑ in the shape of an amendment, advocating a
general disarming, and a levy of the nation en masse
should circumstances so require (a project easily
shown to possess more defects than the measure pro-

posed by Government, without at the same time
affording any corresponding advantages), partly
owing to the feeling of the majority that the pre-
sent moment was not adapted for entertaining
crude and speculative projects when the warcloud

might be already in the horizon, even though no
bigger than a man's hand, the result has been a
complete victory on the part of the Government.

The real questions at issue in this most important

debate were, first, whether a complete war organisa-
tion was or was not most likely to preserve peace;

and, secondly, how the nation would be affected by the
expensesincumbent thereon, the question of the dura-

Con of military service being met by the Government

half way, and by means of employing both an old
and a young reserve, fixing the period at five years,
an abridgment of the present term. In discussing
these various points, the brilliant and persuasive

eloquence of the War Minister, Marshal Neil, car-
ried all before it, and, to use the expression of a
contemporary, the day on which the amendment of
the Opposition was rejected, became for him a Par-
iamentary Solferino. Whilst not entirely partici-

pating in the seducing portrait of a soldier's life,
so admirably sketched by the Marshal, it cannot,
nevertheless, be denied that the French soldier

possesses advantages beyond those offered to
the soldiers of other nations, not merely in the

!act that the highest promotion is open to him,

in a service where advancement by purchase is

unknown, but in the numerous privileges and the
almost paternal care with which he is surrounded
by the authorities. "Twenty-five years ago," said
the War Minister, " and the marshals of to-day

were in the ranks, and from those who are at this
moment in the ranks will prcbably be chosen the
men who will be marshals in twenty-five years from
this time." Be that as it may, the Government

Bill will be carried, and France possess an effec-
tive force of 750,000 men, with recruiting resources
which will probably give more than a million and a
quarter. But whatever may be the result of this
step, there can be no doubt of the sincere desire to
maintain peace, of which the Emperor has given
such repeated proofs ; neither does there exist any
probable reason to assume that upon this point there
is the least want of accord between himself and his
Ministers. Let us hope, then, for the best. Even

though the political horizon of the Continent be at
present somewhat overcast, when Italy is fuming

in secret over the check which she rather
than Garibaldi has so recently received, when the
relations between Servia and the Sublime Porte is
anything but satisfactory—when England is occu-
pied with an expensive and profitless (save in pres-
tige) war abroad, and is harassed at home by
domestic treason, the first and most effective check

to which, by the bye, would be that the Catholic
priesthood should avail themselves Of the occasion
to show their loyalty, trusting to such men as White-
side to bringbefore the British Parliament their griev-

ances of whatsoever nature they may be, and biding
their time for their redress. There is, no doubt, in the
mind of any one acquainted for any length of time
with Ireland ; a belief has grown up, and gone on
constantly increasing, that all the various ills from
which they suffer, from absenteeism downwards,
are attributed to the Union, the repeal of
which would form a species of universal panacea
or millennium—a belief which the dark spirit of
Feuianis►n has never for an instant ceased to foster.
At the same time, there are no doubt many real griev-
ances and anomalies, especially religious ones,
which might be susceptible of redress—grievances
sure to exist where the religion of the State is not
the religion of the country at large, and where also
the difference of language (I allude to the pure Irish
or Celtic spoken in so many parts of Ireland) does
not allow to that State religion a suitable medium
of interpretation. But lam travelling out of my
path. Revenons a Paris. The New Year has been
inaugurated by a serenade given by the various mili-
tary bands to their Imperial Majesties in the Court
of the Tuileries, as well as by the official reception
of the Emperor of the various members of the Corps
Diplomatiques, the civil and other authorities, the
officers of the National Guard, and of the naval and
military services. Midnight masses have been
celebrated on the grandest scale this year in Paris
at the Metropolitan Church, at those of St. Sulpice,
St. Roche, and the other principal churches. At
the Madeleine it was impossible to enter after half-
past ten o'clock in consequence of the solos being
chaunted by the celebrated artistes Faure and
Madame the Baroness de Caters, daughter of
Lablache. Amidst the gaieties of Noel a touching
instance of unselfish solicitude for the sufferings and
miseries of the poor deserves especial mention. On
the morning of Friday last an unassuming private
carriage containing two ladies drove up to the Hos-
pital at Versailles, and, after some preliminary diffi-
culties, were admitted to the presence of the Lady
Superior. "I am come," said the tallest of the two,
" because 1 have been informed that the arrange-
ments are not in some respects such as you would
entirely approve, as regards the comfort of our
inmates, if you will kindly accompany me, we will
see to the matter together." " Pardon, madame,
but Friday is a day of disorder at the hospital.
Still more, the present time is that of a disgusting
spectacle, the dressing of the wounds, &e," " I
knew it," was the reply, " and it is for that reason
I am present, but the spectacle of those who
suffer and of those who comfort is not disgusting ;
it is simply a double and a touching lesson." The
speaker was the Empress Eugenie, who afterwards
spent several hours in a personal examination of the
hospital arrangements, an every-day example of the
interest so constantly exhibited by the Imperial
Family of France for the welfare of their subjects.
I close my letter this week in compliance with
the wishes of many fair friends with a brief abstract
of a veritable and as yet unpublished Christmas
" Legend of Paris," a gem of its kind, simply pre-
facing it with the explanation that on the Christmas
Eve in France it is customary for children to place
an empty shoe by the side of the hearth ere retiring
for the night, the presents usually found therein on
the ensuing morning being attributed to a visitfrom
the Saviour, again become an infant.
Thirty years ago there livel in a garret in Paris
a poor old widow—so poor that sne had not always
bread, and very seldom firing, for at eighty years of
age the gain at the needle is something more than
precarious. She was the descendant of a noble
family, ruined some two-thirds of a century ago by
the revolutions. All that she had loved had died
around her—husband, daughter, sou-in-law, rela-
tives, all with the exception of a little granddaugh-
ter of some six years of age, of whom she was the
only support. It was the eve of Noel. The season
was unusually rigorous, and work proportionately
scarce. " Grandmother," said the infant all at once,
" you know that I should like to have a doll ; and
more than three months ago you told me that the
infant Jesus would place one in my shoe upon the
Eve of the Noel." "I do not deny it," said the
widow with a sigh. "It is not true, then, what
the little daughter of the Concierge told me, that
the infant Jesus never visits a hearth like ours
where there is never a fire." " Jesus," said the
widow gravely, " is, on the contrary, the friend
and the consoler of the poor." The little daughter
of the Concierge is not yet old enough to read her
Bible, or she would not have said that. The child
was silent, and slept satisfied and confident. Never
had her grandmother deceived ; the solemn or ten-
der words which fell from those pale lips were always
those of love and truth. The grandmother remained
alone before the fireless hearth, thinking sadly of
the grief of the child when, on awaking, she found

that the infant Jesus had deemed her unworthy of
a visit. All at once her eye fell upon her wedding
ring, her companion and memorial of sixty years,
and hastily throwing a tattered shawl over her
frozen shoulders, she hurried to the shop of a neigh-
bouring jeweller and laid it before him. It was a
ring of a former century, with curious compart-
ments, and the artificer carefully examined them,
and exclaimed brusquely " Whose is this ring ?"
" Mine," was the reply. " And from whom did
you get it ?" " From my late husband." " I must
keep this ring until to-morrow," said the jeweller.
" Impossible," said the widow ; " is is Christmas-
eve, and I must have a doll for my little grand-
daughter, who sleeps at this moment." "In that
case, have the goodness to wait whilst I send for
the person interested in this matter." The widow
sunk on a chair without reply, anticipating the
speedy appearance of a commissary of police, and
an arrest upon suspicion—when, after the lapse of
a few minutes, the door opened, and a venerable
old man, of benevolent appearance, appeared on
the threshold. He appeared a member of the upper
classes, and wore in his button-hole the ribbon of
the Legion of Honour. " I read engraved upon
this ring," said the old man, with visible emotion,

" two names, Emmeline de Surville, and Hector,
Marquis de Barsar. " They are mine and my
husband's," was the reply. " You are then the
widow of the Marquis Hector ?" The astonished
widow replied in the affirmative. The old man
took her in his arms. " I am the brother," said he,

"of your dead husband, a brother who after the wars
of the Empire has passed for dead, and who
returns from the Indies a bachelor, with a fortune
which, before your arrival, he was at a loss what
to do with."

I have fulfilled my promise, and my fair readers
must imagine the denouement, for I dare not tres-
pass further upon the patience of the sub-editor,
upon whom, as Mr. Paul Rooney said to the Lord
Chief Justice, leave the onus of the present ex-
tended communication.

NAPLES, Dec. 27.

Alexander Hammett, during 52 years, from 1808
to 18G1, American Consul at Naples, died last Wed-
nesday, aged 90 years. Old, sick, and starving, he
has got well out of a bad scrape.
Naples is this week very empty of visitors. They
have gone to Rome to hear the silver trumpets on
Christmas morning. But they will soon flock back,
for Vesuvius is kind enough to continue one of the
most interesting and, 1 am glad to add, one of the
most harmless eruptions known for many years. It
presents all the various features—projection of in-
candescent matter to a great height, showers of
cinders, overflow of liquid lava ; everything is to
be seen ; but not having reached the cultivated land
it is only formidable to tourists, who will not be
satisfied unless they risk their lives. The weather
is clear and bright, the ground covered with snow
wherever the lava does not reach, and the effects of

light and refraction at night surpass anything which
ordinary nature can show, art imitate, or poetry
describe.

ROME, Dec. 28, 1867.

On Christmas-day the Pope celebrated the cus-
tomary Pontifical mass iu the basilica of St. Peter,
and then proceeded to the Pieta to receive the con-
gratulations of the sacred college, which were ten•
dered by Cardinal Patrizi. His Holiness, in reply
to the earnest wish expressed by the Cardinal for
that most precious of blessings of peace, said :—" At
the epoch of the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ the
Jews were divided into seven parties, who were at
continual war with each other. There were the
Pharisees, who deceived the people with their false
virtues ; the Sadducees, plunged in sensual plea-
sures, and who denied the Resurrection; then the
Essenes, the Herodians, and a crowd of other poli-
tical factions, who tore the bosom of that unfortu-
nate nation. This was the sure indication of im-
pending ruin. In the Roman empire, on the con-
trary, there were unity and force. You will suffi-
ciently comprehend what I allude to. In the
presence of that tempest of discordant opinions we
see arise, firm and compact, the unity of the Church,
which never appeared so entire and perfect as at
that time, when the admirable accord of the Catholic
episcopate with the centre of unity made it every-
where vigorous. If, then, discord is a sign of
approaching dispersion, our accord is a pledge of a
happy future. As our adversaries, divided on all
points, and looking only to their material interests,
are at least united in making war on the Catholic
Church, let us also, laying aside all divergence of
opinion, concentrate our thoughts in defence of our
holy faith."
Ou Christmas-eve Mr. Hooker, of the American
banking firm Macquay, Pakenham, and Hooker,
gave a charming musical entertainment at his resi-
dence in the Palazzo Bonaparte. The invitations
were over 650, of which 450 were to Americans.

Business in the United States is everywhere re-
ported as dull. On all sides people have been thrown
out of employment, and every branch of mechanical
labour is overstocked. Mechanics flock from coun-
try districts into the cities, while there best chance
is to flock from the cities away West. Manufac-
turers are offering the alternative of reduced wages
or cessation of work. Under their circumstances
a national convention of American manufacturers
will be held at Cleveland, Ohio, to consider the
whole subject, and the Boston Board of Trade
has decided to call a National Commercial Con-
vention to meet in that city on the sth of February,
to consider the transportation interests of the
country, the depressed condition of ocean com-
merce, currency, uniform measurement of grain,
and the organisation of a National Chamber of
Commerce.

A JAPANESE PRINCE, by advertisement in a New
York paper, warns the peeplo of America against trust-
ing certain Japanese officers, now absent without leave
and supposed to be in the United States. It states that no
debts incurred by any of the following wanderers will be
paid by the Japanese Government: Tarri Motto Nero,
Nomura Ichutzke, Taki Uchi Kenso, Mori Kakutzo, Mone
Mango, Huro Yuso.
A petition for the pardon of Dr. Mudd, who be-
haved so well on the outbreak of yellow-fever at the Tor-
tugas, after being numerously signed by medical men, was
forwarded to the President.

Ethan Allen, an American citizen, was hanged
at Kingston, Canada, on tho 14th ult. for murder.
The New York linzes, writing of the bloodthirsty
negro of the Louisiana State Convention to whom
we alluded, says coloured Cromwell (in name
at least) who wants to bring "Andy Johnson or any
other man" to the block if need be, has told the Lou-
isiana Convention that negroes were going to have their
rights "if it was by revolution and blood," and "will rule
until the last one of us goes down for ever." But another
delegate, "also coloured," gave him a Roland for his Oli-
ver, and said, "the talk of a war of the races was all a
humbug," and, considering the disparity of the two races,
the negroes "could get no rights the whites did not see
fit to give thorn." This last speaker seems to be a sensible
fellow. His name is Mr. Pinchback, or Pinchbeck, but he
ought to exchange names with his colleague. He is the
genuine man and the other the Pinchbeck.
Mr. Dickens, on visiting the Boston school ship
the other day, made a speech to the apprentices, wind-
ing up with,." Boys, just do all the gocd you can, and
don't make any fuss about it."
An " intelligent" squatter thus addresses the
editor of a Leavenworth (Kansas) paper :
" Kikapoo, nov. the 21, 1867,
_ _

"Dore Zur you pleze itlforin me weather niggur
sHpbsage Was carrid at The lot:, lection. If sear iguraut
peepul is to voat I want to leave this God forsaking state,
and go back to Suthern illinois."
The Springfield Republican is severe on George
Francis Train, whom it calls " a crazy clown," who
more than neutralised the good influence of the sdasible
speeches of Mrs. Stanton and Miss Anthony in tho City
Hall on woman suffrage. "In his atlvocacy of his own
claims to the Presidency, Train showed himself as crazy
as Daniel Pratt, jun. —smarter, but not a whit wiser."
- Mr. Phelps, of the House Committee on Appro-
priations, endeavoured to limit extra allowances for sta-
tionery, but as a strong feeling is held by Congressmen
on the subject of pocket-knives, his motion was not ap-
proved.
Mr. Maynard, of Tennessee, desires the United
States to be represented at Hayti by a negro, on the prin-
ciple of recognising no distinction of colour. Mr. May-
nard does not appear to see that this is a recognition,
as be selects a black for a black republic while he ought in
acting on this principle if he made any destruction to send
a negro to Europe and a white to lia7ti.
General Sheridan at his public reception at Chi-
cago kissed 500 school girls.
Although Mrs. Ames's bust of Lincoln, made at
a cost of $2,500 for the state-house at Boston, is a failure,

great efforts are being made to employ the same artist on
the bust of the late Governor Andrew.

The rumour is that Gen. Schouler and Major
Brastow are the prominent candidates for the presidency
of the State Senate of Massachusetts, with the chances
very decidedly in favour of the latter. Harvey Jewell is
as good as elected to the Speakership of the House, and
the clever Robinson is sure of the clerkship. It is said
that Major Morrisser, has weathered more storms than
threaten him this winter, and will continue to wear the
cockade.—New Bedford Mercury.

Mr. Bridgman of Bellows Fall, Vermont, is hav-
ing great success in the artificial propagation of trout and
other fish. He has as now estimated about fifty thousand

,rout eggs.

An attempt has been made to displace Colonel
Forney, as Secretary of the Senate; and Mr. Brown, as
Sergeant-at-Arms.

Col. S. S. Smoot, who has been surveying the
Great and Little Osage lands in the south-western part of
Kansas, west of the mouth of the Little Arkansas, arrived
in Washington, Dec. G—sixty hours from Leavenworth—
and lad an interview with the Secretary of the Interior.
Ile reports the disposition of the Indian tribes of Cheyennes,
Arrapahocs, Kiowas, Apaches, Osages, and Comanches to
be friendly towards the whites, and that they express
satisfaction with the treaties made by the recent peace
commissioners.

Col. B. F. Martin, superintendent of the works
of the gold mining company at Lisbon, is a prominent
Republican candidate for the Senatorship in the Manches-
ter district, New Hampshire. The city elected James A.
Weston, on tho 10th December, Mayor, and the Governor
is entirely Republican. •

Count Csesare Orsini, brother of the Italian who
in 1858 attempted the life of Napoleon, is the guest of
General Cleaver, at Washington, delegate for New Mexico,
to whom he was warmly introduced by the Minister at
Florence by Signor Mazzini and others.
The Commissioner of the United States Land-
office, Hon. J. S. Wilson, is preparing a map which will
accompany his next annual report, on which will be re-
presented a view of the world, with the relative commer-
cial connection of the United States with every country on
the globe.

The Marquis Townshend charged John Tookey
on Monday with begging. Tookey's sore and twisted
legs administered a shock to his lordship's feelings, and
he urged the serious results that might happen to ladies
meeting such persons in the streets. Mr. Tyrwhitt sent
Tookey to prison for a month in view of the unpleasant
results that might be produced.
The New York Nation gives the following ex-
tract from a graphic, if scarcely polite address, from
Robert Tombs, to Judge Erskine, of Georgia :—" Sir,
twenty years ago, when you were drinking buttermilk
ont of a swill-tub in the bogs of Ireland, I was a prac-
titioner before the court which you now disgrace. Fif-
teen years ago, when I was a Senator in Congress,
you were selling lager beer from behind the counter of a
Charleston groggery, and at no period in ten years has
any gentleman seen the time when ho could afford to
notice you on the streets ; and yet, sir, you, who are per-
jured in accepting the office you now hold, presume to
refuso gentlemen the right of practice before you."
We hear that Miss Kitty Dix, youngest daughter
of General Dix, United States Ambassador to Paris, is
engaged to Mr. Welch, of Brooklyn, and that many bridal
gifts have already been sent to Paris from America.
Mr. Tietjens, Danish State Councillor, Director
of the private bank at Copenhagen, has so managed that
$400,000 of the $7,500,000 in gold to be paid by the United
States to Denmark for the islands of St. Thomas and St.
John, will remain as profit in the bank. It is an easy way
of making 00,000, to receive the money in dollars from
the United States Treasury and to pay it into the Danish
Treasury in rix-dollars.
There was a rumour in Washington, which

proved without foundation, that the House would appoint
a committee to investigate charges against Mr. Ashley, for
an alleged attempt to suborn witnesses to support the im-
peachment of the President.
General Ingraham, of Massachusetts, has been
appointed Acting Governor of the Maine Asylum, by the
managers of the National Asylum for Disabled Volunteers
assembled at Washington.
A bill has passed through Congress changing the
names of Samuel Chase Barney to Samuel Chase do
Pracht. It provides that all in the district of Columbia
who desire to change their names shall file a bill in the
Supreme Court of the district stating their reasons.
The Reconstruction Committee, again appointed
by the House, of which Mr. Stevens is chairman, contains
of its old members only Messrs. Boutwell, Bingham, and
Farnsworth.
Mr. S tae, the poet, has applied for the Austrian

mission.
Alfred B. Ely, of Massachusetts, may, if report
be true, succeed Mr. Theaker as Commissioner of Patencs.
General Howard has assigned charge of the
freedmen's affairs in the Carolinas to It. K. Scott, who
will be attached to Gen. Canby's staff.
Lucy Stone, of New York, has been nominated
President of the State Woman Suffrage Association formed
at the convention lately held at Vineland, New Jersey.
Dr. M'Farland, superintendent of the Illinois
insane asylum, has been censured after a protracted inves-
tigation into the conduct of the institution, when much
cruelty and corruption were revealed.
Tom Sharpley, brother of Sam Sharpley, of the
Theatre Comique, at New York, was fatally shot in a ren-
contre with one Kelly, in front of the Fifth Avenue Hotel,
on Wednesday evening, Dec. 11.
Colonel C. H. Hopkins, jun., and Robert Hop-
kins, wore arrested at Savannah, on the 14th Dec. for
walking into the office of the Republican, and beating
John E. Hayes, the editor, with a loaded whip. The rea-
son of the assault is stated to have been an editorial on
the taking of Test Oaths.
Her -Majesty the Empress of the French has
consented in the most gracious manner to patronize the
coming exhibition at Leeds, Yorkshire.
Anarchy was prevailing in the interior of Hayti.

General Salnave has defeated the insurgents, and was
preparing to oppose an invasion from San Domingo.
Mrs. Leigh Ward has consented to give another
series of readings in Paris during this month.
The American Minister, the Hon. Anson Bur-
lingame, will soon leave Pekin for the United States, by
way of Europe, on a special mission for the Chinese Go-
vernment.

It is said that the ex-King of Hanover has
bought one of the most beautiful seats near Arnheim,
named Biljoen, for two millions of guilders. It is rumoured
that this purchase is connected with a project of marriage
between the Crown Prince of Holland, and one of the
daughters of ex-King George. The wedding gift, it is
said, will be eight millions.
Her Majesty has remitted the sentence of death
passed upon John Thompson, for the murder of George
Frederick James.
Mr. John K. Myers has been unanimously elected
President of the Pacific Mutual Insurance Company.
A Paris paper states that the cost of transferring
Maximilian's body to Trieste is £48,000.
The New Hampshire Republican Convention has
re-nominated Mr. Harriman governor, and endorse General
Grant's candidature for the Presidency.
Senator Frierson introduced a bill into the Ten-
nessee Senate on the 3d December to extend the franchise
so as to embrace every adult man who is a citizen of the
county wherein he may cast his vote.
George Allen, Sheriff of Elbert county, Georgia,
was killed at Elberton on Friday, the 13th December, in a
collision between a party of negroes and the civil autho-
rities, and several other whites and blacks were wounded,
but the origin of the quarrel is not given, further than
that it occurred at a ball.
The Presse announces that Mdlle. Patti will shortly
be married to the Marquis de Cauz.
Captain Kirby, who formerly traded out of the
Tyne, undertook to examine the northern coast of Dur-
ham to ascertain the truth of an allegation that false lights
have been there shown to mislead vessels bound to
Shields. Three or four vessels have been lost this winter
on Whitburn rocks, and their masters asserted that they
were misled by false lights. In Freshwater Bay, near
Soutar Point, Capt. Kirby found a pole with a mop of
ropeyaru steeped in tar, affixed to its end, which he handed
ever to the secretary of the Tyne Pilotage Commission for
investigation.
The Georgia Convention in caucus has resolved
to support Chief Justice Cliase for the Presidency. The
prominent Conservative journals favour the nomination o
General Hancock.
Mr. Thornton has accepted the post of Minister
to Washington, and will proceed to America.
President Johnson has purchased a farm in
Greenville, Tennessee, and intends to reside there after
the close of his term of office.
De Vries, of Boston, has published a portrait of
Chalks Dickens, lithographed from a recent photograph.
The likeness is as good as any likeness can be, that re-
presents a face full of life and expression, and rarely at
rest, in a quiet and impassive mood.
General Reynolds, commanding in Texas, has
ordered all refugees arriving at Brownsville from Mexico
to be returned to the Mexican authorities as deserters.
General Hancock has ordered the elections to the
Texas Convention to be held from the 10th to the 14th of
February.
A Boston ticket speculator has cleared $3,000 on
Dickens's readings.
In letters written to his friends in England, Mr.
Dickens expresses delight at the reception he hes met
with in America. In one of them he declares that the
greeting accorded to him in Boston was "magnificent ;"
and the reception at New York, Mr. Dickens writes, " was
splendid ; the audience bright and perceptive; the general
delight was most enthusiastic."
Hon. Asa Freeman, of Dover, registrar of probat'