The Sun.
London, England, 1868-12-18 00:00:00

CORRE SP

PARIS.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

PARIS, THURSDAY, December 17.

has become too evident that the worst must be appre-
ended in Algeria. The natives have sown but apart of

;heir laud, and the disasters of last year must almost
necessarily be reproduced after the fine season. For some
time past the natives have been flocking to the northern
regions in the hope of obtaining some subsistence
from priblic charity. They have been compelled
to take refuge in European territory to avoid dying of
hunger. The Arenir .Nationale says : " The Mayor of
Blidah naturally felt himself much embarrassed by
this increase of the floating population, and in conse-
quence addressed himself to General de Wimpffen, com-
mandant of the province of Algiers. That officer
replied by a letter to the prefect of the city, in which he
declared, in military style, that 'on no point of the
province did there exist any extraordinary distress.' We
have yet to learn what the General understands by the
epithet ` extraordinary,' with which he satisfies himself
so easily, and which he does not justify by any precise
fact or document. • During the past year it has
been a very ordinary thing for Arabs to die
of hunger, but perhaps that circumstance does
not suffice to justify the measure recommended,
or rather prescr;bA, by General de Wimpffen:—` If the
police of Elidah,' says he, ` arrests individuals in a state of
vagrancy, they should deliver up such individuals to the
judicial authorities, who will pronounce on their fate ; and
these vagabonds will suffer the penalties imposed by the
law.' We see here the natural result of the idea of an
Arab kingdom, which has been, as we foresaw, still more
fatal to the natives than to the colonists."
The Council of War at Blidah, Algeria, has condemned
an Arab to death, and his wife to twenty years' imprison-
ment, for murder and cannibalism. Five natives were
implicated, and each of them, beyond doubt, had partaken
o:

human flesh. But though the crime was committed
everal months ago, they were all in good health—a result
which hardly bears out the dictum of the Governor-
General of Algeria, who declared that cannibalism is
invariably followed by disease and death.
M. Ferdinand de Lesseps has declined the official candi-
dature which the Government offered him for the Corps
Leg,islatif. The independent papers rejoice greatly over
this result, and they have some reason for it. The
Government can get no able men on its side, except the
few who fill the highest posts. All the first-rate journalists
and officials go over to the other side.
Three French ships of war cast anchor before Cadiz, in
order to protect the interests of French subjects during

the insurrection. One of these has since withdrawn, but
the others remain.
The Council of the Order of Advocates of the Imperial
Court in Paris has decided that a subscription shall be
opened among the members of the bar to erect a monu-
ment to M. Berryer.

The duel between M. Paul de Cassagnac and M. Lissa.
quay, which was marked by such fury, has foujid its way

in due course to the Correctional Tribunal. The
principals and their seconds were all fined, M. de
Cassagnac receiving in addition a sentence of six days' im-
prisonment. _ _

A frightful scene took place at Mars_illes the other day.
The police were endeavouring to arrest an Italian ruffian
who had made a desperate attack upon one of his
associates, when suddenly the offender drew out a
knife and stabbed the first police agent three times in the
breast ; and, the companions of the wounded man hasten-
ing to his assistance, two more of them were struck in the
abdomen. A fourth would probably have suffered the
same fate if the spectators had not seized the miscreant
and disarmed him. The wounds are dangerous, but, it is
hoped, not mortal.
The establishment of a new religious sect in Russia is
announced. Its code is not yet complete, but it com-
mences by a very fair collection of impossibilities. It

honours celibacy, forbids the use of brandy, and proscribes
the love of dress in young women. The sect deserves every

encouragement, but its stipulations are not such as are likely
to attract converts. But applause of celibacy and condemna-
tion of extravagance in dress are admirably consistent. The
Paris ladies are terribly in need of some such provisions.
The luxury of dress in this capital surpasses all precedent ;
the latest new thing is a jupe composed of twenty skirts,
one overlapping the other, and all of different colours.
The wearers of these absurdities will completely outdo
the rainbow, which, indeed, they left behind long ago. A
perambulating spinning•wheel seems t 3 have been the
ideal they had in view. _ _ _

December has been ushered in by storms, which:have
caused great devastation throughout France. From the
exterior the intelligence of disaster is equally abundant.
At Fritzlar, in Bohemia, a steeple was blown down, and
killed sixteen persons, besides wounding many others.
The Court returned from Compiegne to-day.

THE WEATHER TABLE.-THIS DAY.

IILTEOLOLOGICAL 11EFORTS.

THE

INS.

Chang and Eng, known all over the world as " The
Siamese Twins," are expected to arrive in Edinburgh this
week, and intend to appear before the public. Their last
visit to this country was in 1830. With the exception of
the time taken up in a trip to the Continent of Europe,
they have since resided in the United States. With the
competence realised during th eir successive tours through the
Old and New Worlds, they retired to the county of Surrey,
North Carolina, having previously neen married to sisters of
the name of Greenwood, daughters of a clergyman in North
Carolina. The marriages were celebrated in November
1842, and each of the twins has now nine children, some of
whom accompany them on their present visit to Europe.
The object of their voyage to Europe is twofold, and is of
a rather melancholy character. They have lost their pro
perty through the recent American civil war, and find it
necessary to resort to the same expedient by which they
were originally put in funds. And they have, further,
arrived at a time of life when they are forced to contem-

)late the day of their death as not remote. Born in 1811,
;hey are now in the 58th year of their age, and the
')ossibility of one dying before the other brings witi.

it considerations which must render an event, serious at
all times, particularly trying to them. They have accord-
ingly made up their minds to submit to a surgical opera
tion, if the surgeons of Paris are prepared to undertake
the unprecedented task of severing the living ligament,by
which they have been connected for nearly sixty years.
The purpose of the twins in making their first stay in.
Edinburgh is to have a consultation with Professor Syme
and others of our eminent surgeons before proceeding to
Paris.

SHAREHOLDERS' PROTECTION SOCIETY.

On Thursday afternoon a meeting of shareholders In rail-
ways and other joint-stock companies was held at the
London Tavern, for the purpose of considering what steps
ought to be taken to protect them in the present state of
commercial affairs. _ _

Mr. W. BROOKS, on being called to the chair, said there
were thousands of shareholders suffering extreme distress,
not only in the metropolis, but in all parts of
the country, on account of the liabilities they bad incurred
in connection with joint-stock companies. He had re-
ceived many representations and many suggestions and
sehemes for the relief of the present distress. Some
persons had suggested a philanthropic system, such
as the Society for Protecting Young Women. He did not
think there was much sympathy for shareholders out of
doors, and much esprit de corps among their own body.
When companies were started, shareholders; implicitly
followed the directors, and at length they found that
their confidence had been abused, and they fell an easy
prey to the lawyers. In time past lawyers were a plague,
but liquidators were a great deal worse, and he knew
cases in which liquidators had most shamefully
squandered the property. A lawyer went up
to a court and received his 6s. Bd. or 13s. 4d.,
but a liquidator received twelve guineas a day for his
attendance. No wonder, therefoie, that the assets of
companies mysteriously disappeared. At present the law
was in a most disgraceful state, and frauds of the
grossest and most abominable character were per-
petrated, concocted by men in what were called
respectable mercantile positions. Shareholders were
plundered, and the ill-gotten gains were appropriated
to the purchase of estates, or to obtaining a seat in Par-
liament. Such men were received into society because
they were successful, and the plundered shareholders had
no remedy. There had only been three or four prosecu-
tions in connection with these frauds, only three convictions.
Of these two had received her Majesty's free pardon. In
one case her Majesty's late Secretary of State had
released the person connected with the frauds on the
Leeds Bank because confinement did not agree with him,
and because within twelve months he had lost a few
pounds of flesh. During that time there had been twenty-
seven premature deaths among the plundered shareholders,
seven of them being suicides. He thought that attempts
ihould be made to obtain an alteration of the law,particularly
in the matter of winding up. The chairman concluded by
suggesting that a protective association should be formed,
expressing his conviction that there were persons at the
Board of Trade who would give valuable assistance in
carrying out the scheme.
Dr. Tnom, after giving some startling facts in reference
to practices in various joint-stock companies, and suggest-
ing remedies, proposed that an association should be
formed to be called " The Shareholders' Protection
gociety."
Mr. R. N. NAsH, in seconding the resolution, expressed
hope that the association should embrace all companies.
Several gentlemen expressed a fear that the shareholders
would scarcely be found to join a common association,
preferring to act together in individual cases of failing
companies. On the other hand, it wan ratrougly -urged
that it would be very desirable to make the experiment,
inasmuch as no very serious risks coeld be incurred.
The Chairman then put the resolution, and it was
carried, it being arranged that any person paying two
guineas a year should be a member of the society.
The society was then declared formed, and Mr. Brooks
was elected chairman.
Dr. Thom, Mr. James Beal, and Mr. J. L. Nash were
appointed a committee to carry out the arrangements.

The nominations of the new Ministers will take
place at the beginning of next week, and so far no
opposition is threatened in any case. On Monday Mr.
Gladstone will be nominated at Greenwich, Mr. Bright
at Birmingham, the Chancellor of the Exchequer for the
University of Loudon, Mr. Goschen in the City, Mr.
Forster at Bradford, Mr. Stansfeld at Halifax, the Attor-
ney-General at Plymouth, and the Solicitor-General at
Exeter. Mr. Cardwell will be returned f,)r the city of
Oxford on Tuesday.

THE PROPOSED SYSTEM OF POLICE WATCHING.—
At the Marylebone Court-house, on Wednesday, a meeting
of the delegates appointed by the various metropolitan
parishes to form a deputation to the Home Secretary respect-
ing the necessity for a change in the system of controlling
the police and the better watching of the metropolis, was
held, under the presidency of Professor Marks. The form of
memorial decided upon provides for a withdrawal of police
supervision from the Government, and placing it under
the control of the ratepayers. To prevent mismanagement
arising from the control being placed in the care of mino-
rities, it is proposed to divide the metropolis into four
sections—north, south, east, and west—each division
having a governing body for its own locality, and a central
body to be established, to be appealed to by any or all of
the sections when necessary.
SIR, W.LTKIN WYNN AND THE PEERAGE.—The
cAszt,otry Advert,ser says :—" We have had an opportunity
of perusing a letter addressed by Sir Watkin to his friends
and supporters, of which the fllowing is a copy :—` Dear
sir, I beg to thank you most cordially for the kind way
in which you have assisted in returning me for the seventh
time as your representative in Parliament. It is a position
which for more than a century and a half has been the
most prized distinction of my family; it was preferred by
my great grandfather to an earldom, by my father to an
earldom, by myself to a peerage. Times and circumstances
have undergone g eat changes, but one thing has never
changed, the heartfelt gratitude of the House of Wynnstay
;o the electors of Denbigh.—l am, sir, your grateful
servant, WATKIN WILLIAMS `WYNN.—Wynn stay, Itu %bon ,
Nov. 30."

DEATH FROM LIGHTNING. —A great storm raged
4.t Merthyr on Tuesday night and Wednesday. Through-
out the wind was very violent, and occasionally hailstones
Jell with violence. Towards midday on Wednesday the
sky cleared and the aspect of things was sunny in the ex•
treme. It was remarked that there was an April fresh-
ness in the air ; but with more rapidity than even a summer
storm dark thunderclouds swept over from the west, and
a most terrific gale raged for half an hour, the rain and hail
coming at intervals, and exceedingly vivid lightning playing
around the mountains. During this storm a fatal accident
happened on the hills near Merthyr. A poor old woman,
a character in her way, known as Betsy Shon Evan, had
gone with a couple of donkeys to the mountain in order to
gather sandstone. Not returning towards night, search
was made, and the dead bodies of the old woman and her
donkeys were found, they having evidently fallen victims
to the lightning. '

THE LATE BRADFORD ELECTION. = LETTER

FROM Mn. MIALL.—The following is a copy of a letter
received from Mr. Allan, in reply to one sent by the
working men of Clayton :—" Welland House, Forest
Hill, S.E., Dec. 10, 1863. Messrs. Andrews and Firth.
—Gentlemen, causes which I need not particularly
state, but for which I cannot hold myself responsible,
have prevented my being able until now to acknow-
ledge the . address of sympathy forwarded to me
through you from the working men at Clayton. I beg
now to express my heartfelt appreciation of the honour
they have done me, and my cordial thanks for the generous
feeling they have displayed. Though surprised
and disappointed at the issue of the late election at
Bradford, I rejoice with you in the triumphs achieved
for Liberal principles in so many other parts of the
country, and now hail with satisfaction the advent of
Mr. Gladstone, Mr. Bright, and their colleagues to
power. Whether my exclusion from Parliament was
fairly and legitimately effected time will shew ; at any
rate, I shall not cease to labour in any sphere remaining
open to me for the advancement of the political truths
which I professed at Bradford, and which will always
remain dear to my heart, as I doubt not they will to
yours.—l am, gentlemen, yours faithfully and gratefully,
gplyABD lguax,"

CHRISTMAS NUMBERS.

Eighteen or twenty Christmas Holiday times

Charles Dickens has gladdened, by his graceful,
mirthful, kindly, romantic, humorous, eloquent
genius. First of all, by lf.s immortal little book,
The Christmas Carol." That he has never sur-
passed. Ile wrote it at the moment of his happiest
inspiration. He has never, we repeat, surpassed it.
It remains still the gladsomest, kindliest book that

ever was written apropos to Christmas. He followed
it up with four others of, we are almost tempted to
say, diminishing merit—but any one of which
would have made a new writer's reputation. " The
Chimes," the next in succession to the Carol, was
among these four, .intrinsically the next best.

Afterwards came "The Cricket on the Hearth."
Then " The Battle of Life." And, last of the
series, " The Haunted Man." The key-note was

struck. A whole chorus soon became audible of

yule-tide carollers or Christmas story-tellers ;
until—year by year, as the happy season came

.ound—there poured in upon us, in shoals, small

Christmas narratives, bound in all the colours of
the rainbow, red, green, yellow, blue, pink, purple,
illustrated, and in all other respects, saving only

n the genius latent among the leaves, a la Dickens,

Then there came a change. " Household Words"
—Mr. Dickens's first weekly serial—in the winter

of 1855, brought out a Christmas double number
of its own, followed by three others, during the
three succeeding Christmases. The notion
thus hit upon by the Conductor of " House-
hold Words," grew into an institution.
the nineteen volumes of that famous literary jour-

cal having in the course of time, that is, by the
close of 1858, run out to their completion—" All the
Year Round" made its appearance. Twenty volumes
of the latter have since then come out, and each
alternate volume has been supplemented, almost as
a matter of course, by the issuing, in a stitched
blueish-green double number, price fourpence, of a
collection of seasonable Christmas stories. Mr.

Dickens's idea here, as formerly, being caught up
by imitators without number, until there came to
be a sort of Christmas literature, never before

lreatnt of, that is, never dreamt of until Charles
Dickens called it, years ago, into existence. At last
—this year in point of fact—the originator of it
all, got tired of the incessant mimicry of everything

be did in this way, and saddened us all for the mo-
ment by announcing that last year's was really the
last—was, with greater reason than was no doubt
originally intended, indeed, "No Thoroughfare."
Only for the moment, we say, this announcement

saddened us all. For, on reflection, it was impos-
sible not to recognise the reasonableness and judi-
ciousness of the great novelist's determination.
Happily, however, .by way of consoling us in the
midst of our regrets at being thus suddenly left
without a Christmas Tale or a Christmas Double
Number by Dickens, there come to us, in a goodly,
green, gilt-edged -Volume, all bound up together,
the nine years'—
CHRISTMAS NUMBERS OF " ALL THE YEAR

Room,"--A wonderful collection of seasonable

stories worthy of preservation in any, the most
carefully selected, library of fiction, if only by
right of their including amongst them those great
originals, Mrs. Lirriper (not forgetting Major Jack-
man) and Doctor Marigold. A collection that is—

riot a nine days, but a nine years' wonder, consist-
ing, as it does, of —(1859) The Haunted House—
(1860) A Message from the Sea—(lB6l) Tom
Tiddler's Ground—(lB62) Someboiy's Luggage—
(lB63) Mrs. Lirriper's Lodgings—(lB6.l) Mrs.
Lirriper's Legacy—(lB6s) Dr. Marigold's Prescrip-
tions—(lB66) Mugby Junction—and (1867) No
Thoroughfare.

THE CHRISTMAS NUMBERS OF " HOUSEHOLD
WORDS"---four in all—have simultaneously made
their appearance as an opportune supplementary
instalment of the issue, month by month, by
Messrs. Ward, Lock, and Tyler, of that cele-
brated periodical. They are—(lBss) The Holly
tree Inn—(lBs6) The Wreck of the Golden Mary
—(1857) The Perils of Certain English Prisoners,
and (1858) A House To-Let. The best of them
all being the first-mentioned, namely, " The Holly
Tree Inn," and this more especially by right of that
.harming little child love story told by Boots—own
brother of Sam Weller—about Master Walmers
Junior, running off with Norah on the way to
Gretna Green.
THE CHRISTMAS NUMBER OF " LONDON SOCIETY"—

is as light if not as appetizing as a tipsy cake, a trifle,
or a syllabub. It is gorgeous in cover, profuse i❑
illustration, and full of merry conceits in the letter-
press. For the current season, i.e., the season of
plum puddings and mincepies, it serves its purpose.

It will be turned over and dogs-eared before it is
done with, but when done with at this first reading
will certainly not be treasured up afterwards, for its
contents are in the fullest meaning of the words,

fugitive pieces. its pretensions, however, are sma
and therefore it serves its purpose—that being
simply to wile away a winter's evening with amus-
ing narratives.
THE CHRISTMAS NUMBER OF " CHAMBERS'S JoUß-
NAL"—Called emphatically " Extra-ordinary"—is
worthy of its name as well as of its associations.
It has no extraneous adornment by way of attrac-
tion in the shape of either coloured or uncoloured
embellishments. It is as full as an egg is of meat,
however, of Christmas literary fare in the form of
romantic, pathetic, impressive, and laughter-moving
action. More than some of its gaudier contempo-
raries, however, it will secure to itself that best tri-
bute of all, an attentive reading : and, when read,
it will be found very well entitled to be bound up
with the half-yearly volume of the famous three-
halfpenny Edinburgh literary journal of which it is
the avowed supplement.
THE BELGRAVIA ANNUAL--Like the Belgravia
itself, Edited by Miss Braddon—if weighed in the
balance (avoirdupois), if looked at in regard to the
bulk of its letterpress, if examined with an eye
more particularly to the number and the merit of
its illustrations, and, above all, if considered in re-
spect to the popularity of its well-known contribu-
tors, must certainly be pronounced a marvel
.of
cheapness. A score of years ago the notion of such
an annual as this being ever issued at the price of
one shilling would have been scouted as something
utterly ridiculous. Here it is, however—not a no-
tion, but a fact. Tales of glamour—original--
varied—some of them the productions of true Lite-
rary artists. The enterprise manifestly lavished
upon the Belgravia Annual deserves a recompense
which we can hardly doubt that it will receive—
namely, a very extended circulation.
GOOD CHEER—Being the Extra Number of "Good
Words"—owes much of its excellence as a literary
fare to that generous caterer for young and old, Dr.
Norman Macleod. White-breasted turkeys fes-
tooned with sausages, browned and bursting—sir-
loins of beef running out with gravy when cut—
culinary bombs of plum-pudding freckled with
candied peel and sultana raisins, and steaming and
reeking with deliciousness—will hardly be turned
to with more watering mouths by the youngsters
gathered about home tables during the Christmas
holidays and hollynights than will this plentiful
store of Good Cheer furnished from the abundant
larder from which, month by month, young and old
respectively are receiving Good Wcrds and Good
Words for the Young.
ONCE A YEAR—the Christmas number of Once a
Week—with the prettiest, daintiest cover pencilled by
Mat Morgan, would be thrice welcome, if for nothing
else, for an exquisite little dramatic sketch, breath-
ing intensely of love and home, of youth and age
simultaneously, a charming little picture drawn to
the life by the noble author of " The C.txtons." To
the examination of this small but perfect masterpiece
we commend all those true lovers of art, who in
their love of art have an eye especially to those
subtler touches of nature which are beyond all art,
tnd which, as the Poet-Dramatist has it, makes the
whole world kin. Mr. Dallas, it should be said, is
the editor of Once a Year as he is also of Once a
Week, in regard to which latter publication the
former is as the Mistletoe is to the Oak.
ToM HOOD'S COMIC ANNUAL—IS just what any
one might have expected from the title of it, a
capital piece of Fun, by the Editor of that ilk,
widening the mouth of the reader on opening it,
and shaking his sides at each turn of the leaf. The
loyal staff of the merry wight who wears with so
much grotesque grace the bell-hung cap of our

weekly jester Fun, are here-co-operating with him
as heartily in his Annual as in his Weekly outpouring
of comicality. We needs must laugh whether we
will or no; but at any rate, as a rule, we laugh with
rather than at rom Hood and his congenial colla-
borateurs.

MONEY LENT—in a hideous, cross-grained cover
—is the title of Beeton's Christmas Annual, and in
return for one of the small silver coin of our cur-
rency the purchaser certainly gets here money
lent to him galore. Some of it is of sterling min-
tage, and but a very small proportion counterfeit.
SOMETHING LIKE A NUGGET—good metal never
coined but in the lump—is the theme of Lyulph'g
new Christmas Story : that same Lyulph being al-
ready favourably known as one of not the least suc-
cessful of the Dickens' imitators. In his present
venture, Lyulph—whoever he is—goes far to sustaia
his reputation.

CAST ASHORE ON CHRISTMAS EVE—is the nama
of another tale of the like kind, but one wholly
anonymous : of it, however, we can say little or no-
thing in the way of commendation.
Not so in regard to Miss Echo's Girl of the Period
Alinanack, which is wonderfully good, sparkling,
merry, and graceful to a marvellous degree. The
illustrations are delightful to look at—the prettiest,
daintiest freaks of fancy on the part of the artist,
whose pencil can draw young girls as we have not
seen them drawn since John Leech, to the grief of
us all, disappeared so prematurely.