The Sun. — London, England, 1861-06-07 00:00:00

a FRENO' PLAYS. —ROYAL ST. JAMES'S -1-* TREAT RE.—Under the Direction of Mons. Lambert Dennery.—TlllS EVENING, GENEVIEVE. . Geoffrey, Gravier, and Mdlle. Alice Theric. After which, LE PERE DE LA DEBUTANTE: Messrs. Geoffroy, Bertrand, Leduc; Mdlles. AliceTheric and Marcial. Commence at a quarter-past 8 o'clock. rriIEATRIL-ROYAL, HAYMARKET. Lessee, Mr. J. B. Backstone. THIS EVENING, the performances will commence with the Comedy of THE OVERLAND ROUTE. Messrs. Chas. Mathews, Buckstone, E. Villiers, Rogers, dm. ; Mrs. Wilkins, Mrs. C. Mathews, and Miss E. Weekes. Followed by THE ADVENTURES OF A LOVE LETTER. Mr. and Mrs. C. Mathews. And THE SUN AND THE WIND. Commence at 7. ROYAL PRINCE S S'S THEATRE.-- Lessee and Manager, Mr. A. Harris. THIS EVENING, TRUTH AND FICTION. Supported by Messrs. F. Matthews,Widdicombe, Shore, Cathcart, Garden; Miss C. Leclercq, Miss R. Leclercq, and Miss M. Harris. Followed by HAMLET. Hamlet, Mr. Fechter. Sup ported by Hermann Vezin, Ryder, Meadows, &c. ; Misses Heath, Elsworthy, and R. Leclercq. NEW ADELPHI THI3ATRE.- 1 Sole Proprietor and Manager, Mr. B. Webster. THIS EVENING, FRIDAY, June 7, 1851, 200th Night of the grei , t sensation drama of the COLLEEN BAWN-200th Night of Mr and Mrs Dion Boucicault-200th Night of Mr Dion Boucicault's "Tremendous Header "-2COth Night of the Great Water Scene -200th Night of Mrs Boucicau t's " Craiskeen Lawn"-200th Ni , ht of the Irish Fireside-20 'th Night of the Illuminated Hall and Gardens in Castle Chute —2ooth Night of the H ouse being crowded to the ceiling to witness THE COLLEEN HAWN. Acting Manager, Mr. W. Smith. EW THEATRE-ROYAL, ADELPHL- Sole Proprietor and Manager, Mr. B. Webster. Reproduction of "The Colleen Bawn." The Adelphi "Census" every Evenin THIS EVENING, the successful new Farce, entitled A TURKISH BATH. Mr. J. L. Toole. Mr. P. Bedford. Alter which (200th time), THE COLLEEN BAWN. Mr. D. Boucicauit, ..isher, Killington, Falconer, Stephenson, C. J. Smith, Romer, Howard. Ward •, Mrs. Boucicault, Miss Woolgar. Mrs. Billington. and Mrs Chatterley. he followed by a new apropos Sketch, THE CENSUS. J. Toole, Eburne, Romer, C. J. Smith ; Miss 'ply, Miss E. Thorne, and 31rs. Chatterley. poors open at half past 6—Commence at 7. 4 - 1 VS'ILEY'S ROYAL AMPHITHEATRE.- , EVENING, Production of the Grand Spectacle of M.A7.EPPA, with new scenery, dresses, &c., supported by Mr. James Holloway and a most powerful Company. To be folloed by SCENES in the CIRO LE—The Rocky Mountain Wond w ers. Concluding with a Comic Ballet. Reduced prices. Commence at 7. CANTERBURY - HALL CONCERTS AND FECE ARTS GALLERY. - EVERY EVENINU, Two Grand Selections from celebrated Operas. including Verdi's new Opera. THE BAL MAS Q UE (first p roduced in England and only to be heard at this Establishment), with a Chorus of Forty Voices, and upon a scale unequalled at any other Concerts. Miss Russell, Miss Ernst, Mr. Greville, Mr. Herbert, Signor Tivoli, Mr. Bernard ; the popular Solos on the Cornet-a piston, by .Irlr. Levy (the first performer of the day) ; the Brothers Conrad (in an entirely new and original entertain ment on the double rope, not to be seen elsewhere); con tinued success of Mr. Wood and his t alented little Son. The Comic Department comprises the following favourites : —Mr. Marshall, Mr. Hollingsworth, Mr. Blanchard, and numerous other artistes. Re-appearance at these Concerts of Mrs. Lawrence. Musical Director, Mr. JONGIIMANS. T H E Mr. I.Evr, undoubtedly the best performer of the day on the Cornet-a-Piston—Grand Selections (on the most complete scale) from Dinorah, Martha, Stradella, &e., and other vocal and instrumental music, by Miss Russell, the Misses Stuart, and Miss Ernst, Messrs. Claarles Greville, Fornari, Kimber ley, Bernard, Beaumont, Bervon, Hnish, Signor Tivoli, and Mr. Henry Herbert, with full band and powerful and selected chorus, conducted by Mr. F. Jonghmans.—The following Comic talent, Messrs. W. Randall, J. Blanchard, W. H. Wie land, Hollingsworth, E. Marshall, Harvey, and French, and the Brothers Conrad in their latest and best entertainment, every ev ening. Admission, Hall, sixpence; Balcony and Stalls, one shilling. Private Boxes, 10s. 6d. HIGH WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE. Ting DAY.—Morning, lh. sm.—Afternoon, lh. 28m To-moußow.-Morning, lh. 46m.—Afternoon, 2h. bm THE WEATHER.....-SUN OFFICE, JUNE 7, 1861. THERMOMETER, IN THE SHADE. 56—highest since noon yesterday. 50—lowest this morning and during the night. s.s—this day at noon. Banomwrnit-30.0. WIND North •Easterly ; fresh, with dull, cold, rainy weather. Two o'CLocL.—Weather fine. •sq— pl' 'd. 4,20ir ~~- +•K ~~ S THE SIT N LONDON, FRIDAY, JUNE 7, 1881: It is but four or five years ago since a member of Parliament told the House of Commons that an intelligent man of business with whom he had ridden to town in the railway carriage had ex pressed his opinion, that the best thing for England in regard to India was, to " cut the connection," and that the speaker was himself pretty much inclined to the same opinion, had he not thought that we should injure our position among nations if we allowed ourselves to' be driven out ; while we owed it—morally—to India to surrender her neither to anarchy, nor to conquest by other nations who would not fail to step into our place. Perhaps till this year, and not completely till the Budget Speech of Mr. LAING, which we publish at full length to-day, arrived, has the opinion of the Railway Traveller not been more or less a part of the judgment of most of us in looking on India. Like his companion, the member, we saw indeed, that the " connection could not be cut,"—political reasons forbade ; but who of us was prepared to say that time would not prove, and possibly to this generation, that, commercially speaking, to have lost India in the mutiny would have been a gain. Another mutiny, however, in America, the prospects of cotton, and this last Indian Budget, now assure - as that India may be worth more to us than any other colony. We now regard India as the not improbable saviour of our vast cotton manufacture, the feeder of four millions of our population, the emancipator of American slaves, and all without hazard to the English Exchequer. May all these possibilities prove realities ! Right thankful should we be to pass through one year of a little cotton difficulty, if it eventually ruined the accursed cotton culti vation of the Confederate States, and transferred it to the free labour of our own subjects on the plains of India. Right thankful if our Indian ryots pocketed the millions of money which now go to maintain the reign of the slave driver, and to make profitable the sale and purchase of human flesh and blood. Mr. LAING, himself, thorough man of business as he is, and intent upon arithmetic throughout his long speech, could not help warming up into a kind of British eloquence when ho touched on cotton, India, America, and slavery. Having to advert to public works, to roads in particular, as the most advantageous way of spending money in India, and to their purpose to construct good roads into the cotton districts, so as to be prepared to " bring the resources of India into play, to supply the threatened deficiency of cotton in America," he added, " Immense interests are at stake on this question, not only material —for who can measure the extension of commerce, and the mutual benefit to England and to India which Ronal result from a transfer of the chief supply of col ton ziq m America to the East ?—but moral, also, for the issue f or which WILBERFORCE contended, and for which Engia,l has sacrified her West India colonies, and poured forth like water—the issue of slavery or freedom is staffta mainly on the question, whether America's danger is to be _England's opportunity. If cotton produced by free labour can undersell cotton the produce of slavery, then, and not till then, the cause of free dom will be filially gained." Mr. LAING intimates that the Government is thoroughly awake to this vital question, that it will not perform its duties negligently, th at it will do everything to encourage independent European enterprise which justice to the natives permits—, roads and communications, just laws for the en forcement of contracts, ready tribunals for the dis- penning of justice—we wish he had added, facilities for disposing of the land in fee simple—are all to be objects ofimmediate attention ; and, he emphatically remarked, "it shall not be said of us that slavery triumphed and India missed its opportunity be- cause its Government was too blind to discover, or too weak to carry out the policy which, at a great crisis, Providence had pointed out to us." The several Presidencies are also taking up their share of the work in earnest. Very able men have been selected by Bengal, Bombay, and the North-west to attend immediately to the subject of communi- cation with the cotton districts of these great divi. aims ; and we may even hope that this very year much will be done to improve them, and every year much more, till the roads, canals, and railways shall make conveyance to the coast safe and easy. The carrying out of the grand economical reform of reduction of the army in India will much facili tate, we should think, the grand desideratum of road making. One hundred thousand men are this year disbanded, in addition to more than as many previously. Having been disciplined to re gular habits, and to obedience to European orders, and wages being so much better, we may reason ably expect that they will be a valuable addition to the numbers of Indian navvies, and will not only lighten the charge on the Exchequer by earning their own support, but soon prove most effective contributors to its resources by the trade which they will create in more ways than one. Too much praise, indeed, cannot be given to those who have this year effected so large a reduction on former reductions of our vast native Indian army. Mr. LAING awards special praise to the three members of the Military Finance Commission for what has been achieved in this respect. Its results are a reduction this year of the military expenditure by £3,600,000. The men have been reduced from 353,783 armed natives to about 140,000 since 1859, and this has not been done in the aristocratic way always practised in this coun try, when army reductions were made, of retaining skeleton regiments and pay for officers, but whole regiments have been disbanded ; 248 regiments of native infantry are now cut down to 145-103 regi ments having been disbanded ; 33 cavalry regiments have been disbanded, leaving 45 ; native artillery regiments exist no longer. The lesson we received at Delhi will never be forgotten. But the limit of reduction has not yet been reached, nor that of the saving, since the disbandment involves of course gratuities satisfactory to the soldiers disbanded. Yet all this has been done without the least sacri fice of efficiency. Indeed, we believe that, in the military point of view, India is safer than ever. Mr. LAING'S surplus cannot be charged with being an imaginary one. He has calculated it on the market price of opium ; had he taken the actual price it would have added about a million and a half to the quarter of a million he has actually reserved. Indeed, throughout his calculations he has carefully kept cn the safe side. For the first time, therefore, we see an Indian Budget with a surplus on fairly estimated expenditure, as real as any surplus calculated by our most cautious Chan cellor of the Exchequer. Even the famine has not, as was feared, turned the scale on the wrong side. Unless wholly unlooked for contingencies therefore occur, India seems fairly to have obtained that fundamental condition of easy and prosperous Government a national balance-sheet with a sufficient surplus. The three Bills introduced last night by Sir CHAS. WOOD are all in the right direction. We shall have, of course, ample time to consider their provisions, but as to their general scope there can be no doubt. 'One liberalises the Legislative Council by including in it a considerable number of persons whose qualification is to be that they are not Government officials. Natives of high posi tion •will be eligible, and independent Europeans. It is intended, in good faith, to secure the advice in legislation of all classes whom the laws will most affect. Representation in India is at pre sent an impossibility ; the natives do not under stand or appreciate it ; and it would be dangerous to have a representation of Europeans only. Sir C. WOOD and Lord CANNING seem honestly bent on ensuring such discussion and examination of all measures as shall give some certainty that they have not been passed in ignorance. The extension of the powers of the Provincial Legislatures on the same principle is also very wise. Each of them will have charge of the local business of a respecta ble kingdom, and can manage it far better than it can be done from Calcutta. The Union of the two Superior Courts—of the one which consists of able English lawyers, and that in which there may be native judges also—must be right. The amalgamation will bring toge ther three classes of judges—those who have had high legal training ; civil servants well acquainted with native usages, but who have not necessarily had legal training, and native judges. Such a composition seems to be every way desirable for a court of final appeal in such a country. The opening of the civil service will also give satisfaction. Occasion is taken of the necessity of legalising appointments which have been already made to high offices from those who do not belong to the covenanted service, to settle rules for the permanent power of making such appointments. Of course, there is the danger of jobbing and nepotism; but it became impossible to maintain any longer the wholesale job of the old costly covenanted service. We hope the limitations on the power of appointment will not be dictated by " Old Indians." Since THELLUsSON'S Will Case was at length brough tto cue oaconclusion, there has remai ne d "on hand" no more urgently requiring settlement in its turn than that in which the son and heir of the late Baron DE BODE is the claimant of compen sation from the British Government. Among the majority of the English public the unanimous feel ing has long been, without doubt, of a kind so abso lutely identical, in the Baron's instance, with the sanction of uttermost exhaustion and weariness, that we might perhaps express th e general senti ment th a t with th e b u lk of the people of this by observingiscountry , the Baron's name would be more accurately spelt with an R i t n he li r e e u fr o a f in a o D f . one Fo o r f tihne disputably, in the words of 0 very wretchedest of those melanccheomlyiedsitotniz,—desig nated, of course, in mere irony, " The greatest Bore of all the Bores I know," is—not a doubt of it—to the vast multitude—the Baron DE BODE. Still, howe v er unwelcome the subject may be, undoubtedly is, in itself, justice at the same time Is Justice : and it yet remains with the Imperial Legislature to decide definitively, for once (more) and for all, whether the unfortunate Baron a.- 71„ m—that is DE BODE has yet had it. Until that final c.—:,;nn has been arrived at — the Baron will be perpetually "bock agen" like the inexorable Scotchman. He will petually revisiting the glimpses of the Moon, down at Westminster, like the incorrible Monsieur TON SON, whose memory is preserved to us (a fly in am ber) embalmed in "inextinguishable laughter." The ghost of this poor dead and gone Baron DE O BODE will—untii it shall have been somehow effee, OXFORD, 6, OXFORD-STREET. 1 1 1‘ RE SUN,' LONDON, FRIDAY EVENING, T JUNE 7. 1861. tually laid—be threatening us as inopportunely as ever did the ghost of BANQUO in the instance of MACBETH—the ghost of the Baron DE BODE will, we say, be threatening quite as inopportunely to push our Chancellors of the Exchequer from their stools at the most awkward moments imaginable. There was the last instance of this dreadful appari tion at Tuesday night's sitting, when Mr. DEN- MAN strove, so far as he possibly could, to carry desolation to the soul of Mr. GLADSTONE upon the very morrow of the triumph achieved after despe rately hard and prolonged fighting, by his finan cial measures for the current twelvemonth. In this instance, more deplorably protracted than even the married life of JOHN GILPIN and his spouse, through more than " Thrice ten tedious years have we" been pottering, off and on, over this miserable case of the Baron DE BODE'S claim for pecuniary corn- pensation without any one session obtaining any sufficiently lengthened abstinence from the renewal of the demand capable of being called even by courtesy a holiday. Here, in truth, in this habit that we have got into of reviving the Baron DE BODE'S case year after year for Parliamentary con sideration, is recognisable precisely one of those rules HAMLET speaks of as "more honoured in the breach than the observance !" But no—during three and thirty years we have actually had no chance of so honouring it! The discussion of the Baron's claim every session, in the Lords or in the Commons, or in both, has come to be regularly a part of the constitutional annual proceedings of the Imperial Legislature. Like— let us say—the passing of the Mutiny Act. A session would hardly be complete without a dis cussion, long or short, as the whim of the moment might dictate, of the claims of the lamented Baron. Occasionally, it is true,—and really no marvel — the House has, when this portentous grievance was again forthcoming according to announcement —occasionally, we say, the House has (it is upon record) gone the extreme length of a " count out," members preferring a cigar in the smoking-room or a quiet chop at BELLAMY'S to that dreadful Bore BODE—wrapped up, as his case always is, in such an enormous amount of what Mr. WooDIN'S Yachting Man expressively pronounces " Bawther." On Tuesday evening the House of Commons, it will have been remarked, was "at it again"— going into the whole "confusion worse confounded" of the rights and wrongs of the Baron DE BODE and his father, the latter being, of course, the present claimant's grandfather. Mr. DENMAN leading off for the plaintiff, i.e., the Baron's son, the heir to all his misfortunes. The Attorney- General leading off for the defendant, i.e., Her MAJESTY'S Government. Mr. MALINS for once being junior in furtherance of the case on the side of the applicant, as was also the hon. and learned baronet Sir GEORGE BowYER. Asso ciated with the Attorney-General on the side of the Defence were two other great guns, namely, the Prime Minister and the Chancellor of the Ex chequer. It is almost superfluous to observe, after this, how very strongly the argument disputing the validity of the claim was put—put as it was sum marily and with an almost overwhelming effect by Sir RICHARD BETHELL, by Lord PALMERSTON, and finally by Mr. GLADSTONE. It was explained, it was proved (as plainly as anything could well be proved) by the Attorney-General, that the assumption made throughout this claim, the assumption of the fact upon which the claim itself was based, upon which it could alone be based, namely, that the late Baron DE BODE was a British subject, was to say the least of it exceedingly dubious in every point of view. True, the Attor ney-General admitted, that the late Baron was born in England, but, he insisted, it was equally true that very early indeed after his birth he, the late Baron DE BODE, was carried over into France by his fitther (unmistakably a French, citizen), and there in France educated, and there brought up as a Frenchman. Subsequently the father (grand father s s we have said of the present applicant) trans ferred his property in Alsace to his then youthful son, the late Baron, since deceased. The property thus transferred, as to a British subject, was so trans ferred, remarks the Attorney-General, in order simply and obviously that it might be protected from the lawful authority of the de facto French Government. "That Government," observed Sir RICHARD, "saw, however, through the device, that the father did not intend really to divest himself of the property, and they did what they had a right to do, they confiscated this property for what the French law made an offence committed by a French subject." Our Attorney-General remark ing pithily and succinctly immediately after wards, that " According to the constitution and the Act of Parliament, to entitle a party to indem nity, the property confiscated must be British pro perty, the party deprived of it must be a subject of the British Crown, and it must have been im properly or unduly confiscated by the French Government." Wherefore, argues Sir RICHARD syllogistically, these primary, these all-essential conditions being a-wanting, the claim falls to the ground by an inevitable consequence. Of course there is a great deal to be said upon the other side, as in fact a good deal has already been said upon it—and written about it. So thought the House of Commons on Tuesday, in spite of all that had been insisted upon to the contrary by the Attorney-General, the Premier, and the Chancellor of the Exchequer—and, so thinking, the House decided upon a division by 134 to 112 that after all the Baron DE BODE'S case should be once more, and for positively the last time, referred to a Select Committee for a final investigation. In the name of justice—for the satisfaction of the Baron DE BODE'S manes— for the sake of the present claimant (for " hope deferred," we all know upon Divine authority and from many a bitter experience, " maketh the heart sick") —in the interests of the country and of Parliament—let us hope that this Select Com mittee will really contrive, at length, to make an end of the matter, and so rid us at last of those long talked of ills of Baron DE BODE, which whenever talked of session after session have certainly boded ill indeed for both Houses of Parliament. ht —To-ni the 44 Coll een B a l ADELPHI THEATRE ' a named Plummer, s ue d his his morning a workman have" at t Adelp . he g hi !—a s the 200th of good long run, and promising tobetter.T SHERIFFS' Cou RT. amount, on account o f the bad using obj ec ted to pay the for wrongful dismissal. Thelate employer for 355. damages f n en a d threatening man- Pt roceosnioddi.uncat judge language. (Mr. Joyce) said, the plaintiff had no ri T g h h e t contr n ac d to c r las of ner ß t A o ic h ic is ß m u a r s T te c r y . CirclerudßicTt.f_orTthhegisdelmoranniante.cg gr a. ound of Com missioner Evans su s p ended the certifi cate, worth o b r a t n h k C r u o p m t m on, named for 12 Read, m 0 described t h a e s unsat a i l. factory accounts. Mr. Commissioner Goulburn awarded Skinner, a coach builder, at Denmark-hill, an immediate certificate of the second class. MARLBOROUGH-STREET POLICE COURT.—This morning a man named Dickinson was placed at the bar -"arged with loitering about with intent to commit felony. He web a.....,1,arged with a caution. _ . The French )3J ur "" la "flounce that Mr. Prost, charged with a special mission to Europe by Mr. Jefferson Davis, has arrived at Havre. The Gazette de France reports that the Emperor has sent Madame George Sand a present of 20,000 f., aS a consolation for her defeat by M. Thiers, LArIET NE‘NS S. TURIN, JUNE 6, EVENING. At tho re-opening of the Chamber of Deputies to-day the President announced the death of Count Cavour amid expressions of profound grief on the part of the Assembly. He pointed out the great loss that Italy had sustained, and described the signal services rendered by Count Cavour. Signor Ratazzi then said,— " The Chamber should participate in the Italian national mourning by suspending its sittings for three days. We are deeply afflicted by the mis fortune which has deprived us of the wisdom of so illustrious a statesman. We must not, how ever, allow ourselves to be discouraged, nor quit the path which we have hitherto followed. He whom we mourn expressed in his last moments unshaken faith in the future of Italy, showing him self convinced that the principle of unity and inde pendence would fully triumph. We firmly hold this faith. Agreeing among ourselves, let us sincerely rally around the throne of a valiant and loyal Prince, and we shall then be able to attain the end to which, thanks to our tenacity, we are happily so near." The Tribune of the Chamber of Deputies will be draped with black for 20 days. The Senate has taken a similar resolution. Signor Minghetti, Minister of the Interior, then announced that the Ministry felt it necessary to remain provisionally in office. TURIN, JUNE 7. The Italia of to-day announces that the King has summoned Baron Ricasoli to his palace. TURIN, JUNE 6, 10.35 P.M. Count Cavour died in the arms of Sir James Hudson. The Count talked last evening with the King, who kissed him. The whole city has been thrown into deep mourning by the death of Count Cavour. The Bourse and all the shops are closed. The municipality has issued a proclamation, urging upon the people the necessity for firmness and constancy. The Official Gazette announces that the King visited Count Cavour 3 esterday evening. It also announces Count Cavour's death, and says that his last moments were perfectly tranquil, and that in dying he expressed his profound faith in the destinies of Italy. ROME, JUNE 4. Prince Piombino, having refused to withdraw his signature from the petition for the withdrawal of the French troops from Rome, has been exiled by the Pope. long stairway ascending the bank at a sharp angle in a cut, which is lost in the sheds that crown the eminence over head. This stair is flanked on either side by the bars of an iron tramway, up which freight is hauled when landed, and parallel to it is a wooden slide, down which bales of cotton and sacks of corn are shot upon the steamer. One or two passengers slowly ascend, and a voice in the air notifies us that a team is at hand with a load of ladies, who shortly after are seen pick ing their way down the flight of steps. The cres set is constantly replenished with fresh light wood, and the shadows cast by its flickering flame make us regret that we have not with us a Turner to preserve this scene, which would have been a study for Rembrandt or Salvator Rosa. At midnight we halt for a couple of hours at Selmo, a " rising town," which has taken a start of late, owing to the arrival of a branch railway that connects it with Tennessee and the Mississippi river. Here a huge embarcadere, several stories high, seems fastened to the side of the bank, and affords us an opportunity of stepping out from either story of the Southern Republic upon a cor responding landing. Upon one of these floors there are hackmen and hotel runners, competing for those who land, and indicating the proximity of a town, if not a city. Our captain had resolved upon making but a short stay, in lieu of tying up until morning—his usual practice—when an acquaint ance comes on board and begs him to wait an hour for a couple of ladies and some childrea whom he will hunt up a mile or so out of town. Times are hard, and the captain very cheerfully consents, not insensible to the flattering insinuation, "Yon know our folks never go with any one but you if they can help it." The next day and evening are a repetition of the foregoing scenes, with more plantations in view and a general air of tillage and prosperity. We are struck by the uniformity of the soil, which every where seems of inexhaustible fertility, and by the unvarying breadth of the stream, which, but for its constantly recurring sinuosities, might pass for a broad ship canal. We also remark that the bluffs rarely sink into bottoms susceptible of over flow, and admire the verdure of the primitive forest, a tangle of magnolias in full flower, of laurels, and of various oaks peculiar to this region, and which, though never rising to the dignity of that noble tree in higher latitudes, are many of them extremely graceful. All this sylva of mode rate stature is intertwined with creepers, and at intervals we see the Spanish moss, indicating the malarious exhalations of the soil beneath. The Indian corn, upon which the Southerners rely prin cipally for food, has attained a height of two feet, and we are told that, in consequence of the war, it is sown in greater breadth than usual. The cotton plant has but just peeped above the earth, and, alluding to its tenderness, those around us express anxieties about that crop, which, it seems, are never allayed until it has been picked, bagged and pressed, shipped and sold. As I am not engaged upon an itinerary, let these sketches suffice to convey an idea of the 417 miles of winding river which connect Montgomery with Mobile, to which place the Southern Republic con veyed us in 35 hours, stoppings included. One of the Egyptian pyramids owes its origin to the strange caprice pf a princess, and the Southern Republic is said to have been built with the proceeds of an accidental " haul" of Gold Coast natives, who fell into the net of her enterprising proprietors. This worthy, born of Irish parents in Milk-street, is too striking a type of what the late Mr. Webster was wont to call "a Northern man with Southern prin ciples" not to deserve something more than a pass ing notice. For out-and-out Southern notions there is nothing in Dixie's Land like the successful emigrant from the north and east. Captain Meagher had at his fingers' ends all the politicc-economical facts and figures of the Southern side of the question, and rested his reasoning solely upon the more sordid and material calculations of the Secessionists. It was a question of tariffs, The North had, no doubt, provided the protection of a navy, the facilities of mails, the construction of forts, custom-houses, and post-offices in the South, and plead countless well paid offices at the disposal of gentlemen fond of elegant leisure ; but for all these the South had been paying more than their value, and when Abo litionists were allowed to elect a Sectional Presi dent, and the system of forced labour, which is the basis of Southern prosperity, was threatened, the South were too happy to take a "snap judgment," as in a pie poudre Court, and declare the Federal compact forfeited and annulled for ever. During the long second day of our voyage we examined the faces of the proletarians, whose colour and constitutions so well adapt them for the Cy clo,dan realms of the main deck. Among them we detect several physiognomies which strike us as resembling seedlings from the Gold Coast rather than the second or third fruits of ancient trans plantation. A fellow traveller gratifies at the same time our curiosity and our penetration. There are several native Africans, or as they are called in Cuba, bonzes, on heard. They are the property of the argumentative captain, and were acquired by a coup de main, at which I have already hinted in this letter. It seems that a club of plan ters in this State and one or two others resolved, little more than a year ago, to import a cargo of Africans. They were influenced partly by cupidity and partly by a fancy to set the United States laws at defiance and to evince their contempt for New England philanthropy. The job was accepted by an Eastern house, which engaged to deliver the cargo at a certain point on the coast within certain limits of time. Whether the shipment arrived earlier than anti cipated, or whether Capt. Meagher was originally , designed as the person to whom the bold and deli cate manoeuvre of landing them should be intrusted, it is certain that on a certain Sunday in last July he took a little coasting trip in his steamer Czar, and appeared at Mobile on the following morning in season to make his regular voyage up river. It is no less certain that he ran the dusky strangers in at night by an unfrequented pass, and landed them among the cane-brakes of his own plantation with sufficient celerity to be back at the moorings of the Czar without his absence having been noticed. The vessel from which the bonzes were delivered was scuttled and sunk, and her master and crew found their way North by rail. But the parties in interest soon claimed to divide the spoils, when, to their infinite disgust, the enter prising captain very coolly professed to ignore the whole business, and defied them to seek to recover by suit at law property the importation of which was regarded and would be punished as felony if not as piracy by the judicial tribunals. A case was made and issue joined, when the captain proved a circumstantial alibi, and, having cast the claimants, doled them out a few bonzes, perhaps to escape as sassination, as shells,while he kept the oyster in the shape of the pick of the importation which he still holds, reconciling his conscience to the transaction by interpreting it as salvage. i All this is told us by our n terlocutor, who was one of the losers by the affair, and who stigmatised the conduct of its hero as having been treacherous. The latter, after repeated jocular inquiries, suffers his vanity to subdue his reticence, and finishes by "acknowledging the corn." In the afternoon of the second day we meet two steamers ascending the river with heavy cargoes, and are told that they are the Keyes and the Lewis, recently warned off and not seized by the blockading squadron off Pensacola. They are deep with provisions for the forces of the Confederate States' army before Pickens, which must now be despatched from Montgomery by rail. In Mobile, for the first time since leaving Wash ington, " we realise" the entire stagnation of busi ness. There are but five vessels in port, chiefly English, which will suffice to carry away the debris of the cotton crop. Exchange on the North is unsaleable, owing to the impossibility of importing coin through the unsettled country, and bills on London are of slow sale at par, which would leave a profit of 7 per cent. upon the importation of gold from your side. MOBILE, SUNDAY, MAY 12. The heat of the city rendered an excursion to which I was invited, for the purpose of visiting the forts at the entrance of the bay, exceedingly agree able, and I was glad to get out from the smell of warm bricks to the breezy waters of the sea. The party comprised many of the leading merchants and politicians of this city, which is the third in im ,l portance as a port of exportation in the United States of America. There was not a man among them who did not express with more or less determina tion the resolve never to submit to the rule of the accursed North. Let there be no mistake whatever as to the unanimity which exists at present in the South to fight for what it calls its independence, and to carry on a war to the knife with the Government of the United States. I have frequently had occa sion to remark the curious operation of the doctrine of State Rights on the minds of the people ; but an examination of the institutions of the country as they actually exist leads to the inference that, where the tyranny of the majority is at once irre sponsible and cruel, it is impossible for any man where the doctrine prevails to resist it with safety or success. It is the inevitable result of the action of this majority, as it operates in America, first to demoralise and finally to absorb the minority ; and even those :who have maintained what are called " Union doctrines," and who are d opposed to Secession or revolution, have bowed their heads before the majesty of the mass, and have hastened to signify their mel t uieuerrev l o u sed. 7 ueci, he sions which they have hitherto pp minority, covt,irdly in conscluenee o ° f t e l i a n e i f , bitrary oftAs , (7ervv h i g power and vindictive ehtiracter eig4k:kt y*ch it hag otrnaled, and. diR retlr. relied by, defeat, of which the penalties are tremendous in such conflicts as these, hastens to lick the feet of the conqueror, and rushes with frantic cheers after the chariot in the triumph which celebrates its own humiliation. If there be a minority at all on this great question of Secession in the Southern States, it hides in holes and corners, inaccessible to the light of day, and sits there it, darkness and in sorrow, silent and fearful, if not dumb and hope less. TEere were officers who had served with distinction under the flag of the United States, now anxious to declare that it was not their flag, and that they had no affection for it, although they were ready to admit they would have continued to serve under it if their States had not gone out. A man's State, in fact, under the operation of these majority doctrines to which I have adverted, holds hostages for his fidelity to the majority, not only in such land or fortune as he may possess within her bounds, but in his family, his relatives and kin, and if the State revolts the officer who remains faithful to the flag of the United States is considered by the authorities of the revolting State a traitor, and, what is worse, he is treated in the persons of those he leaves behind him as the worst kind of political renegade. General Scott, but a few months ago the most honoured of men in a Republic which sets such store on military success, is now reviled and abused because, being a Virginian by birth, he did not immediately violate his oath, abandon his post, and turn to fight against the flag which he has illus trated by repeated successes, during a career of half a century, the moment his State passed an ordi nance of Secession. An intelligent and acomplished officer who ac companied me to-day around the forts under his command told me that he had all along resisted Secession, but that when his State went out he felt it was necessary to resign his commission in the United States army and to take service with the Confederates. Among the most determined oppo nents of the North, and the most vehement friends of what are called here " domestic institutions," are the British residents, English, Irish, and Scotch who have settled here for trading purposes, and who are frequently slaveholders. These men have no State rights to uphold, but they are convinced of the excellence of things as they are, or find it their interest to be so.* The waters of two rivers fall into the bead of the Bay of Mobile, which is, in fact, a narrow sea creek between low sandy banks, covered with pine and forest trees, broken here and there into islands, and extending some 30 miles, inland, with a breadth varying from three to seven miles. No attempt has been made apparently to improve the waters or to provide docks or wharfage for the numerous cotton ships which lie at the mouth of the bay, more than 25 miles from Mobile. All the cotton has to be sent down to them in lighters, and the number of men thus employed in the cotton season in loading the barges, navigating, and transferring the cargoes to the ships is very considerable, and their rate of wages is high. . _ _ The horror entertained by a merchant captain of the shore is well known, and the skippers are de lighted at an anchorage so far from the land, which at the same time detains the crews in the ships and prevents absenteeism and "running." At present there are but seven ships at the anchorage, nearly all British, and one of the latter appears in the dis tance hard and fast ashore, though whether she got there in consequence of the lights not being burn ing or from neglect it is impossible to say. Fort Gaines, on the right bank of the channel, near the entrance, is an unfinished shell of a fort, which was commenced by the United States'. engineers some time ago, and which it would not be easy to finish without a large outlay of money and labour. It is not well placed to resist either a land attack or an assault by boats. A high sandbank in front of one of the faces screens the fire, and a wood on another side, if occupied by riflemen, would render it diffi cult to work the barbette guns. It is not likely, however, that the fort will be attacked. The chan nel it commands is only fit for light vessels. From this fort to the other side of the channel, where Fort Morgan stands, the distance is over three miles, and the deep water channel is close to the latter fort. TEe position at Gaines is held by a strong body of Alabama troops—stout, sturdy men, who have volunteered from farm, field, or desk. They are armed with ordinary muskets of the old pattern, and their uniform is by no means uniform, but the men lock fit for service. The fort would take a garrison of 500 men if fully mounted, but the parapets are mere partition walls of brickwork crenellated ; the bomb-proofs are unfinished, and, but for a few guns mounted on the sandhills, the place is a defenceless shell-trap. There are no guns in the casemates, and there is no position ready to bear the weight of a gun in barbette. The guns which are on the beach are protected by sandbag traverses, and are more formidable than the whole fortress. The steamer proceeded across the channel to Fort Mor gan, which is a work of considerable importance, and is assuming a formidable character under the superindence of Col. Hardee, formerly of the United States' army. It has a regular trace, bastion, and curtain, with a dry ditch and drawbridge, well made casemates and bombproofs, and a tolerable armament of columbiads, 42 and 32-pounders, a few 10-inch mortars, and light guns in the external works at the salients. The store of ammunition seems ample. Some of the fuses are antiquated, and the gun-carriages are old-fashioned. The open parade and the unprotected gorges of the casemates would render the work extremely unpleasant under a shell fire, and the buildings and barracks inside are at present open to the influences of heat. The magazines are badly traversed and inadequately protected. A very simple and apparently effective contrivance for dispensing with the use of the sabot in shells was shown to me by Colonel Maury, the inventor. It consists of two circular grummets of rope, one at the base and the other at the upper circumference of the shell, made by a simple machi nery to fit tightly to the sphere and bound together by thin copper wire. The grummets fit the bore of the gun exactly and act as wads, allowing the base of the shell to rest in close contact with the charge, and breaking into oakum on leaving the muzzle. Those who know what mischief can be done by the fragments of the sabot when fired over the heads of troops will appreciate this simple in vention, which is said to give increased range to the horizontal shell, There must be about 60 guns in this work ; it is over-garrisoned, and indeed it seems to be the difficulty here to know what to do with the home volunteers. Rope mantlets are used on the breeches of some of the barbette guns. At night the harbour is in perfect darkness. Notwithstand ing the defences I have indicated it would be quite possible to take Fort Morgan with a moderate force well supplied with the means of vertical fire. "Are there many mosquitoes here ?" inquired I of the waiter on the day of my arrival. " Well there's a few, I guess ; but I wish there were ten times as many' "In the name o f goo d ness why do you say so ?" asked Y with sotr e surprise and indignation. " Because we'd get rid of the— Black Republicans out of Fort Pickens all the sooner," replied he. There is a strange unilateral tendency in the minds of men in judging of the operation of causes arid results in such a contest as that which now prevails between the North and South. The waiter reasoned and spoke like many of his betters. The mosquitoes, for whose aid he was so anxious, were regarded by him as true Southerners, who would only torture his enemies. The idea of these persecuting little fiends being so unpatriotic as to vex the Confederates in heir sandy camp never entered into his head for a moment. In the same way a gentleman of in telligence, who was speaking to me of the terrible sufferings which would be inflicted on the troops at Tortugas and at Pickens by fever, dysentery, and summer heats, looked quite surprised when I asked him " Whether these agencies would not prove equally terrible to the troops of the Con federates ?" WILL OF THE LATE ADMIRAL THE EARL OF DUNDONALD.—The will of Admiral the Right Hon. Thomas Cochrane, Earl of Dundonald, G.C.8., late of Prince Albert-road, South Kensington, was proved in her Majesty's Court of Probate on the 3d of this month. The executors nominated are his sons, the present Earl and the Hon. Arthur Auckland Leopold Pedro Cochrane. The will is of a peculiar character, and very many of the be quests depend entirely upon the realisation of sums of money which the late Earl claimed from various Govern ments, our own included, should the exertions of the execu tors, conjointly with the late Earl's private secretary, procure a liquidation of them. The Earl has bequeathed the amount amongst his family, with the exception of some legacies and certain otker payments. The property he had in his possession he has bestowed in the following manner :—To his son, the.present Earl, he has bequeathed the Castle of Dun donald, N. 8., with the castle fields and land annexed, and mineral productions, &c., in the island all his possession s, of Trinidad, and other property, which may be in the bands of his agents in that island. The Earl bequeaths to his relict the Countess all the moneys derived from his naval services to Greece, invested in the French funds, and confirms a former gift made to her of £6,000 received from the Government of Brazil; he also leaves her the furniture and plate in the residence at Boulogne sur, -Mer, and the use of the plate deposited at Messrs. Coutts's, Strand, for her life. The Earl gives to his son Arthur some maritime patents, and to his two youngest tons, . J ackson, and CO to Horace and Ernest, "the profits, if any, which may arise from a share in the manufacture of certain compound , ror the use of railwt ys, but in no case are they ti,:-.,,rtere in an annuity tcl v the management of the business." T - Is a legacy o f a L f lO ai O th to fu h l is fe f m or a m le er sec_retary, t A t i h e e u t nomination nor tioitf also O. f!; 1 1 fi rl a m s L iee;iduar u y iir le ir g d a e t s ee w . to mention mention present that there is a peculiarity atfewithg the execution will : it bears date the blank day of June, 186, of the hot actually executed until on or abe-,4 ; .r 4A lut it was e 16th of August following, the attestin;,, , witneues - tC7 the document b eing UllaWo to Ott* do precise' day',—EN, (2 , onampraph FRANCE. BOURSE, June 6,—The news of the death of Count Cavour has caused considerable sensation, and the market from the commencement of business showed a downward tendency, but after a time rallied a little. Threes, fo7 the Account, after receding to 68f. 75c., are now at 68f. 90c. Railway shares heavy and lower. Thefollowing are the las quotations 4i per per Cents 96 30; Do end month 96 40 3 per Cents Do. end month 6B 90 Bank Shares.. 2895 Credit Mobilier 6Bl 25 Do. Account 682 50 Credt Foncier Belean 4i.. Piednontese Fives 72 Roman Austrian Spanish Threes 5O 25 Home Debt RAILWA.YB. Cash. Account. Orleans 1350 .. 1352 50 Northern New ditto BB7 50 .. 890 Lyons and Mediterranean 925 .. 927 50 Geneva . 405 .. 406 25 Southern 565 .. 566 25 Western Eastern Sardinian 365 .. 366 25 Austrian Lotribard TILE CIVIL WAR IN AMERICA: (From the Special Correspondent of the Times.) FROM MONTGOMERY TO MOBILE. MOBILE, ALABAMA, MAY 11. The wayfarer who confides in the maps of a strange country, or who should rely upon even the guide-books of the United States, which still lack a Murray or a Bradshaw, may beat timesembarrassed by insuperable hills and innavigable rivers. When, however, I saw the three towering stories of the high pressure steamer Southern Republic, on board of which we tumbled down the steep bank of the Alabama river at Montgemery, any such misgivings vanished from my mind. So colossal an ark could have ascended no mythical stream, and the exist ence and capabilities of the Alabama were demon strated by its presence. Punctuality is reputed a rare virtue in the river steamers of the West and South, which seldom leave their wharfs until they have bagged a fair comple ment of passengers,although steaming up and ring ing gongs and bells every afternoon for a week or more before their departure, as if travellers were to be swarmed like bees. Whether stimulated by the infectious activity of these " war times," or con vinced that the " politeness of kings" is the best ' steamboat policy, the grandson of Erin who owns and commands the Southern Republic casts off his fastenings but half-an-hour after his promised start and the short puff of the engine is enlivened by the wild strains of a steam-organ called a " calliope," which gladdens us with the assurance that we are ' in the incomparable " land of Dixie." Reserving for a cooler hour the attractions of the lower floor, a Hades consecrated to machinery, freight, and Negroes, we betake ourselves to the second landing, where we find a long dining-hall surrounded by two tiers of State rooms, the upper one accessible by a stairway leading to a gallery, which divides the " saloon" between floor and roof. We are shown our quarters, which leave much to be desired and nothing to spare, and rush from their suffocating atmosphere to the outer balcony, where a faint breeze stirs the air. There is a roofed balcony above us that corresponds to the second tier of State rooms, from which a party of excited Secessionists are discharging revolvers at the dip pers on the surface and the cranes on the banks of the river. After we have dropped down five or six miles from Montgomery, the steam whistle announces our approach to a landing, and, as there is no wharf in view, we watch curiously the process by which our top-heavy craft, under the sway . of a four-knot cur rent, is to swing round to her invisible moorings. As we draw nigh to a waggon-worn indenture in the bank, the "scream" softens into the dulcet pipes of the " calliope," and the steamer doubles upon her track, like an elephant turning at bay, her two engines being as independent of each other as seced ing States, and, slowly stemming the stream, lays her nose upon the bank, and holds it there with the judicious aid of her paddles until a long plank is run ashore .from her bow, over which three pas sengers with valises make way for a planter and his family who come on board. The gang plank is hauled in, the steamer turns her head down stream with the expertness of a whale in a canal, and we resume our voyage. We renew these stoppages various times before dark, landing here a barrel and there a box, and occasionally picking up a pas senger. After supper, which is served on a series of parallel tables running athwart the saloon, we re turn to enjoy from the balcony the cool obscurit y of the evening in this climate, where light meanp heat. As we cleave the glassy surface of the black water the timber-clad banks seem to hem us in more closely and to shut up in the vista before us, and while we glide down with a rapidity which would need but the roar of rapids to prefigure a cataract comparisons between the dark perspective ahead yield to the caprice of fancy, instit utin g b an ey d o t i la d' eln we ystery of the future. Again a scream and ruddy light flashes from our prow and deepens the shades around us. This rwe The pro ceeds from the burning of " light wood" — a high l y resinous pine—in a wire basket hung on gimbals and held lik e a l an dfez net below the bow of the steamer, so a s t o guide without blinding the pilot , h o o f. is ensconcedtorchlikea bearer r Ransom raises hi e s a cabman e u t p a o s n its we steam up to th e b ank, an d plants it in a socket, when a hawse r is se i ze d roun d tree, and the crew turn ashore to "wood n o -n There is s tee) high bank above us, andare nithog to and fro with food for ou r furnaces, while du s ky for.- we survey THE BRAZILIAN NAILS. The Royal Mail Company'ssteamship Magdalena, Captain R. Woolward, arrived at Southampton yesterday at 1 p.m., with mails in charge of Com mander Field, R.N., naval mail agent. The Magdalena experienced strong head winds between Teneriffe and Lisbon, and subsequently heavy gales. She brought 142 passengers (includ ing Viscount Carvalhido, wife, and son, from Rio), and on freight £35,251 in specie from Buenos Ayres, £306 from Rio, and £124 from Bahia,—total value of specie, £35,681, of which £34,231 was in gold and £1,450 in silver; also seven packages of diamonds, 2,000 bags of coffee, 29 packages of ipe cacuanha, 350 rolls of tobacco, and 109 packages of sundries. The Argentine Congress opened its preparatory session on the 4th April, at Parana, the provisional capital, and as a preliminary step, in a packed assembly of adherents of the Federal party, took into consideration the question of the legality of the election of the deputies from Buenos Ayres; and on the plea that they had been elected by pro vincial, not by national law, declared the election null, prorogued the opening of the session till the Ist of May, and directed the government of this province to proceed to a fresh election forthwith. The deputies of Buenos Ayres issued a protest against the entire proceeding, and retired ; their protest has been seconded by an official note from Gen. Mitre to the Minister of the Interior, praying a recon sideration of the decision of Congress, pointing out the errors in which it originated, and flaws in the decree itself. Meantime the idea of a re-election is utterly scouted by the Liberal journals and by the Liberal party generally; and unless the decree be rescinded there is no hope of the in corporation of the deputies of Buenos Ayres into Congress on the Ist of May. The consequence is that great alarm is everywhere felt that the compacts of San Jose and Santa Fe, and the na tional constitution as sworn on the 230. October, will remain dead letters; and that the union of the Argentine nation is just as far off as ever. The Commercial Times adds :—" Affairs are thus very threatening in appearance, but the great extent of interests, more especially in the provinces, which would suffer by the re-isolation of Buenos Ayres, lead us yet to hope that the true wish of the coun try may triumph over the schemes of a few reck less political adventurers, who seek their own personal aggrandisement in the material ruin of the nation." THE NAY Y. Letters from the South American coast, reeeived by our Southampton correspondent, state that her Majesty's Oberon arrived at Buenos Ayres on the 20th of April from Rosario, and that she was sub sequently sent on to Montevideo, where she arrived on the morning of the 30th, with supplementary mails for the homeward mail packet. The Ardent was lying in harbour at Buenos Ayres, and also the French gunboat Fulminante and the American gunboat Seminole. The American despatch-boat Culaski, with the Commodore on board, arrived at BuenosAyres on the 23d of April from Montevideo. The following ships of war were at Montevido : Her Majesty's ship Curagoa ; the Brazilian gun boats Yequitenhonha and Araguay ; the Spanish brig Gravina ; the French frigate Pandore, corvette Thisbe, and gunboat D'Entrecasteaux ; and the American frigate Congress. Her Majesty's ships Madagascar, Leopard, Spy, and Curlew were at Rio Janeiro on the 9th ult. The Rinaldo, 17, screw, Commander Hewett, V.C., made her official trial of speed, prior to pro ceeding to the North American and West India stations, at the measured mile in Stokes Bay yesterday. The mean results of the runs gave the ship a speed. of 10 knc)ts, at a draught of water of 15 feet 9 inches aft and 13 feet 8 inches forward. The machinery worked satisfactorily. At her steam reserve trial, on the Bth of August, 1860, prior to her commission, she realised a speed. of 11.781 knots, but at a draught of water of only 12 feet 6 inches aft and 10 feet 6 inches forward. She awaits her final orders at Spithead. Her Majesty's steam storeship Industry, paid off last week at Woolwich, was yesterday recommis sioned by the same captain, Master-Commander J. Hodges. She is now in dock, and will undergo considerable repair before proceeding to sea, which it is expected cannot take place before the month of September next. The steam storeship Wye, on the same service, bound for Rio and Ascension, has been detained at Greenhithe for repair of boiler, one of the stays and some rivets having given way. She sailed from Greenhithe yesterday for Portsmouth. The fittings of the Black Prince are being rapidly executed at Greenock, and the engineers expect to have steam up within three weeks or a month. The Daedalus is ordered to be fitted as a training ship, with a complement of 27 men. The undernamed gentlemen have been nominated to naval cadetships :—Herbert Williamson, Herbert Maddock Hughes, Lord Algernon C. Gordon Len nox, William W. Arthur, the Hon. Keith Turnour, Charles S. Cumberland, Edward Western Hodg kinson, Graham john Bower, Alexander Cook, Henry George Ratcliffe, Charles R. Cragie, William Leckie H. Browne, Arthur R. H. M. Maxwell, William Anthony Kingscote, and George Samuel Deverell. The following appointments were made yesterday at the Admiralty :—Lieut. Andrew R. Gordon to the Revenge • Lieut. William D. D . S el b y to the Marlborough% Lieut. Conrad A. Watts to the Dra gon; Alfred King, Assist.-Surgeon, to the Isis; James Parker, Acting A ssist. - Surg.-additional, to the Narcissus ; R. W. M. Jones, Paymaster, to the Dragon ; Henry J. Kelly, Paymaster, to the Cas tor, for the Daedalus ; T. W. T. Neame, Paymaster additional, to the Castor ; John Rivers, Assist.- Paymaster, to the W e ll es l ey ; and Charles W. Hoseason, Master's-Assistant, to the Dragon. ThE ARMY. The Duke of Cambridge, having been appointed to the colonelcy of the Royal Artillery and Royal Engineers, will dine with General Sir R. Dacres and the officers of the Royal Artillery at their mess, on Monday next, at Woolwich. Major-General Sir R. Decree, commanding at Woolwich, accompanied by the garrison staff and the officers of the Royal Arsenal, yesterday at tended a preliminary experiment at the entrance of Plumstead-marsh for the purpose of testing the effi cacy of a wooden model of a fortress and embrasure proposed to be erected in iron for the defence of the guns at Spithead. The method is stated to be the invention of Colonel Colquhoun, and was suggested by Captain Inglis, R.E., I nspector of Works at Woolwich, as being appropriate for the abovenamed purpose. The trials will be repeated. The plat form for the gun is supplied with hollow-soled trucks and raised racers of a new description, and, as stated, may probably answer the purpose well. In accordance with orders to that effect, received at Chatham, 15 of the 100-pounder Armstrong guns, each of 81 cwt., are forthwith to be mounted on the sea defences commanding the entrance to the Medway, in lieu of the existing 11 inch and 68- w hole pounderis at t present guns armed. with Half-Moonßattery, consib ting of 20 8-inch guns, has been dismounted. h w ir ie h h e that portion of the works armament of the Th e guns have been removed to the Ordnance-wharf, in charge of the assistant military storekeeper, prior to removal to Woolwich. The shot, shell, and other stores belonging to the battery have also been removed and deposited in the ex pense magazines situate in another part of the for tifications, Contrary to previous orders, the guns planted on the Cavalier Battery will not be dis mounted for the present, as it is considered probable that the construction of the casemated battery, to be erected on the site of the existing Half-Moon Battery, will not necessitate their removal, at least for the present. The weight of charge required in firing the 100 pounder Armstrong gun is 141 h. for the elongated shot, and 12lb, for the common and segment shells. A course of experiments in 121 b. rocket firing is being tried at Lumps Fort, near Portsmouth, the fuze used being longer in communicating the fire to the rocket than the one commonly employed. The experiments are not yet concluded. The slides for the gun carriages supplied to this fort require considerable alteration before the guns can be mounted in position. It is said to be the intention of the authorities to increasr : thp depth of the ditch by two feet, as the o'danfitY of water which can now be obtained it is but insignificant. Should this scheme be e r,.ried out, the escarp should be rivetted wits., e itLer masonry or brickwork to render the 70 ,„7,, really defensible. A meeting of the African Steam Company was held yesterday, Mr. P. D. Halow in the chair, when the report, recommending a dividend of 7s. per share, or at the rate of 7 per cent. per annum, free of income-tax, was adopted. THE DEANERY or EXETER. —The Rev. Professor Ellicott, to whom Lord Palmerston has offered the deanery of Exeter, has not yet accepted the appoint.vent, and it is said to ba doubtful whether he will succeed to the vacant digtlity, which will Involve the resignation of other appoint- I