The Sun. — London, England, 1861-05-22 00:00:00

THEATRE -ROYAL, HAYMARKET, Lessee, Mr. J. B. Badrstone. THIS EVENING, the performances will commence with a new and original Comedy, entitled BLACK SHEEP. Mr. fiuckstone, Mr. Compton, Mr. Howe, to. ; Mrs. Wilkins, Mrs. Charles Young, Miss Lovell, &c. After which, will be revived, with entirely new scenery and effects, and all the original music by the late Sir Henry Bishop, the melodrama o Co f T mmence HE MILLER AND HIS MEN. at 7. ROYAL PRINCE S S'S THEATRE.- Lessee and Manager, Mr. A. Harris. THIS EVENING, THRICE MARRIED. Messrs. Shore, Meadows, Garden, and Miss C. Leclereq. Followed by HAMLET. Hamlet, Mr. Feohter. Sup ported by Hermann Vezin, Ryder, Meadows, aze. ; Misses Heath, Elsworthy, and R. Leclercq. NEW THF,ATRE-ROYAL, ADELPHI.— Sole Proprietor and Manager, Mr. B. Webster. Reproduction of "The Colleen Bawn. " The Adelphi "Census" every Evening. THIS EVENING, the successful new Faroe, entitled A TURKISH BATH. Mr. J. L. Toole, Mr. P. Bedford. After which:(lB6th7time), THE COLLEEN BAWN. Mr. D. Bomb:milt, D. fisher, Billington, Falconer, Stephenson, 'C. J. Smith, Romer, Howard, Ward ; Mrs. Boneicault, Miss Woolgar, Mrs. Billington, and Mrs. Chatterley. To be followed by a new apropos Sketch, THE CENSIIS. Messrs. J. L.. Toole, Eburne, Romer, C. J. Smith ; Miss Kate Kelly, Miss E. Thorne, and Mrs. Chatterley. . -- • - Doors open at half past 6—Commence at 7. CANTERBURY - HAL I, CONCERT S AND FINE ARTS GALLERY. EVERY EVENING, A Grand Selection from Verdi's new Opera, UN BALLO IN MASCHERA, (First produced in England at this Establishment), With a Chorus of Forty Voices. Also, Verdi's IL CORSARO, never performed at any her Concerts. Solos on the Cornet-a-piston, by Mr. Levy. The Comic Department oomprises the Brothers Conrad (in their new and inimitable entertainments) , Mr. Wood and his talented little Son, Mr. Marshall, Mr. Blanchard, Mr. Hol lingsworth, and Miss Rose Howard. Musical Director, Mr. F. JONGHMANS. H E O X FORD, s, OXFORD-STREET. Mr. LEVY, undoubtedly the best performer of the day on the Cornet-a-Piston — Grand Selections (on the most complete scale) from Dinorah, Martha, Stradella, ac., and other vocal and instrumental music, by Miss Russell, the Misses Stuart, and Miss Ernst, Messrs. Charles Greville, Fornari, Kimber ley, Bernard, Beaumont, Bervon, Huish, 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 evening. Admission, Hall, sixpence ; Balcony and Stalls, one shilling. Private Boxes, 10s. 6d. HIGH WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE. THIS Ds:Y.—Morning, h. m.—Afternoon, 12h. 6m. To-moßsow.-Morning, 12h. 27m.—Afternoon, 12h. 56m. THE WEATHER.—SUN OFFICE, MAY 22, 1861. THERMOMETER, IN THE SHA.DB, 75—highest since noon yesterday. 57—lowest this morning and during the night. 63—this day at noon. BAROMETER-30,25; falling. WlND—North-Webterly—light; with dull weather. It was very hot in the night and morning, threatening a thunder storm. , ,••• - z t•-•:‘,,,, t ) - ',•* - ~ ,_ ~.- - ~:. ; ~,, , - - -4. ' --- ,:ilt- - ~. ,k... - ~-„, ;: y THE SUN. LONDON, WEDNESDAY, MAY 22, 1861: - - -- - JEFFERSON DAVIS has at length, under date 29th April, 1861, answered the manifesto of ABRAHAM LINCOLN. The proclamation of the latter in his capacity as PRESIDENT of the United States has been responded to by the message ad dressed by the former in his capacity as Pre sident of the Confederate States, addressed by him to the Provisional Congress of the Southern Go vernment. The document like most Presidents' Messages will be found, as usual, exceedingly long-winded. And upon perusal it turns out to be about as tedious as the greatest stickler for circumlocution could possibly desire. It is in its whole tone and character put forth as a justifica tion of the seceding States in the South, as a justification of the attitude at present assumed bylthem, as—actually—the champions of a defen sive war ! Astounding though it may appear that is absolutely the drift of the whole of Mr. DAVIS'S argument ! He answers with the most delightfully cool effrontery that the Northern States are repro sented by him as the victims of a prolonged and insidious oppression. The cup there has long since been brimmed up—all but to overflowing. The last drop has fallen into it—and it has consequently run over, to the spilling of blood. The overburdened camel has for a generation or two been groaning tnere, under the pressure of the accumulated cruel ties of the central authority at Washington. The final straw—the straw thrown up to show which way the wind blew at the time of the last Presiden tial election—having been drifted against the Southerners, has recently alighted upon the sym bolical camel, compelling him at length to turn upon his heartless oppressors. At the commencement of his laboured effort at extenuation, Mr. JEFFERSON DAVIS 'goes back to the very beginning of the annals, to the very dawn of the existence, of the Republican confederation ! He recognises there, even then and there, at the date of the conclusion of peace between Great Britain and those among her colonies in North America which had just con trived to throw off the yoke of her authority—Mr. JEFFERSON DAVIS, as President of the Con federate States' Government, recognises even then and there the commencement of those grievous oppressions which he declares have ever since continued to hamper the Southern States of the Union, in consequence of the ingrained injustice and arrogance of the Northern States. Reference is made by him, after a long preamble, to the diffe rence between the North and the South being traceable in a great measure to the diversity of their avocations, the Northern States being mercantile and the Southern agricultural. After beating thus about the bush for a long while, he at last, at last, comes to the point—but, Oh ! so gingerly. " When the several States," says President DAVIS, "dele gated certain persons to the United States Con gress a large portion of the labouring population consisted of Afriean slaves imported into colonies by the mother country. In twelve out of the th.irteen States negro slavery existed, and. the 'right of Property in slaves was protected by law. The property was recognised in the C ons ti tution, and provision was made against its less by t h e in I escape of the slaves. The increase the number of slaves by further importation from Africa was also secured by a clause forbidding Congress to prohibit the slave trade anterior to a certain date ; and in no Clause can there be found any delegation of power to the Congress authorising it in any manner to legislate to the prejudice, detriment, or discou ragement of the owners of that species of property, or excluding it from. the protection of the Govern ment." However delicately insinuated the truth may be—it all comes to be blurted out at length more frankly than Mr. JEFFERSON DAVIS calculated upon when beginning his cautiously designed Mes sage to the Provisional Congress of his Aggressive, rather it should be said, than (as he wou l d have the world believe) Defensive Government. y es _ the mask drops off in spite of all his precau. tions. The veiled Prophet of the American Khorassan stands revealed before his would be worshippers. Slavery is the cause in scribed upon the Souther n banners, the main tenance and the spread of slavery are the twin objects the Unionists are figlitirg for. The Northern States, the United States still, insisting merely upon the preservation of the integrity of the Re publican Confederation —unprepared, while doing so, to become implicated in the famous conspiracy, to become connivers in the execrable plot, now I revealing itself under the title of the Confederate States Government. Almost simultaneously with the appearance of the Message of Mr. DAVIS, at Montgomery— Mr. LINCOLN'S Secretary of State, Mr. SEWARD, addresses a despatch to the new American Ambassador at the Court of the Tuileries, from the United States capital of Washington. And in this despatch Mr. SEWARD on the part of his Government, says quite plainly, " There is not now, nor has there been, nor will there be, the least idea existing in this Government of suffer ing a dissolution of the Union to take place in any way whatever." Nay, the Secretary of State at Washington proceeds, beyond this, in terms yet more explicit : he says—" There will be here only one nation and one Government, and there will be the same Republic and the same Con stitutional Union that has already survived a dozen national changes, and changes of Go vernment in almost every other country. These will stand hereafter, as they are now, objects of human wonder and human affection." About the "affection" we are certainly disposed to say little enough. But as to the pro bably speedy termination of the war we are in clined to be a little more sanguine: For, in this contest between the Northern and the Southern States of the American Republic, it is not simply that the North has a vast and visible preponderance in wealth and in population, in what are called "the sinews" as well as in the mere instruments of warfare, while the South has little beyond the fierce and maddening incentive of despe ration ! It is not this consideration alone which impresses us with a sense of the inherent weakness of the South, and of the innate strength of the North. But beyond that, apart from that, behind it, within it comes the instant after thought that the Civil War now commenced may— any day—flame out into what is far worse—into a Servile War. Once let the ports of the Slave States get effectually blockaded, as they will be eventually, and that, too, very speedily—and provisions and other essentials will begin to fall off—the slave owners, the white masters, will themselves discover, through their own individual privations, the horrors of this internecine struggle promoted and commenced by themselves! The Blacks—numbering them in all some 4,000,000 — will, in their turn, begin to inquire into the cause of their starvation. They will recognise —it requires no great wit to recognise anything so perfectly obvious—that they are being actually starved, and oppressed even beyond all their former experience of oppression—why ?—in order that they may not have a hope of their ulterior emancipation ! Then will begin—then must inevitably begin, a " double revolt"—the Whites rising in tumult because of their continued and increasing privations—the 131acks, infuriated not only by their privations, but 'by the remembrance of their past wrongs and the recognition of their present opportunity ! A powerful enemy without—terrible insurrection within—both these are matters of dead certainty for the Confederate States Government. And so viewing them, it is not very difficult to imagine the inevitable consequences. JEFFERSON DAVIS and his—let us say at once—accomplices, will find themselves, sooner than they may conjecture even in their most lucid intervals, utterly be wildered. And, with the mercy of Heaven, a speedier close to the present war may then come than even the most sanguine have yet ventured to anticipate. Lord JOHN is an avowed Constitutionalist. If he advocates anything worth calling reform, nothing grieves him more than any attempt to show that he is departing from the principles of the Consti tution. And, with certain important deductions, he is the advocate of Constitutional institutions all over the world. We think that now, if ever, he is called upon to consider carefully the demands which his Conservative Constitutionalism fairly make upon him. One of the most serious deductions to which we have just alluded, is his strong leanings to what le terms the integrity of the Austrian Empire—a kind of integrity which shall enable the Emperor of AUSTRIA to wield the military resources of the Kingdom of Hungary without the necessity of con sulting the Diet of that kingdom in regard to taxes and number of soldiers. In other words, that in all matters of war and foreign policy Hun gary is to be but a province of Austria. Lord JOHN confesses, with an air of good nature, to some such notion of the integrity of Austria as this. Now it can hardly, we trust, be possible to keep the question of the Constitutional rights of Hun gary long out of the House of Commons ; and perhaps the Lords will have their pro-despot de bate over it too. We may hope that Mr. BERNAL OSBORNE, who spoke so nobly for Hungary in July, 1849, when Lord PALMERSTON answered him at once so plausibly and so treacherously—for he was than telling the Court of St. Petersburg that the British Government had not any formal expression of opinion to offer—we may hope Mr. OSBORNE at least will not forget the cause which he then advocated. May we not then look to Lord JOHN RUSSELL to give the first place in his regards to the just constitutional claims of Hungary, and to suggest to the Emperor of AUSTRIA that the combined action of the Hungarian kingdom and the hereditary provinces ought to depend on the KING and the EMPEROR, respecting the just rights of each, and on his rendering his government, as a whole, worthy of the combined support of the nationalities over which he was sovereign. In the debate just referred to in 1849, Lord PAL MERSTON showed that he knew well the claims of Hungary to a separate constitution and Govern ment, and that the question then was what it is now, whether these rights should be conceded, or whether the government of Hungary should be amalgamated more or less with a constitution at that time proposed for the remaining part of the empire. Unhappily, criminally, we think, under the German influence, as it was thought, of our Court, Ministers determined to let Russia shed the blood of Hungary without even the feeblest protest ! But we will not dwell on these times, so painful to theheart of every Englishman. All we now ask is that England should make the only atonement in her power, a t a moment when her moral influence, which Prance would hasten to support, might be effectually given to the cause of right in Hungary. We need not recapitulate the unanswerable state ments and arguments of M. DEAK's speech on the address. We only assume that L or d JOHN RUSSELL knows them well by this time, and knows also that they are true, and the demands founded on them just. He is too well versed in European history not to be aware that M. Dix has but submitted to the Diet, and through it to all Europe, what the most absolute Court in Europe, or the sturdiest Tories in our own House of Lords, or His Royal Righness PI lace ALBERT himself cannot deny. Lord JOHN knows that the question now is, whe ther a people peacefully demanding their most un doubted legal and constitutional rights shall be longer debarred from them by brute force. Lord JOHN says he holds old-fashioned notions about Austria ; but can it be old fashioned to assert for Austria the right to more than a Personal union, through the Crown, with Hungary ? Tie notion THE SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, MAY 22, 1861. of an amalgamation of Hungary with Austria by a Parliament, in which, moreover, the old independent kingdom is to be in a fixed minority of representatives is surely a purely modern one ; a perfect novelty ; a mere dream of constitution makers ; while the con stitution of Hungary has, like that of England, only for a longer time, weathered the storms of centuries. The unfortunate difference for Hungary is, that by the block and by exile we got rid of our HAPSBURGS. Had not Hungary been too generous to her STUARTS, she might, by this time, have been as free and proportionally as prosperous as our own country. When Hungary comes before our Parliament, which we hope will be soon; when the return of correspondence with Austria is moved for—we hope Ministers will be able to assert that they have given English not Germanized counsel to Austria. We hope they will be able to maintain the reputa tion they have won in their country, and for their country, by their Italian policy. We may, though with sorrow, allow Lord JOHN RUSSELL to prefer personally the new-fashioned policy of reducing the noble constitutional kingdom of Hungary to a huge municipality of a HAPSBURG Empire—a strange offering of such a man to the gods of " Fatherland" (or shall we say Husband-land ?)—but we cannot allow him to make his personal preference the rule for a British Minister, nor to sacrifice law and right to revolutionary, though Imperial, violence. We must even remind him that the progress and peace of Europe are intimately connected with jus tice to Hungary. A free and contented Hungary, in co-operation with the Imperial provinces, also justly treated by a common monarch, will be a centre of freedom for the continent, and a bulwark against aggression from the North or West. All will join to defend what all think worth defending. On the contrary a violated Hungary will keep the Austrian empire poor and feeble. Lord JOHN RUSSELL must take facts as he finds them. He cannot make and unmake history and solemn treaties. He is bound to tell Austria the mind of Englishmen respecting the claims of Hungary, and if he aid in their peaceful acquisition he will be a benefactor to Hungary and to Europe. OPENING OF 7 ILE NEW FLORAL BALL. THIS DAY. The splendid Floral Hall erected by Mr. Gye, adjoining the Royal Italian Opera-house, was thrown open to the public this morning as a flower market. Down the centre of the hall a double row of ris ing platforms have been placed, each of which is filled by a distinct species of plant, while the cen tre is occupied by an enormous circular table filled with mignionette and purple stocks. The effect is exceedingly pretty. No doubt the Hall will be come a favourite resort of the ladies. One very good arrangement needs special mention, viz., the price of the plants—and that very cheap, too—is affixed to each table, so that a very great source of, inconvenience has been entirely done away with. Around the hall stalls have been erected for the sale of cut flowers, flower-stands, vases, trellis work, and other ornamental articles. The attendance of the public was exceedingly numerous, and the arrangements made were ad mirable, PRINCESS'S THEATRE. A new drama entitled " Truth and Fiction" was produced here last night with success. The inte rest of the piece rests on the fact that a certain estimable sister Margaret Seymour (Miss Carlotta Leclercq) has become an actress in order to provide for a much younger sister who is left dependent upon her. This sister Rose (Miss Maria Harris), she keeps in perfect ignorance of her profession, quite retired at a pretty country cottage, under the dominion of her aunt, Mrs Walters. The idea of the piece is by no means novel, but it is worksd up in a very admiraLle manner by Miss Leclercq, Miss Harris, Frank Matthews, and Widdicombe. The piece has been put on the stage in a very tasteful manner. We regret to learn that Lord Brougham is at present indisposed. His lordship had arranged to take part in the meeting of the` Yorkshire Union of Mechanics' In stitutes to be held at Scarborough this day, but he will be prevented from doing so owing to his indisposition.—Daily News.—[We earnestly trust we may be enabled very shortly to announce the complete restoration to health of the venerable and illustrious ex-Chancellor.—En. Sun.] HER MAJESTY'S THEATRE COMPANY OF SINGERS —lt now appears by official announcements that the com pany of her Majesty's Theatre will perform at the Lyceum, and not, as we were led to believe, at the old Opera House in the Haymarket. The season will commence in the first week in June. CRYSTAL PALACE.—The Whitsuntide festivities attracted 15,706 persons to the palace yesterday; they will be continued this day and to-morrow, when they will be brought to a close. The fourth opera concert of this season will be given on Friday; and Mr. G. W. Martin's Na tional Choral Society will perform a selection of glees and part songs on Saturday. PUBLIC ACCOMMODATION—An opposition steamer, the " Lord of the Isles," has been put on the passage be tween Southampton and Cowes, and the old boats have in consequence doubled the number of passages. There are now twelve to and twelve from Southampton to Cowes daily, and the distance is done in fifty minutes I THE OUTRAM TESTIMONIAL.--Nearly £5,000 have been subscribed in aid of the memorial which it is pro posed to erect in recognition of the great public services and eminent character of Lieut. General Sir James Outram, K.C.B. It is the intention of the committee (consisting of Sir George Pollock, G.C.8., Lord Keane, Sir J. M'Neill, G.C.8., Sir J. Elphinstone, M.P., Sir M. Farquhar, M P., and other gentlemen), to make arrangements for the erec tion of a statue of Sir J. Outram, near that of his illustrious comrade, Sir Henry Havelock, in Trafalgar-square, and also for the erection of a memorial in India. NOTICE OF BLOCKADE.—LIVERPOOL, May 18.— Extract of communication received from his Excellency Juan de Francesco Monteux, Minister Plenipotentiary from the Republic of New Granada to the Governments of France and England, by the Consul of New Granada, at Liverpool :—" It will be convenient for the Consulate to give notice to owners of vessels, shippers, and underwriters at that port to New Granada, that in virtue of a decree issued by competent authorities of New Granada the fol lowing ports are temporarily closed for import and export trade—viz., Rio Hache, Santa Martha, Savanella, Cartha gene, and Zapote ; that in accordance with the Customs' regulations, parties attempting to violate these prohibitory laws are liable to be fined and the goods seized, and that the commanders of vessels of war belonging to the Confedera tion have received orders to cruise before the said ports to enforce orders." A STEAM GUN.—A gentleman who has seen the steam gun at Baltimore furnishes the following description of it :—" It is on four wheels; the boiler is like that of an ordinary steam fire-engine, the cylinder being upright. There is but one barrel, which is of steel, on a pivot, and otherwise is like an ordinary musket barrel. It is fed or loaded through a hopper entering the barrel directly over the pivot. The barrel has a rotary motion, and performs the circumference by machinery attached, at the rate of about 1,600 times a minute. The balls are let into the bar rel through a valve at will, and every time the barrel comes round to a certain point, another valve, self-operating, lets cut a ball, which is propelled solely by the velocity of the barrel in revolving. It will discharge a two-ounce ball 300 times a minute. The range is accurate up and down, but the balls are liable to hit wide of the mark on ono side or the other. The barrel revolves inside of a drum made of boiler iron, between five and six feet in circumference, with an opening . where the balls are discharged. Its range is not over 100 yards at best, and the gun c in he worked so as to discharge in any direction. The whole thing wcii2,11.3 6,700 pounds, and is about the size of a steam fire-engine. It is the opinion of our informant that the gun does net warrant the expectations of the inventor."—New Fork Paper. STRANGE DEATH AT BURTON - ON - TRENT.—EarIy on Friday morning Joseph Greaves, of Winshill, a ma n i n the employ of Messrs. Bass and Co., and who on Tuesday last appeared as complainant in a somewhat remarkable police case, was found dead in a ditch, midway between Burton and Winshill. When discovered a penholder was found literally rammed under his chin and completely buried in his throat, a n d a pair of spectacles was also found in his band, and his chest was bruised and much discoloured. A letter was found in his pocket addressed to his wife and brother, asking them to pray for him and forgive him, stating that in consequence of some unpleasantness at his work he could not live any longer.—Stay'ordshire Ad vertiser. LATEST NEWS. MILAN, MAY 21, 8 P.M. The Capitulary Vicar has prohibited the clergy from taking part in the approaching national fete. The canons and cures of the city have replied, in a respectful letter, that they will obey, but that they disapprove the measure. Some popular demonstrations have taken place against the Capitulary Vicar. The escocheon on the door of his palace has been destroyed by the populace. The National Guard hastened to the spot in order to prevent the disturbances from assuming a grver character. LISBON, MAY 17. It is expected that a measure will be brought before the Cortes to reduce the duties on sugar. It is also said that the duty on salt fish will be lowered, which is important to parties interested in the Newfoundland fisheries: Baron Forrester was accidentally drowned on the 13th inst. His death caused a profound sensation both here and at Oporto. The weather is very warm. The show of grapes is excellent, but symptoms of the vine disease are strongly developed. The Oneida, with the outward Brazil mail of the 9th inst., left Lisbon on the 13th inst. The steamers Min o (from Liverpool) and the Carolina (from Glasgow) have arrived here. The Gladiator left Lisbon on the 12th for the coast of Africa. Exchange on London, three months, is quoted 541 ; Paris, 527 ; Amsterdam, 421 ; Hamburg, 48k; Genoa, 525 ; Relates, 3 per Cent., 46 . 1 ; Cou pons, 461 ; Deferred, 40 ; Bank of Lisbon shares, 588; Commercial and Mercantile Banks of Oporto, 258. ST. PETERSBURG, MAY 22. The Journal de St. Petersburg of to-day publishes a letter addressed by Prince Gorischakoff to Count Kisseleff, the Russian Ambassador in Paris, in which the Prince says :—" We call the attention of the Representatives of the Foreign Cabinets to the danger incurred by the departure of the French troops from Syria. For our own part, we decline to share the responsibility in regard to the results of such a resolution, the consequences of which we have foreseen and pointed out." ROME, MAY 20. M. de Cadone will be entrusted with the affairs of the French Embassy at Rome during the ab sence of the Duke de Grammont, who will return to France in June to drink the water 3 of Vichy. MADRID, MAY 21. An official declaration has been made that Spain will not re-establish slavery at St. Domingo. TURIN, MAY 21. Ire to-day's sitting of the Chamber of Deputies, Signor Tecchio directed the attention of the house to the recent circulars issued by Count Rechberg on the state of things at Venice. He said," The people of Venice do not desire the domination of Austria, The opposition to the Austrian Govern ment in Venetia is not provoked from without." He concluded by recommending Venetia to the attention of the King and the Italian Parliament. Count Cavour thanked Signor Tecchio for hav ing brought this question under the consideration of the house. He said that Signor Tecchio had proved by his speech that what Count Rechberg had alleged in his circular notes was wrong. Count Cavour then continued— " I do not doubt the present liberal intentions of the Austrian Ministers; they will always, how ever, meet with insurmountable obstacles in Vene tia. This fact is principally important from its influence on public opinion in Germany, where liberal ideas are now progressing." The following order of the day was then adopted : " The Chamber having heard with extreme inte rest the recital of the sufferings of Venetia, passes to the order of the day." MESSINA, MAY 20. The decree ordering a levy of the people for the army has been published and received with enthusiasm. NAPLES, MAY 20. Prince Carignan has left for Turin. THORN, MAY 21. The Official Gazette of Warsaw says :—" The bills relating to the reforms to be introduced in the kingdom of Poland have been drawn up. " MM. Platanoff and Karniski have left for St. Petersburg, for the purpose of obtaining the Im perial sanction to the bills." A portion of the troops have been withdrawn from the public squares of Warsaw. COPENHAGEN, MAY 21. The Dagbladet of to-day says :—" Tb.e majority of the soldiers who were lately called in will be allowed to goon furlough at the end of the present month. Three-fourths of the army will then be placed on a peace footing." SOUrHAMPTON, May 22. The Peninsular and Oriental Company's steamer Tagus, with the Peninsular mail, has arrived. She brings 54 passengers, £2,990 in specie, and 1,400 packages of cargo. She spoke the Ceylon on the 21st inst. FRANCE. BOURSE, May 21.—The market has shown ra ther more buoyancy, and a fair business done at a slight improvement in prices. Threes, for the Account, which opened at 69f 35c, are now at 69f 50c. Railway Shares in demand. The following were the last quotations:- 4i per per Cents ... 96 30 Credit Fonder 990 Do . end month.... —; Belgian 41 3 per Cents Do. end month 69 55 ! Roman Brink Shares .. 2880 ! Austrian .. 72 50 Credit 3 , lohil t ier:... 707 50 Spanish Threes.... 49 75 Do. Account....''.., 712: 50 j hlome Debt .. 49 -- ' ^ ' i;tauLl'AYs. -;:: Cash. Account. OrleanS 1357 50 .. 1360 Northern New ditto 897 50 .. Lyons and Mediterranean 935 937 Se Geneva 425 . . 4-22 50 Southern Western Eastern Sardinian Austrian Lombard - A report is in circulation in Pesth that the great Powers have come to an uriderstancliwz on the Venetian question: Austria to cede Venetia to Italy in consideration of 200 million florins (nominally £20,000,000 sterling), and Turkey to cede Bosnia, the Herzegovina, and Turkish Croatia to Austria for the same sum. The idea is favourably thought of here : these provinces would incline the centre of gravity still more strongly to Hungary. It is alto worth noticing that among the oaths taken by the King at his coronation is on e not only to preserve the integrity and dominions of the Crown of St. Stephen, but also to neglect no opportunity of reuniting to that Crown the , detached Provinces of Bosnia, Dalmatia, and Wallachia. In the coronation ceremony the seven standards of Bosnia, Croatia, Servia, Transylvania, Slavonia, Dalmatia, and Wallachia, besides that of Hungary Proper, precede the Crown, and are carried by certain Hungarian magnates. The great difficulty of such an arrangement is that Turkey has hitherto religiously refused to part with a square foot of her territory, except on compulsion by force of arms, and that the population of the rich province of Bosnia is entirely Mussulman. The Patrie is instructed to say that neither General de Goyon nor the Due de Grammont have received any petition covered with thousands of signatures praying the Emperor to withdraw his troops from Rome ; this denial of a fact repeatedly asserted in the same official form by the Patric itself is peculiarly characteristic. LITERATURE. Ice Bound. By Walter Thornbury, author of " British Artists, from Hogarth to Turner," " Every Man his Own Trumpeter," &c., &c. 3 vols. Hurst and Blackett The motto of this book, "Thrilling regions of thick-ribbed ice," would lead one to suppose that he was to peruse some striking sketch of adven tures in the Polar seas, and to dwell with mingled horror and interest on the wondrous deeds and fearful perils that are achieved and encountered by daring explorers. The contrary is the case, for this work is divided into stories that take one here, there, and everywhere with dashing skill and dexterous rapidity. A few pages acquaint us with the fact that the good ship's company are ice-bound, and to divert their minds they beguile the tedium of the long winter of the North by composing a variety of tales and sketches, which are here pre sented in a collective form. It must be premised that the horrible and the startling are the prevail ing elements in these pages. It would have been better if the author had not carried this idea to such very extensive limits, as those who delight in such a style must be limited in number, and it is not doing justice to his own considerable powers of description to dilate exclusively on such topics. The first story is called " The Madman's Novel," and it is most extraordinary. The plan of the sketch will be best understood from this passage at the commencement, where the unhappy man indig nantly apostrophises the Governor of Bedlam for his want of comprehension concerning his identity: —ci He will not believe that I, John Levinson, of Banner-lane, was once Gehazi, the physician of the street of the Pomegranate, in the road leading to the Golden Gate of the City of Zion." Then follows an eastern extravaganza, leading the reader to believe that he is conning the real history of the Wandering Jew, who is to walk the earth till the crack of doom. "The Corpse House" is a fearful tale of a man who seems totally devoid of any human impulse, and who completes his career by being summarily executed on his own hearth. " The Sexton's Brother is in no way more pleasing inasmuch as the villian of this piece contrives to bury his brother alive, he however extricates him self, and the sight of his victim restored to con front him shocks the guilty wretch so much that he expires in a panic and " was buried in the very resting place that he had prepared for an other." " The Money Banks Field" is a legend that is more likely to be met with in the regions of romance than the realms of reality. It tells of a noble Welsh family who were fearfully impo verished, and were rescued from their dreadful straits through the kindly intervention of a statue on a tomb indicating the spot under the chapel win dow where a treasure of great value was hid, this discovery restored the family of the Penlyns to their pristine grandeur. The lines that seem to consign the chivalric heroes to oblivion— " The knights are dust, Their good swords are rust," were certainly falsified by the chevalier who re posed beneath this tablet, and whose marble effigy was able to work such wonders. It is satisfactory to turn to the on] y story in these volumes that ends happily like the immortal fairy tales of the good old times, where the wicked are frustrated in their evil designs, and outwitted in their iniquitous endeavours, while the virtuous flourish, and are left in wealth, peace, and every possible happiness. " The Miner's Tale" is a very interest ing sketch of the oft-recorded days of the Common wealth. The denouement is ingeniously devised, and turns on the unexpected return of the King. Most readers will welcome this pleasant diversity of a story, that has a satisfactory termination, after so many that inform us that the wicked or wretched heroes are blanching upon gibbets, or being prematurely deprived of existence by cruel enemies, to say nothing of the one who was not to know the rest of the grave, after the weary march of life through the lapse of rolling ages. The scene in the church is very exciting, and re minds one in its eventful nature of the passage in Rokeby, where the crisis occurred in the sacred edifice, and the deliverance of the persecuted was effected. " The Little Black Box" is the longest tale in the book, and occupies a considerable portion of two volumes. It is called " a Story of the Shaftesbury Plot," and relates to the forged certificate of marriage between Charles Stuart and Lucy Walters, upon which the Duke of Monmouth's claim to the succession was founded, and which was contained in a little black box. This box, as may be supposed, is a matter of fierce contention, and the Earl of Shaftesbury, the leader of the fanatic Protestant party, was greatly concerned in its adventures. The celebrities of that period are brought in, and an old Tory Squire and his fair daughter figure prominently in the story ; which is, however, very disjointed, and although of considerable length, brings in so many scenes and characters that it is obliged to dispose of them somewhat abruptly. Those who are conversant with Mr. Thornbury's skill in dealing with such subjects will readily divine the ease with which Charles and Prince Rupert, Morgan the buccanner, Churchill and Claverhouse, Arlington and Shaftes bury are made to bear their respective parts in the dialogue. There is really very little plot, as the story is rather a succession of scenes than a connected nar rative. " The Midnight Meeting "is another tale concerning our own civil wars. It describes the secret gathering of a band of Cavaliers in Wales during the days of the struggle, and their surprise by a force of Cromwell's adherents. The brave young son of the old Cavalier chief is killed, and the little party are allowed by their adversaries to make a sorrowful retreat. " The Monastery of the Flowery Plain" is another of those stories of crime and murder to which our author is a little too partial. It tells us of the villiany of the Prior of the convent, who mnrdered his superior to further a secret conspiracy in which he was engaged. For tunately for the rest of the fraternity a second attempt at murder resulted in his detection and execution. The dialogues are somewhat too long in many of the stories, and there is a tendency to prolixity in the descriptions, but there is much in them to attract attention, as the incidents are striking, and the stories range over many ages and countries. Journal cf the Workhouse Visiting Society. No. XIII. Longman. The value.of this society, as a means of assisting the most pitiable of our destitute classes, is now becoming generally recognised, and the more extensively its principles of action and system of working are known the more highly will it be estimated. Complaints of the inefficiency of our Poor-law system are frequent, and the negligence and indifference of workhouse officials is occasionally brought before us in news paper reports, which tell us how starving paupers are refused relief or admittance without compliance , with a long list of preliminary forms. What be comes of these hapless creatures when they are admitted few trouble themselves to inquire. The extreme of helpless pauperism is naturally, and, to a certain extent, justly, associated in our minds with worthless improvidence and reckless dissipation. The exceptions to this class, the worn-out servants, broken-down needlewomen, and even governess es , the numbers smitten with hopeless disease, and therefore incapacitated from further labour, are scarcely thought of. The w re t c h e d fate of Lthose dismissed from hospitals as incurable, and condemned to linger out months and even years on workhouse pallets, amid companions they would have shrunk f rom i n d a y s of health, their sufferings unsoothed by an y o f th e alleviations of hospital patients, has hitherto been overlooked by our philanthropists. This deficiency is now supplied, thanks to the efforts of the Work house Visiting Society, whose excellent suggestions on this subject we commend t o th e no ti ce of all who a re sensible of the claims of helpless suffering. The brief paper* on this topic, which was read at the Social Science Meeting at Glasgow last autumn, states the case simply and forcibly. We advise all who seek farth e r particulars to peruse i t, since in a few graphic pages it shows us a startling picture, and also suggests, as many exposers of abuses fail to do, simple and feasibl e plans for relief. any other excellent projects for the reformation of the unruly and the education and training of the young are also set on foot by this society. One of the best and most practical of these is the industrial Home for Young Women, which has recently been opened in * "Destitute Incurables in Workhouses." A paper by Miss Elliot and Miss Cobbe. Niobet & Co., Derners street ; price 2d. New Ormond•street. The elan of this institution is to receive girls from the ages of 15 to 25, either taken from or about to enter workhouses, in order to train them for service at home or in the colonies, by teach ing them the duties of household work in the kit chen and laundry, as well as needlework. Many girls come to tho workhouse from loss of situation or want of a home. Orphans thrown out of employment have nothing else to look to, and the result of a sojourn in the adult wards is too often fatal to their morals and future prospects. The advantages such a refuge would offer to this class would be incalculable, while the benefits of reformatory discipline would be added for the unruly or ill-disposed. The instances cited in the report before ns exhibit most forcibly the want of such an institution. We trust that the public will help this work of genuine charity by supplying employment to the inmates of the Home. All matters connected with work houses are discussed in this periodical, the official reports, &c., being given in full. Clever Boys of our Time and how they became Famous Men: Dedicated to Youths and Young Men anxious to rise in the World. By the author of " Famous Boys," and "Heroines of our Time." Third edition. Darton, Holborn Hill. It is not surprising that this little work should have attained so great a success since it is admir able in idea and excellent in execution. It points out to those entering in life how others of their fellow-men have succeeded in gaining a high place in the social scale. It also illustrates the impor tant fact to speculative and dreamy enthusiasts that eminence is not obtained without effort, and that the long line of shining names here met with, witnesses of the power of self-elevation and the value of perseverance, had to work before they won. The epitome of their several careers now recorded may well illustrate the truth of the lines of the poet— " The heights by great men reached and kept, Were not attained by sudden flight; But they, while their companions slept, Were toiling upwards in the night." In the instances here mentioned the glorious morn ing of success dawned on their efforts, and all aspirants for fame, all votaries of renown, should mark and learn these stirring pages, which are adorned by names that belong in many cases to more lasting annals, and that will serve as models to the youth of many succeeding generations. In a former notice we alluded to the chief characters met with, and it will suffice now to say that the arrangements are the same. A more interesting present for young persons cannot well be imagined, and a better incentive to praiseworthy exertions cannot be given than the example of those, who, from poverty and obscurity, have emerged to world wide celebrity, and are celebrated for the spirit that led them on to success, no less than for the genius that has crowned them with glory. The Comprehensive History of' England ; Civil and Military, Religious, Intellectual, and Social. By Charles Macfarlane and the Rev. Thos. Thomp son. Parts 36, 37, and 38 conclusion. Mackie and Son. This valuable work is at length completed. Part 38 brings the history down to 1860. The informa tion contained in these concluding numbers is, of course, familiar to all. They contain a sketch of the Caffre war, the Crimean campaign, and the Indian mutiny. The general state of society ; the advance that has been made in science and education, both literary and moral, arc examined and commented upon, and the history of the empire generally con sidered. AS we have from time taken notice of this work as it advanced, it is unnecessary to reca pitulate. The title page speaks for the information contained. The illustrations are well executed, and in all respects great care has been taken to ren der the work one of standard value. the * .Autobiography of a Seaman. By the Earl of Dundonald, G.C.B. Cheap edition. Bentley. Now that the nation of shopkeepers have given an unequivocal proof that they are ready to defend their shops, and the perpetual bugle of the volun teers awakens the martial feeling innate in Eng lishmen, the reproduction in a cheap edition of the life, exploits, and sufferings from party hatred, and Government injustice, of one of our bravest seamen will be hailed with satisfaction by the many who, however desirous to read the gallant Coch rane's own account of his doings and his feeling at the oppression of his enemies, have been debarred from purchasing his autobiography in the large edition. That difficulty is now removed ; at a small outlay one of the most interesting sea novels (for there was novelty in all that Lord Cochrane did) can be pro cured, and the reader may say on closing the volume, " Verily, truth is stranger that fiction." EMIGRATION. Some surprise may be excited by the fact made apparent by an official return that in the last 15 years 3,504,062 persons have emigrated from the United Kingdom. This prodigious exodus has in great part taken three directions—the North Ame rican colonies the (dis)-United States, and the Aus tralian colonies. But an analysis shpws that Brother Jonathan has, notwithstanding the powerful allure ments of the antipodean gold discoveries, obtained by far the lion's share of our surplus strength. Thus every 100 emigrants selected their future homes in the following proportions : Year.Australasia.British United Other America. States. places. 1846.... 31 63 .. 2 .. 1 1847.... 42 .. 53 .. 2 .. 1 1848.... 13 .. 75 .. 9 2 1849.... 14 .. 76 .. 11 .. 2 1850.... 12 .. 73 .. 6 .. 3 1851.... 13 .. 89 .. 6 .. 1 1852.... 9 .. 60 .. 24 1 1853.... 10 .. 76 .. 19 .• 1 1854.... 14 .. 60 .. 25 .. 1.- 1855.... 10 .. 59 .. 29 .. 2 1856.... 9 .. 63 .. 26 .. 2 1857.... 10 .. 60 .. 29 .. 1 1858.... 8 .. 52 .. 35 .. 5 1859.... 6 .. 58 .. 26 .. 10 1860.... 7 .. 68 .. 19 .. 6 The great preponderance obtained by the United States was derived from the Irish emigration, through religious and political influences, and sub sequently family ties. What influence the present disturbances may exert upon the republican terri tory as an emigration field it is of course impossible to predict, but they can hardly exercise a favourable effect. Canadian journals are evidently of this opinien,and are doing their utmost to divert the tide of emigration to their own shores. The advo cates of emigration to Canada have, howe ver , it will be seen, met with singular ill success, for it is now only one-fourth as popular as it was 15 years since, the emigrants to British Am er i ca h av i ng num b er ed 43,439 in 1846, as compared with 9,786 in 1860. This no doubt is due to the superior at tractions now presented by Australia,New Zealand, the Cape, and other emigration fields. ROYAL DRAMATIC' COLLEGE. ANNUAL MEETING.-THIS DAY. The annual meeting of the members and friends of the Royal Dramatic College was held this day, on the stage of the Royal Adolph Theatre. Mr. Webster, the Master of the College, presided. There was not a very large attendanee, but the report, of which the following are extracts, was passed unani mously : " The Council of the Royal Dramatic College having now to lay before the governors and subscribers some ac count of the efforts employed to increase the funds, and otherwise promote the interests of the college during the past year, gladly take the opportunity to offer their sincere thanks to all who have assisted them, whether by dona tions in money, gifts for the embellishment of the build ings. contributions to the fancy fairs, or personal services. To the ladies and gentlemen who aided in making the fancy fairs attractive and profitable, the Council must ever feel deeply grateful, since the task undertaken by them was one requiring much skill, much good temper, and much and long conti nue d l a b our . To the public press the Council also feel deeply indebted, and it affords them plea sure to avail themf•elves of this opportunity ofstati t n o g b , e that the success of their efforts is, i n a great measure , at tributed to the hearty and judicious supporthavetehterypolis b ut re ceived from the journals, no t only of the metropolis throughout the provinces. n ' t be h y : i conve nient "The ns all - of abode,houses, so are constructedn oWhen ehoe Der, nee a ta s end t do, necessary cu r twenty e m ads:wkari3lyt,will )Nu,,aectrr ory c a o nes n loo v eope e ! be ready for occupation. a duty n e °o d 1:: Council to report to yo o u Ah t er em. , At present, ments shall have been completetdheivtawcainllebielesitohce„ additional pensioners t su fi pply h only propose to you to the deaths of Mrs. Mary Ann - Weston and ... r. 11 , m. Barry. " Various circumstances have delayed the erection of the Central Hal ], of which his Royal • Highness the Prince Consort did you the honour to lay the found a ti on s t one on the Ist of June last ; but it is now hoped that the disputes in the building trades are in course of final adjustment, and that such a tender for the Central Hall may be ob tained, as the Council can with propriety accept. " It has already been made known to you, that the Council had reason to believe that the cost of the ten houses would be defrayed by four theatrical funds and by other special subscriptions. They have now the satisfaction to report that their expectations have been realised, the re quisite funds having been supplied." A DEAF AND DUMB WEDDING.—Among the marriages at the parish church of St. Mary, Southwark, Old Rent-road, on whit Monday, was that of a couple deaf and dumb, named George Parsons, a corkcutter, and Jane Young. They wore educated in the Deaf and Dumb Asylum, having both entered and left that institution on the same day. The service was performed by thq Rev. J. Watson, chaplain to the asylum ; and it was curious to notice the emotions of the rev. gentleman as he lad, and the youthful couple as they followed him in their finger language through the responses, which took little more Oaf,is peixia gone thrcugb, than the ordinary regain. THE UNITED EIIVGDO3I IN 1860. The annual Statistical Abstract for the United Kingdom, prepared by the Board of Trade, and published by the Queen's printers, appears this year in the convenient form of a thin octavo volume. These annual summaries extend from 1841 to the present time, but 1860 is the most remarkable year in the series. We bought and sold and manufac tured to an extent unknown before. But then there was a larger population to do it. The population of England and Wales in 1860 was estimated at 20,000,000, and that of Scotland at above 3,000,000. The births in the year exceeded the deaths by 298,579, and our prospects are good, for the unpre cedented number of 381,436 persons married. There are means of completing the statement by including Ireland, but, even if its population should prove to be only 6,000,000, it is probable that the births in the United Kingdom altogether exceeded the deaths by 1,000 a day. Emigration took from our shores 128,469 persons in the year, but a large deduction must be made from this for the immigration of the year, of which, however, there is no record. The number of paupers in receipt of relief cannot be given for any one date ; in England it was 890,423 at the close of the year, and in Ireland 50,683 ; in Scot land, on the 14th of May, 77,306—altogether rather more than 1,000,000 out of our population of 29,000,000 or 30,000,000. We were not a pau perised people, or we should not have raised as we did a net revenue of £67,458,093, the largest sum that ever found its way from the pockets of the taxpayers into the Exchequer since the close of the great European war, with the single exception of the year 1858 (the rimean war). Comparing 1860 with seven years ago, we have added £30,000,000 to the Nationalpebt,raised our expendit ure f or the forces from £16,000,000 to £30,000,000, and our civil expenditure from £7,000,000 to above £10,000,000. As for the mode in which the taxa tion was raised at the two periods we levied nearly £4,000,000 more by Customs and Excise duties last year, but £8,000,000 more from income-tax and stamps and taxes ; making a considerable differ ence in the incidence of taxation, because, though the working classes and humbler classes generally pay about two-fifths of the Customs and Excise duties, the upper and middle classes pay the bulk of the direct taxation. But all classes were able to pay more in 1860 than in 1853, though that was a year of extraordinary prosperity. The declared value of the British and Irish produce and manu factures exported was £98,933,781 in 1853 ; in 1860 it was £135,842,817. The exports to foreign countries rose from £65,601,057 in the former year to £92,170,560 in the latter ; to British possessions from £33,332,724 to £43,672,257. The progress in the cotton trade has far exceeded all others. In 1853 we sent out, to clothe the world, 1,584,727,1061 b. of cotton manufactures ; in 1860, 2,765,337,1181 b. ; the declared value of these exports increased from £25,817,249 to £42,141,505. The tonnage of vessels entered and cleared, with cargoes and in ballast at ports of the United Kingdom was, in 1853, British, 10,268,323; foreign, 8,121,887 ; in 1860, British, 13,914,923 ; foreign, 10,774,369. 1,016 vessels, of 211,968 tons, were built and registered in the United Kingdom in 1860, and the total number of vessels of the United Kingdom employed in the home and foreign trade (exclusive of river steamers) rose from 18,206, of 3,730,087 tons, in 1853, to 20,019, of 4,251,739, in 1860. These vessels employ 171,592 men. Ships brought us from abroad in 1860 no less than 5,880,958 qrs. of wheat and 5,086,220 cwt. of wheaten flour; the quantity of British wheat sold in the principal market towns in England was smaller than for years-4,623,257 qrs. ; but, owing to the price having been low in the early part of the year, the average Gazette price of wheat in 1860 was only 535. 3d. The com puted real value of our import of corn and flour of all kinds was £31,671,918, in 1859 only £18,042,063. The computed real value of our imports was not ascertained until 1854; in that year it was £152,389,053 ; in 1860 it was £210,648,643. THAMES EMBANKMENT. A select committee of the House of Commons has been sitting from day to day, receiving sug gestions, and we should be afraid to say how many architects and engineers have appeared before it with designs more or less comprehensive in their objects and varied in their details. Anything or everything may be included in a project which deals with the better part of a hundred acres on the banks of a great tidal river in the very centre of the largest metropolis in the world. So the reader will observe in the brief notes of these designs, which are all we can usually find room for, that in the compendious idea of a Thames embankment there may be included roads, railways, streets of houses and public offices, docks, gardens, open canals, sewers, colonnades, flying railways, hanging gardens, winter gardens, and agreat deal more. But there is no occasion to be frightened, as if we were going in for a Nero's Golden Palace or for the wonders of Babylon. In all substantial respects these many and multifarious designs reduce themselves to two or three types, we might almost say to one. The area to be rescued from the Thames, the level to be maintained, the river wall, the roadway, the docks required for public convenience, and the great private establish ments on the river side, the approaches, the com munications with the bridges, and the arterial sewers to be made on the bank, are all points on which we should think it hardly possible to dis agree, except for a matter of a few inches in height or a few feet of surface. Be that as it may, it i$ generally stated and believed that the committee have agreed on a plan, and have found themselves continually brought round to it, so that they have very little expectation of anything better being offered to them. As we have observed, indeed, the scope of deviation is much less than is generally suppoked, Now, what hinders something—indeed, all-- being done as far as Parliament can do it, this very session, otherwise so utterly barren ? Well, there are the vested rights ; there are private houses, docks, wharves, and gardens. These obstacles, how ever, disappear on being confronted. There are only 22 or 23 wharves that would be affected by the Embankment; for, of course, we are only dealing with the river side between Blackfriars and West minster. We are not aware that there would be any difficulty in reserving to all of them sufficient ingress, egress, and room for mooring and discharg ing. As for the Temple and other private gardens, though there might be a little loss of quietness and privacy, an extension and frontage to the quay would have great countervailing advantages. We repeat, there are no engineering difficulties, the substance of the work to be done being merely to dredge the channel of the river, which wants it very much, and deposit the materials upon the banks, now bare for half the twenty-four' hours. Where, then, is the difficulty. Why do we b e t ra y any forebodings as to the results of the committee now sitting ? There is no real difficulty except the official vas inertice. If the committee makes an honest report with the recommendation of a plan, the Board of Works, which has a good deal to do already, will find that it has something more to do, and that it will be much safer to do nothing than to attempt anything in particular. It is assumed by those who know the ways of the Board that, sup posing the Thames Embankment Committee to make a report in a week or two, though there may remain ample time to embody its recommendations in a bill and carry it through both houses, there will also be a very good excuse fur entire inaction. The habits of the Board of Works we do not pretend to know better than other people, but we cannot help observing that if we should have war or serious complications one year, a reform bill another year, a dissolution another , and something else the fourth, and if the metropolitan railway companies should go on at their present rate, obtaining all the bills they ask for and doing what they please with Lon don and its river, we shall find in 1870 nothing done, and the work rendered far more difficult than ever. There is no longer the excuse that has been valid for a thousand years or so, that the work would wait, for its crisis has arrived, and it will wait no longer. That these words express a reality, and are not a mere figure of speech, one glance at the works now in progress, or to be commenced immediately, will be sufficient to show. Among them are the low level sewer, the approaches to the new Westminster-bridge, the new railway-bridge at Hungerford, with its station and it approaches, and the new railway-bridge at Blackfriars, with fashionits ch appro o a ran es o . the T r h i e n s e t w will r a t l h l r b e e e fi y n e i a s r h s e , d f i r n c o o m n panies and architects are not in the habit of de ferring operations to wait the pleasure of Go vernment ; on the contrary, they are rather dis posed to get the start of Government, that the latter may have all the trouble and cost of making the plans fit. This is the year for settling this business, and no other. The difficulties, slight now, are fncreasing rapidly, and if the present op portunity be not seized the question asked for the next century will be, " Whv was it not done in the year 1861, when the sewers, the bridges, stations, and approaches were begun, or about to be begun ?'' If it were a matter 'of difficulty or uncertainty,, we should not put this pressure upon gentlemen who are no doubt counting the days to the recess, and "babbling o' green fields," but there is neither dif ficulty nor even uncertainty this year, though we will not answer for the next.-- Times. ►STREET RAILWAYS IN BRISTOL—Mr. G. F Train has requested permission to try the experiment of a street railway in Bristol. He offers to lay down a line from the top of Park-street to Clifton, with a branch to Rutland, at his own expense, and to take it up again if found inconvenient or objectionable. The matter has been referred to the consideration of the local board of health.