The Sun. — London, England, 1864-04-11 00:00:00

General Garibaldi, On Saturday the Chamberlain of the City of London (Mr. Scott) proceeded to the Isle of Wight to inform General Garibaldi that the Court of Common Council had passed a resolution conferring upon him the honorary freedom of the city, and to learn from him the day which woul,l be most convenient to him to appear at Guildhall to receive the compliment. The result of the interview has not y et tran spired, but as impression obtains amo n g the civic authori ties that the ceremony will take place towards the end of the present week—it may be on Thursday. The presentation would beyond doubt have taken place in the Guildhall itself, as being by far the most appropriate for the occasion, in consideration of the large number of people it is capable of accommodating in comparison with the Council Chamber ; but at present the hall is undergoing a thorough repair, and its whole interior is occupied with scaffolding, so that it cannot be used for the purpose. The Council Chamber will not hold more than about 350 or 400 people at the utmost, and, as there are upwards of 200 Com mon Councilmen, all of whom are sure to be present, and ea ch will probably bring a lady on the occasion, it is clear that but few or none of the general public can be present at the ceremony. Ordinarily, the Common Council so far recognises the privilege of strangers to be present at their deliberations as to provide for their accommodation in a gallery at one end of the chamber, but it only holds about 40 or 50 people. That being so, the necessities of the case point to the Egyptian-hall of the Mansion-house as the proper place for holding the ceremony, next to Guildhall itself, both because it is capable of holding about 1,000 people, and of its being easier of access than Guildhall on an occasion of a public pageant, and when crowds of people will probably throng the streets through which the procession will pass. It rests, however, with the Lord Mayor to say whether he will, under the circumstances, allow that part of his official residence to be used for the ceremony. On the occasion when M. Kossuth went to Guildhall to receive the freedom so dense was the crowd which had collected in the open space in front of the entrance to the building that it was only with the greatest difficulty, and at some risk to life and limb, that a passage could be made into the hall for the distinguished visitor and his suite. Assuming the use of the Egyptian -hall to be granted, the narrow gorge of the Poultry —a place always of great peril to a orowd—would have to be traversed by the pageant before it could reach the Mansion-house, and there might also be a repetition of the tumultuous gathering in front of the official residence of the Lord Mayor, from which so much danger was apprehended on the entry into London of the Princess Alexandra, unless, indeed, Colonel Fraser, the City Commissioner of Police, could make arrangements for lessening the pressure. Her Majesty's paddle steamer Fire Queen, Staff Com mander Paul, the steam yacht of the Naval Commander-in- Chief at Portsmouth, Vice-Admiral Sir Michael Seymour, K.C.8., was despatched from the harbour early on Saturday morning to Cowes, in charge of Captain Scott, Aide-de- Camp to the Queen, and Flag Captain to Sir Michael Sey mour, in order to convey General Garibaldi, his sons, and suite across to Portsmouth on a visit to the dockyard and shipping. The Fire Queen returned to Portsmouth from Cowes at 10 45 a.m., and the General, accompanied by his sons, Mr. Seeley, M,P. (of Brock-house, Isle of Wight), Colonel Chambers, and other gentlemen, disembarked from the Fire Queen in the Admiral's barge, which was in wait ing for the purpose, under charge of Flag-Lieutenant Say - mour, and landed at the King's-stairs of the dockyard, where he was received in a semi-official, but most cordial, manner by Vice-Admiral Sir Michael Seymour and Major General Lord W. Paulet, C. 8., attended by Captain Cald well, commanding the steam reserve and acting second in command, in the absence of Rear-Admiral Superintendent G. Elliott; Captain Key, C. 8., her Majesty's ship Excel lent ; Captain J. Seccombe, her Majesty's ship Duke of Wellington ; Captain St. John Paulet, aide de camp to Major-General Lord Paulet; and other officers, military and naval, and a large number of ladies and gentlemen. As Garibaldi and his friends stepped on shore there was no difficulty of reoognition, for, independent of the well-known noble features, while all in his suite wore plain morning dress, the hero himself stood among the group conspicuous in his famous red shirt and white capoot, and at once became the observed of all observers. Returning the kindly salu tations of Lord Paulet and Sir Michael Seymour, and also that of the other officers and the crowd of ladies and gen tlemen at the landing place, Garibaldi, accompanied by the admiral and general, with their staffs, moved forward through the crowd with a quiet dignity that for a few moments chained the tongues of all present. It was only for a very few moments, however, that this respectful, but almost oppressive silence lasted. A half quavering exclama tion from some of the ladies present was caught up by the gentlemen, and, communicating like an electric shock to the crowds of mechanics and others employed in the yard, who had now collected in large numbers round the place of de barcation, hearty, ringing cheers told again and again of the welcome accorded to the hero of Italy. As the visit could but be, under the circumstances, a very short one, it was only the chief objects of interest that could be hurriedly inspected, and the steps of the party were at once directed, under Admiral Seymour's guidance, to the Royal Sovereign turret ship, lying alongside the dockyard jetty and within some 50ft, of the Victoria three-decker, fitting out as flag ship for the Mediterranean, the first a mere long, low raft upon the water, carrying cylindrical turrets, pilot-house, and smoke-tunnel along its naked deck—a thing of ugliness to the eye under ordinary circumstances, but no doubt of marvellous beauty for purposes of war; the second the very beau ideal of a three-decked screw steamship, towering in all its magnificent beauty, but remarkably suitable for pur poses of combustion, or as the grave for a thousand seamen under the influence of an enemy's shells. In crossing the caisson of No. 1 dock, on his way to the Royal Sovereiga, General Garibaldi exhibited considerable interest on having her Majesty's yachts, the Fairy and Elfin, then lying in dock under repair, pointed out to him. Like all other ves sels under repair in dock, there was nothing very interest ing in their appearance ; but it was the fact that they were and had been for so long a time the favourite yachts of the Queen of England that evidently excited the General's at- Mention. The Royal Sovereign attracted a good deal of attention from the General and his friends by the novelty of her turret arrangements and general equipment, and Garibaldi himself exhibited great interest in the endeavour to make himself conversant with everything brought under his notice, and especially with the method of revolving the turrets and of working the large guns, with which they will be armed, the latter being shown with the 10.5-inch, or 150-pounder smouth-bore gun, mounted in the foremost turret. From the Royal Sovereign the party proceeded to the block manufactory, where the beautiful machinery de signed and erected by Mr. Brunel many years ago may still be seen at work, and still astonishes every one by the marvellous beauty and rapidity of its work. A cursory view was next taken of the smithery and steam factory, the steam basin and docks, and of her Majesty's paddle yacht Victoria and Albert, uadergoing re pairs in the basin. The general and suite, with Admiral Seymour and Lord W. Paulet and suites. next embarked on board the gunnery ship Excellent, Captain A. C. Key, C. 8., where tho crew were beat to quarters in the ordinary manner, and a broadside of shot fired at a target at 1,000 yards distance, and the target knocked over, and then a broadside of shell at 1,250 yards, withi k of course, the same result to the target. The Armstrong 110-pounder rifled breech-loading gun was then brought into play, and fired independently at a target at 2,600 yards distance with shot, with equally satisfactory results. The 12-ton smoothbore gun, one of the guns intended for the Royal Sovereign, was next manned with a crew of 21 men, and was handled with wonderful steadiness and ease, considering its great weight, and excellent practice was made with it. The average time - between the firing of each round was only two minutes. The firing concluded with practice from the 7-inch Arm strong shunt gun, which has been termed on several occa sions " Admiral Frederick's gun," but with no other reason than that the gallant Admiral has taken a great interest in this particular gun, believing it to be well suited for naval purposes, and has suggested certain improvements in its equipment, which have been carried into effect. Shot weighing 981 b were thrown from it with 201 b powder at a target at 2,600 yards distance, and the practice was beau tiful. General Garibaldi had displayed the keenest interest and admiration of the drill and practice made with the guns throughout, and his enthusiasm, expressed more than once in the warmest terms, reached its culminating point on wit messing the practice made with the last mentioned weapon, 'The General, having expressed his thanks to Captain Key and the officers of the ship, prepared to return to the shore, —a matter of no small difficulty, for the Excellent had by this time been boarded by enthusiastic hundreds in boats from the shore, who were determined that, come what might of it, they would shake hands with, speak to, or shout for the man they had come to see. .The Admiral's barge was at length reached by Garibaldi, his sons, and friends, and the officers accompanying them and who had received them on landing, and, proceeding to the nuralt y - house, the whole party w ere en t er t a i ne d at lun cheon by Sir Michael Seymour. After luncheon Garibaldi To-embarked on board the Admiral's bargo and proceeded to Southsea new pier where he landed, and t • S' Michael Seee esues : arriage, which had been sent r e o ri u n n g 3 for the purpose, Was driven off to visit the widow of an ' old ifriand with whom he was on terms of intimate friendship in Portsmouth some years since—Mr.'Thomas White, of the patent slipway, wh o was accide n tally killed a few months since while superintending the execution of some public works under contract with the Portuguese Govern ment. This tribute of private friendship paid, Garibaldi his sons, and his friends r e - em b arked on board the Fire ' Queen, at four p.m., and left for Cowes and Brook-house. It will be many years before Garibaldi's visit of Satur day will be forgotten at Portsmouth, We understand that General Garibaldi, accompanied by his sons and a very limited suite, will arrive at Stafford• house, St. James's, between half-past three and four o'clock to• day, and during his sejour in the metropolis he will be the guest of the Dnke and Duchess of Sutherland. (We are informed that the General will stay a w ee k at Stafford house. T o - morrow the General will go with the Duke and Duchess of Sutherland and a select company to lunch w ith the Duchess (D owager ) o f Sutherland at Chiswick.l The Duke and Duchess of Sutherland give a grand en tertainment en Wednesday evening at Stafford- house.. . brilliant evening assembly will follow the banquet. Vi e . count and Viscountess Palmerston, the Earl and Countess of Derby, Earl Granville, the Earl and Countess of Cla rendon, the Duke and Duchess of Argyll, the Chancellor of the Exchequer and Mrs. Gladstone, and above 40 per sonages of the highest rank, without distinction cf party, are invited to meet the gallant General. Naval and Military Intelligence, THE NAVY. The War Department transports Bomarsund and Petrel sailed from the Ordnance wharf, Chatham, on Saturday, for Folly Point, with the remainder of the shot and shell and the lower deck guns for the line of battle screw steamer Bombay, 400 horse power, Capt. C. J. Campbell, now being prepared for sea. In addition to her 32 pounder and other maindeck guns, the Bombay, on Saturday, shipped 11 of the 10 inch 95cwt guns, for throwing hollow shot, and 12 of the 68 pounder naval smoothbore guns, together with two 110 pounder and eight of the 40 pounder rifled Arm strong guns. She also received on board 60 tons of 10 inch hollow shot, and 8 inch and 32 pounder solid shot from the Gun-wharf. On Saturday the first portion of the iron-clad frigate Bellerophon was laid in No. 2 dock at Chatham dockyard, under the superintendence of the officials connected with the master shipwright's department. Nothwithstanding the delay experienced in laying the keel of the Bellerophon, consequent on the dock not having been ready earlier and the new iron caisson at the entrance not fixed in its place until a few days,since the preparation of the keel plates and the iron frames for the frigate has been in progress at Chatham dockyard for some months past, and, with the exception of fitting, a considerable portion of the keel of the iron frigate may be said to be completed. In the construc tion of the Bellerophon an entirely new system, introduced by Mr Stansfeld, is to be carried out, whereby the exact cost of every portion of the vessel wiK be ascertained, sepa rating the actual cost of materials from the amount paid fer labour and workmanship. In order to ascertain the value of the materials used every single piece of iron re quired for the ship is ordered to be weighed before it is sent down into the dock, and an accurate account kept of its weight and cost. To facilitate this operation, which unless properly managed will entail considerable loss of time, as it already throws an additional amount of responsibility on the junior officers employed in superintending the consttuction of the frigate, two enormous steelyards have been erected on each side of the dock, and these, being worked by steam power, will enable every single piece of iron, from the smallest keel-plate up to 8-ton armour plates, to be expeditiously and accurately weighed. A number of additional mechanics will be placed on the Bellerophon this morming, but the bulk of the workmen who will ultimately be employed in building that frigate are detained on board the iron frigate Achilles completing that vessel for sea. The Nile, screw line-of-battle ship, Captain Barnard, the late flagship of Vice-Admiral Sir Alexander Milne, Ks C. 8., sailed from Spithead en Saturday afternoon for Devonport, where she is ordered to be dismantled and paid out of com mission. Sir Alexander Milne's flag was hauled down at sunset on the previous day. The following appointments were made on Saturday at the Admiralty :—Rear-Admiral the Hon. Charles G. J. B. Elliot, C. 8., t 3 be commander in chief on the south-east •coast of America, vice Rear Admiral Warren, whose period of service has experied ; Lieut. Henry Land, to the Hima laya; Sub-Lieut. Edward F. Keppel, to the Bombay; Augustus Brecklebank and W, M. C. Maturin, nominated to naval cadetships. THE ARMY, Orders have been received at the camp at Colchester directing the following detachments to proceed from that station to the Hythe School of Musketry on Thursday : One sergeant, one corporal, and four privates of the 4th Depot Battalion; one sergeant, one corporal, and four pri vates of the 9th Depot Battalion ; and two sergeants, two corporals & and four privates of the 10th Depot Battalion. Testimonials have been presented at the camp to Quarter• master Sergeant Delany and Colour-Sergeant Lloyd, on their retirement from the service, Quartermaster-Sergeant Delany has been appointed to the charge of the industrial school school at Waltharnstow. RUSSIAN ARMOUR-PLATES. On Saturday afternoon the first of a series of enormous iron bars, ordered to be rolled by the Miliwall Iron Company for the Russian Govern ment for the construction of a powerful iron fort at Cronstadt, was rolled most successfully in the pres sence of a large number of visitors. It is now some years since efforts have been made to induce our own and various Governments to sanction the adop tion of iron instead of granite in important land forts; but it is only recently, and since the con-1 struction of the ironclads have proved the value of the system, that the proposal has been entertained. Armour-plates of immense thickness are now being made at Messrs. Brown and Co.'s Works at Sheffield for the Belgian Government, to be used in the construction of some additional iron defences at Antwerp. France, it is said, intends similar works on all the more important points of Cherbourg's sea defences, and now Russia has ordered the materials for an iron fort at Cronstadt. The enor mous advantages which iron possesses over stone, not alone in its utter impregnability, but in allowing the guns the widest range while limiting the open ing of the embrasure to little more than the width of the muzzle of the ordnance, has long been seen, and the general adoption of iron for land defences has only been checked by the difficulties of manu facturing such enormous masses sound throughout. But, with the experience gained in the manufacture of our armour-plates, the great foundries through. out the kingdom are improving every day, and con tracts are now eagerly sought for which, four years ago, every firm would have refused, as requiring manufacturing impossibilities. The bars rolled at these works on Saturday, however, were in advance again upon what has been hitherto done, and the result was looked forward to with some doubt, for each bar when delivered was to weigh six tons, to be 15 inches square, to be tongued and grooved in the rolling, and to be perfect in its soundness throughout. The furnaces were opened at 3 o'clock and the immense mass of metal was drawn forth on to an iron truck, heated to a brilliancy that was almost blinding inits intense whiteness, and in stantly changing the temperature of the vast fac tory to a scorching sulphurous heat that was insup portable. Directly it was out, workmen, shielding their faces as they best could, swept the impurities from its surface with long 'brooms soaked in water, but which nevertheless lit like tow the instant they came in contact with the iron, which was sparkling like a gigantic firework. It was then let down the incline to where the rollers, turned by one of the largest fly-wheels in the kingdom —more than 100 tons weight, and nearly 40ft. in diameter--was waiting to crush the mass into its required form. This was the critical moment; for an instant or two the rollers failed to grip it, but at last they caught it, and the whole machinery moved slower, as amid loud cheers from the workmen they began to wind it in. As it was slowly crushed through, the refuse melted iron was squirted out in showers in all directions, and as the mass emerged from the rollers on the other side it lit up everything with a bright, lambent flame, said to be caused by the pres sure to which the bar was subjected. This was only the first roll, but it had to be passed through three times to reduce it to its proper thickness. It was not, however, as in the case of ordinary armour plates, a mere question of reduction, as these bars have to be rolled, tongued, and grooved to fit into each other. Thus in the rolling they have to over come all the peculiar difficulties of their construction almost in two operations, which must be done while is in a half melted state, or the whole is spoilt. The bars, as we have said, are 15 inches square, but each of these presents a most difficult section. In the first place the lower part of the bar has a projecting rib, and in the upper part is a groove, corresponds ing in size with the rib on the lower half, so that may fit into the groove o f the projection of one bar the one beneath, thus making a solid dove-tailed wall of iron. Beyond these, also, is a rid at the back of the bar, formed to dovetail again into projecting masses of iron in the rear supports of the fort, and in the process of rolling all these departures from a plane and smooth surface have to be f ormed, and to be formed with so much accuracy that each p ar t fi ts into the other without the necessity of any ma c hi ne planing of surfaces. To give to the mass of metal the required section the rollers of the mill are grooved where the raised surface is required, and sunk to produce the projecting ribs. It took three rolls on Saturday before all was finished, and at the completion of each the workmer, who seemed in tensely interested in the success of the experiment, cheered loudly. The last operation was effected by lifting the bar into a bed, so to speak, made be tween two masses of iron, and then passing over it an enormous iron roller, which removed the curved form the bar had received in passing between the rollers. Now that the success of the first bar has been achieved, the rolling of the others will go on every day until the whole order is completed. When the fort is erected in Russia it is intended to test Sir,—The balloon left the earth at 4h. 7m. p.m.; in three minutes it was I,oooft. high, and moved very evenly upward, at the rate of I,oooft. in three or four minutes, to the height of 11,000 ft. at 4h. 38m.; it descended at the rate of 500 ft. per minute , till we were within 1,500 ft. of the earth at 4h. 59m. ; we then descended very slowly, were I,oooft. high at sh. 4ra., and reached the ground at sh. 18m. We were accompanied by our friend Mr. F. Norris, who has been up with us on several occasions. During the whole day the sky was overcast, and the wind was from the S.E. ; on leaving we at once crossed over the river to Essex; at the height of 500 ft. the air was very misty, and the view very limited, but Woolwich Dockyard, the town of Woolwich, the river under us, the numerous ship ping, with so many upturned faces from their decks, formed a very pleasing and interesting sight. The mist increased in density as we rose. When at 2,500 ft. we entered a dense white cloud, and shortly afterwards lost sight of the earth ; at 3,500 ft. there was a very thin fine rain ; at 4,000 ft. the clouds were less in density, and there was a great increase of light ; at 4,500 ft. we saw the sun faintly, but there was more cloud above; at 5,000 ft. the sun cast a faint shadow, but we were still in cloud, which decreased :in density as the balloon rose. When at B,looft. high we felt the wind press against us with a sensible pressure, and inferred that there was another change of the wind, but we had no means whatever of determining the direction from which it came; the mist again increased till the height of 9,000 ft. was reached ; we here heard* a train and supposed we were over the Chelms ford line of railway. At the height of 9,500 ft. the sun shone very brightly, and it was quite warm ; at 10,000 ft. we were entirely out of cloud, and there was a sea of white cloud dazzling in its brightness, extending without a break or irre gularity in its surface as far as we could see all round—that is, for more than 100 miles on all sides, Near to us on the cloud, on the side opposite to the sun, was a Wright oval halo of immense extent, in the centre of which was situated the shadow of the balloon and car, but without prismatic colours; this all appeared to revolve with us, for it was constant, and we knew we were turning round by the sun now shining at our backs and then in our faces ; at the greatest elevation (11,000 ft.) there was perfect repose, the sky was without a cloud, and of a beau• tiful deep blue. We were, however, quite baffled in our attempts to determine our direction, as we could not see any inclination in the grapnel line. Mr. Coxwell had been watching the weather all day, and once during a break in the lower clouds he had sent up a pilot balloon, which had moved to wards the east when at a high elevation, and, con necting this with the current we had met with, ho had begun to fear that the railway we had heard might be the Southend railway, and, if so, we were drifting out to sea. He therefore determined to take a dip downwards without delay, before attempt. ing a higher elevation, so that if we found ourselves over water we might have gas enough to keep up for some time. We began the dip downwards, the sky continued of a deep blue, the air free from mist, and the sun hot, till we approached the height of 7,000 ft. and at 6,000 ft. we lost sight of the sun, and were in a dense white cloud at 5,500 ft, high ; when at 3,000 ft. fine rain fell and we caught sight of the earth at the height of 2,500 ft. ; we expected to find ourselves over Essex, but hills and a beautiful un. dulating country presented theraselves, and it was evident we were at fault. Mr. Cox well then decided upon anchoring, and we did so on the outskirts of a pine plantation, near Sevenoaks, in Kent, on the estate of the Marquis Camden, and we found the direction of the wind here S.E., the mule direction as at starting. The temperature of the air was 46 deg. on leaving, at the height of I,oooft it was 411 deg., at 1,500 ft it was 40 deg., at 2,000 ft, 37 deg.; at 3,000 ft it was 34 deg.; from 3,500 ft to 4,000 ft there was no varia tion from 33 deg.; this was the lowest temperature met with ; at 5,000 ft the temperature increased to 36 deg., and did not change for 500 ft, then decreased to 34 deg. at 6,500 ft, at which point it turned to increase, and was 40 deg. at B,oooft ; it decreased to 34 deg. again at the height of 9,000 ft ; it then increased, on leaving the cloud below, to 36 deg, at 11,000 ft, and rapidly to 46 deg. while between 10,000 ft and 11,00uft high. The highest tempera ture observed was at B,oooft, on descending, when it was 47 deg.; from this point the temperature de clined, on descending, to 40 deg., at 1,500 ft high, being nearly the same as on ascending, and to 46 deg. on the ground. The temperature of the dew point, or that tem. perature at which water, is the invisible shape of vapour, is deposited as water on substances of that temperature, was 7 deg. below that of the air on leaving the earth, and this difference waa the same up to 2,000 ft. It then decreased to 1 deg. on enter ing the cloud, and was from 1 deg. to 3 deg. while in the dense cloud. On leaving it at B,oooft this difference suddenly increased to 10 deg., and varied from 14 deg. to 24 deg. between the heights of 8,000 and 11,000 feet, and decreased on again en tering the cloud to 5 deg. and 6 deg. There ware 21 grains of water in a cubic foot of air near the ground, about two grains in the cloud, and about one grain only above the cloud. The humidity of the air, therefore, increased from the earth to the centre of the cloud, where it Was all but saturated, and decreased rapidly above the cloud, where it was very dry. No osone was detected by Schonbein, Moffat, or Lowe's papers during the whsle time the balloon was in the air. The lines in the solar spectrum were very name. roue and well defined. The spectrum itself was very long. The goat was very uneasy, and continued bleating till we passed through the cloud and into a warmer atruospheae, when it was quiet and happy. This ascent was inteuded to have reached to five miles high, but in ascending from London or Wool wich, Mr. Coxwell's tactics are put to the severest tests, especially if the sky be overcast as it was on this day, although the visible mass of vapour floated away in a north-westerly direction ; yet some indi cation during the day led Mr. Coxwell to conclude that there was an upper westerly current, and it was this induced him to descend. It is impossible to say how far we went into Essex, where we re-crossed the Thames, or how far we penetrated into Sussex, or if we reached Sussex at all; but it is certain that On Saturday all the metropolitan bankers, bullion dealers, and money changers, were served with a printed notice by the City detective force, at the instance of the Salvage Association, Lloyd's, offering £3,000 reward for such information as may lead to the recovery of 68 bars and 11 boxes of gold, valued at £50,000, stolen from the treasure in the sunken steamer Golden Gate, off Manza millo, near San Francisco. The bills contain an accurate description of the bars and boxes, with the mark and num ber of each bar, the name of the assayer, weight, and value. Twenty-five were assayed by Messrs. llewston and Co., 16 by Messrs. S. Molitor and Co., 8 by G. W. Bell, 5 by Messrs. H. Harris and Co., and the remainder by Messrs. B. C. Gevascy, Greenwood and Newbain, Rodene and Ruhling. There is also one bag of foreign coin missing, and several express parcels containing bullion. The Golden Gate was an American steamer, and was wrecked in July, 1862, when a great loss of life took place. The total amount of gold and specie on board was about £450,000, consigned to several firms in New York, London, and Paris, and the whole of it was insured. The underwriters, on hearing of the wreck, dispatched a special agent to the scene of the wreck to recover, if possible, the treasure. After conside rable exertions a large amount of the gold was discovered, but owing to the dangerous character of the currents and climate a great many lives were lost in the enterprise. Several expeditions went to the wreck ; some failed, and others wero unsuccessful, and the gold in question was re covered by one party, who immediately decamped with the valuable store. It is stated, however, that one of the gang has been arrested. The gold when shipped on board the Golden Gate was packed in boxes, and marked thus :—F. A. S., No. 451 ; Lazard Freres, No. 217 ; B. D., No. 12 ; H. L. and Co., Paris, No. 141; J. A., No. 28 ; B. and Co., Paris, No. 4; A. G., No. 1, It is believed that much of the gold has already arrived in London, and that some con signments are expected. Several Fires and Great Loss of Property, On Saturday and yesterday several fires took place in different parts, some being as far as six or even miles from the others. One ffre happened at 2 in the morning in the premises of Mr G. H. Attwood, wholesale clothier, 27, Turnpike-road, High-street, Stratford. The family and servants had re tired to rest, when a constable noticed a flame in the front shop, He alarmed the inmates and sent off for the escape and fire engines, several of which quickly attended. The flames, however, soon fired the whole of the building, containing about a dozen rooms, and filled with a costly stock in trade, and were attacking No. 23, belonging to Mrs Wayland, a milliner, and No 26, belonging to M H. L. Wayland (private), when plenty of the East London Company's water having been procured the firemen went resolutely to work, but the fire could not be extinguished until the building and the two adjoining were seriously da maged by it. The loss will fall upon the Sun and Ulobe Fire offices. Another fire occurred on the premises occupied by Mr. J. Skean, a merino store dealer, 51, Great Alie-street, Good man's-fields. The alarm having been given by the police, Conductor Wood attended with the Whitechapel Royal Society's fire escape, and found an aged female, of 78 years, on the landing, whom he succeeded in bringing down in safety. The steamers by Shand and Mason attended, and a bountiful supply of the East London Company's water procured, but in spite of which a building of two floors, used as stores, at the rear of the dwelling, was burnt out and the roof destroyed. A fire, which at ono time threatened very disastrous re• sults, broke out from some unknown cause in the premises belonging to Mr. J. Hatton, a cornchandler and seedsman, situate at 26, Little Portland-street. The flames when first discovered were raging in the provender lofts over the stabling. Brigade and other engines attended, and the fire men, aided by 60 hired auxiliaries, managed to get the mas tery over the fire, but not until several loads of hay and straw were destroyed, and the building seriously burned. A SHIP ON FIRE AT BLACKWALL.—About a quarter before one o'clock a.m. on Saturday, a telegraphic message was received at the chief station in Watling. street, that a ship was burning in Messrs. Wig ram's Yard, at Blackwell. Capt. Shaw gave orders for the engines to be despatched from sundry stations, and also started himself, as did the Duke of Sutherland, Lord Richard Grosvenor, - M.P., the Hon. Stuart Wortley, Hon. Captain Howard, and a powerful body of firemen, as well as the land steamers by Shand, Mason, and Co. Upon reaching Blackwell, Capt. Shaw found that the outbreak had com menced in the large ship under repair named the Princess of Wales, Capt. Head, of the Eludsoi.'s Bay Company, of 590 tons register, which was burning furiously between the midships. This large vessel was lying in Messrs.lVigram's dry dock, and a fire raging amongst such valuable property and in such a confined place caused great excitement to prevail, and the floating enginesof the East and West India Dock Companies were brought along side the shi p , as well as one of the pri v ate engines belonging to the firm. These were followed by numerous other engines. The whole of this force was called into operation, and floods of water discharged upon the flames, but befog eon , fined below the hatchways it was a work of no little diffi culty for the firemen to teach the seat of the conflagration, and it was found absolutely necessary to scuttle the ship. Large portions of the ship are destroyed, and she is officially reported as being severely damaged by fire and the attempt at scuttling. The origin of the misfortune could not be learned. STEAMSHIP COLLISION AND LOSS OF LIFE.-0a Saturday the particulars were received of a collision which took place in the East Swin between the Florence Nightingale and the Admiral, iron screw steamers, result i n g in the immediate foundering of the former and loss of two of her crew. The Admiral was on her way to Newcastle, from London, with passengers ; and the F loren c e Nightin gale, a new and p ower f u l s t e am collier , was on her way from Sunderland to the Thames, freighted with 600 tons of coals. Between twelve and one o'clock in the morning of the 7th, weather fine, the vessels were proceeding in opposite directions through the East Swin, between the Gunfleet and Sunk Sand light ship, when the Admiral struck the Florence Nightingale just abaft the main rigging on the port side, with such force as to cut her down to the cabin-house on deck. The ship immediately began to sink, and in less than six minutes went down in deep water. Most of the hands succeeded in g ettin g on board the Ad miral. The screams of those on boa rd cou ld be heard as the vessel went down. Th© Admiral's po r or er fe so ll n o s w w , b h u o t h t a w ve o boetehnerisa perished. The Admiral sus tained seri ous d amage . h borrowers of Sewing, Mach i ne s will do well to apply at once and become members of Illessrs. Watts and Co.'s Sewing Machine Clubs. By so doing they will not only save the secure to themselves the pO SS CaSiOl! of one of the b e st an d money they now foolishly thro w away, but at the same time most celebrated sewing mac hines in the world. Ever y in fbourimidaintigesn, gi s v tr e a n n o d n , aLpopnldicoan, tio w n :co.: where mem rs arc en by letter address e d, w ith a stamped envelope, to Mes srs. Watts and Co., 12, Beaufort t ailed daily between 10 and 4 ; Saturdays, 10 andi. [ADVERTISEMENT.]—OOIISI.IraI?tIOII, all nervous, bilious, liver, p A e r r a f b ec ica zly } c , u o r o a d b , laesbpyrDovueditbay t rry'a health restoring Revalenta We quote a few.—Cure No. 62,914. Miss Lange,lB years of age, a an st d em itocacehiereaotmcdplaints. , h i o n us e a v n e d r a y o s f ta c g a e s , e a s r l e vi o li n ci l l y ha by drugs of every description, bu ag gravated n been considered hopeless. cured after the medical m en had e e xh mac au ia s t t e io d n t , o s cough, expectoration, She is now, thank God, a perfectly abandoned all hopes of her recovery from the last sta g e of Pulmonary consumption, wit h fearful . blood, perspirations, hollow cheeks, P a i L tl c u l g eto o n i healthy, blooming, fleshy girl,—N. Lange, Commiasaire de Police. Cure, No. 46,270. Mr. James Roberts, of Fries ley Surrey, of thirty years' diseased lungs, spitting of blood, liver derangement, and partial deafness.—Cure, No. 47,121. Miss Elizabeth Jacobs, of extreme nervousness, indigestion, gatherings, low spirits, and nervous fancies.—Cure, No. 54,816. The Rev. James T. Cam;bell, Fakenham, Norfolk, of indigestion and torpidity of the liver, which had resisted all medical reatment. In tins, 11b, 2s 9d ; 21b, 43 6d; 51b, 113; 121 b, 225; 241 b, 403. Barry du Barry and Cl., No. 77, Reg ent-street, London; also Fortnum and Mason; and all grocers and chemists in every town of the United Kingdom. [ADVERTISEMENT.] -- 110110Nyny's Pill!,—These cele brated pills are especially useful in preventing th e ill e ff ec t s of luxurious livi ng . They purify the blood, cleanse the stomach, gently stimulate the kidneys, and act as mild aperients. Without some such corrective as Holloway's pills the festivity of one day often debars us from all enjoy ment for a week. A few doses of this purifying medicine set the foul es t s t omac h right, restrain biliousness, steady the circulation, give strength to the muscles, and compo sure to the brain and nerves. The pills are incapable of doing mischief to the most delicate constitution. When the system has been e nervated . by over ind u l gence , or ex hausted by merc ur i a l preparations, these pills are excellent restoratives; they expel all poison, and enrich the blood. THE SATURDAY REVIEW ON THE SHAKSPERE TERCENTENARY DEMONSTRATION.—The fate of the Shakapere Memorial is the last and drollest effort of the spirits of malicious fun. Why should this whole affair have come, in every Varticular, chap ter and verse, to such condign and total grief ? There is nothing at all absurd in the notion of get ting up a National Shakapere Monument. On the contrary, it is a thing to be done. Even a Shakspere Festival has its precedent—a sufficiently absurd one, it is trite—iii Garriek's Stratford jubilee, A Tercentenary glorification haS beau tried so often that we almost condone its absurdity from the fact that it is only a stupid plagiarism. In itself, even the formation of the London Shakspere Committee was not absolutely ridiculous. Mr, Dixon has won a name in literature. Mr. Halliwell, the co-secretary, though not without his fopperies, is a man of great, if queer, reading. in the antecedehta of even the London Committee there was nothing on which to anticipate its ridiculous break-down. We are not going to repeat its history. It has disappeared, vanished, exhaled. Like Aubrey's ghost, " being interrogated, it made no answer," but, un like Aubrey's ghost, it has left neither " a curious perfume, nor a melodious twang." The, London Committee collapsed in a wrangle, a fiasco, a break-down, so thorough, so in geniously comical, so total, and so absurd, that we can only account for its ignominious death on the same theory under which we subscribe to the Stock well mystery. The Devil, or at least an imp, was in it. A superhuman, or infrahuman, agency is necessary to account for a catastrophe ao mis chievously nonsensical and ridiculous. The London Shakspere Memorial, however, did not stand alone. There was a Stratford Memorial Committee, and something at least of the public confidence which was alienated by the sayings and doings of Messrs. Dixon and Halliwell gravitated to Stratford. At Stratford there has always been a semi-religious fanaticism about Shakspere, and nobody very seri ously objected to an extravagant outbreak of it. Besides, there was every reason to believe that the malignant influence at work had been exercised by the completeness of the London failure. No Puck could be frolicsome or tricksy enough to lead his victims, if he could find them, a second witches' dance through bog and briar. Besides, the respec tables and the dignified mustered in strength and dulness round the Stratford Committee. However, it very soon became at least a suspicion that " the strange doings" were about to be repeated. It was like the old ghost story which relates how a family fled from a haunted house, and how, half-way to the new residence, a gibing voice, in mocking tones from the midst of a featherbed, shrieked out, " Ha' you're flitting are you; I'm flitting too." Puck has certainly gone down to Stratford. He will not leave the Shakspere Memorial while there is breath in it. What bat the old inspirer of Messrs. Dixon and Halliwell could have dictated the Strat ford programme ? What mundane wit could have suggested a Banquet and Handers " Messiah," a Miscellaneous Concert and " Twelfth Night," " Hamlet" and a Fancy Dress Ball, together with such a gallimaufry as Shakspearian Readings (of course by Mr. Bellew), excursions, and exhibitions of actors' portraits, and could call all this a Na tional Shakspere Festival? The witch cauldron in "Macbeth" and its weird cooks mast have been at work at this strange bill of fare. "Twelfth Night" and the " Messiah"—that is, " Comfort ye my people," and Sir Toby Belch—but the absurdity so closely trenches on the profane that we decline to pursue the nauseous parallel. This only we must, in the interest of decency, observe, that if the " Hallelujah Chorus" can by any stretch of imagi nation be deemed suitable to a Shakspere Festival, then a fancy dress ball, with its Debardeurs and Pierrots, is very much out of artistic and dramatic keeping. But this is not all. The same ludicrous fatality attends everything connected with this outbreak of the Lues Shaksperiana. It infects all who are connected with it. There is an Executive Committee to whom the monument is entrusted. Of the monument we have always had but one opinion. It is a very proper thing; and the choice of the memorial was entrusted to men in whom, or in many of whom, artists might place great confidence. We can say nothing as to the knowledge of art possessed by the Duke of Manchester, but Mr. W. Cowper's official position justified his place on the Committee. Sir Joseph Paxton once stumbled into a single great success in design. Mr. 'rite and Mr. Donaldson, as Presid.?nts of the Institution of British Architects, justify the ; choice made of them, Mr. Beresford Hope and Mr, Maclise represent very creditably art in its amateur and in its practical form. Yet what but the envious ;_nstleation of the ancient and unappoaseable sp i r i t of ,„„h chief could have induced these gentlemen to clog th cir proposal for the monument with the outrageously absurd provision, to use their own wonderful languat:e, that " the monument should embrace a bronze eten,:e, placed under a decorative canopy, in the style of the poet 7 a period ?" Whet on earth do they mean by a reeve''" ment embracing a breeze statue ? and what is the style of the poet's period ? If they or their trea cherous prompter mean architectural art as prac tised is Shakspere's lifetime, do they mean the de caying Gothic of Elizabeth's time ? or the halting Tudor ? or the brainless Jacobean ? Do they not know—if they do not, let them go to Queen Eliza beth's monument in Westminster Abbey, and they may perhaps learn—that of all caricatures and de basements of art, of all senseless and barbarous mix tures, " the style of the poet's period" is the very ugliest and most abominable ? But so it is. There is a fatality about the whole thing. The Shakspere blight infects all tat it touches. Omne pod tetigit, he, the malign spirit, makes a mess of. There only remained the theatrical portion of the celebration. It seemed impossible to spoil this part of the Festival. To be sure, the plays offered at Stratford were like the sermons appraised by Cowper's tithepayers—plaguy dear. To ask the most devout of Shakspere's worshippers to pay 21s. in a Stratford barn for what they could get for ss. in a London theatre, was a bold attack on the faith and fervour of the holy pilgrims. But it passed. And even the unlucky Phelps affair was beginning to be forgotten, though it showed that spiritual wickedness was at work in Warwickshire as well as in London. It argued something at least unhu man to set Mr. Bellew and Mr. Phelps by the ears ; And Puck must have laughed in his sleeve, if he has any, when " the :foremost man in his pr o f ess i on clai oed . the right to play Hamlet on this occasion," silently exclaimed " that he had b een in and indite. 9 Stratford Committee aski ng M r . suited by teL Fechter to nlav h. calet. ,, But even this was go t : and everybody th oug ht we over somehow or other, -ter For the London had come to the la s t (Use., Committee to h ave stumbles lave! the Thacke or ray difficalty, and for the b.:. rat fd Com mittee to have floundered into te.: 4 Phelps trouble, ought to have satisfied the most spitb.cul or evil influences, and hope began to whisper that aL I was at last smooth, at least in the Stratford Green Room. The limes has for a whole month adver tised, "Tuesday evening, ' Twelfth Night ;' Wed nesday evening, ' Hamlet;' Thursday evening, As You Kike It;'—reserved seats, 215." We ~;id not like it at all, but we submitted ; when 10, at the ele"enth hour —nay at a quarter to twelve—on April 4 (the Festival being to come off on the 23d), the crowning trouble is announced. Mr. Pechter follows Mr. Phelps's example, and retires in grievous dud geon. There is to be no " Hamlet" after all. So that at last Mr. Phelps's divine wrath is appeased, and on the foremost man in his profession will not be in flicted the indignity of seeing, or hearing of, " Ham let" presented at the great " Stratford-on-Avon Tercentenary Festival' by a Mossoo. More over, by a just Nemesis, the indignity which was offered to Mr. Phelps has been repaid twofold to Mr Fechter ; at least so he tells us, for there are accusations and recriminations on both sides. " Dr. Flower, M.D., Hon. See," announces that " Mr. Fechter has broken faith with the Commit tee." Mr. Fechter, through his friend "H. Barnett, Esq."—for, as Warren kept a poet, so actors nowa days keep a Secretary—on the other hand complains that the,Stratford Committee has forced him to the painful necessity of abandoning " Hamlet" by pass ing a resolution (which was a sensible one enough, and only desired Mr. Fechter's guide, philosopher, and friend, Mr. Bellew, to mind his own business) " giving the force of truth to the false and in nge• nerous statement spread about by one of your mem bers, and published by unfriendly papers, namely, that Mr. Fechter by under-current and trickery ways' forced on the choice of his Hamlet." To all which Dr. Flower rejoins by professing his " entire ignorance of any resolution—in fact, we are quite at a loss to know to what resolu • tion you refer, or who aro the members of the Committee to whom you refer." We think that we can clear up the mystery. The " spirits" have been at it again. The imps of dark ness, who have all along had a spite against the Shakspere Festival, have crowned their malignity. They passed the mysterious resolution ; the Eng lish of the alleged "under-current and trickery ways" is thoroughly elfish and diabolic. They have slily punched Mr. Phelps into heroics, and secretly pinched Mr. Pechter into sulks. It's all their doing. Nothing else can account for it. A series of such blunders, a succession of such misfortunes, a con sistent course of such mal-adroitness, in London and Stratford. in theatre and monument, in com mittee and out of committee, in promise and, as it now seems, in performance, could only have been originated by Satanic malevolence and Satanic skill. No mortal proficiency in blundering could • have achieved this sublime and superb triumph of failure. Ttie whole history of the Shakspere Ter ' centenary Feslirai, combines, in the true Shekepe- THE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY EVENING, APRIL 11, 1864. its powers of resistance with a gun throwing a shot of a thousand pounds weight, which is in a short time to be cast in Prussia for the Imperial Govern ment. In the calibre of its ordnance Russia seems making a great effort to keep ahead of the rest of Europe, and is most liberal in its orders for the largest guns in any country which will undertake to manufacture for it. But in the calibre of its ordnance Europe is now as it ever has been far be hind America. At Pittsburg, ; in Pennsylvania, a 50.t0n ern has just been successfully cast for the United States' Government. This monster piece of ordnance, which is stated to be perfect in its cast ing, is to throw a solid 20 inch shot weighing 1,6001 b. After the rolling of the bars on Saturday the visi tors were conducted over the whole of the extensive smithries, machine shops, and shipbuilding depart ments of the company's works. The Northumberland, iron-clad frigate, the fine model of which formed so prominent a feature in the late Exhibition, attracted considerable attention, and especially her enormous sternpost —one forging of more than 60 tons weight. An ironclad cupola ram, in course of construction for the Italian Government, was noticed on account of the intense ugliness of its outline and the for midable offensive qualities of its projecting beak. The immense iron columns for the new Blackfriars bridge, and the cylinders used by the engineers of the London, Chatham, and Dover Railway in build ing up the piers of the bridge, were also shown to the visitors. Some of the iron plates rolled at the Millwall Works, classed A 1, and which have been fired at in some of the experiments, showed, by the deep indentations on their surface, how perfect had been their manufacture and how great their powers of resistance. Kr, Glaisher's Eighteenth Balloon Ascent from Woolwich Arsenal, April 6, TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUIT. when we were first seen below the clouds we were coming as from Hastings. Had we mounted five miles high withont the pre• cautionary dip we might, and probably would, have found ourselves over the middle of the Channel without the power of re-ascending or keeping the balloon from the water. In case this had happened we had prepared ourselves with Stewart's life belts, admitting of quick inflation and admirably adapted for their purpose. Mr. Coxwell, on learning the place of descent, did not consider under the circum stances that it was prudent to re-ascend, and he resolved to empty the balloon at Sevenoaks. The results of this ascent are remarkable. They establish the prevalence of totally opposite currents of air within two miles of the earth, as also tempe ratures of the air actually warmer than on the earth at heights exceeding B,oooft, where usually the temperature is from 30 deg. to 40 deg. lower than on the earth, constituting the results of this ascent as differing from all others, and as one by no means unimportant in the series. The exact place of descent was Wilderness-park, on the property of Marquis Camden, who was pre sent, and to whom our best thanks are due for kind assistance. The descent was Mo gentle that not an instrument was injured. Blackheath, April 10. JAMES GLAISFIER. Great Robbery of Gold Bars—£3ooo Reward SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS, THE EXAMINER ON THE DUKE OF NEW CASTLE.—There is but one feeling of regret at the retirement of the Duke of Newcastle, who has won a high place in public respect by sheer force of character and conduct. Few men, indeed, have gone through so trying an ordeal as the Duke of Newcastle went through unscathed and with honour. He was hardly judged for the faults in the management of the Crimean campaign, and was blamed for what were really defects of a sys tem. He had the mortification of being act aside as incapable—a sore mortification indeed to a man with a due share of the pride of intellect. But during the time that he took his seat in the House of Lords as one who had been tried and found want ing, never did he manifest any resentment for the hard measure he had received, never did he evince any pique, or seize on any of the mauy opportuni ties that offered of recrimination, He was too high-minded and just a man to be swayed a hair's breadth in his public conduct by any personal con • sideration. He acted as if he had never been ag grieved, never had had a slight put upon him, never had felt the smart of an unmerited mortifi cation. He bore fortune's buffets as one in suffer iug all that suffered nothing, like the man Henalet wore in his heart of hearts. We hardly know of another instance of a man in similar circumstances, /eh put himself so completely beside himself, if we may express it, as regarded past grievances, look ing to nothing but present duty. How excellently he acquitted himself of his charge in America we need not call to mind, nor how efficiently and eon scientiously he discharged the duties of his office. Nor need we say how affectionately he is regarded in private life, where his frank, unpretending man ners and cordiality made themselves must pleas ingly felt. Heartily do we trust that the duke's retirement will only be temporary, and that re stored health will soon give back his services to the country. THE LONDON REVIEW ON HER MAJESTY'S LATE PRONUNCIAMENTO.—An article appeared the other day in tha Times which it would be affectation to regard otherwise than as a direct expression of the sentiments of the highest personage in the realm. The mode which her Majesty has adopted in com municating with her people is undoubtedly unpre cedented; nor can we conceal from ourselves that it is one which might be fraught with serious incon venience. But under the peculiar circumstances of the present case, we are not disposed to press any objections which we may entertain to so direct an appeal from the throne to the nation. Her Ma jesty may well feel that the criticisms to which her personal conduct has been subjected require 3 more personal reply than can be afforded through the me dium of her constitutional advisers. We are therefore more disposed to accept with gratitude the gracious assurances of the Queen, than to cavil at the chan nel through which she has seen fit to convey them. We have no doubt that the people will do full jus tice to the spirit which animates what we must describe as the Royal message, and that they will readily respond to the demand which it makes upon their forbearance. With great good feeling her Majesty expresses her hearty appreciation of her subjects' desire to see her. And although not directly, she impliedly contradicts the assertion that she has laid out for herself any scheme of seclusion, by the assurance that " whenever any real object le to be attained by her appearing on public oectisiens, any national interest to be promoted, or auythirg to be encouraged which is for the good of her people, her Majesty will not shrink, as she has not shrunk, from any personal sacrifice or exertion, however painful. At the same time she reminds us of that which ought to have been lost sight of, that she has now to perform—alone and unassisted—other and higher duties than those of "mere representa tion ;" and she remonstrates gently, but firmly, against being asked to expend on state ceremonies the health and strength which she requires for the discharge of " other duties which cannot be ne glected without serious injury to the public inte rests." She promises. however, that she will do what she can to meet " the loyal wishes of her subjects, to afford that support and countenance to society, and to give that encouragement to trade which is desired of her." We stiould enter with infinite reluctance upon any discussion of assurances graciously voucnsafed by the Queen to the solicitude of her subjects. But we are relieved from the performance of so embarrassing a duty, by a conviction that it is quite sufficient to express our perfect confidence that her Majesty will not have thrown herself in vain upon " the ... _ kindness and good feeling of her people," and that she will not find on their part any desire to exact from her more than she finds herself able to perform. __ THE SPECTATOR ON THE COMING CONFERENCE, —The chances of an acceptable peace as the result of the Danish conference grow less as the meeting draws near. The great Powers are all in one way or another expressing their " views," and the effect of the expression is to show that the hope of agree ment among them all is of the faintest kind. Earl Russell, in his despatch of March 9, not only avows that the idea of Great Britain is to maintain the Treaty of 182 through a " personal union'' between Denmark ,end the Duchies, but bids the Danes re member that although "he does not pretend to dictate," they D m?, if they are as obstinate as Eng lishmen would be, obtain worse terms than that. The German Powers nee ent to that view, but de mand in addition that the united Duchy of Schies wig-Holstein shall possess an equal vote with Den mark upon all matters affecting tiee whole monarchy, in other words, that Germany shall govern the policy of Duchies, peninsula, and isiends all toge ther. M. Drouyia de Lhuys, on the other hand, in a despatch dated 20th March, announces his mas ter's opinion that " it is impossible not to recognise the obstacles to the precise and exact execution of the Treaty of 1852," and that it is needful to ap• peal to the political "higher law," the law which condones all breaches of faith among nations and between nations and their rulers—universal suffrage. Finally, Russia don't publish despatches, but asks amidst the cannon for a Danish princess as wife for the future Czar, strong evidence that the idea of the Romanoffe is not to dethrone King Christian alto gether ;Denmark, in fact, wants to keep Schleswig as a dependeneY• Germany wants to seize Schles wig and make Denmark a dependency ; England wants to take Schleswig from both and give it to King Christian ; France wants the whole question referred to a majority or the most ignorant of all the parties concerned andßuseia wants any arrange ment which will most effectually enable her to menace the independence of Sweden. All these con flicting interests, and ideas, and purposes are to be thrown into a vat together, and Esrl Russell hopes by diplomatic chemistry to obtain some solid and useful oatturn. He may, but we venture to affirm that it will only be by precipitating a resi duum the stench of which will not be pleasing either to him or to the world. It is not hard to perceeve which of the helf dozen p ;,,:ns suggested will be rho one adopted more or less reluctantlyby the Confer e nc e . It is that peereesed by the oni; Sovereign who c a n if he pleases at one.' ar rest the man: h of the G erman a rmies, who wields the force of Sweden and Italy as well as that of France, and who has a pressing motive for wishing that contracts should be only respected when both p a t es are willing to keep them. The Elect of Thcemtior is consistent when he demands that the classes whose vote released him from his oath should release Europe from its obligations, no other power save Denmark is likely to hold out long, and as for Denmark, vice victis is the secret thought of most of one's dearest friends. France cordially endorses a p rinciple ander which she can annex Belgium and could only lose Algeria; England obviously will accept any propose! which ensures even temporary peace, would, we eete ,'v believe, submit the whole the can matter to the arbitration ce f Pekin , if only no n could then be compelled o cease firing ; Ger many feels secure that the &hie:wagers will vote wh i eL N is one day to Russia only for the "superior nationality," be united, and free, and respected ; and asks that she may be the protectress of the divided, powerless, and contemptible morsels of Scandielavis• The Danes, of course, must give way, for doctove do not ask the consent of the animals whose vivisection is " profitable to science," and they may even in their despair consent, for at least the plan rids them of the chance of " personal union" which is for them the most ruinous of all the devices Earl Russell and the professors have as yet schemed out, and leaves them though power less and ruined by exactions freemen still. There may be peace, bat at what a cost to Europe and the world! The system of public law which, however imperfect in itself, has enabled one quer• ter of the world to keep up a continuous political advance will have been overthrown. Any power has hence forward only to pour immigrants into a neigh bouring province, then excite them to rebellion, and then declare that treaties cannot be carried out, and the only appeal will be the will of the ignorant masses of the people. France may seize Belgium, Russia all provinces inhabited by Sc ays, Italy Dal matia and half the Tyrol, and Greece the fairest sections of the Ottoman dominions, with no other consequences than ratification by vote. No small Power has any long e r a right to exist, and the smallest segment of a people, so that it have but some speciality of race, acquires a moral right to upset that worthless compact among nations which diplomatists were wont to respect aslEuropean order. If the Germans in Schleswig can justify the con quest of Danes by Germans, why should not the Frisians in Schleswig vote their section over to Russia, or Dalmatia declare herself Italian, or the Czechs of Bohemia assert that their true kinship is with the Poles, or the people of Cornwall announce: that they intend henceforw4ra to 'co govcrued caly by descendants of Llewellyn 1 auld deal with rev olt that strong govern ments w ' It will not do to as sert without calling in the rest if the war ld, for D en mark is only too eager to accei it that ye iry principle' that doctrine of non-intervent inn wEieh only fi ve years was reckoned almost apt zlitica l i evangel. Let a but the Germans retire, and witl t absolute freedom, freedom so complete that Dar, ies were denoun ced within the capital itself withon 't the police trying to interfere, there will be as i'ittle disorder in Schleswig as there now is in Walz arrangements, and politics have no other basis, rest henceforward on the simple right of tar y power, diplomaoy beco system for ev a nd Is. All territorial citing fractional populations to discontent , treaties are degraded into docn not to overstate the case, are " in ca p t tble of precise 'petits w hich, and exact execution," and may be set aside by any aggregate, however canal], of ploughmen's votes. That is the pleasing result of a d iplomacy which terferes nominally to protect tb.e ancient allies of the British people, and OW conditions we for ced ea those allies, but is really gn, ided by a determ ination that England shall not wait a y es r to reduce the duties on sugar. If that is resu lt which th: people of this country at heart nothing more'to be said, but in that case let us at least reap the benefit of our quioscenc e, and cease . 0 , spend thirty millions a year in order may have one organised " Power" that thew orl? ap,nrove, there 1, when the hour comes to strike a stroke t, t he ri n g n b Thirty millions a year on armaments, Etna w e ea—ci venture to say that Prussia shall not try ber ne W , ! That at rang enougtn artillery upon the defenceless town of an alb . w h e re is what the Prussians are doing, not in Asia, n though the moral guilt is the same violent sc: e 7 is no breach of the tacit contract among nat i°l , l4 but here in the Europe which with uncons cimo irony we call civilised. There is not the sznallet military reason for destroying Sonderborg , lies as much out of the way of the enemy as Kentw, Town out of the road of a foe attacking Hampatev• from the north. The people in it have not only dove nothing to injure Germany, but German)" INI6I actually bombarding them out of the full ness her national love, killing women and children lu order that the men may Le free of the Dan ce who are fighting for them all. The single reason is to try the force of the new artillery, to ascertain accurately whether shots frrom a certain elev il : will destroy in a sufficient manner. Whe n a " Asiatic prince buys a sword he sometimes tries its temper by hacking up a fat slave, an d Englishmen ecarcaly believe while they aveng e s the atrocity. The Prussians are killing vi ctivi by the hundred in order that the survivors may 1/ able to vote that they love the Prussians best, a" even that bizarrerze of murder stirs us up only ts, shrill womanish abuse. The Germans, we dab' not, will be shelling Sonderborg while Europe j g , debating how Sonderborg can most freely vote Boo' cordialiy German. rian spirit, the most awful tragedy and the liveliest farce. COUNTRY MARKETS. --(t• YORK—SATURDAY. There was a seasonable show of wheat at market tc' d day, and prices were the turn in favour of buyers. Wheat, red 37s to 39s Oats.... lBs to 203 White do .40s t0:458 Beans 32. to 400 'Barley .26s to 32s Yeas e .--. Qs to - 1 ...i Malt, 58s to 60s per qr.;gl rye, 28s per qr.; flour , 2`i to 30s per sack. GRANTHAM—SATURDAY. nst Old white wheat, 43s to 46s ; red, 41si to 43s per q new white, 42s to 465; red, 40s to 425. Malting bar'"j 33s to 36s per qr ; grinding, 28s to 30s ; oats, old, 2 36 " 265; now, 20s to'24s ; beans, 31s to 36s ; old, 38s to 40s. LEICESTER—S.A.TIIRDAY. New white wheat, 42s to .45s ; red, 40s to 42g pe r 36 stone. Old red, 38s to 42s per 36 stone. Barley, maltillP new, 32s to 36s per qr.; grinding, 27s to 28s; old ot' t 7 25s to 28s; new oats, 21s to '23s per 24 stone. B PS old, 40s to 42s per 38 stone ; flour, 26s to 32s per 20 gone. NORWICH—SATURDAY. ere There was a good supply of wheat, and prices if about 18 per qr cheaper than on this day se'nnight, ' not being free buyers. Fine barley scarce, and prices WI altered; other sorts dull. White wheat. 44s to 47:;1 Red wheat 40 s to 43' Malting barley ...35s to 37s Chevalier barley.. •33s to 34° Distilling d0.....29s to 30s 1 Oats.. 2 4 s t o 4 Flour, 27s 6d to —s Od per sack from the miller NOTTINGHAM-SATURDAY. fair The show of wheat was limited, but samples were in - condition. The deliveries of barley still decrease. , in tolerable supply to-day, at late rates. Beans were fi ll , —White wheat, from 42s to 47s ; red wheat, 39s to 440 Barley—malting, 30s to 37s ; grinding, 27s to 30s. Ot si old, at 24s to 30s Od; new, 19s to 265. Beans sold at v to 43e per qr. ; new 34s to 365. Flour, fine, 28s to 30s; super, 32s to 378:per 20 stone. DUBLIN—FRIDAY. The market dull for al: kinds of grain, with a tolerable° attendance. Some inquiry for Indian corn for shipment outports. Flour no inquiry. _ s. d. s. a. Wheat, white 24 0 to 26 6 Do., red 2l 6 to 24 0 Do., new Barley Oats Do., black — 0 to 0 j a s. d. s' Oatmeal lO 0 to 13 0 0 Beans.. . 0 to -- Q Bere . — 0 to ," 0 Rapeseed .... 0 to -"' 0 Bakers' flour .. 14 0 to 20 0 Indian corn .. 27 0 to 28 Foreign Mail Packet List. MAILS DUE. Australia and Mauritius, via Southampton .. April 1 Ps via Marseilles April Brazil and Cape Verds, by British packet. May tg, Cape of Good Hope, Ascension, and St. Helena April ,4 8. China, Penang, and Singapore, via Southampton Apri! via Marseilles APth ii. Falkland Islands 11. Gibraltar, via Southampton Apri l - India (Calcutta), and Ceylon, via Soutliampton April 11: - via MarsQilles APri l 0, i India (Bombay), via Southampton , via Marseilles Apr il Portuga 1.... il l l i i , Malta, _Egypt, and Adon, via Southampton Apri l via Marseilles Apri l 13• Newfoundland .. April Opor and Vo U. S. and British N. America, by Brit. packet.... Apr a 13. by U.S. packet.... , 8 , by Canadian packet.Al 3ll .: 10• W.C. of Africa, Madeira, and Teneriffe Aprß s Bahamas, via New York May A Mexico. .. 4 1 , - All parts of West Indies, including Chili, Peru, 1 April • California. and British Columbia. THE LAST NOBLE ACT OF THE ITAI O2I , GOVERNMENT to Garibaldi is the restoration of his °- money. EXPERIMENTS WITH MR. MACKAY'S GREAT f;id - NEAR LIVERPOOL.—The success of this gun was to A ce s tain extent demonstrated on Saturday last by some Pa rti o experiments on the Uresby Sands, near Liverpool. I t s. / I to intended to have thoroughly tested the gun, but owiog, the unfortunate state of the weather the experiments P tb ""; per were not carried out. A thick haze prevailed along coast, and hence it was not only difficult to distinguis h targets, even at 300 yards distance, but also highly d-4 130 0 ous, inasmuch as pedestrians were continually u poo 0 beach in the line of fire. There were times, however, the fog was partially lifted, and during one of these flo vale six shots were fired at a wooden target (placed at yards) for the purpose of obtaining the range. Four of shots:struck the target, but two were rather wide of i ; ef mark.. The initial velocity obtained was 16.40 feet . 0 second, which is considerably higher, we believe, thou 4 ,• velocity of the Armstrong shot, and about equal to 68 pounder oN ordance at 200 yards distance. Whell_; six shots had been fired at the wooden target the eg7 t o ments were postponed until the first fine day, owing t ° : e t density of the fog. Had the weather been fine a til l ,4 representing the side of her Majesty's ship Agf ce no would have been experimented upon. This targ et ,4 etrengthend by extensive backing and wooden piles 17f, props driven into the sand to a depth of eight feet, yet ce p Mackay is confident that his gun will shatter it to p ie to The experiments attracted considerable interest, and t h e was a good attendance of scientific and other spectators, Births. a DYSON—On the 7th inst., at Rothley Temple, the wife Major Dyson, of a son. .., v 0 3. MOLEYNS—On the 6th inst., at Niddrie House, r 4 .'''' , Hon, Mrs. de Moleyne, of a son. .0 0 WHITE.—On the 9th inst., at 77, Eaton-place, the vgo, Lieut.-Colonel the Hon. Luke White, M.P., of a- stillborn, Marriages. L Tan oo BRAMsT67—THORNIIILL—On the 7th inst, , at Su.u„ -- ago , Piccadilly, Lieut.-Colonel Bramston, Grenadier v11;0 eldest son of T. W. Bramston, Esq., M.P. of S re icr h - otV Essex, to Honori3 Louisa, daughter of the late T. "'- hill, Esq., of Fixby Hall, Yorkshire. HUGHES—KRAEuTLER—Con the 7th inst., at St. .7, T ra ol oof Piccadilly, Captain Sir Frederick Hughes, of 01; 1 : 0 O r ' co. Wexford, to Emily, oldest daughter of the 01` liraeutler, Eeq. Deaths. r , APPLEI , ORD—On the Bth inst., at a ey 0 kl-road) fi r ' - ' Appleford, aged 43. ~,ffert CHAFFER -On the 9th inst., the Rev. Richard ‘ - ' l- ha o M A., curate of St. Phili Beth len, of tYP fever, taken in the dischar p ge of his n dUtie r s e , aged 3' 40 GRAVES.—On the 9th inst., at Palmer's-green, Tdiddlee- Mrs. E. Graves, aged 8. ,_,,, 4 01 , KNIGHT.—On the 6th inst ,at Hainault House, C nib ,t Essex, Joan Knight, Esq ‘ f o rmer ly of St G eQrge'a' . t . aged 72. (-; 0 1 MANSEL—On the Sth inst., at S nd ate Lieute-en R. C. Manse], K.H., aged a ' 76. g g n ene" SPENcE—On the Bth inst., at Hastings, .Th ines -` . 0 Esq., of Messrs. Henry Spence and Co., ar ea/ Sal SMITH—On the 9th inst., at 7, Upper a Yd° Bright Smith, Esq., aed 34 ....d0 .park.streetf . ------- 11" S. London: Prinz,ed and PrbiJoshed by WILLIAg ANv'-- O. of No. 112, Strand, Printer, at lus Strs 011ie , ' 'ACI:,, o Strani, , n the Precinct of the 3: My, n the COO- i MI tiLeex —Montiar, Arra li t Isol.