The Sun.
London, England, 1855-04-23 00:00:00

THE ART-UNION OF LONDON DISTRIBUTION.—The
annual meeting for the distribution of the amount sub-
scribed for the purchase of works of art, will be held on
Tuesday, the 24th, at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket,
kindly granted by Mr. Buckstone for that purpose.
Lord Monteagle will preside. The subscription is a
large one.-7he Builder.
It is suggested that the pictures in the approaching
Royal Academy Exhibition might each bear on the frame
the designation of the subject and the name of the
painter. It would certainly be a vast relief to he spared
the necessity of continual reference to the catalogue
while looking at the pictures.
SOLITH STAFFORDSHIRE RAILWAY.—A meeting of the
shareholdersorer in this company, under the Whaincliffe
ocooonpanricee.s.teriba_
Saturday, heldj at the Queen's Hotel, Birmingham, on
of the pro Y, Mr. R. Cit.seaChbaywnnewer in the cl,air. The consent
nieut, !ietors was obtained to the bibs before parlia•
stonercatanug powers to construct the Tipton and Dar-
°ltinztoenrdg:::": and. to, form connecting links with the
and Wolverhampton, and other rail-
five per cent. Puting Mr.
171
07,
1", to be ra ' estimated cost of the two branches
also taken to .k.f:tldera, leaving to them the
Option
of
acce iitinal share], shares equally distributed
Oilvanced. 'Powers are
Iliao.u. the :pitsar°, the lessee, guarantees
station itooOmmoiatinganY . in
Wolverhampton 86,,„w,itil the
•Worcester, and
the d,
la m Dwuer:ereetiol.l of adequate

On Tuesday last the Russian prisoners at Plymouth
were permitted to proceed, with their guards and keepers,
to the public cemetery, to chant over the dead according
to annual custom on the 17th of April. On Wednesday
and Thursday the Rey. F. D. Carlson, chaplain to the
Swedish Embassy in London, performed religious ser-
vices in the Swedish language, and administered the
Sacrament to the Finlanders. During the last three
months the deaths among the prisoners (about 600) have
amounted to seven, caused chiefly by disorders of a pul-
monary character.
The Hawke, 60 guns, screw line-of-battle ship, Capt.
E. Ommanney, got up steam yesterday, and at 11.45
a.m. left Sheerness for Portsmouth, to complete her
complement of seamen, and await her final orders for her
departure to the Baltic.
The Russell, 60 guns, screw line-of-battle' ship, Capt.
F. Scott, is under orders (at present) to leave Sheerness
to-day.
The Dapper, gun-boat, Lieutenant H. J. Grant, has
arrived at Sheerness, having had her compasses adjusted
at Greenhithe, where she has taken in her ammunition,
shell, &e. This vessel is attached (as tender) to the
Colossus, 80 guns.
The Glutton floating battery, arrived at Sheerness at
11 p.m. on Friday last, from Woolwich. She was as-
sisted by the steam-vessel Merry Monarch (recently
bought into her Majesty's service) and the African steam-
tug vessel. She is fitted with four locomotive boilers,
giving 150 nominal horse-power. Mr. Partridge, of the
Woor,vich factory, attended her on her trial down from
Woolwich. Her boilers were worked up to 60. b. on the
equare inch, with 130 revolutions per minute, with the
eng:nes arottled. An experiment was tried coming
down Sea Reach by towing both the steam-vessels,
when she made 1.6 knot. Her self-action was over
three knots. It is intended to put in two more pro-
pellers, the tubes for which are already in place.
This has been found necessary on account of the light
draught of water, which only admits of a 6 feet screw in
diameter. She has been put under the roasting sheers,
and will be masted to-day, and will be immediately put
into No. 1 dry dock.
The Horatio (late 24 guns), now 2 monster guns, is
being rapidly equipped by the artificers at,Sheerness.
The minimum weight of her shot is to be 3cwt., the
maximum lOcwt., elongated shot passing through a rifle
cut barrel; the minimum change of powder is to be 301 b.,
the maximum unlimited, according to distance required.
The Cornwall, 50 guns, has been taken into the basin
at Sheerness. All her intemnal fitments are being taken
down. She is lent to the Sardinian Telegraph Company,
far the purpose of being converted into a screw steam-
vessel to convey the electric marine wires from Sardinia
to Tripoli.
The firm of Losh, Wilson, and Bell, whose works are
at Walker, on the Tine, haYe received au order from
the Turkish Government to manufacture 35,000 shells
and some mortars of the largest calibre. Previously to
being forwarded to Turkey the shells will base to pass
an examination at Woolwich, where they will be filled
with their combusible material, and made ready for use.
The weight of each as manufactured is about 631 b., and
the diameter 9 inches. The mortars will weigh 33cwt.
each, and are bored for as 13-inch shell. The firm are
manufacturing 500 shells a-day, and a large quantity
awaits shipment.
. _

Recruiting for the royal navy is going on briskly on
the Tyne and Wear. A number of fine young fellows
were sent off last week from the rendezvous at Shields.
In addition to the reinforcements to embark from
England, the following battalions and regiments will
immediately proceed to the seat of war, viz. :—The 13th
Light Infantry, 54th Foot, 6Gth ditto, and 92d ditto,
from Gibraltar; 72d Light Infantry, from Malta; 21
Battalion First Royal Scot=, from the lonian Islands ;
31st Foot, from ditto ; 48th Foot, from ditto ; let Bat-
talion 71st Highland Light Infantry, from ditto ; and
82d from ditto. The above-mentioned regiments will
each be augmented to 1,200 bayonets from their respec-
tive depot companies in Eng■land.

M. Poujade, lately French Consul at Bucharest, re-
turned to France in the last packet from Constantinople,
the Gauge.
THE CIVIL SERVICE.—Mr. W. H. Glover, temporary
clerk in the Audit-office, has bee❑ appointed an assistant
examiner. There is a vacancy of third-class clerk in
the Ledger Bill Branch of the Admiralty, Somerset-
house, caused by the resignation of Mr. W. A. Wel-h.
Mr. Urebone has been appointed foreman of the factory
at Keyham Dockyard. Mr. W. F. Higgins, junior
clerk in the Colonial-office, has been appointed private
secretary to Mr. John Ball, the new Under-Secretary
to the Colonies.—Civil Service Gazette.
LIGHT AT A FlRE.—Having frequently attended fires,
it has occurred to me that it would be a good contriv-
atce to have a branch from the gas main and a large
burner fixed near each fire-plug ;so that wheneuer re-
quired, the gas could be instantly turned on, affording
ample light for the fixing of the hose, &c. The jets of
flame would distinctly mark the position of the plugs in
action, and would tend to prevent loss of time and much
blundering and confusion consequent upon working in
the dark. The coat would be trifling.—Correspondent
of the Builder.

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fgi
his
again
Fsuufieci
nem:
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ihsnfi uer
set isnmu
ficaeucrrhei
[ADVERTISEMENT.]—HoIIoway's Ointment and Pills
f
ynd ngfloal er tbtbasv,
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teyaget.aerssllwlhria.tthE
a. a
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ndo
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cure it, notwithstanding various remedies were tried. He
endured excruciating pain for several months ; and when
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dors, and at Professor Holloway's establishments, 244,
Strand, London, and 80, Maiden-lane, New York.
THE ILLUMINATIONS.—In a vast number of cases
the devices in illumination exhibited on Ttmrsday evening,
in honour of the Emperor Napoleon's visit to the City,
were repeated on Friday night, and attracted a large
concourse of persons. In addition to those mentioned
yesterday, a very novel and tasteful decoration of the
Egyptian Hall, in Piccadilly, was specially worthy of
notice. The most curious effect was produced from
almost innumerable paper lanterns, of every description
each of colour, in of which a light was placed, and with
these the entire front of the building was decorated. The
Panopticon, in Leicester-square, was also illuminated,l coloured in
a curious way, by jetrl of gas, enclosed in snail
glass lamps, extending along the parapet and also round
the dome at the top of the building. Me,-1.••• Folaert
Cocks and Co music publishers to her Majesty, &c.,
exhibited a brilliant star, with V. R. in the centre„
and
a similar one with N, in the centre, all in. fat.

- The Ministry has been utterly waetirg to its duty in
this respect, but one thing is left to winch the English
mind clings with instinctive fondness aed partiality.
The prestige of the country, it is said, cannot be utterly
lost, its honour cannot be utterly tarnished, while they
remain under the safeguard of the house of Commons.
How, then, does the House of Commons perform
its duty and vindicate the trust which, when every-
thing else fails, the people are still determined
to repose its it ? Let the disclosures of Friday
night's debate answer the question. The House
of Commons determined that there should be an
inquiry into the management of the expedition to the
Crimea, and in order to carry out that determination
the House of Commons appointed a committee for the
purpose. It was no ordinary duty that these gentlemen
were called upon to discharge—they bad, and they have
still, the very highest and most important functions to
execute. They should possess experience in the trans-
action of business, great discretion, and unswerving im-
partiality ; they should have been the very best, the
ablest, and fairest jury that could he chosen out of the
House of Commons. The notion of packing such a tri-
bunal, of putting men in to vote one way or another,
ought to have been discarded as entirely unworthy of
the magnitude of the issue. If we shield, with the most
jealous care, the appointment of a jury to decide on the
cause of the death of a single fellow creature, was not
the House of Commons bound to the most jealous and
anxious solicitude in selecting those who were to pa-s
their verdict upon the causes which led to the death of
15,000 of our noble troops, who perished of cold, of fa-
mine, of overwork, of exposure, of neglect, and of di-
sease ? How, then, did the House of Commons met:-
tute the inquiry for the sake of which it had destroyed
one Ministry, and is now tolerating another ? Much as
schoolboys make a match at cricket, It was a matter
of private arrangement, it appears, behind the Speaker's
chair, between the Mover of the committee and the Go-
vernment. Each was to put in his own men, and the
result was, therefore, to preponderate on the one side or
the other, according as the nominees of each should ad-
here to the line of conduct on the faith of which they were
introduced into the committee. So greatwas the confidence
felt by Government in the gentlemen who were induced to
act on its behalf as judges of its own proceedings, that
it has since seen fit to select one of them to fill the very
difficult and reasonable office of Under-Secretary of
State for the Colonies. This even the Government, with
unaccountable candour, admit to be a disqualification,
and the discussion on Friday night arose as to who was
to be put into the vacaet place. Mr. Bentinck proposed
Captain Scobell, not a member of his own party, but on
the ground that no naval man had at present
a seat in the committee, by which so many matters
connected with the transport service had to be decided.
But Government has made up its mind that the new
member of the committee shall be Mr. De Vere, a gentle-
man who has only been for a few months a member of
the House of Commone, who is not known to many of
the members of the house by sight, who has as yet taken
no public part in its proceedings, and on behalf of whom
the only recommendation put forth is that he, like his
predecessor, Mr. Ball, is a member for an Irish con-
tituency.
This, then, would seem to be all that is wanting in
order to give the last finish to the system of jobbery
and favouritism under which we live, or rather under
which the honour and reputation of the country in which
we live seem destined to perish. We fit out an expedi-
tion —we job every appointment in that expedition, from
the highest to the lowest, till it fails, with an amount of
discredit and disaster which even that jobbery seems
scarcely sufficient to account for. To expiate the feilure
we discard a Ministry, and we job the new Ministry
with an utter disregard of merit and a slavish de-
ference to the claims of clique and connexion at which
even the trustiest followers of the Whig aristocracy
are astonished and disgusted. We appoint a tribunal
to in quire into these heavy delinquencies, and
we job and pack that tribunal to such an extent
that upon one of its members being called to serve
the Government in office, instead of on the com-
mittee, they claim as a matter of right to appoint
his successor, and that claim is conceded to them, not
only as a matter of ri7ht, but as a matter of course.
And our Government, having established its ri4,ht to
choose one of its judges, exercises it without scruple in
the selection of a gentleman on behalf of whom it can
allege nothing but that he is an Irishman, and against
whom there is at least this to be said, Oat he is un-
known to the country on behad of which he is to act,
(Led to the house whose delegate he is to be. _ _

Wil nothing rouse Lord Palmerston to a sense of the
real position of our affairs and the real feelings of the
country with regard to thin► ? What shall we say—
what can we do to convince hint that he is straining far
beyond its powers of endurance a system which, eve❑
before be undertook to discredit by exaggerating it, had
met with the unanimous reprobation of the country ?
All men are anxious, at least for the moment, not
disturb the action or discretion of the Government, and
upon that anxiety a small fraction of our aristocracy has
presumed to set utterly at defiance the most reasonable
demands of public opinion. We beg Lord Palmerston
to believe that the pe eof this country regard the ap-
pointment of a member of Mr. Roebuck's committee as
a weighty and responsible trust, to be by no means
complimente I away, or to he treated with the came
splendid indifference as an ordinary piece of patronage.
Mr. Du Vere ought not to be placed in this situation,
unless no fitter man can be found to supply it, an idea
which apparently never entered into the head of our
Premier. Surely, if the vessel of the State is to be
safely navigated through the storms that assail her, we
must contrive to find some limit beyond which favou-
ritism and patronage shall not go. We may be content
to pack our Generals and our Ministry ; let us at least
make an effort to save from the same influence the tri-
bunal to whose judgment we refer them.

THE NETV LOAN.

(From Old Derbyshire Courier.)

The defect which has ruu throughout the whole of the
Government arrangements for the management of the
war has been a very plain and intelligible one. They
did not at first sit down and count the cost. Yet this
is exactly what every man of the least pretension to pru-
dence or forethought habitually does. In common life
the man who projects a new house, the merchant who
contemplates a new enterprise, the railway contractor,
before he sends in his estimate for the construction of a
new line, enters into caleulation, frequently complicated
and minute, of the probable expense. Lord Bacon in-
deed refers to a description of persons who build houses
without counting the cost, and who, therefore, aro
turned out of doors as soon as the bills for building the
house come in ; these persons his lordship designates as
fools. But even fools are made wise by experience ; and
few people in England, except a Minister of State, or a
very young lady recently married, order anything with•
out asking " What will it cost V'

When, however, we begin to mention such a thing as
common prudence in connection with the conduct of the
war, we are reminded by certain parties that war was a
thing for which we were quite unprepared, and that it
was impossible to foresee the turn which the circum-
stances of it would take. Not to insist upon the con-
siderable period of protocols—which might have been
one of preparation—before the first blow was actually
struck, we remind the "forcible feebles," who extenu-
ate the mis-management of the war, that time and
ehance are not to be predicated of warfare alone, but of
every other mortal state. And therefore it has occur-,
red to merchants, shopkeepers, men of brick, ironstone,
cotton, who have to do with masses of materials, and
bodies of men, all more or less subject to "circumstances
over which we have no control," to allow in all their
calculations for the future a certain " margin" of means,
as a votive offering to be laid on the altar of the blind
goddess Fortune, the revolutions of whose wheel are so
liable to disarrange mundane affairs.
Of such considerations as these the philosophers of the
late Administration appear to have been entirely inno-
cent. Their system was just what is commonly de-
scribed by the expression of " living from band to
mouth." Like Mr. Micawaber in Dickens' story of
" David Copperfield," who passed comfortably through
life constantly expecting that "something would turn up
to his advantage," the Aberdeen Ministry, while they
hoped for the best, made no preparation whatever fur
the worst. They fluttered through their little day of
official existence t,s thoughtle-s as the insect of an hour ;
but the dread realities of the Crimean expedition, far
more disastrous and heartrending than those of Wal-
cheren, will confer on them an immortality of disgrace
and contempt.
Let not the nation think that, having got rid of the
worst of the late Ministers, ;,we have escape from the
effects of their maladministration of affairs. Take the
loan as an example. Mr. Gladstone having a financial
idea in his head, expanded it into a speech of some three
hours' duration, the pith of which was that it was better
to pay for the war expenditure out of the annual income
of the country than to borrow, money. To this it was
replied that it was juster that, as posterity would share
in the advantages to be obtained, posterity should also
bear a portion, at least, of the expense. But from the
beginning we
pointed out the absolute impossibility of
carrying on a war for any length of time with our present
monetary system without a loan. Several of our con
temporaries, and no one of them more decidedly and
judiciously than the Sun, supported this view of the
case. Mr. Gladstone knew better. LESS than twelve
months ago he sneered at Pitt, and spoke great swelling
words of his own superior financial sagacity. What is
the issue? We are at last to have a loan of 1(1,000,000/.
But •not such a loan as might readily have been con-
tracted a year ago. Then the country was full of hope
mad eonadeiace. Ilan Lord Aberdeen wax supposed to