The Sun.
London, England, 1855-04-13 00:00:00

PORTSMOUTH.

ice.

A requisition has been presented to the Mayor of
Portsmouth, to call a special meeting of the town coun-
cil, "to take into consideration the most desirable means
to be adopted to do honour to her Majesty's Ally his
Imperial Mjesty the Emperor Napoleon 111., on his
intended visit to this country,"

TEE DIY A L PANOPTICON.

VISIT OF THE BOYS OF CHRIST'S HOSPITAL.

The Easter holidays have been marked at the Royal
Parropticon, Leicester-square, by the atmission of the
Blue-coat boys to the scientific attractions of this mag-
nificent structure. The event took place on Thursday,
when some eight hundred and twenty of the Christ's
Hospital scholars arrived at the doors, in full procession,
and passed into the building, where a large number of
public visitors had already a-taembled. The arrange-
ments for the reception and comfort cf the boys had
been made under the superintendence of the Rev. Dr.
Biber, director of the institution ; and shortly after the
procession entered the spacious rotunia, the fountain
wits put into operation, throwing up its transparent co-
lumn to the full height of ninety sever feet. This dis-
play, always a favourite feature in the entertainment,
was received with the greatest delight by the juvenile
visitors. It was succeeded by a scientifc demonstration,
illustrative of the improved helmet-diving apparatus and
the inventions connected
with its use. Mr. Partington
explained the various points in this ctrious exhibition,
the diver remaining meanwhile about twenty minutes
under water.

The force employed in cutting steel was next demon-
strated by Mr. Partington, who then introduced a
number of beautiful experiments with the gigantic elec-
trical machine. Tue phenomena of the aurora borealis
was illustrated in a most brilliant manner, and the elec-
trical properties of our atmosphere wen) explained by the
lecturer in the course of his remarks on various other
experiments.
A series of botanical lectures, commenced on Easter
Monday by Dr. Brown, was continted on Thursday,
the address on this occasion being peculiarly adapted to
the age of the great majority of the hearers. The
examples of the construction, growth, and functions of
plants were selected with admirable judgment, and were
of a kind to be readily appreciated and long remem-
bered.

The series of views in the Crimea followed, and were
carefully explained in passing by Mr. Buckingham. His
allusion to the Duke of Cambridge was received by all
present with the most enthusiastic cheering. The after-
noon's entertainments, which were enlivened at inter-
vals by the tones of the grand organ, concluded with the
chromatic display of the fountain, an exhibition which,
we need not say, afforded increased pleasure to those
who had only seen it in its natural power and beauty.
The advantage of the architectural symmetry of the
building is that its decorative features are made to at-
tend completely on the uses for which it was designed.
Thus, while the Panopticon never looks so wel as when
it is tilled with company—an opinion which the Council
will join with us in holding—it is not to the inconveni-
ence of visitors that their number may occasionally be
doubled. With the exceptior, perhaps, of Easter Mon-
day, Thursday must have been the day when the greatest
number of the general public entered the Panopticon
during the past week. We arrive at this conclusion from
the facts that the weather was eminently delightful, and
that many friends of the Blue-coat boys were tempted
to meet their young relations and to witness their en-
joyment. We have, then, an unusual influx of •isitors,
besides eight hundred or more of boys from Christ's
Hospital ; and yet, while the scene was most enlivening
from the constant movement about the area and in the
gracefully ornamented galleries, we do not think that
the smallest Blue-coat present lost his share in the sights
before him.
We must not omit to mention that a new series of
views has been added to the dioramic entertainments
here. Pompeii, an inexhaustible subject, furnishes Mr.
Buckingham with material for a lecture elucidative of
Reman life in the days that Pliny saw and wrote about.

POST-OFFICE NOTICE.—MAILS FOR SWEDEN.—GENE-
RAL POST-UFFICE, April.—The mail steam-packets, un-
der contract with the Swedish Government, hein,, about
to re-commence running between GrimsLy and Gotten-
burg, mails ler conveyance by thos'epackete will be made
up at this office on the evening of Friday, the 13th inst.,
and on the eveninc, of every subsequent Friday until
further notice. All letters and newspapers addressed to
Gottenburg and Uddewalla will be forwarded by these
packets, unless directed to be sent otherwise; hut letters
and newspapers flir other parts of Sweden intended to be
forwarded by packet must be specially addressed " via
Grimsby," or " by Swedish packet " Those postmasters
whose instructions, direct them to send their letters for
Grimsby by cross post will, of course, forward in the
same manner any correspondence posted at their offices
for the Swedish packet.

LATEST NEWS.

THE CRIMEA.

VIENNA, FRIDAY, 9 A.U.
The following authentic intelligence has been

received here :

Nothing new has taken place at Sebastopol up
to the 6th inst. inclusive.

VIENNA, THURSDAY ETENINO.

According to a telegraphic despatch from the
Crimea, dated April 1, the Allied armies were
quite ready to open their fire on Sebastopol.
The Generals probably only awaited the arrival
of despatches from home before beginning the
bombardment, which might be expected to take
place any day during the ensuing week.
The Generals wished to sparo the town and

public buildings.
The Russians still shelled the Allied camp and
batteries, but the guns of the Allies were nearly

silent.

The fire of musketry on both sides was active
every night.
The weather was fine and dry.
Two fires had occurred in Balaklava, a circum-
stance which excited supicions of treachery.

The Russians were concentrating themselves
towards Baidar.

'The garrison of Sebastopol was on short ra-
tions, as the authorities preferred storing up
their supplies in magazines to issuing full ra-

tions.

We have received the following telegraphic de-
spatch from our correspondent at Marseilles :
MARSEILLES, jTHIIRSDA.Y, APRIL 12.
The Hydaspes, which left Constantinople on
the 2d of April, has arrived.
Despatches for the Government left at 11 a.m.
8,000 Egyptians left Constantinople on the 2d
for Eupatoria.

BALAKLAVA, MARCH 31.

The Russians have constructed two new batte-
ries, and have converted the ambuscades into an
advanced parallel.
The Allies have also constructed two new bat-
teries.

The firing has been slack. It was said posi-
tively that the bombardment would commence
on the 3d cf April.

The weather was not so fine ; it was very cold.

Of seven Russian admirals at Sebastopol, at
the commencement of -,1-,he siege, two only now

remain.

COPENHAGEN, THURSDAY.
The trial of the ex-Ministers before the Su-
preme Court is postpon'.ed to the 4th of June.
The Prussian frigate Thetis bas arrived'

Elsinore, the Sound, an.ed Drogden are free from

THE BALTIC FLEET.
(By Submarine and British, Tel
DE 9.L, FRIDAY MORNING.

Her Majesty's steamer Driver, with Palter and
Ruby gun-boats in tow, .has sailed for the Baltic.

THE OVERLAND MAIL.
We have received the :following from Trieste in
anticipation of the Overl A nd. Mail : •
The steamer Calcutta arrived on the 11th of

April, at half-past 3 o'el,)ek p.m., in 124 hours
from Alexandria.

The India mail left Al( mandria on the 6th inst.,
with intelligence from Ca acatta to the 10th, Ma-
dras 14th, Bombay, 18th. March.

Mr. Lawrence has gone to Peshawur to nego-
tiete a treaty with Dost Mahorkned.
Lord Dalhousie was at the Nielgherries.
The reorganisation of the Military Departments
is complete, and the system works admirably.
All usury laws throughout India have been
abolished.
The natives are petitioning the Comacil for au
act to prevent poly, gamy.
Trade in India di
Exchange at Calm ttta, 2s. ld. A Frye per
Cent. Loan has been c 'pened.
No intelligence from China.

FRA NCE.
(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)
PARIS, THURSDAY EVENING.
The following telegraph is despatches were re-
ceived during the day:— _

"MARSEILLES, 12th.-10he Hydaspe steam-
packet has just arrived with accounts from Con-
stantinople to the 2d. The) Ottoman Government
has decided that, for the :future, Christians may
have rank in the Turkish .8 rmy up to that of colo-
nel inclusively. General I3erbillon is to have the
command of the camp whic.th is being formed on the
shores of the Bosphorus. .Accounts from Sebasto-
pol had been received to the 30th ult. Conferences
have taken place between th, e generals and admirals.
The Russians have made E.( )me more sorties, but
all were repulsed. The fire continues, particularly
on the side of the Quarant. tine and the Malakoff.
Tower. Several fires have broken out in Sebasto-
pol. The Russians ate f 9 rtifying themselves on
the side of the fort of the Swernaia, and arming
fresh batteries."

TRIESTE, 11th, Evening.—Accounts have been
received from Constantin ople to the 2d. The
Pieclmontese commissioners charged with the pre-
parations for the r eception of the Sardinian army
have been presented to the Grand V.izir. They
have also been received with distinction by the
Corps DiploniatiquLo. It is announced that the
Christians will in a short time be relieved' .from the
personal tax to which they have been hitht Ir to sub-
jected, and that they will be admitted to the rank
.
of colonel, which will give them the rank of set:ol2cl
functionaries in the State. Letters from Ath...ens
of the 6th state thvkt M. Condurioti had left for
Constantinople, with all the staff of the Greek 1 ro-
gation. M. Bolzaris. will, it is said, be charged b T
the Government to proceed to St. Petersburg tO
compliment the new Czar.
VIENNA, 11th.—T he instructions expected from
St. Petersburg by Ole Russian Plenipotentiaries
have not yet arrived. The news given by the
journals of Vienna, that the 10th meeting of the
Conference was to take place is, therefore, un-
founded. Ali Paeb.a has had a private audience
of the Emperor. We have received news from
Sebastopol of the 3d. There have been combats
every day on the Tchernaya, but as yet nothing de-
cisive. The Emyeror of Austria has amnestied
586 prisoners, and 311 persons condemned for
political offences have had thei r sentences mitigated.
The Emperor yesterday received the replies
of the Duke of Saxe Meiningen to the letters of
recall of the Marquis de Ferriere-le-Vayer,
and to
the letters of credence of the Prince de
Latour
d'Auvergnr !. The Emperor also receiver' a
is which t he Duke of Saxe Meiningen notifies to
his Majeso,y the death of his daughter-in-lawl the
Hereditary Princess Frederica-Louisa- Vilhelmina-
Mariann e-Charlotte, daughter of Prince Albert of
Prussia.
Fifty of the Cent Gardes are to accompany their
Majesties to England.
A decree in the Moniteur promotes General of
Division H. P. D'Artois, member of the Commit-
tee of Fortifications, to the rank of Grand Officer
in the Legion of Honour.
, We read in the Moniteur ;.--" We have already

announced that the French Minister at Brussels
had lodged a complaint against the publisher of a
pamphlet brought out in that city on the subject
of the expedition to the Crimea. It could not
be proper for the Government of the Emperor to '
have the plans of the campaign and the military,
operations of the Allied armies laid open to discus-
sion in a foreign country. The complaint`macle
to the Belgian Government only therefore refers
to the title of the pamphlet, which is drawn up in
such a manner as to deceive public opinion and to
give support to scandal, by allowing it to be sup-
posed that a French general officer, or as the
foreign journals have insinuated, Prince Napo-
leon had taken some part in this pablication. The
Belgian Minister of Foreign Affairs replied on
the 7th to the French minister ; that according
to the opinion of the Procureur-general of the
Court of Appeal of Brussels, it was impossible,
according to the terms of existing laws, to com-
mence proceedings, which would answer the
only object of the French Government, that is
to say, to obtain an order for the suppression of a
title which, under words skilfully calculated so as
to escape a judicial accusation, concealed a bare-
faced speculation. There will, however, remain,
from the steps prescribed to the Envoy of his Im-
perial Majesty at Brussels, a formal and direct
disavowal of the imputations which the foreign
press has circulated, and a warning given to all
those whose credulity has been imposed upon."

BOURSE, APRIL 12.—CLOSING PRICES.
Cash. fr. c. End of Month.
4i per Cents 94 25 —f. —c.
3 per Cents 69 40 69f. 60c.
Credit Mobilier 795 Roman
Credit Foncier 527 50 Austrian
Belgian Fives ...... .. Spanish Threes —
Piedmontese B5 75 Home Debt