The Sun.
London, England, 1852-03-18 00:00:00

ITALY.

On the 14th the Chamber of Deputies at Turin
passed the law for the fortifications of Casale. The
Minister of Justice presented to the Chamber a treaty
of commerce between the PRINCE PRESIDENT of
France and the King )f SARDINIA.

LATEST FROM PARIS.

(BY SUBMARINE TELEGRAPH.)

PARIS, THURSDAY MORNING.
The Aloniteur publishes the estimates for 1852.
The State expenditure is calculated at 1,430,363,244
francs; the receipts at 1,449,413,604.
The import duties on fermented liquors are reduced
by half, and those on liquors sold by retail raised by
half.

The war estimates are augmented by 7,000,000
francs ; those of the navy by 12,000,000 francs.
The extraordinary works are augmented by
14,000,000 francs.—iimes.

WEST INDIA and MEXICAN MAILS
SOUTHAMPTON, THURSDAY, 9 A.M.
IN
The Great Western bad just arrived with the West
India and Mexican mails. Her dates are:—Chagres,
Feb. 10th; Jamaica, 10th ; Demerara, 11th ; Vera
Cruz and St. Thomas, 25th,
Amongst her cargo is specie to the value of 1,525,708
dolls., 117,173 dolls, in silver, and 408,535 dolls. in gold.
The bpecie and bullion on account of Mexican Dividends
amounts to 74,151 dolls.
Amongst her passengers is Mr. Thornton, secretary
of legation to the Mexican embassy, from Mexico, where
quiet reigned, The revolutionary movement of the
northern frontier had been quelled. Congress at Mexico
was deliberating on the reduction of the tariff. When
the Great Western arrived at the Gulf, on the 18th of
February, eleven vessels were lying wrecked, from the
northern gales
in January last. They were totally,
abandoned, and were fast breaking up. The only Bri-
tish vessel amongst them was the Susan Green.
The general
Government bad it under consideration
whether or not the customs department should be leased
out on a farming principle. The plan it was thought
would be adopted.
A shocking murder took place on board the British
schooner Cynthia, between Tabasco and Campeachy, the
master being the victim, and the murderer a Mexican,
from the latter port. The Great Western got out to
St. Thomas in sixteen days. The Great Western came
home in consequence of some slight derangement of her
machinery. The Medway was gone to the Gulf.

Ttohpereoxvee
HAymARKET T HEATRE.
white. Magic, a comic two act opera, composed by
Signor Biletta, was produced with perfect success last
evening, at this theatre. The music is pleasing, taste-
principal artistes, Mr.
ful, sparkling, and effective, and a production more likely
cuptoiopnuloanr
theendparetfloefctitvhee has been rarely given.
Harrison, Mr. Weiss, and Miss L. Fyne, was admirable,
the orchestra unexceptionable, arid the manner in which
the piece was put on the stage most creditable to the ma-
nagement. The plot is of light construction. The
Cuunt de Mericourt (Mr. Weiss), a dissipated noble-
man of the Regency period, disguises himself as a con-
juror and fortuno.teller, and by the éclat of his magic
manages to induce a rich heiress, Coralie (Miss L.
Pyne), to pay him a professional visit. Once in his
power, he throws off his conjuring robes, and is begin-
ning to make rather violent love to the young lady,
when she is rescued by Colonel Laval (Mr. Harrison),
a dissipated old acquaintance of Mericourt, whom he has
employed as a confederate, and who turns out to be an
old lover and cousin of Coralie, from whom, however,
bad courses have long separated him. A rescue bursting
ing in at the same inoment, Mericourt turns the tables
upon his quondam confederate, by denouncing him as the
wizard and the conjuror, and thus getting him hauled
off to prison. In the second act, however, we find him
at liberty, and Coralie preparing for her marriage with
Mericourt, which is stopped by the simple process of
Laval informing the bridegroom that the bride is penni-
less under a newly-discovered will. Mericourt thereon
declares off, and Laval proving of course the rightful
heir, Coralie, without more ado, transfers her hand and
heart to her old adorer.

Several of the morceaux are very telling—" pic-
turesque," if we may use the expression. Of these we
may specify a romance, " Gone are the merry days,"
and " Ah, since the sun," by Mr. Harrison; " How
merry is morning," by Mr. Weiss, and the exquisite
duet, " 'Tis in change that we are charming," by Miss
Pyne and the former gentleman. White Magic is just
the sort of opera for the English boards, nothing pon-
derous or somniferous, nothing to give the longeurs, nor,
on the other hand, aught of the namby-pamby flimsy
texture. Signor Biletta has accurately hit the taste of
such of the public as have any ear for music, and the
hearty applause with which he was greeted on the ter-
mination of the piece may be taken as the seal of a po-
pularity not likely soon to fade. Mr. Webster made his
re-appearance, after a short trip to Paris, in his popular
role in the Man of Law. The house was very fully
attended, as it richly deserves to be when such delightful
productions are presented as the opera of White Magic.

LONDON WEDNESDAY CONCERTS.
The second of the series of these concerts took place
last evening. The large hall was densely filled, and the
entertainment went off with the utmost spirit. Braham
sang gloriously, and the enthusiasm of the audience was
boundless. Mr. T. Harding, in an air from Il Pirata,
Mr. Henry Smith, in " Man the Life-boat" the Misses
B
by Mr. Tedder, and " What a
thing is Love, ' Heart,
by Miss Rose Braham (the two latter
"Queenrough ofamMerry Gipsies,"
my in Macfarren's duet, " Two
songs from Mr. Howard Glover's opera of Aminta), and
"Through the Woods," by Miss Alleyne, were warmly
encored. Mr. Brandt, who has been lately suffering
under severe illness, gave a barcarole, by Balfe, with a
"
freedom, taste, and power of voice which made us regret
that he confined himself to a single appearance in the
evening. Mr. Leffier's fine voice was heard to much
advantage
in " The Battle of Hohenlinden," and a song
from Aminta. The gem of the evening was, to our
mind, Rossini's chorale " Charity," sung by the entire
company of ladies. It Was deliciously executed, and
should
dfigare egain,in Mr. Stammers' programmes. M.
Alexandre Billet's performance of Moschelle's beautiful
fantasia, the " Recollections of Ireland," was a de-
lightful treat in the instrumental department. In
several cases where an encore was elicited the recipients
of the honour contented themselves with mutely ac-
knowledging the token of public favour, therein evincing
a commendable propriety which we wish were universally
in vogue. Mr. Stammers most judiciously announces in
his affiches, that. should the encores inconveniently pro-
longminuted at half-past eleven o'clock, even though the pro-
gramme should not be completed. A " recall" compli-
ments without exhausting the artist, an " encore too
frequently bores both the artist and a very considerable
portion of the audience.

THE CONTRACT FOR THE INDIAN AND
AUSTRALIAN MAIL SERVICE.

TO THE ENToiz OF THE SUN.

_The writer. of the article in The f yester-
SIR,
"justified in saying" that the ten-
albsove service by the projeeted Eastern
Company was lower than that of the
PScidaeteeyrnaillinutsatulieiaansrviranattdtih°hOeenriental steam Navigation Company.
There never was a grosser mierepresentation, and I beg
to ask why, instead of spreading such misrepresentations
by means of the public press, the parties interested do
not at once have copies of the respective tenders moved
for to be laid before the House of Commons, when I feel
"justified in saying" that it will be shown that by the
acceptance of the tender of the Peninsular and Oriental
Company instead of that of the projected company about
one million sterling of the money of the public has been
saved, and a prompt and efficient execution of the same
FAIR PLAY AND NO FAVOUR.
am, Sir, your obedient servant,
secured.
London, March 18, 1852.

BENEVOLENT SOCIETY OF ST. PATRICK.—The
sixty-ninth anniversary festival of this benevolent and edn.
cational society was celebrated yesterday evening at a pub-
lic dinner at the London Tavern. For three or four years,
in consequence of distress in Ireland, and of other excep-
tional circumstances, the annual dinners of this most excel-
lent society, which used to be as regular as a Lord Mayor's
day, have been suspended; and as was to be expected,
therefore, on this renewed reunion, the attendance was un-
wontedly numerous. The " Benevolent Society of St. Pa-
trick" has included amongst its supporters, and has always
hitherto congregated at its public dinners, all the most emi-
nent of our :public men, of all parties, Englishmen and
Irishmen,
officially connected with Ireland; and on this
occasion the company collected was, as heretofore, repre-
sentative of every variety of political opinion—the objects of
the society, essentially
educational, and applying to the im-
migrant Irish inhabitants of London of all creeds, naturally
concentrating the support of al sections of Irishmen resident
in the English metropolis. The Duke of Newcastle, who,
when Earl of Lincoln, was Secretary for Ireland, was a warm
supporter of this society, occupied the chair. Among the
distinguished company present were—The Earl of Lanes-
borough, Sir J. E. Tennent, M.P., Rev. Mr. Mahoney,
Mr. E. G. Hallewell, M.P., Colonel Dunne, M.P., Mr. J.
Reynolds, M.P., Sir R. Howard, M.P., Mr. Napier, MY.,
and Mr. Whiteside, M.P. The toasts were of the routine
character ; and the speeches, in proposing and responding to
them, offered no points calling for record. The subscriptions
nh
announced amounted to 6601. The conviviality, w
these festivals are celebrated, prevailed throug
evening.
hrout the
DEATH or SIR JAMES FITZGERALD MAKON,
BART.—This Hon. Baronet died at Rawmarsh Rectory,
Yorkshire, on Thursday, in his 40th year. He was the
second son of the first baronet by his third wife, daughter of
the Right Hon. James Fitzgerald, of Inch Cronan, county
Clare.
THE CAPE MAIL.—PLyNIOUTE4 MARCH 17.—The
General Screw Steam Shipping Company's mail packet Hel-
lespont, Captain Watts, sailed yesterdaydafternoon with the
snails fosrhetyaLlearognee,ut
I;Veirnocfenpt,aBBeaungetrhaie Cape of Good