The Sun.
London, England, 1864-01-15 00:00:00

A Most Sensible Suggestion.

In regard to the National Shakespeare Committee,
if Mr. Charles Dickens (who is one of the Vice-
Presidents) were to come prominently forward and
put himself at the head of this movement, the details
might safely be left to Messrs. Marston, Bell, Tom-
lins, Godwin, and other very competent gentlemen
upon the acting committee. These men are not
likely, if they undertake to do the work themselves,
to be guilty of such blunders as Mr. Dixon's draft
report. But this, if the credit of the movement is to
be saved, must be done at once. Efficiency must
come to the front rank, and incfficiency must fall back
some time before the expiration of the present month,
or the public will lose all faith in the movement.
It is idle to suppose that the Prince of Wales will
allow his name to be' connected with the matter
until it has assumed a far better position than it oc-
cupies at present. TherA is something ominous
in that silence which the Times has hitherto pre-
served towards the business, which betokens any-
thing but good ; and Punch (usually a very fair
barometer of the temper, both of the times and the
Times) has opened fire this week with an exceed-
ingly humorous and—we fear—too close parody, of
the late meetings of the committee. It is impossible
to avoid recognising the identity of Messrs. Chick,
D'Hammy, Spluff, and Wickins. And the worst
of the matter is that (thanks to the mismanagement
of its half-elected leaders) the National Shake-
spearean Committee is in anything but a state to
encounter either criticism or ridicule. —From the
new number of " Vie Queen," just published.

Liverpool Cotton Market—This Day.

Market quiet. Sales, about 2,000 or 3,000 bales,

Weekly Report—Sales, 29,640-5,040 on spec,
2,920 for export—actual export, 8,140. Quota-
tions—Middling Orleans, 28 —Mobile, 271—Upland,
274—estimated fair Egyptian, 28—Surats, 14 25-1.
Week's import, 17,203. Stock, 250,360,

The half-yearly report of the National Discount
Company, to be presented on the 20th inst., shows
a profit of £35,087, out of which £20,000 is recom-
mended to be applied to a dividend of 10 per cent.,
leaving £15,087 to be carried to reserve, which will
thus be raised to £98,499. At the same time the
directors propose that the nominal capital of the
company should be increased from £2,000,000 to
£3,000,000 by an issue of 40,000 new shares, to be
offered at £5 premium, with the view that the
£200,000 that could thus be realised should be
applied to raise the reserve fund to £3oo,ooo—a
measure suggested by the experience that in pro-
portion to the growing strength of the reserve has
been the increase of the confidence reposed in the
establishment.
The half-yearly report of the Imperial Bank, to
be submitted on Monday next, states the available
balance to be £9,613, of which £5,000 is recom-
mended to be appropriated to a dividend at the rate
of 5 per cent. per annum, and £3,000 to a reserve,
leaving £1,613 to be carried forward.
The mail from Guayaquil has brought a remit-
tance of £7lO 2s. 3d. on account of the dividends
on the debt of Ecuador.

A Naples letter says :—" Travellers who formerly
arrived in this city by railway or by sea may re•
member the manner in which they were assailed
by a swarm of porters who seized their trunks and
all that they had, and imposed on them an arbi-
trary charge. Since the Ist of January those men
have been divided into several companies, each
having a chief, who is responsible for the conduct
of those under him. They all wear a sort of uni-
form, and act on a tariff of prices carefully
drawn up.

CAT-TALK WITH LITTLE CHILDREN.—" Come
out upon the roof with me," the cat bad said to
Rudy distinctly and intelligibly; for when one is a young
child, and can scarcely speak, fowls and ducks, cats and
dogs, are almost as easily understood as the language that
fathers and mothers use. One must be very little indeed
then, however; it is the time when grandpapa's stick neighs
and becomes a horse, with head, legs, and tail. Soiue
children retain their infantine thoughts longer than
others, and of these it is said that they are very
backward, exceedingly stupid children—people say so
much. " Come out upon the roof with me, little Rudy,"
was ono of the first things the cat said, and Rudy under-
stood him. "It is all nonsense co fancy ono must fall
down ; you won't fall unless you are afraid. Come I set
one of your paws here, the other there, and take care of
yourself with the rest of your paws I Keep a sharp look-
out, and be active in your limbs. If there be a hole, spring
uver it, and keep a firm footing as I do."—Hans Christian
Andersen's Ice .Maiden.

THE ENGAGEMENT OF MR. AND MRS. CIIARLES
MATHEWS at the St. Tames's is to last up to Easter.

THE PANTOMIME AT DRURY-LANE is said to
have cost £B,OOO. All this money is lavished upon canvas,
and paint, and tinsel, which in a few weeks will become a
heap of rubbish. Magnificence in theatrical matters can
scarcely be carried beyond the point it has now reached.
LICENSED VICTUALLERS' BALL.—The annual
ball in aid of the funds of the Liceosed Victuallers'
Asylum, Old Kent-road. was held yesterday evening at
St. James's Hall, Mr. Donald having given up the whole
of his spacious premises for the accommodation of the visi-
tors. St. James's Hall proper, making, with its peculiar
style of illumination, perhaps the finest dancing-ealoon in
Europe, was soon full, and the company began
rapidly to overflow into the other two minor halls,
the restaurant, and all the private rooms in the
establishment. There were upwards of 2,000 per-
sons present, and the dancing to the excellent music of
Adams' band of 40 performers was kept up to an early hour
this morning. Light refreshments were served out in abun-
dance during the evening, and the seniors amongst the
visitors were not slow in availing themselves of the more
potent beverages with which Mr. Donald's cellars arc so
amply stored.

IMPLACABLE !—When Mr. Aretmus Ward, jour-
neying over the plains to California, was seized and plun-
dered by predatory Indians, the Sachem who stripped him
made a speeeh, and said he hoped to meet him in the happy
hunting-grounds. " If he du," adds Mr. Ward, in his
account of the transaction, " there will be a fite."
A CHASE AFTER THE WRONG SHIP.—An exciting
chase took place a iew days since off the port of
Brest, in consequence of the commander of the Federal
corvette Kerseage mistaking the French war steamer Ren-
audin for the Confederate corvette Florida. The Kerseage
was cruising off Ushant, watching for the Florida, having
received orders to attack the Confederate steamer on her
quitting Brest. The Renaudin, which resembles the Florida,
was going out to sea, and was passing Iroise, when the
captain of the Kerseage gave chase. The commander of
the French ship having made Himself known, the cap-
tain of the Kerseage hastened to apologise. This incident,
it appears, has attracted the attention of the French
naval authorities, and proved to them that the captain
of the American steamer may involuntarily at-
tack his adversary in French waters, of which he is not
well acquainted with the boundaries. The port admiral at
Brest has consequently given orders that the steamship of-
the-line Wagram shall watch the movements of the two
(+hips, and prevent them from engaging in French waters.
The Florida, moreover, is not yet ready for sea. She made
a trial trip on the 6th inst., and steamed as far as Conquet.
The trial was most satisfactory, and the log gave a speed of
13 knots an hour even within the poulet. The Confederate
corvette Rappahannock is still in the port of Calais under

repairs.
LIFEBOAT EIPENSES.—During the year which
has just closed the National Lifeboat Institution has
incurred the following expenses on either additional new
lifeboat stations, or the replacing of old boats, transporting
carriages, and boat-houses by new ones—viz., Berwick-on-
Tweed, £340, Filey £267, Birdlington £340, Blakeney
£196, Thorpness £2OO, Hastings £196, Eastborne £265,
Teignmouth £574, Sennen £340, Bade 292, Pembrey £203,
Cardigan £l9B, Porthdinllaen £273, Lythan £513, Fleet-
wood £l6l, and Arklow £204. The society has also expended
inspection
of the repairs, stores, painting, alterations and
of its numerous lifeboats, boat-houses, and transporting car-
riages, and four spare lifeboats and carriages, £6,815 14s.
ld. ; and £2,441 9s. ld. for coxswains' salaries, and
exercising the crews of its lifeboats, making altogether a
total of £13,819 3s. 2d. The National Lifeboat Institution
has also granted during the same period £1,351 68. 4d. as
rewards for saving by its lifeboats and other means, 714
persons from a large number of shipwrecks on our coasts.
A most satisfactory result, and clearly showing how much
can ho accomplished by the well directed efforts which the
Institution has brought to bear on this humane work. The
Society has now 125 lifeboats under its management. Each
of these establishments requires about £5O a year to keep it
in an effective state. Again, the cost of a complete lifeboat
station is about £5OO, including the expense of the lifeboat
and the equipment, transporting carriage, and boat-Inuse.
The operations of the Lifeboat Institution now extend all
over the coasts of the British Isles. To maintain and per-
petuate these operations is a matter of earnest and constant
solicitude to the committee. They have incurred a great
responbibility, but they do not shrink from it, and are de •
termined, with the continued sympathy and liberality of the
British public, to leave no effort untried that can in any
way tend to lessen the fearful annual loss of life from ship-
wrecks on our atom.

SECOND► EDITION.

SUN OFFICE, HALF-PAST 4 O'CLOCK.

TURKEY.

MARSEILLES, Jan. 14.—Accounts have been re-
ceived from Constantinople to the 7th. Great
agitation prevails et Antioch. The plague is said
to have broken out in Persia. The Russian Govern-
ment is said to be manoeuvring in order to take the
trade from Trebisond and bring it to Poti. Civil
war has recommenced at Herat. The inhabitants
have revolted against the son of Dust Mohammed.
The populations of Affghanistan are discontented,
and have applied to the Persians for assistance.
The Shah is assembling an army of 50,000 men,
which he intends to scud to the frontier of the
Khorassan.