The Sun.
London, England, 1864-05-17 00:00:00

HER MAJESTY.

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BAntOltAL, Saturday.
The Queen, accompanied by her Royal Highness the
Princess Helena, and the Prince and the Princess of
Leiningen, arrived at Balmoral at half-past three this day.
Their Royal Highnesses Prince Louise, the Princess
Beatrice, and Prince Leopold, with the Princess Alberta of
Leiningen, and the Royal suite, arrived shortly after.

Lady Churchill, the Laay in Waiting, joined the Royal
train at Oxford.

-4>

The Prince and Princess of Wales.

The Prince and Princess Gf Wales, attended by the Hon.
Mrs. W. Grey and Major Teesdale, went in the forenoon
yesterday to see Mr. Holman Hunt's picture in Hanover-
street.

The Prince rode on horseback, attended by Major Tees
dale.

The PrincesS of Wales took a carriage drive, attended
by the Hon. sirs. 11r. Grey.
The Prince and Princess of Wales, attended by Lord
Harris, the Hon, W. and Mrs. Grey, and Major Teesdale,
went in the evening to the concert given by the Philhar-
monic Society at the ganover-square Rooms.

The Duke of Somerset, the First Lord of the
Admiralty, will entertain a large party of naval and civil
officers attached to his department on Tuesday next, at his
official residence at the Admiralty, 'Whitehall,

The Duke of Devonshire and Lady Louisa
Cavendish left Devonshire House on Saturday last for
Chatsworth, Derbyshire, to pass the holidays.
The Duke of Marlborough has left town to meet
his yacht in the Southampton 'Water, in order to take a
cruise in the Channel. During his cruise his grace wil
visit Cherbourg and other parts of the coast of France.
The Earl of Carnarvon leaves town to-day on a
visit to the Earl and Countess of Portsmouth, at Hurst-
bourn Park. The countess will remain in town.
The Earl of Wilton left Grosvenor-r (pare yekter.
day for Badminton, on a visit to the Duke and Duchess of
Bsaufott during the Bath race meeting.

The Earl of Coventry, Viscount Canterbury, the
Earl Annesley, Viscount Curzon, Captain IL ,n. Frederick
Curzon, Sir Joseph Hawley, Sir Henry Des Voaux, Colonel
lion: James Macdonald, Colonel Hon. 11. Forester, Captain
Leslie, Mr C. Greville, Mr Payne, Mr W. G. Craven, and
a large party haye left town for the Bath races, and will be
among the guests at Badminton.

The Earl de Gray, ae Secretary of State for War,
will give a full-dress banquet on Tuesday next, at his man-
sion in Carlton-gardens, to his Royal Highness the Duke of
Cambridge and a distinguished party connected with the
military department over which the noble earl has control,
in celebration of her Majesty's birthday.

The Earl of Powis is expected to return to town
towards the close of the week from doing duty with the
yeomanly.

The Earl Russell, the Secretary of State for the
Foreign Department, will give a full•dress dinner to the
foreign ambassadors on Tuesday next, in celebration of the
Queen's birthday,

We understand that the marriage of Lady Con-
stance Villiers, eldest daughter of the Earl and Countess
of Clarendon, with Captaln the Hun. Frederick A. Stanley
(the Grenadier Guards), youngest son of the Earl and
Countess of Darby, will take place on the 31st inst.

Loid and Lady Dufferin have left the Palace
Hotel, Buckingham-gate, for Clandeboy, Ireland, for a few
days

The marriage of Lord Frederick Cavendish,
second son of the Duke of Devonshire, and the Hon. Lucy
Lyttleton, accond daughter of Lord Lyttleton, and Maid of
Honour to the Queen, is appointed to be solemnised on the
7th of the ensuing month.

THE MARQUIS OF AILESBURY is recovering
from his recent indisposition, which prevented his Lordship
attending at Court.

THE DUKE OF NEWCASTLE is better. His
Grace of late has derived much benefit from tranquil nights,
and has regained much of his lost strength.
THE ACCOUNTS OF THE VENERABLE EARL
RADNOR are such as to give uneasiness to his friends.
Lady C. Bulkel, y (his Lordship's only child by his first
marriage with Lady Catherine Pelham Clinton) has pone
to Coleshill, where Viscount and Viscountess Folkestone
are expected.

THE EARL HOWE 13 considerably better•, and is
fast recovering from his recent indisposition.

Drinking Fountains,

TO THE EDITOR OP THE SUN.
SIR,—In anticipation of the approaching hot summer
days, the Committee of the Metropolitan Free Drinking
Fountains Association beg to inform the public that funds
are urgently needed to enable the society to continue those
exertions which have hitherto been attended with such
great success. Through the instrumentality of the associa-
tion upwards of 80 fountains have been already erected, at
which it is computed not less than a quarter of a million
people drink daily during the heat of the year. It is the
desire of the society to extend the boon as far as possible to
every corner of the metropolis, so that the thirsty wayfarer
may not be forced into the necessity of repairing to the
public- houses.

The committees 'are overwhelmed with applications for
new fountains, but are unkble to erect fresh ones from want
of funds ; and for the same reason the provision made for
the relief of the sufferings of cattle and dogs from thirst
falls short of what is required. All the fountains of the
association are under constant supervision, and qualified
workmen are employed to keep them in an efficent state,
but several of those erected by private benevolence have
become dilapidated and even dry, If the public will afford
the means, the committee propose offering to undertake the
supervision of all the fountains in London, and :thereby to
seeure for each the necessary attention.

I shalt be happy to receive contributions in aid of those
objects, or subscriptions may be paid at the office of the
association, 1, Shorter's-court, Throgmorton-street, E.C.,
where any further information may be obtained.—.l am, Sze.,
SAMUEL GURNEY, Chairman.
25, Prince's gate, S.W,, May 16, MI.

ENGLAND EXPECTS EVERY MAN [I3OTH IN
ARMY AND NAVY] TO DO MS DUTY, and it seems
likely that our soldiers will very soon be provided with a
little book, telling them in simple language what their
duty is I

TELEGRAPH TO AMERICA.—The necessary ar-
rangements for another attempt to lay a submarine
telegraph between Ireland and North Amet ice have been
made, and the Atlantic Telegraph Company are more san-
guine than ever that the experiment to be undertaken in
the spring of 1865 will be a complete sucess. By the time
that the Atlantic Telegraph Company is ready for its grand
enterprise, a second and entirely different line of telegraphic
communication between Europe and America will approach,
if not reach, its completion. This is the line running across
Siberia, thence connecting with Russian America, thence
passing through British Columbia, and ultimately reaching
our Pacific States. The most difficult portion of this tele-
graph, that through Siberia, is now, according to a recent
despatch, completed as far as Irkutsk, the capital of Eastern
Siberia. Mr, Collins, a citizen of the United States, to
whom the Russian Government has given for a period of
36 years the exclusive right of working this telegraph through
the Russian dominions, has now obtained from the British
Government the right of way through British Columbia.
The Western Union Telegraph Company of the United
States are prepared to assume the construction of the line,
and capitalists are ready to supply the money for carrying
out the undertaking. It is intended to continue the tele-
graph northward along the western coast of British America
to Behring's Straits, which will be crossed by a submarine
cable 40 miles long, thence along the coast of Arctic Russia
to the mouth of the Amoor River, at which point the Russ
sian Government have agreed to meet the lino and connect
it with their own. The new,line will be not far from 4,200
miles in extent, and, when completed, it will unite Europe,
Asia, and America, principally by land —New York Tribune.
DESTRUCTIVE FlRE.—Lite on Friday night, or
early on Saturday morning, a destructive fire broke
out on Weddingtou farm, in the parish of Ash, near Sand-
wich. The flames were first discovered by Richard Par, a
neighbour, about half• past l o'clocK on Saturday morning,
as he was getting up to go to market. He gave the alarm to
William Marsh, waggoner and bailiff to Mr John Woodruff,
the occucier of the premises. On going to the stable Marsh
found his horses dead from suffocation. The flames had then
extended to the whole of the buildings, which were all burnt
to the ground before an engine could be procured. Indeed,
if an engine could have been got, it would have been of no
use for want of water. Four young horses, worth £4O each,
were Lurnt to death in the stable. After the fire bad burnt
out they presented a deplorable spectacle, their bowels pro'
trading as if the carcases had burst with excessive heat.
The hind legs of two of the poor creatures were completely
burnt off. Five breeding cows were also found in a similar
condition. The buildings, consisting of a fours horse stable,
a wheat barn, a barley barn, a fodder barn, a bullock lodge,
all birch-built, and thatched, were completely destroyed,
together with their contents, which included a waggon, tw°
carts, and a quantity of agricultural implements, and two
straw stacks, the growth of 13 acres. From the appearance
of the fire when it was first disco%ered it must have com-
menced either at the straw stack or at the north corner of
the wheat barn. The waggoner's mate was the last person
on the premises on Friday night, and he left the stable about
10 o'clock, when all appeared quite safe. The fire is sup. ;
posed to be the work of an incendiary. The damage !
variously estimated at from £7OO to £l,OOO, but the loss iA
fully covered by insurance.