The Sun.
London, England, 1863-12-07 00:00:00

Liverpool Cotton Market—This Day.

A fair inquiry at Saturday's. rates. Sales, pro-
bably 4,000 bales.

COTTON IN THE RIVER PLATE.

Cotton•growing is occupying attention nearly
everywhere on the River Plate, and we are pro-
mised great things in the course of a few years.
The Cotton Supply Association of Manchester had
sent out 20 bags of cotton seed for distribution, and
several cotton-growing companies had been esta•
blished in Corrientes, under the auspices of the
governor of that province. The Estancieros in
other parts of the Argentine Republic have also
sown cotton seed with the most hopeful prospects,
and in Paraguay the same spirit is beginning to
animate the native population. The Buenos Ayres
Standard, which may justly claim great credit for
the energy with whieh it has promoted the cultiva-
tion of cotton in the River Plate, in its European
summary refers to the subject as follows ;—" Our
foreign readers who take an interest in Argentine
prosperity will be pleased to know that over three
tons of the very best cotton seed of all descriptions
have beer, distributed, and are already planted in
the parts of this nation most adapted to the growth
of cotton. Our philanthropic and sterling triends
in Manchester will hear with delight that millions
and millions of cotton plants are at present over-
ground. We promise the English manufacturers
5,000 bales of cotton from the River Plate this sea-
son, and 100,000 the next. In payment for our
cotton bales we ask neither gold sovereigns nor
ounces, but railway iron, cotton goods, coal, &c.
There are some who laugh at our predictions, but
we will ' not bate one jot.' In a year or two, if we
have peace, the River P at) will be to England
what the once prosperous United States of North
America were—the supplier of staples, the con-
sumers of manufactures. We are all here as yet
in our infancy—our future is great, and England is
regarded as the best friend of the Argentine na-
tion."—Brazil and River Plate Mail.

SHIPPING—This Day.

LONDON, Dec. 7.—Wind this day at noon—South-
Westerly; light breeze, and fine weather, but cloudy a
little.
PORTSMOUTH, Dec. 6.—Wind S.W.—Arrived—Sylph,
from Caen for Exeter.
LIVERPOOL, Dec. o.—Wind S.W.—Arrived—Royal
Family, from Callao.

(BY MAGNETIC TELEGRAPH.)
GRAVESEND, Monday Morning.
Arrived, Doc. 6—Panther, from Boulogne ; Lottery,
from Labrador; Idalia, from Cyprus; Eastern Chief, from
Amoy; Zetland, from Saguenay; Elizabeth Gertrude, from
Groningen ; Pride of the West, from Quebec ; John Patten,
from Fassien ; Rosella, from Poo-Chow-Poo; Circassian,
from Gaza; Waterloo, from Madras; Maple Leaf, from
Quebec; Scoresby, from Demerara; Clio, from Terceira;
Restless, from Messina ; Counna, from Mauritius; William,
from Quebec; Billow, from Guernsey; Intrepid, from
Sombrero ; Kestrel, from Shanghai.
Arrived, Dec. 7—Reliance, from Quebec; Ivanhoe, from
Madras.

DEAL, Monday Morning.
Passed, Deo. 6—Jonacen, for Cardiff; Camerian, for New
York; Clarendon, for St. Manzanilla ; Rosebud, tor Swan-
sea; Citizen, screw steamer, for Bordeaux; I'll Try, for
Marseilles ; -Wave, for Bombay ; Mary Hardy, for Barba-
does ; Prospero, for Para; Villa de Blaza, for Nautea
from London. —all
• The Pilgrim, for Demerara, has been supplied With
anchor and 15 fathoms of chain.

Passed, Dec. 7.—York, from London, for Madras.
Anchored.—Parrel, from London, for Manilla; ItarprigT,
,
from London, for Hawk's Bay • Alonzo. of &ark°,
_ho,
from the west, for the north; 'Chattanooga, from (.1a"
for London.

CLOWN, PANTALOON, HARLEQUIN, t _
r.
D Birch's
BIN E.—Tom, and Jack, and Harry;:
... to Christmas
academy, have been looking f"'",2-, who has been
AND COLUM-
IS
°anxiously. as a time
ite as
as a time of holiday. Here
looking forward to Christmas, clu weeks past he has been
of a work—the Clown. For raaililoYur
when ho would bound
csunting the days to the golds shirt
and puff breeches, and
upon the stage in his spotte„do
ere we are I" See he has
salute the audience with
with velvet cuffs and collar,
bloomed into ma
braided hat and lappeteofd
the Duke of Brunswick. Certainly
brings back a mealorf
gnificenc. coo:I:he strength of it, and in his
ted so great a length of watch-chain,
the Duke never
sported
though as to " carats" and " water"
:superior. You would think that so fine
orth
have
:Id disdain to wear those calico puff pante-
a gentleman
trucks"
esyucmhalyarge diamonds,
he calls them—which he is inspecting with
st. But no—those " trucks" weigh heavy on
so much inters
loon—"
and Mr. May, of Bow-street, will have a
h.mind just now,
-is 1 until they are made all right, and exhibit suffi-
cientsad time of i
true
iness behind. And here come his companions,
bagg ,
Ah Iwhat
pantaloon, harlequin, and columbine. a glorious
..`4,„,0 Christmas is to them I The crowd at the gallery door
on Boxing Night will not be more impatient for the rising
of the curtain than they ;:for with the rising of that curtain
will begin a period of constant employment and regular pay,
things to which these honest artistes have been stran-
gers, may be, for many months. Christmas Day has its
pleasures to these four worthies, but they are the plea-
sures of expectancy. There is not much time for cooking
or thought of eating in the homes of Clown, Panta-
loon, Harlequin, and Columbine on Christmas Day,
—even if there were anything to cook—they are all too
much occupied in fitting on their dresses and trying their
joints. They will be fed when they stand in a pyramid
under the red fire; and the bravoes and the clapping of
hands will be more satisfying to them than any roast beef,
and sweeter than any plum pudding. To the eyes that
look out from an honest and cheerful heart these Christmas
characters will always come as a vision of pleasure and de-
light. He to whom they come as aught else stands in need
of ova. prayers.—Christmas Number of " London Society,"
just published.

AMERICAN MAIL STEAMERS DUE AT LIVERPOOL
THIS WEEK.—The following steamers with the
mails from the United States and Canada are due at
Liverpool this week, viz. :—The City of London, wits
dates from New York to the 2Sth ult., is due at Queen'
town to-morrow (Tuesday), and the Canadian ,srew,,
steamer North American, from Portland (the firs; ship
".
the season from that quarter), with dates to the evening of
the 28ch, is also due at Londonderry on Tuesday.
ptai Ct.n
Can
Saturday next the Cunard mail steamer rerßia,
Lott, with dates from New York to the 2d December, may
Mail
be looked for at Queenstown. The African Steamship
Company's ship Macgre;tor Laird, with the mails from the
West Coast of Africa, Teneriffe, and Madeira, may be
expected to reach the Mersey in the course of Friday next.

The People's Theatre—alias the Britannia
Theatre, Hoxton,

(From the Queen )

Entering the portals inscribed " box-entrance," we were
not long in finding Mr. S. Lane, the proprietor and mana-
ger of both theatre and tavern, waiting to receive use. Hav-
ing been kindly treated by this gentleman on a former
occasion, I had:given him notice of our purposed visit, and
the hospitable good-nature with which he received us
made rue very glad that I had done so. He at once led the
Way, through the handsome, well- appointed tavern, into
the theatre. As we passed the money-taker's place wo
noticed that the prices were set at the moderate rate of 2s,
for a seat in the stage-boxes ; ls. for the boxes and stalls ;
pit, 6d ; lower gallery, 4d. ; and upper gallery 3d. There
is half-price to the boxes, pit, and gallery, beginning
ia
over
b y begineleven.
As wat eight and half-past eight o'clock respectively. The
performances
every e eveningpassed u
p the
a thalf-
stairspa and
s t six, and
all lobbies
leading into the house, we could not help noticing first, the
almost unadorned solidity of the building ; secondly, the
ample width and commodiousness of the passages, affording
the easiest means of rapid exit and entrance to the large
audience which this theatre is capable of containing; thirdly,
the scrupulously cleanly state in which everything was
kept ; and, fourthly, the excellent ventilation. These
enqua-
lities are, moreover, equally noticeable all through the
g
theatre. The auditorium (as Mr. Boucicault has it) was as
fresh and cool tehbeyenadveorfy numerous
eevin—having been oc-
cupied
audience—as it was
at the
beginning. The decorations of the lobbies and stair-
cases are very simple—the brickwork being left quite bare
a
of plaster, Lord Palmerston's favourite stucco, or imitation
marble. A few sky-borders (as they are technically termed),
imitating umbrageous foliage, and lighted up with coloured
oil lamps, are the only decoration employed, and they 'level
a very fresh and tasty effect.
Mr. Lane ushered us into a very confortable stage-box,
whence a very good view of the audience could be obtained.
The reader who hears of the Britannia for the first time,
may be surprised at hearing that the salle is nearly as
large as Drury-lane, andj that it will hold 4,000 people,
exclusive of babies in arms. Nor must it be supposed
that these extra little—vocalists, not auditors—make an
insignificant addition to the sum of human souls who enjoy
their evenings under Mr. Lane's auspices. If their pre-
sence and numbers were not made everywhere, and at all
times, manifest, by the cries and demonstrations around
you, the playbill itself must call attention to the important
part which they play at the Britannia Theatre. "Persona
bringing children," enjoins that document, "must please
keep them quiet, or take them out of the theatre ; the
public complaining of the obstruction to the acting." The
audience generally seemed to be composed of what poli-
tical writers call the lower middle classes, small shop-
keepers, and the better kinds of artificers, with their wives
and families. Comparing this with former experience at
other cheap theatres, we saw no ill-manners, heard no chaf-
fing, saw no symptom even of a brawl or of a drunkard,
nor any blackguard smoking a pipe with his coat off.
Indeed, if the truth must be spoken, we have seldom seen a
\Vest-end audience behave with such uniform good temper
and good taste as the audience at the People's Theatre, Hex-
ton. They laughed when they ought to do, and melted to
tears at the proper places. Not once in the evening did wo
hear the cry, " Turn him out," nor did they even commit
the vulgarity so common at more fashionable houses, of
cheering and " jollying" the footmen when they came on to
clear the stage, a witticism which a West-end audience sel-
dom omits. Indeed, a greater contrast than between this
large body of decent, orderly:people, and the ramping, roar-
ing, swearing, swilling, and odoriferous audience of the
New Cut, it would be difficult to imagine. The difference
between the people who occupied the various parts of the
house was not very perceptible to the unassisted vision; in-
deed I question whether it consisted of much beyond the
willingness of some to pay a shilling and others but six-
pence. The playbill informed us that "no person" could
be " admitted to boxes or stalls unless suitably attired,"
but I failed to discover any very remarkable standard of suit-
ability, seeing that cloth caps were as common wear in the
stalls as in the pit, and that babies in arms squalled, as if
aroused thereto by the big drum, right under the shadow of
the footlights. In answer to a question put by myself, Mr.
Lane replied that the audiences by no means came exclu-
sively from the neighbourhoods immediately surrounding.
" Oh I they come froin much farther than Charing-cross, I
can assure you ; we have families come five or six miles;
from Greenwich and Woolwich, and from Hackney and.
the East India Docks, and sometimes out of Essex."
The house itself has a handsome ornate appearance, as
well decorated, in every respect, as need be. The lighting
comes from a number of small gaseliers, suspended from
the ceiling. Mr. Lane recommended us, before addressing
ourselves to a careful consideration of the performances, to
take a tour of inspection, through which he very kindly
conducted us. " Behind the scenes" (that region so fairy-
like and so desirable to the imaginative young gentleman
who has never penetrated it, and so commonplace to all
who have ever wandered within its sacred limits)
we found everything as like the same kind of thing in the
West-end theatre as it was possible to be. The same maze of
flats and flies and slots and grooves ; the same kind of car-.
penters (vulgarly called scene-shifters) lurking in the wings
and down in the mezzonine floor; similar fierce- looking
heroes, mustachioed, feathered, red-legged and slashed as to
their breeches; similar fairies in tights and tarlatans, flit.
ting and sparkling about. It is true that the latter displayed
a little more emotion and surprise at the sight of strangers
than the nonchalant young ladies in the employment of Mr.
Gye and Mr. Mapleson would have done; but this was, ire
our case, attributable—at least, so we thought—to the pre-
tence of our juvenile companion. Girls are so fond of in-
fants you know.

In the painting and property rooms, we found activeentem pantomime.
parations already going on for the Christmas ptai
glories,.
intended to beautify the Bower of Bliss, o
Masks of grotesque appearance and Dutch-metal
Region of
with gorgeous
Calm Delight, were mingled in profusion
Isklyr.-bLearndeers
o dogubt of it. Nor do
wondrouso 0
o uponsplendour.
hie
forthcoming pantomime, and I have no
assured triumphalus that he
prices charged, a hurt-
filled, will hold, even at the small wcassrsspoefndin
I doubt that he will be well repaid;al for the house, when,
1
dred pounds.
h en t room on the
to us all was certainly thf
iiti dome
• of the best features of
epa.arrtofthreewe.huoile establishment
for hungry people to refresh them-
selves refectory, intended
the moat. interesting
simple food, and at reasonable charges,
selves with good and
mmend this to the notice of the
großuuntd floor. As
theatres.l •
of our more fashionable t is true
lessees of eau?'
were not ledeu with so many gilt bottles,
that the shelves were
if to make them grow bigger;
with
hene is accustomed to see ; and I must admit
exieiapPriYourgiceable names
liqueurs,
iftnhtsacetrg,.i
missedbed respectfullybll-afleas
area:
a
T the attenuated but indurated sandwiches
laced under e k .
P quarters of per • pie, and the foseil sponge-cakes
and the
and
sausbale age-nrdollisn,daigndesttihheleacceiduudlianateedutdsrtoop v
rs , hai
enhd t thhe e 1
vo t
ehe et
unclesira
r-
end theatre-goer is congealed to habituate himself. But,
as some compensation, there were vast dishes full of hand..
some substantial sandwiches of beef and ham, neatly made,
of capital meat and bread of unexceptionable whiteness.
The price of these sandwiches (oneof which would be ample
supper for a man of moderate appetite, whilst two would,
gorge an ogre) is twopence each. These were flanked with
freshly made pies of veal and ham ; huge wedges of bread,
supporting large slices of rich golden Cheshire or double
Gloucester; heaps of savoury polonies, and bushels of
apples, oranges, and nuts. I saw no spirits vended in the
refectory, and believe that those who want them must go
outside the theatre, to the tavern, to obtain them ; but the
beer engine was in active work, pouring forth potent floods
of capital foaming porter and beer, and, for the more ab-
stemious, there was quite an army of ginger beer bottles
with their corks carefully tied down.

MARSEILLES, Dec. 4. Accounts have been
received from Constantinople to the 26th. The
Sultan, in receiving the French Ambassador,
said that he should consult with his Minis-
ters on the subject of the Congress. The
Sheick Islam has been dismissed for having
protested against the projected voyage of the
Sultan. The Sultan has sent an autograph letter
to the Sovereign Emir of Bokhara in favour. of
three Italian travellers recently imprisoned_epr e
the authorities of that province whilst WY w
engaged in commercial pursuits."
he Council
ofotproVing of
TURIN, Dec. 4.—The President
has presented to the Chamber a bet
Foncier en.
the convention relative to the
tered into with M. Fremy.
to the bureaus.
ease
of a man not
FATHER AND SON. TirCei bill was referred
—The. he was 50 years
setting eyes on his own ff,i-ei. The story is told by
old is probably without a P n'''
Zoollections of West," tho pain-
Leslie in his agreeable "•:7:ating to America he left his
ter's father. On his
shortly after giving birth to a
:r
born
STEAMER
BpuaiansteTr.ivals,hoenesteoaf the
er
wife in England,
rcifisr.stioansiAmonerhicisale:ontestoanhdis::
12ta Nov., brought
AN Am" N -
Islitoenned:nwsdohwoyiraefea,!•h:ifsai:actuftge::::;:
intelligence of the burning
of the
to Call.° the
painful
about o'
clock -
stouter SlinuYBl 5 in the morning of the
fromainl‘fluelm phie on the
site Island No. 16, 26 miles below New Madrid.
3th °PP°
-he bid A, large passengif list and a heavy freight on board.
Glasgow,
Among the latter were 1,381 bales cotton, which, with the
boat, were totally destroyed. The boat caught fire from
sparks from the chimney, which ignited the cotton. She
was run ashore, and her engines were kept working to hold
her to the bank. The exit from the boat being insufficient,
many of her passengers were obliged to jump overboard,
several of whom were drowned. The scene is described as
most terrible. Of 13 female passengers only four escaped,
and of eight children six were lost. About 30 pas-engers in
all were drowned or burnt. The boat's book and the money
on board were lost. The Glasgow brought the survivots.
here, most of whom lost everything they possessed.—.Acto
York Herald.