The Sun.
London, England, 1839-02-28 00:00:00

PRICE sd.

PUBLIC LIBRARIES IN PARIS.

Thejlionileur of Sunday contains a Royal ordinance
for reorganising the administration and internal service'
of the four public libraries of Paris—namely, •the
National 'or King's Library, and the Libraries Maze-
rine, St. Genevieve, and of the Arsenal. • The former is
to be placed under the direction of an Administrator-.
General, receiving a salary of IB,ooof. per annum, of
six Conservateurs, as many Deputy Conservaleurs,
The library•is to be open to the public in the sumnier
months .from nine o'clock in the morning until four in the
afternoon. The time of vacation is fixed from the 15th
of August to the 15th of October. The short vacation
at Easter will be suppressed after 1840. A sum of
1,264,000 f. is to be applied in. preparing a catalogue or
inventoryOf the books, manuscripts, medals, stones,
cuts, pinta, and charts which the library contains, for
introducing a better order in the arrangement, &c. By
another Royal ordinance, M. Charles DunOyer, Coun-
cillor of State, and Member of the Academy of Moral
and Political Sciences, is appointed Administrator-
Getceral of the King's Library, and, M. Jomard is
named Honorary President of the Board ,of Cons.}rva-•
leers of the same.

LIVERPOOL GREAT STEEPL
CHASE.

(From the Liverpool Courier.)
If extreme interest, extensive betting, and a strong mus-
ter of the great renowned from all quarters, be any crite-
rion whereby to judge of the future, the Liverpool
Steeple Chase of 1839 will be long remembered is an
event in the anuale of sporting, Nimrod regards Abe
Steeple ;Cluirreeehighly cruel, and withal dangeroizs;
and on these grounds he thinks it ought to become
unpopular; subsequently he endeavours to persuade his
readers that it is so, or at least tending downward in
public estimation. However the sport may be objected
to on the score of cruelty, and certainly the objections
so founded are not without considerable show of reason
and evidence, we believe it will never be driven into un-
popularity on the ground of the danger incurred by the
riders. All those sports that are attended with some
degree of danger have ever possessed the most absorb-
ing interest. All men of ardent feelings love mode-
rate danger for the very excitement which it produces,
and the intrepidity which it brings into action. Hence
Steeple Chases are naturally popular. If those who
have endeavoured to make it appear otherwise had but
visited Liverpool they would quickly have changed their
opinion. The town has bee❑ perfectly alive with bustle.
Visitors from all quarters, and by all sorts of conveyances,
have poured in upon us—from meth and south—from Scot-
land, Wales, end Ireland, by steamers, railways, coaches,
chai,es, gigs, end waggons. Our inns have been crowded
with gentle and simple ; the taverns and private houses have
been everywhere in request, for the accommodation of the
sporting fraternity of all descriptions. Counts Whisker-
andos from Germany and France, hard-riding horse
dealers from Ireland, knowing ones from Scotland, and
sportipg rnaeufacturers, tradesmen, butchers, graziers,
&c., &c., from Manchester, Bolton, Wigan, and
the neighbourhood surrounding. Croxteth, Knows-
ley, and the mansions of our country gentry
have been crowded with guests, who have exhibited
their " swell turns out" In our streets, jostling the equi-
pages of our merchants, and astonishing not a few of the
natives, who have heretofore looked with singular self-
complacency on their tiny tilburies and tardily-trotting tits.
In short, our streets have exhibited an accession of bustle,
with an assemblage tolerably motley, as is usual in such
cases—Peers, Corinthians, and peasants, jostling with

" Knowing faded kids,
And dandy rats in bloon:."
Betting was brisk from the commencement of business,
though it was greatly held in check bV the uncertainty as to
what horse, would start The entry exhibited a list of fifty
three horses, with two which had paid forfeit : a strong field
was therefore confidently expectedoind as several of the studs
were animals of lii4h renown for their achievements, there
were not wanting those who were willing to back their favou-
rites in spite of all the chances that might intervene. The
Nun stood first f tvourite, with Rust close in her rear. After
these Daxon, Seventy-four, Cannon Ball, Paulina and
Railroad were held in good esteem. The betting-room at
the Talbot on Monday evening was crowded to suffocation.
The Nun kept the call to the last. The odds then stood as
follows :

8 to I agst Lord Macdonald's The Nun
50 to 1 -- Mr. Chawner's Daxon
11 to I Sir E, Mostyn's Seventy-four
100 to 8
100 to 7 Mr. O'Moore's Barkston
19 to 1 Mr. Marshall's Railroad
100 to a
20 to 1
6 to 1
9 to I Mr. Elmore's Lottery
100 to 5 Mr. Oswald's Dictator
50 to .S Stephenson's True Blue
Ur -3 Captain Lamb's Jatit
The following Were amongst the distinguished persons
present :
Sir Edward and Lady Smyth and party ; Sir Edward
and Lady Blount and party ; Sir Edward Mostyn, Mr.
Piers Mostyn, and Mr. Alcock ; Colonel Copeland ;
Colonel Charrate ; Mrs. Morgan O'Connell ; Messrs.
Maher, Armstrong, Montgomery, Cox, Butler, Jepson,
Wade, Maher, Miles, Wynne, Ablet, Bevis, Newton,
Thelwall, Russell, and Stubbs ; B. Collett, Esq., and
party; Tounson Ince. Esq., and friend; Captains Guard
and Reid; Theobald Theobald, Esq. ; Mr. Justice and
party; Mr. Charlton; Mr. W. T. Thomson; Mr. Edwards;
Mr. Leigh, of Belmont, and friend ; Messrs. Fitzherbert,
C. Gifford, Holyoake, Brocklee, Benson, Hindc, Lamb,
and Gibson ; Captains Lamb and Gemmill ; Mr. Digby
Smith ; T. Trafford, Esq., of Trafford Park, and party ;
Captains Barron and Markham ; Lord Glenlyon ; Mr.
Knight and party ; Messrs. Benbovv ; Messrs. Grundy, of I
Bury ; Major M'Ginnis ; Messrs. Bayley, Masters, A.
Smith, and Captain Smith ; Captain Henderson and
friend ; Messrs. G. R. R. Edwards, Ayrton, and Clarke ;
Count Guiesnan ; Mr. Hobson; Messrs. Morgan, Tay-
lor, Downward, and Denman; Mr. St. George, Mr.
Blythe, Sze.
Tie great object of desire with every man whose heart
was set upon the sporting was fine weather. Few, how-
ever, dared to indulge in very sanguine hopes on the sub-
ject, as the atmosphere had been most capriciously
variable .for months before. As it turned out, no-
thing could be more propitious. After several tole-
rably dry days, during which the wind blew rather
boisterously from the westward, the morning of Tues
day broke calm, bright, and beautiful, and it proved a
foretaste of what the day was to be. As early as nine
o'clock the road leading to Aintree was crowded with pe-
destrians of the usual class, including piemen, chimney
sweeps, cigar-sellers, thimble-riggers, and all the small
fry of gaming-table keepers. As the day advanced the
road swarmed with passengers of all descriptions, " from
noblemen to tailors," front merchants and wealthy manu-
facturers to butchers and tinkers, all hurrying to the scene
of action as fast as their several means of conveyance would
permit. Liverpool poured forth not only its own thousands,
but the thousands belongit g to other places also. The
surrounding country contributed its quota, and certainly a
greater crowd was never before seen on any race-course than
at Aintree on Tuesday. It was one dense mass of people,
in some of the more recherche points wedged together so
as to defy motion in those who had once got enclosed.
The Grand Stand had not accommodation for more than
three-fourths of the people who presented themselves; and
not an attainable point about the building, even to the very
summit of the chimneys, but was occupied. All the minor
stands were likewise crowded, and, in as!dition to the vast
numbers dispersed about the course, masses of individuals
were seen here and there far over the country, congre-
gated at the points where the most dangerous leaps were
to be taken.
It was announced that the race was tostommence at one
o'clock. It was neatly three, however, before the
horses were fairly brought on the course. They
were paraded about half-an-hour on the course, op-
posite the Grand Stand, and when it became evident
what horses were really to start there was much brisk
betting, the Nun ridden by A. M'Donogh still haling
the call. It was observed that the latter looked rather
too fat, and she was put to some severe galloping before
the race, probably with a view of getting her in wind. Her
style of going was greatly admired. Captain Becher
allowed off upon Conrad, which appeared in fine condition.
Lottery, also, looked extremely well, and quite in cue for
severe work.
The betting immediately before the start was as follows
6 to 1 agst The Nun
7 to 1 Rust
8 to 1 Daxton
9 to 1 Railroad
-9 to 1 Lottery
12 to 1 Seventy-four
12 to 1 Cannon Ball
21 to 1 True Blue
20 to 1 Conrad
20 to 1 Charity, and
30 to li any other.
The horse% to the number of eighteen, were brought up
for the start shortly after three o'clock, opposite to a side-
gate leading from the race-course, on the side furthest
from the Grand Stand. The exit is sufficiently broad,
and is, into a lane, divided from the pasture fields by a
high bank, partly railed and partly topped with gorse and
hawthorn. Tho steeds went away beautifully altogether,
and but little division took place when they leaped or
scrambled over the bank. Captain Becher, on Conrad,
led the way at a slapping pace, apparently determined, as
the old adage has it, " either to win his purse or lose his
saddle." Unfortunately be did the latter. Through the
first three or four paature-fields there was nothing but ex-
tremely light fencing, and the horses toped in gallant
style everything
that stood before them, Thu first obsta-
cle that wore the aspect of a tcastv was a deep ditch, about
five feet wide, on the further skis of wb;.ch was a high bank.
The high-mettled fellows made nothing of this—they flew
over it like birds, °tie
after another, and were presently
labouring Shrough a deep, light soli, from which young
wheat vvas springiug. T
herehey neat
dashed over a high bark
into a grass field, w captain Becher was still leoke
leg back upon his competitors, Daxon, Lottery, True
Blue, Dictator, and Paulina, in a line behind hint. The
field in vs'aleh the riders now found themselves was a v'er'y
wide one, and one half of it bad been steentlylubjected to
deep ploughing. ttexe somethinse
throu,gh, and .kalooriTl
le
r n it
u 5".7. while it lasted. le
'Or them to tug
fencefencepf IQ %be fio
was one of the most awlsezaed