The Sun.
London, England, 1839-02-25 00:00:00

HER MAJESTY'S THEATRE.

It has seldom happened that we have been compelled to
delay our annual announcement of the prospects and ar-
rangements of this establishment for the ensuing season to
so late a period as on the present occasion. Circumstances,
however, have arisen which, from their nature and com-
plexity, have rendered the customary early notification at
least premature, if not impossible. And even now, in con-
sequence of there being some matters of etiquette which
are necessary to he gone through, it is prudent only to put
forth a portion of the information which has reached us on
the subject.
In the fir.,t place, then the doors will be thrown open
for the commencement of the season, 1839, on Saturday,
the 9th of March, when there will be performed Donizetti's
opera of Belisario, the principal characters in which are to
be supported by Mad. Monnani (her first appear-
ance in this country), and Signori Tati and F.
Lablache. With these artistes, we have heard, the
business is to be carried on until the Easter week, when
the corps will, we hear, be augmented by the arrival of Mes-
dames Grisi and Persiani, and Signori Rubini, Tamburini,
and Lablache. The power of the company will therefore, as
heretofore, not be brought into operation until the 6th or
the 9th of April, at which period the fashionable season
may be said to have fairly commenced. Madame Alber-
tazzi, who, it will be remembered, has for the two last
springs constituted one of the leading attractions at this
theatre, has, we learn, entered into an engagement with
the Lessee of Drury Lane Theatre. Her absence from
the Italian boards, it is to be apprehended, will cause a va-
cuum not easily to be supplied. However, the known ac-
tivity and judgment of L3porte will, we doubt not, have
enabled him to secure a talented successor to this lady.
With regard to the Ballet department we have reason
to suppose that the opening night will present us with a
ballet, founded on " Robert le Diable," in which Madame
Belton and llerrninie Eisler will appear. An alteration in
respect to the particular ballet, may, however be male.
After Easter the senior Elslers, Therese and Fanny, will
be with us, and it is rumoured that the new entertainment
de dense, " The Gipsy," at present so great a favourite in
Paris, will be got up for them. If such a statement
be
correct. it i 4 somewhat difficult to conceive in what m Inner
this ballet will be made to dovetail in, as it were with La
Guiana, the ballet which has created so great a sensation
at St. Petersburgh, and in which it is confidently reported
Taglioni anticipates having the opportunity of presenting
herself to a British audience on the boards of this theatre.
Like the p linter, who possesses the combined attri-
butes of sketching, then of filling in, then of harmonizing,
and at length of softening down, the varied subjects on his
canvass, until they present a beautiful whole to the eye, so
we anticipate the difficulties of an apparent " Terpsi-
chorean" collision will be avoided by the clever tactics of
the most able man who in our day has wielded the sceptre
of management at her Nesty's Theatre. Laporte, has,
ere this, surmounted obstacles of no ordinary moment, and
doubtless will not fail in the present instance. lle has our
warm wishes for his success throughout the ensuing sea-
son.—Sunday Paper.

The Cheltenham Free Press mentions that a
striking proof of the success that would follow the adop-
tion of Mr Rowland Hill's plan for a reduction of post-
age has taken place in Gloucestershire. The postage
from Stroud to Nailsvrorth has recently been reduced from
fourpence to one penny ; the consequence has been that
more than four times the usual number of leers av, on
an average, passed through the offices in those plaches.e
An Address was recently presented to the Very
Rev. Dr. Fogarty P. P. Lismore, together with a valuable
service of plate, by the parishioners of Dungarvan, con-
sequent on that pious pastors removal from Dungarvan,
where, during a series of important years, he struggled
earnestly and successfully for that independence which the
Borough at present enjoys Waterford Chronicle.
SUPPRESSION OF DISTILLATION.—The tem-
perance people in the north of Ireland seem determined to
go the whole hog and to keep the world sober, nolens Va-
lens, by preventing the manufacture of intoxicating drinks.
We arc informed by the Belfast News Letter that at the
late anniversary of the Ulster (quere ultra?) Temperaixn
Society, Judge Crampton in the chair, it was unanimously
resolved to petition her Majesty and both Houses of Par-
liament to suppress distillation altogether.

X
_

COMMUNICATION witht4R4LAND.
, ‘.‘

(From the Times.)
In our paper of Saturday last, we
t latter
itliShfred
r. Johnston had with Col.
from Messrs Johnston and Co., newsparker 'agents, of
vEiedwen'it ter-
w-qhuicahy,onDeuobflint,hedeAtiaeilsisng s the est
Maberly, the Secretary of the General Post-office.
It appears that Messrs. Johnston have been in cor-
respondence with Colonel Maberly, urging the authori-
ties of the Post-office to avail themselves of the rail-
way to Liverpool, and first-class steam-boats thence to
Dublin, by which means the mails might reach Dublin
several hours earlier than by the present route through
Holy-head. According to the present Post-office arrange-
ments, the correspondence from London to Dublin must
be forwarded through Holyhead. The mail is conveyed
by railway to Birmingham, and thence to Holyhead
by coach. The Dublin letters and papers are not per-
mitted to be sent by way of Liverpool. In order that
the absurdity of this arrangement may be fully under-
stood, we recommend to the perusal of our readers a
statement published by Messrs. Johnston, entitled,
" Things as they are," and " Things as they ought to
be," which appears in another column. Unfortunately
the result of the interview with Colonel Maberiy was
anything but satisfactory. The only answer that Mr.
Johnston obtained was, that the subject was under con-
sideration. We must confess with regret that we en-
tertain considerable apprehension that the dilatory and
deliberative powers of the Court of Chancery, which
formerly employed so many years in bringing a judg-
ment to maturity, have, now that the motions of that
Court are somewhat accelerated, been transferred to
the Post-office, a department which might naturally
have been suspected of possessing some desire to &s-
-play a little activity.
Messrs. Johnston, however, were not disheartened by
the coolness with which their proposition was received ;
by the exertion of a little of that zeal and activity which
has always distinguished them, arrangements were male
by which the Times of Tuesday, February 12, left Lon-
don that morning by the railway mail to Liverpool at
hall past 9 o'clock, and was received the following nsorn_
ing in Dublin at 55 minutes past 9 o'clock. The im.
portant a lvantages derived from the adoption of this
route are thus rendered too evident to require any
comment. _ _

We will merely add the following extract from the
Dublin Evening :

DESPATCH OF THE LONDON MAILS.-POST-OFFICE MS-

NAGEMENT.

" This morning, at half-past ten o'clock, we re:el.:A
through the office of Messrs. Johnston, of Eden-quay, the
London morning papers of yesterday, thus anticipating by
five, probably by seven, hours the ordinary delivery. These
papers were transmitted by the early train that left London
yesterday, arrived at Liverpool last evening, one hour after
the Government packet had sailed, and were brought over
by the private Company's splendid vessel the Queen
Victoria.
" Now, if the wise gentlemen to whom the manae-
ment of Post-office affairs are committed would but
start a mail-train from London one hour earlier than that
at which it now takes its departure, and retard the
sailing of the packet from Liverpool for a similar
period, the distance between the two metropolises
would be accomplished, in 99 cases out of 100, in
24 hours. Ag matters now stand, the rail communication
between London and Liverpool is not of the slightest ad-
vantage to Ireland, either in the transmission of news or
letters, or in the transport of passengers • and we would
seriously recommend the City of Dublin dompany at oricr.4
to announce their intention of sailing a first class vessel
every evening, on the arrival of the London morning train,
and thus secure all the passengers, who, according to the
esent regulation, are either obliged to sleep a night in
Birmingham, or remain 22 hours in Liverpool.
.4 We hope our London morning Contemporaries, the
Times, Herald, and Post, will take this subject up, on
personal as well as public grounds, and procure the accom-
plishment of that which, in point of practice, is so easy of
attainment, but against which this vexatious opposition has
been offered by the heads of the Post-office department.
•. After the foregoing had been written, we learned that
Captain Beasley did not leave the Clarence Dock until
twenty minutes past nine o'clock last evening, and that ho
reached the NOrth Wall this morning at half past nine, a
strong head-wind prevailing during the whole of the
passage. If the Post-of oe or Admiralty have not vessels
capable of effecting such voyages, they ought to charter
such as possess the power."
COMMUNICATION BETWEEN LONDON AND
IRELAND.

THINGS AS THEY ARE.
The great bulk of the London correspondence is de-
spatched from the metropolis at eight o'clock in the eve-
nir,g---thattowfoors, lirselfaonrdw,ardveiad
per railway
aeymtb9raeingallthe
principal
Birmingham,
thence per coach to Holyhead, where it arrives the follow..
ing evening at sh. 30m. p.m., despatched thence per mail
steam-boat at six o'clock, arriving in ordinary weather at
Kingstown at, or soon after, midnight, is retained on
board the packet till five o'clock, A: M., when it is
transferred to the custody of a guard in waiting, who
brings it up to the Post-office, Dublin, by six o'clock
on the second morning. Letters, &c., for the interior
of Ireland, save the line of road to Belfast, 80 miles north,
and to Kilkenny, 58 miles south, remain the whole day in
the Dublin Post-office, till the dispatch of the inland mails
at 7 in the evening, consequently do not reach their
06
p.m,,
a.m.,'but
destination before the third morning after despatch from
London. From the principal towns in Ireland the cor-
respondence for Dubin, London, and the intrrior of Eng-
land are forwarded in the evening, reach Dublin be-
tween 6 and 7 o'clock in the morning, and the morning
mail via Holyhead, for there are two despatches daily by
that route from Dublin, being forwarded at 6. 45 a.,rn ,
can consequently bring only the very earliest mails. The
heaviest and most important, those from Cork, Linerick,
Galway. Sligo, L3ndonderry, &c., not being due at the
Post-office till 7 o'clock, are detained in Dublin the whole
day, and do not go forward till the night packet. at eight
o'clock, but in either case, morning or evening, the let-
ters &c., do not reach London till the third mornin
fro m the time they leave the provinces.
cp speriodlwl
oyce krreaches
, eaa .
coAmifi
es.Forsai
xib instance,ny,d London
ttahhye es
fI
arr. froth
lost
n,a, 1
::
letter sent from London for Limerick, Clonmel, Tipperary,
&c., on a Tuesday, reaches those towns on Friday morning :
tMondayEllExpress being
pdreess answeredsp
amt
following,caiiilt
oi
st forwarded
iotehr day,wraeetancrledbierpadt e
at
embracing
ghaleon aro
theen,
sometimes .
route as the night mail, reaching Holyhead at
3'
despatched at 7, and due in Kingstown apt.ml
~
seldom reaches sooner than 3 o'clock
much later, owing, perhaps, to the. inefficiency of the
pa •ke's em.,loyed. Tne contents of this mail are despatched
to the interior of Ireland by the mails from Dublin, at 7
p m., together with the English mail received at the Post_
office in the morning, brought (to Kingstown) by the mid-
night packet.

THINGS AS THEY OUGHT TO BE.

Instead of having a double line of packets between Holy
head to Dublin, and the conveyance of the London mail
per railway to Birmingham, and coach to Holyhead, it is
respectfully submitted to establish a double line of packet,
between Liverpoo 1 and Kingston, transmitting the Irish
snails per railway throughout from London to Liverpool,
night and morning, in manner as follows :—The London
night mail reaches Liverpool at seven o'clock in the morn-
ing. By forwarding the Irish mail in a similar manner (in.,
stead of by Holyhead) it might be despatched from Liver-
pool to Dublin at 7 30 a.m., and in ordinary weather, the
passage being accomplished in from 11 to 12 hours, would
bring the arrival to Kingstown, say 730 p.m. Instead,
then, of despatching the inland mails from Dublin at 7,
let them be daained till 9 p.m. This, with a very few
excoptio s in the winter season, would ensure the reecii''t
of the L ndon correspondence in the interior of P.-eland on
the sccot.d instead of the third morning, as at present--
,3 thatatert.h e
But
taitlhsis wouldcould reach their tglireeicarotndowebsgiteuienetna,t!ter:nitiltw::
a consequent saving of 24 hours ; with this difference
ohnoul)r.
are now due in the provinces between seven and nine
o'clock in the morning, and the delay
change could nut affect the business of the day, the arrival
being still sufficiently early for all general purposes. On ,
the other hand, the despatch from the interior for the Eng- i
lish mail, as well as Dublin, to remain as at present, the
interval being amply sufficient to enable parties to reply by
return of post, ,a hich reaching Dublin in the morning, it. is
proposed that the London, and that line of correspondenco 1
so received, should be despatched from Kingstown for .
Liverpool at eight o'clock in the morning. The average
passage of twelve hours would enable the mails to be sent
from Liverpool, spy at ten o'clock p.m., via railway
reaching London at nine o'clock next morning, which would
brine' the answer by London on the fourth instead of the
sixth morning, as set . forth annexed, and the consequent
saving of forty-eight hours I
poofndh:r!cf"-s
Now for the Irish Express Mail. Instead of being do_
apatched, as at present, at 10 o'clock in the morning, let
it leave at 8 o'clock via Liverpool, then start an evening
time interests
mail boat from thence at 8 p.m., would bring its con.
tents to Dublin by 15 o'clock the next morning, 1. e. in 24
hours from London. The Liverpool Evening mail boat
the half-past 6 o'clock morn.'
then posted, thereby making
l • for our Irma
pfi,o,snti
iiKaits)gasttopwrteisetonole,aweoualtdst o'clockk e
allth(einsetocrardes
—that portion for London
.for delivery
the receipt of
ing train from Liverpool available
have between such letters under the pro_
aavraril‘l,ainb; infull
cn o'clock on the f •
the same evening', and the several parties would therAy
d arrangement and scv ollownyr
pJsc for the
l c via Liverpool, which (as proposed) would arrive in
morning, to reply thereto
Dublin the next morning, thus saving fully 24 hours by
this route.
The greater the facility the greater the correspondence,
consequently the more revenue. There is little doubt that
the increased receipts would go far to indemnify (si„kinr,
the second packet at Holyhead) the expense of the pro.
posed double line of packets between Liverpool and Dublin.
Should our humble suggestions, grounded on a practictl
experience of several years, and a consequent knot ledge
of the existing arrangements, tend to contribute to a re.
formation in expediting the transmission of the public cur--
respondence, inasmuch as the community must consequently
derive important advantages, we will be fully compensated,
being the public's
Very obedient and obliged servants,
JOHNSTON and CO.,
Eden Express Newspaper Agents, 1, Ed•
, quay, Dublin.
P. S.—By the acceleratton on tne railway fully two
hours or more would be saved still.

EXTRAOII7DII•I ARY DRAMATIC PERFORNI-
.
•NC E. Lail. month a performance, unique in the annals of the
at the
took place at Genoa. The principal pupils of the Deaf and
of Aristodeme
Institution performed in their own language of signs,
TdDrh:emmatbar'e of the Hotel Gagnolettil,)al:ltos.ntailrttriaingged
eveutmlst precision ; and there was so
and the yretty one-act comedy, entitled The Deserted House. The
young deaf and dumb actors, the eldest of whom wythasthnoostea,buoitsinetelai
that not one
of the numerous specgators who thronged the theatre left it before
:t'itai(cr) years old,
theire xp rgellas?iouttiahagetell rd' with the
displayed in their acting,
the conclusion ofsix.cts, which lasted three hoots The prec,e,,,d4,
ot the evening were lot the per.