The Sun.
London, England, 1865-07-20 00:00:00

London and Westminster Bank.

-
The half-yearly general meeting of the proprietors of
this bank was held yesterday at the bank, Lothbury, Mr.
Alderman Salomons in the chair, for the purpose of pre-
senting a report and. making a dividend.
The directors reported that, after making provision for
all bad and doubtful debts, paying the income tax, and
devoting £2,000 for the buildings of the bank, the net pro-
fits for the last half-yeir amounted to £151,498 7s. Bd.,
which, added to £9,357 ls. 5d., the unappropriated balance
of the preceding half-year, amounted to £160,855 9s. ld.
Out of this amount interest on the rest, or surplus fund at
the rate of 5 per cent. per annum (.0,250), had been added
to that fund, which now amounted to £338,250. (Hear.)
The directors now declared a dividend to the shareholders
at the rate of 6 per cent. per annum, and by way of further
dividend out of the profits a bonus of 10 per cent. on the
paid-up capital. (Applause.) After these payments had
been made there would remain a balance of £22,605 9s. Id.
to be carried to the profitand loss account for the current
half-year.
The report was adopted, and the dividend and bonus
declared payable, without deduction of income tax, on
Monday, the 24th.
The usual 'Tote of thanks brought the meeting to a close.

NEW BLACKFRIARS BRIDGE.

LAYING THE FOUNDATION STONE-THIS DAY.

To-day the grand ceremony of laying the foun-
dation stone of New Blackfriars Bridge was per-
formed by the Right Hon. Warren Stormes Hale,
Lord Mayor of London, the Aldermen, the Sheriffs,
and nearly the whole of the members of the Cor-
poration. The utmost pomp was given to the pro-
ceedings, which, like most of the city ceremonies,
commanding a grand dejeuner in the Guildhall,
which was served at one o'clock. From thence the
civic pageant proceeded to the Surrey side of the
river, at which place the stone was laid. The Lord
Mayor occupied the venerable, time-honoured State
coach, attended by his sword and mace bearer; the
sheriffs rode in their " dress chariots," and the alder-
men and members of the Common Council were con-
veyed to the spot in their cozy broughams, although
some of them seemed on this occasion rather more
uncomfortable than usual, owing to the heat of the
weather and the occupants being more than the
regulation number. The Under-Sheriffs, the mem-
bers of the Bridge-house Estates' Committee, the
High Bailiff of Southwark, the City Solicitor, the
Remembrancer, the Controller, the Secondary, the
Judge of the Sheriff's Court, the Town Clerk, the
Recorder, the Common Sergeant, the Chamberlain,
the contractors for building the bridge, and the en-
gineer, all enjoyed conspicuous places in the proces-
sion, which was accompanied on its way by military
musio. The banners of the Lord Mayor's Company
were borne in the procession, which took the follow-
ing route :—King-street, across Cheapside, down
Queen-street, along Cannon-street West, the south
side of St. Paul's-churchyard, Ludgate-hill, and
thence by way of New Bridge-street to the further
side of Blackfriars-bridge.
The new bridge which is about to span the Thames
at Blackfriars will be a very stately edifice, re-
sembling in its general features and in its great
width and inclination that at Westminster, but dif-
fering in ornamentation and in some respects in the
mode of construction. It will be of five arches, and
963 ft. in length from bank fo bank, the width being
75ft., or 9ft. less than that of Westminster-bridge.
The entire waterway available for navigation will
be 844 ft., as compared with 787 ft., which the old
bridge gave, and below the centre arch there will be
25ft. of headway above Trinity high-water mark.
The steepest inclination will be 1 in 40, that of the
old bridge being lin 18, and it will be 40ft. wider.
The footways on each side will be 15ft. wide, or exactly
double the width of those of the old bridge, while the
carriage-way will be 45ft. broad, as compared with
27ft. 6in. It is estimated to cost in all £320,000,
including £30,000 in respect of the erection and
eventual removal of the present temporary structure.
All the arches of the old bridge, nine in number,
have now- been removed, but several of the piers
still remain, though they are in course of rapid de-
molition. It has offered a stout resistance to the
work of destruction, in spite of all the apprehension
during the last 15 or 20 years that it would some
day fall of itself. The contractors began to remove
it in June, 1864, and the work has been in progress
ever since (more than a year) night anti day. From
June, 1850, when the first discovery was made of
the sinking of the defective pier, to the beginning
of 1856, upwards of £10,500 was spent in propping
up that part of the structure, and a further sum of
£3,005 was expended in the same way down to the
end of 1859.

Turning to the new bridge, its foundations will
be laid by means of iron caissons, of which there
will be six in each pier, four of them 36ft. in length.
by 18ft. wide. All the principal caissons will be sunk
to an average of more than 20ft. below the bed of
the river, and 44ft. below Trinity high-water mark.
The cutwater part of each pier will also be borne on
caissons, the piers will all be of granite, ornamented
with columns of red polished granite, having bases
and capitals of Portland stone. The massive
abutments at either end of the bridge will also be
constructed with granite and enriched with
cornices of Portland stone. Each of the two
land arches will have a span of 155 ft., the two
next of 175 ft. each, and the centre arch one of
184 ft. The bridge will be precisely parallel with the
new viaduct of the London, Chatham, and Dover
Railway, and the piers of each will correspond in
position, so as to offer the least possible obstruction
to the navigation. The arches will be wholly of
wrought-iron. The bridge will be surmounted by
an open balustrade, 3ft. 9in. in height from the foot
pavement, on each side, from end to end ; and its
estimated cost is £300,000. The corporation autho-
rities made all suitable preparations for giving it the
character of a great public ceremonial. Nothing like
it in public interest has occurred since 1825, when
the first stone of London-bridge was laid with much
pomp and circumstance, or when, some years after-
wards, on the completion of the structure itself,
the reigning Sovereign graced the opening ceremony
with his presence. More than 100 years ago the
then Lord Mayor, Sir Thomas Chitty, with all the
other municipal dignitaries, assisted in laying the
foundation-stone of the edifice which has been re-
moved to give place to the new bridge at Black-
friars, and the commencement of Southwark-bridge,
in comparatively modern times, has also made an
occasion for popular rejoicing ; so that the Corpo-
ration of London followed but its own traditions in
making the event of to-day an affair of civic state.
The Lord Mayor will entertain the whole of the
Court of Common Council and several distin-
guished visitors this evening at the Mansion-house.

Will of the Late Mr. Biehard Thornton,

the Millionaire of the City.

The will of this gentleman, so well known at
Lloyd's, the Jerusalem, and almost every commer-
cial establishment in the City, and who died a few
weeks ago, leaving the enormous wealth of
£3,700,000, was proved at Doctors'-commons on
Friday last.
Mr. Thornton's career as a merchant in the City
was most extraordinary. lie was the son of a
north-country gentleman, and was born in 1776, at
Burton, -a village in Lonsdale, Yorkshire. The
tourist to that sequestered region will find a hand-
some monument of Mr. Thornton's attachment to
his birth-place in the charity school which he built
at a cost of £40,000, and endowed for the lodging,
boarding, and teaching of poor children in the
parishes of Burton and Thornton. He was
educated at the school of Christ's Hospital, and,
on leaving school, he entered into business in
Southwark. But very few of the oldest City men
can remember Mr. Thornton's first start in his com-
mercial career. The circumstances of that time were
very different to our condition in later days. It was
during our great war with the French Empire, when
England was excluded from the markets of Europe,
and when the Continental trade was of immensely
greater importance to us, that Mr. Thornton, who
was then carrying on business in partnership with
his brother as a general merchant and shipbroker,
threw himself with fearless resolution to break through
the prohibition of English trade with the Continent.
Napoleon had made the most desperate efforts to
destroy the whole of our foreign commerce. To
enforce his decrees, an entire division of the
French army, under the command of General
Rappe, was stationed at Dantzic, and every port
in Northern Germany was jealously guarded.
The Messrs. Thornton were among those who
embarked in a bold and adventurous spirit. On
one occasion Richard Thornton was on board a
vessel of his own entering the Baltic when she was
ecountered by a Danish gunboat, and the story goes
that the Englishman, carrying a gun or two of his
own, as was not unusual with merchantmen in those
days, refused the summons to surrender, and showed
fight, victoriously beating off the Dane after a vigor-
ous cannonade. , In that year, 1810, he got a com-
mission from the Admiralty to purchase as much
hemp as could be procured from Russia for the rig-
ging of our fleet. This errand was, of course, at-
tended with some personal danger, since all the
English had fled from or had been expelled from
Riga and St. Petersburg. But Richard Thornton
was not likely to be deterred by such risks. He
landed at Memel, and succeeded in obtaining and
conveying to England many thousands of tons of
hemp for the use of our Government, in spite of diffi-
culties which would have baffled any ordinary man.
A splendid recompense awaited him two years
afterwards. An express communication reached
him from his brother who was in that country at
the time of the French invasion in 1812. He was
apprised of the fact of Napoleon's retreat from
Moscow three days before it was known either to
our Ministers or to any other persons in London,
and profited by it to something over £200,000. The
civil war which broke out with a short interval in
the kingdoms of Portugal and Spain excited Mr.
Thornton's sympathy. He saw the utter rottenness
of the Miguelite pretensions in Portugal as well as
of the Carlist party in Spain, and he judged that
by subscribing towards their overthrow he might do
a good act and make a good thing of it. Military
munitions were laid up in the Azores to be ready for
the use of Don Pedro's adherents, either to replace
him or his daughter upon the Portuguese throne.
It was Mr. Thornton who advanced a great deal of
the money for these preparations, and who, when
Don Pedro's army. took the field, contracted for
its equipment, finding everything the soldiers
required. The enterprise was successfully con-
cluded in 1834 by the friendly intervention
of the English Government. Yet scarcely had our
young " prot6gd " got safely seated on the throne of
Lisbon than we had to assist another infant Queen
against another pretender. Mr. Thornton did not
hesitate to take the odds in favour of the Spanish
heiress, as before of the Portuguese. lie contri-
buted much to the raising of the first loan on her
behalf ; and what with his claims as a bondholder,
heavy debts which they owed him, &c., he was a
creditor of the young Peninsular Governments of
not less than two millions sterling. With this im-
mense stake he never failed among the Peninsular
Pondholders to avow his own opinion that those
Governments would ultimately redeem their credit.
Mr. Thornton's personal services to the Portuguese
Government were acknowledged by conferring on
him the rank of a Knight Commander of the Order
of the Tower and the Sword. Mr. Thornton was a
member and underwriter at Lloyd's since the year
1798. Scorning the precautions of ordinary under-
writers, who are in the habit of dividing their responsi-
bilities with one another, so that the loss of a single vessel
and her cargo would fall perhaps on '2O or 30 persons, Mr.
Thornton has taken a leonine share of the most tempting
and lucrative hazards. No other man would be disposed, even
for a premium of 70 per cent., to undertake the insurance of
£lOO,OOO on one bottom. Mr. Thornton, until his retirement
from that scene of action, was beyond comparison the greatest
man at Lloyd's ; and though single-handed his operations
rivalled those of the great marine insurance companies
which have flourished so largely in these days. Previously
to the late war with Russia he would sometimes insure for
the Imperial Government such a thing as a steam frigate
built in the English dockyards; and once, it is said, hav-
ing entered into a similar liability towards that or another
foreign State, on being asked by a friend how he could insure
the fleets of the different European kingdoms, he replied,
" Oh, if they lose the men-of-war that I've insured, I can
pay for them in their own bonds." Besides being the largest
holder of Consols in England, Mr. Thornton was also one
of the largest holders of foreign securities. lie was noted
for the extent and multiplicity of his investments, as well
as for his dexterous use of such opportunities as have fre-
quently been presented by the variable moods and opinions
of the Stock Exchange. But ordinary trade had not been
Mr. Thornton's only resource. He sometimes won largely
on the affairs of the turf, and at other times has taken
considerable bets on the result of a military campaign or a
ministerial crisis. During our war with Russia, it is said,
he laid the sum of £lO,OOO against £5OO with a well-
known Greek merchant that the price of Consols, which
was of course somewhat declining, would never fall below
85 until the conclusion of peace. One dark morning in
the winter, which found us in a shocking mess at Sebastopol
and Balaclava, tho price actually came down to 851, and
those who had envied Mr. Thornton's invariable luck were
rubbing their hands at the -prospect of his defeat. But
Consols fell no lower, and Mr. Thornton pocketed the
modest stake of his antagonist, having risked such odds
against it.
Before closing we should refer to his acts of charity and
beneficence, as a fitting accompaniment to such extraordi-
nary good fortune. Tho schools which he has fminded in
his native village, far away in the Yorkshire dales, have
already been noticed. But there is another pleasing trophy
of his liberality—a double row of almshouses, neatly built,
and situated in a very pretty open garden, at the edge of
Barnet-common, just outside the neighbourly little town.
The Leathersellers' Company, which boasted in him its
father or senior member, erected one block of these horses in
1838, with money given by him when he filled the office of
master in that worshipful guild. A second donation of his
in 1850 enabled them to build a new range of these com-
fortable dwellings, in which altogether 13 aged men and
women enjoy a stipend each of 10s. weekly, with coals
and candles. Every year he used to go to Barnet with
the worshipful master and wardens, in the last week in
May, to shako hands with the poor old pensioners, to com-
pare their lengths of years with his own, and thou to dine
in good old English fashion with his colleagues in. that
ancient corporation. Such was the dignity and recreation of
ir
a London merchant of the old school. Mr. Thorto In his
will makes the following bequests : —£1,000,000 to Mr.
Thomas Thornton, who likewise is to inherit the deceased's
estates; £1,000,000 to Mr. Richard Thornton West;
£500,000 to be divided among other relations and friends
a handsome provision for Mr. Neal and other of the de-
ceased's clerks ; £lOO,OOO to bo divided among all the
charities, hospitals, asylums, and benevolent institutions in
London, ex.—the sums are duly proportionedin each
bequest ; £15,000 to Christ's Hospital (where deceased was
educated) ; £lO,OOO left in trust for the benefit of the
schools
in Merton, Surrey ; £lO,OOO left in trust for the
schools in Mr. Thornton's native village, Burton, in York-
shire ; £l,OOO left for the benefit of the aged poor at
Burton ; £5OO left for the poor at Merton.
There are many other bequests contained in the will.
The executors are Mr. Thomas Thornton, Mr. R. T. West,
Mr. Pulford, and Mr. Lee.
It is represented that the probate duty of the will cost
£42,000, and the legacy duty will amount to upwards of
£lOO,OOO.

Mr. and Mrs. Howard Paul's Beehive at the
Dramatic College fete realised over £lOO for that excellent
charity.

HER MAJESTY.

OSBORNE, July 19.
The Queen and royal family went out yesterday
as usual.

Prince Leiningen, Count and Countess Gleichen,
and the Rev. W. L. Onslow, chaplain and naval
instructor in 11.M.5. Racoon, had the honour of
dining with her Majesty in the evening.

-- ..d.. -

The Prince and Princess of Wales in

Devonshire.

PLY3IOUTII, Wednesday.
Their Royal Highnesses the Prince and Princess
of Wales and suite left Mount-Edgcumbe at 12.30
p.m. to-day, crossed the Hamoaze, and landed at
the Royal Victualling-yard. Their royal highnesses
proceeded thence in carriages to the show-yard of
the Royal Agricultural Society's Exhibition, and
inspected the stock and implements, being after-
wards entertained at a dejainer by the society's
officers.

They left at 3 p.m. for a visit to the Royal Albert-
bridge at Saltash, and there embarked on board the
royal yacht Osborne proceeding with the Lords of
the Admiralty to visit the English and French
squadrons in the Sound.
The prince went on board and inspected the
Magenta, the French commodore's ship, and H.M.S.
Royal Sovereign and Achilles.
Their royal highnesses returned in the evening in
the Osborne to Mount-Edgcumbe, and dined with
a large party invited to meet them.

PLYMOUTH, Wednesday.
It had been for some time expected by the inha-
bitants of Plymouth that the Prince and Princess
of Wales would pay them a visit in the course of
the present summer, and yesterday that expectation
was realised. Early yesterday morning it became
generally known throughout the town and its vici-
nity that the Osborne, with the Prince and Princess
on board, had left Osborne shortly after daybreak,
and that her arrival in Plymouth Sound might be
looked for about noon. The morning broke auspi-
ciously, and as it wore on thousands of people
flocked to the spot at which it was announced the
royal party were to disembark. On shore an im-
mense crowd had assembled by 12 o'clock. The
whole surface of the harbour, too, was alive with
craft of every description gliding swiftly to and fro,
conspicuous among them being the Enchantress, the
beautiful steam yacht of the Lords of the Admiralty.
Unfortunately, the day did not keep the promise of
fine weather which it gave at its opening. Towards
noon rain fell heavily, and a stiff breeze blew steadily
up Channel. The preparations for the royal recep-
tion progressed, nevertheless, with unabated vigour,
and the crowd, unmindful of the wet, waited pa-
tiently for the event to which all were so eagerly
looking forward. More than one provoking false
alarm was given by the salutes consequent on the
movements of the Lords of the Admiralty, but
bhortly after half-past 2 the report of 21 guns, again
and again repeated from ship and fort, conveyed the
I welcome tidings that the royal yacht was at hand.
I Happily, just as she came in sight the clouds began
to disperse, and a brilliant sunshine soon after made
amends for the mid-day gloom. The Osborne, on
her arrival, took up her moorings in Barnyool, off
Mount Edgcumbe. Immediately after her arrival,
the Earl of Mount-Edgcumbe, whose guests the
Prince and Princess are to be during their stay in
Plymouth, went on board to welcome them, and
later in the afternoon a deputation from the Ply-
mouth Corporation had the honour of being received
on board by his Royal Highness and presenting him
with an address. An address was also subsequently
presented to the Prince by the Mayor and civic
authorities of Devonport.
It was not until a quarter to 5 that the disem-
barcation of the Royal party was announced by the
firing of a salute from the Mount Edgcumbe bat-
tery, and the cheering of the people in the boats by
which the Osborne was surrounded. Just above
the landing place the officers of the garrison and of
the men-of-war at present in Plymouth harbour
took up their positions. Close by also stood the
Dowager Countess of Mount-Edgcumbe and several
I other members of Lord Mount-Edgcurnbe's family,
accompanied by the Marquis of Abercorn, the Earl
I of Dalkeith and Lady Dalkeith, the Ladies Hamil-
ton, Viscount Templetown (Commander-in-Chief
of the Western District) and Lady Templetown,
Sir W. Fairfax, the Hon. Colonel Cust, Sir W.
Snow Harris, Sir J. Kingcome, Colonel Owen,
R.E., Colonel Hutchinson, Colonel Brown, and la
large number of ladies and gentlemen.
As the boat which conveyed the
.Prince and
Princess approached the landing-place they were.
loudly cheered, not only by those on shore, but by
the occupants of the numerous boats which fol-
lowed in their wake. The Princess of Wales was
handed out of the boat, amid continued cheering, by
the Earl of Mount-Edgcumbe, and immediately pro-
c ceded with the Prince, Lady de Grey, and Captain
Grey, who are in attendance on their Royal High-
nesses, to ascend the steps leading to Mount Edg-
cumbe-park. Having reached the top, they entered
a carriage which was in waiting for them, and drove
through the park, where thousands of persons had
I from an early hour been assembled to witness
their coming. Tlie 2d Devon Administrative Batta -
Ilion of Volunteers, including the Plymouth, Devon-
! port, Stonehouse, and Tavistock Corps, commanded
by Lieutenant-Colonel Fisk, were present, and acted
as a guard of honour. Both the Prince and Prin-
cess, who did not appear to have at all sufferedfrom
the rough passage which they had just made, re-
peatedly acknowledged the cordial cheers with which
they were greeted from the moment they entered
the harbour until they reached their destination.
To-day the Prince and Princess visited the Royal
Agricultural Show, and it is expected the Prince
will in the course of the afternoon pay a short visit
to the French men-of-war. On Friday morning,
as well as can be ascertained, he will proceed in the
Osborne to Penzance, and land at St. Michael's
Mount. His Royal Highness will afterwards visit
Botallack Mine. Both he and the Princess will, it
is thought, be present at a ball which is to be given
I by the officers of the Plymouth and Devonport gar-
Ilisons, in honour of their visit, to-morrow evening,
and to which the French naval officers staying here
I have been invited.

The King of the Belgians is again seriously ill.
He is unable to leave his palace, and his physicians are in
constant attendance upon him.

-
TIIE QUEEN OF THE SANDWICH ISLANDS.—Her
Majesty Queen of Hawaii, accompanied
byLa Emma,yFranklinD,ohwoagnoeurred Messrs. Watkins, of Parlia-
ment-street, with a visit yesterday, and sat for a series of
photographic portraits.

THE ITOP P L ANTATI ONS. —Roc HESTER, July 19.
—The reports from both the Western, eastern, and
central districts of the county all describe the hops as look-
ing in the highest degree promising, and the prospects of
the planters as of a highly favourable character. The late
genial rains have proved exceedingly beneficial, and not
only have had the effect of making the plants push for-
ward strong and vigorously, but have cleared most of then'
of the vermin which had begun to infest them. The mid-
summer shoots are pushing forward rapidly, and the but
fast developing itself ; indeed, in some of the most forward
of the plantations the hops have already attained a con-
siderable size. At present there is scarcely any vermin to
be seen, and appearances point to a bountiful crop, far ex-
ceeding, it is calculated, the yield of last year. Much, how-
ever, will depend upon the weather during the next month,
but at present there is nothing to injure a sample or pre-
vent a good crop. The reports from the adjoining county
of Sussex, as well as from Worcestershire, describe the hop
plantations as looking very promising, with the prospect of
an abundant crop of good quality. The hops are forming
rapidly, and all that is wanting is some hot sunshine to
bring them to maturity.
ARRIVAL OE THE KEARSARGE AT BREST.—BRESTI
July 19.—The United States war steamer Kearsarge, iron'
Lisbon, entered these roads to-day, and fired a salute of 21
guns, which was returned by the fort.
THE TIARVEST.—Mr. W. Cooper, of Bambara,
commenced cutting rye last Week; and Mr. Raynbird, of
Ilengrave, has also cut a piece of very forward barley'
Mr. Clements, of this town, commenced wheat harvest on
Tuesday. A sample of new winter oats, of fine quality,
harvested and threshed, was shown in Mark-lane on Mon-
day last, grown by Mr. Charles Nuon, of Fornham, on the
late Mr. Lee's farm at Wesley.—Bury and Norwich fort.