The Sun.
London, England, 1862-06-23 00:00:00

IRE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY EVENING, JUNE 23, 1862.

/ ending last Saturday, distributed there among the
carefully-selected recipients of its bounty, among
other items, 13,9701b5. of bread and 13,8001b5. of
oatmeal. Alas ! that we should have to add, after
our previous remarks as to the wretched condition
of that unemployed manufacturing community at
Blackburn, ex uno disce omnes. Blackburn is
simply, we repeat, a case in point : and unhappily,
too, but little more than:an average case. If the
parish authorities of Blackburn have had reason to
number up during this past week 9,500 destitute
persons looking for prompt aid to their benevolence,
the guardians at Preston have numbered up still
more within the same interval—they have num-
bered, in fact, as many as 10,810, who during the
past week have received out-door relief at their
hands, at a cost of £661 1 ls. 9d. That, in the
midst of so much wretchedness, there should have
been no outrages on the part of the suffering
population, is, in truth, a noble and affecting
indication of their loyalty and of their
endurance. Her MAIESTY had reason to
to comment in terms of affectionate pity and ad-
miration—through the speech delivered by her Royal
Commissioners at the opening of the present session
of Parliament—upon the calm and brave manner in
which. the inhabitants of the manufacturing en-
durance met the evil fate brought upon them by the
lack of cotton consequent upon the blockade of the
Southern ports of North America. Her MAJESTY will
have still greater reason to utter the same comment
couched, of course, this time, in language still more
emphatically expressive of those feelings of mingled
pity and admiration through the medium of the
Speech from the Throne with the vicarious delivery
of which the Lords and Commons will now very
soon be dismissed from their legislative duties.
In the presence of this Cotton Famine and of all
this consequent destitution among our English
cotton manufacturers, two :responsibilities are quite
manifestly, and, we hope and believe also
quite irresistibly thrust upon the rest of the com-
munity—not a:innerly afflicted. First—the re-
sponsibility, so far as may be in any way prac-
ticable, of affording relief to the increasing multi-
tude of sufferers. And, secondly, of taking
measures, so far, again, as may in any way be
practicable, to prevent the recurrence of any like
calamity in future among our cotton manufactures.
How this is best to be accomplished we all know
now perfectly well: namely, by rendering our cotton
manufacturers independent of the Southern States
of North America for the bulk of the supplies of the
raw material annually required to keep the cotton
factories of England in full and active operation.
"Do you grow your own hemp ?" whimsically
asked CHARLES LAMB, when writing to a corres-
pondent of his in Australia. "We must grow our
own cotton" ought henceforth to be the axiom of
our English importers of that raw material for the
use of our manufacturers. We have certainly a
large choice of new cotton-growing countries, ready
to hand, for irrigation and planting in our own
colonies. Far and wide they lie absolutely at our
command—lndia, Ceylon, New Zealand, Jamaica,
Guiana, Australasia. All we have to do in this
matter is to make a judicious choice, and then at
once energetically to commence operations.

Everybody, in turn, is still asking, "Is the
EMPEROR coming to London to see the Exhi-
bition P" Here is Midsummer already past, here is
June rapidly hastening to its close, the Parliamen-
tary session has nearly come to an end, and not a
hint yet as to the realisation of what was once in
the early spring a very general expectation. It
will be remembered, in effect, that the statement of
the EMPEROR'S approaching arrival here in Eng-
land was formally announced but a few months
back, in a semi-official communication that bore
upon it all the appearance of its perfect authen.
ticity. A telegram one forenoon was even flashed
under the waters of the Channel, mentioning the
number of the Imperial ships of war that• would be
in attendance upon his MAJESTY on his passage
from the shores of France to those of England.
NAPOLEON would be accompanied, it was said,
by his Impeiial Consort, and by their youthful son,
the heir apparent to the sceptre of DAGOBERT.
Her Majesty the QUEEN, it was understood had
placed Buckingham Palace at the command of her
imperial guests during their stay. If anything
could retard the coming of the latter, it would only
be delayed a little while, according to the general
impression, until • the return of the Prince
of WALES from his tour in the Holy Lands.
Since then, however, his ROYAL HIGENESS has
returned. But not a sign as yet of the EMPEROR'S
advent. His Imperial Highness the Prince NAro
LEON, it is true, is at this moment in London, and
on Saturday paid his first visit to the Exhibition
building in South Kensington. But, instead of
there being any indication of the approaching arri-
val upon our shores of the EMPEROR and EMPRESS
and tho PRINCE IMPERIAL, preparations have for
some time been making for another elaborate and
systematised tour by NAPOLEON through a part of
his dominions hitherto unvisited by him since the
date of his accession. The London season is passing
by, therefore, rapidly under another manifest disad-
vantage, and one which, at its outset, was not by
any means anticipated. In the unavoidable absence of
the QUEEN from the metropolis during the year of
the Exhibition, it was confidently expected that our
Imperial Ally would for a brief interval again
have been the guest of the capital in which both
the EMPEROR and EMPRESS, but a very few years
back, received so cordial a reception. It is, per-
haps, not yet too late, however, for the tardy fulfil-
ment of our almost abandoned expectations in this
m'atter. The EMPEROR'S coming is still, in other
words, a possibility. We can hardly venture to
call it any longer, however, a probability.

Russia is in a singularly excited state. The pas-
sive resistance of the Poles excited much sympathy
in the capital ; and the suppression of the Univer-
sity was not in accordance with popular feeling;
but it seems there is a political excitement which
will find manifestation; and the CZAR has found him-
self obliged to put down military Sunday Schools
Chess Clubs, and Reading Rooms. It seems that
every kind of meeting, in which intelligent persons
can assemble, has become actually dangerous to the
Government of St. Petersburg.
But the numerous, and, unquestionably, incen-
diary fires, appear to show that even a humbler
stratum of the population is in a state which seeks
wild revenge, or in which it takes this violent
means to force attention to its wishes.
In not fewer than twenty-seven places has the city
been on fire in one week, and the public buildings
and stores of wood seem to be special objects of
attack. There is a determination to put an end to
the old order of things. The serf emancipation has
unsettled all classes. The nobles cannot get their
rents, as
the serfs cannot be moved from the land,
yet Will not
pay for it. The serfs think the
concessionfull
of what is promised them
is unreasonably
delayed. While all, parties
the
is
indeedotfi c i al
son o b i li t
iso
r s ecorruption
against
bare notorious—ity of
Russia,is fair
to add so necessary to
w
their subsistence—that
they are the objects of universal detestation. What
with the deep unquietness at home and the national

aspirations of Poland, Russia has not within living
memory been in so dangerous a state. The disturb-
ance at the accession of NICHOLAS was a trifle to
the deep unsettlement of all classes throughout the
Empife.

LATEST NEWS.

THE PENINSULAR MAILS.
SOUTHAMPTON, SUNDAY NIGHT.

The. Peninsular and Oriental Company's steam-
ship Tagus, Captain W. B. Hall, arrived at 9 p.m.,
with mails in charge of Com. Pritchard, R.N„ naval

mail agent.
She brings 42 passengers (of whom 28 are first-
class, six second, and eight deck), £3,094 ls. 2d. in
specie, 598 half-chests and 72 boxes of oranges, 65
boxes of lemons, 155 boxes of eggs, and 6 packages
of sundries.

This packet left Lisbon on the 17th inst., Oporto
on the 18th, and Vigo on the 19th.
From Lisbon to Vigo she had strong northerly
winds, thence to Ushant fine weather and fresh
N.E. to N.W. breezes, and subsequently moderate
to N.W. winds and fine weather.

On the 20th, at 6 a.m., in lat. 44 N., long. 8.40
W., the Tagus exchanged signals with the Alhambra
steamer, steering S.W.

ST. JAMES'S THEATRE.

THE NEW COMEDY.

This ❑ow agreeable and popular theatre reopened
on Saturday evening with a new and original
comedy, by Mr, Watts Phillips, entitled " His Last
Victory," which achieved a complete success. The
story, which is laid in France, and in the present
day, turns on the passion with which a young and
wealthy widow—the Countess Beauregard—has
inspired both an uncle and nephew, the former
a military veteran, General Lacroix, who are
mutually ignorant of the fact. The widow, who
reciprocates the feelings of the nephew, Felicien
Doucet, but finds him apparently indifferent to her,
and in order to draw him into a declaration encou-
rages the attentions of the uncle, till he is urged to
this end himself. She is, however, tempted to turn
him into ridicule by keeping him on his knees before
her till her visitors have entered the room and
raised a loud laugh at his expense. Springing to
his feet indignantly, the old general resents the
insult and quits her house, informing her
that lie shall live to obtain his revenge.
In the second act it is afforded him. The
widow has placed herself in the power of a Parisian
roue, Baron de Fauconvike, wbo possesses some
letters, which he wields as a threat against her in
order to compel her to marry him ; but her lover,
Felicien, discovering it, challenges the Baron, in
order to compel him to give them up, which chal-
lenge, falling into the hands of the uncle, who has
by this time learned the state of Felicien's feelings,
is delivered by himself instead, and the result is an
encounter, ending in the roue's defeat and the re-
covery of the needed documents.

If there was no particular novelty or strength in
these positions, they afforded abundant scope for
acting, and were very well sustained both by
Miss Herbert as the Countess and Mr. G. Vining
as the General; the ladylike bearing of the one,
and the military bluffness of the other contrasting
very happily in their several scenes. The General's
servant, Sergeant Pons, was also very well played
by Mr. Belmore—an artist in everything he does—
and the Parisian roue, gambler, and dead-shot, a
sort of chateau Renaud, was very effectively sus
tained by Mr. Charles, who is rapidly advancing
as one of our young gentlemanly comedians. Mr.
Ashley was also amusing as an astrologist, Mr.
Copernicus Kopp. The great merit of this comedy,
however, is its thoughtful and brilliant dialogue,
Mr. Watts Phillips's great distinction among his
brethren at present, which tended not a little to
ensure its entire success. At the fall of the curtain
he was loudly called for, as well as Miss Herbert
and Mr. Vining. We must not omit that the
comedy is very charmingly placed on the stage.
The house was crowded to the roof.