The Sun.
London, England, 1862-03-13 00:00:00

Her Majesty the Queen has graciously trans-
mitted an additional liberal contribution of £5O in aid of the
funds of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution.
ROYAL ENGLISH OPERA.—Mr. W. Harrison has
announced his benefit for Saturday, when the " Lilly of
Killarney" will be withdrawn, and Mr. Balfe's opera the
"Rose of Castille" will be given, with a new operetta to be
called "Court and Cottage," words by Tom Taylor, the
music by Mr. F. Clay. Mr. Harrison, of course, will sus-
tain his favourite part of Manuel in the opera, and Miss
Lousia Pyne that of Elvira. That the audience will be one
of the largest of the season we may presume ; and, indeed,
some such acknowledgment is due to Mr. Harrison for his
untiring and energetic efforts in the cause of our national
opera.

DEATH OF MR. TALFOURD. —We regret to
announce the death of this estimable gentleman and gifted
dramatist, which took place on Sunday last at Mentone, in
the south of France, where he was staying for the benefit
of his health. Mr. Talfourd was in his 35th year, and was
the eldest son of the late eminent judge and author, Sir T.
N. Talfourd, D.C.L. He was educated at Eton, and, we
believe, at Oxford. He was called to the bar in due course,
and occasionally went circuit, but was better known as an
accomplished literary man than as a lawyer. He began a
series of burlesques and travesties with the "Willow Pat-
tern Plate," which was produced at the Strand, and, we
believe, " Alcestis." In society Mr. Talfourd was univer-
sally beloved. He married a daughter of Mr. J. Towne,
a solicitor, of Margate, 4 or 5 months since.

The following is a translation of a letter from the
Emperor Napoleon to Mr. Everett, the American states-
men :—" Compiegne, Nov. 24, 1861.—Sir,—I have read
with the most lively interest the speech which you de-
livered at the dinner at which his Imperial Highness Prince
Napoleon was present, and which you have transmitted to
me. lam happy to have found, in language full of cor-
diality and frankness, the animated expression of the sen-
timents which have for so many years united America and
France. I have also been particularly touched at the just
homage rendered to the genius of the chief of my family.
Receive my sincere thanks, and have the goodness to be
my interpreter to your honourable compatriot Doctor
Holmes for his song—so full of inspiration—of Tive la
France.'—Believe, sir, in my distinguished consideration,
NAPOLEON —Mr. Everett, Boston."

How THEY Do THINGS IN THE NORTH.—The
firm of Messrs. John Foster and Son, spinners and manu-
facturers, are about to erect, at their own expense, an
appropriate and beautiful memorial of the late-illustrious
Prince. is t., be erected in the village of Queenshead,
near to their extensive works.

TIIE NEW FELLOW OF ETON.—On Tuesdaymorn-
ing the Provost and Fellows of Eton College (with the ex-
ception of the Rev. Charles Luxmoore, who is ill at his
rectory, Worplesdon) met in the College Chapel, and elected
the Right Rev. James Chapman, D.D., late Bishop of
Colombo, to the Fellowship rendered vacant by the appoint-
ment of the Rev. Edward Balston to the head mastership
of the school,

LETTER-CARRYING.—The railways of the United
Kingdom are to receive from the Post-office £558,891 for
carrying the letters this year; mail coaches only £13,509.
Carts, stage coaches, and omnibuses, however, will get no
less than £l/4,910. It will cost £7OO to provide clothes for
the mail guards, £16,150 to pay their wages and the wages
of mail porters, £10,960 for the supply and repair of mail
bags, £2,080 for apparatus for exchanging them on rail-
roads. The whole cost of the conveyance of mails in the
United Kingdom this year is taken at £755,980. But for
the conveyance of mails abroad—the packet service—the
country is to pay above £900,000.

CURIOUS ENDING OF A FOX HUNT.—A fox hunt,
which took place in Northumberland on the 20th ult., had
rather a singular ending. The hounds found in Chiving-
ton Wood, about 11 miles north of Morpeth. The fox ran
' to Cresswell, and got into a drain in a wood close to the
hall. Permission was obtained from Mr. Baker Cresswell
to dig him out. Some of the party at the hall prepared to
go and witness the process. Meanwhile one of the ladies
of the family was about to go out on the lawn to enjoy the
mild air. She had just reached the entrance hall, when she
saw two hounds pass very near; she therefore contented
herself with looking through the glass door, and was stand-
ing Nvith her face against it, when bounce up against the
glass came the fox, closely pursued by the hounds, and in
less time than it takes to write it they had effectually de-
stroyed him. Had the glass not been of extra strength and
thickness the whole pack must have run over the lady, who
was the unwilling witness a the scene, and who was thus
"in at the death."—lnvernesa Courier.
MIMI' OF CORNWALL.—The annual account of
the revenues of the Duchy has been laid before Parliament
as usual. The income of the year, including the annuity of
£16,216 received from the consolidated fund as compensa-
tion for the abolition of tin coinage duties in 1838, amounted
to £61,319. Of this amount the sum of £30,840 was paid
over to the treasurer of his Royal Highness the Prince of
Wales, Duke of Cornwall; and of the residue £3,581 were
laid out in repairs and permanent improvements of the
estates or in new purchases ; £5,874 went chiefly in pro-
perty-tax, donations, and charities, and the payment from
the duchy towards the salaries of the officers of the Stan-
nary Court, and £6,496 in salaries of the functionaries and
officers of the duchy, and charges of collection of the re--
venues and management of the estates. The balance at the
bankers' at the close of the year was £14,000 more than at
its commencement. Besides the estates of the duchy there
is a large amount of money in the funds, now no less than
£85,208 Three per Cents., the produce, it would seem, of
enfranchisements and sales of estates.

THE FRENCH BAKERS.—" The syndics of the
bakers," says the &We, " have just addressed to their con-
stituents an account of the steps which they have taken to
arrive at a solution of the questions concerning their trade.
On the 24th Jan. they solicited an audience of the Emperor.
Being admitted on the 2d Feb., they presented to his Ma-
jesty a memorial, and on the 15th forwarded a petition with
962 signatures affixed. The memorial and petition showed
that the bakery trade has been placed since 1804 out of the
pale of the common law. The money remuneration to the
baker has remained stationary since 1823, notwithstanding
the progressive increase of rent, taxes, cost of living, and
trading expenses. This sad condition has shown itself by
55 failures between the Ist Jan., 1857,
and the 20th July,
1860, the liabilities amounting to 3,500,000 f. In 1853, the
bakery fund was founded, by means of which bakers sell
bread above the real price in times of abundance, in order
to be able to sell it below in times of scarcity ; the amount
received above its value serving to reimburse the amount
advanced. The syndicate sees in this system of compensa-
tion the inconvenience that the bakers, the responsible re-
ceivers, mu t, even when they suffer losses from their cus-
tomers, pay to the administration the difference fixed by it.
More than that, the necessity of keeping a stock of flour
equivalent to three months' consumption requires a capital
(Afton). 20 to 25 millions of francs, and, besides, causes con-
siderable expenses. What is the evident remedy for those
evils? Three systems have been proposed :—To maintain
the present state of things, allowing to bakers a remunera-
tion accordtng to their expenses ; to return to absolute li-
berty of trade, as asked by M. Le Play in the Council of
State; or to preserve the present organisation, creating a
certain number of large establishments as proposed by the
prefectoral administration of the department of the Seine.
The Syndicate rejects thiy latter project; and. without de-
oiling between the two others, it thus states the problem, a
prompt solution of which it demanded ; that the bakery
trade should be free, and be brought within the reach of
the common law, or,
main-
tained, that a fitting remuneration be assured to the persons
engaged in the trade. if the present organisation is