The Sun.
London, England, 1853-08-09 00:00:00

SPAIN.

The Madrid .Gazette of the_3d contains the royal
decrees accepting the resignation of M. Moyano, as
Minister of Public Works, " offered on account of
the bad state of his health," and appointing M.
Esteban Collantes, Director of the Post-office, his
successor.

The Three per Cents. were done at 44i De-
ferred Debt, 23k.

ITALY.

The Milan Gazette of the 2d publishes a sentence
pronounced by the Court-martial of Mantua, con-
demning four persons to various periods of im-
prisonment in irons, varying from eight to fifteen
months for having been found in the possession
of arms.

The Venice Gazette publishes a sentence by the
Court-martial of Udine, of the 21st ult., con-
demning a gentleman named Locatelli, aged 50,
having a wife and family, and, as the sentence
says, a good reputation in a political point of view,
to two years' imprisonment in irons, for having
been found in possession of an unserviceable fire-
lock, and a good sword. This sentence has been
commuted into one year's imprisonment without
irons.

The Eco della Borsa of Milan states that great
importance is !attributed in high ,political circles
to the fact of Lieut. Marshal Benedeck having
been summoned to Vienna, and it is currently re-
ported that he is to take a part in the labours of
Count Rechberg and Chevalier de Burger for the
re-organisation of Lombardy.
At Rome, July 27, the police having been in-
formed that a number of young men with British
passports had landed at Civita Vecchia and that
they had left that place for Rome, caused them to
be followed, and two of them were arrested.
It would appear that those persons are revolu-
tionary agents, and that they came with the object
disoefermeteatng
societies
i betweenofltaly. the various
Theirheirpa o
sspohrtieafs t the
out to be forgeries.

THE DOCK LABOURERS' STRIKES.—This morning at
7 o'clock the full quantity of men had been taken on
that were required, and printed notices were posted on
the gates to that effect ; but a vast number of men re-
mained outside the entrances to the London and St.
Katharine's Docks. At 8 o'clock this morning a gentle-
man from the Directors of the East and West India
Docks waited upon Mr. Mumford, the Superintendent
of St. Katharine's Docks, and Mr. Clements, of the
London Docks, requesting to be supplied with several
hundred men, as the company he represented were in
need of a great number of labourers. There were about
300 men at that time to spare, who had been engaged
as a reserve, and they were accordingly placed at the
agent's use, if he thought proper to engage them. They
were then requested to proceed to the Minories' station.
near Tower-hill, and were conveyed by the Blackwall
Railway to the Docks, where they were put to work,
with a promise of overtime.
SUBMARINE AND EUROPEAN TELEGRAPH COMPANY.—
OPENING TO BIRMINGHAM.—The above company's land
line to Birmingham having been connected with the
offices, 30, Cornhill, and 104, New-street, the company
commenced transmitting dispatches on Monday last.
The communication between the respective termini was
found to be more than usually perfect, and the trans-
mitting media apparently without flaw. There was no
public ceremony upon the occasion, and the only causes
which render the event remarkable are the great reduc-
tion in the tariff, the former amount of 2s. 6d. being re-
duced to is., the is. additional charge for each 10 words
above the minimum of 20 having been changed to a tariff
of 6d. for each additional 10 words or fraction of 10
words, and the somewhat gratifying circumstance that
the great link-lines of Europe are now continued in one
unbroken chain of communication from the continent
through London, and northwards as far as as Birming-
ham. The Company's line to Manchester and Liverpool
is to be rapidly proceeded with.

MILITIA LAW AMENDMENT.—Another Government
measure has been printed to suspend the making of lists
and the ballots, and enrolments for the militia of the
United Kingdom, and otherwise to amend the law in
relation thereto. By its provisions all general and sub-
division meetings of the lieutenancy, excepting those so
called in the 15th end 16th Vic., c. 50, and all proceed-
ings relating to the ballot and provision of substitutes,
are to be suspended until the Ist of October 1854,—pro-
ceedings during such suspension to be by order in Council.
So much of the Militia Act of last session as relates to
deputy-lieutenants raising volunteers for the militia is
repealed. The times and places of exercise are to be
appointed by the Lord-Lieutenant of the county or his
deputies, and the notices are to be sent to the men
by post. The penalty for fraudulent enlistment is in
future not to exceed 101., and in default three months'
imprisonment before one of the Justices of the
Peace, who is forthwith to send a report to the
Secretary of State. Provisions are also made for the
discharge of men from the militia on the repayment
of the bounty and the expenses of enrolment—to release
men enlisting in the regular forces—and to withhold the
bounty from those wrongfully absenting from training.
Enrolment in the militia is not to cause the forfeiture of
any interest in any benefit society. Men absenting
themselves from or during training, and not taken until
afterwards, are liable to a penalty of 10/., or three
months in default, with or without hard labour ; and
persons harbouring militiamen so absenting themselves
incur a penalty of 201.
FLOWERING OF THE VICTORIA REGIA AT THE BOTANI-
CAL GARDENS, MANCHESTER.—This Very rare plant whose
progress has been watched. with so much interest by the
subscribers to the Botanical Gardens, Old Trafford, has at
length come into flower. It was received from Chats-
worth on the 9th of April last. It was then a seedling,
having only three leaves, none of which were more than
three inches in diameter. It was placed in its present
position in
the huge tank which it occupies in the aqua-
rium, and in about three months the leaves had expanded
to five feet six inches in diameter. The first flower
opened on Tuesday afternoon at 5 o'clock, and continued
open until between nine and ten o'clock on Wednesday
morning. It then closed and re-op'
ened at two
o'clock in the afternoon of the same day, and finally
closed on Thursday morning between seven and eight
o'clock. The flower on the first day was perfectly white,
the petals standing erect, but on Thursday morning the
petals were slightly tinged with pink, and on closing they
gently bent downwards to the edge of the water,
into which it will gradually sink and mature its
seed. Alsecond flower opened on Thursday. at five
o'clock in the afternoon, and closed between nine and
ten o'clock on Friday morning. It re-opened at tic?,
o'clock the same afternoon, and continued open until
seen or eight o'clock on Saturday morning. The lea
of the plant are now expanded to a great size—one leaf.
which was measured on Thursday, was five feet six ail:
eirouesm.
a half inches in diameter, or 16 feet 7i inches in
ference. The aquarium is heated to about 85 degrheere
From the present healthy appearance of the plant,. then
is every probability that there will be a succession
flowers for some time.—Examiner.
HARVEST INs d
e
Ti
aHEaWmoEsstTb.—enTefihceiaglenial weather
influence on the grain
crops week has
crops in the west, and the wheat harvest has commenced
in many parts of Devonshire under the most cheering
auspices. On Friday, in the Exeter market, some prime
samples of this year's wheat were exhibited.
0f th
c