The Sun.
London, England, 1854-06-07 00:00:00

SUGAR DUTIES BILL.

The new Sugar Duties Bill, as amended, has been
printed, and the following is the digest of its provi-
sions :

DUTIES ON SUGAR AND MOLASSES TO BE LEVIED AFTER
THE STH JULY NEXT.
Candy and refined sugar, until the 26th s. d.
of August, 1854 ... ... 17 4 per cwt.
And from and after that day ... 16 0 I,
White clayed sugar ... ... 14 0 11
Yellow Muscovado and brown clayed
sugar 12 0 pt
Brown Muscovado and other sugar, not
equal to yellow Muscovado or brown
clayed 11 0 ~
Molasses 4 6 ~
••• ••• •••
Commissioners of Customs are provided with samples of
each grade as standards. The drawbacks on the exporta-
tion of refined sugar to the Isle of Man, from and after
the sth of July next, will be 15s. the cwt. on sugar in
the loaf and on candy, and upon bastards or crushed
pieces lls. the cwt. It is furthermore provided that
after the sth of July proximo brewers may not use sugar
in the brewing of beer or in making colouring matter.

PRICE OP GOLD.—The quotation of gold at Paris is
about 4 per mille discount (according to the last tariff),
which, at the English Mint price of 3/. 17s. lOid. per
oz. for standard gold, gives an exchange of 25.07 ; and,
the exchange at Paris on London at short being 25.00,
it follows that gold is about 0.28 per cent. dearer in
Paris than in London. By advices from Hamburg the
price of gold is 4211 per mark, which, at the English
Mint price of 3/. 17s. 101 d. per oz. for standard gold,
gives an exchange of 13.4 ; and, the exchange at Ham-
burg on London at short being 13.4, it follows that gold
is 0.41 per cent. dearer in London than in Hamburg.
EXCHANGE AT NEW YORK.—The course of exchange
at New York on London for bills at 60 days' sight is
1091 per cent., and, the par of exchange between Eng-
land and America being 109 23-40 per cent., it follows
that the exchange is nominally 0.08 per cent. against
England ; but, after making allowance for charges of
transport and difference of interest, the present rate
leaves no profit on the transmission of gold either way
between the two countries.

THE NEBRASKA BILL.—On the 20th ult., when the
hour arrived for closing the debate on the Nebraska
Bill, the leader of the majority advised the friends of
the bill neither to ask nor receive quarter, and to
vote down all amendments. Amendment after amend-
ment was voted down accordingly, and in the sitting
of the 22d the bill passed the House of Representa-
tives. The New York papers publish the following
prayer of the chaplain before the sitting of the
22d :—" Oh, Thou High and Mighty Ruler of the
Universe, we implore Thy blessing upon this house, as
it is about to enter upon one of the most arduous and
memorable struggles this country has ever known.
Help every member to keep cool, calm, and self-pos-
sessed, remembering the angry man gives his adversary
the advantage, and that enraged pride compromits his
truest interests. Assist every man to co-operate with
their speaker and chairmen in preserving order, recol-
lecting that the eyes of the country are fixed on this
House, and the deep interests of the country are in
volved in the deliberations of this Congress. May every
man dare to do his duty, and abide the issue of his con-
scientious convictions we pray, through Jesus Christ.
Amen."
FINE ARTS.—The lovers of the Fine Arts have an
opportunity before them of purchasing some of the
finest engravings and drawings by our first-rate masters.
Seldom has an opportunity occurred of choosing them
from such an extensive collection as is here placed before
the public. Messrs—Southgate and. Barrett have re-
ceived instructions from Mr. Hogarth, of the Haymarket,
to sell the whole of his extensive and select stock at
their Rooms, 22, Fleet-street, this evening, and seven-
teen following evenings ; and an important feature in
the sale is the fact, that all the engraved plates of the
publications of Mr. Hogarth, from which the impres-
sions are taken, will be destroyed in presence of the
pluoliascrg.

" A TERRIFIC BANQUET IN AN IGUANODON.
" At the lower end of thelpark, in a rude and tempo-
rary wooden building, almost inaccessible for deep ruts
and acres of swamp and mud—a miniature Serbonian
bog—Mr. Waterhouse Hawkins was steadily engaged
in the creation or restoration of a series of now extinct
animals, which it would appear were destined to roam,
as in their native state, through the deep Penge
inorasses, or bury themselves in the deep excavations of
the park. By the close of the last year, Mr. Hawkins
had so far succeeded with the formation of some of the
members of his monster family, as to be in a position to
give effect to a design which he had for HOMO time pre•
viously contemplated, of giving a dinner to the directors
and some of his friends within the carcass of one of his
antediluvian monsters. The last day of the old year
(1853) was selected. Accordingly Professors Owen and
Forbes, Mr. Gould, Mr. Francis Fuller, Mr. Belshaw,
Mr. Ingrain, and a number of other gentlemen, as-
sembled to do honour to the unique and novel enter-
tainment. Twenty-one of theguests were accommodated
with seats ranged on each side of the table, within the
sides of the iguanodon. Professor Owen, one of the most
eminent geologists of the day, occupied a seat at the
head of tue table, and within the skull of the monster.
Mr. Francis Fuller, the Managing Director, and Pro-
fessor Forbes, were seated on coniiiiedieee bpeehes
placed in the rear of the beast. An awning of pink and
white drapery was raised above the novel banqueting-
hall, and small banners bearing the names of Cony-
beare, Buckland, Forbes, Owen, Mantell, and other
well-known geologists, gave character and interest to
the scene. When the more substantial viands were dis-
posed of, Professor Owen proposed that the company
should drink in silence " The memory of Mantell, the
discoverer of the iguanodon," the monster in whose
bowels they had just dined.
" The Professor paid an eloquent tribute to the value
of the labours in the wide field of geology and palmonto-
logy of such men as Cuvier, Hunter, and Conybeare. He
told the company how the researches of Cuvier in com-
parative anatomy bad provided the means of reconstruct.
ing an extinct animal almost from a single fossil-bone,
for so perfect was the individuality of species of animals,
and so peculiarly adapted was the construction of their
parts, to the purposes for which they were des-
tined, that a skilml observer could tell, with the
most perfect accuracy, to what species of animal
any particular bone belonged. The researches of
Hunter had confirmed the theories of envier, and from a
single bone, or a single tooth, Conybeare, Buckland,
and others, had succeeded in building up an entire ani-
mal. The beast in which he was then speaking, whose
original had once roamed through the vast forests of
Sussex, had perished there by some great convulsion of
nature ; a single bone was discovered a few years since
by Mantell, and from that fossil-limb the iguanodon had
beenconstructed."
Further on, the writer remarks
" Many other toasts, and pleasing remarks, beguiled
the hours, till approaching midnight suggested the ap-
propriateness of the guests departing to their more con-
genial homes. Professor Forbes contributed some
verses suitable to the occasion. As the thoughts of the
learned professor have never yet appeared in print, an
apology will be needed for presenting them to the
visitor. The poet-geologist having told how the com-
pany were indebted to the hospitality of Mr. Water-
house Hawkins, for the opportunity of spending the last
day of the old year in an antediluvian dragon,' pro-
ceeded thus to refer to the iguanodon, the roaring'
chorus being taken up by the company in a manner so
fierce and enthusiastic as almost to lead to the belief
that a herd of iguanodons were bellowing from some of
the numerous pit-falls in Penge Park, in which they had
been entrapped
" 'A thousand ages underground
• His skeleton had lain ;
But now his body's big and round,
And he's himself again !
His bones, like Adam's, wrapped in clay,
His ribs of iron stout,
Where is the brute alive to-day
That dares with him turn out ? _
Beneath his hide be's got inside
Tho souls of living men,
Who dare our Saurian now deride
With life in him again !
(Chorus) The jolly old beast
Is not deceased,
There's life in bins again," (A roar.)
And so on, through two more verses, two more
choruses, and two more roarings worthy of iguano-
dononians ! Having listened to the account hero
given of the rise and progress of the Crystal
Palace at Sydenham, we follow our guide de-
lightedly through the various Fine Arts Courts of
Exhibition—Egyptian, Grecian, Roman, Assyrian,
German-Gothic, French and Italian-Gothic, Eng-
lish or National, Renaissance, Elizabethan, Italian,
Mediaeval, Byzantine and Romanesque—through
the Alhambra, among the Egina Marbles, to the
Colossal Nubian Shrine, into the Italian Vestibule,
along the Great Transept, down the North Nave,
into the Pompeian Court, from end to end of the His-
, torical Portrait Gallery, through the Courts of Eng-
lish and German, of French and Italian Sculpture.
Elaborate records are given, moreover, not only of
the terraces, and fountains, and parks, but of the
various illustrations to Natural History and Eth-
nology, and before the close of the work of the
tertiary, secondary, and primary epochs in regard
to the geological islands and their antediluvian in-
habitants. Among the most curious portions of
the Guide, however, are those descriptive of musi-
cal instruments, printed fabrics, stationery, Bir-
mingham ware, Sheffield cutlery, furniture,
hardware, perfumery, china and glass, pre-
cious metals, loather, India rubber, machinery, and
carriages, all under the head of the -Industrial De-
partment. The amount of interesting and valuable
information condensed into the 200 pages of the
Guide before us must be allowed to be really ex-
- traeordivary, it could ()WI 01,1gP"ted..

The regular investment of Silistria appears to
have been bayer commencedon
nthe
30t
htohne
roer
fshortlythey
ebtewf oerl ef
tthh
de
alyBtohf
the siege would have been attained, and on that
day, if our intelligence prove correct, the Russians
had met with a check which would oblige them to
do most of their preparatory work over again. All
this favours the hope that the fortress may be able
to hold out until a junction has been effected by
the French and English troops, and the Turkish
forces under Omer Pacha, concentrated in front of
Schumla. It will then be seen whether the Rus-
sian commanders have sufficient confidence in their
soldiers to accept the battle which the generals of
the allies may be ready to offer them. To decline
the contest, and to raise the siege of Silistria,
would have as bad an effect for the Russian arms
as a defeat.
It will be rather a remarkable coincidence if tho
first great battle in the present war should take
place in front of Silistria. That fortress is situated
in a commanding position, on the right bank of the
Danube, midway between the points where two
rather considerable Bulgarian streams j oin its waters.
Eight or nine miles above Silistria, the Sara or
Driste falls into the Danube ; and as many miles
below the fortress the stream which flows through
the Tabani valley mingles with the river. The for-
mer of these affluents has its source in the vicinity
of Schumla ; the latter in the vicinity of Pravady.
For about twenty miles inland from Silistria the
courses of the streams are nearly parallel—the dis-
tance between them averaging from 16 to 20 miles.
Both flow through deep and narrow valleys ; the
ground between them is considerably elevated
above the river, gently undulating, and in parts
intersected by ravines. Further to the south are
the elevations of the mountains among which
Shumla and Pravada are situated. Shumla, Pra-
vady, and Varna are nearly in a straight line, ex-
tending from west to east ; Shumla is about twenty
miles from Pravady, and Pravady about the same
distance from -Varna. There are high-roads—such
as are found in European Turkey—from Shumla
and Pravada to Silistria. The former keeps the
high ground between the two streams we have
named throughout, and is about sixty-five or
seventy miles in length ; the latter is ninety
miles, keeps the high ground for the first two-
thirds of the distance, and then descends into the
Tabani valley. Taking all these circumstances into
consideration, it seems probable that, in the event of
the Russians accepting a battle in front of Silistria in
preference to re-crossing the Danube and abandon-
ing the siege, the fight will take place on the elevated
plain, south of the fortress, between the Sara and
the Tabani valley, on both sines of the high-road
from Shumla to Silistria. In this case the right
wing of the allies and the left wing of the Russians
will confront each other somewhere in the neigh-
bourhood of Kainardji. It will have the aspect of
a providential arrangement if the cobweb meshes,
which the poisonous spider diplomacy of Russia
weaved over the Ottoman empire in the hours of
its uneasy slumber, are broken and scattered to
the winds by the valour of the allied troops on the
very spot where they were insidiously spun.
Daily News.

MUST WE HAVE ANOTHER GERMAN?

We English are, after all, a poor helpless race. It is
true that the sun never .ets, no the Queen's dominions.
That is something. It is true that every nation in the
world—with the probable exception of America—would
be glad to be governed by laws similar to our own. That
is worth considering also. It is true that our commer-
cial, our manufacturing conquests reach even to sub-
limity. That, perhaps, is something more. Then—we
have Shakspeare, whom the whole world recognises as
the prince of poets ; we have Bacon, whom the whole world
recognises as one of the princes of philosophy ; we have
also Turner, who is recognised as a prince in painting.
We have also a great many other reasons for thinking
rather highly of ourselves. We are not fond of ex-
pressing our opinion of ourselves in the peculiar manner
in which the denizens of Kentucky indulge. No English.
man ever thinks of designating himself as a " ringtailed
screamer," or boasts that he can " whop creation."
Nevertheless we do believe that we are somebody. We
think that we have a right to express our opinions on all
kinds of matters, military, scientific, or artistic.
These feelings are, perhaps, egotistical, and if so we
ought to be thankful to find that we have a paternal
Government ready and willing to take our weaknesses
into consideration, and administer practical reproofs to
our vanity.
It is reported that one of the most cutting of all these
reproofs is in store for us. It is said—with how much
truth we know not—that Dr. Waagen is to be imported
from Germany, and to be placed in the responsible situa-
tion of Director of the National Gallery. Dr. Waagen
has just lauched a three-volume account of the Treasures
of Art in Great Britain, which seems to be a sort of
feeler in this direction. Is this to be endured ? If we
can take care of our liberty, our law, our science, our
manufactures, or art, is it to be supposed that we are to
depend for the arrangement of our galleries upon a
foreigner ? Dr. Waagen's book is crammed full of
blunders. is he the man to put us in the right way to
get at the road to British Art ? Is the appointment
mere German job ?—Daily News.