The Sun.
London, England, 1854-06-13 00:00:00

RAILWAY TRAFFIC RETURNS.

LONDON, BRIGHTON, AND SOUTH COAST RAILWAY.—
Traffic return for the week ending June 10,
1854 £17,498 6 3
Corresponding week last year 11,836 5 2
Total of the half-year to this date, 1854 265,593 19 7
Total of the half-year to this date, 1853 230,511 9 3
LONDON AND SOUTH-EASTERN RAlLWAY.—Traffic re•
turn for the week ending June 10, 1854 £19,181 2 3
Corresponding week last year 16,252 13 11

Increase in 1854..

£2,928 8 4

ASCOT RACES.

(THIS DAY.)

(BY ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH.)

TRIAL STAKES.

Crosslanes
Filbert

ARRIVALS FOR THE ASCOT STARES.—Kingston, Ilex,
Ethel wolf, Grapeshot, Montague, Bracken, Rackapelt,
Cock Pheasant, Little Jack, Veteran, Newbold, Cable,
Pancake, Waterfall, St. Spiro, Hercules, Lincoln's lun,
Jenuala filly, and Sweetness.

ROYAL GALLERY OF ILLUSTRATION, REGENT-STRERT.
—His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales and his
Royal Highness Prince Alfred, attended by Colonel
Biddulph and Mr. Gibbs, honoured the Diorama of the
Danube and Black Sea with a visit this morning.
EXETER HALL—To-morrow evening the Harmonic
Union will perform, for the first time in this country,
Emil Naumann's oratorio, " Christ the Messenger of
Peace." The grand musical festival being for the
benefit of the German hospital_ It is under the immedi.
ate patronage of her Majesty and several members of the
Royal family. Among the principal vocalists are
Madame Caradori, Mdlle. Agnes Bury, Herr Reichart,
and , r. Hamilton Braham.

RATES OF EXCHANGE.—The rates of exchange from
the continent show no alteration, except in the case
of Amsterdam, where they were rather lower. Mo-
ney, however, was still easy there at 21 per cent. The
following extract of a communication from St. Peters-
burg offers an explanation of the recent firmness of the
quotations in that city :—" The cause of our exchange
going so high is, we believe, the grain crops contracts,
which must now be received, as they were made for May;
and, as part df them are for foreign account, they have,
of course, to be drawn against. This, with the great
want of money here at present, and the excessive dull-
ness of our import market, coupled with the report of a
contemplated loan in Holland, seems sufficient to ex-
plain the advance."
THE OVERLAND MAIL.—The commercial accounts by
this mail are not on the whole unfavourable, since,
although prices were heavy at Bombay, consequent upon
large quantities of goods having been forced off during
a pressure for money, a very satisfactory business both
in exports and imports had taken place at Calcutta.
From China the accounts show no improvement, and
the tendency of the rate of exchange gives no prospect
of a cessation of the drain of silver from this country.
The general news by the present mail tends to confirm
the discredit attaching► to the positive assertions by the
previous arrival of Dost Mahomed having committed
himself to an alliance with Russia.

THE ROYAL BOTANICAL SOClETY.—Yesterday the
first show of American plants for the season took place
in the gardens of this society in the Regent's-park. The
collections exhibited were those of the three well-known
nurserymen of Bagshot, Mr. John Waterer, Mr. Baker,
and Messrs. Standish and Noble. The flowers were
very brilliant. Three or four thousand persons were
present, and the usual military bands were in attendance.
Among the company present were the Duke of Sar-
mento, his Excellency M. Lavradio, Viscount de Careira,
the Duchess of Buccleuch, the Countess of Bradford,
Lady Rums Campbell, Lady Remington, Lady Clifton,
Lady Fellowes, the Earl of Stamford and Warrington,
the Earl of Clare, Lord de Mauley, Lord Blaney, Sir
James Clark, Sir Henry Py al, the Dean of Worcester.