The Sun.
London, England, 1847-10-01 00:00:00

NAVAL INTELLIGENCE.

PORTSMOUTH, THURSDAY.—The Prince Regent, 92,
reduced from 120, was undocked to-day, after being
there, we believe, four years.
The Ajax, steam-guardship, was docked in lieu of
the Prince Regent.
The Kite steam-vessel, Commander Henry Dama-
resq, was removed from the basin to-day to her hulk,
to complete fitting, for the Jersey station.
Wind, E. by N., moderate breezes, and fine weather.
The lEolus, provision depot, Master Commanding
J. Thomas, is,to come into the harbour to-morrow, to
be paid off.
The Nautilus, 8, Lieutenant Commanding W. T.
Rivers, sailed this evening, to cruise off Brighton for
the protection of the fishery.
Her Majesty the Queen Dowager, accompanied by
the Duke of Saxe Meiningen, the Duke of Saxe
Weimar, and the Princes Edward and Gustavus of
Saxe Weimar, arrived in Clarence-yard by the
ordinary train at 427 p.m. They were received by
Admiral Sir Charles Ogle, Captains Pasco and Sir E.
W. Parry, the officers of the Lieutenant-Governor's
staff, Flag-Lieutenant Cochran, and the principal
officers of Clarence-yard. They embarked immedi-
ately in the Fairy steam-tender, which had been
hauled into the Creek tor the purpose, where they
were received by Captain Lord A. Fitzclarence. The
Victory and Excellent saluted and manned yards on
the royal standard being hoisted in Clarence-yard. A
guard of honour of the 60th Rifles attended the arrival
of the illustrious visitors. They proceeded for
Osborne House, on a visit to her Majesty, landing at
Osborne Pier at 5 25 p.m.

BEAUMONT INSTITUTION, MILE

END.

The elegant rooms of this establishment were opened
for the season on Thursday evening, with an enter-
tainment by Mr. Henry Phillips, entitled " An
Evening with the Poets." The authors selected were
Shakspere, Moore, and Dibdin. The lecturer, as he
introduced his various subjects, prefaced them with
many notices, anecdotes, &c., of a pleasing and in-
structive nature, well calculated to awaken the atten-
tion, and interest the audience in the poet, the poetry,
and the music. Mr. Phillips is peculiarly fitted for
this species of entertainment; his fine commanding
voice and his natural emphatic style cannot but render
his efforts exceedingly effective. The lecturer was in
excellent song and spirits, and did full justice to the
poet,aonfd.litihoeorme,utshiceiagnr,anandeduwr hofetshehrakhsipsetroep, the ic was the
loves
grace-
fulness of Rogers, the manliness of Dibdin, equally
approriate was his treatment ; while in the illustra-
tions which he submitted to his auditory the distinct
spirit of each was strikingly displayed. With one
piece we were particularly pleased, namely, that fine
song of Vibdin s, " 'Twas post meridian, this the
vocalist gra ye very beautifully ; and one spontaneous
burst of “.;pplause evinced its effect on the audience.
The attendance of subscribers and the public was
numerous, and at the conclusion of the entertainment
the most unequivocal tokens of approval and delight
were freely given.

FIRE IN MAIL-BAG.—Yesterday morning a sin-
gular circutrmtance occurred at the General Post-office,
by which one packet with its contents were nearly
destroyed, ansd several other letters, packets, and news-
papers, narrowly escaped destruction. It appears that
the clerks and messengers at the Warwick branch of the
North-Western Railway, having " made up" the Banbury
mail-bag, were in the act of tying up the contents, when
a slight exploccion took place inside the bag. Fearing
that something bad happened by which the whole of the
correspondence in ight be injured, the clerk at the division
immediately ord&.red the string to be cut, when a dense
body of smoke issued from the mouth of the bag. Upon
turning out the contents, it was di: covered that a box of
fusees of the count:non kind had been placed inside an
envelope in a
thin wooden box, and that by friction,
caused by the act 'of stamping or by forcing the letters,
&c. into the bag, tike fusees had ignited, and had set fire
to the thin coverit ,g in which they were enclosed. It
was decidedly forts tnate that the discovery was made at
this moment, for had the bag been sealed and put into
the. omnibus for conveyance to the station, or had the
ignition taken place in the railway train, some difficulty
might have been experienced in extinguishing it, while
it is certain that many valuable, and probably most
important documents would have been destroyed. The
mutilated packet was directed to Banbury; it was taken
possession of by the superintending president, and the
occurrence reported to the Postmaster-General.

PROPOSED METROPOLITAN AQUEDUCT COMPANY
The " admitted existence of a strong necessity for im
proving the present detective supply of water to the
metropolis" has led to the announcement of a pre ject so
comprehensive—we had almost said so vast—as actually
assurance, that the quantity
withdrawn for the purpose
ot or
watercall forth
t o
be an
ue
i nt gi
lnaeteecys
from the Thames at Bray, Would not affect the naviga-
don of the river—and certainly such an assurance was
in
nOfturue
than
re years,hat at eee
least,srsa no since
proposed to abstract,
than 50,000,000 gallons
out of the whole 200,000,000
at .D ~..,ray—a fourth part in
short—which it is proposed to filter and conduct through
a tunnel aqueduct of brickwork to Hampstead-hill.
inSee it is
where it will be perpendicularly raised to an elevation
of 250 feet above high-water mark, into reservoirs,
whence it will be supplied under a high pressure,
through the present or other pipes, to the whole metro-
polis, not only for domestic and other ordinary purposes,
but also for the extinction of fire [and might it not have
been added, for the occasional scouring of an extended
system of small-bored
!ewers, even rapidly and with
unfiltered water, "let on' below below the filtering reservoirs,
and raised into tanks for the purpose?]—The Builder.
THE NEW ARRANGEMENTS FOIL FOREIGN MAIL
PACKETS.—The Royal Mail Steam-packet Company
have received orders from the Lords Commissioners of
the Adruiralv to make the following alteration in the
route of the West India mail packets, which leave South-
ampton on the 2d of every month ; the arrangements to
commence with the packet of the 2d November, which
will proceed by way of Bermuda, Nassau, Ship Island,
New Orleans, Vera Cruz, and Tampico, instead of the
route observed heretofore. The packet of the 17th will
proceed direct to the West Indies, via Madeira and Bar-
badoes, as usual. On the return voyage, the packet will
call at the same posts for the mails, and steam- boats, in
connexion with the Royal Mail Packet Company, will be
provided for the conveyance of passengers between Cat
or Ship Island and New Orleans, on the arrival and de-
parture of the packet.
SPANISH EGGS.--Yesterday ninety cases of
Spanish eggs were landed by a vessel from Bilboa, and
nine cases, brought by the Falicio, ex Oporto, were sold
by Keeling and Hunt, Monument-yard. This arrival of
eggs from Spain as an article of commerce is the first
that has come under our notice, and is worthy of remark,
the importations of eggs having hitherto been exclu-
sively from France and Holland.