The Sun.
London, England, 1870-03-21 00:00:00

THE RussLEy HORSES.

So much discussion has lately taken place with respect
to Mr. Merry's horses, that the following remarks, fur-
nished by a correspondent of the Sporting Life, will be
found interesting. The editor regards the writer
as trustworthy :—" It has been reported that Sun-
shine, the heroine of last session, has gone
amiss, fallen lame, turned roarer, and, in fact,
done everything but break down altogether. These state-
ments, however, I can positively contradict, as in the
course of the present week the mare has been doing steady
canters of over a mile and a half, the first portion of which
is all against the collar. After being pulled up, she is
walked about for some little time, and both in her slow
and fast paces appears to go perfectly sound. Her legs
seem clean and. free from blemish, and after her
exercise no symptoms of the Belladrum infirmity
are apparent. She has evidently been in physic, and
eased in her work, as she is ' jolly' in condition and above
herself, but she goes well and freely, and discoveis
neither distress nor leg-weariness at the conclusion of her
work. No horse in England could have made
greater progress than Sunlight, and when he
strips on the Two Thousand day he will make his
detractors tremble in their shoes in the same way as his
predecessor Belladrum did last year, but, in all proba-
bility, with a different result, as, fit and well on the day,
I confidently expect he will carry the popular yellow and
black into the first place. He and Macgregor had a good
gallop on Wednesday morning, following Idstone, and he
bounded along in grand style. Macgregor reminds me very
much of St. Mungo, being a short, compact colt, and a good
mover, and though he does not strike one as being of the
same quality as Sunshine and Sunlight, yet I have little
doubt he will prove a useful horse to his owner, and in the
event of any accident happening to his stable companions,
a trustworthy second string to fall back upon even for an
important race like the Derby. St. Mungo takes his exer-
cise regularly, and appears completely recovered froyo bta
Ascot misfortune."

ABANDONMENT OF LEWES SPRING RACES.—in consequence
of the extravagant demands made by one of the tenants of
the Lewes Racecourse for his portion of the ground, Mr.
Verrall has reluctantly abandoned holding the ensuing
meeting, and unless a satisfactory arrangement be shortly
made, it is possible that the August meeting may also
fall through. Mr. Verrall has, however secured the
Croydon Course for the April Meeting, which will follow
the regular Croydon fixture, instead of preceding it.

A letter from Habana by Ex-Minister James
Watson Webb, has been published in the New York Tri-
bune detailing outrages alleged to have been committed
by tie Spanish officials in Cuba. The letter has created
considerable excitement, and is being used saysf a corros-
pondent of the Pall Mall Gazette) to bring about a presstiu
upon Congress on behalf of the Cubans.
With respect to the Government prosecution or
Sir Henry Edwards, Bart., the jurors are summoned to
appear at York, on Monday morning next. The York-
shire Post has been informed that Mr. Baron Bramwell
has been applied to by the Government to preside at the
trial, but has pointedly expressed his reluctance to do so.
The case, therefore, will most probably be heard before
Mr. Baron Cleasby.

The Edinburgh Courant announces that the jour-
ney from Edinburgh to London will soon be performed in
six hours. When the Learn Valley Extension is finished
" the east coast route will run in an almost straight direc-
tion from north to south, and a ' fiction,' until the present
generation as wonderful as a story from the ' Arabian.
Nights,' will become a ' fact,' as we shall be able to break-
fast here, and after having visited London, be back again
before nightfall."

The drying works at Nenouset, Massachusetts,
were destroyed by fire on the ind of March, and eight
women were burned to death. They were employed in
the attic, assorting cotton and wool, which was kept at
about 125 deg. Fahrenheit, for the purpose of drying the
material, and their only mode of access or egress was by a
ladder and trap door, and the fire having originated from
the furnace on the first floor, their escape was rendered
impossible.
peculation is rife with regard to the screw-
steamer, Samaria, of the Cunard line, overdue from
Liverpool to New York. It is suggested that she may
have fallen in with the City of Roston, and is attempting
to tow her eastward. A vessel, however, reports having
exchanged signals with a Cunard steamer on the 4th
instant, which was steering east, and it is found that
the only Cunard steamer that could have been in that
spot at the time was the Samaria ; so it is not improbable
that, having received damage, she may soon turn up on
this side of the Atlantic instead of the other.

An odd strike has taken place at the Metropolitan
Carriage Works. At a meeting of the directors at Bir-
mingham it was announced that a requisition; signed by
the whole body of workmen who were not strikers or
smiths, had been presented to Mr. King, the foreman
objected to by the latter class of workmen, asking him
to resign his' appointment, in the interests of both em-
ployers and employed. The directors abstained from
any interference in the matter, but Mr. King gave in
his resignation, which was accepted. With a few ex-
ceptions, all the smiths and strikers resumed work yes-
terday.

Mr. Charles Burt, the agent of the. English Erie
shareholders, has made a long speech before the Albany
Legislative Committee. The speech is published in the
New York papers, which commend Mr. Burt's object, but
say he cannot pucceeclF#ll2ll..t. a venr hPNYY tainAclitl2lll.