The Sun.
London, England, 1841-05-04 00:00:00

BELGIUM.

BRUSSELS, SATURDAY, MAY I.—By the quarterly official
return of the produce of the public Revenue of Belgium, it
appears that the first three months of 1841 have yielded a
trifle more than the like period in 1840. In the taxes on beer,
♦inegar, foreign wines, salt, &c., and in the post-office, and
stamps, there has been a small decrease ; which however is
more than compensated by the increase in the customs, and
especially in the receipts of the railways, which now present a
regular and most satisfactory progression in a financial view.
The quarter ending 31st March produced 1,174,000 fr. ; being
225,000 fr. beyond the amount in the correspondicg three
months of 1840.

We have not the advantage of knowing what sort of a person
the present King of Sardinia is ; but we confess that we have
formed a very favourable opinion of his Majesty's taste and
esprit, simply from reading an account of his first visit the
other day to Sardinia, where, upon landing in state, amidst the
firing of cannon at Cagliari, he " begged the authorities not to
make the harangues usual on such occasion." How many un-
fortunate dignitaries must have felt a similar desire, without
having the courage to express it !
A dplorable accident, of which the details are not yet fully
known, happened on Thursday morning in the coal mine of the
Societe des Charbonnages et Hauts-fovrneaux d'Ougree, near
Liege. About nine o'clock an explosion of gas t oak place in the
mine, in the midst of the unfortunate workmen. The cause is
unknown, for the usual precautionary examination had been
made in the morning, before the miners went down ; and the
ventilation was found to be in a proper state. An alarm was
immediately given, and assistance promptly rendered from all
the neighbouring establishments, the authorities, and the me-
dical men. The extent of the calamity was not known, but
in the afternoon twenty workmen were still missing, and seve-
ral had been taken out of the mine more or less injured.
On Wednesday Lord Combermere and family, who have
been spending some time in this country, returned to England
on board the Princess Victoria steamer, from Antwerp to
London.

The General Steam Navigation Company's vessel Soho
reached Antwerp from London last evening before five o'clock,
with 46 passengers, among whom whre Sir P. Bellew, Mr.
Walter and family.
Robberies have been rather frequent lately in the fau.
bourgs of Brussels ; and some are effected with a daring
violence which greatly aggravates the offence. The ruffians
ring at houses where they have reason to know there is only
one person at home at the time (between nine and ten o'clock
at night), and as soon as the door is opened rush in, over-
power the servant, whom they, gag or terrify into silence, and
then rob the house. The other evening an attempt of this na-
ture was made on the house of an English gentleman in the
Rue Royale Exterieure; but the servant, although attacked
by three men the instant he opened the door, called out
vigorously ; and his master, who by good fortune had come
home eat tier than usual, hastened to his aid. After a severe
contest, in which the master and servant received some violent
bruises, the rascals were put to flight, and the police is in
quest of them. A door-chain of iron, which would enable
the door to be partially opened without admitting intruders,
might be a useful precaution in houses sometimes left in the
charge cf one man or of females only.—British Gazette, a
Brussels paper.

LAUNCH AT GREENOCK.—On Saturday, the
Tweed steam frigate, of 1,828 tons new measurement, was
launched from the building-yard of Messrs. Thomson and
Speirs, ship-builders, Greenock. This being the second ves•el
of the West Indian line of steam-packets built at Greenock,
considerable interest was excited as to the successful issue of the
launch. At half-past one o'clock every situation that could
commands view of the launch was crowded to excess, At
two o'clock, while the men were clearing every thing,
the dagger snapped, and away went the Tweed in
beautiful style, into her. destined element, amid the
cheers of thousands. In the hurry, one of the shores at
the stem had got fastened by a rope to a timber of the vessel,
and was carried along through a crowd of the people, and we
are sorry to say that five men and a boy were dangerously
wounded and bruised, and had to be carried home on boards
and in noddies. The boy has since died, and fears are enter-
tained that one or two of the men will not recover. The
Tweed was taken in tow by two powerful tug steamers, but
she was too many far them, and drifted down on a schooner
lying at the tail of the bank, and did considerable damage to
the vessel. Another powerful steamer had to go to the rescue,
and by seven o'clock she was Safely moored alongside of the
East India Quay, where she is to get in her machinery.
FATAL ACCIDENT AT WATERLOO-BRIDGE.
—On Sunday afternoon, at half-past one o'clock, the following
fatal accident occurred under one of the arches on the :did-
dlesex side of Waterioo-bridge, to a young gentleman, at pre-
sent unknown. He had but a few minutes previously hired a
boat for an excursion on the river, and on reaching Waterloo-
bridge a violent gust came on, which suddenly upset the beat,
and he being unable to swim, was drowned. • The drags were
procured, and every effort made to obtain the body, but it had
not been found at a late hour last evening.
BRISTOL SUGAR NARKET, APRIL 30.—The
disposition to purchase sugars, which the teduced prices tsp.
1 , ;

• ,
further decline of 2s. to 36. during the woelt: Prices are coni-
pletely nominal.