The Sun.
London, England, 1856-12-02 00:00:00

T UESD AY Ey DECEMIiER 11 1856:

D

THE ART TREASURAS IBITIO V.

The executive committee have just received another
gratifying proof of the great interest that is taken by her
14Isjasty in the success of the Exhibition. The following
letter has been addressed to Mr. Thomas Fairbairn, the
chairman of the committee, by Sir Benjamin Hall :
" Office of Works, Whitehall-place, Nov. 27.
" Sir,—l beg to inform you that I have received the
Queen's commands to forward, for exhibition at Manches-
ter in 1857, the several pictures sot'forth in the list which
accompanied your letter of the 22,1 inst. I shall have much
pleasure in attending to any directions as to the exact
period when tho pictures should be sent.
"I am, sir, your obedient, humble servant,
" B. HALL.

" Thomas Fairbairn, Esq."
The list alluded to is the following, of pictures from
Hampton-court :
1. Raphael-Head.
2. Holbein-Portrait of the Earl of Surrey.
8. Ditto-Princess Flizabeth.
4. Ditto - Francis I. (small).
5. Pontormo Venus and Cupid, after M. Angelo.
6. Vander Goes- Wings of an Altar Piece.
7. Kneller-L-Full length of Peter the Great.
8. Giulio Romano-Sacrifice of a Goat to Jupiter.
9. Tintoretto-The Nine Muses.
10. Ditto-Either.
11. Francis-The Baptism.
12. Correggio-Portrait of a Sculptor.
13. Vanclyck-CUpid and Sleeping Nymph.
14. Sir P. Lely-The Duchess de Grammont.
15. Ditto-Lady Byron.
16. Titian-Alessandro de Medici.
17. Flemish-Portrait of a Young Man.
18. B. West-Death of Wolfe.
19. Ditto-Regulus.
20. Palma-Adoration of the 5112paerds:
of tbaiT=.
22. Fnknown -Darnley and his Brother.
23. Ditto Queen Elizabeth (full length).
Lord North wick 6ends the following:-
1. Sebastian del Piombo-The Descent from the Cross.
2. Massacio-Portrait of himself.
3. Giorgione-A Musical Party.
4. F Francis-Virgin and Child.
5. P. Perugino-Virgin and Child, with St. Peter and
St. Jerome.
6. Conegliano-St. Katharine:
7. Pellegrino da Modena-Holy Family.
8. Raphael-The Incredulity of St. Thomas.
9. Botticelli-Virgin kneeling, adoring Infant Jesus.
10. Giotto-Death of Virgin, with the Apostles.
11. Ditto-Small picture
The following pictures have been promised by Mr. R.
Sanderson, of Belgrave-square
I. Jacob Ruysdael and Adrian Vandevelde-An eaten
sive landscape with figures.
2. Paul Potter-Gray and Brown Horses, and a Peasant.
3. Isaac van Ostade-View of a Village, with numerous
figures.
14-rd Wensleydale will send "The Expulsion," by F.
Albani, and four Scripture pictures, by B. da Modena.
Lord Hatberton, whose contribution of his celebrated
Hobbima we have already recorded, has promised the
iol/owing pictures :-
1. Hobbima-Grand landscape.
2. W. Vandavelde-Dutch Fleet at the mouth of the
Thames (drawing).
3. Ruysdael-Storm at Sea.
4. Trevisani- St. Francis. •
5. B. Monneyor- Flower Pieces.
6. S. Bourdon-Holy Family.
7. Rubens-Nymph with javelin (sketch).
8. Canaletto-Italian buildings.
9. Hogarth-Portrait of Inigo Jones, after Vandyck.
10. Scott-View of Old London bridge.
11. Scott-Westminster-bridge in progress.
The Earl of Chesterfield wi►l send a portrait of Sir
Thos. Lawrence by the artist himself.
Mr. H. A. J. Munroe, of Hamilton-place, Hyde-park-
corner, the collector of a great number of fine pictures
of the ancient, foreign, and English schools, will send
the following
• 1. N. Alunno-Crucifixion.
2. Titian-Holy Family, in landscape.
3. Guido-Europa.
• 4. Murillo-Miracle of the Loaves and Fishes.
• 5. Hogarth-T w o subjects from the " Harlot's Progress."
6. Reynolds-Kitty Fisher.
7. Wilson-The Campagna, from the Villa Madama.

8. Ditto—His original picture of Niobe.
9. Bonnington—View in Venice (the largest picture
known of this master).
10. Etty —Female figure on the Seashore.
D. A picture by Turner.
Among the other contributors are Sir John Nelthorpe,
Bart., Mr. James Tullocb, of London, Sir Wm. Eden,
Bart., and Mr. Frederick Perkins, who sends an exten-
sive selection.

The East India Company have intimated through their
secretary that the resources of their well-known museum
will be placed at the disposal of the executive committee.

BIRMINaiIAM CATTLE AND POULTRY ,SHOW.

BIRMINGHAIVi, MONDAY EVENING.

The private view of this exhibition opens to-morrow
(Tuesday). The entries in all the classes for cattle are
renjarkably good. The following prizes had been
awarded :

FAT CATTLE.-HEREFORDS.
CLASS I. HEREFORD OXEN OR STEERS.

First prize, 10/., and silver medal to breeder. Exhibi-
tor— Joseph Phillips, Ardington, Wantage, Berkshire.
Breeder Mr. Thomas Carter, Dodmore, near Ludlow,
Shropshire.
Second ditto, 5/. Exhibitor—John Naylor, Esq., Leigh-
ton Hall, Welshpool. Breeder—Walter Maybery, Esq.,
Brecon.

FABNCH RA] IVY IS.

The Moniteur of yesterday puhfishes a report
fro& M. Rouher, the Minister of Paoli° Works, on
the. railways of France, recemmezding that the
railway companies shall he :.alloviec to issue new
scrip to the value of 214,000,000 f. (8,560,0000 in
the course of the year 1837. Tlr report is as
follows :

from flile -Universal Exhibition, and rose to 30,300 f. ; but
if that amount is not reached. in the present year the in-
crease is not the less visible on. 1854,.f0r, according to the
returns of the first three quarters, the net produce of 1856
promises to be 28,000 f. at least per kilometre.
"'lt is on consideration of these faas, all of them re-
assuring and favourable, that must ha determined the im-
portance of, the scrip to be realised (des valeurs a realiser)
by the companies in 1856 ; and this determination im-
plies the solution of two qnestiOns r-----What kind of scrip
shall the companies be allowed to issue? (Quelle nature
de titres les compagnies devront-alles etre autorisees
ernatre?) What is the amount they are to be allowed
to irate ?
"When. your Majesty, avoiding the double danger of a
division,, or of too great a concentration, in concessions of
rail Ways to be"granted to companies, constituted those en-
terprises on a broad basis, which assured to them'a con-
siderable credit, you conceded the execution .of secondary
lines to them of great importance to the populations of the
empire, even should these lines appear to be likely to be
less productive than the great lines already. worked.
" The companies were authorised to procure the neces-
sary capital for the execution of these lines. by means of
loans. The interest of these loans was to be fully covered
by the revenues of the new sections ; consequently, far
from troubling the economy of the original enterprise,
they were, on the contrary, to improve the revenues by.
the sole developMent of the general circulation.

" If, since that period, owing to new concessions, the
Government has been able to ask itself what would be the
most suitable proportion to establish between the capital
to be realised by shares and the capital to be t from

issuing shares (obligations) consecrated to the profit of the
companies by their conditions of contract (=biers de
charges). The fall exercise of this power was never for a
moment ignored by the Administration of Public Works,
and will, consequently, still be the rule followed now.
" What is the amount of new scrip the issue of which
is to be authorised?

" The estimate imposed a delicate task upon me, for it
brought in contact (i ifferent and, at times, opposite interests.
"The resources of public credit must be carefully econo-
mised, and it is necessary not to exceed the power of the
labour which the country can annually provide, without
disturbing the regular action of agriculture. But it must
not be forgotten that populations for a long time neglected
eagerly await the moment when the railways will touch
their districts, and that that moment has been fixed by the
Sovereign ; labour must also be provided for thousands of
workmen spread over all parts of the empire, and their
welfare maintained. Finally, it concerns the public purse,
as an interest worthy of the protection and of the sympathy
of the Government, that the large amount of capital en-
gaged in enterprises under course of execution should not
remain too long unproductive in consequence of the non-
completion of the lines in which it is invested. In the care-
ful examination to which I submitted every demand that
was made to me I have endeavoured to conciliate all these
interests, and I firmly believe that I have givers them a just
satisfaction by fixing at 214,000,000 f. the total sum of the
new scrip (la somme total° des valeurs nouvelles) which the
companies shall be authorised to issue in the course of 1857.
" Independently of this sum the companies may turn to
account their disposable capital (pourront utiliser lour actif
disposible), the subventions of the dtate, the funds they
have to receive from their shares, and the obligations
already issued.
"The ensemble of these resources less by about
100,000,000 f. than the sums expended in 1856 will not the
less allow all the workshops to be in active employment,
' the sections to be opened at the time appointed by the
rahiers de charges, and even the dates on certain important
sections to be anticipated.
" I, moreover, was perfectly of the same opinion as the
Minister of Finances in thinking that an issue of new scrip,
thus limited, could not cause either strait or embarrass-
ment to public credit. It suffices to be convinced to re-
member the importance of the appeals made to credit in
1835 and 1856, and the circumstances under which they
took place.
"To-day, Sire, the crisis in the price of food, still felt
painfully in some of the departments, has lost that general
character which made it so serious ; the last instalments of
the loans made by the State will be paid into the Treasury
chest in February*next ; the new capital required from
savings will therefore be easily obtained. These demands
will, moreover, be successive and graduated, according to
the wants of the companies. Then, capital employed on
the territory in productive labour is soon returned, and
rapidly forms an additional saving.
"I am therefore confident, Sire, that, after having
shielded the interests of actual enterprises, it will not be
impossible for your Government for the extension of our
railways, especially as regards the network of the north
and the lines of the Dauphine.
" I am confident that the populations of the Pyrenees
will see the realisation of the hopes consecrated by a recent
law, and that your Majesty will be able to intrust a com-
pany with the continuation of the works which, in the
idea of exalted solicitude, you gave me the order to see
carried out in the Pyrenean network.
" By thus limiting the new concessions to lines of com-
munication which are recommended by powerful conside-
rations of the general interest, by guaranteeing the exist-
ing lines against ruinous competition or rash speculation,
your Majesty will maintain the credit and the confidence
which are attached to one of the principal branches of the
public fortune.

" I am, with respect, She, your Majesty's most humble
and most obedient servant and faithful subject,
"E. RCUHER,
" The Minister Secretary of State in the Department
of Agriculture, Commerce, and Public Works."