The Sun.
London, England, 1856-11-15 00:00:00

REPRE'SENTATION OF SOUTHAMPTON.

W. S. WOODIN.

OF THE POLYGRAPHIC HALL.

SOUTHAMPTON, FRIDAY, MIDNIGHT.

Intelligence reached the chiefs of the Liberal party
vesterday,from good authority ,that Sir Alexander Cock-
burn had accepted the Chief Justiceship.
A meeting of the lir.eral party took place tonight to
consider the choice of his successor to the representation
of Southampton.
A communication was received at the meeting stating
that Mr. Wegnelin, the Governor of the Bank of Eng-
land, would like to represent Southampton.
During the meeting, which was a most influential one,
a telegraphic message was received, stating that Sir
Alexander Cockburn had not accepted the Chief Justice-
ship. In consequence of this message the meeting was
shortly afterwards dissolved.
As many as aix gentlemen Lad made overtures to
poli-
tical parties in the town.

SUICIDE OF THE CASHIER OF THE MIDLAND
GREAT WESTERN RAILWA Y OF IRELAND.

DUBLIN, FRIDAY.
Mr. Little, the cashier of the Midland Great Western
Railway of Ireland, committed suicide to-day by cutting
his throat.

The cause of this act is supposed to have been the
discovery of extensive defalcations in his accounts, which
were previously unsuspected.

An amalgamation of the City Gas Company with the
Great Central Company is shortly to take place.
The Belgian senate was closed on Friday last.
Parliamentary notices have been given for the making
of a park for Finsbury.
A marriage is on the tapis between the Archduke
Maximilian of Austria and Princess Charlotte of
Belgium.

Incendiarism is on the increase in Nottingham : within
a few days property to the amount of 12,000/. has been
destroyed.

The only good portrait of the late celebrated painter
Turner is in the possosion of Mr. Birch, a gentleman
residing near Birmingham.
Upwards of 4,0001. having been subscribed toward
the Harrow-school chapel, the works have been recom-
menced and are proceeding rapidly towards completion.
BERLIN, Friday.—The convocation of the Royal Diet
will take place on the 29th. The King will, it is under-
stood, open the Chambers in person.
Subscriptions are in course of collection in Lincoln
for the erection of a monument to the memory of Sir J.
Franklin, the Arctic navigator.
A passenger on board the James Baines, on her last
voyage, states that the ship took upwards of 100 days
to accomplish the homeward passage.
French dramatic pieces, in which the demi smonde
is represented, have been forbidden to be performed in
Prussia.

Simon Hausen, the Norwegian sailor, stabbed during
the fracas at Cardiff, on Friday last, expired last night.
The two men charged with the offence are in custody.
Yesterday afternoon an unusual flow of water tool(
place in the Thames, causing a considerable amount of
damage to property at the waterside.
Mr. Elliott, of South Brent, deceased, has left property
to the amount of 20,000/. to a little boy, the fifth chilli
df his nephew, a rigger's labourer in Plymouth dockyard.
The brig IriA, of Southampton, was fallen in with
on the 10th of Oct., waterlogged in lat. 42 N., long.
50. The crew were taken off and have arrived in

Liverpool.
A telegraph despatch has just been received, announc
ing that Mr. W. H. Russell, the Times correspondent,
lies dangerously ill of fever, at Simpheropol.
SINOPE.—The owners of the Howard have learned
through the Foreign-office that the Russian Government
positively refuse to compensate them for the destruction
of their vessel at Sinope.
In the Chancery Courts, this morning, nothing of the
slightest interest occurred to justify a report.
At Marlborough-street police court, this morning.
Ellen Marshall was sent to prison for a month for vio-
lently assaulting a policeman.
At the Thames police court, this morning, a young
man named Fielder was charged with stealing a quan-
tity of brass fittings from a fire annihilator on board a
ship in the West India Docks. He said be was driven
to commit the robbery by starvation. He was sent to
prison for a week.
HAYMARKET THEATRE.—Mr. Dallas, the Ainer'ean
Minister, and a large party visited the theatre
%est night,
to witness the performance of Mr. Mut)
...och, as Charles
Surface, in " The School for Se-
..odal, "which comedy,
with its excellent cast of ''
now attracting large a-
~ne Haymarket company, i•
THE ELECTRIC
, ..dienees at this theatre.
,
NORTH AMEv fIELWRAPH BETWEEN IRELAND AND
Uni/erw-. ...ft'A.•-.4t was announced at the Liverpoo
the'.' .rtries' ltooms yesterday, by the secretary, that
AirWstt Government guaranteed four per cent. upon
cb.e vitflay for the Transatlantic telegraph, on the com-
pletion of the work.
An inquest was held yesterday at Abergavenny on
the bodies of Mr. Hands and Mr. Hinks, who met their
deaths by a collision on the Newport and Hereford
Railway, the facts of which accident have already ap-
peared in The Sun, A verdict had not been returned
when the post lelt.
On Thursday, Charles Lee, charged with garotting
a youth named. Davis, a servant to a watch-maker,
in Oxford-street, Manchester, while he had 19 watches
in his possession, was further examined, and remanded
in order to afford time to discover the missing pro

the shipowners, have written to
perty,
Messrs. Thompson,
the Times, replying to their letter relative to the date of
sailing of the James Baines, the Star of Peace, and tin
Phoenician, The latter two chips they state sane,
from Sydney, the passage from whence to this country
is fully three days longer than that from Melbourne. Ths
Star of Peace, belonging to these gentlemen, arrived off
the Wight in 97 days, and not upwards Of 100.
A correspondent of the Times says Mr. Brett has bee,
named as the engineer who laid the fir- t submarine
telegraph across the Channel. Mr. Brett, he says, ure
doubtedly obtained fr me the French; Government the
concession for the submarine telegraph, but the honour
of stretching the cell, which has withstood the tugging
of ships' anchors, belongs to Mr. Crampton, assisted le)
Messrs. Wallaston, Statham, Wilkins, and Weatherby.
A French lady named Jeane Frutch applied yester-
day at the Bristol Insolvency Court for her discharge
from prison. She was opposed by a number of jewel
lers, for articles with which they hail supplied her; and
she was also charged with concealing her property.
She attributed her insolvency to the presents she had
male to the Roman Catholic Church at Carmington.
She was remanded for nine months.
WESTMINSTER FREEHOLD LAND SOCIETY. The
police have received information that Mr. George
Edgar Dennes, of Grecian-chambers, Devereux-court,
Temple, solicitor to the Westminster Freehold Land
Society, has absconded. He has bad the custody of
the title deeds of several of the society's estates, and
the documents are at this moment not to be found.
He is also indebted to the society to the amount of
nearly three hundred pounds.
THE APPROACHES TO THE MERSEY.—At the meeting
of the Liverpool town-council on Monday a committee
was appointed to take into consideration the present in-
sufficient means of acce e to the river from Liverpool,
and the mode of remedying it proposed by Mr. J. B.
Hartley, engineer of the Birkenhead docks, by means
of a high level. The committee met yesterday (Thurs-
day) and passed a resolution ordering the production of
the whole of the correspondence bearing upon the ques-
tion, and they decided also to request the co-operation
of the Dock Committee in the matter.
THE PROPERTY FOUND ON Ronsoer.—Yesterday Ser-
geant Coppin, who apprehended William James Robson,
at Copenhagen, attended at the office of Mr. Johnson,
official assignee, and delivered to that gentleman the pro-
perty found on and in the possession of Robson at the
time of his apprehension. It consisted of a valuable
gold chain, a diamond ring (for which Robson said he
ha'i paid HI.), a set of diamond shirt studs, a set of
geld studs, seven gold buttons, a dozen of silver forks,
four teaspoons, a valuable dressing case,
a purse contain-
ing thirty-six dollars and some small coins, six coats,
seven waistcoats, seven pairs of trousers, five shirts,
and other articles, amounting in value to about 1301.
They will of course be added to the other effects and
estate of the convict, and sold for the benefit of his cre-
ditors.
A SMART BOY.— The following paragraph from a
Canadian journal,
the Barrie Advance
for our readers : —" A merchant of ' has an interest
Toronto put us
in possession of the following facts relating to a little
fellow, only fourteen years of age, who left Aberdeen
in Scotland, and arrived at Toronto on the Ist Sept.,
on his way to Chicago in search of his father. This
intrepid youth left the old country with only one shil-
ling in his pocket. He engaged himself on board a
ship to Quebec,
and from thence worked his way, under
many difficulties, to Torcnto, where he arrived penny-
less. He had been labouring in vain about the wharves
to work his way to Chicago ; and although hunger
had fastened hard upon him, his dauntless spirit
was not checked, and he began to apply his energies to
meet the emergency in some other way, when his case
became known, The St. Andrew's Society at once took
him under their care, interceded with the Northern
Railroad to procure him' a paserTe to Callingwood, and
from thence to Chicego, supplied him with necessary
funds, and sent him on his way rejoicing. If the father
of that boy has the faculty of discovering greatness of
character. here is an instance of filial affection and per-
severance in his son that, if properly matured, may, on
this great continent of enterprise, lead bins on to a po-
sition in life beyond the ordinary lot of men. Laffitte,
the rich banker, left his home at a similar age to seek
his fortune in the great metropolis of France. The
history of that boy is well known ;
a single pin laid the
foundation of his immense fortune; and who knows but
the single shilling in the pocket of that noble-hearted
Scotch boy
may hereafter be marked as his starting
point on the road to wealth, and we should hope to use-
fulness." [Tee name of this youth is, we understand,
James Burnett; he belongs by birth to Fraserburgh.)

Who does not know him I That comical, capi-
tal, delightful, indefatigable, ridieulouely-droll,
preposterously-variable mimic—W. S.'Woodin, the
youngest, but fn Many respects the most gifted
awl medlar of all living Polyphonists. Don't we
'Snow his merry face by heart—peering down upon
us, as we pass along the streets, from the
windows of the music shops? A visage more
squeezable than the Whigs, more plastic
than Proteus, more changeable than the
Chameleon. A countenance absurd though it
may appear to say so—alternately lantern-jawed,
bloated, paralytic, apoplectic, goggle-eyed, jovial,
and cadaverous 1 And all this—and a great deal
more—in the veriest twinkling. Like the features
of a head in a Phantasmagoria, dilating and con-
tracting at pleasuro. As though it were the " hu-
man face divine," or the human face diabolic, just as
we may please to term it—appertaining to some
mysterious " body" having an incomprehensible
resemblance simultaneously to Daniel Lambert and
the Living Skeleton. Never was there really less
of a Wooden face than this amazingly unaccsuntable
weird, eyrie, el tritch face of Woodin ! A face that
must have proved au inscrutable puzzle to tJavater I
One that would be altogether invaluable to anyone
who happens to be an artist's "model " by profes-
sion ! One that would have appeared the strangest
riddle of the Sphinx to Mr. Bucket the Detective !
One that might be accepted as a "study " for life
by the most industrious of photographers ! The
head of A Crowd rather than that of One Man I
A. laughing, talking, singing, substantial, palpable,
visible, positive argument in favour of the old wild
theory of Metempsychosis. A countenance alto-
gether as pliant and flexible as any one of the
"comic mugs" purchaseable for a few pence at the
toysbops and made out of gutta-percha. A Visage
that at the whim of its owner's will can be elon-
gated to the uttermost stretch of elongation, or puffed
out to the furthest limits of puffiness—fat, lean,
sour, gay, old, young, comely, or repulsive—all
in the wink of an eye ! A face so engrossing,
absorbing, monopolising our attention when view-
ing its possessor, that he of all public drolls hal
about the very best right to the distinctive title of
the face-tious ! So conspicuously prominent a
mark of his individuality among men, that one
comes to associate the idea of him somehow with
one of those hugeous Goblins of Fun—All Face, no
body (not even enough to swear by), and the most
ridiculously minute Legs in the World—accus-
tomed to gambol over the Stage about Christmas-
time, to the screaming rapture of boys and girls in
the allegorical upening of those dear delights of
childhood, the Pantomimes ! And yet Mr.
Woodin's slight, stripling Figure is really and
truly, after all, just about ase "adaptable" as are
his mobile and erratic Features ! Insomuch,
that it comes to us, every now and then, in such an
exceedingly " questionable shape" that we are
more non-plussed than Hamlet himself, and find it
difficult to know how we ought to designate him I
"Adoptable" this slim agile figure is to that degree
—that it passes in a few minutes through all sorts,
any kind, every kind of transformation. Sympa-
thetically, of course, and simultaneously with the
,nagical change, operating like a wizard's charm
upon manners, voice, and countenance. Don't we
recollect—all of us—the marvel of this amusing
spectacle, from the first moment of W. S. Woodin's
memorable and exhilarating Apparition ? When,
a very young man, only two or three seasons back,
he suddenly stepped out of private life before the
London public, and fairly took our admiration by
storm. Carrying in one hand, a charming Port-
folio of original drawings, and in the other a cer-
tlain. marvellous Carpet Bag ! A bag much more
wonderful in every way than that famous ono into
which the mountebank at a country fair dips for
wigs. A Carpet Bag, this one of W. S. Woodin's,
into which the Protean Polyphonist dipped at will
for faces, voices, forms, costumes, deportments,
[ perfectly distinct and separate identities ! Coming
forth again—" in a jiffy," instead of after a sleep
of a hundred years, like Rip Van Winkle—not Him-
self but Somebody Else. Triumphant iu the lii at
epoch of success, Mr. Woodin—we all remember it
—very soon took occasion to prove his remarkable
powers as a Polyphonist to be in no way at all
exhausted. Accomplishing this new wonder by.
!iis Second and, if possible, his still more extraor-
rlinarily varied and humorous Entertainment—
" The Olio of Oddities."
That proverbial desideratum of your true hustings
politician—your politician of claptraps and flum-
mery—" a clear stage and no favour" is all W. S.
Woodin actually wants by way of either arena or
introduction. A "clear stage"—with a pretty little
green reading-desk on either side of it—each desk
lit by a couple of gas burners mellowed to an agree-
able lustre by a globular shade of ground-glass—the
ld traditional row of footlights of course invisibly
edging the front of the proscenium. There, flitting.
About that stage—sometimes taking his position be-
hind one of the little green reading-desks, sometimes
behind the other—occasionally stepping down to
the footlights—keeping up the ball of converses ion
all the while himself, relating anecdotes, cracking
jokes, singing songs, Mr. Woodin—a veritable im-
personation of
" Sport that wrinkled Care derides,
And Laughter holding both his sides"—
trails forth the wonderful coil of his magical "Olio of
Oddities." Stepping, every now and then, behind
the side-scenes to " come out " again the next in-
stant transformed—absolutely transformed—from
top to toe ! No longer the slight stripling figure
already alluded to—that of Mr. Woodin himself in
propria persona—a young gentleman elegantly
attired in full evening costume from the tips of his
glazed-leather boots to the tips of his white kid
gloves, from the delicate cambric of his necktie to
that of his daintily-scented pocket-handkerchief !
But in lieu of hint—the most dissimilar personage
imaginable ! "Lady Esther Evergreen"--s-the most
charming of old ladies, her hair silvered, her voice
quavering, her rich velvet robe of most matronly
and venerable amplitude ! " Mr. Gustavus
Gebbleton," obese and gluttonous, with a
gurgle of gusto in his throat, and a relish
for food in the very rub of his hands—a
portly comfort-loving, lip-smacking personage, the
very pink and pattern of ab ,n viva,it ! Or, most
marvellous change of all—such a total "transmog-
rification" as that effected upon himself by the
Polyphonist when he steps upon the boards instead
of W. S. Woodin—" Miss Clara Chattaway." A
young lady in ringlets and white satin—a low bod-
dice and a high voice—a coquette and a chatterbox!
A laughable rattle-brain "belle of the night," who
simpers, and plays the piano, and flutters her fan,
and walks, and talks, anddisposes the graceful folds
of her flowing skirts when she sits down—just for
all the world as any other young lady who is a
coquette might do—the young lady in pink glace
with whom we danced the polka just now,
or the pretty brunette over yonder who
is engaged to us—for the next quadrille !
Perhaps, however, still more astonishing than
these grand, complete, full-length impersonations
of other people, from the crown of his head to the
sole of his foot,.by Mr. Woodin—are his kit-kat
portraits as we may call them, or, as he himself
terms them, his daguerreotypes of this person, that
person, and the other, you, me, and everybody—
now behind this little reading-desk, , e
now oehind
that ! Creatures starting up in rapid succession
from under the momentarily uplifted lid of the
desk aforesaid. Doctor Johnson in his snuff-
coloured suit, his cauliflower wig, with his ore
uipedalia ! Mr.
rotunda and his verge sesl
Vi7ian Vivid, the moustached exquisite' with
a smattering of criticali q_niddities anent
i‘r.
music and musicians ! V aud yke Brown
bearthd like the pard and jabbering with the
fluency and slang
fluency of another Ruskin,
of the atelier, all about the cant of the craft and
the mysteries of msthe tics ! The crabbed Old
Playgoer in the Pit—bristliag even to his very
whiskers ! And best of all (incomparably) " One of
the Public" up in the thrmeepeuinby gallery—Bill,
Jack, or Tom, as the case e, rapturous in
his shirt sleevesedetermininedtimuapyotn havingk his full
threepen'orth of fun; on
esps
teaag-ei speaking termsa
ththe
with the various occupants,of.:the
orchestra; e, jolly folk se grin'
,e 1 ,g all. over, not only.
n his mouth and eyes, but in the noisy
clap of his red hands, in the very cock
of his old fur cap, and the slovenly un-
buttoning of his velveteen waistcoat ! The
triumph, however, of triumphs, in the way both
of glibness of utterance and rapidity of transfor-
mation, still remaining for W. S. Woodin in his
latest " New Song," the grand loco-joko-motive
lyric, " Off by the Train"—a marvel of visible and,
audible vivacity. Remembering which, we hesitat c
not to accord to our young POlyphonist the pall al
of pre-eminence over each and all of the Mimes of
our acquaiutance—what though among Past and
Present he has had to dare comparison with
several very notable coospetitors.

A letter from Berlin, in the Nuremberg Corre-
spondent, says :—Russia, in order to hasten the
meeting of the second conference, Las declared
that she abandons her claim to the Island of Ser-
pents. The conference will, therefore, have to
decide only on the Bolgrad question."

THE BOLGRAD DIFFICULTY•

The Vienna Correspondent of the Times
(Second Edition), in his letter dated Nov. 11,

says :

" VIENNA, Nov. 11.
" Although the Bessarabian frontier question is
exactly where it was a week ago, the positions
occupied by the great Powers are more clearly

defined them was then the case. The St. Peters..

burg and Paris Cabinets aro still desirous that
the Paris Congress should decide whether New
Bolgrad is to belong to Moldavia or to
Russia, but the British, Austrian, and Turkish
Governments persist in refusing to authorise
their diplomatic agents to resume the Conferences.
England questions the right of the Paris Congress

to meddle again with the Treaty of Peace, and

Austria is of opinion that Russia ought not to be

a judge in a cause in which she is the defendan

It is well known here that the French Govern•
ment has been so imprudent as to make pro,

mixes to the Russian Cabinet which it canno

fulfil without being faithless to its allies, and
there is reason to believe that this Govern-
ment is now endeavouring to discover some ex-

pedient which will enable the Emperor of the

French to retreat with honour from the cul-de-
sac' into which he has been led by Messrs.

Walewski and do Morny. As has been said, the

Austrian Cabinet does not recognise the justice o
the claim of Russia to be a judge in her own
cause, but it would hardly refuse to discuss the
merits of the Bolgrad question with France, Eng-
land, and Turkey alone. now would it be if the
representatives of the four Allied Powers were
to meet in conference and ask each other
what they had understood by the words of the
treaty—' The now frontier shall pass to the
south of Bolgrad.' If they understood by Bol-
g•rad the place marked in the Russian map as
Bolgrad Tabak , the frontier line ought naturally
to be drawn to the south of that place, but if they
understood by Bolgrad 4p, town of the same name
which was not marked on the map, then M.
davia has no just claim to New Bolgrad, and the
sooner England, Austria, and Tuikey yield to
Russia the better it will be for all parties. Infor.
mation has been given me that three days ago
the French Government still insisted on New
Bolgrad being left in the hands of Russia, but it is
difficult to believe that the Monarch who displayed
such good faith during the war should now refuse
to act up to his engagements. The Russian
party in this city avers that selfish motives
detain the British fleet in the Black Sea, but the
Austrians stoutly refuse to give credit to such a
ridiculous statement, and express their convic-
tion that the British Government will withdraw

LATEST N E iIVS 1 - -
lions in the provinces. The account current ()it'll.
• Tro,u,ury has decreased 111 millions. Private ac-
counts current show a diminution of 17-- millions
in Paris, and an augmentation of 14 millions in
the branch banks. The whole amount of the me-
tallic reserve at present is 1631. millions, to 6151
millions of notes in circulation. The premium paid
for the purchase of the precious metals has increased
during the month nearly 650,000 f.
BOURSE, Nov. 14.—The following were tin last
quotations :
Casb. fr. c. End of Month.
4i per Cents
3 per Cents 66 30 66 55
New Loan
Bank Shares 3,850 Roman
Credit Mobilier 1,255 Austrian
Belgian Fives — Spanish Threes
Piedmontese (5) B9 Home Deist
RAILWAYS—FOR CASH.
fr. c. fr. c
Orleans 1,192 50 Western
Northern 893 75 Strasburg .....(a d) 790
Lyons ~ 1,220 New Ditto (x d) 725
Mediterranean 1,577 50 Grand Central
Lyons Geneva
Cette

SPAIN.
The Madrid papers of the 10th have arrived.
The Epoca contains the following curious para-
graph :—" For some days past a rumour which is
credited has been current : it is that the younger
sons of Don Carlos, and also naturally the men
who have remained faithful to their cause, are
about to acknowledge our Queen. It is hoped that
this event will take place before the fete-day of the
august princess who occupies the throne. Doubts
are still entertained that Count de Montemolino
will do what his brothers Don Juan, Don Fernando,
and Don Sebastien are said to be prepared to do ;
and it is not whether, in case they recog-
nise the Queen, these princes will come into Spain
or will remain abroad. The Epoca says that the
salary of members of the Royal Council is to be
60,000 reals. It is now said that M. Pacheco has
sent in his resignation as ambassadcr at London,
and that it has been accepted. The works of the
railways from Madrid to Alicante, Madrid to Sara-
gossa, Burgos to Valladolid, and Seville to Xerez
are being carried on actively ; those of Alicante are
nearly terminated. The Portuguese on their part
are actively engaged in executing the line which is
to unite their country with Spain.

The .gersailtalle of Hamburg contains a letter
from Frankfort, which says :—" Much has lately
been said here respecting the intention of Austria
to contract a new loan abroad. In existing circum-
stances this would be a diflicalt operation."

The 01:c»-ita/c di Roma of the Bth officially an-
nounces the evacuation by the Austrians of all the
towns of the Romagna, except Bologna and An-
cona, and their having been replaced by pontifical
troops.

At the entreaties of Austria, the Prussian Go-
vernment has consented to send another note to
Denmark on the affair of Holstein. It threatens
the Danish Cabinet with carrying the question
before the Germanic Diet, if its demands are not
complied with. Prussia, however, feels assured
that with the present Danish Ministry this note
will have no effect, and has already given the rier
cessary instructions to M. de Bismark, her rePrc"
sentative at Frankfort.

its forces from Constantinople as soon as Russia
has fulfilled her engagements. The question
has been put to me, whether Austria would in
case of need, draw her sword in order to force
Russia to evacuate the western part of Bessara-
bia, and I unhesitatingly reply in the negative.
If Russia should persist in her refusal to redeem
her promise, Austria would simply prolong her
occupation of the Danubian Principalities, and
defend herself if attacked by Russia. The Aus-
trians are evidently much less in awe of Russia
than they were a couple of years since, but still
the high military party would be extremely
averse to a war with her."