The Sun.
London, England, 1856-08-20 00:00:00

RAILWAY TRAFFIC RETURNS.

LONDON AND SOUTH-EASTDR,T RAlLWAY.—Traffic re-
turn for the week ending Aug. 16, 1856 £24,042 1 4
Corresponding week last year 25,811 2 3

Decrease in 1856
LONDON, BRIGHTON, AND SOUTH COAST RAILWAY.—
Traffic return for the week ending Aug. 16,

1816
i'lB,ot6 13 5
Corresponding week last year 18,570 1 2
Total of the half-year to this date, 1856 132,383 13 3
Total of the half-year to this date, 1855 123,859 18 10

GLASGOW AND SOITTH-WESTERN RAlLWAY.—Traffic re-
hum for the week ending Ang. 16,1856 27,022 3 5
Corresponding week last year 6,483 11 0

Increase in 1856 £539 12 5
GREAT LUXEUBOURCIL RAlLWAY.—Traffic return for the
week ending Ang. 17, 1856 £735 11 1

IRELAND.

DUBLIN, TUESDAY MORNING.
TIM CONSERVATIVE OPPOSITION.
The -Evening Mail, the old organ of Irish inde-
pendent Conservatism, alluding to the rumoured
retirement of Mr. Disraeli from the post of Oppo-
sition leader, plainly intimates that the step
thus
said to be taken would be received with approba-
tion at this side of the Channel.
"To us (says the Mail) it is not more clear that Mr.
Disraeli is not and never was Pitt, than that the
points be and his colleagues contended for or against,
during the last three years, never did and never could
be organised into a line of policy. Paltering with
the war question, paltering with the Irish land question,
paltering with the Lords' jurisdiction, paltering with
national education, paltering with foreign policy--all in
a double sense—has been manifestly the idea upon which
the Derby-Disraeli Government and Opposition were
formed. It is not wonderful that neither one nor the
other grew from such a conception to be a fact. If Lord
Derby and Mr. Disraeli had boldly declared antagonism
to the Aberdeen Ministry, andaecordanee with the popu-
lar views respecting the war, they, and not Lord Pal-
merston, would have commanded the situation."
THE LORDS OF THE ADMIRALTY.

The morning papers give the following accounts
of yesterday's proceedings in Dublin and Kings-
town :
" Yesterday, at 12 o'clock, Sir Chas. Wood and Ad-
miral Berkeley, Lords of the Admiralty, visited the new
gravinct-dock which is being constructed at the North-
wall. Their lordships arrived in one of the Viceregal car-
riages, and were accompanied by Col. Laroom, Under-
Secretary. Their lordships minutely
examined the plans
of the dock, which were explained to them by Mr. Hal-
pin, chief engineer, and by Mr. Stone, assistant-engineer.
They also inspected the works closely, and made
various
inquiries on the subject, and, after having spent a cinci-
derable time in their examinations, expressed themselves
highly pleased with the admirable manner in which those
plendid works are being executed.
" Shortly after 7 o'clock his Excellency the Lord• Lie-
utenant quitted Westland-row terminus by special train
for the purpose of going
.on board the Admiralty yacht
Osborne, late the Victoria and Albert, and the mortar-
frigate Fortb, at present acting as tender to the yacht, for
the purpose of being present, should circumstances per.
trait, at the gun-boat shelf practice, which was to have
taken place outside the mouth of the harbour. It appeared,
however, that, owing to a strong sea and a headwind,
the gun-boats had not succeeded in making Kingstown,
and the weather Was also too rough for the Forth to dis•