The Sun.
London, England, 1860-08-01 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, AITGUST 1, 1860.

andscape gardening. However this may be,
the greater evil has been evaded : and remember-
ing how much Mr. COWPER had to do with its
abandonment, we were amongst the very first to
exult at his accession to that responsible post of the
.tEdileship, which had been so admirably occupied
by Lord LLANOVER prior to the right hon. baro-
net's elevation to the peerage—of which recom-
pense, by the way, his numerous friends and ad-
mirers had been so long in expectancy. While we
cannot but remember, however, that Sir BENJAMIN
HALL received, as a fitting reward for his memo-
rable and resplendent services as Chief Commis-
sioner that tardy advancement at last from a Welsh
baronetcy to a Welsh barony—we are constrained
to acknowledge how egregiously in error have been
all those who were precipitately disposed to behold
in Mr. COWPER a worthy successor of Sir BEN-
JAMIN. As if to signalise the absurdity
of any such agreeable expectations, the pre-
sent Chief Commissioner has falsified them
at once in the very scene whence (by his inaugu-
ral act) they may be said to have originated.
Kensington Gardens has undoubtedly been saved
by Mr. COWPER from pollution through the filtra-
tion scheme devised by Mr. HAWKSLEY for the
purification of the Serpentine. But hardly has
this judicious proceeding been adventured upon,
when all our pleasant hopes as to the Chief Com-
missioner's administrative powers are dashed to the
ground by an act as insensate and as ill-advised as
ever a Conservator of our Parks and Palaces deter-
mined upon performing. Suddenly—in obedience
to the merest freak of fancy—unasked by any one
—assuming to himself the sole responsibility—Mr.
COWPER bisects the most beautiful and sylvan
part of Kensington Gardens with the bold broad
sweep of a Horse Ride, carried round from the
western extremity of Rotten Row, right across
the Botanical Walk, and thence under the trees
parallel with the Broad Avenue, between
the Round Pond and the Old Kensington Palace,
the last-mentioned edifice historically memorable
as the birth-place of the reigning SOVEREIGN.
Recollect, nobody asked Mr. COWPER. to do any-
thing of the kind. Recollect, too, that Kensington
Gardens—particularly at the vex.) part eut in twain
by this Horse Ride—is, as we termed it emphati-
cally the other day, the Nursery of the Metropolis.
It is right through the centre of the swarming
crowd of children and nursery-maids and perambu-
lators that this outrageous sweep of the Horse Ride
has been carried. The road marked out for the
equestrians being defined upon either side by a line
of iron hurdles—with little gaps here and there, at
stated intervals, for the crossing to and fro, between
the horses' feet, of the throng of pedestrians, the
latter, for the most part, consisting of young
women and children. Nothing upon the very
face of it could be more ill-considered in every
imaginable way than this innovation. The site
chosen for the new Horse Ride is, for the obvious
reasons here particularised, the very worst that
could possibly have been selected. It is as if all
the park riders, male and female, had been care-
fully lured into the thick of the throng of the West-
end nursery maids and children. Yet—uncalled
for though the improvement (!) is in itself—the
first those most interested in it learn about it is
the fact of its accomplishment. As BYRON went
to bed one night unknown and awoke the next
morning to find himself famous—Mr. COWPER re-
tired to rest the other evening in respectable ad-
ministrative mediocrity to rise the following day
having rendered himself utterly ridiculous. What
renders the proceeding all the more outrageous in
its way is the circumstance that the Horse Ride we
are now writing about followed, as a sort of nonsensi-
cal anti-climax hard upon the heels of that magnifi-
cent demonstration of loyalty and patriotism in
Hyde-park, the review by Queen VICTORIA of thirty
thousand Rifle Volunteers. The iron hurdles used
in keeping off the pressure of the multitude of
spectators present upon the day of that magnificent
demonstration were immediately afterwards, in
obedience to the orders emanating from Mr.
COWPEE'S frivolous little whimsy, carried.off from
Hyde Park to Kensington Gardens, there, in the
latter beautifully wooded playground of the Lon-
don children, to be trailed in a double parallel line
across the green sward under the trees from Ken-
sington to Bayswater. No sooner was the act of
vandalism known than there was one unanimous,
vociferous outcry of indignation. Kensington,
Notting-hill, Bayswater, Marylebone, Knights.
bridge, all the contiguous and surrounding, locali-
ties. held meetings to protest against this
Horse Ride, signed petitions urgently de•
mar-ding its removal, waited in deputations of
remonstrance upon the Chief Commissioner—laid
direct entreaties for the Royal interposition before
the Sovereign. The whole neighbourhood border-
ing upon Kensington Gardens—north, south, and
west—have proved, in fact, to have been cut up as
roughly by the Horse Ride as the green turf itself
which that Horse Ride traversed !

About the happy result of this popular outcry
against the Horse Ride there cannot fortunately
be any doubt whatever left remaining. Mr.
COWPER'S hurdles will have to be carted away as
ignominiously as Mr. HAWKSLEY'S pumps and
engines, and gravel and rubbish heaped together
on the margin of the Serpentine. Pity it is our
Caief Commissioner catnot recognise that there is
in reality ample room and verge enough elsewhere
for the exercise cf the ambition of the most adven-
turous of all innovating iEdiles—say in building
up a grand central Palace of Justice between
Carey-street and the Strand, as projected by the
Royal Conzinissioners l—or by bordering the river
Thames upon either side with a broad and massive
and stately line of eminently useful and eminently
picturesque embankments.

DEPARTURE OF TIIE DUCHESS OF KENT FOR
SCOTLAND.—Yesterday morning her Royal Highness the
Duchess of Kent, attended by Lady A. Bruce and Lord
James 'Murray (Equerry in Waiting), took her departure
from Frogmore Lodge and proceeded by the. South Western
Railway en route for Scotland. The Royal Duchess in-
tends performing:the whole of the journey without stopping.
Her Royal Highness will not return from the north before
September next.

A marriage will shortly take place be4een Miss
Lucy Sitwell, daughter of the late Sir George Sitwell,
Bart., of Renishaw, DerbysLii e, and Mr. Harwald Wake,
C. 8., son of Sir Charles Wake, Bart., of Courteen Hall,
Northamptonshire.
His Highness the Prince Poniatowski and the
Marquis of Gaviria have left the Brunswick Hotel, Jerrnyn-
street, for the Isle of Wight.
The Countess of Euston, accompanied by Miss
Raikes, has arrived in town from a tour in Germany.
Lord and Lady Wensleydale have returned to
their residence, Park-street, from York.
-

Sir A. Bannerman, Bart., has arrived in town
from his seat in the North of Scotland.

Mr. and the llon. Mrs. Basset have left town for•
Tehidy Park, Cornwall. _

Mrs. Baillie Cochrane was safely delivered, on
Sunday last, of a son and heir, at Mr. Cochrane's residence,
in 'Witten-place. The mother and child are both doing
well.

The wheat harvest has commenced in the province
of Beauce, and also in the environs of Paris.

Soule foreign journals having announced that
Baron Brenier, the French Ambassador at Naples, was
about to quit that capital, the Pattie and the Pays declare
the statement to be completely unfounded.

The Journal du ( her states that the Emperor has
approved of the report of the Artillery Committee, which

THE POLICY OF TILE EMPEROR NAPO-
LEON TOWARDS ENGLAND.

We are requested to publish the following im-
portant letter from the Emperor Napoleon to the
Ambassador of France, to which Lord John Rus-
sell last night referred in the House of Commons :

si ST. CLOUD, JULY 25, 1860.

" My dear Persigny,—Affairs appear to me to be
so complicated—thanks to the mistrust excited
everywhere since the war in Italy—that I write to
you in the hope that a conversation, in perfect
frankness, with Lord Palmerston will remedy the
existing evil. Lord Palmerston knows me, and
when I affirm a thing he will believe me. Well,
you can tell him from me, in the most explicit man-
ner, that since the peace of Villafranca I have had
but one thought, one object—to inaugurate a new
era of peace, and to live on the best terms with all
my neighbours, and especially 'with England. I
had renounced Savoy and Nice; the extraordinary
additions to Piedmont alone caused me to re-
sume the desire to see re-united to France pro-
vinces essentially French. But it will be ob-
jected, You wish for peace, and you increase
immoderately the military forces of France.' I
deny the fact in every sense. My army and my
fleet have in them nothing of a threatening cha-
racter. My steam navy is even far from being
adequate to our requirements, and the number of
steamers does not nearly equal that of sailing ships
deemed necessary in the time of King Louis
Philippe. I have 400,000 men under arms ; but
deduct from this amount 60,000 in Algeria, 6,000
at Rome, 8,000 in China, 20,000 gendarmes, the
sick, and the new conscripts, and you will see—
what is the truth—that my regiments are of smaller
effective strength than during the preceding reign.
The only addition to the Army List has been made
by the creation of the Imperial Guard. Moreover
while wishing for peace, I desire also to organize
the forces of the country on the best possible foot-
ing, for, if foreigners have only seen the bright side
of the last war, I myself, close at hand, have wit-
nessed the defects, and I wish to remedy them.
Having said this much, I have, since Villafranca,
neither done, nor even thought, anything which
could alarm any one. When Lavalette started for
Constantinople, the instructions which I gave him
were confined to this— Use every effort to main-
tain the status quo ; the interest of France is that
Turkey should live as long as possible.'
" Now, then, occur the massacres in Syria, and it
is asserted that I am very glad to find a new occa-
sion of making a little war, or of playing a new
part. Really, people give me credit for very little
common sense. If I instantly proposed an expedi-
tion, it was because my feelings were those of the
people which has put me at its head, and the in-
telligence from Syria transported me with indig-
nation. My first thought, nevertheless, was to
come to an understanding with England. What
other interest than that of humanity could induce
me to send troops into that country ? Could it be
that the possession of it would increase my strength ?
Can I conceal from myself that Algeria, not-
withstanding its future advantages, is a source
of weakness to France, which for 30 years has
devoted to it the purest of its blood and its gold ? I
said it in 1852 at Bordeaux, and my opinion is stilt
the same—l have great conquests to make, but only
in France. Her interior organisation, her moral
development, the increase of her resources, have
still immense progress to make. There a field
exists vast enough for my ambition and sufficient

to satisfy it.
" It was difficult for me to come to an under-
standing with England on the subject of Central
Italy, because I was bound by the peace of Villa-
franca. As to Southern Italy, lam free from
engagements, and 1 ask no better than a concert
with England on this point, as on others ; but, in
Heaven's name, /et the eminent men who are placed
at the head of the Englith Government lay aside
petty jealousies and unjust mistrusts.
" Let us understand one another in good faith,
like honest men as we are, and not like thieves who
desire to cheat each other.
"To sum up, this is my innermost thought. I
desire that Italy should obtain peace, no matter
how, but without foreign intervention, and that
my troops should be able to quit Rome without
compromising the security of the Pope. I could
very much wish not to be obliged to undertake
the Syrian expedition, and, in any case, not to
undertake it alone ; firstly, because it will be a great
expense, and secondly, because I fear that this in-
tervention may involve the Eastern question ; but,
on the other hand, I do not see how to resist
public opinion in my country, which will never
understand that we can leave unpunished, not only
the massacre of Christians, but the burning of our
consulates, the insult to our flag, and the pillage
of the monasteries which were under our protec-
tion.

" I have told you all I think, without disguising
or omitting anything. Alake what use you may
think advisable of my letter.
"Believe in my sincere friendship.
" NAPOLEON."

T 111? LETTER OF KING VICTOR

E.'iLIIANUEL TO GARIBALDI.

The following is said to be a copy of the letter
recently addressed by King Victor Emmanuel to
General Garibaldi :

" General,—You know that I did not approve of
your expedition, and that I was entirely foreign to
it, but to-day the very grave circumstances in which
Italy is placed make it a duty to enter into direct
communication with you.

" In the event of the King of Naples consent-
ing to evacuate the whole of Sicily, and voluntarily
abandoning all species of action, and formally
pledging himself to exercise no pressure whatsoever
upon the Sicilians, so that the latter may freely
pronounce their will, and choose the mode of go-
vernment which they may prefer, I believe it will
be wise in you to renounce altogether any further
enterprise upon the kingdom of Naples. Iu the
contrary event, I expressly reserve my entire
liberty of action, and relieve myself of making any
comment to you in regard to your projects."

The Courrier de Limoges states that, three nights
ago, there was a sharp white frost at Bourges and the im-
mediate neighbourhood.
" The municipality of Paris," says the Siecle,
" has just purchased for 2,410,000 f. the theatre of the
Cirque Imperial, which is required to be demolished for
the Boulevard du Prince Eugene."
SNOW IN JULY.—A letter from a gentleman
travelling from Leeds to Scarborough, on Saturday last,
says :—" When within 10 miles of the queen of English
watering places, I noticed what I suspect that respected
authority, the ' oldest inhabitant,' will pronounce unprece-
dented. Seleral fields were white over with snow. There
was no mistake about it—it lay almost ankle deep in some
parts, the banks of the railway were covered, and, if the
driver had pulled up, the passengers might easily have
turned out and indulged to their harts' content in snow-
balling each other."

THE MILITIA.—The full quota of the militia in
England and Wales is 82 634 men; the number of men
enrolled, 44,986 ; the number of men present at training
this year, 33,872 ; the number whose absence was accounted
for by illness, 503. The undermentioned regiments have
not yet assembled for training :—Anglesea, Brecon, Ist
Derby, Glamorgan (two corps), Pembroke, ardigan, Car-
marthen, Ist and 2d Durham, Nerionoth, Perthshire, Car.
narvon, Denbigh, Flint, Montgomery, Radnor.

THE LATE RAILWAY ACCIDENT AT THE HARROW
STATlON.—Patrick Leven, aged 60, a passenger by the St.
Albans train, who was severely injured through falling
between the wheels of the carriage and the platform at the
Harrow Station on the 23d inst., died on Monday at the
University College Hospital, from the effect of his wounds,
having declined to submit to amputation of the lascerateel

L`TE►ST NEWB.

The following telegrams have been received at
Mr. Reuter's office :

ARMISTICE BETWEEN GARIBALDI AND
THE NEAPOLITAN GENERAL.
NAPLES, JULY 30.
A military convention has been concluded be-
tween Garibaldi and General Clary upon the fol-

lowing terms :
" The Neapolitans are to remain in possession of
the forts of Syracuse, Agosto, and Messina, and to
have liberty of access to all parts of these towns.
" The citadel of Messina will not fire upon the

town.
" The Garibaldian colours to take equal rank
with the Neapolitan flag.
" The navigation of the Strait of Messina to be
free."

NAPLES, JULY 30.
The city is tranquil, but agitation prevails in
the provinces.
It is rumoured that the Royal troops are about
to evacuate the citadel of Messina.

MARSEILLES, WEDNESDAY.

Letters from Naples to the 28th July assert that
Garibaldi had refused to conclude the armis*e
advised by King Victor Emmanuel, and had re-
plied that he himself could alone judge concerning
the real state of things. Garibaldi is also asserted
to have added that he would not pause until the
cause of national unity had triumphed.

The disembarkation of Garibaldi on the main-
land was immediately expected.
A Naples paper had assumed the title of " Gari-
baldi." The public press was very violent in its
language.

A circular had been issued by the Minister of the
Interior, authorising the functionaries to use all
exceptional means for maintaining public order,
as the welfare of the people was the highest law.
Letters from Rome to the 28th July state that
General Goyon will leave for France on the sth of
August.

PARIS, JULY 31.

Lord John Russell has authorised Lord Cowley
to sign the convention for regulating the interven-
tion in Syria, on condition that the free acquiescence
of the Porte shall have been previously obtained ;
and it is asserted that Lord Cowley has also been
instructed to make the reserve that should Fuad
Pasha successfully carry out his present mission,
and thus render the despatch of foreign troops un-
necessary, the Powers who signed the Treaty of
Paris in 1856 shall confine themselves to supporting
the efforts of the Porte for the complete pacification
of Syria by maintaining in the Syrian waters such
naval forces as will suffice for the efficacious protec-
tion of the Christians.

PARIS, JULY 31.

The Ambassadors, in the conference held yester-
day, agreed upon drawing up a convention contain-
ing six articles, and adopting the modifications de-
sired by the Porte.

As soon as the said modifications shall have been
approved by the Great Powers, the Conference will
reassemble, in order to de:finitively sign the Con-

vetition.

The Patrie of this evehing says :—" In conse-
quence of the convention concluded between General
Clary and Garibaldi, there will be a cessation of
hostilities in the island. The belligerents will each
preserve the positions which they now occupy."
The same journal also says :—" It is asserted that
all the Powers agree upon, the convention relative
to Syria, and that only a few matters of detail,
which cannot essentially influence the question,
remain to be settled."

MARSEILLES, JULY 31.
The Indian mail has not yet arrived from Alex-

an dria.
The French mail steamer from Syria is expected

to-morrow.

GENOA, JULY 31;

The Corriere Mercantile publishes an authentic
account of the massacres at Damascus up to the
date of the 10th July inclusive.
3,000 Christians had taken refuge in the Citadel
which was occupied by the Algerines under Abd-el-
Kader.

The town was still in the power of the murderers
and incendiaries, to the number of 2,400, the
greater part of whom were Drnses and Bedouins.

The Turkish garrison consisted of 5,000 iuen,
inactive or hostile.

The soldiers had driven the Christians into the
flames of the burning houses.
The same account computes the number of
victims at from three to four thousand ; but states
that this may be an er:aggerated statement, as the
state of terror whicb. prevailed would not allow
of its being verified.