The Sun.
London, England, 1860-04-06 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

lire's Dictionary of Arts, Manufactures, and

Mines. Longman.
This useful work has now reached its sixth num•
ber, and great credit is due to 111r-Hunt for the
attention he has bestowed on this new edition.
The first article, on the Daguerreotype, commences
thus :
" A photographic process discovered by M. Daguerre, a
celebrated French dioramic painter, published in July,
1839; the French Government having secured a pension
for life of 6,000 francs on M. Daguerre, and of 4,000 franca
on M. Isidore Niepce, the son of M. Nicephore NierGa,
who had for some time been associated with M. Daguerre
in carrying forward the experiments which led to M.
Daguerre's discovery."

Under the head of Electricity the reader will find
full information relating to electric clocks, the
electric light, and electric telegraphs. The last
subject treated of in this number is fermentation,
and when the edition is completed it will constitute
a standard book of reference.

COXFIRMATIOX OF HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS

PRINCE ALFRED.

The confirmation of his Royal Highness Prince Alfred
took place yesterday in the private chapel of Windsor Castle,
his Royal Highness having been examined on the previous
day by the Rev. W. L. Onslow, chaplain and naval in-
structor of her Majesty's ship Euryalus, in the presence of
her Majesty the Queen, his Royal Highness the Prince
Consort, his Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury, and the
Hon. and Very Rev. the Dean of Windsor.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, accompanied by the Bi-
shop of Oxford, Lord High Almoner ; the Dean of Wind-
sor, resident chaplain to the Queen ; the Rev. Lord W.
Russell, chaplain to ale Prince Consort ; the Rev. H. J.
Ellison, vicar of Windsor; and the Rev. W. L. Onslow,
chaplain and naval instructor of her Majesty's ship Eury-
alus, entered the chapel at twelve o'clock. His Grace and
the Bishop of Oxford sat on either side of the communion-
table.

The Ministers and other company invited to the cere-
mony were conducted to seats in the chapel.
The service commenced with the following chorale,
which was sung by the gentlemen and boys of St. George's
Chapel :

CHORALE.
Oh, happy bond that seals my vows,
To Him who claims our highest love
Let cheerful anthems fill his house,
While to that sacred shrine I move.
'Tis done : the great engagement's done;
I am my Lord's, and he is mine;
He drew me and I followed on,
Glad to confess the voice divine.
High Heaven, that heard the solemn vow,
That vow renewed shall daily hear,
Till in life's latest hour I bow,
And bless in death a bond so dear.
The Bishop of Oxford read the preface ccmmencing "To
the end that confirmation."
The Archbishop of Canterbury performed the remainder
of the service, and at the close of the exhortation delivered
by his Grace the following anthem was sung :
ANTHEM.
Psalm CXVI., verses 12, 14, 16
"I will receive the cup of salvation, and call upon the
name of the Lord.
" Behold, O.Lord, how that I am thy servant; I am thy
servant, and the son of thine handmaid ; thou hest broken
my bonds in sunder.
" I will pay my vows unto the Lord, in the sight of all
his people; in the courts of the Lord's house, even in the
midst of thee, 0 Jerusalem. Praise the Lord."
Mr. W. G. Cusins, organist of her Majesty's private
chapel, presided at the organ.
At the conclusion of the ceremony the Queen and Prince
Consort, with the Duchess of Kent, the Duchess of Cam-
bridge, the Royal family, the Duke and Princess Mary of
Cambridge, and Prince Edward of Saxe Weimar, were con-
ducted from the chapel to the Green Drawing-room, where
her Majesty received the congratulations of the company
present.

MR. WILSON'S FINANCIAL SCIIEME.

(From the Bombay Times.)
The reader who is acquainted with the history of mone-
tary science during this century will hardly need to be told
that the plan here outlined is a very close, not to say ser-
vile imitation of Ricerslo's " Plan for a National Bank,"
published in 1824. One great merit of Mr. Wilson's seems
to be that he is a very safe man, following the broad high-
way which the great pioneers of modern economy have cut
out for us. Gentlemen who had been calculating upon the
setting free of the each balances will, of course, be griev-
ously disappointed to find that not a note is to be issued that
is not paid for in bullion. The subsequent investment of
the funds in securities will be a delicate operation, requir-
ing much discretion and political knowledge in the
Commissioners, the rendering of whom independent of the
Indian Government is, of course, imperative. It would
have been most unwise to follow the recommendations of
the Saturday Review and others, who were desirous of
seeing the balances liberated for the sake of reducing the
annual amount of dividends. Such a course was too dan-
gerous to be permitted. If Government want money, it
should be obliged to raise it in the legitimate way—by tax-
ing the people, by the issue of Exchequer bills, by funded
loans, or by borrowing in any other way; but in no case
should it be allowed the power of creating money itself, nor
of borrowing of those to whom that power is intrusted.
Tho wretched system upon which the Indian accounts
have hitherto been kept was well illustrated in
the course of Mr. Wilson's speech in introducing the
budget. On the faith of the estimates sent from this
country, Sir Charles Wood assured the House of Commons,
on the Ist of August last, that the deficiency of income as
against the expenditure of the current year would be
£10,250,000. Hardly was the intimation received in Cal.
cutta than a new balance-sheet was published in the shape
of a despatch to the Secretary of State, reducing the deficit
from £10,250,000 to £6,499,981. Nothing was now heard
on all hands but congratulations upon our improved pro-
spects, when, after six months of happy delusion, Mr.
Wilson presents us with a third and final estimate, raising
the deficit to £9,290,129, and explaining how the discrepancy
has arisen. Stated in short, the balance-sheet of the year
stands as follows :

Estimated Indian Expenditure £41,770,008
Estimated Home Charges , ,

£47,277,028
Estimated Receipts . . £37,706,209
Estimated Railway Receipts.— , 330,700

38,036,909

Deficit

We are not responsible for the trifling discrepancy mani-
fest in these figures; the error lies in Mr. Wilson's state
ments, or in the report thereof. But we wish to direct the-
attention of our readers to the way in which the vast dis
crepancy between the present balance-sheet and that of
September last arises. It is accounted for then as follows :
Omission of railway dividends, £1,164,000 less re-
ceipts, £330,700 ..
Error in the estimated military expenditure of
Bombay 600,000
Error in the estimated commissariat expenditure
of Madras
Error in the estimate of home charges
Error in estimating what the new taxes would
realise

775,000

Anything more discreditable than this schedule it wera
hardly possible to publish. And it is this system, whose
failure in every department is thus manifest, that Sir Jas.
Melville so warmly defended when replying to Sir Charles
Trevelyan's strictures thereon before the Committee of the
Commons in 1853. Let the reader note the first item. It is
really incredible, if we had not Mr. Wilson's word for the
fact, that no account was taken in the estimates of Septem-
ber of the million of railway dividends payable during the
year. We find Bombay figuring next in the schedule for a
trifling error of £600,000, and then Madras for £300,000, and
lastly the India-house for £640,000. It is time that a
system so wretchedly loose were exploded, and we shall
look impatiently for the change that is promised from a
system of carefully prepared estimates which no depart-
ment will be allowed to exceed.

SOUTHAAIPTON, April 5.—A very handsome now
paddlewheel steamer, named ;the Massilia, built for the
Peninsular and Oriental Company by Samnda, Brothers, of
Blackwell, arrived here this morning iu charge of Captain
J. W. Purchase She left Gravesend yesterday at 845
a.m., passed the Nore at 11; the North Foreland, 12 45
p.m. ; the South Foreland, 2 5 ; Dungeness, 3 36 ; Beachy
Head, 5 26 ; the Owers Light, 8 45 ; the Nab Light, 955 ;
Calshot, 10 55 ; and anchored in the river at 11 10 p.m.
for the night, coming into dock this morning. The voyage
round from Gravesend was one of the fastest on record, the
Massilia being only 14 hours 4 minutes under weigh, ave-
raging during the run 14 knots per hour. In steaming
down the Thames from Gravesend she made 65 miles in
five hours against the tide, and coming down Channel
she ran 15 knot for three or four consecutive hours. She
proved herself a fine stiff ship throughout the voyage, and
promises to be one of the fastest and of the company's mag-
nificent fleet. Her draught of water was 16 feet 3 inches
forward, and 15 feet 8 inches aft. The following are her
principal dimensions :—Length between perpendiculars
300 feet ; extreme breadth, 36 feet ; depth-amidships,
24 feet 6 inches ; builders' tonnage, 1,919 ; rieg sterec
tonnage, 1,133. her engines, which are built by Messrs.
Penn and Son, are of 400 nominal horse power ; the cylin-
ders are 72 inches diameter, with 7 feet stroke ; diameter
of paddle-wheels, 26 feet. Accommodation is provided on
board. for 105 first and 36 second-class passengers. The
Massilia goes out for an official trial trip on Saturday, and
leaves for Alexandria en Thursday next, with the Bom-
bay and Australian mails. The screw steamer Behar, Cap-
tain J. C. Almond went out for a trial to-day, and the
results were very 'satisfactory. This vessel has been
thoroughly repaired and refitted in every department, and
her hull coated with Peacock and Buchan's patont compo-
sition for ships' bottoms. The Behar takes out the mails
to the Peninsular ports on Saturday, on her return from
which she will be sent out to the Indian station. The
Hamburg American Company's screw steamer Borussia
still remains in dock, some derangement of her machinery
having to be set right before she leaves for New York. The
Prussian storeship Elbe sailed for Japan this morning, and
the frigate Arcona is to follow on Saturday.
The Royal Monmouthshire Militia has been
ordered to assemble at Monmouth, on Monday,
April 30, for 27 days' training.