The Sun.
London, England, 1856-04-15 00:00:00

ENIMA STANLEY'S "SEVEN AGES OF WOMAN."

- -
The Manater respectfully announces the TWO lAST MORN-
ING PERFORMANCES of this most popular and amusing Enter-
tainment, Wednesday, the IGth, and Saturchiy, the 19th, at half•past
two.

Evening performancei as antal, on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays
and 171 days, at 9 o'clock.

Admission---flack Seats, Is.; Cents Scats, 25.; Stalls, 3s.
SAINT MARTIN'S HALL, Long-acre.

lIIGiI WATER. AT LONDON BRIDGE:.

Tim DAY—Morn. 55 tnin. aft. 10 —Evening 30 min. aft. 11
TAr3foßßow—Morn. 0 min. aft. 0 —Evening 4 min. aft.l2

THE WEATHER—SUN OFFICE, APRIL 15.
TIIERVOIIETER, IN THE saAnz.
57 - highcet dice noon yogorday.
50 this morning and during the night.
t 5 t.lOB day at noon.

- BAROlLwrigli, 30'02.
WIND, N.N.E. to N.E.—Fresh, with fine, cold sunshiny
weather.

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t j ;I),* 1-k-:-,-;--*-:.
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LoriA,
4*4 '4l#

LONDON; TUESDAY, APRIL 15, 1856.

The National Balance-sheet for the financial
year ending on the 31st ultimo, Which has just
been published, will be found in another part of
this day's impression. It is, under any circum-
stances, a document of vast importance, which
should receive the calm and attentive considera-
tion of every man desirous of maintaining the
national credit. It is peculiarly so at the present
moment, inasmuch as it is by its means alone that
we can form any notion of the actual expenses
incurred in resisting the unconscieutious and un-
warrantable aggression of the late CZAR, and of
the enormous amount which haS been wantonly
sacrificed, without any demand being put forward
for compensation or redress. It shows the actual
outlay on what may be termed the War Depart-
ments of the pulali6 service ; and comparing these
with the similar charges in times of peace wb may
form a fair estimate of what might justly be
debited to Russia in the public ledger for the last
twelve months of the War. It will not show the full
extent of the cost, inasmuch as there are a variety
of incidental charges which will drop in from time
to time. There will be a large addition to the
half-pay and pension lists, that may be continued
for many years to come. Our foreign legions arc
not as yet disbanded, nor can We as yet judge
of the expenses attendant on the operaqou.
The troops have not returned from the
Crimea. Transports are still chartered,- and

numerous items remain that will not easily
he satisfied. We cannot see why the War
expenses should not be fairly laid before the
public in a distinct and separate form. But until
that be done, and we can easily conceive the strenu-
ous opposition that would be offered by Ministers
to any such returns, we must avail ourselves of
the information that can be obtained from the
document under notice.

It appears that the actual revenue of the year
amounted to 65,704,4901. 15s. 10d. and the ex-
penditure to 88,428,3451. Os. 11d., leaving all
actual deficiency of 22,723,8541. ss. hi. A
terrible array of figures, when we consider
the vast increase of taxation since the com-
mencement of the E tstern difficulty, and the
small results actually achieved. The addi-
tional imposts cheerfully submitted to by tilt,
nation—a more than doubled Income Tax, in-
creased duties on tea, coffee, sugar, malt, spirits,
LiT,c.—produced about 15,000,0001., while loans
to the extent of 21,000,0001. were contracted,
besides an addition of several millions to the Un-
funded Debt. From this statement it would
appear that some 36,000,0001. or 37,000,000/.
were actually expended on the War within the
year, and that estimate is further verified by the
fact that, in ordinary times, the expenditure is
about 1,000,0001. per week, or, 52,000,0001.
per annum; whereas it has been, in round nutn-
bers, about eighty-eight and a half millions—
showing the, extra cost to have been about thirty-
six and a half millions.

A third test may also be applied, which lead::
to a similar conclusion. The Naval, Military,
and Ordnance estimates, have been so low
as eighteen or nineteen millions, and may be
safely taken at twenty-two millions, which would
have covered everything but for the criminal
ambition and grasping cupidity of the late AUTO-
CRAT, in the present return they are set down
at no less than 58,592,1001. 12s. We thus
find that similar results are obtained by three
different methods ; and we may, therefore, safely
assume the general accuracy of the calculation.

Here, then, is 36,500,0001. literally flung
away ; and we may probably assume that at least
as much' more was expended during the first year,
or must be paid before the matter has been fully
wound up, and the war account completely closed.
Seventy-three millions have thus been improvi-
dently squandered, without obtaining honour for
the past or security for the future. Our gallant.
brethren have uselessly laid down their lives—and
for what? To render England the laughing-stock of
every petty German despot, who joyously pockets
the bribes profusely paid by Russia for his venal
support. The English People, we are told, have
" their victories and their undiminished resources
for their own reward," and this is one of the re-
sults—and we fear by .no means the most objec
tionable—of the secret and unconstitutional in-
fluence that pervades almost every department of
the public service, but is peculiarly conspicuow
at the Horse Guards and in the Cabinet.
What might this seventy-three millions
properly applied have done for the country ? The
speculation is too vast to be entered on at the close
of an article. It should, however, entitle the
oppressed tax-payers to some relief from their
enormous burdens, and yet we see no appearance
of the slightest intention to mitigate the load.
We have already ascertained that no, attempt is
to be made towards a more equitable assessment
of the Income Tax, which is to be continued with
all its monstrous inequalities to the last possible
moment. No step is to be taken towards placing
the national currency on a better foundation, i r
vf Liac walvtry with the
Bank of England. The iniquitous and impolitic
Act. of 1844 has virtually expired, but no hint has
been thrown out as to the nature of the future mone-
tary legislation, and the manifest intention is to
tide over the difficulty for the present year, and to
leave a troublesome legacy as a bequest to the future
Ministers. The Chancellor of the Exchequer declares
that Government cannot make any proposition for
the alteration of the act without a preliminary
inquiry. Why, then, is it not at once instituted ?
licause, forsooth, it is too late I No great pro-
gress can be made during this latter part of thu
session. A short time since it was, according to
the Right Honourable gentleman, " unseasonable
and premature." Now the postponement, that
took place at his own instance, is fatal to the
cause, and no progress can be made ! Was there
ever such palpable absurdity ? We trust that the
House will not suffer itself to be so grossly bam-
boozled. Much may be effected within a couple
of months, and ample time would remain for a
Bill, founded on the report of the Committee, to
be passed through Parliament, or, at all events,
there would be every material for legislation at
the very commencement of the next s:asion,
which might be held before Christmas for a sub-
ject of such vital importance to the nation. If
Ministers desire to retain the public confidence,
they must show themselves adequate to their du-
ties, and give better proof of efficiency than the
postponement of every question of doubt and
difficulty to a future time.

HANGING—ShaII it be private, or shall it be
abolished ? One Honourable Member wants to
have our criminals under sentence of death,
strangled within the walls of their prison; instead
of the gibbet being made, as hitherto, a horrible
public exhibition. Another Honourable Member
is anxious, on the contrary, to do away altogether
with capi talpunishment. Which is it to be ? Either
or neither ? Supposing we cannot persuade our-
selVes to arrive-at the humane conclusions asserted
by the benevolent argument of BECCARIA—sup-
-posing we cannot at all recognise the necessity of
doing away with Death as the dread arch-penalty
of Crime—supposing we still cling•pertinacionsly
to the belief that that penalty does really, after
all, act, in some measure at least, as a preventive
—must all murderers and poisoners, and such
like horrible wretches, in this land of ours, still
die like dogs by public strangulation ? Is an exe-
cution of a miserable criminal at the hands of
the common hangman in the midst of a 'crowded
thoroughfare—necessary ?—is it advisable ? These
are questions of a very momentous character—for
they affect, in
well-being or ill7-b:jant,heorf
tshereiocionnamwuayri,ityt.he muoproanl
the continuance of this terrible custom depends,
to a considerable extent, the lesser or greater de-
pravity of very many among
ou ). tailseto":h-
There can hardly be any d 1 direc-
tionwicihtnesees
the proportion takes in this rather frightful'
alternative.

The Great Observer of the Age has de-
scribed in vivid words the appalling spectacle,
as it was presented to him upon au occasion very
memorable in the Annals of Atrocity. And that
was no exceptional sight. It was one, the horror
of which (as far as the execution went) was
about - the average. The crime expiated
was more than usually horrible no .doubt—being
the murder of the miserable caitiff, O'coNwon, by
those male and female monsters, the MANNING:3,
But the manner of tha expiation Was quite of the
ordinary character. Aug the scene witnessed cn
that lamentable Tuesday morning, upon the 13th
of November, was, alas ! of only a customary

kind in every particular. Here is a glimpse of
it, as seen through the vigilant and kindling eyes
-4f Boz—eyes kindling with horror and indigna-
tion " When the sun rose brightly—as it
lid—it gilded thousands upon thousands of up-
turned faces, so inexpressibly odious in their
brutal mirth and callousness, that a man had
3auso to feel ashamed of the shape he wore, and
to shrink from himself, as fashioned in the image

if the Devil." And again . . . " When the two
,miserable creatures who attracted all this ghastly
flight about them were turned quivering into the
tir, there was no more emotion, no more pity, no
more thought that two immortal souls had gone
to judgment, no more restraint in any of the pre-
visus obscenities, than if the name of CHRIST had
never been heard in this world, and there were
no belief among men but that they perished like
the beasts." Nor can this be wondered at, when
we remember who made up the bulk of the bye-
standers--" Thieves, low prostitutes, ruin fns,
vagabonds of every kind, when the day dawned,
flocked on to the ground with every variety of
offensive and foul behaviour." Upon all which
terrific aggregation of horror, note now the sen-
tence pronounced with all imaginable emphasis by
Ur. DICKENS, who first of all observes truly—" I
think thereare not many phases of London life that
could surprise me ;" previously remarking, " I
have seen, habitually, some of the worst sources
of general contamination and corruption in the
country,"' and who yet, with all this awful expe-
rience as an Observer—as the Okorver of his Age
—avers :—" /am solemnly convinced that nothing
that human ingenuity could devise to be
done in this city, in the same compass of time,
could work such ruin as one public execution, and
I stand astounded and appalled by the wickedness
it ex:tibits." Memorable words, coming from the
lips of one with a mind so ample, with eyes so
keen, with an imagination so vivid, with a heart
so large and generous—words of thrilling admo-
nition uttered long ago—and since which time
we have been blindly and obdurately hanging,
and hanging, and hanging in the populous streets
of London, in the midst of the same scenes, with
dl their concomitant horrors, in the midst of—
" Fightings, faintings, whistlings, imitations of
Punch, brutal jokes, tumultuous demonstrations
of indecent delight when swooning women were
dragged out of the crowd by the police, with their
dresses disordered," giving as Boz tells us, as be
told us five or six years ago, " a new zest to the
general entertainment." No marvel that large
and gentle Heart broke out into that cry of
anguish, " I believe that a sight so inconceivably
awful as the wickedness and levity of the immense
crowd collected at that execution--{meaning the
execution of the MANNINGS, he might have said
with equal truth in lieu of this, 'collected at every
execution in London indiscriminately']—could bs
imagined by no man, and could be presented in
no heathen land under the sun." And with these
same hideous spectacles continually recurring and
recurring among us, our legislators are babbling
session after session in long and wearisome debates
about the worthiest scheme for a popular system
of National Education ! Good GOD-My Lords
and Gentlemen, honourable and right honour-
able let us rid ourselves first of all of
such prolific sources of moral disease and
depravity, before we begin to talk about abstract
theories of Education.

Let us look to the uses of the Hang-
man before we think of those of the School-
mnaster. Let ue dig away the filth and rot-
tenness choking up the broad area chalked out for
the foundation before we begin to amuse ourselves
over the various pl ins suggested by one ingenious
architect or another for the ornate and elaborate
AideusGrtietUre whit:ll thts yet even to bo coM-
menced ! Setting aside the problem propounded
by BECICARTA-putting altogether out of the ques-
tion the rather startling axiom enunciation by the
benevolent wit, to wit, that there are perhaps
after all batter uses to which you can put a man
than to hang him—forgetting wholly and entirely
the proposition put forward by the philanthropis's
who would altogether do away with the supreme
penalty of the law, that of capital panishment—
it may possibly be just as well to consider whether
we mty not, with some small advantage to our-
selves, abandon at last, for once and for all, the
rather mere than merely questionable benefits
resulting from the system of public executions.
Particularly after the recent horrors witnessed at
the hanging of the wretched murderer BOUSFIELD
And more particularly when it is announced that
the very infamous office of public executioner has,
in consequence of that wretched spectacle, actually
once more gone a-begging ! CaLonA.Fr, after
seventeen years of official Thuggism, falls into
disgrace (if it be possible for a Hangman to
"sink" any lower from the depth of his own
primary and profound abasement !) by reason of
his skulking, through fear, away from the gallows
befere the last wretch " turned off " by his ter-
rible hands had been effectually strangled, the nerves
of the hoary old hangman trembling under the
threat of some anonymous correspondent. Con-
sequent upon which frightful incident, and remem
boring, the dying throes of BOUSFIELD as some
horrid sort of Nightmare, seen by many hundreds
of people by broad day light in front of Newgate
Prison, there is actually heard now a talk of
CALCRA.FT, the hangman, having a successor ! Is
not this the very opportunity long felt to be most
deArable ? Simultaneously with the appointment
of another executioner, might we not modify at
once the very nature and the very locality of our
execul ions—modifying both for the general public
most advantageously ? Might we not ? It is a
question, we really think, worthy of instant and
serious consideration.

Suppose—beyond what we have here already sug-
ges ted—sUppose we not only abandon at last this
brutal and brutalising system of strangling ourgreat
criminals in the public streets, with all kinds of
horrible accompaniments in the way of obscenities
and blasphemies--suppose we seize this favourable
opportunity for doing away with the office of
Jack, Ketch altogether, adopting, in lieu of the
black beams of the. Gallows, with its dangling
noose, the scarlet apparatus, the inexorable blade,
and the blood-stained basket of the Guillotine ?
Suppose I:7—Might not the majesty of the law be
vindicated then more humanely, more terribly,
and with less chance of shame to us all--our con-
demned criminals s " Dying the Death," not as
hitherto by the hands of a fellow-mortal, but by
means of a grimly piece of mechanism, a wood
and metal NEMESIS, the material ATROPOS born
of the French Revolution ?

We ►,eg to direct the attention of our readers
to a report (which will be found in another column)
of the important meeting yesterday, at the London
Tavern, of merchants, commercial men, and others
interested in the welfare of our Australian colonies.
Tice objedt of the meeting, it will be seen, was to
consider what steps should be adopted to insure
the immediate re-establishment of our postal steam
communication with Australia, and this naturally
lcd the speakers to statements and explanations
with which, we are of opinion, it were well the
public should be thoroughly acquainted. As a
matter of course, and of fact, it was shown that
'Audi alia is nearly our best customer, taking from

us fifteen millions worth of our produce
annually ; that a tardy communication was in
existence: prior to the War, but, strange to
tell, that communication was stopped on account
of hostilities, in other words, of the strongest
motive for improving it, that the colonists
are dissatisfied with such treatment, and
offer to contribute half of the expenditure of a
more rapid steam service by another and nigher
route, that Government, in its ineffable wis-
dom, instead of laying down the required ser-
vice, has referred the matter to the colonists,
whose wishes are known already, thereby incur-
ring a delay, wholly unnecessary and uncalled
for, of 18 months, and that the interests of this
country as well as of Australia have suffered, do
suffer, and must continue to suffer, from the
want of a rapid communication between the two
countries. These facts, and others elucidating
or confirming them, had, as might be expected,
their weight, and a petition for the immediate
establishment of the sort of postal service required
was unanimously agreed on. The speech of Lord
STANLEY may be particularly pointed out as de-
serving of perusal, not so much for the position
and ability of the speaker, as for the home truths
respecting the wretched dealing of our officials
with the colonies to which he gave utterance.
How bitter, yet how true—indeed the bitterness
is exclusively in its truth--is the remark—" In
the Colonial Department of the Government those
in power are too apt to treat the affairs of the
colonies as if they were negotiating with hostile,
or at least neutral, parties, and not with friends."

It apprars to be generally believed at Lisbon that
Queen Victoria will visit Portugal this year.
There has been some gossip in the papers about a ma-
trimonial conm cti er bet een the royal family of Naples
and the ducal faanily of Tuscany. There is nothing of
the kind. The eldest daughter of the grand duke is
only twelve years of age.
The Duke and Duchess of Buccleuch and family, who
are staying at Bowhill, the ducal seat in Selkirksbire,
do not intend to come to Montague-house, Whitehall,
until the middle of next month. The Earl of Dalkerth,
M.P., has arrived at Montague-house for the season.
The steam-transport Trent has been ordered by the
Government to be put into immediate repair at S uth-
ampton, she having received injuries in towing home
from tie East a floating battery.
MEXICO.—By way of New Orleans we have news from
Vera Cruz to the 221 ult. The Government forces had
blockaded Puebla. Tamariz had proposed a surrender,
but Comonfert would not accept the terms offered.
RUSSIAN RAILWAY SHARES.—The directors of the
Riga and Dunaburg Railway gave notice yesterday after-
noon that they intend to issue their shares " to bearer,"
and that a deed of settlement will he avoided.
THE FATAL PRUSSIAN DUEL.—M. de Munchausen,
the second of the late M. de Hinckeldy in the fatal
duel, has resumed his functions at the Ministry of the
Interior. M. de Rochow, it is stated, is preparing a
statement in justificalion of his conduct.
The Mon.teur of yesterday states that his Imperial
Highness Prince Jeanne Napoleon, who has recovered
from the illness with which be had been attacked, visited
the Emperor and Empress and the Imperial Prince on
Sunday. On leaving the Tuileries his Imperial High-
ness took a drive to the Bois de Boulogne,
THE BISHOP OF NORWICH.—The health of the Bishop
of Norwich has been slowly improving during the ptst
few months. It is now so far re-established that his
lordship has resumed the active duties of his diocese,
which his severe and continued indisposition compelled
him to relinquish.
The discovery ship Resolute is to be sold for the bene-
fit of those who brought her into port, the British Go-
serement having aban loned all &aim to the vessel.
As soon as the Empress is in a condition to move out
she will take up her residence at St. Cloud, and remain
there till the middle or end of June, when the ceremony
of the baptism of the Imperial Prince will take place.
She will then proceed to the south for sea-bathing.
Preparations are already making at Biarritz for her re-
ception.
AMERICAN Mmes.—The steamer Ericsson will sail
from Liverpool for New York on Wednesday morning
with the mails for the United States and Canada. Letters
will be received at the Liverpool post-office on the morn-
'mg of thatday till 6.30 a.m., with late fees till 7.30, and
cm the landing stage till 8.30 a.m.
TURKISH MISSIONS AID SOClETY.—Yesterday, the
second annual meeting of the above society was held, in
Willis's Rooms, Ring-street, St. James's, under the
presidency of the Earl of Shaftesbury. The attendance
was numerous. The balance-sheet showed a reception
of 2,6211. Os, 21d., which, after paying ell esnenses,
left a balance in the hands of tneteeeeurer of 419/. Os. 10d.
THE AUSTRIANS IN PARMA.—During the last few
days, dozens of persons, arrested for supposed political
opinions have been sent off to Mantua. Military law is
applied with the utmost severity. The Austrians) say
there will be no long trials—" The guilty will be shot,
and the innocent set at liberty." The whole male
population wearing beards have been shaved by au-
thority.
OPPOSITION TO THE CORPORATION REGULATION BILL.
—Yesterday afternoon, a meeting of the inhabitants of
the Walbrools ward was held at the Bay-tree Tavern,
St. Swithin's-lane' to consider the propriety of petition-
ing the House of Commons against the second reading
of the London Corporation Regulation Bill ; David
Williams Wire, Esq., Alderman, presided. Resolutions
against the bill were agreed to unanimously.
A subscription has been entered into by the British
residents at Hamburg, for the purpose of presenting
Miss Nightin ;ale with a souvenir., expressive of their
admiration of the noble and disinterested conduct of
that lady in ministering to the wants and comforts of
the army in the East. The subscription amounts at
present to about 2,000 marks, nearly 1201.
MISS NIGHTINGALE.—Among the Crimean photo-
, graphs lately published by Messrs. Fenton and Robert-
' son is one of no slight interest. .In No. 191, "Mortar
Batteries in front of Picket house, Light Division," are
shown three mortars in position, on the centre one of
which the heroic Miss Nightingale was raised at her
own request by a gentleman belonging to the sanitary
commission, in order that she might obtain a view of
Sebasmpol —a perilous peep, most mercifully taken with
impunity.
Tao. PACIFIC.--The Panama Star gives the follow-
ing news from Nicaragua :—" Costa Rica has declared
war against the Filibusters, and is joined by the other
Central American States. Costa Rica requires 9,000
men and $lOO,OOO from the Republic. Walker has also
declared war against Costa Rica, and marched to
Guareacasta, a frontier station of Costa Rica, to meet
Colonel Biscriet, of the Costa Rica army, who has
quite a respectable force. Walker has not over 1,600
Mon in all, of whom a large percentage is unfit for duty,
Owing to sickniss."

Bank of Ireland • •

TIPPERARY BANK.—The English shareholders of the
Tipperary Bank have held several meetings, with the
view of concerting measures for their own protection in
the arrangement of the affairs of that e.tabli.hment.
They are sail to have availed themselves of the best ad-
vice at the Irish bar, and to have been informed that
several legal points can be raised in resistance to their

liabilities: At the same time they express a disposition
to deal with the case, if possible, on equitable terms. It
is therefore hoped that the creditors, both in England
and Ireland, will eventually agree to a settlement which
may in some degree awn the disastrous consequences
of this suspens'on. Subscriptions have been raised in
London towards a " Defence Fund," and a committee
has been formed to conduct negotiation; Some of the
shareholder{, however, anticipating the worst results
from a winding•up, have already left the country to
avoid responEioility.
DEPOSIT AND GENERAL LIFE ASSURANCE COMPANY.

—lt was mentioned on Wednesday that an annual
general meeting of this company had been held on the
previous thy, at which the directors deemed it expe-
dient to avoid publicity. Although anxious on that
occasion to prevent the presence of independent report-
ers, they have eiTIC3 thought it desirable to incur great
expense in the publication of a report framed by them-
selves. This chiefly consists of a series of inflated and
c3mplimentary speeches as to the thriving condition of
the concern, one gentleman predicting that the company
would ultimately be second to nono in London, and
another assuring his hearers, notwithstanding the recent
developments in the case of the Protestant Life office,
that old companies are not so safe as young ones. The
fact appears to have been that a report drawn up by
their own auditors was rejected at the instance of the
directors, together with a statement, by which it was
accompanied, of the finances of the company, and that a
report of the directors of a more pleasant character was
substituted. As a natural consequence, the intractable
auditors were got rid of before the termination of the
meeting. The nature of their report is not explained in
the lengthy advertisement devoted to the flittering ex-
pressions of the various speakers, and it is fair to
infer that the exclusion of reporters was also resolved
upon in order that it should not see the light. The au-
ditors, however, in their own justification, as well as in
fulfilment of their duty to the assurers, have transmitted
it for publication. If the directors can controvert its
allegations they shall have every opportunity of doing
so, and the company will then take its proper stand
before the public. The sole object of the appointment
of auditors is to provide that some persons independent
of the directors should pledge themselves to the accu-
racy of the accounts submitted, and when it is found
that their statements are rejected at the instance of the
very parties upon whom they are intended as a check all
sense of security must be weakened. In the present
case there is, apart from this circumstance, enough to I
call for more than ordinary vigilance, since it is under- I
stood that the late Mr. John Sadleir was a trustee of
the company, and that Mr. Clement Sadleir retired from
the post of managing director only a short time pre-
viously to the death of his brother. Should these cir-
cumstances, together with the details in the auditor's
report, prove to be beyond contradiction, it may be a
point far consideration whether the ad vertiement just I
put forth by the directors would not furnish grounds for
the most severe legal proceedings on the part of any one
who might suffer damage from being misled by it
Timm City Article.

P.VENING„ APRIL 15, 1856.

RECEIPTS

;, and other extra)

Advances for Local Works, &c ,
under various Acts of Parda
went (including loan to Sar
dinia, £1,000,000)
Less—Repayments of ditto

Excess of expenditure over in-
come in the year ended tli
313 t of March, 1856
Balances in the Exchequer en
the 3 ,st et March, 1856:
Bank of England
Consolidated
Fund balance ..4,160,573 19 6
Balance of pay-
ments on account
of fundingExche- .
truer Bills ...• .. 159,000 0 C

Treasury-chambers, April 8, I

ldia Company

er income in the

rDITURE.
s. d

23,205,392 13 2
173,2-10 17 5
3,863,907 0 9

210,000 0 0

616,083 7 5

17,150 16 8

2:,749 13 91

23,112,E124 9 2

396,457 10 0'
340,491 3 6
161,731 18 it
147,659 7 8
493,2 9 3 0

183,860 16 8

2,243,927 10 11
1,245,244 17 4

1,723,419 19 9

53.592,100 12 2

4,31,,573 19 B
1,281,047 7 5

2,740,000 0 0

993,678 13 7

22,723,854 5

JAM

} 5,600,621 G 10

49,221,224 11 8
1S wrLSON.

* In addition to this sum, Nils to the amount of .£l,-179,200 have
been delivered in to ba canceled.

ALARM OF FIRE AT DRURY-LANE

THEATRE.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.
SIR,—As stAgc.manager of the operatic performances
at the Theatre Royal, Drury-lane, permit me to say that
the account which appeared in the journals of this morn-
ing of a fire w'aieh is said to have occurred in this theatre
on Saturday night is highly exaggerated. It is quite
true that, at the close of the performances on that even-
ing, at the sole request of the committee, an experiment
was tried on the stage by the Fire AnnibilatorCompany,
and that, during the course of the experiment, one of
their machines burst, and caused some little alarm
among those present ; but, owing to the pre cautions
taken in the building, no danger of any kind existed,
nor indeed could any-arise at any time.
As the performances have in no manner been inter-
rupted by the occurrence referred to, I trust you will
favour me with space in your columns for this explana-
tion.—l am, sir, your faithful servant,

ROBERT ROXEY.
Theatre Royal, Drury-lane, April 14.

IRE FIRE AT THE VAUXEIALL IMIL-

WAY bTA TION.

The fire which broke out on Sunday evening last, as
noticed yesterday in this paper, was not extinguished
until past eleven o'clock, when every building.cud office
belonging to the railway station were destroyed—
Durinc," yesterday morning a very searching inquiry
was made by the officials of the company, for the pur-
pose of finding out, if possible, how the fire commenced,
the result of which clearly showed that it began in Mr.
Mauddey's office, and was first discovered in this way :
—Mr. Inspector Parker, having been sent by Mr. God-
son to make some inquiries respecting a passenger, he
crossed the lines of metals, when he saw two persons -
leaning over the counter and looking very attentively at
the wall. Thinking that they were looking for an op-
portunity to get into the office to commit a felony, he
pushed them a little on one side, and then perceived a
piece of fire burning in the wall, but not larger than a
man's hat. At that moment a man raised a 'adder to
the place, and endeavoured to pull the burning paper
which lined the wall, but upon pulling some of the lining
down the flames shot forth with extraordinary violence,
and ran round the office like lightning, seizing upon the
walls and roof of the compartment, and in less than ten
minutes crossing the line and seizing upon every part of
the station.
It is here necessary to state that, the buildinn- forming
the station was 60 feet wideand upwards of 150 feet long,
and being composed exclusively of wood, canva-i, and
paper, it is not surprising that the flames spread so
rapidly, more especially when the high wind and the lofty
position of the premises are taken into consideration.
Fortunately the a hole of the money and tickets weie
saved, and Mr. Darvon, one of her Majesty's guards,
having hastened to the terminus at the Waterloo-road,
all trains about proceeding down the line were stopped,
as was the case at stations further•down the line for some
time, and the traffic was transferred to the finis Elms ;
but although the rails at Vauxhall had been twisted and
reduced to sundry forms by the action of the flames, they
were removed and replaced in time to allow the mail
train to reach London at the usual time yesterday morn-
ing, and the regular traffic was resumed as usual, and
the station will be re-opened for passenger traffic this
morning.