The Sun.
London, England, 1860-04-03 00:00:00

say progress, but rather, it should be added,
stagnation, of the Serpentine—it sets at rest

LATEST

N E W 6.

for ever all anxiety as to the chance of that
dirty and preposterous scheme of Mr. HAWKSLEY'S
being really and seriously carried out—the filthy
and foolish project of perpetual filtration; Yet at
one time Kensington and Bayswater seemed to be
irrevocably fated to undergo that most pestilential
and sickening infliction. A preliminary sum of no
less than £17,000 had been actually voted by the
House of Commons for the purpose of setting on
foot this elaborate piece of scientific folly. Let
anyone take the trouble now to go to the northern
extremity of the long water in Kensington Gar-
dens—and he will there find secular demonstra-
tion of the manner in which those £17,000
were going to be fooled away. Unsightly heaps
of rubbish are there littered in profusion
upon the bank of that unhappy sheet of
water; There, lying prostrate among these
heaps of rubbish are spectral little cylinders
and pistons, with valves and handles complete—
ready to be marshalled at Mr. HAWKSLEY'S bidding
into regiments of pumps clacking and gurgling all
day long in tune to the bleat of those weary steam
engines that were to have gone on for ever and ever
idiotically pumping dirty water out into the filter
beds, and dribbling the partially cleansed water
back again from the filter beds in the old dirty
channel of that loathsome stream or pool, lake or
river, called the Serpentine. All this nonsense is
now, thank Heaven, at an end. The pumps
and the rubbish will have to be cleared away,
and give place once more to the flower beds
and the green sward. The bulk of the £17,000
already voted by the House of Commons in a
moment of hallucination is not to follow the few
hundreds already unhappily expended upon the
preparation of this nasty crotchet. The Com-
mittee of Inquiry, ably presided over by Mr.
CowPER, who bids fair to follow worthily in the
footsteps of Lord LLANOVER—the Committee of
Inquiry, we say, has formally decided, and has
explicitly so expressed itself in the fourteenth
section of its Report—" After much patient inves-
tigation we have arrived reluctantly at the con-
clusion that the proposed filtration will not be effec- '
tual for the desired object, and that this cleansing
process ought not to be carried on in one of the most
beautiful spots of Kensington Gardens. We recom-
mend therefore that the prcject of filtration BE ABAN-
DONED !" No other decision, in fact, than this could
in reason have been arrived at. The evidence was
altogether overwhelming. So far as the Committee
has now gone we avow ourselves to be perfectly
satisfied. A solemn and emphatic protest has
now been uttered by it against Mr. HAWKSLEY'S
costly and futile scheme of filtration. That scheme
cannot now be persisted in. Upon it the rest of
the £17,000 cannot be squandered. Kensington
Gardens is no longer doomed to undergo in what
the Committee justly terms one of its
most beautiful spots, a permanent, an unsightly,
and a most noisome disfigurement. Happily there
has been a slip, in the very nick of time, between
11r. HAWKSLEY'S perpetually replenished cup of
nastiness and the lips and the nostrils of many
hundreds of thousands of Londoners ! Against
the project of filtration now peremptorily put
aside by the report of the committee, we have the
satisfaction, at any rate, of remembering that;
through these columns of the Sun, we ourselves
protested from the very commencement. We did
so at a time, too, when Mr. HAWKSLEY was backed
up in his preposterous scheme by the official ap-
proval of Mr. FITZROY, then Chief Commissioner
of Public Works, by the applause of an eminent and
experienced contractor like Sir MORTON PETO,
above all by the persistent and (still to us) astound-
ing approbation of that pre-eminently gifted and
world-famous engineer, the late Mr. ROBERT
STEPHENSON. It did require the genius of a
STEPHENSON, however, or the experience of a
PETO, or the administrative aptitude of a FITZROY
to recognise upon the instant (as we certainly
claim to have done) what the Committee of Inquiry
has now asserted and demonstrated in its report—
that the filtration project of Mr. HAWKSLEY would
be at once extremely ineffectual, and to all intent
and purposes absolutely preposterous.

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

CARLSRUHE, APRIL 2.

To-day, in an extraordinary sitting of the two
Chambers the Government announced to the mem-
bers that the ministers Meysenburg and Stengel
had been dismissed, and that MM. Stabel and
Lamery had been appointed their successors. This
has given great satisfaction to the Second Chamber
and to the public.
It is believed that the new Ministry will endea-
vour to bring about a liberal settlement of the rela-
tions between the Church and State by legislative

means.

PARIS, APRIL 3.

The Monteur publishes a decree giving a second
warning to the Atni de la _Religion, for an article
of the Abbe Sisson, which contained a formal at-
tack against the concordat.
The Moniteur also announces the presentation
of the Budget of 1861 to the Corps Legislatif. The
receipts are estimated at 1,845 millions, and the
expenses at 1,844 millions.

OPENING OF THE SARDINIAN
CHAMBERS.
TURIN, APRIL 2.

The Sardinian Chambers were opened to-day.
His Majesty entered the hall of the Senate amidst
indescribable applause, and delivered the following
speech :
" Signori Senatori, Signori Deputati,—
" Tbe last time I opened Parliament, amidst the
troubles of Italy and the dangers of the State, faith
in Divine justice encouraged me to augur well of
our destiny.
" In a very short time an invasion was repulsed.
Lombardy was freed by glorious deeds of heroism,
and Central Italy became free by the marvellous
virtue of its inhabitants, and thus to-day the repre-
sentatives of the rights and the hopes of the nation
are assembled around me.

" For such a benefit we are indebted to a mag-
nanimous ally, to the valour of his and our soldiers
to the assistance of volunteers, and to the persever'
ing concord of the people. We ascribe the merit
of it to God, as without superhuman aid such
memorable enterprises cannot be accomplished.
" The gratitude of present and future generations
is due to France for the welfare of Italy, and for
consolidating the union of the two nations, who
have some community in origin, principle, and
destiny.
" It was necessary to make some sacrifice, and I
have made that which was dearest to my heart.

" Reserving tho vote of the people and the ap-
probation of Parliament, and reserving also in re-
gard to Switzerland the guarantee of her interna-
tional right, I have concluded a treaty for the re-
union of Savoy and the surrounding territory of
Nice with France.

" We have still many difficulties to overcome, but,
assisted by public opinion and the love of my
people, I shall never permit any one to offend or
forget any right or liberty.
"Firm, like my ancestors, in the Catholic religion,
and in the respect due to the Supreme Chief of that
religion, I shall (if the ecclesiastical authority makes
use of spiritual arms for temporal interests) in safe
conscience, and in the traditions of my NN orthy an-
cestors, find strength to maintain entire the civil
liberty and authority for which I am only indebted
to God and to my people.

Fortitude in adversity is much more common
than moderation in success, and, consequently, the
address just circulated among the operative
bleachers and dyers, by the Short-time Committee
sitting at Bolton, is a somewhat remarkable docu-
ment. The men who issued it, and the men who
would receive it, are assuredly not amongst those
turbulent and ill-disciplined masses who afford the
strongest support to the tyranny of masters by their
own violence and injustice. The advice given to
the operatives in this address is in every way ad-
mirable. It reminds them of the gratitude due to
GOD and man for the success of their cause, and
warns against over-elation at their brightened
prospects. Further, the committee charges them to
prove the justice of their claims by the excellence
of their conduct in the hour of unexpected triumph.
" We have never had a strike, and we have always
been desirous to be just to our employers, as well
as to have justice for the employed. Let us show,
by striving more than ever to work well and regu-
larly, that we are anxious to study the interests of
the master bleachers, so far as it does not interfere
with the health and lives of our wives, sisters, and
Children. Among the masters we have many kind
friends, and depend on it, if we act rightly, that
number will increase daily. Do not let us, by ex-
cesses of any kind, give our opponents—they are
now only few in number—an opportunity to argue
so as to injure our good cause," Language such as
this will do much to further their cause, by conci-
liating the masters,, and proving to them that their
interests will meet with better attention from the
men, when they feel that a great wrong to them-
selves and their families has been redressed. It will
also still further convince the public that the bill,
so earnestly desired by these operatives, is not
the demand of a factious and discontented
party, but the earnest appeal of a class
of labourers who know what is due to their em-
ployers as well as to themselves ; who acknow-
ledge their own obligation to work fully and fairly
a reasonable time, and who thus leave their oppo-
nents no argument against their emphatic ap-
peal to the justice and humanity of the community.
We are glad to find from the Address that the sym-
pathy and interest met with by the delegate, among
all classes in the metropolis, was most gratifying,
and we have little doubt that the third reading of
Mr. CRooK's Bill, announced to come on next
month, will be carried by a large and decisive ma-
jority.

Without female society, it has justly been said
that the beginning of men's lives would be helpless, the
middle without pleasure, and the end without comfort. Mr.
Harcourt, who has left behind him £300,000, the bulk of
which he bequeaths to Mrs. Harcourt (who has reached
the venerable age of eighty..seven) in a will, remarkable for
wisdom and good sense, makes a reflection that does honour
to the female sex and to the feelings of the testator. In a
codicil, after alluding to his wife's attention during fifty-
five years of matrimonial bliss, and particularly during his
long illness, he says, "We are, all of us, in want of the
society of a
gentle tuid amiable woman, when our passions
have subsided, to participate our cares, calm and alleviate
our sufferings, and enable us to support our infirmities.
Happy is the man possessed of such a friend ! And more
happy still, if, like myself, he preserves her, and escapes
the misfortune of a survival."—Coart Circular.

"The provinces of thelEmilia have been arranged
as in former times, but with Tuscany, who has her
own laws and her own rules, a special temporal pro-

IRE SUN,. _LONDON, r TUESDAY EVENING APRIL 3, 1860.

I provinces should not be imposed upon you ; it is to
tbe the result of your free consent. Such is my
firm will ; such is also the intention of the Empe-
ror of the French.
" That nothing may restrain the free manifesta-
tion of your wishes, I recall those among the chief
functionaries of the administration who do not be-
long to your country, and I replace them for the
moment by certain of your fellow-citizens who en-
joy general regard and consideration.
" In these solemn circumstances you will show
yourselves worthy of the reputation which you
have acquired. If you are to follow other destinies,
act in such a way that the French may welcome
you as brothers whom they have long learnt to ap-
preciate and esteem. Act so that your reunion to
France may be a bond the more between two na-
tions whose mission is to work together for the
development of civilisation."

advanced to 251 d., at which a small amount vas
negotiated. The total transactions since the last
mail amount to £200,000 sterling, the greater part
of which was effected at 251 d., at which the market
closed firm.

Discounts.—The Bank rate has advanced from
10 to 11 per cent. per annum for four months' bills,
money scarce throughout the month, and much
higher rates have been paid out of doors for longer
periods.

RIO DE JANEIRO, MARCH 8.

Exchange opened on the 23d ult. at 241 d., 90
days, with the exception of £50,000 passed 24.4 d.,
the former has been the ruling rate for all subse-
quent business, which amounts in all to £600,000 ;
on France upwards of 3,000,000 f. have been nego-
tiated chiefly at 386 rs. ; bills on Hamburg to
moderate extent, at 735 rs. Coffee quoted at pre-
vious rates. Sales from 7th to close of last month
amount to 50,000 bags, of which 22,000 were for
the United States ; in some few instances a slight
difference in price in favour of purchaser. Total
sales from 7th ult. to date, 112,700 bags ; stocks,
120,000 bags.

Exchange.—About £30,000 have been negotiated
this morning at 241 ; market closing very arm.

ROYAL GENERAL THEATRICAL FUND.

The 15th anniversary of this excellent charity
was celebrated at theFreemasons"favern yesterday
evening—Mr. Tom Taylor presiding, supported by.
Mr. Justice Haliburton, M.P., Mr. J. Buckstone,
Mr. Benjamin Webster, Col. Lindsay, and about
150 other gentlemen.
The CHAIRMAN, in proposing " The health of the
Queen," stated that her Majesty had been pleased,
for the 13th occasion, to send a donation of 100
guineas to the fund.
The CHAIRMAN, in giving " The health of his
Royal Highness the Prince of Wales," associated
therewith the colonies of England. The hair of
the British Crown was about to be introduced to
the heir-apparent of the British kingdom, and to
learn, from studying this young but puissant na-
tion, how man could battle with wild and untamed
nature. As one of the distinguished sons of British
North America was present, a man who was up to
the time of day, not only here but everywhere, and
who had earned for himself a European reputation
under the name of "Sam Slick," he begged to
couple Mr. Justice Haliburton with the Prince of
Wales and the British Colonies.

Mr. HALIBURTON, M.P., in replying, said—The
Chairman tells you that I am up to the time of
day. Well, I think I have been lost sight
of. There is a clock at Westminster—it does not
go, and I would wish it to go. (Laughter.)
I thought I might have been appointed the chair-
man of the committee to regulate that clock.
Something about it is at fault, which is a great
misfortune; for it would, if regulated, teach
the members of the house the value of time,
and that there was something to be done besides
talking. (Loud laughter.) Whoever suggested to
his Royal Highness to visit America deserves
credit. Ile will there see a colony one-ninth of the
habitable globe—a country larger than all Europe
—one of whose provinces is of greater extent than
France. lam delighted that these people will
have an opportunity of testifying that loyalty which
they have ever professed to the British Crown.
The CtiAinmAN, in giving the toast of the even-
ing—" Prosperity to the General Theatrical Fund"
—alluded to the difficult position in which he was
placed in being compelled to occupy a chair which
had been so ably filled by a Macready, a Phelps,
and a Bulwer Lytton. He begged to associate with
the toast the name of Mr. J. 13. Buckstone.

Mr. BUCKSTONE, in acknowledging the toast,
said--Gentlemen, " the right man in the right
place" is now not only a well-known saying, but
the wish to catch such person, and put him where
he ought to be, is often ardently expressed by many
political and social bodies, although I am sorry to
hear it is a wish that very few bodies can get grati-
fied ; but this evening, gentlemen, lam happy to
say that-our fund has been lucky enough to secure
that important and much-coveted individual; for
as our chairman of to-night is the most successful,
as well as the most prolific, dramatist of the day—
(cheers)—as his name is now associated with
every metropolitan theatre, and, indeed, with every
theatre in the kingdom—or, perhaps I ought to
say queendom—(laughter)—and as this is a festival
for the good of the workers in all theatres,
both in town and country, where could we have
found a better man to preside over us this even-
ing than Mr. Tom Taylor, and to whom could be
applied with greater propriety the saying with
which 1 commenced my address to you—that he is,
indeed, on such an occasion as this, nothing else
but the very right man in the right place ?
(Cheers.) As a dramatist, gentlemen, I am in a
position to know his talent—(hear, hear)—and his
value; for at the Haymarket Theatre,, indepen-
dently of his many plays produced at other houses,
I can name four comedies, which, as lessee of that
theatre, it has been my good fortune to place before
the public—comedies showing the very " age and
body of the time," and which will bear comparison
with any in our language—comedies, too, so tho-
roughly English that there is no occasion to assure
you that they have not been done from the French ;
and when I name " Victims," " An Unequal Match,"
" The 'Contested Election," and, though last not least,
" The Overland Route"—(cheers) —I am sure you
will acknowledge that the summit of originality and
success has been nobly attained by our chairman ;
added to which, he is such an author-of-all-work
that he has written pantomimes, farces, dramas,
melodramas—(laughter)—an equestrian drama, and
he has even threatened me with a ballet. Now,
gentlemen, if such a writer employs actors, pan-
tomimists, dancers, and—l am obliged to admit,
on the first night of some of his plays—the
prompter ; and, as our fund is for the maintenance
of all those artists when overtaken by age, accident,
or infirmity—who shall say that he is not to-night
the right man in the right place ? (Cheers.)
Gentlemen, I find that this is the 15th anniversary
festival of our fund; and it is now 15 years ago
since I first publicly addressed you in its behalf ;
and though some thoughtful feelings must come
over me at the retrospect of so many departed years,
yet those feelings are greatly cheered when I think
of the steady progress and ultimate establishment
of our institution, and the many friends that we
have from time to time, and from dinner to dinner,
gathered around us ; and when I tell you that our
capital to-night will amount to about £12,000, you
will form some idea of what has been done by the
members of the fund and its supporters. (Cheers.)
During the past year we have paid eleven annui-
' ties, ranging from £3O to £9O per annum, we have
discharged the funeral expenses of three deceased
members, have given a sum of £5O, with smaller
amounts, to claimants, and have also (and this an-
nouncement I make with pride and pleasure) Toted
£250 to build a house for the Dramatic College.
(Loud cheers.) Yet, with all this outlay, I am
happy to say, we are nearly £5OO better off than
we were twelve months ago. (Hear, hear.) We
have 168 subscribing members contributing to this
success, and which will prove to you what can be
accomplished by unity, and well illustrates the
ancient fable of what may be done by—though,
perhaps, as this union is composed of actors, I ought
not to pursue the metaphor ; never mind, I'll risk
it—of what can be done by a bundle of sticks.
(Loud cheers.) And although this is a theatrical
fund, and for a purpose that we are often told is " a
stench in the nose of piety," yet we can not only
show our accounts with proper pride, but no one
can say that either our secretary or the trea-
surer have ever absconded with any of the
money, which is perhaps more than some
of your religious and charitable societies
can say. (Laughter.) We can show all corners
what we do with our funds, and to the uttermost
farthing. Our main capital 'is in the Bank of
England, our surplus in the London and West-
minster, and, though we are not acrobats or jug-
glers, we can honestly balance our books. (Cheers.)
I assert thus much because we are often attacked
by the fanatical and intolerant; and notwithstand,
ing that many- excellent and sensible members of
the Church are our friends, yet how frequently do
we hear of some fierce onslaught against the
theatres, and by those who really know nothing of
them, or of us. Yet, gentlemen, the actors are a
grateful and an honest class. We do not pretend
to perfection ; for where is that to be found in
human nature ? (Hear.) But no one amongst us,
however humble his position, has ever been con-
victed of any great crime. We may murdcr an
author or two now and then ; but that's nothing.
No actor who has had it in his power to help or
cheer a poor friend bas ever been known to with-
hold his mite or his consolation; or refuse to assist
in a good cause. In an account of Benjamin
Thompson—not the author of The Seasons" but
the translator of the play of " The Stranger"
—(laughter)—it is stated that in his prosperity he
so warmly patronised the provincial members of
the histrionic art that he was known throughout
the profession as the actor's friend. Misfortunes
came upon him, and in his hour of adversity he expe-
rienced much unkindness from persons of his own
rank and connection, but his Thespian friends re-
membered him and helped him to the last. No,
gentlemen, ingratitude is not amongst our
vices. But I must not continue in this strain,
or you will suppose that I have taken to
preaching; although, with such examples as are
exhibited everywhere of that propensity, it would
not be surprising if ;oine of us did not take to the