The Sun.
London, England, 1860-06-12 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY EVENING, JUNE 12, 1860.

plan for carrying out this scheme of a Thames

Embankment. Mr. THWAITES has previously ex-

plained to the Committee how precisely such a plan
might be carried out with comparative economy,'and
with a certainty of not very easily calculable ad-
vantages. The sum total of the streets contemplated
being formed by the Board of Works, with a view

,o relieve the traffic of the metropolis—he has in-

formed the Committee—would cost in round numbers
about £640,000. Towards which sum Government
contributes nearly £loo,ooo—the Duke of BED-
FORD £ls,ooo—and the rest, says Mr. THWAITES,
is to be defrayed out of the rates by the ratepayers.
This may afford the curious some clue to the dis-
covery of the proposed future calculations. In
Paris, Mr. THWAITES reminds us, in answer

,o the inquiry of Lord ROBERT MONTAGU, the

tax :collected on carriages is set apart for
metropolitan improvements. And it is worth
remembering that in London during the last year

(1859) the hackney carriage tax yielded a good round
sum of £BO,OOO sterling. Let this £BO,OOO be put
aside annually, and let there be a yearly sum of
£20,000 contributed by the Board of Works, and
another yearly sum of £50,000 abstracted from the

Consolidated Fund to swell the total—and we

should have £150,000 a year to defray the expense
of these proposed Thames Embankments. Alto-
gether it is calculated that the cost of them would

be some £2,000,000. So that, in the way men.

tioned, the whole might be paid for within a period
of three-and-twenty years. Is there any objection
that can possibly be raised in reason why the Con-

solidated Fund should not thus contribute £50,000
a year for the improvement of the metropolis ?
That objection has been set aside in Committee
beforehand. It has there been shown indeed that

" the metropolis contributes very largely to the
taxation of the country; the value of the property
assessed under schedule A being £22,385,350,
whilst the sum for the rest of the kingdom is
£127,994,288. Under schedule D the metropolis
shows £37,871,644 against £89,198,950. The gross
estimated rental of the property of the metropolis
assessed to the poor rates is £16,157,320, against
£86,077,676 as against the rest of the kingdom.
The amount collected by the Customs for the whole
kingdom is £24,155,852, of which £13,332,061 is
collected in the metropolis." Affording reasons
enow—and to spare—why England at large should
not demur at the suggestion that the Imperial
Exchequer should contribute funds towards the
improvement of London and Westminster. Indeed
—going by precedent—the plea has already been
allowed and acted upon repeatedly. Nay, within
the last twenty years, as was stated the other day
before the Committee, the Imperial Exchequer has
in this manner disbursed—" For Battersea Park,
£106,902 ; Chelsea Bridge, £29,500 ; Vauxhall
and Battersea Bridges, £130,753; entrance to St.
James's Park from Pall-mall, £4,500 ; bridge in
St. James's Park, £3,500; Pimlico improvements,
£27,810 ; Westminster Bridge, £174,429 ; ap-
proaches thereto, £46,000." There can hardly
remain' any:doubt whatever, therefore, that for a
sufficiently important purpose in the way of im-
provement London may reasonably claim the assist-
ance of funds derivable thus directly from the
Imperial Exchequer. And what nobler improve.
ment in its way could well be projected for the
metropolis than this very one of the Thames
•
Embankments ?
Apart from all this, however, there is the Coal
Tax ranging fifty miles round our capital—afford-
ing fresh means towards the liquidation of the
expenses consequent upon the herculean task of
carrying out these Embankments. Upon this head,
what was the evidence broughtbefore the Committee
by Mr. ScoTT,the City Chamberlain ? It was evidence
ending with the announcement that the Corporation
—conscious of the many advantages certain to ac-
crue from the scheme, conscious also of the funds
placed within reach by the Coal Tax—propose to em-
bank the river themselves from Battersea-bridge to
Blackivall. The fact being that in 1857, even after
allowing for the drawback, the produce of the coal
tax was £l2B,BB6—in 1858, £131,650—in 1859,
£135,368: shewing a steady increase in the
duty since it was first levied ! Again, in
reference to the actual application of the funds thus
obtained, it is satisfactory to remember that the
charges upon the duty have included among them
recently £30,186 for West-end improvements—
£BB,ooo for improvements in Clerkenwell—and
£35,000 for improvements in Covent-gardens.
What with the funds thus derivable, there-
fore, from the Coal Tax, from the hackney
coach-tax, from the Board of Works, and
from the imperial exchequer, we are at length
enabled to look hopefully and confidently for the
speedy advent of the time when the British capital
shall have secured by the simultaneous completion
of the Main Drainage and these Thames Embank-
ments the grandest and most imperial of all possible
metropolitan improvements.

By order of the Prince Regent of Prussia, prayers
for the safe delivery of the Princess Frederick William are
to be offered up from the 10th in all the churches of the
kingdom,

Prince Alfred has been well received at Madeira,
and played at cricket with the club there. H.M.S. Eurytt-
his, with his Royal Highness on board, was at Teneriffe on
the 27th ult., and sailed on the 13th for Bahia. The prince
ascended the Peak, notwithstanding the snow.
Their Royal Highnesses the Prince and Princess
Frederick and the Princess Marie of the Netherlands, at-
tended by a numerous suite, have arrived at Claridge's
Hotel from Torquay.

Their Serene Highnesses the Prince Louis and
the Prince Henry of Hesse have returned to Maurigy's
Hotel from a visit to her Majesty at Windsor Castle.

The Countess of Chesterfield, Lord Wilton, and
Lady C.' Egerton, Mr. Charles Greville, Mr. George Payne,
&c., have returned to town from Ascot races.

The Countess Dowager Grey received, yesterday
evening, the Earl and Countess Grey, Lady Seaford, Mrs.
Lane Fox, Lord R. Cavendish, &c.
THE FLORAL HALL, COVENT-GARDEN.—This ele-
gant building will be opened after the opera this evening,
and her Majesty has signified her intention of honouring
both the flower show and the opera with her presence.

DAMAGE BY A THUNDERSTORM.—On Saturday
evening, between six and seven o'clock, a storm of thunder
and lightning which passed over Manchester caused some
damage to property. The electric fluid struck the top of the
large new warehouse of Mr. S. Mendel, in Portland-street.
Several of the thick glass skylights were smashed, a wooden
partition was knocked down, and very distinct traces left of
its progress. A leaden gas-pipe had a piece melted com-
pletely out of it, yet, singularly enough, both ends of the
pipe wore fused up, so that the gas did not escape. In Cla-
rendon-street several squares of glass in a window were per-
forated by small holes, without breaking the squares. -We
some The
.ean
tariff,
a new w
have not heard of any personal injury, although there were
ecterhta t
oi
Nnc
etwonativeyfiscalor tendencies.km Ie 0 a
Ise
which has just passed
e
the House of Representatives at Washington, furnishes a
tefl Democratic
extravagantmbr protection curious
su rs
rightlyaoi
large
es
o increase
atdri
eere
asemes or
described
manufacturers,Theurnr
easi eo
fbv i proposeselrlcocCommerce
nmteeede.
plated. Sugar, woollen and linen goods, iron, and tobacco
are among the articles most prominently dealt with. The
proposed sugar duties are so arranged as to constitute " the
largest bribe ever offered to the sugar••refining interest."
With regard t 6 liquors, about 4s. per gallon is to be levied
.on brandy, 3s. on Madeira, sherry, and port wiles ; 4s, on
sparkling wines in bottles and 2s. in casks ; ls. 3d. on claret
and some other specified descriptions, and on all other wines
30 per cent. ad valorem. Ale, porter, and beer in bottles are
to be sharged ls. per gallon ; on cigars the duty is raised to
2s. per lb. and 10 per cent. ad valorem; on snuff, sd. per lb. ;
on leaf tobacco, 25 p( r cent. ad valorem, and on all other
are said to be " too. complex to be easily understood."
tobacco 20 per cent, The rates on iron and iron materials
Among the main provisions are a duty of £3 per ton en
ordinary bar (round and square) iron, 245. per ton on pig,
£2 Bs, on railroad bars, and £4 per ton on boiler plates. On
woollan goods the proposed terms embody every kind of
variation. high specific and ad valorem duties being often
conjoined, as for the purpose of hopeless entanglement.
In linens the increase on the existing changes average fully
10 per cent. on the coarser descriptions, and mere on the
finer sorts. The bill also proposes to enact that the advan •
tages of the bonded warehousing system shall be withdrawn
in all cases where the goods are not removed within 30 days.
The whole measure is expected to be thrown out in the
Senate, but the fact of its having passed the most popular
branch of the Legislature affords a significant lesson.

LATEST NEW.

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

PARIS, JUNE 12.
The ltfoniteur of this morning publishes an
Imperial decree promulgating the troaty concluded
with Sardinia for the cession of Savoy and Nice.

In a report which precedes the promulgation of
the treaty, M. Thouvenel explains the exceptional
character of this new acquisition of Franee. M.
Thouvenel says :—The Imperial policy has not
been directed by any ambitious thought. This
acquisition has not been obtained by force, but
only by the gratitude and friendship of the Sove-
reign, increased by the spontaneous and unanimous
enthusiasm of the population.

The King of Sardinia yesterday sanctioned the
law approving the cession of Savoy and Nice to
France. Official possession of these provinces will
be taken on Thursday next.
The Moniteur also announces that the Govern-
ment has withdrawn the project for a railway from
Graisserea to Beziers.

VIENNA, JUNE 12.
The organic statutes of the Provincial Diets are
ready for promulgation.
They only await the approval of competent per-
sons of the different provinces to whom they have
been confidentially communicated by Government.
In order to satisfy the admissible wishes of the
Hungarians, the Minister of the Interior has fre-
quent discussions with the Hungarian members of
the Council of the Empire.

TURIN, JUNE 12.

By ratifying an armistice between General Lanza
and Garibaldi, the King of Naples has removed the
principal obstacle which prevented foreign inter-
vention.

From the moment that the King of Naples treats
with the Sicilian revolutionary party as one Power
with another mediation becomes possible without
infringing on diplomatic formalities.
This explains the sending of the Commander Be
Martino to Paris, who is charged on the part of
King Francis 11. to submit the bases and guaran-
tees for the personal mediation, repeatedly invoked,
by his Majesty Napoleon 111.
Although authorising the Commander Be Mar-

tino to come to Paris, the Emperor of the French
reserves to himself the liberty of not coming to a
decision until after having received positive over-
tures from the Neapolitan Envoy.
At all events, the Court of the Tuileries does not
wish to undertake any mediation unless in concert
with England and with the other great Powers.

ROME, JUNE 9 (vIA MAESEILLES).

Commander Martino, the Neapolitan Itinister,
before leaving I'aris had a conference with the Am-
bassadors of France and Russia.

M. Friggeri, a colonel of the Pontifical Cavalry,
has been arrested and imprisoned at Ancona.

The official Giornale di Boma announces the
definite fusion of the railway companies, and pro-
rogues until the end of 1861 the construction
of the railway to the Neapolitan frontier.
The capital of the Pio Centrale Company is to
remain at 175,000,000 fr.

NAPLES, JUNE 10 (\IA MARSEILLES).
The promulgation of a Constitution, framed ac•
cording to that of France, is expected shortly.

PARIS, JUNE 11.

The Opinione Nationale says :

" It is asserted that France has, with the consent
of Piedmont, accepted the mediation proposed by
Naples. The conditions of this mediation are—a
Liberal constitution for Naples ; a separate Govern-
ment for Sicily under a Prince of the House of
Bourbon, subject to the condition that the Sicilians
should be consulted and give their consent, which
the Opinione Nationale hopes they will refuse."

MADIUD, JUNE 10,

The Cortes has rejected by 200 against 26 votes,
the amendment proposed by the Progresista party.
The discussion of Signor Olozaga's amendment
will take place to-morrow. General Dulce will
then give personal explanations to the Chamber.
In a preliminary meeting of the political friends of
General Ortega, the conduct of General 'Juice was
approved as having been perfectly honourable.

THE WEST INDIA MAILS.

SOUTHAMPTON, MONDAY.

The Royal Mail Company's steamer Tasmanian,
Captain Sawyer, with the above mails, has arrived.
She brings in all 228 passengers, among whom are
Admiral Bonard and Baron Didelot, from Callao ;
Captain Darling, A.D.C., from Jamaica ; and Lieu-
tenant-Governor Sargeant and family, from St.
Vincent.

The Tasmanian brings on freight specie value
637,570 dols.—consisting of gold, 287,072 dols. ;
silver, 247,594 dole.; British coin, 1,728 dole. ;
pearls, 576 dols. ; plate, 240 dols. ; and copper coin,
380 dole. ; and the following cargo, viz.:-113 serons
cochineal, 24 live turtle, 100 bags silver ore, 226
bags cocoa, 40 casks coffee, and 179 packages sun-
dries.

The dates brought by the Tasmanian are from
Honduras, May 17th ; Grey Town, 19th ; Jamaica,
15th ; La Guayra, 23d ; Trinidad, 24th ; Grenada,
24th ; St. Vincent, 25th ; Jacmel, Demerara, Bar-
badoes, St. Lucia, and Montserrat, 26th ; Mar-
tinique, Guadaloupe, Dominique, Antigua, and
Nevis, 27th ; Porto Rico, St. Kitts, and Tortola,
28th ; and St. Thomas, 29th.
The news from the West. Indies is unimportant.
The islands were generally healthy, with the ex-
ception of Barbadoes, where small-pox still pre-
vailed.

The weather at Trinidad had been exceedingly
fine for sugar-making, the estates were making
good use of the time, and great progress had been
made in gathering in the produce. The crop was
expected to fall far short of last year.
At Barbadoes the old cane crop was, nearly all
reaped. The shipments to date amount to—sugar,
23,403 hhds 1,923 tierces 5,549 brls ; molasses,
5,480 puns 209 hhds 250 brls ; rum, 189 puns 228
hhds. The young crop was holding out well.
Provisions were very scanty and dear.
The Combined Court of Demerara had gone
through the whole of the items on the estimate.
The total amount required was 1,452,986 dols. 08c.
The new civil list ordinance had been passed,
granting an annual sum of £26,824 Bs. sterling for
the term of seven years.
Very little sugar was offering for sale. Freights
moderate. Tonnage a sufficient supply.
At Jamaica De Cordova says:—" The extreme
disinclination to operate which was reported by the
last mail has in a great measure given way, and
there have been some speculative sales in articles
of flour, meal, and pork. The price of these ar-
ticles are, however, below our last quotations."
Exchange on London.—Jamaica Bank, 30 days,
par ;60 days, per cent. prem. ;30 days, 1 per
cent. prem, Colouial Bank rates, for cash per
cent. extra if payable in discounts; 90 days, par;
60 days, per cent. prem. ;30 days, 1 do. Com-
missariat bill, 30 days, 1 per cent. prem. Mer-
chants' bills, Ito percent. discount.
Reports from Ecuador state that General Ayarza
had been detected plotting against Garcia Moreno,
and banished in irons to the banks of the Napo.
From Chili there is no important news. On the
24th of April her Majesty's frigate 'Tribune sailed
for England, and on the 27th the corvette Ter-
magant and gunboats Grappler and Forward for
Vancouver via Callao.
Exchange on London, 90 days, 44d.

THE PENINSULAR MAILS.

SOUTHAMPTON, TUESDAY,

The Peninsular and Oriental Company's steamer
Tagus, Captain Hall, with the above mails, has
arrived. She brings 35 first, 5 second, and 4 deck
passengers ; among the former are Baron Hamelin
and Baron Forrester.

The Tagus has on freight 13 packages of specie,
value £5,960 sterling; 1 package of precious stones,
value £1,600 ; also 223 boxes of potatoes; 100
boxes of onions, 448 half-chests of oranges, 20 do.
of lemons, 139 boxes of eggs, and 13 packages of
sundries.

She sailed from Lisbon on the 7th, Oporto the
Bth, and Vigo the Bth inst. On the 80th, at 6 p.m.,
she spoke the Royal Mail Steam-packet Company's
steamship Magdalena, bound to Lisbon and the
Brazils.

The Tagus, on her outward passage, experienced
strong westerly winds and cloudy; homewards, along
the coasts of Portugal, calm and fine, fresh winds
from northward to westward to Usbant ; and mode-
rate southerly winds and cloudy up the Channel.
LISBON, JUNE 7.

The new Governor of Angola, appointed on the
31st ultimo, is Lieutenant-Colonel Carlos Auguste
Franco ; the time of service to be for five years.

The petitions to the Crown against the proposed
increase of taxes, presented by the Minister of
Finance are accumulating from the various districts,
cities, towns, and villages. Scarcely a day passes
but what a Deputy does not present a petition in
the Chamber from his constituents, consequently
the question will be postponed till the next session.
As the Chamber of Deputies rejected the Lan-
glois contract for the roads it will be again put up
to competition, bat the best thing the Government
can do under the circumstances will be to under-
take them for their own account.
The sex-King- Regent, D. Fernando, with his
daughter, propose leaving for Ostend in the sloop
Mindello on a visit to the Court of Dresden, to be
present at the christening of his grandson, son of
the Infanta Donna Maria Anna. His Majesty will
leave about the end of the month, and will visit
England on his return to Lisbon.
The Dutch frigate Zealand is daily expected
from Portsmouth, when the Evertson and Admiral
Van Wassener will return to Holland.
Government have made public their grant of
privilege to Mr. Homersham for his floating dock,
and it is generally hoped that that gentleman will
forthwith carry out the undertaking.
Exchange for the packet is quoted at three
months on London, 53.4 ; Paris, 5321 Amsterdam,
421 ; Hamburg, 471; Genoa, 529. Lisbon Bank
Shares, 548 milreis ; Oporto Bank, 256 milreis ;
Mercantile Bank, 250 milreis ; Rentes, 451 to 46;
Coupons, 441 to 45; Deferred, 33 to 331.