The Sun.
London, England, 1858-04-01 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, THURSDAY

to pay duties, and take their stores out of bond,
although some time must elapse before they were
called for by the consumers. The change is both
" prospective and retrospective"—"prospective,"
inasmuch as it cannot be clearly discerned that
money will be much cheaper than it now is ;
" retrospective" because during the time of high
discounts the people lived from "hand to mouth,"
and traders only paid what could not be avoided.
In Stamps there is an improvement both for
the y ear and quarter, although the latter is still
the largest—the year showing an increase of
43,510/.2 while the quarter gives 146,496/.
There was therefore a deficiency on the previous
portions of the year ; cheap money makes all the
difference. In taxes also there is an in-
crease on the year of 35,987/., and on the
quarter of 48,6131. But the Property and
Income-tax more than destroys all these
auspicious results. The loss, as we have
already stated, being on the year 4,503,8191„
rand on the quarter 3,551,882/. On the Post-
office the usual phenomena are reversed, there
being an improvement on the year of 34,0001.,
but a deficit on the quarter of 72,000/. This,
however, is merely a postponement of revenue,
which will come in when it is most required, and
when it will be really useful.
In the Crown lands the decrease on the year is
8,2031., and the increase on the quarter is 3,000/.
We have repeatedly explained that, with judi-
cious management, the hereditary property
of the SOVEREIGN might be made to produce
nearly 200,000/. per annum more than at pre-
sent. Our hints have, however, been disregarded
by Whig Ministers. It remains to be seen
whether something may not be done by the
present occupants of office.
In the Miscellaneous there is an increase
on the year of 498,734/.2 but a decrease on the
quarter of 80,2001. The former indicates a
considerable sacrifice of property sold at about
one-tenth of the prime cost, and by which
favoured parties realised handsome profits ;
the latter that the present Government have not
adopted the same vicious principle, which may be
compared to the pawning, or rather the selling
of clothes and tools by a working man. He gets
something at the moment, but it is all at a very
exorbitant cost.

session.

On the whole, the figures are good ; but, as
we have said, Mr. DISRAELI will have to over-
come the real difficulties, and he should receive
fair play while accomplishing the important and
most arduous task.

There is one point in the India Bill on which
the public must watch the Chancellor of the Ex-
chequer and his Whig allies—for his allies they
will be in this matter—very closely ; we refer to
the Ballot. If care be not taken, we may actu-
ally lose one case of vote by ballot which has stood
its ground hitherto without question. The East
India Directors, as Mr. Cox very properly re-
minded the House, are at present chosen by bal-
lot. Mr. DISRAELI, as we understand him, re-
fuses to allow the elected half of his new council
to be chosen in like manner. The reason for this
is, we fear, but too evident ; but we advise Mr.
DISRAELI, if he cares for the permanency of his
position, not to descend to Palinerstonian tricks.
He may be assured enough that he will find plenty
of so-called Liberals who will, under the leader-
ship of the rival ex• Premiers, gladly aid him in
snubbing the ballot, and in putting it out of sight
in Indian business or in any other ; but be will
do wisely not to provoke the advanced Liberals.
At present, owing to their detestation of the PAL-
mzusToN sham, they, while differing from him
widely enough, are not disposed to treat him fac-
tiously ; they have been ready to deal honourably
with him and his party, and to give them a fair
chance, but they cannot be expected to yield every-
thing tamely. They know that the Ballot is the
line between the men who trust, and the men who
distrust the people, and if they yet deal fairly by
Lord DERRY'S Government, they have a right to
reciprocity at least. They have little hope that
the present Government, any more than the pre-
ceding one, will concede the Ballot, although doing
so would be equivalent to a long tenure of office,
but they have at least a right to ask that it shall
be neutral on the question—and, that in the new
arrangements for India, it shall not deprive them
of any ground they already possess. Probably
Mr. DISRAELI would not object to confer the vote
by ballot on the new constituency; the constituency
parallel with the old one, and composed of persons
connected with India, as proprietors of India
stock, or shares in Indian companies, and some
others ; but five of the elected Directors are to Le
chosen by large Parliamentary constituencies, and
we have little doubt that this is the consideration
which deterred Lord DERBY'S Ministry from pro-
posing election by ballot at all. Had they pro-
posed it for the wealthier constituency and not
for the others, the unfairness would have been too
glaring ; but they were unwilling to propose it
for the latter, so they propose it for neither. The
proprietors of East India stock who now elect
Directors, though for the more part persons who
must be above ordinary bribery, were yet pre-
sumed to be open to bribery by the offer of In-
dian appointments, and not only were the Direc-
tors therefore prohibited, under heavy penalties,
from trafficking in such appointments, but those
who elected them were required to vote in the only
known form, from the time of ancient Athena to
this day, by which an independent vote could be
secured, and the purchase of a vote made difficult
or nearly impossible. It would have been obvi-
ously too bad to protect the vote of the wealthy,
and to leave the vote of the ordinary elector un-
protected under the same circuntstances.
But why not give the Parliamentary electors
free votes for this particular object ? Ask that
most deadly antagonist to the Ballot, Lord JOHN
RUSSELL, the reason. Cross-examine him, do not
let him shuffle, bring out his aristocratic heart's
answer if you can, and it will be this, and thiS
only "Once allow any Parliamentary constitu-
ency to vote by ballot, and its merits will be so
conspicuous that the whole kingdom will demand
it with an irresistible voice ; the ballot would
transfer power from landlords and other lords to
electors—therefore, while a drop of Bedford blood
flows in my veins, no constituency, under any pre-
text, shall have the ballot." For this reason,
we are bold to say, and for no other, has the anti-
democratic Lord resisted to the uttermost the
bestowment of the Ballot on several corrupt con-
stituencies. He would not tolerate it, even for a
single election ; he loathes the idea of power, and
to hinder the first approach t) it is content to
patronize ppular immorality, or at least only to
pottfor amongst anti-bribery and corruption bills
as the antidot'. Mr. DISRAELI and his party
avow their creed. Lord JOHN and Lord PAL-
HERsTON have sailed of late under false colours,
and this is the chief difference,between the two
parties. Derbyites, by the help of Palmer-
stonians and Russellites, may, by combination,
outvote the people's members, but, on the day
of reckoning, they will find out their mistake. In
the present case, Mr. DISRAELI may safely trust
his enemies ; the sham Liberals in the house and
their leaders well know that. if the same consti-
tuency votes by ballot in electing a member for

India, and openly in choosing one for the House
of Commons, the difference between the character of
the two elections will carry the Ballot in the next

We advise Mr. F. H. F. BERKELEY to be pre-
pared with a notice of motion on this subject im-
mediately after Easter. We should not be, in-
deed, surprised if, in secret alarm on this very
point, the popularly elected members of the
Council will be given up. The true reason will
not be alleged, but it will be that if the ballot be
pressed it will be difficult to justify disusing it in
the case of the wealthier constituency which elects
four members ; yet, if conceded, then it will be
impossible to refuse it to London, Glasgow, Man-
chester, Belfast, and Liverpool ! And only to
think of giving one taste of free, quiet, decent
voting to five such constituencies ! The lesson
would be irresistible for the whole kingdom.
Still the Chancellor of the Exchequer has given
Mr. BERKELEY the opportunity. It will be an
ungracious act to deprive the country of the
power thus offered to it. The Liberal members
will be afraid to consent to the abandonment of
this proposal. The men who vote against it will
be marked men. If, then, it be embodied in the
bill, the case for the Ballot will be of the strongest.
Not only the precedent of the elections for the
defunct Company, but the fact that there will be
election to salaries of 1,0001. a-year, besides all
the indirect influence which will still remain in
regard to nominations even under the competi-
tive system. Popular election to a paid office
ought to be secured, surely, above all others,
against bribery, corruption, and undue influence.
We hope, however, that Mr. DISRAELI will not be
the man to give uphis five popular constituencies,
he may rely upon it that it will be unpopular to
do so, and that he will incur inevitably tho re-
proach of " clap-trap" already thrown in his
teeth. It is for him to prove that he was in
earnest, if he would not incur ridicule, by stand-
ing by his proposal to the last, since it is perhaps
the most remarkable feature of the new bill. • It
is for Mr. Brasizer,wr to prove that the Ballot
must be granted to all the Indian Council consti-
tuencies. As to Mr. DISRA.ELI'S remark on Friday
night, for argument it was not, we regard it only
as a joke. He would " give the Ballot serious con-
sideration when the nation should be unanimous
for it." Yes, he must give something more, indeed,
then, than consideration. But were the consti-
tuencies free enough to be unanimous for it we
must allow that half our case were gone. We
want the Ballot, because half the electors, in the
counties at least—poor souls—dare not, if indeed
they have souls, call them their own. No one
better knows than the Member for Bucks
that the tenants at will, and the agricultural
voters, and half the tradesmen in small
towns there, dare no more hold meetings
for the ballot, or demand it of a county represen-
tative than they dare break a covenant in a lease
if they had one. A tenant had better be back-
ward in his rent than do one of two things—shoot
a partridge, or sign a petition for the ballet.

It is not extravagant to anticipate that with
ordinary good fortune, in regard to fair weather,
the approaching renewal of the endeavours to lay
down the submarine electric wire between Ireland
and America will be successful. The failure of
the previous attempt arose simply from a miscal-
culation. Sufficient allowance had not been made
as to the discretion of one of the subordinate per-
sons entrusted with the delicate and responsible
duty of paying out the gutta percha cable—a pro-
cess obviously involving the necessity of perpetual
watchfulness. Due attention being directed to the
rise and fall of the waves, to the number of knots
being run by the vessel bearing the precious
freight, to the rapidity of the revolution of the
cylinder from which the elastic and tenacious
cord is being unwound, to each of these move-
ments, separately, and to all of them combined-4
and the feat, as a mere exercise of skill, is, un-
deniably, within the limits of accomplishment.
The practicability of the undertaking, indeed, is
already proven beyond the possibility of misap•
prehension. It mattered nothing that, in the
infancy of this wonderful enterprise, the effort had
to be repeated again and again in mid-channel be-
tween the coasts of England and France—done
the deed was in the end triumphantly. And
there at this moment are thrilling to and fro the
electric currents of instant communication between
the two allied countries--the magic needles now
on the dial in Paris, now on the dial in London,
vibrating perpetually with messages flashed from
one capital to the other with the momentary speed
of the lightning. As it is with the submarine
wire connecting this island with the European
Continent—so inevitably sooner or later it will be
with the same marvellous means of intercourse
between the sister island and the North Ameri-
can Continent. As already intimated, it is strictly,
undeniably, a mere question of time. And when
that question of time shall have been answered,
as answered it probably will be during the course
of this present spring season—the ends of the
earth by that one enterprise will—at the moment
of its happy completion— have been literally
brought together. It will be not alone the bring-
ing within hail of one another of Ireland and
America, of Great Britain and the United States—
it will be the securing of instant intercourse between
the limits of the two hemispheres I It will be
the connection by one grand link of the whole of
the complicated and the widely extended systems of
electric communication threading on one hand the
American, and on the other the European conti•
nent. From the eastern point of Massachusetts
to the northern extremities of lowa and Wiscon-
sin, from the northern limits of Maine and New
Hampshire to the western borders of Louisiana
and Arkansas, nay onward in one direction to the
great river boundary of Texas, and in another to
the grand seaboard of the Oregon Territory, ex-
tending from Georgia to New Albion, there will
be found spread the fibrous nerves of the Tele-
graph, giving vitality, almost we had said übiquity,
to the whole social and political system of the
States. From the further extremity of those
States, therefore, and not alone from its borders
washed by the surges of the Atlantic, will be
flashed through the submarine cable, immediately
upon its completion, the intelligence transmitted
to Europe from the American Continent. So—
vice versa—not solely will it be news shot through
the core of the gutta percha cable to
the New World from Ireland, from England,
or from France, but from the further
borders of the accumulated Powers of the old
world, from all the various kingdoms and empires
moored together in one vast aggregate of ancient
Christendom. The Atlantic telegraph will thrill
from the shores of the great lakes, from the
haunts of the Black Foot Indians, across Prussia
and the shores of the Baltic, across Austria to the
shores of the Euxine, across Italy to the shores
of the Adriatic—to the heart of Russia, to the
capital of Turkey, to the coast of the Morea—
ultimately away by the overland route, or by a
course yet more direct, to the chief cities of Hin-
dostan, until the circle shall have been finaUy
completed by the connection of the opposite shores
of the Pacific.

As yet, of course; a considerable portion of all

this is but a day-dream. Yet it is a day-dream
of which we ,may already recognise the certainty
of the ulterioi realisation. Hence the profound
interest with which many thoughtful men in
Europe and in America must watch the progress
of the new enterprise for the laying down of the
cable of the Atlantic Telegraph. That wonder-
ful cord, already coiling up on the decks of the
noble vessels appointed for its conveyance, will
be another glorious bond for the girding up the
loins of modern civilisation.

PRESENTATION OF A CANNON BY
QUEEN VICTORIA.

We read in the Moniteur :—" A cannon and
ammunition tumbril, presented to the Emperor
by Queen Victoria, were escorted this (Tuesday)
morning into the Court of the Tuileries by a detach-
ment of horse-artillerymen of the Imperial Guard.
The Emperor, accompanied by Lord Cowley, the
Minister of War, and General de la Hitte, Presi-
dent of the Council of Artillery, examined with the
minutest detail this magnificent specimen of English
artillery, wherein are combined the comfort (so in
the original !) which our skilful and careful neigh-
bours display in everything, and the perfect finish
of the many pieces of wood and of iron.
" Major Andrews, of the English service, assisted
by an able subordinate, explained successively the
mechanism and the use of all the parts of this
beautiful piece of work. The cannon, a nine-
pounder, is polished to an unusual brilliancy, and
bears on au escutcheon the arms of France, beneath
which is inscribed, ' To Napoleon 111., from Queen
Victoria.' Her Majesty, the Empress, attended,
accompanied by the Prince Imperial, to show by
her presence how. sensible she was of the gracious-
ness of the Queen. The Emperor, on retiring,
expressed his entire satisfaction to Lord Cowley,
and also to Major Andrews, whose explanations
his Majesty listened to with lively interest." Let
us hope this present of a comfortable cannon may
not be a significant omen.

SIERRA LEONE AND THE AFRICAN

SQUADRON.

PLYMOUTH MARCH 31.

Her Majesty's ship Merlin, Commander Buckley,
arrived here this morning with invalids from the
African Fquadron.and mails from Teneriffe. She
left Sierra Leone on Feb. 14, and St. Vincent, 26.
The admiral had proceeded up the Gambia in the
Ardent. Nothing further relative to the Scarries
expedition has bean received.
The Boscawen, Vesuvius, Antelope, and Childers
were at Sierra Leone. The Sharpshooter sailed for
Ascension on Feb. 12. The Alert was at St. Vin-
cent.

The Merlin left Teneriffe on March 11, but
having lost her rudder-head in a gale, returned,
and sailed again on th 3 19th. Trade was dull.
F.ver prevailed in the squadron. The Merlin
had 40 cases and four deaths before leaving the
coast.

No intelligence had been received of the Gamb'a
packet.
Commander Buckley received, on Feb. 12, the
Victoria Cross, on board the Boscawen, in the
presence of the admiral, the commodore, the go-
vernor, the Bishop of Sierra Leone, and a number
of officers and colonists.

LADY HAVELOCK AND SIR H. M. HAVELOCK'S ANNIII-
TIM—The Act of Parliament granting the annuities of
1,000/. each to Lady Havelock and to the present baro-
net has been printed. The annuities are to be deemed
to have commenced on the sth Feb., and the first pay-
ment to be made on the sth April inst., free from all
charges except the income tax.
DEATH OF THE EARL OF MORTON.—We regret to
announce the demise of the Earl of Morton, who died
shortly before 3 o'clock, a.m., yesterday, at the family
residence in Brook-street, after a short 'dries?. Tue de
ceased George Sholto Douglas, Earl of Morton, Lord
D slkeith and Abordoir in the peerage of Scotland, of
which peerage he was representative peer in Parliament,
was eldest son of the Hon. Juhn Douglas, by Lady
Frances Lascelles, eldest daughter of Edward, first Earl
of Harewood. He was born 23d December, 1789.
DEATH Or Mg. J. H. BARROW.—On Tuesday, at
his reswence in Francis-street, Newington, died Mr. J.
H. Barrow, a gentleman for seine time connected with
the newspaper press. Mr. Barrow was, however, better
known as the editor cf the Mirror of Parlzament, a series
of original reports of the Parliamentary debates, which
he started in opposition to Mansard, and which for
some years maintained a successful contest with that
compilation. He was also the author of " Emir Maleck,"
and one or two other works of fiction in prose and in
verse.

THE FRENCH EMBISSY.—Sefton Rouse, the mansion
of the Eail of Sefton's family, in Belgrave-square, has
been taken for Marshal the Duke of Malakoff, and will
be the future residence of the French Embassy.
A RESULT OF THE NIGER EXPEDITION.—Yesterday
(Wednesday) the ship George arrived at Liverpool with
a cargo of palm oil and ivory from Laird's Town, Africa,
being the first commercial result of the Niger expedition
sent out by Mr. Macgregor Laird, of London.
It is announced that the steamer Wye, with the Aus-
tralian mails, arrived at Marseilles yest,rday, and that
the mails left at 10 a.m. ; they will therefore be delivered
here to-morrow morning.

The Strathmore, Marian Wlntyre, Sir W. F.
Williams, For,tabelle, Peregrine Oliver, Podesta, and
Colinsburg have arrived from China with 3,680,0001 b. of
tea and 2,236 bales of silk.

The half-yearly dividend is advertised on the Turkish
Six per Cent. loan.
'.Cue Lord Mayor, the sheriffs, and the corporation of
the City of London will attend Divine Service i❑ state,
on Monday next (Easter Monday), when a report will
be presented to them in reference to the state of the
Royal hospitals in the City of London. The sermon on
the occasion will be preached by Lord Auckland, Bishop
of Bath and Wells.

THE SOANE .MUSEUM.—To-day a further extension of
the time for viewing the free exhibition of Sir John
SoaLe's Museum, 13, Lincoln's-inn-fields, takes place,
and the public are to be admitted every Tuesday, Thurs-
day, and Friday, to the end of June, ny pre-
viossly obtaining tickets of admission of the curator
CRYSTAL PALACE.—ONE SHILLING DAY, Wednesday,
March 31.—Admissions on payment, 745 ; ditto by
season tickets, 465; total vi-itors, 1,210.
The Directors of the Crystal Palace Company have
unanimously elected Mr. Robert K. Bowley to fill the
office of general manager to the company. Mr. Bowley
is already known to the public as having been one of the
most prominent officers of the Sacred Harmonic Society,
Exeter-ha!!, during its increasingly popular career of 25
years.

THE ISLINGTON TRAGEDY. INQUEST ON EAST'S
CHILD. —An inquest was held yesterday on the body of
a little girl, 4 years old, the child of East, the lodger in
the house of Osborne, the man who recently committed
suicide at Islington. A verdict of natural death Wa.
returned. It was stated that there were some hopes of
Mrs. Osborne's recovery, though she was still in a pre-
carious state, and that Run had left the neighbourhood.
HORSE TAMING.—Mr. Rarey, the celebrated American
horse tamer, yesterday entertained a large number of
fashionable visitors in the Duke of Wellington's private
riding-school, Knightsbridge. The Thichess of Suther.
land and the Marchioness of Stafford atteneel early, and
received special instruction in his methods of subjugating
the horse, Mr. Rarey afterwards gave instruction to
his third public class. Among the noblemen and gen-
tlemen present were the Duke of Leeds, the Marquis of
Stafford, the Earl Grosvenor, the Earl of Derby, Lord
Keane, Lord Fitzroy, Sir E. Kerrison, Sir H. Hoare,
Sir A. Cockburn, Sir W. Wallace, Gen. the Hon. H.
Murray, Col. Spence, Major Fitzgerald, E. Lloyd, E-q
A. M. Drummond, Esq., R. M. Milnes, Esq., M.P.,
. D. Barclay, Esq., F. Travers, Esq., C-1. F. M. Martyn,
Capt. Bateson, A Travers, Eq., G F. Bates, Esq., E.
Higgins, E q., Capt. Steward, and Cape. Lowe.
SUSPECTED CHILD MURDER.—Yesterday forenoon, at
an early hour, the body of a newly-horn female child was
found dead in a field near the towing path, Old Ford.
Tue deceased was tied up in a piece of old black lining
and brown paper. There were three braises on the
head and arms, and the surgeon who was called was of
opinion that the deceased had been born elite. The body
was taken to the workhouse for a coroner's inquest
before Mr. W, Baker.

LIVERPOOL, Wednesday.—The Liverpool, New York,
and Philadelphia Steamship Company's steamer City of
Washington, sailed for New York shortly after noon to-
day, with 430 passengers and a moderate cargo ; the
steamer Kang-aroo, belonging to the same company, is
now due with New York ad vices to the 18th, but it was
probable that she would be detained until the 20th to
bring the United States' wails of that date, in place of
the American mail steamer North Star.
THE INDIAN MUTlNY.—Teesclay's Gazette curtains
dispatches from Major-General Sir A. Wilson, K.C.8.,
lately in command of the Delhi &id force, bringing to
notice the services of certain officers which were not re-
ferred to in the previous despatch. The officers thus
honourably mentioned are—Brevet Colonel T. Welch-
man, let European Bengal Fusiliers; Lieutenant Lind,
of the Mooltanee Horse ; Lieutenant C. A. Renny, sth
troop, let Brigade, Horse Artillery ; Major T. Brind,
Major Scott, Uapt. Bourchier, Captain Robert Fagan,
killed in action ; Lieutenants Evans, Blair, Boileau,
Ward, A. H. Heath, J. Fulton, Sir W. Hamilton, E.
L. E R. T. Hare, R. de L. Sr. George, H. Chiches-
ter, D. S. Pemberton, S. Budd, T. E. Dickens, Hilde-
brand; Surgeon T. C. Brown, and Superintendent Sur-
geon C. M'Kinaon, M.D.
CELESTIAL PHENOMENON.—OR Monday evening, a
little bcf ,re ten o'el..ck, there was a very distinct exhi-
Ortion of the halo called the mock moon. For several
tektites it was br.ght enou4Lr to cast a faint shadow in
the moonshine. As it feied, prismatic colours became
apparent, the red being next the moon. The mock moon
was at the same altitude as the MOOll, and distant, west-
ward, 20 deg., 7 min., as measured by means of a
sextant. —Scotsman.

Lablache's collection of snuff-boxes is coming to the
natainer. The grcat artist bad one hobv during life.
ft :va to eurrouLd himself with tabatieres of every mar
Lim, and variety. Tney amount to bun-
Ireds. Tney bear Imperial, Royal, princely, ducal, lite-
rary, and lady-fair effigies brilliant in diamond, pearl,
malachite, lipsis lazuli, or humble horn,

ING, APRIL 1, 1858

HER MAJESTY'S THEATRE.

This great lyric theatre will be reopened for the regu-
lar season shortly after Easter. During the recess, Mr.
Lumley (we need scarcely inform those acquainted with
his energy and enterprising spirit) has not been idle. He
has visited every part of the Continent in search of
attractive novelties, and secured the services of several
artists who, if report speak truly, will prove most valu-
able additions to a company already rich in talent of
the highest order. These continental celebrities, new to
the London public, are—Madlle. Lucioni, contralto ;
Madame Gnioui, prima donna cornprimaria ; Signer
Mattioli, high baritone ; Madlle. Orsini, I,,rinta
ballerina, from La Fenice, at Venice ; M. Caron
and M. Durand, dancers, from the Parisian Acade-
mie Imperial; and Madlle. Theresa Thiene, princi-
pal soprano of the Imperial Opera, Vienna. Of the
last-named artiste we have heard the most favour-
able accounts. Rumour describes her as a singer and
actress of the highest order, possessing a genuiue soprano
voice of extraordinary power and compass, and remark-
able personal attractions. Her repertoire is unusually
extensive, for she has appeared in Germany with the
greatest success in no less than 17 operas, belonging to
widely different schools—namely, " Lucrezia Borgia,"
"Norma," "Il Trovatore," " Ernani,' "Les Vespres
Siciliennes," "Oberon," "Don Giovanni," "Le Nozz,
di Figaro," "Die Zauberfiate," " Entfuhrung aus dem
Serail," "Robert le Diable," "Enryarithe," " Der
Freischutz," "Iphigenia in Aulie," " Jessonda," " Fere
dinand Cortez," and "Les Huguenots," in which lat,er
work she has gained special fame as the representative of
Valentina. Adthough,judging from this longlist of operas,
MadlleTitiens must possessgreat versatility,itappears that
her forte lies in the gusto grande, and that if the celebrated
artiste be great in the light compositions of the modern
Italian school, she is still greater in the more classic pro-
ductions of her compatriots, the Germans, for Minnie.
Miens is a German (born at, Homburg), although Hun-
garian by name and descent. The engagement of this
lady may, it is presumed, lead to the production of some
very fine operas which have been long neglected, or are
totally new to our stage. May we hope for the long-
promised "Iphigenia" of Gluck at last? In„any case we
are sure that the new enema donna will be introduced to
the London public in one of her very best parts, namely,
Valentina iu " Les Huguenots," which has been for
some months in preparation at her Majesty's Theatre
—and, with new scenery, dresses, and decorations, a
powerful cast of the principal characters, band and
chorus improved and augmented, will be one of the
earliest novelties of the approaching season. Of the
new contralto, Madlle. Lucioni, we have heard that she
possesses a ee fresh voice, and acts extremely well,
while report says as much for Signor Mattiuli, with this
addition, that his florid execution is particularly good.
Of these established favourites, Manta. Piceelomiei,
Madlle. Spezia, Madlle. Ortolani, Signet' Genglini, Sig-
nor Belletti, Signor Beneventano, Signor Behr, Signor
Vialetti, and Madame Alberti, all of whom w 11 re-appear
in the course of the season, we need say but little,
Signor Giugliei is to personate on the °peeing night, for
the first time in Er:gland, a character which be has
already sustained with the greatest success in Milan and
other Italian cities—namely, Raoul de Nangis, in "Les
Huguenots," and to which he is certainly caeable of
doing ample justice. Madlle. Ortolani—whose admirable
delineation of Donna Elvira, in " Don Giovanni," is
doubtless fresh in the recollection of all opera-goers—
will perform for the first time on any stage the part of
the Queen of Navarre. The entire cant of he principal
characters in Meyerbeer's fatuous opera will, in short,
be most probably as follows :—Valentina, Madlle.
Titiens ; the Queen, Madlle. Ortolani ; the Page, Madlle.
Lucioni ; Raoul de Nangis, Signor Giuglini ; Marcel,
Signor Vialetti ; Nevers, Signor Aldeghieri ; and Count
St. Bris, Signor Belletti.
Another highly interesting novelty will be the first
appearance of that universal favourite, Madlle. Piece,
lomini, as the heroine of Verdi's heillsa Miller," the
libretto of which is founded upon Schiller's celebrated
drama, " Kabal and Liebe." Toe work is quite new to
this country, and the principal character, if it but faith-
fully resemble the charming conception of the great Ger-
man dramatist, must be perfectly well adapted to the
genius of Mdlle. Piccrdomini. Balfe's " Baheraian Girl"
is also to be repeated. Of Mdlle. Spezia we only hear
that she is to appear in her " favourite parts." The
public will doubtless always be glad to hears his admir-
' able singer and actress as Leonora in "La Favorita,"
Leonora in "Ii Trovatore," Donna Anna in "Don
Giovanni," and in other parts, by her admirable per.
formance of which she has earned celebrity in this coun-
try ; but, nevertheless, Mdlle. Spezia'a numerous ad-
mirers would probably like to view her rare talent
through some new medium ; and as novelty seems to be
a strong point in Mr. Lumley's present schemes, we
trust he will not forget the strong claims of Mdlte. Spezia
to a participation in all the advantages it may confer.
The ballet department will be unusually attractive, for
no less than five first-rate dancers—Madlle. Pocchini,
Madlle. Marie Taglioni, Madlle. Orsini, Madlle. Boa-
chetti, and Madame Rasati, betides those lesser but still
very brilliant stars, Mesdames Rolla, Pasquale, and
Morlacchi—are already engaged. Signor Bonetti will
resume the directorship of the orchestra immediately
after the tenni!) etion cf his present engagement at the
Italian Opera of Paris, and in the mean line his impor-
tant post is to be filled by Signor Arditi. The band and
chorus, as we have already stated, is to be augmented
and improved, and amongst the valuable engagements
already effected for the f antler we may mention those of
M. Lavigne, the celebrated oboe prayer, M. Schreurs,
and M. Duhem, the almost equally renowned performers
on the violin and trumpet.
The scenic eepartnient will again be under the direc-
tion of Mr. Marehall, and Madame Copere will, as in
former years, superintend the costumes.