The Sun.
London, England, 1858-03-31 00:00:00

LONDON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, MARCH 31, 1858.

%TONT BL ANC TO-NIGHT AT 8, and
TO-MORROW AFTERNOON AT 3.

•
CHRISTY'S MINSTRELS, Polygraphic Hall.
TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH • ENTERTAIN-
MENT.—Many Patrons of the Christy's having been unable to gain
admission owing to the limited numbers of Stalls, they have now
introduced an extra row, which will afford more comforts to their
numerous patrons.—Evening at 8, mad on Saturday Morning,
commencing at 3. Prices—Boxes, 1/. is.;. Stalls, 35.; Area, 25.;
Back, Is.

ADELAIDE GALLERY, Adelaide-street,
West Strand.—GßAND CASlNO.—Licensed pursuant to
Act of Parliament. with BparrELL's celebrated band; formerly con-
ducted by the late Esetas LAURENT, now coulucted by Mons. LA-
MOTTE, of Paris ; principal cornet-a-piston, M. BOULCOURT ; Leader,
Mr. ettaauss HALL: Admission, is. Doors open at half-past 8.
The above band is at the service of the Nobility and Gentry for Pri-
vate Balls, &e., &c.—Apply by letter to It, R. BRINELL, Argyll
Rooms, Great Windmill-street, St. James's.

JEW PROGRAMME of LECTURES delivered
_Li daily, in Dr. KAHN'S MUSEUM, 3, Tirhborne-street, Hay-
market. Dr. SEXTON, at al4 past 1, on " The Circulation of the
Blood ;" at 4, on "The Curiosities and Mysteries of the Hair and
Beard ; " at 8, on " Skin Diseases ; " and at 9, on " Reproduction."
Dr. KAHN, at 3, on "The Philosophy of Marriage" N.B. The
Museum has received numerous additions. Admission, Is. I q*.
Kahn's 9 Lectures post free f'r 12 stamps. Open (for Gentlemen
only) from 12 till 5, and from 7 till 10.

GREAT 'UNITED STATES' CIRCUS.
Messrs. HOWES and CUSHING, Proprietors.—The largest
Equestrian Establishment in the World, numbering over Two
Hundred Men and Horses, will perform for a Short Season, at the
ALHAMBRA PALACE, Leicester-square. commencing on MON-
DAY next, APRIL the sth, giving Two Performances each day,
commencing at half-past Two, and a quarter to Eight o'Clock,
p.m.—Admission—Reserved Seats, 3s ; Boxes, 2s;• Pit, Is; Gal-
Pry, 6d.----BoxDfllce open from 10 a.m.. until 5 p.m. The First
Grand Mid-day Performance on EASTER MONDAY, commencing
at half-past Two o'Clock.

EAST INDIA HOUSE, 24TH liiAtCH, 1858.
THE COURT of DIRECTORS of Mlle East
INDIA COMPANY do HERESY GIVE NOTICE, That
the, will be prepared, on or before Twelve.o'clock, on the Ist day.
of April proilmo, to receive TENDERS for a LOAN, not exceeding
Five Millions sterling, for five years. on security of Debentures, to
be issued under the nrovilloup, pf. the Act llst Vic. cap. 3, such
Debentures ,tokpsttlle rertive gragiurs of.1,000i! end 5001,, and
ia tu bt- IlfttEritt_the tale_ „Four per cent. per annum, payable, by
coupons atached, half-yearl ,At the Treasury of the East India
Compsny, in London, on the Bth day of April and the Bth day of
October in each year. .
Th, Tenders to be for sums of not less than 5,tr01., and are to
state how much will be given for every 1001. of the said Loan.
20

per cent. to be paid to the Company on the Bth day of April.
19 91 10th „ May.
PP Of 10111 „ June.
..... OP 11 9th „ July.
1.5 7,9/ ICith ' „ August.
And the balance 91 10th ~ September
from which dates the interest of Four per cent per annum upon the
respective instalments will be calculated ; but parties who so desire
may pay up in full, and wll be allowed a discount at the rate of
1 ht ee per Cent. per annum upon the anticipated payments.
In cases of equality of Tr nders beyond the amount required, they
will be subject to a pro rata diminution.
Scrip Receipts will be given to the parties entitled ; to be delivered
up in exchange for the Debentures, when prepared.
' The Tenders are to be delivered in,- sealed, at the Secretary's
Office, in this house, and to specify the proportions of each denomi-
nation of Debentures required by the subscriber.
No Tender will be received after Twelve o'clock on the said Ist
day of April, nor unless upon a printed form, which may be obtained
at the Accounts Branch of the Secretary's Office in this house.
. J. D. DICKINSON, Secretary.

H Y CONTINUE to PAY FULL PRICE :
• —4d. discount in the Is. off music, post free; 2d. discount
in the Is. off all books, magazines, maps, prints, kc. A detailed
prospectus sent past-free to all applicaktri. S. and T. GILBEItT, 4,
Copthall-buildings, back of the Bank of England, London, E.C.
Copy the address. N.B. All warranted perfect in every respect and
precisely as same as if the full price were paid.

EORGE HOBSON begs to invite the attention
'CA- of Gentlemen to his new Stock of Troweerings for the pre-
sent season, price2ls. to 255.
G. H. submits for inspection his new Overcoats, in all the new ap-
proved and various shades of colour for spring wear. Excellence
with Economy. A snit of clothes made in a few hours' notice.

GEOItGE 110BSON, 57. Lombard-street.
Excellence with Economy.

DESTITUTION and SICKNESS. The
AFF ÜBE NT and BENEVOLENT are earnestly SOLICITED
to AID the efforts now making by the Managing Committee of the
ROYAL FREE HOSPITAL, Gray's-inn-road, a Charity established
for the relief of the foreigner, the stranger, the friendless, and the
outcast, when in sickness or disease, who are here received, so far
as the means of the Institution will permit. Neither patronage nor
letters of recommendation being necessary, numerous urgent appeals
are daily made at th'e gates of the Hospital by the most miserable
and wretched of t! 'e human race.—Contributions received by the
Treasurer, Jchn afastenuan, Esq., Nicholas-lase. Also by Messrs.
Coutts and Co;; Drummond and Co.; Berries and Co. ; Ransom
and Co.; Prescott, Grote, and Co.; Smith, Payne, and Co.; Glynn
and Co.; Jones Loyd and Co. ; Barclay and Co. ; Denison and Co. ;
Williams, Deacon, and Co.; Overend, Gurney, and Co-.; Ni.bet and
Co., Berners-Street ; Masterman and Co.; and at the Hospital.
By Order.
S. S. SMITH, Secretary.

ADEN AND THE ISLAND OF PERIM.

• A letter from Aden, dated March 12, says :
Judging from the question put to the First Lord of
the Treasury by one of the members of our Legisla-
ture, whether the island of Perim was to be declared
a free port or not, we are bound to assume that the
public generally at home are not very well up in in-
formation. about these parts of Aden. However,
more must be known, seeing that for years past it
has been the principal coalingetat.on between Suez
and our Eastern possessions. Nevertheless, we fear
that passengers carry away no very pleasant or cor-
rect notions, either of the place itself or of its im-
portance. A day on shore at a third-rate hotel, where
the fare is tough and scanty, the water brackish, the
wine and beer sour, the accommodation a make-
shift, and the locality hot. hot, hot, furnishes few
reminiscences likely to exalt Aden in general esti-
mation. Heaps of coal on the beach do, indeed, be-
speak for the place a certain degree of utility, and
the commodious harbour is admitted to be a con-
venient haven midiay between the Red Sea and
the Indian Ocean ; but few, we fear, of the hundreds
who pass and repass this way every month, have
any adequate conception of the value of Aden as a
British possession beyond the bare outline of such
obvious advantages ; nor is.it my intention now to
dilate upon that topic either in its political, com-
mercial, or general bearings upon the joint interests
of the United Kingdoni and otr Eastern empire.
Foreign Governments are fully alive to the import-
ance of Aden, and it is to
,be hoped our own Go-
vernment is not behindharid in that respect ; never-
theless those on the: spot Nava good cause for be-
lieving that the ruling auttiori ties are very negligent
about establishing that importance upon a firm and
satisfactory basis. Ask you u'ew thib is? Why, here
we tira again, fim't4e huti. ith time perhaps, cut
off from all, up Ries from the . interior,, and in
hourly expectation that our extraneous water
supply will also be stopped by a petty Arab tribe,
whose chief has been our most liberally paid
stipendiary since the capture of Aden, but who
has of late become so overbearing, insolent, and
mischieious, that, after fruitlessly entreating
and expostulating with him for months, the Politi-
cal Resident and Commandant, deprived as it would
seem of all authority to do more, at length with-
held his stipend. This took place, we believe, on
the Ist inst., since which time the chief, or Sultan
as lee is called, has prohibited his own people from
bringing in supplies, has detained s ccafilas" coming
from the districts beyond his territories, and has
placed a ragamuffin crew on the road, just beyond
gunshot of our outworks, to plunder any who may
attempt to hold intercourse with us. The conse-
quence of this siege is that since the Ist not a camel
has come from the interior; all our vegetables, peul-
try, wood, eggs, fodder, grain, and a hundrsclother
necessaries have been cut off, and the place with its
23,000 inhabitants is existing at present upon the
small stock on hand, entirely dependent for the
morrow upon the very uncertain and limited im-
ports by sea. These latter can only come for six
weeks longer, since after the setting in of the south-
west monsoon there are few arrivals in port ;
therefore, unless something be done to open the
interior, we have a prospect of being literally
starved out during the hot season. Nor is it the
inhabitants alone who will suff. r ; already all trade
with the interior has been suspended, and the agents
of several European firms sent here for cargoes are
complaining that not a coffee-bean is brought in,
and that their ships will be detained at a great
sacrifice. Several British ships now in port—and
many more are expected—want water, and can get
none, because Aden itself cannot supply enough for
the troops. From the watering-place on the oppo-
site side of the harbour not more can be procured
by present appliances than suffices for the navy and
part of the garrison ; and the wells at Shaik ()the.
man, a place five miles from our outwoi ka, but only
two and a-half miles from the limit of British ter-
ritory, and only two from the coast, whence the
shipping have been abundantly supplied for some
time past, are closed against us ay this contumacious
chief. Report says that the watering-placea on the
other side of the harbour just alluded to, being
guarded and held by the same chief, will shortly
tie closed against us also, and the wells destroyed.
A precious mess we shall then be in 1 Why the
brigadier does not go out and dislodge these fel-
lows is a mystery to many. Shaik O hman might
be taken and held by a company of Native Intaetry
and a couple of guns, for no resistance is likely to
be made by the small slave gari'ion, and the posses-
sion of that place would at s.'d poen tlie c .untry

Men (for alrtrilffierfirt;s'h..:7 fr
same that it would be the roost effectual wa3c of
bringing this ungrateful chifl to his senses and
make him less disposed to annoy U 3 hereafter.
Some say that the brigadier is so bourid by his in-
structious that he cannot under any conceivable
circumstances make such a move without the ex-
press sanction of Government, and I am inclined
to believe that that is the only drawback in the
present instance. Then, again, it is said by mili-
tary men that some light cavalry are indispensable
to render such a movement effectual. If so, we
can only wonder why a troop of Sciude Horse, or-
dered to Ad en twoyears ago, have not yet been sent.
All I know is that it is a disgrace to our national
honour that, occupying so important a position at
Aden, we are obliged to submit tamely to such in-
dignities and to undergo such annoyances from the
petty tribes who inhabit the neighbourhood. Will
it indeed be believed in England that no less than
four of our countrymen have within the last eight
years been basely murdered by miscreants of these
tribes, without our having succeeded in obtaining
the least satisfaAion for such outrages ; and, fur-
ther, that the chief, or late ally, who is now putting
the place to such inconveniencies, and driving us
gradually to actual want, is harbouring the wretch
who killed a s?aman of the Au rkland, and that the
assassin himself is known at tae present moment to
form part of the guard in a fort over the watering-
place, almost within range of our ships' guns ? If, as
is reported, the Governor of Aden is restricted
from taking any active measures to remedy this
state of ttiiogs, he is greatly to be compassion'ited,
since any one tolerably acquainted with the actual
state of our relations with she interior is fully con-
vinced that even with a greatly reduced garrison—
which certainly ought to be kept up to its ordinary
strength at all times—the thing could bo done with-
out any risk to ourselves, and without necessitating
any advance into the interior beyond that of occu-
pying a post two miles beyond our present boun-
d

I have this moment heard that several large
" cafilas" of coffee coining to Aden have been de-
tained by the hostile chief of Lahadj, and that his
people are seizing, plundering, and wounding any
who attempt to bring iu provisions. No more sup-
/la's for the steamers, no more vegetables for the
reinforcements to India, Lo more water for our
merchant shipping, and a very dark prospect for us
wretched Adenites to look forward to while this
state of things is permitted.

By the way, I have just heard that the Somali
chiefs of Ain Tarad, in execution of a treaty which
they made with us about two years ago, have
seized a bungalow with 60 slaves and have de-
spatched messengers to our Resident to request
that he would send over and take possession of them.
Will you believe it, that, though we have a sloop of
war and a steamer in the harbour, both are so inef-
ficient that neither can be sent on such a mission
Credible information has also been received that
there are no less than 500 slaves, new importations,
on the opposite African coast, and that this detest-
able traffic is increasing to a fearful e ~tent. Never-
theless, Aden, which might be made available to
put a stop to this abomination, is left without the
means of checking it.

[ A DVERTISEIi swr. ] —Th e following extraordinary Cures with-
out Medicine of Indigestion (Dyspepsia), Flatulency, Consti-
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delicious health-restoring Revalenta Arabiea Food, are not the
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9th December, 1854.—The Dowager Countess of Castlestnart
feels induced, in the interest of suffering humanity, to state
that Du Barry's excellent Revalenta Arabica Food has cured
her, after all medicines had failed, of indigestion, bile, great
nervousness and irritability, of many years' standing. This
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tion, flatulency, spasms, sickness at the stomach, and
vomiting, have been removed by Dn Barry's excellent
Food.—MARIA JOLLY, Wortham Ling, near Diss, Norfolk."
Supported by testimonials from the following celebrated Pro.
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• Parrfoßevalenta Arabica Food.",

THE LANCASHIRE POETS.

On Tuesday evening last Mr. C. Hardwick deli-
vered a lecture at the Institution, Avenham, en-
titled, " An Evening with the Lancashire Poets,
illustrated with elocutionary readings." There was
a numerous and respectable audience, over whom
Mr. W. Dobson presided as chairman.
Mr. HARDWICK opened his lecture by stating
that it might
.perhaps appear to some that the
terms "Lancashire" and "Poetry' were upon the
whole rather antagonistic than otherwise. Poetry,
with its high aspirations, its contempt for mere
worldly wealth, its deep human sympathies, its
self-denial, its undying heroism, its gorgeous but
impalpable empire in the regions of cloud-land ;
and Lancailiire with its Mammon-worship, its petty
benterings and commercial cunning, its hard and
heartless spindles and steam engines ; Lancashire,
where the greatest object in life appeared to be the
acquisition of mere material' wealth ; Lancashire
was looked upon as the locality where Mammon-
worship was most rife; at least in Britain. Cer-
tainly at first sight the terms seemed somewhat
incongruous. But a little calm consideration was
sufficient to dispel the illusion. It must not be
forgotten that the outward and merely animal form
of man enshrined an immaterial spirit. While he
distinctly regarded it to be one of the first duties of
man to provius for the wants of the body, Lance-
shir s had unquestionably excelled all the word in
the production of material wealth ; and he should
be ere,bled to show that it had not been remark-
ably deficient in a higher aid more spiritual sense.
When it was recollected that Lancashire contained
a population equal to many, and more than some,
of the petty kingdoms on the Continent, it might
easily be conceived that it was capable of produc-
ing men of every variety of mental and moral cha-
racter ; and he was prepared to claim for Lancashire
a fair and reasonable share of poetic' taste and
poetic genius. It was said thet the age itself was
not poetic—that we lived in an age of iron, aid
that science was making much greater pregrass
than the arts ; but a candid inquiry into the
facts would to a great extent dispel this illusion
also. The nineteenth century had developed as
much poetic genius, and its productions had been
circulated among the people to greater extant ,
than during any preceding century. It was true'
that Lancashire had not given birth to a Shaks-
pere, but it was no less certain that no other
couuty could successfully oompets with Warwick-
shire for so glorious a distinction; nay, it was
equally true that no age or kingdom, ancient or
modern, had produced his superior, or eqUal As a
dramatio.poet. After alluding to Byron, Shelley,:
Coleridge, and Wordsworth,.. as being egnal to
Dryden or Pope, and superior to any of the elder
second-clads poets, and to Tennyson, Bailey, the
Browninget and others,; the productions of whose
genius would one day be worthy of a place beside
the best and greatest of the laud,-
_Mr. Hardwick
observed that many partieswere in the babit.of ima-
gining-that nothing could be poetic in its charaCter
which had direct reference to the Present. He did
not deny that the past had its pot but he con-
tended that poetry neither scorned the present nor
the future. The true poet of any age would ever
be found to be the man who embodied the spiritual
ees.eace of that age. Many men of undoubted ta-
lent were too often induced to manufacture rhymes
and rhetorical figures, as well as to construct entire
poems, simply in imitaiion of others which. had
received the approbation of the public This
soulless conventionalism, beneath which all inde-
pendent thought vainly struggled. Much of the
poetic genius of our own century would be more
highly estimated in the future. Many of the now
acknowledged most gifted men of past ages had not
beers appreciated so highjy-during-their own gene-.
rationeis they are at the Peesent time. This was
certainly not the case with all, for many popular'
idols of the hour glitter a season and then sink into
merited obsnirity.
Mr. Hardwick then entered into an analysiS of the
peculiar characteristics of the Lancashire "poets.
Be.had concluded, after 'a careful examinaliou of
the.literature of 'the present day, that the home
affections, a sturdy patriotism, and an enthusiastic
love of liberty predominated. -He believed that
the poetry of no given diVision Of thie country
had more truly embodied the genuine Eugbsh
spirit of freedom: than that of the
,county of
Lancashire, Butt, unfortunately, the. Majority of
our poets have keen and still are very poor
men, and, although poverty in itself was not com-
petent to , extinguish the divine afflatus, the poor
poet, pressed down by the force of oil cucastances,
was ofteo tempted to write in a more miseutliropieal.
+rept.,

-
provided for. With respect to the poets of Lanca-
shire this was, however, by no means a prevailing
fault. Their love of liberty rarely, if ever, degene-
rates into license. They had contributed much
towards an improved respect for law and order. Ig-
norant and blatant clainagogueism has often received
signal chaitisement from their pens. Society at large
owes to some of the lowly-born and humbly-clad
sons of the muse in Lancashire at the present time,
a much larger measure of gratitude dim it has yet
either rewarded or discovered. They all knew the
credit Preston had received at the hands of all Eng-
land, of all the world, for the manner in which its
operatives conducted themselves during the last
severe struggle with their employers. He had often
been told of it in other parts of England, and bad
al ways felt proud of the improved respect for law
and order then exhibited. _ _

The poetry of Lancashire was almost entirely con-
fined to the very three-quarters of a century in
which we have been so busily employed in building
cotton mills and manufacturing steam-engines. One
of the distinguished poets of the Elizabethan era
was, however, born in this very town. That he was
regarded at the time as no common poet might be
inferred from the fact that in every notice of the
contemporaries of Shakspere, Thomas Preston, of
Preston, in Lancashire, was mentioned. Ile was
born in the year 1530. Like Shakspere, he suc-
ceeded in winning the good opinion of Queen
Elizabeth, and so pleased was her Majesty with
his " graceful performance" in the Latin play of
" Dido ' at Oxford, that she conferred upon him
the title of her " scholar," togetL er with an annuity
of 201. a year, a sum which would be worth nearly
1001. a-year at the present time. Preston literary
labour is specially referred to by Shakspere him-
self in his play of King Henry IV. Falstaff, when
acting the part of the king, says, " I will do it in
King Cambyses' vein," referring to the style
of the hero of the tragedy of Csmh) sea,
written by Preston ; though he (the lecturer) was
sorry to say the reference could scarcely be regarded
as a complimentary one.
John Collier, better known by his nom de plume
of "Tim Bobbin," was next commented upon.
Collier, the poor schoolmaster of Milnrow (Roch-
dale), was by no means the simple diabict writer he
was generally imagined. He (Mr. II) was sorry
that he had overlooked him in his recently pub-
lished "History of Preston and its Environs," as
he had lately discovered him to be a better anti-
quarian topographer than his compeer, the Rev.
John Whitaker. Collier, during the rev. gentle-
man's lifetime, successfully attacked many of the
crude theories and dogmatism perpetrated by the
historian of Manchester. Nay, he spared not his
rival's literary style, and unquestionably excelled
him in this reqoect. Collier's serious prose is re-
markable for the purity of its English, and its terse
and perspicuousexpression. "Tummus and Meary"
was scarcely readable tow, even by many persons
living in the vicinity of Rochdale, on account of
the variation which has since taken place in the
dialect. The true value of " Tumulus and. Me try"
consisted in its faithful pictures of the habits, cha-
racter, and manners of the persons among whom the
author lived. On looking over his poems, he had
found one which he thought worth his while to
read, as it contained a vast amount of fun and
good humour, though not much poetry. He could
not award to Collier any great merit in this parti-
cular. Collier's want of sympathy with rhetorical
expression might be gathered from the circumstance
that he strongly objects to its u=e by the Rev. John
Whitaker. The author of " Tummus and Meary"
thought it an unpardonable offence in the historian
of Manchester to personify the ancient oaks of the
neighbourhood. And yet he had merely stated
that they annually shed their acorns for the sus-
tenance of the wild pigs which roamed the forest.
" Tim" sturdily declared his firm conviction that
the said oaks would have acted precisely in a simi-
lar manner if the entire porcine population hail
selected. some other locality for their peregrinations.
Mr. Hardwick then read the poem, " Hob and the
Quack Doctor," a tale of 1762, which occasioned
,much mirth.
Samuel Bamford, the poet of the old Radicals,
was next introduced. His writing attracted the
attention of Sir James Scarlett, afterwards Lord
Abinger, by whom he TM patronised. Bamford
was the companion of Hunt and Johnson, and was
tried for conspiracy on the occasion of the slaughter
of Peterleo Fields, in Manchester, and suffered im-
prisonment. A sturdy John Bullism was exhibited
in his work " The Life of a Radical," which he
wrote some time afterwards, and which contained
the celebrated " LAlloRehird Hymn," The publica-