The Sun.
London, England, 1867-08-01 00:00:00

HAY,

SMITHFIELD—Meadow hay, £3 Os to £4 lOs Od ; clover,
£4 Os to .£5 lOs ; and straw, .£2 to £2 6s per load.
Trade slow.

CUMBERLIND-3.leadow hay, £3 3s to £4 lOs Od ; clover,
.£1 Os to £5 15s Od ; and straw, £2 to £2 Gs per load.
A good supply.
WITITECIIAPEL-310adOW hay, £3 to .£4 lOs Ocl; clover,
£4 Os 05 to £5 15s Od ; and straw, £2 to £2 6s per load.
Trade inactive.

New hay is quoted at £2 10s to £3 15s, and new clover
£3 to £1 10s. per load.

FORTIFICATIONS.—The Fortifications (No. 2) Bill
authorises the following expenditure in the financial year
1867-68 :—On the Portsmouth station, £196,000 ; Ply-
mouth, £149,000; Pembroke, £19,000; Portland, £46,000;
Gravesend, £93,000 for works at Coalhouse Fort, Cliffe
Fort, Shornmead, and Slough Battery; Medway and Sheer-
ness, £75,000; Dover, £5,000; Cork, £12,000; also £150,000
for providing and fixing iron shields, and £55,000 for land
and incidental expenses. The total is £BOO,OOO, which is
to be raised as usual by terminable annuities, not extend-
ing hoyoud thirty years, so that this Licht:ration, is to pay
it,

At one time we thought that everything that was
possible in the way of illumination and decoration
had been accomplished by the Messrs. Defries, at the
Agricultural Hall, on the occasion of the ever memor-
able Belgian ball ; but fresh wonders have been per-
formed, and last evening the gorgeous and dazzling
scene was immensely heightened by the illumina-
tion of the thousands of ferns and palm trees,
ranged tier above tier on either side the dais. The
lights are so artistically placed that an endless
number of fairy bowers appear in all directions, and
refulgent blossoms spring from amid the beautiful
plants that rise from floor almost to ceiling. The
brilliant scene is effected by means of numberless
tiny coloured lamps of every tint, and thousands of
brilliant crystal prisms, which flash out the splendid
colours of the rainbow in all directions. The scene
produced by this wonderful feat of illumination is
perfectly enchanting, and one is almost forced to
believe himself in the fairy palace of Aladdin,
rather than the Agricultural Hall at Islington.
There is no abatement whatever of any of the
splendour which presented itself to the astonished
Belgians ; on the contrary, additions are constantly
being made which still further heighten the effect
of the grand interior, and myriads of fresh flowers
daily replace those whose beauty has faded. Such
is not the usual manner in which matters of the
sort are generally managed. Decorations once
effected are allowed to remain untouched, and not the
slightest trouble is taken to keep up the original effect,
because the object for which they were prepared has
been served, but a different system has been adopted
hero, and the result is that the concerts have turned
out the most successful entertainments ever presented
to the public. The closing of the Italian Opera
has allowed the services of the leading members
of Mr. Costa's orchestra to be secured, and
the list of eminent vocalists has also been greatly
strengthened. We hear of a number of attractive
performances about to be given, the first of which
will be Jullien's " British Army Quadrille"
by the splendid orchestra, the bands of the
Coldstream Guards, Grenadier Guards, and that
of the Hon. Artillery Company. A grand ball is
also in preparation for the English Volunteers,
which, if report is to be believed, will outshine
oven that given to the Belgians.

REFORM LEAGUE DEMONSTRATION IN

BYDE PARK.

The ordinary meeting of the Council of the Re-
form League was held last evening at the offices,
Adelphi-terrace,•Mr. E. Beales in the chair. The
chief business before the meeting was the consider-
ation of what action should be taken with respect
to the Parks Regulation Bill.
The CLIAIRMAN, having reviewed the debate on
Mr. Locke's amendment, said that the result of all
which had taken place was that the people, having
exhausted all other means of showing their opposi-
tion to, and indignation at, this outrageous attempt,
by passing the Parks Bill, to exclude the people
from meeting in the park ; having in vain shown
the utmost forbearance for months in abstaining
from insisting upon their rights, and having
ex-
pressed their readiness to assent to any reason-
able compromise, but all in vain, he (Mr. Beales)
could no longer ask the people to forbear fronl
manifesting their sense of thi intended wrong by
their going in larger numbers than ever to Hyde
Park to express that sense. All he asked was that
the people now, as before, would show, by their ad-
mirable conduct, by their lawful and constitutional
mode of proceeding, by not touching even the leaf of
a flower or disturbing a shrub, their immense mora
superiority over those who were now assuming, or
rather usurping, the power in a condemned Parlia-
ment to legislate for them.
Mr. Lucraft then moved, Mr. Merriman seconded,
' and it was agreed :
" That the Executive Council be requested to talc°
immediate steps for convening and rendering efiec"
live a meeting of the people in Hyde Park to pre-,
test against the Royal Parks Bill, as an invasion of
the rights of the people to use the public lands as
places of meeting for political objects, and to pro-
test against the so-called amendment of the lions°
of Lords upon the Reform Bill raising the figure for
the lodger franchise froth £lO to £15."

Seven o'clock was named for the meeting on Mon"
day, and it was decided that the different branch°
of the League should meet previously with bands
and banners. The following notice was ordered t°
be circulated by handbill and poster :
" Reform League.—' To your tents, oh !
—A monster meeting of the working men and other
inhabitants of the metropolis will be held in gYa
Park on Monday evening next, August 5, at
o'clock, under the presidency of the Reform League'
to express the public indignation at the Parks
hibition Bill, attempted to be passed through
expiring and self-condemned Parliament; by t't
enemies of all popular rights, and also to Potesb
against the attempt of the House of Lords to rn._
the lodger of his franchise. Please distribute tbeco
bills through every workshop, and induce as rna%
as possible to attend, to preserve to our children t`
rights handed down by our forefathers."

Lord Derby has signified to Mr. E. W. watkio9
11. P., the Queen's intention to confer upon him the digattl
of knighthood as an acknowledgment of his servieoBlllr
connection with the Intercolonial Railway. A
sim
honour is to be conferred on Mr. W. 11. Bodkin, assi6t3-t
judge of the Middlesex Sessions.
THE PALE OF THE CONSTITUTION.—It is a sing
11:
lar fact that Park-lane is being widened sinaultancou s,u6
with the British Constitution. By removing the Paill/ga
Hyde-park, the British workman got within the-pale, ae,
the aristocratic thoroughfare of Park-lane has been e.,.%
tended in the same degree as the suffrage, by the sa.o,,
means. It is to be hoped that this happy state of reelPi
cal advantage is symbolical of the harmonious
classes uttdcr Lord Derby's uffraze Act of 16671---
Mita.