The Sun.
London, England, 1861-06-01 00:00:00

THE SUN LONDON, SATURDAY EVENING, JUNE 1, 1861.

bankment. That the Thames shall at length be
embanked the House of Commons has now, some
time since, positively decided. The Government is
pledged to it. The City of London, so far as its
active co-operation in the enterprise is concerned,
regards the notion of this grand design with com-
placency. The people of London have made their
minds up to it. The enterprise is already virtually,
in truth, so far as the general consent can in any way
ensure its eventual realisation, un fait accompli.
There is the Royal Commission, moreover, ap-
pointed hy the SOVEREIGN, at the instance of her
MAJESTY'S Government, to inquire into the whole,
hitherto problematic, question of aThamea Embank-
ment ab initio—a commission still sitting periodi-
cally, and now about, very soon we believe, to issue
the report of its proceedings. Until that report of
the Royal Commission upon the subject of the
Thames Embankment shall have been published,
and laid before Parliament, it must be obvious to
any- one that it is premature at this moment
for Parliament to adventure upon legislation
in this matter. Having waited so long, and
having at length witnessed the appointment
of this Commission of Inquiry, the first thing that
now remains for the Lords and Commons to do in
the matter is at any rate to wait until they can have
the benefit of these careful, systematic, and com-
prehensive investigations. The bill thrown out on
Tuesday was so little of a public measure, partook
so much of the character of a private enterprise,
that Mr. COWPER only described it literally when
he said it was simply " a proposal of a railway
company called the London, Chatham, and Dover
Company, to take possession of that embankment
and make a railway upon it." They proposed to get
their capital by shares, partly by taking £400,000
out of the funds of the Metropolitan Board of
Works, and the remainder from a vote of
Parliament. Nay, as an indication of the charac-
ter of the Bill, in its aspect as an undertaking set
on foot for the enrolment of a particular class of
individuals, the right hon. gentleman instanced the
clause upon which the last-mentiOned proposition
was embodied, quoting it as quite a curiosity in
its way, as follows :—" It shall be lawful for her
Majesty's Commissioners of Woods and Forests to
contribute, out of any money which Parliament
may vote for the purpose, and to apply such sum of
money as shall be sufficient to defray the expenses
of compensation." In other words, as the Chief
Commissioner of Public Works put it with toler-
able distinctness before the House, " The Govern-
ment was to buy the land, and give the company as
much as they wanted for their railway—a most
convenient mode of proceeding for the company ;
but certainly the House and the Executive Govern-
ment ought to have something to say in the mat-
ter." It will be allowed, surely, that Mr. CowPER
had good and valid reason for adding that " If this
clause were allowed to be passed, it might afterwards
be quoted against the House in a very injurious
manner"—and for moving, in consequence, as an
amendment, that the Bill be read " that day six
months" instead of instanter. There was doubtless
a great deal of truth, at the same time, in what was
said by Mr. AYRTON immediately after this as to
the advantage of combining in these public works
private enterprise, or rather the enterprise of inde-
pendent companies, with the responsibility of a
scheme carried out directly with Government aid
and under Government superintendence. It was
certainly a good case in point when the hon. gen-
tleman reminded the House that while Westminster
Bridge, under Government superintendence, had,
at an immense outlay for years past, been slowly
in course of construction, Victoria Bridge had been
built by a railway company at a cost of no more
than £95,000, and within an interval of only one
twelvemonth. Still, we want no railway company to
be picking and choosing its own ground upon what
must, at the best, turn out to be the somewhat re-
stricted breadth of these Thames Embankments.
As Lord FERMOY justly remarked on Tues-
day, the question of a Thames Embankment
is one of such considerable importance that it al-
most amounts to the character it does in one sense
really and truly amount to the dignity of a national
undertaking. The Government then must clearly
see in the very first instance that the public shall
get the lion's share of advantage in every way
from whatever scheme of embankment may even-
tually be adopted under the advice of the Royal
Commissioners. For the report of that commission
we are now looking in eager expectation—all the
more eagerly from the recollection that the session
is already so far advanced.

sriEz.lT "4'4
W

SERASEVO, MAY 31.
Omar Pasha arrived here to-day.

TURIN, MAY 31, EVENING.
In to-day's sitting of the Chamber of Deputies
several railway bills were laid on the table.
The Committee appointed by the Chamber to
examine the bill on the national armament pro-
posed by Garibaldi has unanimously agreed to the
organization of 220 battalions of National Guards,
to be composed of all men between 33 and 40
years of age.

ROME, MAY 30.
A Bourbon Committee, under a religious deno-
mination, has been formed here.
It is presided over by Count Trapani.

LISBON, MAY 27.

The School of the Sisters of Charity at A;juda
has been burnt down. The fire is supposed to have
been caused by accident.
The Cortes have been employed in discussing the
budget.
Viscount d'Athoguia, formerly Minister for
Foreign Affairs, is dead.
The body of Baron Forrester, who was acci-
dentally drowned on the 13th inst,, has been
recovered.

The prospects of the coming vintage continue to
be encouraging.
Exchange on London, three months, is quoted
531 ; Paris, 529; Amsterdam, 421 ; Hamburg, 48 ;
Genoa, 526; Rentes, 3 per cent., 47 ; Coupons,
471 ; Deferred, 391 ; Bank of Lisbon shares, 590 ;
Commercial and Mercantile Banks of Oporto, 260
milreis.

TURIN, MAY 31.
Count Cavour was taken ill yesterday, and was
thrice bled ; he is, however, better to-day.
The official Gazette of to-day says :—" The King
has withdrawn his exequator from the Consuls of
Bavaria, Wurtemburg, and Mecklenburg.
To-day the Military Convention agreed upon at
Wurzburg by all the second-class and smaller Ger-
man States, with the exception of Baden, was com-
municated to the Federal Diet. Baden made a
separate proposal to the effect that the supreme
command of the Federal army should be given to
the one or to the two Great Powers which should,
in case of war, join it with their whole military
forces.

The Diet agreed to-day to the proposals of the
Committee, in reference to a commercial code for
Germany.

SOUTHAMPTON, SATURDAY.

The Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation
Company's steama Alhambra has arrived here,
with the Peninsular mails, 34 passengers, and 1,170
packages of cargo, principally eggs, oranges, and
potatoes.

FRANCE.

PARIS, SATURDAY, TUNE 1.

The Moniteur publishes the Imperial decree
which extends the Session of the Legislative Body
to the 19th June inclusively.
BOURSE, May 31,--There has been but a very
limited amount of business doing, but prices show
little change from the closing prices of yesterday.
Threes for the Account are now at 69f 40c. The
reponse de primes (option) was made at 69f 45c.
Railway Shares quiet. The following were the
last quotations :-
4i per per Cents ... 96 50 Credit Fancier 990
Do. end month.... 96 501 Belgian 4i..
3 per Cents
Do. end month 69 401 Roman
Bank Shares . 2805 lAustrian
Credit Mobilier.... 707 501 Spanish Threes 5O 25
Do. Account 7OB 75 , Home Debt ..

RAILWAYS.
Cash. Account.
Orleans 1358 75 .. 1357 .55
Northern
New ditto 892 50 ..
Lyons and Mediterranean 930 .. 931 25
Geneva 415 .. 416 25
Southern
Western
Eastern
Sardinian
Austrian
Lorobard

2HE CAP OF GOOF) HOPE.

PLYMOU I H, FRIDAY NIGHT.

The steamer Cell, with the mail from the Cape of
Good Hope, arrived here this evening. She has
been detained by contrary winds. She left Table
Bay on the 25th ult., St. Helena on the 30th ult.,
and Ascension on the 4th inst. She brings 52 pas-
sengers.

Trade at the Cape was not brisk, being depressed
by the unfavourable intelligence of the prices of
wool and wine in England. The prospects for the
winter season were dull.

At Natal affairs were improving, and much spe-
culation was going on.

The mail steamer Cambrian arrived out on the 14th
ult. In working her way into port she went on the
rocks off Mouille Light, but got off the next morn-
ing without damage.

The works of the railway were progressing
rapidly. The line will be finished as far as Stellen-
bosch by the end of June.

The building of the Sanatorium had been stopped.
It was to be removed to Vancouver's Island.
Dr. Livingstone, Bishop Mackenzie, and the Rev.
Mr. Rowley had met, and gone up the Rowooma
River in the Pioneer.

The Parliament was to open on the 26th ultimo.
Government measures would be introduced for pro-
moting irrigation in the colony, and for the publica-
tion of colonial bankers' accounts. It was thought
likely that the separation question would be dis-
cussed more reasonably by the more thoughtful
among its advocates, but that a statement was not
probable this session.
Kreli's threatenings, with his large muster of
natives, were likely to end in smoke. As a counter
demonstration the governor was concentrating a
large force in the direction of Bashee.

In the free state there had been plenty of rain.
The pasturage was most luxuriant. Transvaal was
disturbed by some of its unruly citizens.

In Basutoland two of Moshesh's sons had had a
quarrel about the wife of one of them. The husband
was deliberately shot by the other.

The volunteer movement was progressing. A
grand review was about to be held.

The labour market was dull.

THE FREh CH TREATIES.

The Moniteur of yesterday contains several Im-
perial decrees.
An Imperial decree defers the closing of the Ses-
sion of the Legislative Body to the 19th of June.
Another Imperial decree promulgates the Con-
vention concluded on the 6th of April, 1861, be-
tween France and Russia, for the reciprocal gua-
rantee of the property of works of art and literature.
Another Imperial decree says :
" Considering the Treaty of Commerce concluded
with England on the 23d of January, 1860, and the
supplementary conventions of the 12th of October
and the 16th of November of the same year;
" Considering the Treaty of Commerce concluded
with Belgium on the Ist of May, 1860;

" We save decreed and decree as follows

" The ports of Dunkirk, Calais, Boulogne, Havre,
Rouen, Nantes, and Bordeaux, and the Custom-
houses of Lille Tourcoing, Valenciennes, Roubaix,
are open to the importation of cotton thread of No.
143 metrique and above, and long woollen thread,
twist, or grilles!'
Another decree enacts :

" Considering the treaty concluded on the Ist of
May, 1861, between France and Belgium, we have
decreed and decree as follows :
"Merchandise of Belgian origin and manufac-
ture inscribed in the treaty concluded on the Ist of
May, 1861, between France and Belgium, imported
otherwise than by land or by French or Belgian
vessels, will be subject to—
" 1. An additional duty of 25 centimes per 100
kilogrammes when such mercandise is enfranchised
from all import dues, or when the duty is under 3f.
per 100 kilogrammes.
" 2. To the additional duties decreed by Article
7 of the law of the 28th of April, 1816, when such
merchandise is subject to a duty of 3f. and above
per 100 kilogrammes."

Another decree says:
" Considering the 4th article of the supplemen-
tary Convention concluded on the 16th of Novem-
ber, 1860, between France and England ;
" Considering the 27th Article of the Treaty of
Commerce concluded on May 1, 1861, between
France and Belgium, we have decreed and decree :
Simple or mixed tissues taxed at their value canner.
u immortal c.xeept by the porn vr (3.1.10, nvulugue,
and Havre, and by the Custom-houses of Lille and
Valenciennes. The tissues in question must be for-
warded under seal (sous plomb), with a notice for
the Paris Custom-house (acquit-a•caution), with
alone will verify the merchandise and levy the
import dues."
Another decree enacts :

" The terms of the Treaty of Commerce con-
cluded on the Ist of May, 1861, between France and
Belgium, are applicable to England."