The Sun.
London, England, 1859-12-27 00:00:00

ASTLEY'S ROYAT, AMPHITHEATRE,
Westminster-road.

Sole Lessee—Mr. William Cooke, his Farewell Season.
Great Attraction for the Holidays. The new bombastic
hippodramatic, operatic Pantomime, abounding in comicality,
called HARLEQUIN TOM MOODY ; or, Old Towler the
Huntsman and the Goddess Diana, with :songs by Miss
Esther Jacobs.—Gorgeous and Dazzling mechanical transfor-
mation scene. Harlequin, M. Richarde ; Pantaloon, Mr. P.
Abbot, Columbine, Maddle. Mazzoni ; Clown, Mr. Hilde-
brand ; a family of Sprites by the Elastic Incomprehensibles.
Scenes in the Circle by the Star Riders of the World. Three
Morning performances of the Pantomime, and Scenes in the
Circle, on Monday and Saturday, Dec. 26 and 31, and Monday
Jan. e, 1860, at Two o'clock each day.

CANTERB UR Y HALL CONCERTS.-
EVERY EVENLNG. Sterndale Bennett's MAY

QUEEN.
And a Grand Se ection from Meyerbeer's new opera of
DINORAH.

- - ---
Comio Vocalists -Messrs. George Hodson (the Irish Come-
dian and Mimic), W. T. Critchfield, and E. W. Mackney.
Several interesting Pictures are added to the Fine Arts
Gallery. The suite of Halls have been re-decorated and
beautified, and constitute one of the most unique and brilliant
sights of the metropolis.
ROSA RONHEITR'S celebrated PICTURE of the HORSE
FAIR is now added to the already magnificent Collection of
Paintings in the Canterbury Hall Fine Arts Gallery. The
gallery is open *um 5 till 11 on Sunday Evening.

THE WEATHER.—Strx OFFICE, DEC. 27.
THERMOMETER, IN THE SHADE.
47—highest since noon yesterday.
40—lowest this morning and during the night.
47—this day at noon.
BAROMETER-29.35—a rise of three-quarters of an inch
since yesterday.
WIND. South-Westerly; moderafe,:with fine weather.")

HIGH WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE.
THIS DAY.—Morning, 3h. 44m.—Afternoon, 4h. 2m.
To-3fon.now.-Morning, 4h. 19m.—Afternoon, 4h. 36m.

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THE SUN.
LONDON, TUESDAY, DEC. 27, 1859.

AS a matter of course there will be laid upon
the table of both Houses, almost immediately after
the re-assembling of Parliament, authentic returns
of the different corps of Rifle Volunteers formed
throughout the United Kingdom, and of the num-
ber of those who have spontaneously and patrioti-
cally responded to the trumpet-call of this great
national enrolment. The Earl GREY, in his ad-
mirably telling speech on Friday last, down at
Newcastle-upon-Tyne, rather underrated than
over-stated the aggregate numerical strength
already attained by these corps, when he
observed, " I hope that we shall soon be
able to reckon upon the services of 50,000
men—l should be glad if it were even double that
number—but, at all events, upon the services of
50,000 men, well drilled, and well taught in the
use of that formidable weapon, the rifle, ready at a
moment's notice to come forward in the defence of
our common country." There is no reason whatever,
indeed, that the aggregate number of rifle volun-
teers should stop at 100,000, or even at 200,000.
Let it be borne in mind that the total of the adult
male population of these i.,lands may be taken at
very little short of 10,000,000 ; and then say whe-
ther a National Guard selected out of the youth and
strength, the vigour and energy of that grand
total need be regarded by necessity as having
reached its maximum at 50,000, at 100,000, at
200,000 ! Extraordinary as the advance has already
been in this grand onward movement, it has even
now—only commenced. If by this time we have,
according to Earl GREY'S notion, already closely ap-
proximated to an aggregate of 50,000, it will take
but a comparatively brief while longer to have that
total doubled, trebled, quadrupled. Let this
work of enrolling but proceed as it has hitherto
been proceeding, and England will speedily have
a National Guard worthy of the designation.
Worthy of it, in the first instance, by its numerical
importance—worthy of it afterwards by its skill
in the use of the deadly weapon which yields it the
very title distinctive of its armament.

Among all the numerous commentaries upon the
Rifle Corps movement that have recently appeared,
not one has been more clearly or more admirably
explanatory of its character than that from which
we have already quoted, the address delivered on
Friday by Earl GREY to the local volunteers (800
strong) down at Newcastle-on-Tyne. There is
only one previous comment upon the movement
that we conceive, indeed, to be in any way worthy
of comparison with it. We mean the impressive
harangue not long since delivered by Mr. ALEX.
KINGLIKE to his constituents at Bridgewater.
But, then, Mr. KINGLIKE'S speech was
a comprehensive political oration addressed
to those constituents in his capacity as
their thrice-elected representative—his remarks
only referring incidentally to the significance of this
enrolment of Rifle Volunteers. Whereas the
address delivered by Earl GREY, on Friday, was
exclusively directed to a consideration of that one
vitally important topic. It was an address, as we
have taken occasion to observe before, delivered to
the assembled members of the Volunteer Rifle