The Sun.
London, England, 1861-01-22 00:00:00

Each party, you see, is thus full of great hope,
There are some for the Devil and some for the Pope,
And I'm fur anything—but for a rope;
Which nobody can deny.

A BALLAD ON THE TAXES.
Good people, what will you of all be bereft—
Will you never learn wit while a penny is left?
You ar© all like the dog in the fable betray'd,
To let go the substance and snatch at the shade ;
-With specious pretences, and Foreign expenses,
We war for Religion, and waste all our chink,
'Tis nipt, and 'tis clipt, 'tis lent, and 'tis spent,
Till 'tis gone, 'tis gone to the Devil I think.
We pay for our new-born, we pay for our dead,
We pay if we're single, we pay if we're wed ;
To show that our merciful senate don't fail,
They begin at the head and tax down to the tail.
'We pay through the nose by subjecting foes,
Yet for all our expenses get nothing but blows;
At home we are cheated, abroad we're defeated,
But the end on't, the end on't—the Lord above knows !

AN IMPERIAL SKATING PARTY.

A Paris correspondent writes, under date of
Saturday evening :—" Last night I had the luck
to be present at a grand Court skating match by
torchlight. In Paris the streets were muddy ; it
was supposed a decided thaw bad set in, the ice on
the lake in the Bois de Boulogne was pronounced
unsafe--it was, as I ascertained myself, watery on
the surface, and not a soul was to be seen upon it.
But beyond the Longchamps race-course, and on
the banks of the Seine; near M. de Rothschild's
splendid villa, and just opposite Suresne, there is
a meadow studded with pretty clumps of high trees,
which was overflowed during the late floods, and
which, although the thermometer had risen to a
shade above zero, still presented a smooth coating
of solid ice, there being scarcely any water under-
neath. At this spot the Emperor, with as much
, secrecy as possible, had made a rendezvous for 10
o'clock at night. The great Godilot, undertaker of
public rejoicings, hung the branches of the trees
with hundreds of Chinese lanterns, and serving
men, as numerous as those peasants who erst walked
all night long up and down the ponds about the
Royal palaces to prevent thefrogs from waking the
Kings of France, promenaded the frozen meadow
with lanterns fixed on their beads. Besides this
constant illumination, there was an intermittent suc-
cession of Bengal fire and fizzing torches, whi ch
lighted up the scene al giorno. A body of men in
white blouses—a special ice police—formed a cordon
round the field of operations, and kept off those
who were uninvited, but the crowd of spectators,
though considerable, consisted mainly of the inhabi -
tants of St. Cloud, Suresne, and the neighbouring
villages. The population of Paris knew nothing
of the fete, and up to this hour neither the Illoniteur
nor any other journal has said a word about it. As
soon as the Emperor and the Court arrived the
sport commenced in very business-like style. The
Empress got into a sledge, and M. Hartogs, a Ger-
man gentleman, whose proficiency as a skater
attracted the Imperial notice two years ago and
who is now called at Court the Emperor's Aide-dc-
Camp de glace, had the honour of pushing her Ma-
jesty on the ice. He took her along at railroad
speed, and was out of sight of shore in less than a
minute. The Empersr then put on his skates, and
conducted the sledge of a lady whose name I could
not learn. The Countess de Morny, enveloped in
velvet and white furs, essayed her prowess, but
was supported by two gentlemen, who gave her a
hand on each side. The Princess Poniatowski
went alorp, very well by herself. In a short space
of time the ice was thickly studded with a host of
chamberlains, generals, aides-de-camps, and even
judges who had come with the Court party to join
in the fashionable amusement of the hour. The
notion of coming to skate in a thaw was highly ap-
proved, for the night was by no means cold. The
Emperor and Empress remained on the ice till half-
past 11. This afternoon, the frost in the meantime
having returned with considerable intensity, the
sport was resumed by the Imperial party at the
same spot. M. Hartogs gave the Empress a pro-
menade in a beautiful sledge, which was sent for
by telegraph from Germany, and only arrived
this morning. Afterwards her Majesty ventured
to skate, but only with the assistance of two
gentlemen. She is not at her ease upon the ice,
and, considering that she comes from sunny Spain,
this is not to be wondered at. The Emperor is a
very good skater. He does not attempt any tours
de force, but he is perfectly master of his move-
ments. His wont is to go along rather slowly, and
he stops frequently to contemplate the animated
scene around him. Not the least etiquette is ob-
served on the ice. No clear space is kept about the
Emperor or Empress. They go about just like any-
body else, and to-day, unlike last evening, every-
body without exception was allowed to skate at the
same time with them. The Emperor had nothing
whatever but his own adroitness to prevent him
from being knocked over by the first tyro in the
sport whose skates might run away with him. It
was an interesting sight to see the master of so
many legions, the mighty potentate upon whose
mysterious breath the fate of so many nations
hangs, slipping about unpretentiously on the ice,
no squire or even servant following him, and appa-
rently as much on an equality with the people
about him as a carter is with a ploughman on an
English farmyard pond. Once a young man, who
saw the Emperor skating slowly along the middle
of the lake steered almost indiscreetly close to him
and gave him the go by, with the evident intention
of getting credit with the spectators for being the
best skater. The Emperor then, without any ap-
parent effort, increased his speed, gracefully dis-
tanced his opponent by a few yards, and, contented
with his victory, resumed the steady pace which,
as I said before, he seems to affect. The frost is
severe to-night, and should it continue the rage for
skating will attain extraordinary proportions.
Happy the amateur who has a good pair of skates,
for the manufacturers cannot make them fast
enough. The lake in the Bois de Boulogne is
again in capital order.

RAILWAY AND OTHER BILLS IN
PARHAM-ENT.

Yesterday the examining barristers, Messrs.
Smith and Frere, declared the standing orders of
both Houses of Parliament complied with in the
following cases :
SOUTHAMPTON AND NETLEY RAILWAY.—For a
line between the London and South-Western, near
Southampton, to the Military Thspital at Netley,
at a cost of £480,000, with borrowing powers for
£16,000.

GREAT NORTHERN RAILWAY.—For an extension
between Doncaster and Wakefield.
SHREWSBURY, OSWESTRY, AND ELLESMERE
RAILWAY,—For a line from the Shrewsbury and
Chester, at Oswestry, to the Rednal station of the
Great Western, and thence to Ellesmere, at an
estimated cost of £BO,OOO, and power to borrow
£26,000.

LUDLOW AND GLEE HILL RAILWAY.—TO con-
struct a line between these points, and power to
use the Shrewsbury and Hereford, at an estimated
cost of £50,000.

GREAT WESTERN RAILWAY.—For a line from
Lightmoor to Coalbrookdale, and a branch at
Wednesbury, and other purposes, at an estimated
cost of £40,000.

The following bills for new railways were with-
drawn :—Greenwich and Woolwich Railway, Cork
and Fermoy Railway, Wolverhampton and Bridg-
north Railway, Southampton and Isle of Wight
Railway and Pier.

TB'S DAPS MARKETS.

HAY MARKETS.

SMITHFIELD.—Meadow hay, £2 Os to £5 lOs Od ; clover
do., 10s to £5 15s ; and straw, £1 lOs to £llBs per load.
A dull trade.
CUMBERLAND..-- Meadow hay, £2 Os
to
clover, £3 lOs toX,ssiod straw
s Od;annido:etraawoiis
per load. Both i,gy an
quotations. Iloiw°lBy£,tso at our
°
°1
;
WHITECHAPEL. Meadow hay, £2 Os to £5 10s Od ;
clover, £3 10s to £6 Os Od ; aud :traw, £1 lOs to £1 18
per load. A fair demand.

COLONIAL.
TEL—The market has been very steady, and prices kayo
shown no change of importance.
SUGAR.—A moderate amount of business has been trans-
acted in the better qualities, and late rates have been fully
maintained. In the refined market there has been a steady
demand for dried goods.
COFFEE.—OnIy a limited business has been transacted,
previous rates being obtained for good and fine descriptions
of Plantation Ceylon. The stocks on hand, compared with
those of the same period of last year, show a falling off of
about 200 tons.

RICE.—A few small parcels of East India have been sold
at about late quotations, but the market generally has re-
mained very inactive.

SALTPETRE.—No sales of importance have been recorded
and quotations are inactive.
TALLOW.—Moro activity has prevailed, with a fair
demand for consumption, and prices have tended xpwards.
P.Y.C. on the spot is quoted 60s. ; April to June delivery,
575. 6d. ; and last three months, 58s. 6d, to 58s. 9d. per
cwt,

THE FRENCH FLEET.—A letter from Toulon, o f
the 17th inst., says :—" Toulon bens to be Tory lively, in
consequence of the presence of a part of the squadron of
evolution. There are now eight steam ships of war in the
roads—the Donawerth, Algesiras, Eylau, Alexandre, Re-
doubtable, Tage, Saint Louis, and Imperial; two steam
frigates of the first class—the Foudre and the Gloire ; three
large paddle steamers—the Vauban, Gomer, and Cacique ;
three large steam transports—the Finistere, Aube, and
Sevre ; and four despatch boats—the Heine Hortense,
Caton, Requin, and Croiseur. These vessels forma fleet
Of 20, ready for service at the first signal; for in this list 15
not included several armed vessels under repairs or other-
' wise unfit for immediate service."