The Sun.
London, England, 1857-02-06 00:00:00

,17--
-ila wu A ti,Y 7fr rag 11.410 t h

(free of Ineeme 'fox) has been declared,
leaving, after the subtraction of 5001. added to
the Provident Fund of the Bank for the bygone
year, a balance of 7,795/. 14g. 3,1. ! A highly
satisfactory result, it must be admitted, and,
taken in conjunction with the increase of capital
decided on, affording cinelusive proof of the caution
and forethought of the management. Though late
in the find with their Report owing to the nume-
rous country branches of the Bank, whose accounts
had to be duly inspected in order to make up the
general balance-sheet, the Director', it must be
confessed, have made up for the delay by a field-
day well calculated to inspire confidence in the suc-
cess of the Bank, whatever it along with others
' may have to encounter in the present year. The
tug of 1856, however, through which it has come
so triumphantly, is not likely to be equalled,
much less exceeded, by any in 1857, so that with-
out any drawback the shareholders may be con-
gratulated on their prospects.

PERSIA.

30th ult,

COURT CIRCULAR.

WINDSOR, FEB. 5.

Prince Albert and the Prince of Wales skated on the
ice in the Home-park yesterday afternoon, attended by
the gentlemen in Waiting. Several officers of the garri-
son had the honour to join their royal highnesses.
The Queen, accompanied by Princess Feodore of
Hoheulohe-Langenburg, and Princess Amelia of
Hohenlohe-Schillingfurst, and attended by the ladies
in waiting, was present.
The band of the let Life Guards played a selection
of favourite airs during the skating.
The fourth dramatic performance at the Castle took
plaoe this evening. Sbakspere's play, in five acts, of
" King Richard II.," was selected, and the parts were
filled according to the following programme :

KING RICHARD 11.
King Richard 11.
Edmund of Langley (Duke i Uncles }Mr. Cooper.
of York)
John of Gaunt (Duke of
King. I Ur. Walter Lacy.
Lancaster)
Henry, surnamed Bolingbroke (Duke)
of Hereford Leon to John of Gaunt, Mr. Ryder.
afterwards King Henry the Fourth)
Duke of Aumerle, son to the Duke
}Mr. Brazier.
of York
Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk Mr. J. F. Cathcart.
Duke of Surrey .
Earl of Salisbury , Mr. G. Everett.
Earl Berkley
Bushy (Mr. Rolleston.
Bagot }Creatures to King Richard{ Mr. Warren.
Green Mr. Barsby.
Earl of Northumberland
Henry Percy (his son)
Lord Ross
Lord Willoughby .. Mr. F. Cooke.
Bishop of Carlisle
Sir Pierce of Exton
Sir Stephen Scroop
First Gardener
Second Gardener
Groom Mr. Cormack.
Queen to Richard II Mrs. Chas. Kean.
Duchess of Gloucester
Duchess of York
Lady attending on the Queen Miss M. Daly.
Shortly after 8 o'clock her Majesty the Queen and the
Prince, with the Prince of Wales, the Princess Royal,
and the elder portion of the R iyal Family, and a large
number of the nobility, entered the theatre (St. George's
Hall), and the performance immediately commenced.

Sir Alexander Spearman had an interview with the
Chancellor of the Exchequer yesterday at his official re-
sidence in Downing-street.
The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council sat
yesterday. The appeal from the Prerogative Court,
"Bremer v. Freeman and Bremer," was continued.

Lord Panmure had a dinner party on Wednesday at
his ressdence in Bel rave-square. The company included
Sir Henry Storks, Mr. Bouverie, Col. Ramsay, Col.
Dundas, Mr. and Lady rizsbeth Duncan, Mr. and
Mrs. Ellice, and Captain Ramsay.
Lord Joh❑ Russell was at Nice at the time of the
King's visit, and his Maj ssty, Count Cavour, and other
Ital,an statesmen, have expressed themselves very much
pleased with his lordship's conversation.
Tae Earl of Hare wood was somewhat better yesterday.
His I,irdship, we regret to learn, is still in a very precari-
ous state.

Mr. Botfield has left the Clarendon for his seat

Shrophire.
General Prim has charged General ZAvala to defend
him before the military tribunal by which he is shortly
to be tried.

The Moniteur du Loiret pays that everything that
Verger wrote during his imprisonment has been burnt by
the authorities.
CHURCH RATES.—From Easter, 1853, to Easter, 1854,
465,000/, was received as church rate ; 448,0001. was
spent, and the sum borrowed was 313,0001.
The annual meeting of the Madras Railway Company
is cellsd for the 19th instant, and that of the East Indian
Iron Company for the 20th inst.
Major-General Sir W. F. Williams, Commandant of
Woolwich Garrison, having obtained have of absence,
Colonel Hardinge, K. 11., has succeeded temporarily to
the duties of the department.

Mr. Tom Taylor, whose " Still Waters Run Deep"
was so much admired at the last of Mr. Onley's theatrical
entertainments at the Old Wells, has written a new
drama, which is in the hands of Mr. Wigan, and will be
produced as soon as that gentleman can permanently re-
turn to the stage.—Cheltenham Paper.
Mr. A. Wigan contradicts a report that has reached
him in his sick roam—namely, that he, either actively or
permissively, sanctioned Mr. James Rogers' donation
to the .Lambeth police poor-box. " Had I been aware,"
he writes, "of that gentleman's intention, I should have
done all in my power to dissuade him from such an ex-
hibition of bad taste."
The Bank of England have intimated that they wil:
henceforth, in the case of such of their customers as keep
their drawing accounts exclusively with them, cease to
restrict their discount accommodation to bills not having
more than three months to run. Long bills will there-
fore be received from these parties in the same manner
as they are received by private bankers from their custo-
mers at such rates as the state of the market may from
time to time render expedient.
Mr. Joseph Ewart, M.P., will ask the First Lord of
the Treasury, this evening, whether it ie the intefitionlof
the government to make any recognition of the services
of Sir John M'Neill and Colonel Tulloch in the Crimea.
On going into committee on the army estimates, Mr.
Palk will move that the reports of Sir John M'Neill
and Ct lonel nabob; and of the Board of General Offi-
cers, be taken into consideration, and to move certain
resolutions.
A sale has been announced at the Commercial Sale

Rooms of some samples of new East India fibres imported
by the East India Company with the view of ascertaining
the adaptability of these products to supply the wants of
papermakers and others. The company some time back
instructed their officers at different stations to send
respectively a few tons of such fibres as their districts
might furnish, and it is Paid that some of those already
received are likely to prove of great value whenever they
shall be brought here in sufficient quantities to induce
manufacturers to arrange for the use of them.
A meeting is about to be held of persons interested in
engineering science in connexion with a proposal to esta-
blish a company for carrying out a patent of Messrs.
blethered Brothers, of Baltimore, for reducing the con-
sumption of fuel in steam-engines by mixing common
steam with superheated, either before or when it reaches
the cylinder. The saving is alleged to be more than 30
per cent., and a report made to the Admiralty has been
published, in which that result appears to have been
attained in a trial made some months back on board her
Majesty's steamer Dee.
An Auctioneers and Land Agents' Exchange has just
been formed in London to facilitate the transactions of
that branch of business by a perfect system of registra-
tion of properties for sale and investments wanted, as
well as to add to the standing of the persons engaged in
it by excluding from the advantages of the institution all
those who may have acted unprofessionally or forfeited
a character for respectability and probity. The members
must be either land agents, auctioneers, cr estate agents,
and they are to be subject to the rules and regulations
of the committee in a manner analogous to that at the
Stock Exchange.
EUROPEAN AND AMERICAN STEAM-SHIP COMPANY.—
SOUTHAMPTON, Thursday.—This day the formation of
this new company was celebrated by a splendid dejeuner
on board the Golden Fleece, to which 100 persons sat
down. The company has been foinned for the purpose
of establishing lines of steam-ships from Southampton to
the United States, the Brazils, and South America. The
company's ships comprise eight of the screw steam-ships
of the General Screw Company—viz , Calcutta, Argo,
Queen of the South, Lady Jocelyn, Hydaspes, Jason,
Golden Fleece, and Indiana. These ships, which ori-
ginally cost 700,0001., have been purchased for half that
sum, and the sole management of the company is vested
in Messrs. Croskey and Co., who have taken its direction
without any reward until a dividend of 6 per cent. shall
be paid to the shareholders.
GRAND DINNER GIVEN BY THE CHAIRMAN OF THE
METROPOLITAN BOARD OF WORKS.—The chairman of
the Metropolitan Board of Works gave his annual dinner
yesterday, at the Albion, to the Lord Mayer and Sheriff',
the metropolitan representatives in Parliament, and the
members of the Metropolitan Board of Works. The
rd
M.., the Right Hon. Lo
Right Hon. Sir B. Hall.
Robert Grosvenor, M.P., Sir John V. Shelley, M.P.,
Sir Charles Napier, M.P., Sir J. Duke, M.P., Montagu
Chambers,
Eq., M.P., Alderman Cubitt, M.P., A.
M.P., W. A. Wilkinson, Esq., M.P., and
Pellatt, Esq.,
Henry Pownall, Esq., chairman of the Middlesex magis-
trates, were among the guests present. About 70 gen-
tleman sat down to dinner.
THE PRIVY COUNCIL OFFICE AND THE SOCIETY OF
ARTS EXAMINATIONS.—The Lord President of her
Majesty's Privy Council having placed at the disposal
of the council of the society the privilege of nominating
two candidates as competitors in an examination recently
held by the civil service commissioners for clerkships in
the Privy Council Office, the council of the society re-
commended to his lordship Robert A bbot, of Leeds, and
William Matthew Taylor, of Windsor, both of whom
had distinguished themselves at the society examinations
in June last. The council have pleasure in announcing
that their candidates have been successful, standing first
and fourth on the list. There were 21 selected corapt
titors and five vacancies,

LATEST N E WS.

We have intelligence from Constantinople to the

Russia demands from Persia to occupy the pro-
vince of Mazanderan.

The Persian mountaineers have pillaged the rich
sanctuary of Meragha ; the garrison having
gone to Feroozabad to repress an insurrection.

The fortifications of Bushire have been recon-
structed by the English, who have left two regi-
ment, and marched up the Kaub to attack Moha-
mora, which commands both the province of Fars
and the road to Shiraz.

ALEXANDRIA, JAN. 24.
The English are about to occupy Mohanamrad
and Bender Ali, two towns on the Persian Gulf.
Bender-Abbaz, an important post on.the coast of
the kingdom of Persia, being occupied by the
Imaum of Muscat, an ally of the English, will, it
is supposed, be respected by the latter.

The Teheran Gazette, the official organ of the
Court of Persia, under date of the 26th of the
month of Raby-el-Thany, 1273 (24th of December,
1856) has the following on the capture of Bushiro
by the English :
" From the commencememt of the dispute be-
tween Persia and England it never was the inten-
tion of the Government of his Majesty the Shah to
break off friendly relations with the Cabinet of
London, or to excite hostilities against that Power.

" The Persian Government has at various times
manifested its good intentions in an official docu-
ment. It always had that object in view, on which
itohas based its line of conduct; which, moreover,
has been shown by its act 9.
" In fact, on the one hand it gave instructions to
its Ambassador and full powers to hold interviews
with the English Ambassador at Constantinople, to
settle the dispute in a manner conformable to the
dignity and interests of the two Governments.
Considering these intentions it had daily expected
to hear that the dispute had been honourably set-
tled between the Ambassadors, and friendly rela-
tions restored between the two Governments. On
the other hand, the Persian Government had
issued strict orders to the frontier authorities not
to commence hostilities against the English. For
these same reasons it had not made the necessary
preparations for the defence of the frontier and of
Bushire.

" There had always been two regiments stationed
in garrison at Bushire • that garrison was com-
manded by the Sartip Mahomet Ali-Khan,. who
died some time since, by the will of God, of a natu-
ral death. _ _ _

"It was after the death of the commander of the
garrison of Bushire that the commander of the
English troops in the Persian Gulf, without adher-
ing to the customary forms of sending the declara-
tion of war to the Representatives of the Court of
Persia, or at least of making the declaration to his
Highness Prince Febmassib-Mirza, Governor-Gene-
ral of the province of Fars, restricted himself to
writing a letter couched in vague terms, which he
sent to Bushire and to other ports in its vicinity ;
this letter was accompanied by a printed sheet on
the subject of the declaration of war of the East
India Company.
" On the morrow of that day the Commander in
question already landed his troops and seized upon
the fortress of Bahmani, which was defended only
by a handful of tufooktchi (men armed with guns)
of Tenguistan from thence he advanced on
Bushire, which be captured without striking a
blow, the Persian troops not having received the
order or the permission of his Majesty the Shah to
attack the English troops."