The Sun.
London, England, 1857-05-21 00:00:00

ITALY.

The Opinione of Turin, which is known for its
strong political feeling against Austria, has the
following in its number of the 18th :—" A few
days ago, at Padua, a party of students, who had
been merry-making in the country, and had, on
returning, assembled before the Cafe del Vittoria
on the Piazza del Signori, the usual resort of stu-
dents, were addressed in severe language by the
officer of the guard stationed there, who bid them
not make such a noise. Words ensued, and the
officer at length caused them to be charged with the
bayonet. Two students were wounded, and others
arrested, merely for having made some inoffensive
noise, without giving the slightest cause of um-
brage to the police." We must now wait to hoar
the account given of the affray by the other party.
A letter from Genoa of the 16th, in the Constittc
tionnel, says :

"Comrnandeur Boncompagni bas been sum-
moned to Turin by telegraph, and has left the lega-
tion at Florence in the call of the Count de Cavour.
It was at first mentioned that the reason of this
step was to send him to Bologna to congratulate
the Pope on his arrival. M. Boncompagni, how-
ever, would be ill-suited for such a mission, al it
was he who proposed the law on civil marriage,
which caused such displeasure to his holiness.
This consideration gives more probability to another
version—that of a reconciliation with Austria. It
was in his private interviews with the Grand Duke
of Tuscany that M. Boncompagni is said to have
given explanations relative to the rupture, expla-:
nations with which Leopold 11. is said to have
been so much struck as to have been induced to
open conciliatory negotiations with the Austrian
ambassador. Count de Buol is said to have found
the explanations transmitted to him by his envoy
worthy of attention, and it is after this exchange
of notes between Florence and Vienna that the
Count de Cavour is said to have sent for M. Bon-
compagni, in order to confer with him as to the
possibility of coming to a satisfactory conclusion."
The session of the Diet of the Grand Duchy of
Saxe Weimar was closed on the 16th by a speech
from the Minister of State, in the name of the
Grand Duke. •

SPAIN.
The following private te!egraphic despatch has
been received :

-
"MADRID, MAY 19.
" M. Lafragua, the Mexican Envoy, has had a second
conference with M. Pidel, Minister of Foreign Affairl.
but nothing has transpired as to the purport of it.
Marshal Narvaez has rectified a qe?ch he made in the
Senate. He declares that he never intended to accuse
any Ministry in particular with having been the CallB3
of the movement et 1854, as the fault was with all the
Ministries, including has nwn. This rectification pro-
duced a favourablelcupression on the Senate and on the
public mind." ,
The principal contents of the Madrid papers of
the 16th have been already given by telegraph,

A screw frigate of 34 guns, called the Petreniln,
had been launched at Carthrgena on the 13th, in
honour of the King's birth-day. Tile squadron
destined to ac', if necessaty, against Mexico, and
which carries a strong body of troops, had, after
repairing the damage sustained from bad weather,
sailed a second time from Cadiz for Cuba.

The Journal de Francfort contains a letter from
Giessen of the ]6th, announcing the death of
Count de Lehrbach, Grand Marshal of the Court
of Hesse Darmstadt, from the accidental discharge
of a carbine which he was about to try in firing 11'
a mark in a shooting ground. M. de Lehrbach
was Minister of War at Darmstadt from 1849 to
1854.

Prince Oscar of Sweden arrived at Lubeck cn
.
the 14th in the steamer Gauthiod of the Swedish
navy.

A letter from Stockholm, in the National Gazette'
says :—" The health of the King appears to be
nearly restored ; at least he presided yesterday 3t
the sitting of the Council of State. There wal
truth in the rumour that the Prince Rcyal wove
he charged with the direction of affairs during t""
King's indisposition. Tha Crown Prince is at riv
sent on a tour in Norway."

DEFALCATION OF AN INCOME TA,r

COLLECTOR.

On Monday evening a densely-crowded meetitig
of tradesmen and shipowners was held in the To0:0
ball, North Shields—the MAYOR in the chairA
take into consideration what measures should
adopted to resist the payment of a re-assessn36,l
income tax, which had been ordered to be made J 0
the Tynemouth district to make up a deficiency f
1,7001., arising through the defalcation of Thom
Briggs, t ,bacconist. The circumstances disclos'„,
during the meeting exhibit the imperative neces'i
llef
that there is for a complete revision of the mode ti
collecting assessed taxes in this country, 5.i0
also the red tape and circumlocution that are
be found in our public offices. Briggs was
:pr;
pointed with a Mr. J. Philipson, a draper, to toll
the asse tsed taxes in 1854-5. Philipson, however, ,
-3
fused to collect, at any rate he did not and
irr
avoided respensibility ; and Briggs gave no secb:lo
ties. Of this the parish was ignorant. Briggs' r
entrusted by the local commissioners with the le
dales, books, and receipts for the whole year. „ad
appears to have beenthen in difficulties. He bash
all the taxes he collected in his own name, and ba
appropriated 1,200/, of them to meet his: own deb:,
He continued to collect the tax unchecked, until be
found himself on the eve of bankruptcy, whe'itilt
took 1,9001. to the government disti ict collector, he
he refused to receive it on any other day than
he
oneit wasmade due, and not then except it was 4
whole sum to be collected. Briggs then trieutbe
bank it to the account of the government, bilt,6
banks refused it, and he ultimately handed it tolo ,
Kewney, a solicitor. Briggs then became 1330
rupt. As his affairs were passing through ty
court, his assignees heard of the money in 1,1
hands of Mr. Kewney, and demanded that it sh°4:
be paid into the estate ; and, as the law autliclv
those proceedings, 5001. of it was paid into,ly,
Bankruptcy Court, and the creditors realised bod
in the pound, Briggs receiving his maintenance
his law expenses out of this misappropriated nl° )i1
The 5001. and the 1,200/. of which he was origin
deficient, made up his defalcations to 1,7001.
has since recommenced business, and is 10. bi
trade in Shields. The committee reported t°
meeting that they had made several fruitless sPtti
cations to the Board of Inland Revenue Woe
press the re-assessment, but they denied that tL
had any jurisdiction, and referred them tc'tbel,
local commissioners, who informed them that
were acting upon instructions from the In
Revenue. There seemed but two alternative! sel,
to the ratepayers—repay the money for which
already held receipts, or fight it out in a coll!
law. A considerable sum was collected Ill,"
view to the latter course, and it was deter°
to urge the member (Mr. Lindsay) to bringra
subject before parliament ; for, notwithstac'd
that the parish had protested against it, thcrroi
sent collectors were allowed to collect the ce'veo
taxes without having given any security what%
A resolution was adopted praying parliament'
relieve the tradesmen of the country of the reed to
sibility of collecting the assessed taxes, 0460
appoint regular salaried officers, the same as "
engaged in collecting the municipal taxes.

LICENSED VICTUALLERS' Asyao

• cia'l
The anniversary of this very meritorious stli,,e
was held yesterday at Highbury-barn, when
was an attendance of the friends of the instituo
in number exceeding 600. The gentlemel3,o
supported the chairman Mr. T. Bass,
were Sir J. Duke, M.P., 'Mr. It. Hanbury,Js'o?
Mr. A. S. Ayrton, M.P., Mr.. Edwin 0 LI.
Q.C., and Messrs. E. Wigan, H. Wigs.
i
Nicholas, E. H. Keeting, H. Huggins, A.
J. Child, John Child, G. Smith, &c. TbeJom
ject of the society is to provide an O.7tY
i
for the aged, infirm, and decayed members ° t
trade. It is supported, among others, bf"
brewers, distillers and wine and spirit mere'',
and the asylumnow consists of 126 separatl
tations. The society has also erected a cllbeta
with a clergyman of the Church of England, 'pou
services are performed daily, and twice oil "04;
Sunday. There are at present 142 ini,l33tlte,'
Daring the period of 27 years the trade avuoro/
friends and connections have contributed uP,",
of 80,0001. to provide an asylum for t',oo
deption and comfort of the less fort j'Y
members of their particular calling.
dinner on the present occasion was ser.ve
eufi
by Mr. Hinton, the proprietor of the establislillg'
in a very liberal style, and the chairman (Alr'icel:t
proposed the usual loyal toasts in terms that
responded to by the company with the beiloo).;
enthusiasm. A report was read by Mr. '4. fecfei
Jones, the Secretary, which in substance ss"t
the facts above stated, and announced that
'
amount of the subscription during the
3,5651. The company was then addressed " :191
Edwin James, Mr. Ayiton, Mr. Hanbur4'gre",
other gentlemen, and after a very social and 1,1,
able meeting th© large assemblage broke
little parties, and availed themselves of the P,'ort
grounds that are attached to the building "
the remainder of the evening.,

THE SOUND DUES.

According to the treaty just concludeclijn'ie;
Denmark for the redemption of the Sound, 0,
the sum to_be paid by England is 1,125,206,;'0,rni'
aggregate from all countries will be 3, 89%54,
Great Britain being the first on the list, 'j,,tv
second, and Prussia third. All the other tetisisforh
insignificant, excepting those of Sweden
way and France. Subjoined are the State 000
have entered into the convention, and the 047
amounts they have engaged to contribute
Great Britain £1,125,2„0,6,
Austria 3,21"

Belgium
Bremen
France
Hamburg
Hanover
Lubeck
Mecklenburg
Norway
Oldenburg
Netherlands
Prus,,ia
Russia
Sweden

24,03
135,43,
11,890
13,71"
10,33‘,
41,51,'
74,15 v
156,451
1490
7

f
X3,385,13'0' c;
the remaining 500,0001. will comprise a Ou,'li ,
rePr's
small arnountsfrom countries which were 11°:
sented in the convention. The two largerorev,:t
among these will be America, 79,0001., and floe,.
56,0001. According to one article of the es-00;
the several Powers are to have the option (;',DOr',/
diately paying in full, or of spreading the "11013", i
went over 20 years in equal half•yeariy instal
with interest, which appears to be conteilljitli.93il
4 per cent. From the special arrangem
ent
to t " be :1;111
land, however, it seems that the sum is
" within three months after the requisite
he
have been passed by Parliament."
on d'
The collection of the Sound Dues cease-,, o )",
Ist of last month, and on the previous 11%reln"rje
morial was presented. to the Danish
for compensation to the 35 agency firms ',his 131'0'
who have hitherto devoted themselves t°,,,`
new. Acting between the Government 011:610';,
the shipowners and consignors liable tbr loth Page
their services have been of equal value t. 0 in "to
ties, and, en they went into the occupatro
_opt
Governoweboaw
belief that the title of the Danish
the dues being indefeasible and
would occur to affect their position, theirj, reoel
appears,hard, and will, it may be aEsurne'
favourable consideration perpetual nose 0,00

DEATH OF MR. ROBERT BURNS.
- -- Lb°
.. ........
------- 4. BOO" :of
oldest son of the ___Rober. woos'. ...
Poet, died at Dumfries ou 'b 6tber''
last. His decease was not usespected, bis tw° -11. /I°l
Colonel William Burns and Lieutenant-001one- baviil,
Barns, who era usually resident in Cbelten):%ul,,'vticiP;
both teen in Dumfries fur several days pae, 1 a c`'3se
Lion of the melancholy event. Mr. Robert Durl'd so 00;
man of very considerable ability, and P13:1 vari.oo
thing of hereditary talent in the production ° _ituall..o
songs. Early in life he entered a Government boa DP,
in London, from which he retired on a pensiol!fe 004
been resident for a number of years in his OW
Deceased was in his 77th year,