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

SADLEA'S IVFLI,S THEATRE.

Last evening Mr. Buckstone cz'anenced a short en-
gaLement at this thea•re, now under the management of
Mr. G. Webster. The piece selected was the capital
comely cf " Mari-d Life," in which Mr. Buckstone
sustained his original part of Mr. Henry Dove. The
audience were delighted at the acting of the lessee of
" the little theatre in the Haymarket," and at the fall of
the curtain Mr. Buckstone had to make his bow amidst
the enthusiastic applause of the audience. The engage-
ment of Mr. Buckstone promises to be the greatest
" bit" of the management. A new version of "La
Dame de St. Tropez," by Mr. Edmund Faulconer, was
also produced, the author taking the principal part. Mr.
Faulconer has much to learn before he can take his
position among our leading actors. The house was well
attended.

CITY OF LONDON THEATRE.

BEN LIEL, OR THE SON OF NIGHT.

This drama, adapted from the French by Mr. Wm.
Travers, was produced at this theatre on Monday night
with great success. Mr. Travers, well known as an
artiste of considerable merit, has been before the public
.n one or two occasions as a dramatic author, and with
!air success. The plot is rather intricate, and turns
upon toe changing of two children, by which one be-
comes an outcast, the other a duke. There are some
startling and novel scenic effects in the piece, upon which
Messrs. Johnson and Nelson Lee have spared no ex-
pense. Mr. Charl•s Pitt impersonates the hero with
considerable effect ; Messrs. Harmer and Beaumont.
Hughes, two villains of good birth, with great skill ;
and Mr. W. Searle, a pirate chief, with great force.
Mrs. Campbell is rather too weighty and earnest in an
already heavy character. Miss Clifton is chaste and
earnest as the Lady Julia (mother of the hero). Mrs.
Lindon, as the her .ins, was truthful and ladylike ;
with no pointoraking, she succeeded in making wonder-
ful way with the audience. The subordinate character,
were unusually well filled in. The piece may be judi-
ciously curtailed, but is extremely well dramatised in
its incidents. Mr. Travers received a call after the
second act, and responded to another at the conclusion
of the piece. All the principa characters were recalled.
The house was well filled,..and the audience very
attentive.

MADEMOISELLE CATHERINE HAYES.

SONNET.

0 toi ! des connoisseurs defendue, applandie,
Lorsque le mauvais gout resprit de travers,
Servant, a son insu, la riosidieuse envi.,
I)63igrait cette roil qu'acclame ruuivers !
Muse des borda riants de la cite aerie !

Pr6tresse d'A.p)llon en tent de lieux divers,
Toi ! qu'houore toujours la clas,ique It tlie,
Daigne agree.r encor l'hommage de mes vers.
Salut a to Norma, a Lammermoor si belle,
Animant, emouirant l'ame la plus rebelle,
Electrisant I'esprit en (le thirant le ccear ;
Ton triomphe est complet : an lieu de to naissance
Pour toi le vieux proverba est futile et menteur ;
Touty est Is tes piedsjusqu a la medisauce.
P. LOMB DUMOULIN.

Limerick, 30th April, 1857.

THE "UAGENT" OF THE ADMIRUTY

The following letters have been addressed to the
Editor of the Times :

Sir,—To my astonishment I see in the Times this
morning, under the head of " Naval and Military Intel-
ligence," that the last voyage of her Majesty's new steam
troopship Urgent to Barbad,.es, with the 49th Regiment
on b.,ard, is characterised as " a good passage from Spit-
head."

She left that port on the 28th of February, sprang a
dangerous leak to the middle of the Bsy of Biscay, put
into Corunna on the 3d 'March in a half--.inkiog state,
and would certainly have foundered, but for calm
weather, and the daring act of an assistant-engineer, who
repeatedly, at the risk of his life, set free the valves of
the engine pumps at a time when the water bad risen to
within a few inches of the fires, and when the deck
pumps were found totally in-ufficient, though worked
for hours. In case of extremity her boats would not
have held one-third of the number of the men on boar.l.

She put into Madeiraon the 9ch, took up her acre., n
the trades, put her screw down agatu when the trades
fell light, broke some of the engine gear almost immedi-
ately after, took 24 hours to repair, tried again, and
snapped again. Finally went into Carlisle-bay under
sail on the 27th of March.

If this be " a good passage from Spithead," I should
be glad tt, know what an indifferent one would be like.
As the vessel was " hourly expected at Spithead," there
will, I presume, unless she again disappoint her friemls,
be an immediate opportunity for some one on board to
give a complete overhauling to the statement of
Your obedient servant on the
London, May 4. LOOK OUT.

Sir,—Perhaps you may think the enclosed account
of the last trip of the Urgent, with the 49th Regi-
ment on board, wor',;hy of insertion, It is from one
of the officers of the regiment.
I remain, he.,
R. FANSIIAWL
Dagenham, Essex, May 3.

"Barbadoes, Apr:l 6.

. .
"I shall give you an account of our chapter of acci-
dents from the time we left Portsmouth. For the first
two days all went on very well, arid we were looking for-
ward to a quick passa:le ; on the third morning the Cap-
tain reported to the Colonel that there were 8 feet of
water in the hold, and that the pumps would not work.
We then set about clearing all the heat= and getting
ready a raft, as the boats would only h ld 300 men, and we
had 800 on board. Fortunatelw, after much trouble, we
got the pumps to work before the fires were put ()lit by
the water, which had risen to within a few inches of the
st kehole. At this time we were 98 miles from Corunna,
which was the nearest port. The ship's head was im-
mediately put r iund, and all the pumps being manned
we set heartily to work, as you may suppose. The sea
was quite smooth, so we managed to get into port next
morning. After icy° days we again started, and retched
Madeira without accident. After leaving Madeira alt
went very well for two or three days, when one night
about 12 o'clock the engines broke down and we had to
sail. After a few days they were set to work again, but
after wor ing very uneasily for a few hours th. y stopped
again. Tne screw bad worked a large piece of ir.,n from
one of the plates at the ship's stern. After this we did
not attempt to screw, se sailed in, after a month at sea,
thik whole of which time we had 30 men working at the
pumps, she took in so much watr."

Sir,— In your paper of yesterday there is the fol-
lowing statement under the head of "Military and
Naval Intelligence :
" Tbel Adventure and Assistance iron steam troop-
ships, fitting out at Portsmouth dockyard fir the
conveyance of troops and stores to China, will not be
ready to embark them for a week or so. As the vessels
are children of the same parentage as the Transit it it
possible her fate may stimulate 'the powers that be'
to make them worthy of the pennant."
Your correspondent has been misinformed in saying;
that the Adveetura and Assistance are of th 3 same
parentage as the Transit.
The Transit, Urgent, and Perseverance were built
by Messrs. Mare and Co., of Blackwell, and sold to
tne Admiralty. The Adventure (formerly called the
Resolute) and the Assistance were built by me and sold
to the Admiralty in January 1855.
The difficulty of getting suitanle officers and engineers
for vessels of this class early in 1855 was so great that the
Admiralty requested me to enter into an arrangement
with them in Match of that year to manage these two
vessels for them as transports. I engaged to do so, and
had the appointment of captains and officer 4, and the
entire control of workin4 the vessels from that time
until they were paid off at Portsmouth in September,
1856.

During the time they were under my management
they were engaged as infantry and cavalry trangport-i in
the Mediterranean and Black Sen, and the Adventure
also made a voyage to Quebec. That they gave entire
satisfaction to the naval and military authorities is shown
by official documents in my possession, and I believe no
transports, either private or belonging to the Admiralty,
did their work better.
There is therefore every reason for supposing that
those two vessels will continue as serviceable as before if
properly managed and no alterations made tending to
destroy the effieieney.--I am, sir, your obedient ser-
vant, JOHN LAIRD.
Birkenhead Ironworks, Birkenhead, May 2.

Ma. FLEXUORE'S BENEFIT.—The most celebrated of
English Pantimitnists takes his benefit at the Surrey
Theatre to-morrow evening, Wednesday, the 6th inst.,
when he is to be supported by an extraordinary array
of tal.nt, embracing the names of Madlie. Auriol ;
Barnes, the famed pantaloon ; Charles Sloman, Mack-
neg. and several like celebrities. Mr. Creswiok, and
Mra. R. Honner, will appear in the "Rent Day;" and a
new comic ballet, by Fltaill.ife. is to follow, succeeded
by scenes from the recent highly successful Pantomime
at Drury-lane, "See Saw Margery Daw." A 9 a matter
of course the house will be fully and fashionably at-
tended.

LATEST NEWS.

TURIN, MONDAY.

We have just recived a report of the speeches
and resolutions of the meeting which was lately
held at Glasgow, to promote the liberation of Italy
from the oppression of foreign soldiers. An allusion
which was to-day made to it produced the best
effect in the Chamber of Deputies.

According to advices received from Berlin, yes-
terday, Prince Napoleon is expected there from ,he
6th to the 10th of this month, thus returning tlm
visit of Prince Frederick William to Paris. The
Queen of Prussia has postponed her journey to
Dresden.

MEXICO AND SPAIN.
MEXICO, MARCH 30.
The preliminary proceedings in the ease of the
Spanish assassinations have terminated.
It is proved that the sons of Genetal Alvarez
were the instigators of the crimo.
_ _

If an execu-don should taw placo, of which there
is reason to d ,übt on account of the weakness ot
the Government, the intelligence will be forwarded
to 114vana, in order to prevent the arrival ot the
Spanish fleet.
_

Oa the other hand, the British Charge d'Affaires
has communicated a note from his Government,
which allows nine days to bring M. Degallado be-
fore the Tribunals ; failing which, the Minister will
retire, together with the members of his legation.

FRANCE.
Our letter from Paris, dated yesterday evening,
had not arrived when we went to press.

AUSTRIA.
VIENNA, MAY 2-
Reliable information was yesterday received from
Jassy that the agitation In favour of the Union is
not to the taste of the Moldavian nation. A pri-
vate letter from Jassy, of the 25th of April, con-
tains the following information.

On his arrival at Jassy on the 20th of April the
Austrian CommiSsary was received with great
ceremony by the Moldavina Government, and
two days later the Unionists male a demonstra-
tion in favour of the Representative of Sardinia.
On crossing the frontier at Fokschani the Austrian
Commissary was met by a guard of honour, which
escorted him to Jassy. When at a distance of some
six or seven miles from the capital, the Governor of
the district pi esented himself to M. von Lieman, and
welcomed him in the name of the Kaimaikan' to
Moldavia. On entering the city he was received by
a deputation of Boyards, which accompanied him to
a palace belonging to Prince Ghika; that had been
placed at his dispos il. Within half-an-hour from the
time of the arrival of the Austrian diplomatist, he
had received the -visit from the Kaimakan. As the
Cotiservatives had had things entirely in.t heir own
way' on the 20th, tne Radicals resolved to make a
counter,demoAtration on the 22d. A number of
men, carrying-'flags and weering foreign colours
marched in frolit of the carriage in which sat the
Sardinian ComtniSsioner, and a vast crowd accom-
panied .him to his lodgings. Having shouted
" Vivat !" in honour of the Turin diplomatist until
they were tiled, the mob paid a visit to the houses
inhabited by the Moldavian Ministers Katargi and
Istratti, and roared ‘• Pereat !" with such hearty
goodwill that some of the Jassy fashionables got
nervous and fancied that the peace of the city
was about to be disturbed. A flag-bearer—a
foreigner was arrested in the street, and another
individual was seized in their barracks by the
gendarmes, " for offering to give them money and
union manifestoes." On the 24th April, wen
the Prussian Commissary made his entry, every-
thing was qu'et The Moldavian Government re-
ceived Safvet Effi-ndi, the Turkish Commissary,
with great pomp and ceremony.
Yesterday the Emperor signed the " Currency
Convention." Baron Krauss, the ex-Minister of
Finances, who is now a member of the Council of
the Empire, strongly objected to the ratification of
the convention, and it is whispered that he was
supported by every one of his colleagues.