The Sun.
London, England, 1850-07-17 00:00:00

THE ISLAND OF CUBA.

PLYMOUTH, MONDAY.—By the steam-sloop Vixen,
6, Commander R. Jenner, which arrived here on
Saturday, having sailed from Havannah on the 14th
of June, it appears that outside that harbour she
passed two men-of-war, part of the fleet of twenty-
six Spanish vessels cruising round the island of Cuba.
The nearest of them, the frigate Esmeralda, beat to
quarters, as an act of discipline, on the approach of
an armed ship, and continued, pro forma, ready for
action, until the Vixen had passed.

•
The city of Havannah continues under martial law,
and from 5,000 to 6,000 militiamen are exercising
there daily. The place of descent, the Cardines,
selected by the recent American invaders, was the
most unfiivourahle for their enterprise; it is nearly
the only place were they were likely to be success-
fully resisted ; but the disaffected on the island state
that this descent is not to be the only one, as 500 ad-
venturers were at New Orleans perfectly ready to
make a second effort, and it is possible ere this that
they have left the American shores. They also state
that another 500 are at New York prepared to fol-
low the first detachment, and that nearly all the
western part of Cuba, with the exception of the city
of Havannah, is favourable to the invasion, and wil-

ling to assist them with money, &c., as soon as they
shall have affected a landing on the island.
The American squadron was expected daily.

THE ROYAL AGRICULTURAL

SOCIETY'S SHOW AT EXETER.

EXETER, MONDAY.—This year—the twelfth which
has been marked by one of the great rural festivals
annually got up by the Royal Agricultural Society
—that distinguished body have pitched their tent in
Exeter, and called upon the farmers of the far west,
of Devon, Somerset, and Dorset, to participate in
bucolic business and amusement ; and the summons
seems likely to be heartily and universally responded
to. Already Exeter is overflowing with fast-coming
guests. Already the announcements of numberless
extraneous attractions are glittering in many-hued
placards from every corner and wall. Already, in
fact, there is as much animation, as much bustle, ten
times as many flags, and twenty times as many tri-
umphal arches in any one of its gay and French-like
streets, as was exhibited last year throughout the
whole of the grey and venerable, though somewhat
mouldy, city of Norwich. I shall have other oppor-
tunities than in these few preliminary lines of sketching
a few of the picturesque and characteristic features of
the " ever faithful " city ; but I may say at once that
it is as gay and brilliant as numberless flags, devices,
arches, and floral and sylvan decorations can make it,
and that there is every appearance of settled, bright,
and sunny weather to light up the rural beauties of
the garden of England.
The usual routine of the society's operations have
been this year somewhat altered. The council dinner
at the last show was felt to be a most dismal failure,
and it will therefore be this year entirely dispensed
with ; one grand general banquet, to be held in the
pavilion, being substituted for the twin festivities of
yore. The other arrangements for the most part
hold good after the old fashion. The judges are busy
in the show yard receiving and arranging stock ; and
at six o'clock to-morrow evening, members of the
council and governors of the society will be admitted
to the implement yard. On Wednesday the public in
general share that privilege, and in the afternoon
the favoured few will be allowed to visit the cattle.
In the evening Professor Simmond's lectures on the
liver complaints of domesticated animals. On Thurs-
day the cattle and implement yards will both be
open, and the grand dinner will take place ; and on
Friday, after the usual meeting of members of the so-
ciety, who will assemble in the Guildhall, Mr. Tur-
ner and Sir Thomas Dyke Acland will receive and
explain to all agricultural corners the uses and con-
struction of certain " catch meadows" and ," water
meadows " at Barton and Killerton—places in the
vicinity of Exeter.

With this the business of the society closes.
The blank upon Wednesday evening will be filled
up by a grand ball in the pavilion, at which almost
all the county notabilities, the most distinguished
members of the society and their guests will be pre-
sent, and the occasion is expected to be a very gay
and a very brilliant one—even for Exeter. Besides
this ball there will be unnumbered minor entertain-
ments out-door and in. The Exeter Oratorio So-
ciety, assisted 'by some metropolitan celebrities, and
Miss Catherine Hayes, locally announced as the
" Prima donna of her Majesty's Theatre," will per-
form the Creation. Furthermore; there will be
divers horticultural shows, concerts, balloon ascents,
fireworks, and other devices, to add to the general
pleasures of the week.
A peculiar feature of the occasion, and one very
much deprecated, as I understand, by many of the
leading members of the society, is a dinner—a po-
litical and Protectionist dinner—to be given on
Friday, in a pavilion erected for the purpose, to no
less a person than Mr. F. G. Young, under the
presidency of Sir J. Yarde Buller. This enter-
tainment, although technically distinct from and un-
connected with the proceedings of the society, can
hardly he viewed in utter isolation from the latter.
It is said that the Duke of Richmond will be pre-
sent, and that many of the practical speakers of
Thursday will be the political haranguers of Friday.
Any event which would have the effect of mixing
up a purely agricultural society with party politics
is, in the opinion of the principal members of the
oyal Agricultural Society, much to be deplored,
and, accordingly, efforts—unsuccessful efforts, I re-
great to say—have been made by the heads of the
party to put an end to the convulsive caperings of the
tail.
As usual the good folks of the locality are doing
their best in the way of emptying the pockets of
visitors. The hotels have been engaged for weeks.
In some instances, the inmates of houses have let
them from the roof to the cellar to speculators, and
have gone away holiday-ising with the profits ; while
the general tariff of first-floor fronts and two-pair
backs is positively alarming. The delicate nerves of
the cab-owners and fly-drivers have received a terrible
shock from the sudden irruption of a caravan of
coaches, omnibuses, and vehicles of all descriptions,
from Birmingham and other 'cute northern towns, in
the plying whereof the local Jehus foresaw an awful
come-down in the scale of fares. However, they
raised a gallant cry of " Protection to local industry !"
with which they laid siege to the civic authorities,
and that so successfully, that the Warwickshire ad-
venturers, being absolutely refused the necessary li-
cences, were constrained to drive their vehicles home
again with fleas in their ears.
But if local industry was thus triumphant, native
industry received an alarming upset in the appear-
ance of M. Sayer, who is to provide and get up the
great Pavilion dinner ! All the purveyors of Exeter
flew to arms. What ! were they to be set aside—
native industry compelled to give way to foreign—a
Frenchman to set dainty dishes before the Dlarquis of
Downshire and a hungry assemblage of true British
farmers ! The sensation was almost revolutionary. It
was said that the agricultural interest was betrayed
once again. And when M. Soyer appeared in a pre-
liminary tour of observation, he saw nothing but
scowls in all the Faithful City. However, the Gas-
tronomic Regenerator is a diplomatist. He knew the

peculiar sort of soft words which turn away wrath ;
and, accordingly, when the Exeter tradespeople found
that the whole of the raw material was not to come
from London, or, still worse, from " foreign parts,"
but that M. Soyer was going from shop to shop pur-
chasing unheard-of quantities of beef, mutton, lamb,
and fowls, their virtuous indignation cooled consider-
ably ; and as furthermore the " Regenerator" gave,
according to a local paper, the "first price asked" for
all he bought, the popular estimate of his character
suddenly changed, and "the Frenchman at the Sub-
scription Rooms" is at this moment about the most
popular personage in Exeter, where he expects to
produce great effect upon the agricultural palate by
Pates ala Soyer and Salades a la Mayenese.
Much regret is expressed at the sad death of the
Duke of Cambridge, who was to have been present.
The French and American Ambassadors are, however,
expected ; and dwellers by the Exe are in great
hopes of being able to admire the swarthy visages
and diamond aigrets of their Highnesses of Nepaul.
EXETER, TUESDAY.—The preliminary proceedings at
the show-yard and the trial ground have been satistao-
torily got over, and this evening the implement depart-
ment will be thrown open to the favoured few who have
a prior right of entrée. The judges are now busy draw-
Ppnronveeimplee n,
ing up their award upon the array of rural engines and
implements exhibited—a collection which, if the popular
rumour is to be trusted, will display several novelties in
t inin manydetdetail,
aasneds
which
ch considerablewwill,
atall
ideevgerse
events,
,oin intro-
duce duce to the notice of
the farmers of the west a vast va-
riety of . agricultural machines
the wooded hills of Devon.
A great feature of this
year'sh exhibition is, how-
ever, the gay and file-like
c aracter which belongs
to it. At no other town which
of the society's operations have has been the scene
accompa-
nied by so many festal tokens they been
de-
corations as those with which andEcete holiday-like
The whole aspect of the place is that.
of is glittering.
a city tricked
out for some joyous national festival. A stranger
who wanders through its crowded streets,
the shade of scores of triumphal arches, anbeneath
the ehundredsnth
of waving bannorY, and floral wr, aths and mottoes, would
hardly believe that such festive rites were lavished upon
the meeting of a practical society, intent upon carrying
the relative merits of long horns and short horns, and
settling the precedence between scores of dibbling-ma-
chines, clod-erushers, and sub-soil ploughs. Such, how-
ever, is the case. Exeter has always been a holiday-
keppieg and enniversary-keeping city. The memory of
Guido
.Fawkes is greener upon each returuiog sth ef

77
~.12.1 1.1 1.1 .1.11 1.7 L A-1. JL

November upon the banks of the Exe than in any other
town of England, and accordingly it was not to be sup-
posed that the good people of the Faithful City were to
allow such an opportunity for festivity es the present to
pass by unimproved.
Many of your readers may be acquainted with the
general features of Exeter—with its picturesque situa-
tion—climbing to the tops of partially-wooded hills—
diving down and nestling in green and orchard-
sprinkled ravines—glorious trees of vast boll and fur-
thest spreading foliage, ever and anon rising over the
white walls of ranges of villa-like crescents and rows.
or amid the quaint, steep roofs, and high-peaked
gavels, which mark the older portion of the town.
They will remember the brightly painted houses, the
steep, cicala, narrow streets, at every half-dozen steps
permitting a bird's-eye glance over patches of purely
rural scenery beyond the city walls--the green slope of
cornfield and meadow—or the swelling and wooden ridges
of the irregular chain of hills which girdle in the town.
In no locality of England, not a marine watering-place
or inland spa, does there exist so great a proportion of
suburban streets, squares, and crescents, inhabited by
the upper classes of society as in Exeter; and the general
appearance of a large portion of the city, composed as it
is of pleasant villa residences, of en embowered in trees
and always gay with garden and shrubbery ground, is as
agreeable as it is characteristic. Horticultural establish-
m' nts and nurseries also abound. Upon every wall in the
suburban prtion of the town flowers and creeping shrubs
bloom with all the proverbial luxuriance of Devonshire
vegetation, while the eye is still further refreshed by
plunging into the cool greenery of the luxuriant orchards
and coppice woods which are every now and then to be
found nestling down in snug ravines. the steepness of the
slopes of which have preserved them from the operations of
the builder. I have said that the display of arches, banners,
mottoes, floral decorations, and so forth, is quite un-
exampled. One wonders where all the gaily hued
bunting and emblazoned calico came from. Throughout
the principal streets—High-street, Fore-street, Queen--
st St. Sidwell's, and many others—there flutters a
flagreeftCom almost every window. Huge slowly waving
banners are stretched from roof to roof; numerous
transparencies rivet crowds of gazers; floral emblems
and devices, with suitable mottoes, abound at every
the ensigns of all manner of trades, guilds, and
societies, stretch forth their quaint blazonries,
benefit corner;
amid union jacks, royal standards, tri-colours, and stars
and stripes; while whole forests of evergreens, of laurel,
and of bay, appear to have mysteriously sprouted from
the walls. In Queen-street, near its junction with the
High-street, where the new and handsome post-office
and market-place stand, a double row of young firs have
been planted by either kerb-stone, and many of the
arches—which, by the way, are tastefully built, in
various and varying fashions—are provided with rows
and clusters of coloured lamps, which glimmer gaily
every evening from amid the wreaths of ivy, of laurel,
and of bay. Last night the streets were crowded until
a late hour with promenaders, enjoying what was
by courtesy called the cool of the evening, but which
was only a few degrees less intolerable in its sultry
closeness than the full glare of the mid-day sun.
The spot selected for the show ground lies about
three-quarters of a mile from the cathedral, near the
suburb of Mount Radford, and just clear of the strag-
gling lines of rose-clustered villas. In arrangement the
structure is precisely similar to those which have been
year after year, upon similar occasions, described in
these columns. It stands upon the summit of a rising
ground, the long lines of plain woodwork here and
there embowered by shady trees. The place is ap-
proached in several ways from the city, and in every
available nook and corner along these roads—the usual
followers of such exhibitions—the settlers and showmen,
caravan men, and knock-'em-down men, have pitched
their tents. In a field skirting the great centre of at-
traction quite a town of booths has sprung up. The
weather is certainly procreative of thirst, and here-
abouts the means of quenching it have been provided
in the most bountiful abundance—goodly casks of malt
of all qualities and flavour—tubs of the native beverage,
hard Devonshire cider, suspicious stuff for a stranger
unless duly qualified—all manner of pleasant potables,
indeed, down to teetotal lemonade, stone-bottled
ginger-pop, and sherbert, "as drunk by the Shaw
of Persia," are heaped in vast profusion be-
neath the canopies of large and small mar-
quees. Caravans, of course, abound in all their native
yellowness, stored with no end of fat girls, white-haired
ladies, anacondas, learned pigs, and the usual wonders
of peripatetic museums. Besides these, there are
sparring-booths, skittle-booths, equestrian booths; and
one handsome tent is occupied by their diminutive ma-
jesties the Bcejesmen, who happen to be at present in
this part of the world.
From inquiries which I have made, I have reason to
believe that in no material point will the show fall be-
neath the level of any of its predecessors. The list of
implements to be exhibited is a very long one, although
one or two of the usual contributors to this part of the
exhibition, including Messrs. Ransom, of Ipswich, do
not this year appear in the field. The steam plough
appears to attract a great deal of local attention; and
the portable farm railway, an invention originally sug-
gested by a Mr. Thomas Grey, long a resident in Exeter,
is another of the implements most generally talked about.
Of course in most respects the majority of the implements
exhibited will be closely akin to those which we de-
scribed last year at Norwich, and the year before that at
York; but, as has been already mentioned, it is under-
stood that in very many cases the present show will ex-
hibit various ingenious improvements in detail.
In the live-stock department the exhibition of North
Devon% is looked forward to with great anticipation, it
being confidently expected that the display of those ani-
mals will be by far the finest ever seen—a consummation
which indeed we have a right to expect in the native
place of the breed. The urban reader may be perhaps
profi• ably reminded that the North Devon cattle are a
small.sized breed honourably distinguished by smallness
of bone, closeness of grain of the flesh, and a great apti-
tude for quick fattening. Two short-horns will upon the
average weigh three Devons, but then the same extent of
land which will keep one of the former will provide food
for two of the latter. To Mr. Quartly, a name well knee n
in agricultural annals, belongs the merits of having, by
skilful beeeding, elevated the North Devon class of ani-
mals from a mere local variety to a high place among our
national classes of cattle. The Herefords are expected to
muster strongly, and in fine case, but the short-horns will
not be so numerous as at former shows. As to sheep,
the exhibition is expected to be about an average one.
The Leicesters will be in great force, and the Devonshire
farmers are on the qui vine for the Southdowns, a breed
little known in this part of the world. In this de-
partment the Duke of Richmond, Mr. Shelly, and Mr.
Fisher Hobbs are as usual the high contending parties.
The pigs will not be so numerous as on some former
occasions, but to make up fur this we learn that the dis-
play of horses will be most magnificent. These animals
have arrived in great numbers from all parts of the
country, and amongst them, the stout Suffolk punches
are expected to come out peculiarly strong.
The oratorio takes place this evening, and a goodly
muster is expected. The ball in the great pavilion comes
off tee-morrow night. A new and excellent feature in the
given to some 600 or 700
of
proceedings will characterize Friday. This is no less
thatnbeamgrnaettudietosuersvng
dinner to
ofla Exeter in the pavilion!.
e
Each member of the local committee will be furnished
with a suitable number of tickets for distribution, and
no doubt ample remnants of the splendid dinner which
M. Soyer is getting up will thus be done due justice to.
But the active mind of the " Regenerator" has been plot-
ting still further novelties. After the supplemental enter-
tainment upon Friday, he proposes to have the tables
cleared away and a stage erected for a grand assaut d' arms,
in which M. Leon de Gillemaud and some of the crack
London fencers will exhibit. A sprinkling
dissolving views, and a of the High-
landers who contended at the Hollaud-park fete are also
expected down, and there are furthermore to be trans-
parencies, gay display of flori-
cultural specimens from the far-rained Exeter nurseries,
these various attractions enhanced by the performance'
of a brilliant musical programme. The admission to this
melange of entertainment will be 35., and the products
will be devoted to the various local charities;
se that
altogether the Exeter folk will find the employment of
foreign industry in the getting up of the Pavilion Dinner
a somewhat bettor speculation than native could have
been.

The town is not as yet quite so full as it was ex-
pected to have been, and the speculators in lodgings are
consulting as to the propriety of descending from the
remarkably high horses which they rode at such a rate
yesterday.
The Marquis of Downshire (the president) arrived
on Sunday night. Lord Leicester came down yester-
day. The local landlords and M.P.'s, most of whom
entertain parties of guests, are at their respective seats;
and a distinguished party from town is expected by this
afternoon's train.