The Sun.
London, England, 1850-07-02 00:00:00

RUSSIA.

It is said that the Emperor NICHOLAS intends on
;he Ist of December to abdicate, in favour of his son
;he Grand Duke ALEXANDER.

ITALY.

Accounts from Turin, of the 26th ult., state that
the Committee of the Chamber of, Deputies, on the
Bill empowering the Government to contract a ne►a
loan of 100 millions of francs, by the emission of 6
millions of I?entes, has given in its report. The re-
port is favourable to the measure. The Concordia
says chat the favourable character of the report is a
circumstance of greater importance than it at first
appears, because it shows that the Gauche has given
the measure its support. The Church party had
strongly opposed the Bill, and had hoped that the
ultra-Liberals would have coalesced with them. Buff

the Liberals, on finding that the sole object of the
Church party was to upset the Marquis D'AzsGmo
and his Cabinet, refused to oppose the measure.
The first conference had taken place at Naples
between the Commission appointed to investigate the
claims of foreign merchants for losses sustained during
the bombardment of Messina, and the representa-
tives of their respective Governments.
According to a letter from Bologna of the 23.1 ult.
in the Opinione of Turin, the Austrian military autho-
rities in the former town had entered into a negotia-
tion with an Englishman for the cession of a large
piece of land, called the Caprone, outside the Porta
San Felice, which they intended to use as a ground
for military manoeuvre; but the price no,. having yet
been agreed on, the Austrian commandant had ap-
plied, notwithstanding, to the Government for per-
mission to occupy the land, which was granted, and
men were sent to cut down the trees, and level the
ground. The proprietor, who was at Turin at the
time, has protested against such arbitrary proceed-
ingot, and a courier has arrived at Bologna with orders
from Vienna to stop the works immediately, the
British ambassador having made representations on
the subject.

The Concordia of Turin of the 26th ult., devotes a
leader to the question of quarantines, which is not
without interest from the facts it contains. Ever
since the French Government directed that all sani-
tary regulations hitherto observed with respect to
ships coming from infected places, should cease in the
port of Marseilles, the Piedmontese Government has
. .

found it difficult to enforce its own sanitary regula-
tions. In consequence of the yellow fever that pre-
vails in Brazil the arrivals from Marseilles have been
subjected to quarantine throughout the Piedmontese
coast ; but the masters of French vessels have found
means of evading the measure. They land their pas-
sengers at Cannes, close to the frontier, from whence
carriages take them to Mizza, where they find a re-
gular line of French packets to take them to Genoa
and the other ports of Italy, so that merchandize
alone, in fact, is subject to quarantine.
The Risorginzento of Turin of 26th ult. gives an ac-
count of the new Yiedmontese steam-frigate Go-
vernolo, just arrived at Genoa from London, where
she was built under the direction of Captain Rica,
and Engineer MATTEL, expressly sent to London
for the purpose by the Piedmontese Government.
She is of 1,401 tons admeasurement, 213 feet in
length, by 36k- in breadth, and 23 in depth. She
carries ten guns, besides two heavy Swivel guns,
which have been tried in the waters of La Spezia,
and found to answer perfectly at a distance of
6,000 feet.
The Constituzionale of,Florence of the 23d ult.
states from Ancona, that the Holy Office, has com-
menced proceedings against all the persons who have
been pointed out as having expressed irreligious
opinions during the revolution.

[ADvERTHEmENT.]—BeII's Life in London.—The
very extensive publication of Bell's Life commences at No.
170, Strand, before Five o'clock every Saturday morning (as
early as the daily morning journals), and in time for all the
Saturday morning mails and early railways, so that it can
he had at most places near 300 milealrom London on Satur-
day evenings. The price of Bell's Life is Sixpence; 40
folio columns, one-half, or 20, of which are sporting matters,
about 10 columns of news and domestic events; also 10
columns• of advertisements. It should be borne in mind
that the advertisements in Bell's Life are chiefly of a
sporting tendency, and furnish the reader with useful infor-
mation on most sporting subjects. The later, or " Town
Edition" of Bell's Life is published before Five.o'cloek on
Sunday morning. Advertisements for Bell's Life should be
at the office early on Friday afternoons to insure their in-
sertion.---The average 891 e of Bell's Life exceeds 28,000.
[ADVERTISEMENT.] —Offices of Bell's Life in
London, 170 Strand, July I.—Eighteen thousand copies
of Bell's Lye were supplied, on Saturday last, before five
.A.sr., to the London newspaper agents, for the sole purpose of
sending off by the morning mails and early railways, most
of which must have been delivered in the course of Saturday
nearly 300 miles from London. The early publication of
Bell's Life will be continued every Saturday morning before
five o'clock.

PRESENTATION OF PLATE TO Met. JUSTICE TAL-
FOURD.—On Thursday last a deputation from Reading
waited on Mr. Justice Talfourd, at his residence in Russell-
square, to present to that gentleman a silver candelabrum,
subscribed for by a large number of the inhabitants of the
borough? of all parties. The base of the candelabrum is a
tripod, on which stands a group of three female figures, re-
presenting Law, Justice, and Poctrv, the two former mo-
delled from Flaxtrisn's sculpture on Lord Mansfield's monu-
ment in Westminster Abbey, the latter from a drawing of
the (reek Antique, bearing a scroll inscribed with the word
"Ion" in Greek characters. The arms of the Judge and of
the borough of Reading were engraved on the has°. The
testimonial was presented to the Judge in the presence of
his family, including the venerable Mrs. Talfourd, mother
of the Judge, and attended by a large circle tf private
friends.
REVFRSE OF FORTIINE.—A most extraordinary
reverse of fortune has happened to a private of No. 3 com-
pany of the 39th Regiment, now stationed in Athlone. By
the death of an uncle, in Cuba, he has been put in pos-
se,,sion of a fortune of 50,000!. and two estates in the island.
His name is Marryat ; he is only 20 years of age, and of
very agreeable manners. He enlisted when only thirteen as
a drummer. He has proceeded to England, proyious to his
deputurof9r Cuba. - . . .

-c --- ..---,-_,-
, j NCH PLAYS.—ST. JAMES'S oiiir
THEATRE.
• Mademoiselle Rachel, the greatest of living trage-
dians, indeed, we are not going too far in calling her
the creator of French tragedy in modern times, COM.
itienced an engagement of twelve nights at this
theatre last evening. Ths tragedy selected
for the occasion was the Phedre of Racine,
and into that stiff, lumbering, unnatural, stilted play
she breathed the breath of life, and made it
instinct with vitality, with passion, with hu-
man interest. A miracle this, our readers
Will say, who have by reading it become
acquainted with the classical tragedy of the age
of Louis XlV.—a miracle we admit, and one which
genius and genius only can accomplish. The com-
mencement of the tragedy until the entrance of
Rachel, appeared stilted, unnatural, James
Ma /1(1,y, in fact— (by -the- bye, that king of
burlesque would make an admirable tyran,
or even amortreux for classical French tragedy)—
but the instant Rachel entered the stiffnes, the
formality vanished, we cared not for the artificial
ceesetres, we mat ked not the cliuquant of the rhymes
—the impassioned Phedre was before us in whose-
bosom guilty love was contending with duty,
and both ec last were merged iu maddening jealousy,
I
arel an insatiable desire for nvenge. Racine, not-
-1 wiebstanding his artificiality and his rhymese.
became natural when interpreted by the
sub-
lime genius of Rachel, and we thought but
of her, felt but for her, saw but her throughout
the remainder of. the tragedy. Sublimely did she
reresent the conflict between tore
-end, duty, as - she
related to Enone her efforts to conquer her guilty
love for - Hippo's te—terrihle, awfully - terrible
was the tempest of her passion when her
fureur —for it was love driven to madness—
breaks through all restraint, and she declares her
passion for Ilippolyte; and intense was the expression
of self-degradation as on finding her love rejected, and
Aricie, the captive, preferred to her, the Queen, she
sinks to the earth, exclaiming in accents of despair—
" 0 toi qui you is honte oiije suis de.scendue,
Implacable Venus, suis-je USSI Z confondue!"
Scorchingly withering, like the lightning's blast,
was her expression of contempt and rage as, spurning
from her presence CEnone, who had counselled her to
poison Thes6e, she exclaims—

" Et plisse ton supplice a jams's effrayer
Tout ceux qui, comme tui, par de laches addresses,
Des princes malheureux nourissent les faiblessas,
Les poussent au penchant oil leu r cceur eat enclin,
Et lour osent, du crime, applanir le chemin—
Uttestables flatteurs! pro ent le plus fun, stn !
Qui puis3e tail e aux rois la colera celesto!"
In the scene in which she denounces Hippolyte to
Thesee, her expression of suppressed feeling, ex-
hibited by the working of her mobile features, the
choking tone of her utterance, and the unearthly
calmness of her manner was very fine, and in the
last scene, in which the impassioned and guilty wo-
man, having done justice on herself by poison,
dies in agony, confessing her guilt, she
reached the very highest pitch of sub-
limity. She was called on at the conclusion
of each act, and again at the conclusion of the
tragedy, and bouquets and crowns were showered
upon her. M. Radoux, as Theramene, de-
cl•ximed the passages descriptive of the death
of Hippolyte most effectively. He is by far the best
actor of the troupe. The house was crowded by the
elite of rank and fashion, not a box nor a stall was
unoccupied.