The Sun. — London, England, 1829-09-25 00:00:00

' ; ; 7--kt - - •THE FI NO AND HIS CHALLENGER. , i t. 4" p._lt rhIT r , 10le•qed by many of our readers, that an advertusseelt 'appear e d a f e w d a y s ago i n the Papers, in svh' 1 .4;31r. J. Smith, after insinuating that N. Cialtertythe fire-king, practised some juggle Wher4 appeared to enter into an oven heated to 500 degrees;a4d to swallow 20 grains of phospho rus, challenged him for any sum which he might please to mention to perform the exploits which he professed to be performing daily. It will also be re collected, that to this challenge was added an explicit " pledge," given " upon the honour" of Mr. Smith, that if M. Chabert " fairly accomplished such an undertaking, he would likewise do the same." To those who are acquainted with the various shapes in which ambition clothes itself, it will not appear sur prising that the " Fire-King's soul was all on fire" to answer the daring defiance which he had received from an unknown calumniator ; and in consequence he publicly accepted Mr. J. Smith's challenge for 50/., requesting him to provide the poisons himself, and offering, with true chivalric courtesy, to allow him the same conveniences which he used himself whilst he remained in the oven. This unexpected retort appeared to make Mr. J. Smith feel that it was necessary for him to be more magnificent in his promises than he had hitherto shown himself; for in his rejoinder to Mr. Chabert, he informed him that he would meet him in the Argyll Rooms, at his ordinary hour of performance, and would then " enter the oven with him, and perform his other feats." Wed nesday was mutually fixed upon as the day on which the two contracting parties to this extraordinary challenge were to try their merits by the ordeal of fire, and on which they were to submit their powers of resisting poison to the test of experiment. Ac cordingly, at two o'clock, the hour appointed for the combat, a number of gentlemen were attracted to the arena in which it was to take place; and as they enteted, care was taken to inform them that the money had been regularly posted, and that Mr. Smith was ready to " come to the scratch." At a little before three o'clock the Fire-King made his appearance near his oven, and as some impatience had been exhibited owing to the non-arrival of Mr. J. Smith, be offered to amuse the company with a few trifling experiments, which he said any of them might perform with the greatest ease. He then made a shovel red hot and rubbed it over his tongue, a trick for which no credit, he said, was due, as the moisture of the tongue was sufficient to prevent any injury arising from it. He next rubbed it over his hair and face, declaring that any body might per form tke same feat by first washing themselves in a mixture of spirits of sulphur and of alum, which, by cauterising the epidermis, hardened the skin to resist the fire. lie then put his hands into some melted lead, took a small portion of it out, placed it in his mouth, and then gave , it in a solid sire to some of the company. This performance, according to his ac count, was also very easy ; for he seized only a very small particle, which, by a tight compression between the finger and thumb, became cool before it reached the mouth. By the time that these " little tricks," as he eailed them, were performed, another call was made for sir. Smith's appearance. The Fire-King looked rotund the room, and seeing the bashful coun tenance of his challenger in one corner of it, called him from his retirement, and pointed him out to the notice of the audience. The challenger being on the ground, the time for trifling was now over, and M. Chabert forthwith prepared himself for mightier undertakings. A cruise of oil was brought forward and poured into a. saucepan, which was previously turned upside down, to chew that there was no water in it. The alleged reason for this step was, that vulgar conjurors, who profess to drink boiling oil, place the oil in water, and drink it when the water boils, at which time the oil is not warmer than an ordinary cup of tea. He intended to drink the oil when any person might see it bubbling in the sauce pan, and when the thermometer would prove that it was heated to 360 degrees, The saucepan was ac cordingly placed upon the fire, and as it was acquir ing the requisite heat, the Fire-King challenged any man living to drink a spoonful of the oil at the same temperature as that at which he was going to drink it. In a few minutes afterwards he sipped of a spoon ful with the greatest apparent ease, although the spoon, from contact with the boiling fluid, had be come too hot for ordinary fingers to handle, " And now, Monsieur smith," said the Fire-King, 6 ' now for your challenge. Have you prepared yourself with phosphorus, or will you take some of mine, which is laid on that table ?" Mr. Smith, who is a thickset man of middle size, walked up to the table, and pulling a vial bottle out Of his pocket. offered it to the poison-swallower, The Fire King—l ask you, on your honour, as a gentle man, is this genuine unmixed poison ? Mr. s.7nith—lt is, upon my honour. The Fire-Sing. — ls there any medical gentleman here, who will e xamine it? (Speaking to a gen tleman near him.) Will you try it for me, Sir ? The Gentleman declined; he believed that the Fire-King was a better judge of phosphorus than he was. A person in the room requested that Dr, Gordon Smith, one of the medical Professors in the London University, would examine the vial, and decide whether it contained genuine phosphorus. The learned Professor went to the table, on which a formidable collection of poisons—such as red and white arsenic, hydro-cyanic acid, morphine, and phosphorus—was placed, and examining the vial, exclaimed, that to the best of his judgment it was genuine phosphorus. This did not content several gentlemen in the room; they desired to see whether it would ignite by friction. The experiment was made, and a small piece soon set the paper in which it was wrapped into a blaze. The same experiment had been tried on the Fire-King's own phosphorus ; and if we may judge from the volume of flame which it sent forth his phosphorus was stronger than that provided by Air. Smith. The reality of the poison being thins ascertained, M. Chabert asked 31r. Smith with great potteness how many geains bewished to commence his first draught with. Mr. Smith—Twenty grains will do az 3 com mencement. M. Chabert—Ah, my good Sir, it is a very small dose. I should not object to take a pound or two —will you weigh the quantity yourself ? Mr. Smith declined. A medical gentleman then came forward and cut off two parcels of phosphorus, containing 20 grains each. He was placing them in the water, when the Fire King requested that hi; phosphorus might be rut into small pieces, as he did not wish the pieces to stop on their road to his stomach. The poisons were now prepared. A wine-gbas contained the portion set aside for the Fire-King-- a tumbler the portion reserved for Mr. Smith. It would be difficult to say whether the challenger or the challenged at this moment showed the greatest composure. This may be safely said—they were at this moment the two I:..nst agitated persons in tha room. The Fire-King—l suppose, gszamen, I must begin. Well, then, to convince you that do not juggle, I will first of all take off my coat, and then, as another precaution, I will trouble you Doctor (speaking to Dr. Gordon Smith) to tic my hands together behind me. Here a loud cry was set up that it was unneces sary to have the Fire-King bandaged in this manner. The f:,::•e.King—Oh gentieonn, I beg your par don, it is riecearY for I want to sZtow you that I do net juggle. After he had been bam.4.stzed in this zoart,w, he planted himself on one knel to :he centre of Oka room, and requested some gentlemen :2 p' 4 ,;!'e the phosphorus on his tongue and pour the water dow.7 his throat. This was accordingly done, and the water and phosphorus wer e swallowed together. lie then opened his mouth and requested the com pany to look whether any portion of the pbosphorus remained in his mouth. Several gentlemen ex amined his mouth and declared that there was no phosphorus perceptible either upon or under his tongue. He was then by his own desire unban daged. The Fire-King then turned to Mr. Smith and offered him the other glass of phosphorus with a ceremonious politeness which wai highly enter taining—" And now, my good Sir, I shall have great pleasure in seeing you take off your glass too." Mr. Smith started back in infinite alarm—" Not for worlds, Sir, not for worldA ; I beg to decline it." The Fire-King—Eh! mon Dieu ; you decline it ! Oh ! dear Sir; no, no; you will drink von little glass to oblige the company. Mr. Smith—The company must excuse me. I don't often drink in a morning, and least of all such an ardent spirit as phosphorus. The Fire. Kink—Then why for did you send me a challenge ? You have pledged your honour to drink it if I did. I have done it ; and if you are a gentleman, you must drink it too. Mr. Smith—No, no; I must be excused: I am quite satisfied without it. Here several voices exclaimed that the bet was lost. Some said that there must be a confederacy between the challenger and the challenged, and others asked whether any; money had been deposited? The Fire-King called a Mr. White forward, who deposed that he held the stakes, which had been regularly placed in his hands, by both parties, be fore 12 o'clock that morning. The Fire-King here asked Mr. Smith if be in tended to go into the oven with him ? Mr. Smith replied that he could answer that question better after he saw the Fire-King come out. The Fire-King—But, my good Sir, that makes no matter, for you have lost your bet already if you do not swallow the phosphorus. Are you satisfied OR that head ? Mr. Smith, after a very slight hesi tation, admitted that he was. The Fire-King here turned round with great ex ultation to the company, and pulling a bottle out of his pocket, exclaimed with great good feeling, " I did never see this gentleman before this morning, and I did not know but that he might be bold enough to venture to take this quantity of poison. I was determined not to let him lose his life by his foolish wager, and therefore I did bring an antidote in my pocket, which would have prevented him from suffering any halm. Le voila! Ah, ab ! My good Sir, you pay your 50/. to see me take the phosphorus. Now you shall take three or four grains yourself. I will give you von little wine glass out of this bottle, and you shall be as well in a few minutes as you are now. Do, Sir, oblige me by taking a few grains. Mr. Smith begged to be excused. His object was answered in seeing 20 grains of genuine phos phorus actually swallowed. He had conceived it impossible, as three grains were quite sufficient to destroy life. The Fire-King then addressed the gentleman who had meted out the phosphorus—" Perhaps you, Sir, will have the goodness to swallow a little bit to amuse me. I pledge you 1,0001., I pledge you my life, that if you take a little of this bottle, it will not do you any harm." The gentleman turned pale with affright. " I must beg to decline your polite invitation," he stammered out at last, " for in case of accident I am afraid the pledge • of your life would not keep li my wife and family." The Fire-King—Now, gentlemen, I will prove to you by another little experiment that I have no phosphorus in my mouth. Atlendez an pen. Put me a small piece of phosphorus on a knife point, and bring me a candle. A candle was brought him, and he lighted it with the phosphorus. _ . _ Piirt of the phosphorus fell upon the ground, and was extinguished after some trouble. The Fire-King.—Ah, Mr. Smith, you are very good to trie. You bring me the very good phos phorus. lAm much obliged to you, Sir. Now give me a torch, and a fork. They were given to him accordingly. He took a small piece of the burning torch on his fork, put it into his mouth and swallowed it. " And now, gen tlemen, I have done with the poison for to-day." Having said this, he withdrew into another - room for the professed purpose of putting on his usual dress for entering the oven, but in all probability for the real purpose of getting the phosphorus, by some antidote, from his stomach. Zinc is the usual anti dote for phosphorus; but he says that it is not the antidote which he uses, and declines to mention what is. We were informed that some eminent physicians asked him a few days ago if he would have any objection to have the poison taken off his stomach by the stomach-pump, and that he replied that he should have no objection, providing that, in analyzing the contents of his stomach, they would be satisfied with ascertaining the existence of the poison, and would not seek to ascertain the nature of his antidote, which was so simple in its nature, that when it was once known, every apothecary's boy could provide it. He has repeatedly taken all the different poisons which were placed upin his teeth. On one occasion, when he was exhibiting before the Duke of Norfolk, lie took a tea-spoonful of prussic acid; but that experiment he says he will never repeat again ; for it Is a poison, which not only requires the antidote to be taken first, but is also so rapid in:its operation, that it may destroy life before the antidote can produce its effect. He said that he should never forget the feelings which came over him as soon as he had swallowed it. Every vein in his head appeared to swell, and " each par ticular hair," he said, " stood erect, like quills upon the porcupine." Immediately after Mr. Smith had declined to take the phosphorus, several gentlemen surrounded him, desiring to know why he had inserted such adver tisements as lie had done in the public papers, if he had no intention to perform the feats to which he had dared the Fire-King. To this he replied that his object had been to ascertain, beyond all doubt, whether it was possible for any person to take such a mass of poison and live—that he should not have risked such a sum of money of his own on such a challenge as that which he had giver—but that- he was acting as the representative of a number of scientific gentlemen, who had subscribed such a sum, as would enable him, if his challenge was ac cepted, to insist upon furnishing the poison himself, and upon seeing every step taken by the Fire-King bef4;re and while he swallowed it. He stated that he was now perfectly convinced that the phosphorus was actually swallowed, He likewise protested that there had been no collusion between him and the Fire-King. This protestation was subsequently repeated by the Fire-King himself—who added, in confirmail;op of it, that he could have no interest in drawing a large concourse of people to his room. He was paid a certain sum por week by Mr. Welsh, and whether there was one person in the room, or whe ther there were 20,000, was to him, as far as his oars emolument was concerned, perfectly immate rial. We tbip it only justice to M. Chabert to state, that if there shoplc.l have been any collusion in this challenge, he appears to Le without any motive for being a party to it. How far that spy be the se with his employer, is a question on which we give no opinion. M. Chabert stated, that after the pledge which Ur ; Smith had given the public in his advertisement, he fully expected to have been put to a fair trial of his powers in the Bourse of the day, and OW he had in consequence made preparations and alterationa in his course of action, which one way or another would cost him upwards of 20/. After an absence of twenty minutes, M. Chabert returned, dressed in a coarse woollen coat, to enter the heated oven, I3efore he entered it, a medical gentleman ascertained that his pulse was vibrat ing 98 times in a minute. He remained io the oven for five minutes, during which time he sung " Le raillant Troubadour," arid superintended the cook ing a i:wo dishes of beef steaks. At the end of that time he colp put, perspiring profusely, and with :2 pulse making . !Ed vibrations in a m i nu t e . ' when brought out, R. the oven, The ther - morn.it 7 ; wig.- the oven, be salq, stood at 380 degrees ; it was above 600. He had never been exposed to such intense heat before. After performing this feat, which was the last exhibition or l4p powers, he remained on the steps leading to his oven for some time, conversing with the company. In the course L .. K/ LONDON, FRIDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 25, 1829. The French Papers of Wednesday have been received, by Express, but they leave the question of peace as uncertain as ever. We are now told by the Moniteur—the official organ of the French Government, that the Turkish Plenipo tentiaries had only arrived at the head-quarters of General DIEBITSCH, on the third of Septem ber, whereas, we have been given to understand, that peace had been signed on the 29th August, and that an armistice had been agreed on some days before ! Really, we now suspect more than ever that there has been some stock jobbing manoeuvre at the bottom of all this official quackery, about a suspension of hostilities and signing of treaties, and that when authentic accounts arrive, they will be dated from General DIEBITSCH'S head-quarters at Constantinople. According to the Moniteur, the first conference was to have taken place on the 3d of September, with this ominous addition, that " there was every reason to believe that the negotiation would not be pro tracted." Now we are surely as much bound to believe that the French Government are as well-in formed of what is going on in C o nstantinople as our own ;—and, if so, how is it that we have a difference of six or eight days in announcing a simple event ? The truth in this business seems almost ashamed to come out. But there is no end to the variety of reports. The Journal de Genese says " It is affirmed that Lady M-, who resides at Lausanne, ha 3 just received from Corfu the news that the Russians had entered Constantinople without striking a blow ; that a conspiracy against the SULTAN, contrived by the Janissaries, grew more and more formidable as the Russians ap proached the capital ; that IMAIENIOUD shut himself up in his Seraglio with the Divan, and sent a deputation to General DIEBITSCH, to inform him that he would be received at Con stantinople without opposition ; that the Russian General immediately caused the city to be occu pied by a corps of light troops, and was after wards received himself with the greatest pomp. It is evident that the news needs confirmation." A letter from Marseilles of the 17th says, A Correspondent at Ancona writes to me on the 9th of September that a courier had just passed through that city on his way to Paris, with the news that the Russians are under the walls of Constantinople, and will not treat of peace till after they have entered the Ottoman Capital." In short, as we have already said, General DIEBITSCII is the only man who can give us correct information on the subject. The follow ing are extracts : (From the Moniteur.) PARIa, S Frr. 22.—Accounts transmitted with the telegraph announce that on the 3d of September the Turkish Plenipotentiaries had arrived at the head-quarters of General Diebitsch. The first conference was to take place in the course of the day, and there was every reason to believe that the negociation would not be protracted. (From the Messager des Chambres.—Second Edition.) PARIS, SEPT. 23.—The Messager des Chandoes, quoting the above paragraph, adds— " It was, in fact, said yesterday evening that the tele graph had announced the entrance into the port of Toulon of a vessel bringing the signature of the preliminaries of peace between Russia and Turkey. " lihere is no doubt that the conferences and negocia tions are going on as they have done for these six months. This news is no news at all, and it has been repeated over and over again for the fortnight without the addition of 4py details to confirm it." The Dulyons km arrived At )Brest, ')erring the flag of Rear-Admiral Roussin, who was sent to Brasil two years ago, to support the claims of French subjects for the detention of their ships in the river Plate. Admiral Roussin has accomplished this object in a manner ,qually satisfactory to our ship• owners and honourable to himself. PARIS STOCK EXCHANGE, SETT. 23.—Five per Cents. 107 f. 30c. 20c. ; Three per Cents., 81f. 50c. ; Bank Stock, 1850 f. ; Rentes de Naples, 87f430c. 35c. ; Royal Spanish Loan, 1823, 72i ; Rtnte Perp. d'Esp. 49iii.— Exchange on London, one month, 2bf. 65c. ; three months, 25f. 45c. The rumour seems to have been general along the ports of the Mediterranean, that the PORTE had requested the English and French fleets to take possession of the Castles of the Dardanelles, in the event of the advance of the Russians. The following article from the Augsburgh Ga zette seems to disclose the cloven foot of Rus sian ambition more and more ODESSA, SEPT. 2.—The sanatory state of this town is as good as can be wished. Since the case of plague in the quarter called the Moldavanka, there have been no fresh patients. Three of those that were sent to the lazaretto have died since the 29th of August, and one re mains ill. The inhabitants of Kujalnik aad Ussatovy Khoutora, who were put into an encampment in the country, are doing well. There is not a single person af fected with the plague among them. One of those that were suspected died on the 31st, but without any symp tom of plague. TRIESTE, SEPT. 13.—(Not from our usual Corre spondent. )—Several mercantile houses here say that they have received letters from the Archipelago announcing that the Porte had proposed to the Ambassadors of France and England, on the advance of the Russian armies, to cause the castles of the Dardanelles to be occupied by troops of their nations. It was not known, however, whether the Ambassadois had accepted this proposal, and done any thing to carry it into e ff ect. FROM THE ISAR, SEPT. 12.—Under this bead, the Augsburg Gazette has given, in diffirent supplements, a long article on the " Solution of the Greek question," of which the following is an extract : " Should the private inclination of the conqueror re strain him from the demands to which victory gives a claim, and induce him to regard the proposals which have reached him through the Prussian Officer, by the cir cuitous route from Naples to Corstantinople, he is a Sove reign, he is Emperor of Russia, and as such has been led by the extraordinary talents of great Generals, and the heroic valour of his armie., to the goal, at which his pre decessors have aimed in vain. Suppose, now, that he was disposed to consider what has happened as not having hap pened, can he, without endangering the honour of the Sove reign, the palladium of his empire, all the conditions of it, even to the stability of his throne and his own personal safety, order his Russians to retire home from the walls of Stamboul and the portals of Saint Sophia, as if the cam paigns and their victories were all a dream ? Is there, how ever, any foundation fur this assumption? Is there in the per sonal character of the Northern Monarch, or in what has since proceeded from him, any thing to entitle us to make such supposition ; which, being well founded, the mission of General Muffling would be the greatest misfortune that has befallen the Russian dynasty and nation for centuries. This does not at all appear to be the case. Passing over other circumstances, let us recollect the important declara tion with which the Russian report of the taking of Sills tria concluded, after the success of the campaign was secured, and General Muffling had already reached Naples, on his way to Constantinople. The proposals which the conqueror at Kulawtscha sent to Shumla, were rejected by the Grand Vizier ; and in reference to this, that report gives the Sultan still a moment in which the magnanimity of his Majesty the Emperor of Russia yet allows him to hope. This moment evidently vanished with the breaking up of the Turkish power, and General Diebitsch has not for himself and family the name recording the passage of the Balkan, because the Cabinet of St. Petersburgh is disposed to ingloriously bury the fairest points of the enterprise, and to plant the ban ner of the cross and of victory, on the fame of the inde pendence of Greece." The article then proceeds to shew that the whole question must now be settled, without the concurrence of the Sultan, who is to be considered as having withdrawn from the stage, and that the full inde pendence of the Greek State in its whole extent, that is including not only the whole Continent and the Cyclades, hut also Eubcea and Crete, must be recognised and esta• Wished. Tne following is from our Paris Corre spondent : " PARIS, SEPT. 23. " No intelligence, which can at all be relied on, has yet reached Paris from the theatre of war. It was reported at Vienna on the 12th of September, that Rodosto and Erekli, the an cient Heraclea, had been occupied by the Rus sians, but the intelligence is not official. The next courier from Constantinople was expected with impatience, but some further delay was ap prehended in consequence of his being obliged to pass by Salonica. A French courier had been despatched on the 12th to General Guille minot, and, like the last English courier, lie had procured Russian passports to enable him to pass the army. It is stated that the great spe culators keep couriers constantly in readiness for Frankfort, Paris, London, and Berlin, to carry the first intelligence of the conclusion of peace. " The systematic opposition which has hitherto been offered to the new Ministry continues un abated, but the most determined of their oppo nents seem now to acknowledge that the viola tions of the Charter, and the coups d'etat which they have so often predicted, are now not likely to be realized. It is said, on the contrary, that the new Ministry are rapidly losing the warmest of their Ultra adherents, from the moderation and supineness which they have already mani fested since their accession to power ; and while the Liberals indulge in a laugh at the pretended moderation of M. de la Bourdonnaye, and the nationality of M. de Polignac, they profess to believe that the Ministers are only sacrificing their old friends for the hopeless chance of gain ing new ones. They can pardon the King for his choice of the head of the Government, ascrib ing it to personal friendship for a man of undis puted honesty, joined to gentleness of character, and the most zealous devotion to the interests of his Royal Master; but as to M. de la Bour donnaye, they cannot forget the repeated in stances of arbitrary violence which they daily quote in his previous history, and they believe that he has not been chosen from any preference of the heart, but from an unfounded idea of political necessity. The tactics of the Opposi tion seem now, however, to be directed more immediately towards the conciliation of his Royal Highness the Dauphin. It is generally under stood that the King and the Dauphin read regu larly the daily newspapers, both of London and Paris ; and in the Journal des Debats of this morning, I observe an article which is plainly intended to operate on the judgment and the feelings of his Royal Highness. Why is it, they ask, that in England the Heir Presumptive to the Crown is so often opposed to the Mini stry of the reigning Monarch ? And they scarcely leave him to draw the inference, that oppositions of this kind have had their origin in that sort of family policy which suggests that the dynasty itself should never be wholly unpo pular. Several incidents are quoted, for the pur pose of showing that the viohnt character of M. de la Bourdonnaye is incompatible with the mild and gentle disposirion of the Prince, to whom they give the praise, which, I believe, is not unmerited, of being person►►lly opposed to any violent or arbitrary proceedings. It is known that the Dauphin is always present with his Majesty at the Royal sittings of the Council, and it is suggested as too much for the party in power to be able to say, we have the King and " the Dauphin, and, besides, we have the edu " cation of the Duke de Bourdeaux.' " Among the latest of the resignations is that of M. cle Preissac, the Prefetl of Gers. When he received the news of the formation of the new Ministry, it is said that his first idea wag to retire ; but although he felt that it would be ultimately impossible to continue in office under the present Cabinet, lie feared that he might commit an error by tendering his resigna tion before he had seen some substantive Ministerial act of which he could not approve. While thus hesitating, he received, like the rest of his colleagues, the circular from the Minister of the Interior, but not having answered it, a second letter was written to him, an autograph from M. de la Bourdonnaye, enquiring if he might be considered as a personal adherent of the new government, and as a defender of their system and their measures. To the question thus put to the Prefet, for the purpose of se curing the Deputy, M. de Puissac immediately answered by forwarding his resignation, and it is said that he is about to publish the relative cor respondence. " Circulars have been addressed, it is said, to the Procureur de Roi, and to the Justices of Peace, requiring them to furnish a sort of statis tical surve; of the state of public opinion in their several districts and departments, for the purpose of affording the Ministry some idea of the num bers and the respectability of the parties on whom they may rely. It is justly observed, however, that the task thus imposed on the provincial au thorities is inconsistent with their ordinary duties, and that the inquisitorial system of espionage which the circulars are calculated to call into operation, must he attended with innumerable evils by disclosing the secrets of families, and the private connections of individuals. "Two liquor-merchants, of the names of De croix and Desrencontres, have been cited to ap pear before the tribunal of Correctional Police on Saturday next, for having exposed for sale some bottleslembellished with the figure of the young Duke of Reichstadt. The technical ac cusations are, first, for having exposed engravings for sale without the authority of the Government ; and second, for having publicly exposed for sale certain signs or symbols destined to propagate a spirit of revolt, and to disturb the public peace. " The floods in France appear to have been on the same great scale with those in England and Scotland. According to the latest accounts from the Departments a great deal of mischief has recently been done by inundations. The banks of the river at Goncelin in the department of the Isere gave way during the night of the 14th, and it was not without great difficulty that this large village, a part of which had been carried away in 1827, was saved from destruction. At Cheylas also the banks were broken, and the houses exposed to great danger, until a channel was dug to give the torrent a different direction. The loss of these two places in corn, &c., is im mense. At Toucin, Gieres, Zoreppe, and other places, situated on the banks of the Isere, inun dations have likewise taken place. The Drac and the Komauche have overflown their banks, and the high road from Grenoble to Briancon is laid under water and rendered impassable. " I understand that the papers which were seized for containing the Breton resolutions have this day been restored, and that they will now be transmitted to the subscribers. We feel much pleasure in quoting the follow ing tribute to the merits of General DIEBITSCII from the Morning Chronicle. To have ob tained the generous approbation of the Duke of WELLINGTON must surely be a circumstance of enviable distinction to a military man. Count DIEBITSCH is a soldier of fortune, and the re sult of his victorious campaign proves him to be a man of extraordinary ability : The political importance of the events which have signalized the recent campaign in the East of Europe have, by a singular fatality, served to withdraw the general ob servation from the merits of the individual to whom they ought in fairness to be ascribed. The person to whom we allude as being thus robbed of a portion of his well-earned reputation, in some degree by the very splendour of his own achievements, will at once be recognised as the Count Diebitsch, the Commander-in-Chief of the victorious Rus sian army. " It may not be generally known that the appointment of this Officer to the supreme command was the exclusive act of the Emperor—that the nomination excited consider able discontent, in the first instance, because the person selected was not a native Russian ; and in the next, be cause he was advanced over the heads of many who felt themselves stigmatised by a distinction conferred upon a foreigner, by what they called a disgraceful acknowledg ment of the want of native military merit. At the outset these discontents assumed rather an alarming appearance, and it was necessary to make some examples to check a spirit of insubordination which threatened to become con tagious. Rut it is only an act of justice to acknowledge that the very earliest operations of the late campaign were, by all comi etent judges, admitted to be a full justification of the unusual and somewhat ungracious nomination made by the Emperor. " For what we have above stated we have the the testi mony of a gallant officer just returned from the seat of war, and we know that the high opinion he has expressed of the talents of the Commander of the Russian army is supported by the suffrage of the greatest living Master of the Art of War, who has within the last few days ex pressed himself in the following terms :—' I don't know which is to be the most admired, the original plan of the campaign, or the combination of skill, courage, and caution, with which it bas been conducted ; but this I do know, that this single campaign places Diebitsch at the very head of his profession.' " We shall not attempt to weaken such a testimony by any commentary; but if the old apothegm, laudari a laudato Viro, has any weight, assuredly the victorious General must feel the value of such an encomium from such a quarter." By the Courier of Oporto of Sept. 11, we are informed that " ANTONIO JOSE Gorr- CALVES PEREIRA, Abbot of St. Uramede de Caniada of the Archbishopric of Braga, in his own name and that of other true and faithful Royalist friends to the throne and the altar, has with the utmost profound respect and subluir sion addressed to his Majesty Senor DO MIGUEL I. an humble petition, dated the 2 6 t h of August, this year, in which he urgently beg s for the re-admission of the Jesuits into his de' minions, for the education of youth ; and als ° for the establishment of the Holy Inquisition, punish the execrable crimes of blasphemy an d impiety, which are continually committed." The Paper does not inform us whether hi' Majesty, in the plenitude of his mercy, has con' plied with the prayer of the Abbot's petitioa; but judging by the character of both the par' ties, we think there can be little doubt o n the subject. T he admission of the Jesuits, and th e establishment of the Inquisition, are fit Sur porters of the Usurper's power. SHIPPING INTELLIGENCE.-(THIS DAV FROM LLOYD'S. DEAL, SEPT. 24.—Wind, light and variable. Arrived the Highbury, Pearce, from Jamaica ; 10 " Granger, Blenkinsop, from Honduras.: Arrived troll London, the Millicant, Cousins, for J a m a ica; 01 ' Reward , Gray, for the South Seas. Outward" bound sailed this morning. PORTSMOUTH, SEPT. 24. Wi n d N. N. W.—Passe d , the Brighton, Sebor, f r om N ew Y or k. S a il e d O A Majesty's ship Melville, for the Medite r r anean ; an' Olinder, Robinson, for Bahia. PLYMOUTH, SEPT. 23.—Wind N.W.—Sailed big Majesty's ship Britannia, for the Mediterranean. LIVERPOOL, SEPT. 23.—Arrived the Anacreom Lenox, from Virginia; Ceres, from St. John's, N.B. and Arethusa, from St. Petersburgh. A small oat' ward-bound brig is on shore on East Hoyle. Elizabeth, Weatherall, from St. Domingo, remain ° on shore, and her cargo must be discharged befo g she can be got off. She is a goo d d ea l l ogge d Be makes much water. BRISTOL, SEPT. 24.—Arrived the Speculat or ' from Jamaica; and Venus, froM New Brunswick' DOVER, SEPT. 24.—Eleven casks of ta l l / " marked, Nos. 342, 520, 363, 378, 465, 378, 387, 369,401, 464, and a quantity of loose olio" picked up off Lowestoffe, have been landed here. BEAUMARIS, SEPT. 23.--The Mary Ogil l/ P, M'lntyre, from Liverpool to th e S oun d o f M e ck, running for this port, struck the Perch Rock, b e wi ß th o o ß t E d A o l. l much sEp d . a i zal e ile Minerva, Glegni 4 from Newfoundland, and the Mazun, f ro m Adrs , both bound to this port, are wrecked at the entran ce of the Gironde; crew saved. The Henry, Ferrior, arrived in the River O il : Jamaica, experienced on the 26th alt., three degre e : northward arid westward of Bermuda, a violent har t :: cane, which lasted twenty hours, but sus t a ined litt le apparent injury. of his remarks, he observed, that before be left Eng. land he should have a benefit in the room for him self, when ne would astonish the world by perform. ing something still more extraordinary than any thing which he has yet done. Were not his present per formances so infinitely beyond all that we had eve' conceived of human endurance, we should say that the fulfilment of this promise is impossible. PRICES OF STOCKS THIS Bank stock :I per Cent. Red, 1 per Cent. Cons. 99 4% 'll4 per Cent. — Ditto Red. shut I per Cent. 'O3 23 3 Ditto. 1526 Ditto Scrip — RAnk L. Ann. India Stock 221% Ditto Ronds — 13 pm. PRICES OF FOREIGN FUNDS Austrian Bonds Brazilian Bonds Buenos Ayres Bonds Chilian Bonds 201 i Colombian Bonds Ditto, 1824 Danish Greek Bonds Ditto, 1825 l9!‘ 0 uatimala Mexican Bonds Ditto, 1825 PRICES OF SHARES THIS DAY AY ONE O'CLOCK. Paid. Per Share. Brazilian Imp. Mm. Co. (iss. at 51. pm.) £2O Real dcl Monte Mining Co. PRICES OF IRISH STOCKS, DUBLIN, SEPT. 22. Bank Stock Consols, 3 per cent. Gov. Stock, 3% per cent. 07 1 i ' National Ditto — Ditto, New 4 per Cent. , 1017,', 'Hibernian Bank — Gov. Deb. 3% percent.... 97% !Provincial Ditto — Royal Canal Stock — Royal Irish Mine — Grand Canal Stock — Imperial Mine City Deb. 4 per cent — Mining Co. of Ireland ....12M% Ballast Office Deb. 4p. c — Commercial Buildings — •DAY AT ONE O'CLOCK. South Sea Stock Old Annuities shut New Ditto Ex. Bills, .Zl,llOO 2d. 71 72 pm. Ditto 500 2d. '7l 72 pm. Ditto Small Ditto Advertized ...... pm. Ditto Commercial ........• pm Bank for Account India for Account Cons. for Account THIS DAY AT ONE O'CLOCK. Neapolitan — Peruvian Bonds ......... Portuguese Bonds ,Prussian, Old :Ditto, New — Russian Spanish. 1921 8k 1823 — j French Rentes, sp. c. —f —c. Exchange ...... —f —c. 3 per cent. —t —c. --- Exchange —f. —c. Due. i Arrived. Arrived. Due. O America 0 0 Hamburg 1 O Brazil O Buenos Ayree . 0 0 Havannah 0 1 Dublin 0 0 Leeward Islands ... 0 O Flanders 0 0 Lisbon 0 1 France 0 0 Malta 0 O Gottcnburgh 1 0 Mexico O Guernsey&Jersey.. 2 1 Waterford HIGH WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE TO-MORROW. Morning... 46 minutes after 0. I Evening ... 9 minutes after 1 THEATRE ROYAL, ENGLISH OPERA-HOUSE, STRAND. THIS EVENING will be acted the Romantic Drama called THE SISTER OF CHARITY. Col. Saxe, Mr. Baker; Capt. Wiemar, Mr. J. Vining; Paulo, Mr. Keeley; Andrea, Mr. 0. Smith; Joseph, Mr. Perkins. St. Ursula, Miss Kelly; Nannetta, Miss H. Cawse. After which, GRETNA GREEN. Mr. Jenkins, Mr. Wrench; Larder, Mr. G. Penson. Betty Finnikin, Miss Kelly. To conclude with THE SPRING LOCK. Lorenzo de Medici, Mr. Wood; Giulio, Mr. James Vining; Doctor Manente, Mr. Keeley; Doctor flamingo, Mr. 0. Smith, Amarantha, Dliss Cawse ; Vergellina, Mrs. Keeley. To-morrow, The Noyades, with Sold for a Song, and The Vam• pire, or The Bride of the Isles. THE FUNDS.-(THIS DAY.) CITY, TwwE CLock We have no arrivals this morning of importan ce ,' ' with the exception of the F renc h E x p re ss, g' 7 which it appears that the negotiatio ns f or peacebf tween Russia and the Turks were to be o p e ned the 3d of September. As yet this information not produced any effect on the ('oasol m arke r ' which opened at the same price they left off at Ye s terday, 894 for the Account, and 894 for mo neY... In the Foreign market there i s not a feat''' . worth observation. Prices as per yesterday. a New Orleans Papers to the 6th of August, n n „ Charleston Papers to the 25th August, have be received at the North and South American Coff er house. The former is void of information. The Charleston Papers say that the Bee of Ye s ' terday, in reporting some particulars of the r oyale of the schooner Eclipse, from Tangiers, had f°r gotten or neglected one article, which is too in tr resting to our commerce to be passed in silence :; - 1 , Captain Marchand was chased by the frigate Le ( tad, belonging to the Havannah expedition. ° a t would probably have been taken by her, had n°, the repeated signals of the Soberado called bade the frigate, which signified that Admiral Labo t° l ; or Don Isadore Barrados have thought proper 19 postpone the revenge of Spain. This fact L s b e serious one, and ought to attr ac t t h e a tt e ntion oi , American Government. Accounts from Havannah of th e 19th Aug. gtote, that another transport and the A c tive brig of 'll s, belonging to the Mexican expedition, were seen bY O.S foreign vessel which a r r i ve d a t the Havannaho * ve miles from the Bay of Jordo, and at the ab ° , to period not a vessel of the expedition had returne d the Havannah. ber, They write from Moldavia of the sth Septe o3 o that although the Turks make no resistance,:o. that peace was soon expected, the Russian O ov es ment, for these fifteen days past, were preparing e o. tensive armaments, which has caused great sP e tions on the subject in the Russian capital. _ a pt, Three per Cent. C o nsols, 89 ; Ditto, for Ae`i-.21; 894 ; Four per Cent., 102 1 3 ; India Stock, 11 21) India Bonds, 63 4 ; Exchequer Bills, 71 72. o 4; Foalicar.—Brazilian, 62 ; Buenos Ayres, t l I; Chilian, 20 22 ; Colombian, 16 ; Dasish , 7 11 10 - French, Five per Cent., 107 fi ; Greek, 184 191; o ist, can, 18k; Peruvian, 94 10 ; Portuguese, 454 ; ltd 1004 1 ; Spanish, 8 -A-. the T h m e o C r n o i g s o 1 a M t a B r 9 k i e t f h o r a s the co T n A t w i n c o u c e o d o ° n ' t r C , ll L e a N ° t v e h r e °: (l l i - :, 4 0 1y 0 1 buyers and sellers, with little business doing. , °m public are still anxious for further particulars ° the the theatre of war, particularly in regard to the Rusian operations, previous to the arrival of Turkish Commissioners at the Russian head-quat t e r o i as various opinions prevail in regard to the fat e 0 , Constantinople, whether or not it will be in p 056 sion of the Russians. h a s It is unfortunate that the Queen of Portuga- . taken her departure from this country to he r " tiv r e land, as we understand that yesterday orders weld received from the Emperor of Brazil that she sh° u continue to remain in England. In the Foreign Marl%et nothing doing. THREE 0' CLO Cl ‘ . Consols for Account, 89k. PALACE COURT-(THIS DAY') 61. This was WEST LONDON TitEA T IL E .hewc recover s ti ne ß i st R aul in., O r uco u oeam C sru I :4 : l4.l l inni • 0a r rt : c1. 1 . 1 0 . 1.:4 / 1 Loudon Theatre, N. W. Burroughs, i ns " ° n h e e n uwnasdearnthaectfioolnlowbrionugght b y performers, Mr. Ford, to the su ril e n r i night t 0 n fo r Mondays, 2o/., that wbbeeinng it te „ v iol Mr. Ford being desirous to take a benefit at the 'T 0 London, agreed with Mr. Watkins to rent the house fi,t , tickets were issued, but on the day on which the iff. was to take place, Mr. Burt oughs sent a message "bead. Ford, informing him that the box tickets could nc4 t o fur I tnitted to the pit in the usual way, that is to say' s t v e j for the manager o f t , 0 each ticket, but that only one would be tol ulit t o th e each ticket. The defendant made no objection b enefi t person who gave him the me,sage, and the ." e a II proceeded, by which it appeared that he gal il the re loss, as an Irishman' would say. In the I /4 an d i t e was only 4/. I3s. in money—in the boxes Si. 1 9s '' u • chi' the gallery exactly 41. The action was brought for tv e pi 0/. ference between those the rent of the house. i f brOk e f, The defence was, that the plaintiff had hit oe ..'" w hit? the conditions by the alterationrelative to the tick front 1 1 0 Letsfrom , came too late to allow the defendant to retrit t, for , , 0 tickeri , engagement. The prat ice of admitting box ti* sums collectively, and the 2- pit was adopted to save the expense of prio t ' n D ' it t . il u ' and Mr. Ford bad sold a great number, on the ing that each box ticket would admit two to the Pit at I I 1 time when he first received the message announcing alteration. OP The Jury, after a short consultation, returned a `le for the defendant. unders aO,