The Sun.
London, England, 1855-02-17 00:00:00

ATTEMPT TO MIIRDEL—The Court of Assizes of the
Ardennes, three days ago, tried a man named Duplessis,
58 years of age, for attempting to murder M..Cotelle,
procureur-imprial at Vouziers. On the 16th of August
last when M. Cotelle was seated in his office, the psis
soner, armed with ,a poignard, rushed in, and crying
" Brigand! canaille! I must kill you," attempted to stab
him. Cotelle jumped up, and thrust his chair as a
defence between himself and the prisoner. But the man
seized him, and - struck at him with his weapon. M.
Cotelle was,able to parry the blow, and catching hold of
his assailant by the wrists tried to hold him. The other,
after a violent struggle, broke away, awl stabbed him
twice in the face and once in the head. M. Cotelle again
seized him, and another struggle ensued ; but the man
breaking from his grasp stabbed bim in the arm. At this
moment an usher, attracted by M. Cotelle's cries, entered.
Duplessis seized the man, and tried to stab him, but only
succeeded in wounding him in the ear. The gown, how-
ever, which the usher wore was cut through in seieral
places. Four other persons,then arrived, and they, over-
powering the assassin, wrested his poignard from him.
The man was then conveyed to a place of safety, and
being searched a pistol loaded to the
_muzzle was fowl
on him. He expressed groat regret that he had not
succeeded in murdering M. Cotelle, and said that he
would certainly de so. As to the cause of his crime,
it 'appeared that he entertained, a bitter hatred of all
judicial functionaries, in consequence of his having been
condemned in 1835 to a fine of 8,000 f., for usury ; that
he entertained animosity against M. Cotelle in particu-
lar for' declining to prosecute some persons whom he had
unjustly accused. In defence of the man it was con-
tended that he was labouring under monomania, and
various circumstances were stated tending to prove that
he had long been so. But medical men declared that
though, perhaps, he was not exactly sound in his mind,
e could net be considered so insane as not to be respon-
sible for his actions. The jury acquitted him of the
charge of an attempt at murder, hut declared him guilty
of sitting and wounding a magiritrate in the discharge of
his duty ; and it is said there were 'extenuating circum-
stances in the ease. The Court condemned the accused
to 10 years' imprisonment with hard labour, and to the
surveillance of the police for life.—Paris Paper.
'COMMERCE AND FINANCES Or RUSSIA.—Some elabo-
rate tables have just been published by the • statistical
department of .the Beard of Trade, conveying all the
latest information obtained 'regarding the commerce and
finances of Russ's. From these it appears that in 1852
the public debt of the empire, domestic and foreign, was
63,185,3091. In the same year the revenue from Cus-
toms and Excise duties was 4,924,6031. As regards
the general revenue, the amount is not given for a later
period than 1849, when, exclusive of Poland and Fin-
land, it was 24,794,7351., of which 7,275,4531. was from
direct taxes,
.7,745,110/. from indirect taxes, and
9,774,167/. from the brandy monopoly. Under the
head of shipping', the tables show that the total of vcs-
eel's entered at Russian ports in 1852 was 8,615, of an
aggregate burden-of 1,570,6.51 tens, more than half of
which were to the ports in the Black Sea and the Sea
ofsAzelf. The total clearances were- .8,407 vessels, of
1,520,160 tone. Of this trade -11111 y a fourth was carried
on in British ships, Turkish, Greek, Dutch, SWedish,
Sardinian, Austrian, Prussian, and Danish coming next
in Order. The most important of any single port is
Odessa, where' the arrivals in 1853 amounted to
589, l7B tons, -while the value of the, cargoes shipped,
and which consisted prin`eipally of grain, was 5,627,5001.,
or about 150 per cent, above their amount in 1851.