The Sun.
London, England, 1852-05-31 00:00:00

Vita( Zbition

TATA ERSALL'S-THIS EVENING

SIX O'CLOCK.

MANCHESTER TRADE CUP.
11 to 2 agst Cockcrow
EMPEROR'S PLATE.

3 to 1 agst Voltigeur
7 to 2 agst Teddington
NORTHUMBERLAND PLATE.
3 to 1 agst Stilton

CC IMMON PLEAS.-(THIS DAY.)
IN BE WILLIAM COBBETT.
Mr s. Cobbett applied for a writ of habeas corpus to
bring., up her husband to this Court, for the purpose of
enabl log him to show that he was improperly detained
in custody in the Queen's Bench Prison. Mrs. Cobbett
moved on affidavits setting out the circumstances under
which her husband was imprisoned, and said it was a
disgraco to the country that she should have to make such
repeated applications for the release of her husband,
who had now been twelve years an inmate of the Queen's
Bench.

The CHIEF JUSTICE said there was nothing in the
matter in which the Court could act, the question being
exactly the same as that which the Court had disposed
of a few days before.—The application was, therefore,
refused.

FRANCE.
The Patnie doubts the authenticity of a firme n of
the Sultan relative to the Holy Cities published in
the Siecle of Athens, and which paper has been seized
by order of the French Government.
At Marseilles on the 27th all the troops in garrison
marched to the Champ de Mars, and the general com-
manding received from all the officers the oath of
obedience to the Constitution and fidelity to Louis
Napoleon.
The religious ceremony commemorative of the
Empress Josephine was performed on Friday at the
church at Rueil. The church was hung with black
on the occasion. Marshal Jerome Bonaparte and
the other members of the family of the Emperor at-
tended the ceremony. After the service the Princess
Mathilde walked to Malmaison, where the Empress
died. Among the persons present were Generals Plat
and Lawcaitine, Colonel Laborde, MM. Lacrosse,
Leconte, Deputy for the Yonne, and his brother, a
captain in the Chasseurs de Vincennes, Garde, Count
Tascber de la Pegerie, &c., as well as a number of
officers and soldiers of the Grand Army in their
uniforms.

The plan for a railway to unite France to Switzer-
land and Savoy is now under serious consideration.
M. Jordan, the engineer, has been charged with the
preparatory works of the line, the direction of which
appears to have been fully decided on. In conse-
quence of an understanding between General Du-
four, who is a very distinguished engineer, and the
French engineers, it has been agreed that the line,
which is to start from Lyons, shall, on reaching the
frontier, divide itself into two branches, one on Ge-
neva, and the other on Chambery. At a future day
a branch line will start from Macon and join the
main line between Lyons and the frontier, so as to
put Paris in a still more direct communication with
Switzerland and also with Piedmont, and the net
work of railways now in course of construction in
Italy.

ITALY.
The Roman Journal of the 21st inst. publishes an
official list of the merchant navy of the Papal States.
It consists of 1,430 vessels, of which 863 measure
28,204 tons, manned by 9,110 seamen.
Vespers were chaunted on the eve of the Ascension
in the Sistine Chapel of the Vatican in the presence of
the Pope, the Sacred College, the Roman Prelacy,
and Magistracy. The Pope was afterwards carried
in great pomp to the balcony, whence, amidst the
roaring of artillery, he gave his benediction to the
people. The French and Roman troops, drawn up
on the open ground, gave additional splendour to the
solemnity.
The Chamber of Deputies of Turin approved on
the 26th inst.,
after a short discussion, a Bill pre-
sented by the Government, granting an extraordinary
credit to the Ministers of Marine and Public Works.
Accounts from Florence, of the 23d inst., state
that on the preceding day his Excellency Henry
Lytton Bulwer had the honour to be received at a
private audience by the Grand Duke, when he deli-
vered the letters accrediting him as Minister Pleni-
potentiary to the Grand Ducal Court.

THE SHIPS SEEN ON AN ICEBERG.
The Government have received the following reply
to the inquiry made at Newfoundland concerning the
vessels seen, or supposed to have been seen, by the
crew of the Renovation:—

" Government-house, St. John's, New-
foundland, May 6.
" Sir,--I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt
of Mr. Merivale's dispatch of the 16th of April, 1852,
together with its enclosure from the Board of Admiralty,
respecting two vessels reported to have been seen on
field of ice attached to an iceberg off Newfoundland, in
April, 1851, and ‘trh'ch it is surmised may possibly be
Sir John Franklin's ships; and, in compliance with the
instructions therein contained, I have caused inquiries
to be made through the Commercial Society of St.
John's, but can obtain no information whatever relative
to the above described vessels.
" I enclose herein a letter received from the President
of the Chamber of Commerce, and I share in the opinion
therein expressed, that it is well nigh impossible that
two vessels on a field of ice attached to an iceberg of
the magnitude and description spoken of by the men of
the Renovation could have passed along this coast from
the north and have reached the latitude of Cape Race
without having been seen either by some of the numerous
sealing vessels which intersect the field ice in the months
of March and April, or by some of the many vessels
that pass this island at that season en their way to or
from the Gulf of St. Lawrence, Nova Scotia, or New
Brunswick.

"In the season of 1851 no vessels engaged in the seal
fishery of this island were lost, and theretoro I agree in
the opinion that there must have been some misappre-
hension on the part of the persons who supposed they
had seen such vessels, occasioned, perhaps, by the de-
ceptive appearance that icebergs assume under some
peculiar action of the atmosphere; whereas, had the in-
quiry been made with reference to the spring of this
year, not two, but many vessels, might have been seen in
positions somewhat similar to that described by the men
of the Renovation; for, owing to two disastrous gales in
the last month, very great damage has been sus-
tained by our sailing fleet, and, out of 400 vessels en-
gaged in that fishery, upwards of 60 have either foun-
dered or been abandoned at sea among the field ice, and
many of the derelicts have after being deserted by their
own crews, been brought in by those of other vessels,
and vessels have also been dispatched by the local Go-
vernment in search of others, and to bring off from dif-
ferent parts of the coast the shipwrecked sealers,
to 3,000 in number.—l have, 84c.,
amounting nearly

" J. GASPARD LE MARCHANT.
" The Right lion. Sir John S. Pakington, &c."

" St. John's, Newfoundland, May 5.
" Sir,—l. had the honour to receive your letter of this
date, and in compliance with your request I have made
inquiry from several members of the Commercial So-
ciety, and can obtain no information relative to the
vessels said to have been seen in the ice in April, 1851.
"It is evident that there must have been some mis-
apprehension on the part of the persons who supposed
they had seen such
vessels; occasioned perhaps by
the deceptive appearance that icebergs assumeunderi
some peculiar action cf the atmosphere; for t is
almost impossible that an iceberg of the mag-
nitude and
.description spoken of by the crew of
the Renovation could have passed along this coast
from the north, and have reached the latitude of Cape
Race, without having been seen by some of the pupae-
foes sealing vessels which constantly intersect the held
weekly
kinl
taped their observation it must have been seen, when
ythpeasms months of March and April; and if it had es.
within 30 miles of Cape Race, by others of the very
many vessels that pass this island at that season on their
way to or from the Gulf of St. Lawrence, Nova Scotia,
could hay© been seen by the crew and New Brunswick b One of the steamers that
, or
.y ,
n a few miles of the Cape, on their way
fro,m, Liverpool to Halifax or the States.
The opinion is very general here that no such vessels
, of the Renovation.
i‘ I hare, &c.,
0 W. THOMAS.
"Hon. J. Crowds, Colonial Secretary, &c."

OLD LONDON HOUSES, AND TIIEIR INTERESTING
AssocumoNs.—Many a weary step in the streets of London
is lightened by the knowledge that in one, the house still
exists (with shoemakers working in the " observatory" on the
top) where Isaac Newton
produced the works which have so
Lawrence
much benefited the world;• that in another, Reynolds pro-
duced his greatest pictures; in another, Hogarth ; in another,
Johnson hospital o
went
e thent
with ic
tlhvarten aboverosid theresided
ding
ugraint egwtahyo of
buildingll ucto rosf' s t Commove,Paul's
Cathedral; that in Cock-lane, soli hfield, is the house in
Christopher;
which was enacted the famous Cock-lane Ghost imposition,
and that not far from this, is the crypt of St. John, Clerken-
so
well, almost the only remaining portion of the sumptuous
Dr.n
ni g
othershts of
iSt.n
aJohnll due of
solemnity Jerusalem,
to where
nnina the troubled spirit of Cock-lane. These and thousands of
other recollections, both varied and curious, come thick upon
the mind when wandering in London.—Builder.
CURIOUS INTERIOR OF A TREE.—Last week, the
sawyers employed at the carriage manufactory of Messrs.
Wright and Son, of Harrogate, while engaged as usual in
cutting timber, were very much astonished on dividing a
large chesnut tree to see in the centre, about nine feet trom.a
the roots, the figure of an eagle perfectly delineated, the e:
keen, and the feathers as distinctly marked as if the hand
of a talented artist had been most fortunate in his touches.d Etn
This figure, it is imagined, is of some depth in the woo
;hun
presents a very valuable curiosity. Already several d
feel
dreds have visited the saw-it of the manufactory, an
well repaid by a sight of this remarkable phenomenon.—
Leeds Mercury.
WATERFORD AND KILKENNY RAILWAY.—The
half-yearly meeting of this company' was held 9 Friday at
the London Tavern, Bishopsgata-street, Major-General
M`Leod took the chair. The report, which was of a favour-
able nature, was adopted, and after the transaction of some
formal business the meetieg separated.