The Sun.
London, England, 1852-02-06 00:00:00

FRANCE.

The Ministers of Justice, War, and the Interior
have addressed the following circular to the Pro-
cureurs- Ge n eraux :
" Monsieur le Procureur-Genikral,—Animated with

the desire of putting an end to the difficulties which
have been caused by the numerous arrests which have
been made in consequence of the late disturbances,
and of seeing society delivered from the pernicious
elements which threaten to dissolve it, the Go-
vernment wishes that a decision shall be come
to in the shortest possible delay on the fate of all the
individuals compromised in the insurrectionary move-
ment, or attempts at disturbance which have taken place
since the 2d of December. Already, by a circular of
the 29th nit., inserted in the Moniteur, the Minister of

the Interior has given orders to the Prefects to imme-
diately set at liberty all those prisoners whom they
shall consider to have been only led astray, and who
may be released without any danger to public
security. The prefects have hastened to re-
spond on this subject to the intentions of the Prince
President, and those who have not yet done so, will
order the immediate release of all those who may be
set at liberty without any further examination, and
give an account of the same as soon as possible to the
Ministers of the Interior and of War. After the execu-
tion of this measure there will remain in the prisons cer-
tain persons more or less compromised, with regard to
whom it is also desirable to come to a prompt determina-
tion. The Government has thought that, in order to
reconcile at the same time the interest of justice, of
general safety, and of humanity, that it cannot do
better than confide the trial of these prisoners in each
department to a kind of mixed tribunal, composed of
functionaries of different orders, sufficiently connected
with the places where the facts have occurred to be
able to appreciate their real character, and sufficiently
high placed in the hierarchy to understand the im-
portance of such a mission, to resolutely accept the re-
sponsibility of it, and to offer to society as to individuals
every guarantee of intelligence and impartiality. In order
to leave to these departmental commissions free liberty
of appreciation, all the judicial, administrative, and
military authorities who have been up to this time
charged to examine into the late events, such as the
military commission!, the examining magistrate!, &c.,
are now completely to cease their operations. All the
documents connected with the examinations which they
have already gone into will be immediately sent to the
prefectures, to be there placed at the disposal of the
commission. The following is the manner in which this
commission will be formed, and the manner in which it
is to proceed:—
" 1. The commission will be composed at the chief
town of a military division, of the commandant of the di-
vision of the prefect, and of the procureur-general or
procureur of the Republic ; at the chief town of court of
appeal which shall not be the chief town of a military
division, of the prefect of the military commandant of the
department, and of the procureur general ; in all the
other departments, of the prefect, the military command-
ant, and the procureur of the ltepvblic of the chief town.
" 2. The Commission thus composed will assemble at
the hall of the prefecture. There it will call for all the
documents which have been placed at its disposal, either
by the parquets, by the military commissions, or by the
civil administrations; and, afier a mature examination,
it will take with regard to each prisoner a decision,
which shall be transcribed on a register, with the motives
in stipport, of it, and which shall be signed by three
members. If in the case of some of the prisoners the
documents collected . are not sufficiently explanatory it
will order more information to be obtained, which may
be done by any judicial, administrative, or military agent,
indistinctly
•

" 3. The measures which may be applied according to
the degree of culpability, the political and private ante-
cedents, and the family position of the accused, are the
following:—Being sent before the Councils of War,
transportation to Cayenne, transportation to Algeria
(two classes, expressed by the words more, less), expul-
sion from France, momentary removal from the terri-
tory, the obligation to reside in a determined locality,
being sent before the correctional police, being
placed under the surveillance of the Ministerial
department of police, and being set at liberty.
However, the commission will send before the Councils
of War only such individuals as are evidently guilty of
murder or an attempt to murder, and will pronounce
transportation to Cayenne only on such of the accused
as have been previously tried and condemned by the
ordinary courts of law. In the departments which have
not been declared in a state of siege transportation to
Cayenne shall be pronounced against individuals of the
first category, even when not previously tried and con-
demned by the ordinary courts of justice.
"4. As soon as the deliberations shall have been
closed, a list of the matters decided on shall be drawn up
la triplicate and sent to the Ministers of Justice, Inte-
rior, and War. The said list shall contain-Ist, the
names, place of birth, and place of residence of the ac-
cused; 2d, the decision come to in each case; and 3d, in
a column for observations, a succinct sketch of the trial,
and, particularly, the motives which may have deter-
mined thu commission to place the accused on the cate-
goryindicated in the decision, so that the Government
may judge of the merit of the several classifications.
" 5. The present instructions have been deliberated on
in common by the Ministers of Justice, Interior, and War;
they are consequently to be executed by the designated
functionaries dependent on the three departments. These
functionaries will have to be perfectly penetrated with
the double motive which has dictated them; accord
amongst all the authorities, in order to co-operate in agreat
measure of j ustice and general safety; and rapidity in com-
ing to a decision, in order to terminate as quickly :as
possible a situation which cannot last any longer. The
Government reckons sufficiently on the intelligence and
devotedness of the members composing the commission,
to be convinced that they will proceed together in a
perfect understanding, and with all the activity pos-
sible towards the end which is to be attained. The Go-
vernment desires to have the fate of all the incrimi•
nated persons decided at latest by the end of February.
"6. These instructions are not applicable to the de-
partments composing the first military division. For
the other departments, they are to replace those which
may have been hitherto sent on the same subject to the
heads of the Departments of Justice, the Interior, and
voeictrtay, and which are to be now considered null and

" Receive, Monsieur le Procureur-G6Aral,
nee of our distinguished consideration. the assur.
Annsmuccx, Minister of Justice.
A. DE ST. ARNAUD, Minister of War.
T.
DR PERSIGNY, Minister of the Interior."

Prussian Governmentmbteeer
The follow' GERMANY.
circular addressed by the
alll the states of the Zollve-
nig is th
coast, in consequence of the
at the trenactleVseiedi,noaf :t—he
~auart of Prussia
rein on the sth December
~ By a note, a copy of svhinclitor
convocation of a customs
28th
ult., the Austrian envoy
re-
mitted to the Government of his has
which he received from his Court
tsty the instructions
(a copy of which is likewise enclogoend the 25th ult.
which inform the Government of the win)---instructions
cation of a new tariff of the Austrian cugstof the publi-
cation
intention of the Imperial Government to
and of
Vienna, at the commencement of the year, deliberations
atns
on a customs and commercial association, to beratio
eluded between Austria and the German States. "11"
" Before taking any resolution in this important
af-
fair the Government of the King considers it necessary
to call to mind, in the first instance, the deliberations
which took place at the general conference of the states
() tthe Zillverein on the subject of the formation of
commercial
relations
between the Zollverein and
Austria, Now, • hese deliberations it was
observed, in
t
such being entered in the proces verbal
on the subject, th;t
that the Zll ----there was no objection
0 vt,rign should enter upon negotiations with
the Austrian Government relative to the conclusion
of a trtaty for •
commerce and that such negotiations
Prussia, should be coaducted by Bavaria, and Saxony,
under reserve to the concurrence rrence of the plenipotentiaries
of the other states of thec
Zoilverein, if the latter should h
desire it; on the other and, no resolution was
passed on the motion which proposed that the treaty
in question should be concluded on the basis pro-
posed by Bavaria and Saxony,
position made by the Prussian plenipotentiary and the pro-
position
to, it being further decided was ad-
ottwisie,
l watio,
and
44z9127
oh_ thatthe Governments
II" Si*. St 1413 AA'

LONDON,

derstanding between themselves on this subject and corn-
municate the result of their deliberations to the other
states of the Zollverein. Although this resolution, as well
as the deliberations which preceded it, had in view only
the conclusion of a commercial treaty with Austria,
whereas the Imperial Court appears to propose the con-
clusion of a treaty, not merely with the Z illverein, but
likewise with the other German States, the Government
of the King would nevertheless have decided to proceed
to the preparatory deliberations with the Governments of
Bavaria and Saxony, which is spoken of in the above re-
solution, and this for the purpose of being able to open ne-
gotiations with the Imperial Government on the basis of
the result of the said deliberations, and of the declarations
to be made on this subject by the other Governments of the
Zollverein, if it were not perfectly convinced that the
present situation of the Zollverein, which has changed
essentially since the deliberations of the general confer-
ence, made it impossible for his Majesty's Government
to concur with any chance of success in such delibera-
tions at the present moment, and has compelled it to de-
cline for the present the invitation addressed to it by the
Austrian Government, which it has accordingly done in
a dispatch dated this day (a copy of which is enclosed),
which dispatch was addressed to the King's Minister at
Vienna, and communicated in duplicate to the Austrian
Ambassador at Berlin.

" There is but little to add to the details contained in
the said dispatch.
" A treaty of commerce with Austria such as the Aus-
trian Government proposes, and such as we ourselves
conceive, should be concluded on a very extensive basis,
and COLISt quen tly comprise numerous reciprocal con-
cessions, which, in order to brieg about a satisfac-
tory result, should be able to count on a long duration,
quite independent of every species of eventuality. But
this certainty cannot be obtained except in such case
where the state of affairs which must be laid down for
the starting point of the negotiations shall remain un-
changed throughout the whole of that period, and it is
precisely this certainty which is wanting at the present
moment, and which, moreover, cannot possibly be ob-
tained, until after the deliberations on the maintenance
of the Zollverein.

" The Government of the King has not hesitated to
enter for a period not exceeding the close of the year
1853 into negotiations on the subject of treaties of com-
merce which concern only the maintenance or unimportant
modifications of the status quo—such, for instance, as
those concluded with Belgium and the Netherlands. A
period as short as this would be utterly incompatible
with the character of the negotiations to be entered into
with Austria.

(Signed)

IRELAND.

" ' MAN TE IMPEL."

DUBLIN, WEDNESDAY.— CLOSE OF THE SPECIAL
COMMISSION AT MONAGHAN.—At the sitting of the
court yesterday morning, the jury who had been locked
up all night in the case of Francis Kelly, for the mur-
der of Mr. Bateson, were called into court, when the
foreman, in reply to the Clerk of the Crown, stated that
they hart not agreed, and they were ordered to retire
once more to their room.
The two prisoners, Patrick Thornton, and Thomas
Hodgens, who had been arrested by the police on Thurs-
day behind a hedge on the road to Castleblaney, were
then placed at the bar, and indicted for illegally having
a blunderbuss in their possession within a proclaimed
district. The Attorney-General stated the case, and
examined some witnesses; for the prosecution. The case
for the Crown having closed, the prisoner Hodgens,
in answer to the Clerk of the Crown, said they had no
witnesses, as they had no time to send for them. The
jury, without leaving the box, immediately handed
down a verdict of guilty.
Chief Justice Blackburne then sentenced the pri-
soners to two years' imprisonment and hard labour, and
informed them that the Lord-Lieutenant had power by
the special provisions of the Act, to alter the ordinary
place of the imprisonment and labour to one of a much
severer character.
The prisoners were then removed, and the Court was
adjourned for a short time.
Shortly after twelve o'clock at noon the judges came
into court, and it having been intimated that the jury in
the case of Francis Kelly had not agreed, and; Dr.
Bodin, a medical gentleman, having deposed that two
of theta were seriously unwell, they were discharged,
and the prisoner was ordered back to gaol, and the
special commission declared adjourned.
The correspondent of the Louth Advertiser says—" I
understand seven of the jury were for an acquittal. The
two prisoners, Francis Kelly and Owen Kelly, will be
tried at the ensuing assizes of Monaghan. There was
no application to have them admitted to bail. The
special commission has cost the county about 3,000/.
The Judges, accompanied by the Attorney-General and
Solicitor-General, returned to Dublin yesterday (Tues-
day) evening. They were escorted from the town of
Monaghan, to the railway station at Castleblayney, by
a troop of dragoons."
ILLNESS OF FATHER MATHEW.--The Dublin Even•
ing Post says:—" A letter from Cork, dated last evening.
received by a gentleman in this city, states that he had
just heard the afflicting intelligence of the death of
Father Mathew; but we earnestly hope that the report
was unfounded, and that the life of this benefactor of the
human race may long be spared." The Cork papers
which came to hand this morning make no mention even
of the Reverend Gentleman's illness.
UOVERNOR OF THE FOUR COURTS MARSHALSEA.—
At length the vacancy in the Marshalsea, caused by the
death of Mr. J. D. Mullen, has been filled by the ap-
pointment of Captain Clements, a relative of the Earl of
Charlemont. The present salary is 870/. per annum,
with a residence, bat likely to be reduced to 750/.

ARREST OF MR. JAMES BlRCEL—Yesterday Mr. J.
Birch, late proprietor of the World newspaper, and
plaintiff in the recent action against Sir William Somer-
ville, Chief Secretary for Ireland, was arrested on a bench
warrant, at the suit of Mrs. French, daughter of Mr.
Brewster, Q.C., who had addressed the jury for the de-
fendant in teat action. It is said that this was the first
time the gent!eman slept in his own house since the war-
rant was iasued for hia apprehension.
DUBLIN, TRURSDAY.—KINSALE ELECTION.--.The
writ for a new election in the borough of Kinsale, in the
room of Mr. B. Hawes, was dispatched from the Harm-
per-office yesterday evening. The election will take
place early next week.
Mr. CHAMBRE.—Yesterday evening Mr. Chambre was
so tar recovered as to be able to sit up in his drawing-
room. The slug which had entered his eye, and which
it was feared had penetrated into the brain, has passed
out behind the ear,

FATHER MATHEW.—The Cork Examiner of yester-
day announces that Father Mathew has recovered
" from the severe attack from which he suffered on
Sunday last."

ILLNESS OF THE BISHOP OF MEATH.—The Evening
Mail says—,.
We are informed that the Bishop of
Meath, in consequence of his late dangerous illness, has
been prohibited by his medical attendants from attend-
ing his Parliamentary duties for some time."
PROSECUTION AGAINST MR. JAMES Bincrt.—Yester-
day Mr. Birch, proprietor of the late World newspaper,
who had been arrested on the previous day on a beech
warrant for a libel on Mrs. French, was admitted to
bail, himself in 2001. and two sureties in 1004 each, to
abide his trial is the Court of Queen's Bench.

A STANDING NAVY.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES.

Sir,—The leading article in your paper of last
Saturday, on the system of maintaining the British
navy, is calculated to do immense good. You will,
perhaps, be aware that I am in a position to inform
you that great has been its effect on the Board of
Admiralty, and that the change you recommend will
ere long be adopted
As a seamen and an Englishman I don't know how
to express my thankfulness at finding your able and
powerful pen taking the only true and rational view
of the state, condition, and government of the British
navy. The press teems with letters about invasion,
about arms, and other similar topics; but whether we
have peace or war, it deeply concerns the public to
know if the navy is made as efficient as possible, and
whether it might not be more economically governed.
There is no argument in favour of a regular or stand-
ing army that may not be still more strongly urged,
both on the grounds of economy and efficiency, in
favour of a regular navy, which ours is not.
No one in the Admiralty has yet been found who
has ventured to deny that the breaking up our ships
and crews every three years increases the expenditure
of the navy about one sixth. Neither have they
been able to refute the assertion that this method is
also the most ingenious ,device for rendering the navy
inefficient. As a professional man I give it as my
opinion that even at this moment we should be better
with half the number of ships-of-war we have lying
rotting in ordinary, and with two-thirds fewer officers.
Our seamen should be entered for the same length of
service as the soldier, without reference to paying off
this ship or commissioning that, and the ships should
be repaired when they require it without any fixed
rules in commissioning or paying off.
At this moment it is still further of immense im-
portance to the public to know how it is, that whilst
the French have a highly efficient set of admirals,
with but 30 in the whole various grades, we cannot
find an efficient admiral, though we have so many
hundreds that it is difficult to give an account of
them.
The simple fact, then, is (and I almost think the
subject may be worth another leading article from
your powerful pen) that the rule of promotion in the
French navy is the reverse of ours. Their junior
officers,
as a general rule, are promoted by seniority,
but their flag officers are all selected as the most
efficient men in the prime of life, from the captains'
list, and at a fixed age are put on a separate pension
list. I would bring to your notice this important
point, that the French make their admirals at the
average age of 40 (the age of Nelson). The English
now make their admirals at the average age of 70.
Here, then, is the secret why the French find 30
admirals sufficient. The French wisely say, it is of
the the
most country
efficthieanttthe men adtmheirca
country no great moment that the junior officers should be
promoted by selection, as they only act under orders,
but they deem it of vital importance to the.safety of
be
In England, strange to say, we would seem to
ols andtr y
admit that the junior
officers must be selected, but
with our admirals it
is of no sort of consequence. It
gceanne ralsshould
produce.
is plain that the time is not far distant when these
simple but all-important facts will have their weight ;
truth cannot be stifled in this country, and the people
will soon think of demanding a good article for their
money.
name, AB elloloSed, gar* 7 known to you ;