The Sun.
London, England, 1863-01-21 00:00:00

(BY MAGNETIC TELEGRAPH.)
GRAVESEND, Wednesday Morning.

DEAL, Wednesday Morning.

No arrivals.
Sailed—Yorkshire, for London in tow of two tugs; the
rest of the homeward bound getting under way.

NEW DECORATION.--" A cross of a new Order,"
says the Prase, " may be seen in the Galerie Montpensier
of the Palais Royal. It is that of Radama 11., King of
Madagascar. lie has just given an order in Paris for
12,000 f. worth of this cross, which has seven points, is sur-
mounted by a royal crown, and suspended by a red ribbon
with transversal stripes of a darker shade." _ _

THE FRENCH CORPORAL —A corporal in
,the
French service is not a kind of hybrid soldier. He is
not a private, neither is he considered a non-commissioned
officer. He messes and lodges with the privates—gets the
same rations, the same quality of cloth for his clothing,
is obliged to live on terms of intimacy with them, play
with them, and yet must command and punish when neces-
sary. Forced to live thus with these men, it requires tact
for a corporal to remain friendly with bis comrades, and at
the same time to retain his authority. It would be utterly
impossible for him to do so were it not for the law of the
French military service, which renders a superior liable to
punishment if he neglect to punish a man who has miscon•
ducted himself. Officers have long ago recognised the rank
of corporal as the most difficult to fill in the military
hierarchy. They have all admitted that the corporals are
the cats aws of regiments. It might be imagined that un-
der such circumstances the corporal is a miserable man. On
the contrary, he is the jolliest soldier in the regiment. In
the first stages of his responsibility he may get a little de-
spairing at seeing that, do what he will, he cannot please ;
but it soon wears off. He soon learns why he is always
punished, and soon gets to know that he is a kind of vent-
peg for any officer or superior's anger. Hence, when a
"blown-up" officer turns round and confines his corporal
four days to barracks, the corporal will frequently give him
a wink, and the officer will answer with a laugh. Officers
having recognised the difficulties of a corporal's position,
make allowances for his frequent punishments. Often his
score will bo rubbed out. Officers show, also, great indul-
gence in other ways to these poor " softiies miseres;"
besides which, they, in a certain measure, :fear them.
A captain having a bad set of corporals will continually
be reprimanded for untidy mon. Another captain, more
conciliatory, will have tidy men, and always receive compli-
ments. The corporal can incite the men of his squad to
work, and by his energy, zeal, and example, can make them
rapid in all their duties. The corporal's opinion on any
subject is accepted by all the men under his immediate con-
trol; he makes black popular to-day, and condemns it irre-
trievably to-morrow. He it is who makes an officer popu-
lar or unpopular, confers nicknames, and is generally at the
bottom of all fun. When I had IL:en rigged out with a
fatigue-dass, Corporal de Bona's told me that I looked like
a pantin, a puppet ; that I was as still as the Colonne S en-
dome ; in fact, that I was a regular " godarn,' oh yes I" and
offered to wager that he would cut round our room and
touch the 40 men there before I could touch a dozen. This
he proceeded to do in a most extraordinary manner ; he
spun round the room like a peg-top, and first with one hand
and then the other, and with each foot alternately, slapped
and kicked every man, standing at the foot of his bed on
purposP • then turned a somersault, and finished off with a
few of the most admired steps of the cancan, and a gr9,-,
tesque imitation of the Colonel in a rage.—. Dickens's
04 Yoe ,R 91014."

POLICE INTELLIGENCE—This Day.

MARLBOROUGH-STREET.

SAVAGE ASSAULTS.—AIice Goddard alias Taylor, a
well-known virago, living at 8, St. Ann's-court, Soho, was
charged with violently assaulting Agnes Hamilton, and
inflicting serious wounds about her face with a drinking
glass.
The complainant, whose face was sadly disfigured, said
that while in the Portland Arms, Great Portland-street,
that morning about one o'clock, the defendant came in and
asked her to have some brandy and water, at the same time
handing her the glass. She pretended to drink but did not,
and handed her back the glass, at the same time thanking
her. The defendant then began quarrelling with her about
a young man, and struck her two violent blows in the face
with the glass, breaking it and inflicting the wounds on
her face and covering her with blood. A constable arriv,
ing, she (complainant) was taken to the Middlesex Hos-
pital where the wounds were dressed, and the defendant
was taken into custody.
Frost, 168 E, said he was called to the Portland Arms
and saw the complainant bleeding from wounds on her
face. He took hor to the Middlesex Hospital where her
face was dressed, and another constable took the defendant
to the same hospital, she having cut her hand badly with
the glass.
Mr. Tyrwhitt said the defendant was a little savage, and
committed her fur two months with hard labour.

John Tobin, of 6, White Hart-court, Tcttenham-court-
road, was next charged with assaulting, with a hammer,
John Mahony, his next door neighbour.
Complainant said that, hearing a noise in the court, he
went down to see the cause, when a man, whom he had
given evidence against in a case of assault, struck him a
blow with his fist, and the prisoner then struck him a vio-
lent blow on the top of his head with a large hammer. He
became insensible from the effects of the blow, and was
taken to the Middlesex Hospital, where his head was
dressed by the surgeon.

Mr. Tyrwhitt—You had not got a nice little stick in your
hand at the time, had you ?
Complainant—Oh no.
Mr. Tyrwhitt— Had there not been a regular shindy
going on in the court ?
Complainant—There was a little disturbance.
A constable said he saw the prisoner strike the com-
plainant on the head with the hammer, but he did not see
the complainant strike any one.
Mr. Tyrwhitt said it was impossible to say what might
be the effect of the wound the complainant had received,
and he should therefore remand the prisoner for a week.