The Sun.
London, England, 1862-10-14 00:00:00

SINGULAR CASE OF EXHUMING.

We learn from Galignani that the Court of Ces-
sation has just heard an appeal from a judgment
of the Imperial Court of Orleans, given under the
following circumstances :—ln 1838 Madame and
Madlle. de Castro died at Menars (Loir-et-Cher),
and were buried in leaden coffins in the cemetery
of that commune, but without any purchase of the
ground having been made by their relatives. I-zl
1850 the Mayor of Menars wrote to M. de Castro,
then in Portugal, requesting to know whether he
wished to purchase the ground where his wife and
daughter were interred. M. de Castro replied that
he intended to have their remains conveyed to the
island of Terceira, where he resided, and that he
should come to France in the following
year to fetch them, and would then pay all
expenses arising from the delay. M. de Castro,
however, did not fulfil his promise, and two letters
addressed to him, the last in 1855, remained un-
answered. The ground where Madame and Madlle.
de Castro were buried had already been respected
twice, while that occupied by others near them.
had been resumed, when in September last 111,
Chapuy, the deputy-mayor, after taking the advice
of a chef-de-bureau at the Prefecture of Loir-et
Cher, determined to disinter the bodies, and,
apply the leaden coffins in repairing the
cross of the cemetery. The coffins were
accordingly taken up, forced open with chisels,
and the bodies, which were in a good state of
preservation, thrown back into the grave
It was also stated that the bodies were indecently
unshrouded to see whether they had any jewellery
on them. The lead of the coffin was employed as
proposed. This proceeding caused no little ex-
citement in the country, and M. Chapuy was
prosecuted, with the permission of the Council
of State, on a charge of violation of sepulture.. Me
was acquitted by the police tribunal of Blois, and
that decision, when appealed against by the public
prosecutor, was confirmed by the Imperial Court
of Orleans. The Procureur-Imperial of the Court
of Orleans now appealed to the Court of Cessa-
tion, which has quashed both the preceding judg-
ments, on the ground of misinterpretation of the
law, which, while authorising municipal authori-
ties to resume unpurchased ground after five years,
does not confer the right of exhuming bodies and
opening coffins found entire, 148 such exhumation is
only legal under other conditions and for other
reasons than the mere resumption of the ground by
the municipal authorities. The Court has further
ordered a ntw trial before the Imperial Court of
Angers.

MEXICO.

-+

(From the Money Market Review.)
The course of events in Mexico moves steadily forward
towards the consummation which all who take an interest
in the welfare of that country now desire to see. The first
instalment of the French reinforcements has landed at Vera
Cruz. At this moment probably not less than 20,000 ad-
ditional troops have touched the Mexican shore. Will any
attempt be made to resist this force ? What are the pro-
babilities suggested by the actual state of circumstances ?

The French have some months past had, at the utmost,
in Mexico not more than 5,000 men. The last encounter
between them and the Mexicans took place on the 14th of
June. Since that time the French (left to conduct the war
single .handed) have been standing purely on the defensive.
What has been, on the other hand, the position of the
Mexicans ? With the whole resources of the country at
their disposal, their antagonists shut up in a single town,
why have they not assembled their forces and gone to chas-
tise their invaders ? What a glorious opportunity have they
had. Cut off from the possibility cf receiving resources,
until the sickly season should be past, what chance could
5,000 French soldiers have had against the force of the
whole Mexican nation ?

Does not this single fact render the whole truth trans..
sparent ? Is it not clear that there is no such thing as an
army, or a Government in the country ?
It is said that Puebla is to be fortified. Puebla is the
principal city between Orizaba and Mexico. But if the
Mexicans have not been able to do anything against the
French in the isolated position of the latter, with only
5,000 troops, what can they hope to do when that number
shall be increased sixfold.

Juarez will doubtless attempt to make some demonstra-
tion, in order to induce the French commander to treat with
him. Doblado, a member of the Government equal in im-
portance to Juarez himself, has left the capital for Gus-
naxuato, one of the largest cities in the interior—professedly
to organise a military force of defence there ; but another
account tells us that his mission is to pacify the Sierra
Gonda, the inhabitants of which were in insurrection.
General Forey, the new French Commander-in-Chief,
was to land at Vera Cruz early in September. He has
issued an excellent address to the army, from Martinique.
This officer takes uith him instructions from his Govern-
ment, prepared with a full connaissance des causes, which
the intervening time has enabled the French Government
to acquire.

It will be in the capital of the country that we shall see
the solution of this great undertaking—so important to
British interests. Under the protection of the French flag,
the sober-minded portion of the community will have the
opportunity of declaring their sentiments, and whether it
is really their desire to continue to see their country in the
condition in which it was described in the representation
made last year to Earl Russell, by the merchants and others
connected with Mexico, in the following terms :
"The condition of Mexico has gone from bad to worse.
It has become one now, not merely of political agitation,
but of entire social disorganisation. For three years the
country has been without a Government—that is to say,
without anything possessing the reality of that title,
while those who have assumed to exercise the powers of
Government have been themselves foremost in acts of law-
lessness—suspending the performance of obligations so-
lemnly entered into towards creditors, seizing continually
funds which had been specifically appropriated to those
creditors ; dissipating the resources of the State ; and
crowning their acts of violence by tearing the seal of the
British Legation from the property of British subjects, and
forcibly laying hold of the same for the use of the Govern-
ment. In Mexico there
,is no security for person or pro-
perty. Within the last twelve months, no less than 23
Englishmen have been murdered there."
For the redress of these wrongs and protection for the
future, we must in fairness acknowledge we shall be in-
debted to the perseverance of our French neighbours. The
establishment of tranquility there will open out to us a fine
extension of our commerce. The Mexican debt will become
to us a reality. The customs duties solemnly mortgaged
thereto will be honestly applied to it, and some just arrange-
ment will be made for the liquidation of the arrears of in-
terest, now 25i per cent. on the capital. But the party
most benefited by what is going forward will be the Mexi-
can nation itself—relieved from a thraldom as oppressive as
it has been infamous, in the form of factious and mock
governments, organised for nothing but corruption and
plunder.

MUSEUM OF PATENTS, SOUTH KENSINGTON.
Number of visitors for the week ending Oct. 11, 4,509;
total number since the opening of the museum free daily
(12th May, 1858), 640,260.

SIGNS OF WINTER.--On the North Yorkshire
hills, on Sunday, snow and rain fell nearly all day, with
cold, boisterous north-east winds. The weather in the
north has been very unsettled since Friday, and it is much
chiefly—is)
to be regretted that a large breadth of the harvest—oats
yet unsecured in the exposed positions, and some
crops are still to cut. During the week very little progress
has been made with harvest; what has been stacked has
been in very damp condition, and factors are wearied with
offers of out-of-conditioned new grain.

SOUTH KENSINGTON MUSEUM.—During the
week ending Oct. 11, the visitors ha.t.e been as follow :
On Monday, Tuesday, and Saturday, free days, open from
10 a.m. to 10 p.m., 30.874; on Wednesday, Thursday, and
Friday, students' days (admission to the public 6d.), open
from 10 a.m. till 5 p.m., 5,546; total, 36,420; from the
opening of the museum, 3,413,592.

Previous to the return of the Royal Family tc
England, the King of Prussia will pay a short visit to her
Majesty at Coburg. His Majesty was expected to arrive en
Sunday, and to return to Berlin on the following day.
THE GARIBALDI AND POPE EXCI7TEMENT IN
LIVERPOOL.—Though it was anticipated that the lectures
and preachings of Gavazzi on Friday night and on Sunday
might have caused some excitement and rioting in Liver-
pool, fortunately quiet was maintained, Had any outburst,
however, occurred, the police had made the most compre-
hensive arrangements to quell the disturbance at its outset.n
At Birkenhead on Sunday there were knots of people in
half-dozens moving about the neighbourhood of Holy
Trinity no
Trinity Church (the scene of the recent a
combined movement was attempted. To.o-uniegtliat
Gavazzi lectures at the Collegate Institution
ever (Tuesday)
" Garibaldi,
y precaution
Victor Emmanuel, and the rop b
deliveries in
will be taken against interruption
THE TEA TRADE,
ae er
ekdw 13.—Thewereaie,nt hd7 Bvel violence
w previous ic
state-
! t last ea-
Lon d
decreasee n estimated
67,
2721fbe teheowNpv
menders
October
The Count de Trani, brother of Francis IL, ex-
King of Naples, arrived at Brussels two da'ys ago from
England, and left again on tlao following day fur Germany.