The Sun.
London, England, 1853-02-04 00:00:00

PORTUGAL.

Some progress has been made in the Cortes dur-
ing the last week. All the elections have been ap-
proved of, though some were strenuously disputed.
A vigorous effort was made to unseat) Don Ftmn-
cisco d'Almeida, a nephew of the Du` eof Saldanha,
on the ground that he had not a legal qualification.
A subservient majority, however, decided that he
was within the pale of the law. At first sight it
would have seemed that he was expressly excluded
by the reformed charter, but the most stringent
enactments in this country are practically very
elastic. All yield to the ruling powers.
The Chamber of Peers'is far from exhibiting the
same pliancy. If we are to judge from results,
the Ministry will be in a minority. On the ques-
tion of addressing the Throne in reply to the speech
delivered by the Duke of Saldanha at the opening
of the session, no, less than 24 voted with Viscount
Labervan, the leader of the Opposition, and only 12
supported the Minister. From a consciousness of
their own weakness, the Government have used
every stratagem to prevent a meeting of the peers,
by keeping away from the house.
It is reported that the Queen refuses to consent
to the creation of a new batch of peers.
Some sensation was excited by a report of the
discovery of an infernal machine. But the whole
affair was turned into ridicule, and seems to have
been an invention of the police. It was once as-
serted that it was concocted to alarm the Queen,
and overcome her repugnance to the unconstitu-
tional proposition for swamping the peers.
The decision of the Stock Exchange is considered

fatal to the financial schemes of genhor Fo.ntes,
and will probably lead to a change in the Adminis-
tration as soon as the Duke of Saklgnha is able to
attend to business. He is still an invalid, though
he derived considerable relief. from a surgical ope-
ration to which he was compelled to submit.
Five per Cent. Inscriptions are quoted at 40,
and shares in the. Bank of Portugal have risen to
310,000 320,000. Exchange on London is 844 for
bills at ninety days' date.
Vessels of War in the Tagus.—Her Majesty's
ship Sanspereil and steamer Inflexible ; French
steamer Peterel, Egyptian yacht Kassida Sthamie.

A TALE OF 1814.—A manufacturer, residing in the
Rue du Temple, Paris, wlio possesses a small property
near Montmorency, last week employed two labourers
to make some alterations in the garden. In digging the
ground, at about two feet below the surface, they came
on a skeleton, having a deep cot on the front part of the
skull. The authorities, being informed of the aretn-
stance, sent for a medical man, who declared the skele-
ton to be that of a man of from thiiLy to for ty years of
age, and that it must have been in the ground about
forty years. Some old men in the neighbourhood, on
hearing what had occurred, came forward, and stated
how the body had, in the first instance, been interred in
the garden. A retired clerk possessed the house and
property in 1814, living there with his wife, still in the
prime of life, and his daughter, a girl of about sixteen.
When the allies were on the point of entering Paris, lie
determined to take his family to the capital, as being
safer, but his wife was ill at the time, and could not be
removed, and the daughter insisted on remaining with
her as companion. The husband was in doubt what to
do, when a party of Prussian soldiers were sent to
the house with billets. The clerk received then hos-
pitably, and tire next morning, informing the officer
that he was obliged to go to Paris, requested him to
see that the ladies were not molested. This he pro-
mised faithfully to do. It so happened that 'the sol-
diers drank that day more freely than they had for
some time been accustomed to do, and at last they
spoke of entering the apartments of the mother and
daughter. The officer endeavoured to keep them -within
bounds, but they insisted on carrying their plans into
execution. The officer then cried out to the ladies to
escape ; and, placing himself before the door, endeavoured
to keep the soldiers at bay. They pressed on-him, how-
ever, so sharply, that he was obliged to draw his sword
and defend himself. For some minutes he succeeded iu
his attempt, but at last he received a deep cut on the
head, which felled him to the ground. The soldiers
then trampled him under foot, and rushed into the room
which had been assigned to the ladies, but which they
found empty. The devotedness of the officer had not
o assistance
women.
A la
the
proved fruitless, as, on hearing his voice, the daughter
had opened ewdats broughtheNvindo by wanadsocaryllaerdit,loauncall yb for assistance.
were got safely down before the soldiers burst into tlie
room. The women at once set off for Paris,and o
nthe
family
way they met the master of the house,lated what had occurred, He, without
odwelhayom,
went
rteo-
partyMarshalof Prussiansßlueh e r
' Navne dr
e sitMatllaededwia.lreity hsaedn sent happened.
his grave. These or-
the ringleaders of the attack over
with orders to bury the unfortunate officer, and to shootp
the officer being the garden. The clerk and his
1 ders were duly executed, the spot chosen for interring
then took a dislike to the place, and soon after disposed
of it at' less than its value.—French paper,