The Sun.
London, England, 1853-06-29 00:00:00

MARLBOROUGH-STREET.-(THIS DAY.)

A BIRD-FANCIER. —Wm. Smith was placed at the
bar before Mr. Bingham, charged with stealing a bird-
cage containing a blackbird, the property of Mr. Isaac
Brock, 53, Piccadilly.
Police-constable 192 C stated that this morning, about
3 o'clock, he was on duty in Piccadilly, when he met
the prisoner with the bird and cage produced. He
stopped him and asked him what he was going to do
with the bird, and where he got it from. The prisoner
replied that the cage had fallen down from some house,
and he was looking for an owner for them. Not be-
lieving his statement, witness took him to the station.

Mr. Brock identified the bird and • cage as his pro-
perty.
Prisoner was fully committed.
IMPUDENT ROBBERY.—Thomas Cullum was charged
with stealing a pair of plated snuffers and tray, the pro-
perty of Police-constable Coffee, 31 E.
Coffee stated that he and his wife were taking care of
a gentleman's house, 24, Fitzroy-square, and that this
morning, about eight o'clock, as he was about leaving
the house, he saw the prisoner go down the area and
put his arm through the window, and take the snuffers
and tray produced from the window sill. He put them
under his coat, and ran off, followed by witness, who
took him into custody in Howland street. Directly the
prisoner saw witness, he exclaimed, " Oh, Mr. Coffee,
if I'd known you lived there, I should not have collared
your snuffers." The prisoner was an old offender.
Committed for trial.

MARGARET PROFESSORSHIP OF DIVINITY

AT OXFORD.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.
SlR,—The election of a succcessor to the lamented
Dr. Faussett must, by statute, take place the day after
to-morrow. Let every Protestant Graduate in Divinity
be at his post : let him not promise his vote till he
reaches Oxford. The Tractarian conspiracy is at work
to grasp this important chair. The election lies with
less than 200 voters. —I remain, Sir, yours,

A GRADUATE IN DIVINITY.
Pall Mall, Thursday.

LINGUISTS IN THE ARMY.—On more than one occa-
sion we have endeavoured to impress upon the respected
head of the British army the great importance of extend-
ing the range of acquirements, so as to include in each
regiment officers possessing every variety of knowledge
calculated to come to good account in foreign opera-
tions. We have not asked that any officer should know
more living languages than one in addition to a smat-
tering of the classics, but we have thought that that lan-
guage might occasionally be some other than French
or German. We are now, perhaps upon the eve of oc-
currences which may practically exemplify the neces-
sity of the extension recommended. There is a chance
—we hope a very remote one—of a collision with a Eu-
ropean power whose military resources have never yet
been fully developed. An English force may be required
to co-operate with the troops of France or Austria in
the countries bordering upon the Mediterranean. If
so, some knowledge of the Italian, Russian, and Turk-
ish languages may be essential to our generals, if not
to the inferior officers, in their intercourse with the
people, or the prisoners of war, or in translating in-
tercepted dispatches. An acquaintance with the mo-
dern Greek might also be requisite, and a familiarity
with the military topograghy of all the countries would
prove of undoubted value to the army. Now where
is there— in the present synopsis of military educa-
tion—any encouragement to the acquisition of such
knowledge ? The degree of required attainment
is stereotyped—every ensign who dates from 1849 has
precisely the same stamp upon him, or nearly so. If a
general suddenly wanted a quotation from Livy, he
would find 50 officers in his camp ready to supply it ; if
he needed a translation of a French dispatch, or a
letter to be written in German, he would find a dozen
ready candidates for the duty—et voila tout! All
other languages are tabooed, and but for the
chance of a youth's having travelled in Italy, and
mastered Lavallee's excellent treatise, not a man
in the field would be able to ask a guide the way from
Civita Vecchia to Ancona, or describe the peculiar fea-
tures of the country lying in the line of march. We again
submit to the General Commanding-in-Chief that this is
a defect—and a very serious one. The remedy is most
simple, and we are satisfied that great advantage must
accrue from its adoption. Instead of two living languages,
give every candidate the choice of eight—French,
German, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian; Russian, Dutch,
and Turkish or Arabic. Twenty cases can be ima-
gined in which they would he serviceable. Had
Sir Alexander Burnes or Major Pottinger been en-
abled to translate Russian, they need not have
sent intercepted dispatches all the way to Calcutta for
interpretation. Lord Moira and his staff would have
found their account in an acquaintance with the
Dutch language in 1794 ; and Sir Thomas Graham
and his officers in 1814 would have lost nothing by a
mastery of the means of communicating with the
friends of the Orange dynasty. What would not our
officers have given in 1809 to have been able to speak
Portuguese and Spanish ? How pleasant it would have
been f6r Stuart's people in Calabria had they found
themselves independent of Italian interpreters, and how
useful Abercrombie's officers would have found Arabic in
Egypt ! Taught by experience, no opportunity should
be lost of enlarging the latitude of study. Indeed, the
failure to encourage it will amount to a dereliction of
duty in those who have in charge the direction of mili-
tary education.—United Service Gazette.

ATTEMPTED SUICIDE AND MURDER.--A woman
named Revill attempted to destroy herself and infant
child, on Monday last, in Plymstock, near Radford
House, where there is a pond of water called the Middle
or Fish Pond, which is in one part bounded by the coach
road, near the lawn. The misguided person ran into
the pond with her infant in her arms, and both would
most likely have been drowned, but for the prompt
and humane assistance of Dr. James Bulteel, who hap-
pened providentially to be driving in his gig at the time.
The worthy doctor immediately conveyed them to Rad-
ford House' where the woman, apparently dead, was
wrapped in a blanket, and placed on the hall table, and
friction having been properly applied, she was at length
restored. In the meantime her husband, who works at
Grant's Quarry, Prince Rock, was sent for ; he could
give no reason for the attempted suicide, but said that
for some time she had been in a very low state of mind.
It is stated that she was married at sixteen, and is now
only twenty years of age. The infant is about ten
months old. She had left at home a written paper, in
which directions were given for the disposal of all her
little worldly possessions.— -Plymouth, Journal.
TIIE SUGAR DUTIES.—The new and reduced duties
on sugar on importation into this country come into
operation on Wednesday next, the 6th proximo, by
virtue of the act of 1848 (11 and 12 Vic., cap. 97). A
reduction takes place on that day on sugar or molasses,
the growth and produce of any other British possession
than those into which the importation of foreign sugar
is prohibited, being imported from any such possession ;
and also on sugar or molasses the growth and produce
of any foreign country, and on all sugars or molas3es
not otherwise charged with duty. The new duties
'which come into operation on the 6th proximo, will con-
tinue in force until the sth July, 1854. This is the last
reduction of duties on foreign sugar by virtue of the act
above quoted, and at the terminltion of the period
stated the duties on all kinds of sugar and molasses,
whether imported from British possessions in America
or elsewhere, or from foreign countries, will be entirely
equidised.