The Sun.
London, England, 1849-05-12 00:00:00

trabirV Vllttion

• EXCHEQUER.__(,THIS DAY.) •
(Sittings at Niti Prins at Westminster, helot.° the 'CHIEF
BARON and a Special Jury.)
ATTORNEY•dENERAL v. SHILLIBEER.
This was an infbrmation tiled at the instance of the
upon
hCorroswens'lefotrountotfopra
for the purpose
conducting funerals.
The Solicitor General and Mr. Watson appeared for
the Crown, and Mr. Shillibeer conducted his own defence.
hireyin gbtyhe the necessary
defendant, excise duty
It appeared that under the 2d and 3d of William IV.,
c. 120, a person letting out a vehicle for hire has it at his
option to pay the excise duty, either at the rate of , lid.
per mile, or by paying one-fifih of the whole amount of
hire ; and a considerable number of cases were proied
against the defendant, in which he had returned a much
smaller amount to the Excise than that which he had
charged to the customer. There were altogether twenty-
four different cases against him, and by each' of which tie
rendered himself liable to a penaltyof2o/.
The defendant complained of not being supplied
with the necessary information by the Crown to enable
him to conduct his defence, and that he had been prose-
cuted a second time for the same offence, the flidt action
cise,
having failed, and obliged to incurin enormous expense.
He said that 'he had no intention whatever to. comtnit
any wilful fraud, and that he had i`repeatedly asked the
officers of the Excise, if he were wrong with
respect' to the
duty, to put him right, but they refused to do so, and he
believed, in fact, that they did not know themselves
what was the prOper amount of duty: 'He contended
that, being an undertaker, and having his own 'horses, he
was no more entitled to pay
duty than a wine merchant,
a coal merchant, or any other tradesman who kept a
horse to carry on his busicess, and most of the cases
against him were for horses used in his own jobs.
The case bad not concluded when we went to press.

FRANCE.
It was announced that the Governmert contem-
plated a coup d etat against the National Assembly.
This rumour receives confirmation from the fact that
General Foret refused to obey the orders of the
President of the Assembly, by sending two battalions
to guard it during its sitting—a breach of orders
which was brought under the notice of the Assembly
by M. Armand Marrast, and apologised for by M.
Odilon Barrot.

The debate on the conduct of the Ministry, in dis-
patching the expedition to Rome, was renewed yes-
terday. It was stated by M. Ledru Rollin, and not
contradicted by M. Odilon Barret, who followed
him, that the French army had been told that they
were marching to expel the Neapolitans from Rome,
and to defend the Republic, and that nothing could
exceed the exasperation of the soldiers when they dis-
covered the shameful trick by which they had been
deceived into shedding their blood in the cause of the
reactionaries. M. Jules Favre said that the cornices
of St. Peter's had been damaged by the French
cannon-balls, three of which had been picked up and
exyosed in the Quirinal, with this inscription—" En-
franchisement of Italy ! Homage of the French
Pope—supporters to the church of St. Peter's I'
M. Favre concluded by passing a vote of want of con-
fidence in the Ministry. The discussion had not con •
eluded when the post left.

SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN AND
DENMARK.
(FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT.)
ALTONA, MAT 9, 11 o'CLocir.—One Saxon and
one Prussian officer have conveyed the intelligence,
in passing through from the north, that two skirmishes
have already occurred between the Holstein insur-
gents, who have advanced towards Fredericia, on the
one side, and the Prussian, Bavarian, and Hessian
vanguard, who have advanced towards Veile, on the
other, and the Danish outpost detachments. The
Danish outpost entrenchments, in the vicinity of
Alminde and Bramdrup, were taken by the Holstein
forces, with no slight loss ; and among the rest Count
Schlicfen, major of the 7th battalion of Holstein
Jagers, has fallen. It was said that a further
advance would take place immediately, so as to con-
fine the Danes to the fortress of Fredericia, no doubt,
by this division ; whilst the auxiliary forces operated
on the side of Veile, against the Danish corps of
General Von Bulow.

HALF PAST 12 O'CLOCIL.—At this moment my
servant has arrived with the intelligence that an
engagement of some hours' duration had been the
result of the advance of the Holstein army upon the
Danish lines of defence between Co fling and Fredericia,
in which operation they bad been beyond any doubt
successful, driving the Spanish army entirely out of
their strong positions. There can be little or no
doubt of the correctness of this information, as the
people are cheering away lustily. lam further in-
formed that the Prussian forces have also had a brush,
and were steadily advancing upon Veile. This even-
ing we shall have furthernews by the eight o'clock
train from Rendsburg.
From Saxony the accounts mention thus :—On
the afternoon of the 7th instant the troops had nearly
taken every post of consideration from the insurgents.
A great number of Poles were anAvig these, and had
given instructions in the art of preparing the barri-
cades. The members of the Provisional Govern-
ment had fled, and some of the officers of the Com-
munal Guard had been taken prisoners, among whom
was said to have been Colonel Heintze.
The Prussians had lost several officers killed and
wounded.

PRUSSIA.
The news from the Prussian Rhine provinces, con-
tained in the last number of the .Kolner Zeitung, is of
a very serious character. Almost all the principal
towns in the districts of Cologne, Dusseldorf, and
Coblentz have been the scenes of bloody conflicts be-
tween the troops of the line and the armed Landwehr.
On the evening of the 9th instant crowds of people
assembled in Dusseldorf, and a rumour was spread
of their intention of attacking the residence of the
military commander of that town. The garrison
marched out, but at the same time the bugles of the
Landwehr were heard in the streets. The pave-
ment was torn up, and barricades arose as if by
magic in all parts of the town. The tocsin was
sounded ; its larum was interrupted by the discharge
of cannon and musketry. The barricades were fired
at with grape and canister, and some of them taken
by the troops. The combat continued all night.ThAe
pause took place at 3 o'clock in the mornin
g
of armed peasantry, which had come to
larum of the tocsin was at length silenctehe rescued.iro o
Troops
the city, were prevented from entering the gates,
which were occupied by the military. At length, at
tenw eroo'cml oacskt
masters
of
the
the to morningn of tahe a loe
itehg inst.,rap c thedtroopsspatdispatch
, o
from Berlin proclaimed the state of siege at Dussel-
dorf; and in the environs.
At Elberfeld the troops were less fortunate. The
at
Landwehr of that district had assembled with a firm
determination to repress any occupation of the city
by troops of the line. On the 9th inst. the town
was ctually entered by a troop of lancers, two com •
fatenrdwaarrmdse,dbabrarnidcasdfersomwesreoleinregcetne,d,Rtehme tocsin
sounded, and armed bands from Solingen, Remsheid,
panies of foot, and two field pieces, and almost imme-
and other places in the neighbourhood,
dRi
oa nt e
sl
dy o ads, f
commenced pouring in, keeping the soldiers at bay
throughout the day. At ten o'clock in the evening
the military commenced its attack upon a barri-
cade near the Town hall, but the officer command.
ing the storming party fell in the first onset ; and,
after a fruitless contention, the troops were forced to
leave the town and proceed to Dusseldorf. The
city of Elberfeld was tranquil. Order was kept up
by the officers of the Landwehr and the municipal
authorities.

_The Cabinet summons to the Landwehr to assemble
in the district towns to be enlisted was likewise re
listed at
bate enlisted.Neuss,where only one man presented him-
self

The last news from Westphalia is such that there
can be no doubt this ancient Prussian province will
follow the example of the Rhenish provinces. Even
the Landwehr of the Mark has refused to be en-
listed, and the more than ridiculous attempt is
being made to force them by the regiments of the
line. The meetings of magistrates at Paderborn,
Munster, and Minden, have adopted the Cologne
resolutions.

The Mainzer Zeitung states that a large meet-
ing took place at Mannheim on the Bth instant.
A battalion of foot was marched up to the meet-
ing, and the word to fire given. The order was
obeyed by the sergeants only ; the privates ground
arms, and it was found necessary to withdraw the
battalion.