The Sun.
London, England, 1849-07-10 00:00:00

lature more unpardonable than in one which nearly
affects not the health only, but the very lives of the
people. Necessity ranks before charity even, and the
preservation of human life is the most necessary and
charitable of all the duties of the Legislature. Accord-
ingly our senators punish with Draconian severity
all individuals who violate the sanctity of human life,
but their labours are more futile than those of PENE.•
LOPE. With one hand theyarrest the arm of the solitary
assassin, and occasionally, it may be, preserve indivi-
duals from destruction, and the other hand reclines
in culpable quiescence while the seeds of pestilence
and death are sprouting forth and bearing fruit a
hundredfold within its reach. Disease and corrup-
tion are, it would seem, beautiful in our eyes ; we
cherish them. In the hearts of our crowded cities,
by the homes of our children, we cultivate the elements
of destruction. Under any other circumstances the
principle would be accounted madness. In this in-
stance we adopt his proposition who—the simile is
almost too ridiculous, but, unfortunately, it is too sadly
appropriate—who, hearing a lion at the door, suggested
that he should be admitted, "to try if we can
turn him out again I" So do we act with pestilence
and fever, and now with cholera also. We suffer
ourpoor to congregate iu small, ill-ventilated, crowded
dwellings, we tax every orifice by which light and
air can visit them, we suffer the atmosphere in which
they exist to be polluted by deathful exhalations, we
do all this—all this without exaggeration—and
then we express surprise and sorrow when the seeds
we have fostered bear fruit, and the lives we have
tampered with are past recal. Truly, it is a
matter of curiosity that we are surprised !
and it would be a yet greater matter of astonishment
if, in this eleventh hour, some tardy succour should be
granted to the multitudes who are now living by the
side of death, on the very border of the precipice.
We do not, for a moment, doubt that this evil will
some day be put an end to. It is merely like every
other fitting reform, a question of time. It is a ques-
tion merely as to whether a sufficient number of lives
have been already sacrificed to attest the advisability
of interference, or whether a few hundreds or a few
thousands more are requisite ? If Mr. MecrptivoN
had so worded his question last evening it might have
sounded strange and startling, but in effect such was
his inquiry, and the reply which it elicited corrobo-
rated its significance. Until how long, again we ask,
shall the patience of the people be abused ?

EASTERN CI UIrTIES RAILWAY.—We have every
reason to believe that the dissensions of this Com-
pany are nearly over, and that a strong Directory
will be immediately formed. Proxies representing
more than 26,000 votes have already been registered
in favour of Messrs. Betts, Broadbent, Ellis, Mar-
grave, Reed, Glynn, Packe, and Smythe. This is
nearly 5,000 more votes than were recorded on the
Norfolk Amalgamation Bill, on the 2il of this month.

[HE FREAuti REPUBLIC

We have received the Paris papers of yesterday.
The lllonitfrur publishes the following dispatch
from General OUDINoT to the Minister of War,
describing the final assault on home, which led to the
surrender of the city:
" Monsieur le Mieistre,—After the assault of the bas-
tions 6 and 7, on the 215. r, 1 bad tne honour to inform
you that, notwithstanding the brilliant success of dint
affair, we expected to have to engage in outer combats.
['he enemy appeared, in fact, resolved to defend cacti
bastion toot by toot. OH the 28th, a vigorous combat
hrullery had fur result the opening of a breach On the
left flank of bastit.n 8, a true fortress communicating by
trenches to San Pietro di Muntorio. Although tne
Roman gunners are good marksmen, and the number ot
their cannon is very great, our fire had instantly a great
superiority over that ot the enemy. Ou the 29th the
breach had become practicable, notwithstanding the soli-
dity of the ramparts, entirely built with Roman cement.
It permitted us to obtain possession of bastion 8, the oc
cupation of which, whilst enabling us to extend ourselves
on Mount Janiculo, caused us to command the Saint
Pancras gate. Orders for the assault were immediately
given, and four columns, each of them companies of Elite,
were selected for the operation.
" The first is composed of a company d'ilite of the
23d Light Infantry, anti, and and of the line, under the
orders of Major (chef-de-bataillon) Lefebvre, and was
destined for bastion No. 8. This column to be followed
by companies d'elite of the 17th, 20th, and 23d of the
line. The men carried each a gabion, a shovel, and
pick, and were to make an immediate lodgment in the
bastion. These two columns are supported by a reserve
composed of a company d'elite of the 36th, 66th, and
68th of the line, under Commanders Lerouxan. The
fourth column formed of a company d'elite, composed of
three battalions of the guards of the entrenchment, com-
manded by chef-de. bataillon Laforet. It was to crown
the breach of bastion 7, earry the enemy's entrench-
ments, and attacking bastion No. 8 by the gorge, favour
the entry of the assaulting column. Thirty sapeurs of
the Engineers were attached to each of the four columns
under Lieutenant-Colonel Espinasse. Brigadier-General
Charles Levaillant commands the guard of the trench
which belongs to the 2d division. General Rostolan,
who commands this division, keeps the other regiments
en masse ready for any event.

" At half-past two in the morning the preliminary
preparations having been executed, all the columns
moved forward at the appointed signal (the firing of
three guns). The first column, under the orders of
Commandant Lefebvre, arrived at the summit of the
breach, notwithstanding a sharp firing of musketry.
Some works thrown up by the enemy during the night
completely stopped the head of the column, which had
great difficulty in surmounting the ohetacle. The first
noise of the attack brought to the br. ach nearly all the
defenders of the bastion, but the crofts fire in this narrow
passage did not prevent our brave soldiers from reaching
the level ground and advancing. At this moment Com-
mandant Lefebvre, of the 53d, received a wound and
fell. He was immediately replaced by Commandant
Rouxeau, of the 68tb. Advantage was taken of our first
success to enlarge the passage Commandant Galbeuo
Dulort, of the Engineers, was struck by two balls, whilst
placing the first gabions to mask this dangerous passage.
The column under the orders of Commandant Laforet
was received with a sharp fire of musketry. Tn,
voltigeurs of the 32d. and the grenadiers of the 53d,
carried, however, a large entrenchment supported
by the Aurelian wall, bayonetted the defenders, and
contended against the crenelated houses, whici.
incommoded our attacks. The carabineers of th.
22d Light Infantry, the first to leave the trench, and who
were commanded by M. Laforet in person, fuuud the
first two trenches of the enemy filled with men, who
fired at them, but whom they bayonetted ; then, passing
over the entrenchment which barred the mouth of the
bastion, they rushed to a battery of seven pieces of can-
non, and took possession of it. These rapid and ad
miranly combined movements disengaged the column
which had mounted by the breach, and the garrison 01
the bastion in rain defended itself round a small house.
It was either entirely destroyed or captured. The bas
Lion was taken, but daylight was beginning to appear.
All the houses looking on the bastion were filled wits.
the enemy, and they marched in force to retake their
guns. The reserve was then engagt dby Lieut.-Colonel
Espinasse, and the grenadiers of the 36th, under Captain
Tiersonnier, pressing the enemy vigorously, precipitated
them at the point of the bayunet over the staircases and
the escarpment. They then took the houses which com-
mand the gate of St. Pancras. The officers of engineers
then, taking advantage of the trenches of the enemy,
placed the bastion in security. The different columns
were led on with equal intelligence and energy by Lieut.-
Colonel Eepinasse and the chefs-de- bataillon placed at
the head of them. Our troops acted with vigour and
enthusiasm which nothing could resist. They killed by
the bayonet more than 400 men. Out of 126 prisoners
who remained in our hands; there are nineteen officers
of different grades. Our loss, comparatively, has not
been great; it amounts to nine killed, one of whom is
an officer, 110 wounded, of whom eighteen are officers.
This second assault gives an immense moral ascendant
to our troops. The enemy has lost two principal points
of his enceinte, and our batteries are so constructer) that
they can ruin the town. To prolong the defence would
be madness. It would not only sacrifice houses, but
carry war into the midst of families. It cannot reason-
ably be supposed that any Government, whatever it may
be, will consent to prolong such misfortunes in the
capital of the country.
" To increase the chances of success during the assault
of bastion eight, and to diminish the number of de-
fenders in the front of attack, I ordered General
Guesviller to make a diversion towards the Porta del
Popolo. This was executed with a good deal of in-
telligence by a column composed of three battalions, a
company of engineers, and four guns. The general left
Ponta Molle at eleven o'clock in the evening on the
29th, to take position on the heights which touch
the Villa Borghesa. The enemy had crenelated all the
houses on the heights. Our riflemen placed themselves
in such a manner to protect the artillery, which WaP
placed behind on a commanding point. This artillery
kept up a fire from halt-past one to three o'clock in the
morning, and caused terror in a quarter which believed
itself out of the reach of our attacks. The enemy re-
plied very sharply, but without causing us any loss. LI
another direction the pieces of the navy, placed in the
heights which command the church of St. Paul, threw
balls and shells above the gate of the same name. The
enemy consequently was disquieted at the same time
from these two points, which are so far one from the
other. Whilst these different combats were taking place
from two to half-past five o'clock in the morning, the
Romans attempted to set on fire our bridge on the
Lower Tiber, at the anchorage St. Paul. Nearly b 5
boats were stopped, destroyed, or sunk by the intelligent
activity of Lieutenant Olivieri, of the navy, commanding
the flotilla, and of Captain Blondeau, commander of the
7th company of pontonuiere.'These advantages
were preceded by repeated reconnoissances made
on different points by the Ist Regiment of
Horse Cbaeseurs and the 11 th Dragoons, under
the orders of General Morris. Finally, the day of the
28th was signalised by an event which will powerfully
contribute to deprive the enemy of the possibility of
prolonging the struggle. The powder magazine of