The Sun.
London, England, 1825-12-22 00:00:00

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.

UNION HALL.—(Tiris DAY.)
BUZIGLATIS.—On Sunday morning last, about three o'clock,
the house of Mr. Anderson, 2, Durham-place, near the Three
Stags, Lambeth, was broken open, and various silver and other
articles carried off Keyse and Shergold, two officers of that
district have succeeded in apprehending the parties, so close
were the officers upon their heels that in a house near the SeVett
Dials they found a Crucible in which it is supposed they melted
the property. They had left a turnscrew, chisel, and part of a
dark lanthorn behind. At one o'clock on Tuesday morning
the above active officers gained admission to a house in Hooper_
street, Westminster-road, from which one of the prisoners,
Edmonds, escaped by jumping sixteen feet into a ditch.
The flight of the prisoner was nearly intercepted by Shergold,
who fired at him, the shot going
_close to his head. In the
house was found the dark lantern, which corresponded with the
part left on Mr. Anderson's premises, a crow-bar, 16 inches
long, centre-bit, phosphorus box, and a handkerchief which
was taken from Mr. Chambers, son to the Magistrate, some
months ago, at Drury-lane Theatre. The prisoner Edmonds
was taken yesterday in Tothill-street, and Smith in Mead-row,
Westminster-road.

TOWN-HALL, SOUTHWARK.
EFFECTS or 111AGINATION.—A young lady, named Miss
Harriet Frances Freeman, alias Mrs. Wise, charged Thomas
Robert Morky, Sophia Ekins, and //arritt Plait, with insult-
ing and throwing water over her on Monday last. It appeared
on the examination of several witnesses that Miss Freeman, alias
Mrs. Wise, having made copious libations to the jolly tiod, had
stood in the midst of a pouring rain, which, with the assistance
of a neighbouring water-spout, in a short space of time, corn.
..pletely drenched her. The war of elements appeared to the
nymph as a multitude of voices, and her imagination was so
worked upon by Hodges's electrifying fill proof; that the posi.
tive evidence produced tailed in shaking her belief that the
three defendants had grossly maltreated her.—D!,icharged.

Tif. BRITISH MUSETJII.-1 his splendid mono..
ment of national munificence has lately been the subject of a
series of attacks ; no less unjust in themselves, than unca:led
for on the part of the public, who have benefitted so materkly
from its establishment. That the British Museum has not
effected all that improvement in the arts and manufacture of
tireat Britain which the late sovereign of France accomplished,
by uniting in the metropolis of that country the plunderdT
continental Europe, must, however, be admitted. It is true;
we have not to beast the possession of- the Lancoon. nor the
• Apollo, those crowning ornaments of the Musee Napoleon.
Put then we have obtained, by honest purchase, the labours of
a Prasiteles and a Phidias; while the liberality of a Townley
and a Hope, have formed a splendid series of s;)ecirners of an-
cient art. A national gallery of painting is also arranging
which will in dine vie with that collected by the sacrilegious
spoiler of nearly all the ecclesiastical edifices of Italy. Our
more immediate motive for noticing the metropolitan museums
briefly to call our readers' attention to the facilities which exist
for admission to its capacious depositories in art, science, and
literature. All—(It is a comprehensive word—and the shore-
places in France cannot premise more)—all who apply at its
massive portal are admitted on each Monday, Wednesday, arid
Friday, throughout the year;* and th,s, we think, as s►'
sufficient answer to those who complain of a want cf fad.;
lities for admission to the general collections. It may here
be proper to state, that we have been releatedly importuned.
to furnish graphio illustrations of the more important rarities
contained within its walls; and our present number contains
a very accurate representation of the Skeleton Fossil Rem .Ins
brought from Guadaloupe. The piece of rock in wfich it is
imbedded was sent by Admiral Cochrane to borti Melville,
and afterwr.ris by him deposited in the British 11usetui4.—
(From the Scientific Gazette.)
should except those seasons at which the public offices
are usually closed; and, even at these periods of apparent re-
laxation, there is much of active employment going on within
the walls of Montague House.

hitTORTANT DISCOVERY—Mt. Frederick A Mayo, of
Richmond, in company with a person lately from the mine; in
Saxony, after exploring the greater portion of the western part
of Virginia, for minerals, has recently succeeded in discovelinF
a copper and tin mine, each of a considerable extent, and, as it
respects quality, ss good as any in Europe—one in Wythe and
the other in Grayson ccuuty.— (American Paps,.)

SIR JAM EX BOND, who had accumulated a
large fortune in the East Indies, expended 20,00 W. in.build-
ings, for which he vu not able to procure inhabitants. A
deep old lawyer, from whom he had purchased the ground, ob-
served, that he was a Bond without Judgment. -
On Tuesday night the Union Dover Coach),
when between Dartford and Welling, was`-robbed
of four bags and three baskets. The pefion.who
committed the robbery is known to the Officers,
who are on the alert.

THE LONDON JOURNALS.

DAILY

Ritraeis from the Morning Papers, Dec. 22, 1825.

[TUE TIMES.] '

:the supposed murder of de Emperor Alex-
ander, which has been described with so much
pomp and circumstance in a Morning Paper, nay
form a startling and interesting topic ; but by
what authority is it supported, whether of reason
or of 'evidence ?—lf a vague statement that such
a crime was perpetrated by his own subjects on
a Sovereign who deserved so mush better from
them, be, bolstered up by precedents drawn from
the history of his immediate or former predeces-
sore, all we can say is, that the characters of
those Princes who formerly suffered, and the cir-
cumstances under which they were assassinated,
exhibit no analogy, however distant, with those
of -the present time. Peter the Third was altti-
gether incapable of .governing the empire, and had
not Catherine got the start of him, it is thought
that she would have been his victim instead
of his executioner.—Paul was a nuisance, no
longer endurable by the courtiers who sur-
rounded him, or by the nation at large. He
Was at once a madman and a malefactor, whom
no laws could restrain or punish, inasmuch as
he was himself the sole lawgiver of his domi-
nions. But was Alexander plotting against the
life of any great man, or had he. invaded by ca-
pricious violence the domestic comforts of any
class or individuals among his subjects ? Was he
conspiring the death of Constantine, to whom his
own is so loosely attributed ? -What sentiment of
vengeance, personal or public, could be brought
in array against him? So much for the primii
facie argument on the question ; but what is the
testimony for the fact ?—None ; absolutely none.
No authority is assigned for it; uo conveyance is
described by which such details could be com-
municated. If those who publish the statement
meant to obtain credit for it, they are bound to
_say something at least in favour of the grounds
on which they assert it : as at present vouched
for, we are utterly incredulous of the fact. We
know, as was mentioned in our Paris letter in the
Times of the 19th of November, that the Em-
peror had long been in a state of health which
excited alarm in all who saw him.

[NEW TIMES.]
Several circumstances concurred yesterday to
throw a doubt on the alleged death of the Em-
peror Alexander, which, however, seems now to
.be pretty fully confirmed. The chief cause of
doubt, was the publication of a narrative in a
Morning Paper, drawn up very much in the style
of the " Fashionable Intelligence" of the same
print.—" On his return from the Steppes of the
Crimea," says the elegant writer, " and before
he quitted Taganrok, a succession of fetes was
given." (This smells sadly of the shop.)—" In
one of these a water-party was formed on the
sea of Azof, which bathes the walls of the town,
?ic." Whether this florid composition was
penned by the author of the " Court Circular" at
Taganrok, or whether some Lady of the Bed-
chamber to her Imperial Majesty conveyed the
tidings to our contemporary, we pretend not to
divine. The tale, however, is well got up, and
just in time for the Christmas Pantomimes; only we
have to regret that in dates and other official par-
ticularities, it is rather scanty. In another respect
the. narrative we own, a little surprises us. If
the Grand Duke Constantine has really ascended
the throne of the Czars, -we think he will feel
his Imperial dignity a little wounded by the
statement, " about five years ago the Grand
Duke Constantine conspired against the
authority and life of his brother !"—more espe-
cially as we happen to know that that part of
the story is entirely false. The circumstance al-
luded to was related to us by an eye-witness. It
was a mutiny not of " some regiments of Impe-
rial Guards," but of a single regiment of the
line ; it was solely excited by the severe discip-
Jim, of a German Adjutant named Muller : it was
quelled without difficulty by Count Potemkin,
and it occurred at St. Petersburgh while Con-
staatine was at Warsaw.

[MORNING POST.]
The intelligence which we published yesterday
respecting the violent death of the Emperor
Alexander, has produced, as we naturally ex-
pected, a deep impression far and wide. Of the
fact of his assassination few have ventured to ex-
press a doubt, and on that point the general opi-
nion coincides with our own. On the correctness
of the details none are entitled to decide, except
those who know the source from which the in-
formation was derived ; still less are any justir
fled,- is one of our Evening contemporaries has
-dope,- in saying that " its inquiries led it to
believe that no such intelligence had reached
this, country in any authentic shape." The
inquiries of that contemporary, if he were
really enabled to make any, we are convinced
ought .to have led him to a directly opposite con-
clusion. With his incredulity, however, we do'
not quarrel ; for what value can we attach to the
opinion of
,one, who after stating one day as
facts " upon good authority " things which re-
presented the Bank of England as unable to pay
to any coniiderable amount, either in gold or
notes, and reduced, as it were, to the ,last
stage, of distress—is compelled the day after,
CC not to lose a moment in announcing the
fact," that all his assurances were without
foundation, and all his " good authority'!
an imagination and a name ! But though
we permit him cheerfully to turn against us that
incredulity which he would have done better to
exercise upon his own statements, we have a just
respect for the opinion of the public. For its
satisfaction, therefore, we 'deem it necessary
again positively to state•that the intelligence
which we published yesterday was received in
thbie high quarters which we described ; that
we gave the statements correctly, such as they
hadhreen communicated to us, and that whether
confirmed by futuie accounts in every particular,
or contradicted in some, they were at the time
we were.made•acquainted.„with their' nature,
the only information in the possession of

these who are most ,conversant ,with, and
consequently the best judges of, authenti-
city. That any persons should have ven-
tured to suppose that with a character like
ours to maintain, we should have inserted a
statement of such importance without being
satisfied as to the quarter from whence it
came and the real existence of the information
which it conveyed, does not excite in us a feeling
of resentment, but one of surprise and compassion
at their want of candour and common sense. The
statement which we were enabled exclusively to
give, we repeat, may or may not prove correct ;
but for the fact of its having been received in an
highly respectable quarter, we stand pledged to
the public.

[MORNING HERALD.]
It will be seen by our Court Circular that the
Ministers are not on a bed of roses. Our Court
Circular informant states that the meeting of the
Ministers has regard to that which is called Fin-
ance. Our belief is, that the Ministers are at
their wit's end to know what to do—whether to
siispend Mr. Peel's Bill, or wait to see if the
Bank of England can stein the sovereign demand
storm. *Our fear is so far as Mr. Peel's
baby is concerned, that the Ministers must
give way, and that the baby must be put
to sleep at least for the present. Ten millions
of sovereigns, to stand against the possible pre-
sentation of forty millions of Bank of England
and country notes, is not enough. To stand
against such a possible presentation, twenty mil-
lions of sovereigns is wanted. Our recommenda-
tion to the Ministers is, to rescind the Bill, and
introduce one and two pound notes, as well as
thirty shilling and fifty-shilling notes. This ex-
periment they might have recourse-to at all events
for a trial. We would also recommend them to
rescind the Usury Laws, as well as the Law of
Arrest for debt, which latter law may be called
tc part and parcel of Anti-christ." The Ministers
have more to do than they at present ima-
gine, if they be honest men. Except they re-
scind Mr. Peel's Bill, and introduce small notes,
the Stocks will fall to a low price ; and if our
Stocks fall to a low price, what will become of
the Paris Stocks, or those of Naples, Vienna,
Berlin, Copenhagen, Petersburgh, and South
America? Where will the-dividends come from,
if our Stocks should fall so low as that the
French, Neapolitans, Germans, Danes,. Russians,
and South Americans should not be able to raise
loans is this country to pay dividends in respect
of the loans already contracted ?

[THE PUBLIC LEDGER

If we can depend upon the Dail; of Tuesday,
the report of the regular order of succession to
the Russian Throne having been set aside, by a
testamentary disposition of the late Emperor, is
wholly erroneous. Constantine, the right heir,
according to the law of promogeniture, has suc-
ceeded without apparent opposition, and was to
be proclaimed at St. Petersburg on the 15th
instant ; for which Capital, too, he appears to
have set out on the very day that he was apprized
of the death of his predecessor. His brother
Michael, who was the bearer of the news, tra-
velled in such haste, that he was only five days
on the road between Petersburgh and -Warsaw,
having arrived in the latter City on the Bth—the
day on which, we are told, the new Emperor set
out for the liussian capital. It is clear, therefore,
that he would not forfeit his right for want of di-
' ligence, and from this first specimenpf his temper
in his Imperial capacity, we have perhaps a clue
to the character of his reign. That Michael an-
ticipated no opposition to the regular order of
succession is dear, from the journey he had un-
dertaken, and particularly from its rapidity.—
Had he the slightest doubts on the subject, he
would have slackened his pace at least ; and his
view of the matter may be taken as a very fair
criterion of the manner in which the higher class
of Russians see it generally. The complaint of
which the late Emperor died was an erysipelas,
which had itsorigin in a fall from a ussian carriage,
called a drowski, some years previously, and
whichAlexander,probably trusting too much to the
natural strength of his constitution, could not be
prevailed upon to treat with the necessary atten-
tion. Thus the greatest effects are often produced
by the slightest causes ; and a trivial accident, so
trivial indeed as to be considered by the per-
son most interested as wholly unworthy of care,
is likely to unhinge the affairs of the whole world.
Every circumstance, attending this event, is cal-
culated to inspire solemn musings ; and the thea-
trical or rather brutal account of it (its pathos
does not do away with its brutality) which ap-
peared in a Morning Paper of ye•terday, was not
at all necessary for the purpose of effect.

[BRITISH PRESS.j
The French Papers which arrived last night
throw no light on the mysterious circumstances
attending the sudden death of the Emperor Alex-
ander. It is presumed that his decease resulted
from the erysipelas iu his leg ; but this is a mere
conjecture. Constantine, it is stated, was pro-
claimed Emperor at Warsaw immediately on the
arrival of the intelligence. We observe that
there is no account of the Grand Duke Nicholas.
It is a singular fact that Count Lieven, the
Russian Ambassador, has yet received no official
information of the demise of his Sovereign. So
important an event ought to have been instantly
notified to him from his Court, and great surprise
has naturally been excited at the silence observed
towards him. In the state of entire ignorance
in which we are with regard to what has taken
place in Russia, it is quite premature to spe-
culate on the probable consequences of the
accession of Constantine. He is known to be
a great favourite with the military, and is himself
an excellent soldier. His habits have been discip-
lined by actual service. In a despotic empire like
that of Russia the •only great changes are those
which occur in the person of its ruler. His charac-
ter may therefore be said to controul the destiny
of his people. Constantine is of an irregular and
impetuous disposition, withuat any fixed princi-
ples, moral or religioubs. What course of policy
he may be inclined to pursue, or what influence
his policy, whatever it may be, may exercise" over
the general politics of Europe,•time 'alone can

develope. He is friendly to the Greeks, and It
is by no means improbable that h. may be dis-
posed to signalize the commencement of his reign
by crossing the Pruth with the fine army now
collected on its banks. The Turks have fur-
nished him with as good a pretext for war as he
can desire, by their refusal to evacuate the Prin-
cipalities of Wallachia and Moldavia. No mea-
sure would render him more popular with his
subjects, whose feelings in favour of the Greeks
were painfully repressed by Alexander. The
very name that Constantine bears was given to
him by his grandmother, the Empress Catharine,
with refer!nce to her project of re-establishing in
his person, at Constantinople, the Empire of the
West. In his youth a medal was struck, in-I
scribed to " Constantine, King of the Greeks."l
He has always cherished the hope of accomplish-
ing this design, and now that he is suddenly in-
vested with power to gratify his ambition, he,
will hardly be induced, from any purely poli-
tical considerations, to forego the dearest object
of his desires. He is too untamed to be yoked
to the car of the Holy Alliance. He is far better
skilled in the use of the sword than in the study
of the law of nations, and will naturally be in-
clined to settle any difference with regard to the
latter by an appeal to the former.