The Sun.
London, England, 1825-11-17 00:00:00

DESERTING A CHILD.

BOW-STREET.—Yesterday the landlord of • the Red Lion,
Hillingdon, near Uxbridge, came to the office with a pretty fe-
male child, which he carried in his arms, and which appeared to
be about 5 years of age. Ile stated that on Friday night, a wo-
man rather shabbily dressed, came to his house ; she had the
child with her, and having drank a glassof ale, Went away: 'She
then walked about the village, and giving the child a penny,
told her to go into a shop and purchase a pennyworth of cakes,
and she promised to wait in the road for her return.. However,
when the child returned, the woman was gone, and had not
since been heard of. The landlord also said that he took the
child to his house, and kept it among his own children. -Its
hehaviour was so different to the common children of the me-
tropolis, that he was induced to consider it did not belong to the
woman who brought it to his houSe; but that she had stolen it
from i.s parents. Immediately after the child 'had concluded each
meal she washed herself; without having received any directions,
and before retiring to rest she knelt down beside her bed, caused
the other childien who slept with her to follow
.lier example,
and then and 'her prayers. Thee circumstances,,he said, hav-
ing been ress,sented to the parish committee, thsy though t
that the pt.rents, whoever they might be, hadi taken great
pains to grind; the child up in the fear of Got\ aid as they
hoped to restore it to those parents, they Would not distress
their feelings by placing it in the workhouse, bucliV directed
hint to take care of it.—A descriptiOn of the child and of the
woman was entered in the books, and the landlord quitted the
office with his charge.

M

iciS ~4

We have received Ne%v York Papers to the
24th ult., by the John Wells, arrived at Liver-
Tool. They contain no local news, but extract
from the Bogota Papers of the sth of September
the original circular transmitted by the illustrious
BomvAn from Peru, inviting the Governments of
the other Republics of America to send their
Representatives to the Isthmus of Panama, there
to form a General Assembly. This important
document is in the following terms :
" LIMA, Di c. 1824.

" My great and good friend,—After 15 years' s'acrifices,
-consecrated to the liberty of America, to obtain a system of
guarantees, which in peace and war may be the shield of our
new destiny, it is time that the interests and relations which
united between them the republics of America, before co-
lonies of Spain, should be founded on some known basis,
which may render, if that were possible, the duration of these
States eternal.
" To establish that system, and to consolidate the power of
this great political body, belongs to the exercise of a supreme
authority, which may direct the policy of our Governments,
whose influence may be able to maintain uniformity in our
principles, and whose name alone may be sufficient to appease
tour dissensions. An authority, to carry with it so much re-
spect, can only be found in an union of Plenipotentiaries, sent
by each of our Republics, and assembled under the auspices of
victory obtained by our arms over Spanish power.
" DZeply penetrated with these ideas, in 1823, as President
of the republic of Colombia, I invited the Governments of
Mexico, Peru, Chili, anti Ituenos-Ayres, to form a confede-
racy, and to assemble at the Isthmus of Panama, or any
other place to be chosen by the majority, a Congress of
Plenipotentiaries from each State, which might act as a
Council to us in our distresses, as a rallying point in our com-
mon danger, as a faithful interpreter to our public treaties,
when difficulties might occur; and, in fine, as a mediator in all
..our differences.'

" The Government in Peru concluded, on the 6th of June
of that year, a treaty of alliance and confederation with the
plenipotentiary of Colombia ; and by it both parties were
pledged to interpose their good offices, that all, entering into
the same compact, a general assembly of the confederates might
be effected. A treaty to the same purport as concluded in
Mexico, on the 3d of October of 1823, by the Envoy Extraor-
dinary of Colombia to that state; and there are strong grounds
to hope that the other Governments will accede to what a regard
•-for their own interests so urgently recommends.
" To delay for a longer period the general meeting of the
Plenipotentiaries from the republics who, de facto, already form
-a confederacy, until the accession of the remainder be obtained,
would be depriving ourselves of the advantages which that as-
sembly would produce from the moment of its installation.—
These advantages are prodigiously increased, if we contemplate
-the picture presented to us by the pol►tical world, and more par-
ticularly the cabinets of Europe.
" The union of the Plenipotentiaries of Mexico, Colombia,
and Peru, would be delayed indefinitely, if it were not pro-
moted by one of the contracting parties ; unless we were to
wait for the result of a new and special Convention upon the
time and place relative to this great event. On considering
the difficulties and delays, from the distance at which we are
separated, added to other weighty motives, emanating from a
consideration of our general interests, I have resulved to take
this step, with a view to promote the immediate meeting of our
Plenipotentiaries; whilst in the mean time the other states
celebrate the same conditions as already exist between us rela-
tive to the appointment and incorporation of their represen-
tatives.

- - " " With respect to the period of the installation of the Assem-
bly, I venture to believe that no difficulty can be opposed to
its taking place within the space of six months, counting from
the present date; and 1 likewise venture to flatter myself that
the ardent desires which all Americans feel to exalt the power
of the Colombian continent, will abridge the difficulties and
delays which Ministerial preparations might require, and the
distance which exists between the capitals of each State and
the central place of meeting.
"It seems that if the world had to choose its capital, the
Isthmus of Panama would be selected for this august purpose,
placed, as it is, in the contre of the globe, looking on the one
*side toward Asia, and on the other towards Africa and Europe.
The Isthmus of Panama has been offered by the Government
of Colombia for this object, in existing treaties. The Isthmus
is at an equal distance from the two extremities • and, on this
account, might be provisionally adopted as the Place where the
first meeting of the confederates might be held.
" Yielding, therefore, to these considerations, I feel strongly
-inclined to send to Panama the deputies from this Republic,
the moment 1 have the honour to receive the wished-for answer
to this circular. Nothing, certainly, will contribute so much
to satisfy the ardent wishes of my heart, as the co-operation
-which I look forward to of the confederated Governments, in
carrying into effect this august act of America.
" If your Excellency does not condescend to join in it, I fore-
see immense delay and injury, at a time when the movement
-of the world accelerates all things, accelerating them perhaps to
our disadvantage.
" After the first conferences between the plenipotentiaries •
have been held, the residence of the assembly, as well as its at-
tributions, may be determined in a solemn manner by the ma-
jority ; and then all our aim will be accomplished.
" The day on which our plenipotentiaries exchange their full
powers, will form a memorable era in the diplomatic history of
.America. When, an hundred ages hence, posterity seeks the
origin of our international law, and recalls to mind the conven-
tions which consolidate her existence, she will respectfully con-
stilt the records of the proceedings in the isthmus. In them• She
will discover the basis of our first alliance, which will regulate
t't:e system of our relations with the universe. What will the
nithmus of Corinth then be to that of Panama ?

'44 God preserve your Excellency. Your great and good
friend, (Signed) BOLIVAR."

HAMBURG!! PAPERS.

STocallorx, NOT. I.—The English house of
-Barclay, Herring, Richardson, and Co., which purchased,
through the agency-of Michaelson aid BenediCks, the old ship
41f the line, Forsigtishelen, and the Camilla and Eurydice fri.
gates, has written to Michaelson and Co., that on account of
the advanced season and other - circumstances, the commercial
'expedition for which these three-ships were designed could not
be undertaken this year; and it therefore desires them to re-
quest the Government to annul the contract, and to take back
the ships, -repaying the purchase-money; adding, that the
English house hopes that his Majesty, graciously considering
the delay which the expedition has experienced by some officers
end sailors havin,, been claimed for the Swedish navy, after
they had obtained his Majesty's permission to engage in the
service of foreign merchants, and that they were consequently
obliged to leave those ships, will think it just to relieve them
,from the obligations which the contract imposed on them. At
the same time they desire to be allowed to repurchase next
spring all the three ships, or, at least, the two frigates, on the
conditions stipulated in the old contract.
On the 29th of last month the house presented this petition,
with the request for legal annulment of the contract, and re-
ferred for other particulars to the petition itself.

His Majesty has approved this petition ; has ordered the
money to be immediately repaid ; dispensed the purchasers
from paying the penalty fixed in the contract; and ordered, be-
sides, that they shall be reimbursed for all the expences to
'which they have been put in repairing the vessels, as it is not
just that the State should profit by the improved condition of
the ships; and his Majesty has been further pleased to pro-
mise, that the house shall be allowed to repurchase one of the
frigates at least, if the Royal Navy shall not want it.
The Editor of the Argus has been acquitted of the charge
brought against him by the Chancellor, of having violated the
laws relative to the liberty of the press, by publishing an article
relative to the notes exchanged between the Minister for Fo-
reign Affairs and the Spanish,Charge d'Affaires relative to the
above ships.
ST. PETERSBURGIT, OCT. 2P.-official accounts from
Taganrog, of the 10th instant, state that the climate had a
most favourable effect upon her Majesty's. health. The Em-
peror is expected to be certainly back in the capital by the end
uf next month. About the middle of this month his Majesty
will go to the provinces of the Don, and to Moldavia.'
COPENHAGEIi, Nov. s.—Many ships have been lost or
stranded on our coast during the violent storms at the end of
last month.

There has been an active correspondence between the Gover-
nors of St. Thomas and Venezuela, on account of a Danish
ship which has been carried into Puerto Cabello.
HAMBUROII, Nov. 11.—His Majesty the Emperor of
Austria has appointed Count Antony Von Appony Ambas-
sador Extraordinary to the Court of Great Britain.
CHRISTIANIA, OCT. 28.—Count Sandell, Governor of the
Kingdom, is gone to Sweden. During his absence, M.
Collett, Counsellor of State, as senior Member of the Go-
vernment, will preside in the Council. Lieutenant-General
Stobell commands the Land forces, and Councillor Fasting
the navy.

HANBURGII, Nov. 11.—Exchange on London, one month,
35. 2.: two months, 34. 11. ; Petersburgh, Oct. 28, 18i ; Ber-
lin, Nov. 8, three months, 6. 25. ; Leipsic, Nov. 7, 3 months,
6. 14. ; Stockholm, Nov. 1, 40 days, 11 rix doll. 20 sch. ;
Christiania, Oct. 26, three months, 4. 114.

lIIE IRON 'MASK

' The history of the man with an iron mask,
prodigious as it may seem, hus other prodigies to
keels it in countenance,—as that of the child in
Silesia, born with a golden tooth, which had no
sooner appeared than all Europe was raised to
explain the phenomenon ; all its Universities
rising in a body to account for a tooth of gold in
a human mouth. Bottles of ink were spent, and
torrents of abuse poured forth on each side, and
yet the prodigy was as much as ever a mystery.
In the midst of this clash of arms, a man of good
common sense starts up, with the simple ques-
tion—Had we not better first of all decide,
whether there is really a tooth of gold ? and upon
inquiry it was found, that no man throughout
Silesia had ever heard of even, much less seen,
this golden tooth, nor of the child in whom it was
said to be born. In the same manner we should
ask, beginning where these controversialists ended
—ls it quite certain, that there ever was such
a state prisoner as the man with the iron mask
in the reign of Louis 14?—and then, that he was
treated with such respect by all who approach-
ed him, that even the haughty Louvois always
stood in his presence ?—and, lastly, may we not
be permitted to entertain a doubt whether there
ever was any truth in the history of the silver
plate, which is reported to have been thrown by
this mysterious Hero of our tale out of the win-
dow, with his name and quality inscribed, and
which cost the fisherman his life who had the
misfortune to pick it up? As to the first question,
Voltaire, who is the great patron of this tale,
does not once mention an iron mask, and only
says, that the prisoner, when carried from one
castle to another, wore a mask, at the bottom
of which were steel springs, that he might eat the
more at his ease. He adds, it is true, that Lou-
vois stood in his presence when he paid him a visit
at l'lsle St. Marguerite; but who could have inform-
ed Voltaire of what passed there, when there was
no other witness than M. de St. Mars, the Go-
vernor of that state-prison ? Besides, to stand up
is not always a mark of respect, but often quite
the contrary. With respect to the silver plate, it
is only a version, and very inaccurate, of the shirt
recorded in the History of Provence, die account of
which the Abbe Papin had froin the son of an
officer who was the confidential agent of St.
Mars. Besides, what is there so prodigious, whe-
ther a plate or shirt, in a prisoner attempting to
communicate with some one out of his prison ;
and must that prisoner have been of necessity a
prince, for his guards to resist his attempts at
liberty ? As to the threat put into the mouth of
St. Mars, that is a mere forgery, like the rest.—
Such is the reasoning of common sense upon a
story so often perverted by conjectures, which
are but the chimeras of a prolific imagination
transmitted to us by tradition, which every true
Protestant ought to reject, and leave only to the
respect and veneration of good Catholics.
To pass by such chimeras, we proceed to the
only incontestible evidences of the truth, by
following the lights which M. Delort has thrown
upon the subject in his history of this hero of ro-
mance, just published in Paris. He enters into an
examination of the different persons who are said to
be covered with this mysterious mask. The Duke
de Vermandois, Louis 14th's natural sou, con-
demned, as they say, to perpetual durance, for
giving the Dauphin a box of the ear ; whereas
every body knows that that young Count died of
the small pox at the camp in 1683, and was
buried with great pomp in the Cathedral of
Arras. This is as notorious as the expression of
his unhappy mother " I ought to lament his
birth still more than his death." Voltaire him.
self says :—A man must be a fool to fancy
that a faggot was buried in his stead, over
which Louis 14th performed the funeral rites ;
and that, to complete the convalescence of his
own son, he sent him to breathe the air of the
Bastile, with an iron mask on his face. The
Duke of Beaufort, too, grandson to Henry
4th, having died in some distant expedition, was
another of those that had the pretended honour
of this mask. But the Marquis de St. Andre,
the commander of the French forces at Caledia
saw him killed in an assault ; his head was carried
to Constantinople, and there exhibited three
days at a pike's end. How, says Voltaire, could
the Duke de B. be arrested in the midst of an
army and conveyed to France, and nobody know
it ? He was killed by the Turks in 1669, and the
man with the iron mask was at Pignerol in 1662.
Others assert that it was the Duke of Monmouth,
the natural son of Charles 2d„, who was killed
by proxy in the person of a mai► who was
very much like him. Where, says Voltaire, who
seems only to mention him for the sake of the
joke, was to be found such an officious Sosia, so
good-natured as to suffer his own throat to be
cut to save the noble Duke.

Another pretender to this honour is Fouquet, a
person the date of whose death was not known
to those who conferred it upon him, but more
recent discoveries have proved him to have died
at Pignerol in 1680, after being kept in prison
19 years. The last of any consequence that can
put in a claim, is a son of Anne of Austria, the
mother of Louis 14. Some years ago, this great
trial might be seen in Paris judged by the autho-
rity of the sign of a trader in calico. Upon
whom did this sign father this child—upon the
Duke of Buckingham or Cardinal Mazarin ? M.
Regnault Warin affirms, that the child who
might have been able to contest the crown of
France with Louis 14, owed his birth to the
gallant Ambassador of England. Another writer
says, he read the following passage in one of Lord
Chesterfield's letters. " If the Duke of Buck-
ingham return to Paris, the Queen of France
may have a third child." To this there are only
two small objections, first, Lord C. did not come
into the world till 68 years after the Duke of
B, quitted it ; and second, the Duke was himself
assassinated ten years before the birth of Louis
14. It may be said, that the bastard of Anne
of Austria was born before the death of the
handsome Englishman ; but how could a Queen
have managed so well as to propagate an opinion
of her barrenness, not only in the court, but
throughout the whole of France, if many at the
time were aware that she had brought forth in
the first years of her marriage ? Will they pre-

.tend that the concealed child was a twill of the
Driuphin—Dieu.denne ? But by what
ceivable fancy could Louis 13, who was so intent
upon having an heir, commit an act of cruelty,
and cut off half of the double present which Hea-
ven made him. As vain is it to pretend that 1,1)e
fear of a civil war between two rivals might have
required from the King so painful a sacrifice ;
for was it so difficult a matter for him to esta-
blish the priority of one of the twins over the
other. But all these hypotheses vanish before
the fact—Anna was delivered before the usual
witnesses, and only of one prince.
The same happened at the birth of her second
son, Philip of Orleans. As to the calumnies
against that Queen, as having Cardinal Richelieu
for her paramour, it is well known in history
that she openly declared a violent hatred against
him ; and as to Cardinal Mazarin, we may re.
[timber her proud ans,ver to him, when he
seemed to aspire at placing his niece upon the
throne—" If the King were capable of this in-
dignity, I would arise with my second son, at
the head of the nation, against both the King and
you."

These pretenders silenced, let us proceed with
our author to one who has been recognized
before by many writers ; but there are some facts
to be mentioned in the way of introduction.—
France, from 1632, was in possession of Pignerol.
Louis 14 felt of what importance it was to the
success of his designs on Italy, to occupy in the
same way the town of Casal, then in the power
of Ferdinand, Duke of Mantua : the Abbe
d'Estrades, projecting a secret treaty to convey
that town to the King, employed Count Matthi-
oli, formerly Minister to the Duke of Man-
tua. Seeking for a favourable opportunity for
returning into favour, this dexterous Italian
Shelved so lively a zeal for the interests
of France, that Louis the Fourteenth begged
an interview with him, and loaded him with his
favour; but at this' very moment, he formed
the odious plan of betraying his confidence, and
sold the secret of his neg,ociation to the Courts of
Vienna and Madrid, who were alike interested
in throwing every obstacle to the views of Louis
'on Lombardy. it was from the information of
Matthioli that Baron Asfeld, who was charged
with the ratification of the treaty, was carried by
the Austrians to the Castle of Milan. The trea-
chery of the crafty Italian was manifest ; Louvois
ordered his person and papers to be secured ;
and Catinat executed the order so well that he
placed his prisoner in the hands of the Governor
of Pignerol, the same St. Mars, who at that
period (1679) had under his care Fouquet and
Lauzun. Catinat, agreeably to his instructions, by
a rigorous inquisition, made Matthioli reveal his
most secret papers. To throw greater mystery over
the character : they called him by the French
name of l'Estang,. Far from showing him respect,
Louvois ordered St. Mars to treat his prisoner
rudely, to punish him for his treachery. St.
Mars went to Exiles, and thence to 'lsle St.
Marguerite, still accompanied by Mullion, who
travelled in a covered chair, so contrived that he
might breathe the air, and yet no one could either
see or speak to him, as St. Mars says ; and adds
—" the way in which I escorted him on the road
made every one curious to know who could be
my prisoner." It was at de St. Marguerite
where the scene of the silver plate is laid ; and
if there could be a doubt remaining of its false-
hooi, what is read in a dispatch of St. Mars to
Louvois would remove it :—'' Two Protestant
Ministers whom I have here prisoners have it in
contemplation to write upon their pewter vessels
and their linen a notice that they are imprisoned
unjustly for the purity of their faith." At the
end of 11 years St. Mars, now Governor of the
Bastile, went through France with his prisoner ;
then we begin to hear of the mask, of black vel-
vet, however, and not of iron. The prisoner died
in the Bastile in 1703. lie was buried in St.
Paul's Church-yard, in the name of Marchially,
something like his real name, which may only he
the fault of the register.

Of this account M. Delort publishes many au-
thentic documents, which offer a solid weight in
the balance against the on Ails and the old cures
of Voltaire, and the rest of the inquisitive crew.

GAME Laws.—One of those desperate and
bloody conflicts, so inevitable under the existing
state Of our Game f,aws, took place on Saturday
morning week, in the pheasant preserves of
Iloghton, Esq., in Walton-le-Dale. A party
of six gamekeepers, who had been joined by
another perso❑ in the midnight watch, fell in with
a company, consisting, according to the keepers'
account, of not less than 11 poachers. The parties
having mutually recognized each other for a mo-
ment, one of the poachers said, " D—n 'em, let us
fire," upon which several pieces were instantly let
off, and the volley was answered by a discharge
frcm the gamekeepers. The guns of the poachers
were ineffective ; but an exclamation, when the
gamekeepers fired, indicated a different result
on their part, and a day or two afterwards a hat
was picked up near the spot, with several shot-
holes in the crown. The fire was not repeated,
and the gamekeepers did not feel themselves in
sufficient strength to attempt a capture of the
poachers. A report has prevailed that the man
who was hit is in danger of losing his eye-sight,
being badly wounded in the upper part of his
face, but tl►e name of the individual is kept a
secret.—(Preston Chronicle.)

DREADFUL OCCURRENCE.--Yesterday morn-
ing, about 12 o'clock, as a little girl, scarcely
eleven years of age, of the name of Mary Kates,
residing at No. 2, Hartshorne-place, ‘V hitecross-
street, Barbican, was straining the water off some
potatoes, her pinafore caught fire, and before the
flames could be extinguished, her frock and
under garments were totally consumed, and the
unfortunate child dreadfully burnt under the
arms and breast ; she was immediately taken to
a surgeon, who rendered every assistance, but
recommended her to be taken to St. Bartholo-
mew's Hospital, which was accordingly done,
where she remains without the least hopes of
recovery.

Some of the oak and elm trees in Kensington
Gardens still retain the whole of their summer
foliage, in its pristine verdure, notwithstanding
the sharp frosts which have taken place.

The French Papers of Monday are filled with
speculations as to the war in Greece, and the
state of things in Madrid.

Letters from Constantinople under date 11th
October, say that a question of some importance
is about to be agitated. The legal existence of
the present executive government of Greece ex-
pires before the end of the year. According to
the Constitution a General Assembly is required
for the election of tie'v Governors ; but the Lon-
don Committee seems inclined to continue Corr-
Dual°Tal in the office of President for five years.
laaAtmt is at Tripolizza waiting for reinforce-
ments. In the meantime, the Moreotes are said to
be making proposals to him, but this report does
not seem worthy of much credit. Further in-
telligence from Greece is continued in the Ger-
man Papers, extracts from which are given
below.

It would appear by the accounts from Madrid,
that the Duke de L'INFANT.too had quarrelled
with the party which raised him to the head of
affairs, and thus in all probability his downfal is
nearly achieved. The French Government has
claimed the payment of the money due to it by
Spain, viz. 11,250,000 francs on the first of Ja-
nuary next. The return of M. ZEA to his former
office is also spoken of as likely to take place.
In addition to the above Papers, we have re-
ceived the Etude of yesterday, by Express. This
Paper, in giving the foregoing news from Spain,
which was taken from the Journal des Debats,
and the Quotidienne, adds, " The wisest thing
that any body can do is not to credit the Jour-
nal des Debuts or the Quotidienne."
The only article in the Etoilc worth extract-
ing will be found subjoined, and which gives us
the important news of the sailing of the Turkish
fleet from Alexandria.

The price of the Three per Cents. at Paris yes-
terday, at three o'clock, was 68. 10.

ODESSA, OCT. 26.

We have received letters from Constantinople up to the 19th
of Oct. The Turkish and Egyptian fleet under the command
of the Capitan Paella, had appeared in the waters of Rhodes. It
cast anchor on the 13th October at Marmoritza, where the
Greeks were watching it. It appeared to be bound for Candia,
notwithstanding Ibrahim was in great want of troops, since the
losses he had sustained near

The Greeks at Constantinople flatter themselves that the