The Sun.
London, England, 1831-06-14 00:00:00

UNION-HALL

About three r;Onthsago, a man, named Roberts,
was committed to Guildford gaol fur three months,
and the period of his imprisonment having expired
on Friday last, he was set at liberty. Another man,
in a chaise-cart, awaited his liberation, and they both
started towards town together ; they stopped at the
Castle Inniat Kingston, and while the inmates were
busily engaged, Robarts and his companion robbed
the house of 3001. worth of plate. Soon after their
departure the robbery was discovered, and instant
pursuit being given to tha thieves, they were over-
taken on Clapham-common, the horse, which they
had driven at a most furious rate, having broke
down at the above place. Bath men were secured,
together with the whole of the property, and taken
back to Kingston, where the men were examined
and committed for trial.

STEAM NAVIGATION.—We have much
pleasure in announcing that an important improvement in
the fitting of steam vessels is now in progress under the
direction of Capt. W. KING, R.N., the inilefatigahle su-
perintendent of his Majesty's packets at this port. The
vessel selected for this purpose is his Majrst)'s steatner
Echo, which is now undergoing the necessary alterations
in the royal dock-yard at Devonport. Tie principal -
alteration is the substitution of the Cornish cylindricil
boilers, in the place of the square ones now in use by
which safety, economy, space, and comfort will be ob•
tained. In the first place these boilers are much cheaper
stronger, and less bulky than the square ones. The
square boilers, at the utmost, cannot bear more than 616.
on the inch, and are seldom worked at more than I ilb. :
the cylindrical boilers will bear 100113. on the inch, but it
is proposed to work them at only 151 b. on the expansi, e
system peculiar to Cornwall. In the next place, there will
be a saving of fuel to the extent of one-third, if not one-
half, consequently a vessel will be able to keep at sea a
much longer time than she can oow possibly do. There
will also be a saving of many tons weight of water, &c.
the new boilers not requiring near so much as the old, and
thus room will be procured for the Letter accommodation
of the crew and passengers. Economy will be obtained
by the saving of coal, and in the expense of the boilers,
which, we understand, is very considerably less than the
cost of those now in use, the length of time which they
will last, and the little repairs which they require. We can-
Lot conclude this very imperfect statement of this improve-
ment, which promises such immense advantages to the na-
tion, both in a political and commercial view, without bear-
og testimony to the zeal which Capt. KING has displayed
in promoting its adoption,—zeal, the exercise of which
none has enabled him to accomplish an object, which, if
it prove successful, and of this we believe no doubt is en-
tertained by those who, from their experience in the we
of steittn-engines, are competent judges, will enables us
traverse the deep waters " from pole to
vpale "!!:n eatery,
weeks to be able to report the `access flit
d the ..ketio will be quite rraey
dettaking, at, we understsu
month or the beginnit,
for trial in the latter rod of tut
and in an inconsiderable space. of time.
of July.--7Falmvarth Packet. of r'aPtu hie un-

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Z'OIIEIGN INTELLIGENCE.

FRENCH PAPERS.

(Fim the Moniteur of Saturday.)
PARIS, JUNE 10..—1 t will be seen by the extracts
'from the English journals, received by express,
-which we subjoin, that such of tlio,,e papers as are
habitually well informed respecting the affairs of
their country, lay aside the affirmative tone of their
news of the preceding day with respect to Belgium,
and represent Prince Leopold and the Congress of
London as exactly in the same situation as before
the election of the King, and the announcement of
the departure of Lord Ponsonby and General Bel-
hard from Briis.e/s. On the other band, the Com-
missioners of the Belgic Government, and the De-
puties from Congress, are now in London, where
they must have already received, from the mouth of
the Prince himself, the expres,ion of his intentions,
which must be presumed to be conformable to the
wise and benevolent resolutions of the five Great

Powers.
Belgium had acquired all this good-will on the part
of France, which, from the origin of the revolution
in that country, has given it such striking proofs of
it. It is not for us to recal, r
eor is it possible for
the Belgians to forget, the part taken by Prance in
the first acts which guaranteed their zxternal inde-
pendence, and their domestic liberty. Let Belgium
calculate the time that elapsed between the first day
of its revolution and the day of its admission into
the great European family; let it consider what
efforts, what blood, it cost France, to pass over the
same interval; let it compare its independence, ton-
summated in four months, with a laborious revolu-
tion of forty years, and it will be thz more sensible
of what it owes to our sympathy.
A question of boundaries became almost secondary
after a question of independence, for a country, in
the first place, is every thing, whatever it may be ;
but it was, however, fitting that it should be worthy
of Belgium supported by France. A natural deter.
mination of the boundary offered. This was to
adopt, after the separation of Belgium from Holland,
the situation which it occupied before its union with
France, that is to say, to assign to it the same ter-
ritory that it possessed at the time that it was placed
under the dominion of Austria. The map of 1790,
therefore, naturally became that of 1831, for be-
tween these two dates there had been no Belgium
there had been a French province and a Dutch pro-
vince. This was really establishing Belgium on its
foundations. Nay, on this plan of partition between
the two Sates of the Netherlands there was even la
decided advantage in one point for Belgium alone.
However, the King of Holland acceded to it.
The same readiness might have been expected on
the part of the Belgiars, but they raised pretensions
far above the basis, he political equity of which
they could not Irowever dispute. The Belgians
have claimed, 'auccessively, Luxemburg, the whole
of Limburg, and the left bank of the Scheldt, ap-
pealing to concessions made in 1795, not to Bel-
gium, which was nothing itself, but to France,
which had just incorporated Belgium with its own
territory. Their extravagant pretensions gave reason
so believe that the Belgians merely had it in view
to obtain, by bringing them forward, an advan-
tageous rectification of their ancient limits, which
were traced on several points in a manner as little
favourable to them as to the Dutch--a rectification
which the Congress at London has offered to faci-
litate by an arrangement, which exchanges and in-
demnities would render practicable. It is, therefore,
still hoped, and with a confidence which proves to
the Belgic nation the esteem of the French Go-
vernment, it is hoped, we say, that new ways to
an accommodation, facilitated by the unanimity of
Europe, and by the particular good will of France, I
svill soon be opened. Meantime General Belliard,
as well as Lord Ponsonby, necessarily left a city
where their voice was no longer attended to. Our
Government especially, even in proportion to its
*vial regard for a people which so many ties and
recollections attach to our country, owed the deter-
mination to the principles of civilization, and to the
right confirmed by treaties.
We take pleasure then in believing that the Bel-
gians, instead of listening to passion only will shortly
return to wiser sentiments, arid will recognise the
necessity and propriety on their own account of more
moderate, more equitable, and more prudent con-
duct. Their probity, their good sense, will warn
them that an infant state cannot arrogate to itself the
right of disregarding the treaties which are respected
by all others, and of marking its admission into the
political system of Europe by a violent aggression
against that very system. They will not present
themselves as a cause of disturbances in Europe,
and open a door to disorders, which some fiery
spirits desire, as the sole means of realizing their
dangerous projects.