The Sun.
London, England, 1824-06-25 00:00:00

A DESERTER PARDONED.

( From the Jamaica Courant of April 30.)
At an early hour yesterday morning, private
Francis Campbell, of the 50th regiment, who
had been tried by a General Court-martial, held
at Kingston barracks on the 17th inst., and found
guilty of desertion, and sentenced to be shot, was
taken from the gaol of this city in a cart, under
the escort of a sergeant's guard. At the entrance
of Up-park camp, the escort was joined by the
band of the regiment, which played the Dead
March in Saul, with the drums muffled. in
this most impressive and melancholy manner,
the prisoner was conducted in front of the corps,
which had been previously formed into a square.
—He was afterwards placed on the right flank,
where the coffin to receive his body had been pre-
pared ; he immediately knelt on the coffin, and
prayed for some time with great fervour and resig-
nation. He was attended in this devotional act by
the Rev. I. Mann. After a brief lapse of time,
the fatal firing party was drawn out, the sentence
of the Court-martial was read by Lieutenant and
Adjutant Crofton, and the last preparation made
to carry into effect the dreadful award. At this
moment of anxious dread and commiseration, a
melancholy silence prevailed—no whisper was
heard, and the bosom of the spectators heaved
alone with the noiseless sigh of pity, terror, and
hope. At this period of suspense, Col. Harrison
the commanding officer, advanced, and with much
dignity and benevolence, communicated to the
prisoner that his Excellency the Commander-in-
Chief had been pleased to extend his mercy to-
wards him. The unfortunate being, thus unex-
pectedly relieved from a violent death, received
the grateful information with overpowered feel-
He was forced to be assisted from his kneel-
ing posture by the help of his brother soldiers.—
There were many spectators assembled to wit-
ness this military execution, who visibly partici-
pated in the pleasure which the officers and pri-
vates of the regiment experienced from this
sudden and happy reprieve.

SLAYIi TRADE.—Frorn the Gape Coast Ga-
zettes we learn, that off Lagos the Bann dis-
covered a squadron of Brazilian slavers, consist-
ing of a large ship, brig, and schooner, the whole
of which were taken possession of ; the slaves
of the two last vessels were on the beach, in readi-
ness for their reception, platforms laid,provisions
and water complete, &c. The Captains of the
above vessels being on shore, the boats under
Lieutenants Amsink and Wilson were sent up the
river to request their attendance on board,
in order that they might have an opportunity
of justifying their trading for slaves. They were
received with every manifestation of friendship
by the King and the Portuguese ; the former
promised to send off the slaves in the morning,
which he said amounted to only 1000, the ship not
having completed half her cargo. With this as-
surance the boats remained in the river during
the night ; at daylight the Officers waited on
the King, to request lie would fulfil his promise,
and send the slaves on board, but he endeavoured
by every means to evade the question,and conduct-
ed himself with much rudeness,as well towards the
officers as to Mr. Hodson, a British merchant,
and at length endeavoured to detain them ; nor
was it without considerable difficulty that they
succeeded in regaining the boats, followed by
the armed multitude,amongst whom were the Por-
tuguese employed in distributing apadente,
which had the effect of working up the natives to
a pitch of perfect frenzy. They had scarcely got
into the boats, when a most furious attack was
commenced upon them by the whole population,
which consisted of from 2,000 to 3,000 men,
generally armed with bows and arrows, in ad-
dition to which a battery of nine guns opened
its tire. The first discharge proved ineffectual,
a few seamen landed and spiked the guns be-
fore a second took place, the people having
fled on the pinnance and yawl directing their
fire against them ; after an engagement of forty
minutes, in which time the whole of the boats'
ammunition was expended, the natives con-
tinuing to keep their ground, notwithstand-
ilia their being mowed down by every discharge
of grape from the boats' guns, they returned on
board, having sustained a loss of one seamen, and
one marine killed ; besides Lieut. Wilson se-
verely wounded in two places, two midshipmen,
and five seamen and marines slightly wounded,
out of the small force which manned the boats.
The three vessels were on the following (lay dis-
patched to Sierra Leone, for adjudication in the
mixed Commission Court.

NAPLES, MAY 18.—Our course of exchange
stands at a point of -altitude it never reached be-
fore, producing as a necessary consequence the ex-
port of specie in great quantities. The Spanish
dollars, so plenteously supplied by the House of
ROTHSCHILD, have wholly disappeared from our
market ; they are gone chiefly to Rome and Mar-
seilles. An Agio, in fact, is now asked for our
own Piasters. Though late, on account of the
bad weather, the silk-harvest promises to be
very productive this year. The extraordinary
vicissitudes in the temperature of the atmosphere
frequently in the course of the same day, au ex-
treme sultriness and then a perfect autumnal
coolness, have produced very prejudicial effects
on the health of the inhabitants.

The Italian papers state, that, near to Pesaro,
on the banks of the Foglio, there has lately been
found a chest of bronze, hooped with iron, con-
taining several very valuable effects—amongst
others a crown of gold. The Literati suppose
they were buried there by BERINGER, King of
Sicily, in 963, when the Emperor of Germany,
OTTO the First, marched against that Prince.
On the 9th instant four brothers were at
work in a field in the Commune of Romagnat
(Puy-de-Dome).—A thunder-storm arising, three
of them sought shelter under a large vvallnut-
tree. They had hardly placed themselves there
when the electric fluid struck the tree and
killed one of them, injuring both the others.—
Hence we have another melancholy instance
of the danger ,of seeking protection under a
tree (luring a thunder-storm.—(Constitutionnel,
June 1.6.) •