The Sun.
London, England, 1841-12-22 00:00:00

MORN► ING SUN

FROM THE FRENCH PAPERS. r
A dreadful attempt at murder was made the day bee 1.
fore yesterday; on a female, nearly 70 years of age, who
is portress of a house in the Rue des Tournelles, in the
Marais. The criminal is her son-in-law, to whom, before
and since the death of her husband, she appears to have
acted as a kind parent, as also to his brother, who is a
soldier. Notwithstanding her kindness he was conti-
nually insulting her, and reproaching her with having I
been wanting in attentions to his father. A few days '
ago the son-in-law showed her two pistols which he had
bought, one of which he said was for her and the other
for himself. Next day, about noon, and when she was
alone in her lodge, the murderer came down stairs, and
having opened the window of the lodge, fired at her with
one of two pistols which he had with him. The ball
having missed the intended object, the wretch broke
open the door of the lodge and rushed in, for the pur-
pose of murdering her with the remaining pistol. 'The
old woman, however, with the energy of despair, seized
the arm of her son-in-law, and struggled with him suc-
cessfully, until by her cries some of the lodgers had been
attracted to the spot. These persons disarmed the ruf-
fian, and a guard having been sent for, he was imme-
diately taken before the Commissary of Police, by whom
he was sent to prison.
The Corresponsal of Madrid states that the robbers,
who attacked the Madrid and Seville diligence, near
Puerto Lapiehe, as we mentioned some days since, were
seven in number, well mounted, and armed to the teeth.
They spread a blanket in the road, and ordered the pas-
sengers to throw on it all their money and jewels. One
of the travellers, whom, by his uniform, they took for
General Balboa, was placed apart, and they seemed as
if they were going to shoot him immediately. One of
them asked, " Who was the last general shot at Ma-
drid ?" The reply was, " General Leon."—" Ah," said
one of the robbers, " he was more of a Carlist than the
Holy Mary herself or even than Carlos V. !" He then
turned to the Marquesa de Tres Palacios, sister of the
unfortunate Leon, who was in mourning, and asked her
if she was the general's widow. She replied that she
was his sister, and begged of them not to take from her
a souvenir of her brother, which she valued above all
things. They agreed to leave this in her possession ;
but they took her money, and the articles which they got
from all the passengers were valued at a large sum.
Five of the robbers carried off the articles thus stolen
upon a couple of horses, while the other two kept guard
over the traveller whom they mistook for General Bal-
boa. A detachment of troops at length approaching,
caused the robbers to make off, leaving the passengers
stripped of almost every thing.
Some days ago a young man, wearing a long beard,
entered the residence of an old Captain of the navy in
Paris, and made inquiries after a certain M. Delanglo, of
Caen, a history of whose voyages the inquirer had read,
he said, with great admiration. The Captain replied
that he had no knowledge whatever of the person men-
tioned, and after some little difficulty got rid of his
visitor. Conceiving some suspicions the Captain asked
the porter of the house how the man had gained admis-
sion. The porter said that he had seen no one enter
but a young man, who said he was going to Madame 8., 1
who lived in the apartment over the Captain ; but this
lady, on being applied to, said no such person had been
to see her. Three days after, the Captain received a sum
of B,ooof. in bank notes, but, recollecting the mysterious
visitor, took the precaution of concealing the money
among a large collection of shells in his room, instead of
putting it into the secretary. Soon afterwards he went
out, and after a while the hirsute young gentleman re-
turned to pay, as he said, another visit to Madame 8.,
but, in fact, picked the lock of the door of the Captain's
apartment, broke open the secretary, took out the Cap-
tain's epaulettes, a sum of money, and other valuables to
the amount altogether of 3,000 f. From the confusion
the rest of the furniture was left in there was little doubt
that the thief was informed of the Captain's receipt of
the 8,000 f., and had made a minute search far it, but had
overlooked the cabinet of shells. His enormous beard
was a false one, for it was founi in the apartment, hav-
ing been taken off and left, to avoid the wearer's being
recognised.
M. Delaroche, the responsible editor of the National,
has surrendered himself for the purpose of undergoing
the fonr months' imprisonment to which he was con-
demned by the Court. of Assize on the 2d of October ;
but on the report of two physicians as to the state of his
health, he has been allowed, whilst unwell, to reside in
the 'liaison de sante of Dr. Pinel, instead of undergoing
his sentence in gaol.
A case of usury was brought before the Correctional
Tribunal the day before yesterday, and was decided by
default, the accused party, named De Villars, having
absconded. Among other usurious acts imputed to him
it was stated that he used to lend to the most favoured of
his clients at 10 per cent., but made them take some
goods as part of the sum advanced—silk handkerchiefs,
for example. To others he gave a considerable quan-
tity of beer, and to one individual a quantity of coffins,
as part of their loans. In one case he had required
160 f. interest on 300 f. lent for only 20 days, or 960 per
cent. per annum. The Court adjudged him guilty, and
imposed a fine of 40,000 f.
M. Fevre, the -Inspector-General of Ponts et Chaus-
sees, has just made his report of an experiment on a
system of bridge building, the invention of Mr. Neville,
an English engineer. The experiment was made on a
small bridge, six metres sixty centimetres in length, and
one in width, in the factory of Messrs. Bouttevillain and
Brunet. Each end of this bridge, which weighs 700
kilogrammes was placed, on a beam, without being se-
cured by masonry, or any other means. A weight of
6,000 kilogrammes, which was about 1,000 kilogrammes
per superficial metre, having been placed upon the
bridge, it-only yielded 9 millimetres at the ends, and a
kind of cart heavily laden was drawn over it without pro-
ducing the slightest effect upon its solidity. These trials
having been made, M. Fevre, with the concurrence of
several distinguished men of science who were present,
pronounced them to be conclusive of the superiority of
Mr. Neville's system.
A trunk-maker named Leguay, in the Rue Coquilli-
aere, was alone in his shop the evening before last, when
one of several persons who were looking at articles out-
side endeavoured to divert his attention, while the others
were attempting to steal a portmanteau at the door. He
observed their manoeuvres, and defeated them by calling
out aux role urs. The other man tried to make off with
a trunk, but he followed him, when just as he was about
to seize him, the villain drew a. dagger, and stabbed him
in several places. Leguay relinquished his hold and fell,
but the assassin was
is
by other persons. His vic-
tim is not dead, but is in great danger.
A new mode of raising the wind has just been brought
into action. A man with a pipe in his mouth, selecting
as his victim any respectable looking person in a crowd-
ed street, contrives to jostle against him and drop his
pipe, which breaks into pieces. The gentleman naturally
asks pardon. " You are very polite," replies the smoker,
" but that does not mend my pipe, and I have not a sou
to buy another." This has been tried many times lately,
and has never failed to produce much more than the
value of the pipe and the tobacco it contained.
The Breton of Nantes states that a young French tra-
veller, M. Rochet d'llericourt, is about to attempt a
journey completely across Africa, in the torrid zone, like
M. CaiHe.
The responsible editor and the chief editor of the
Journatde r Eure were tried on Monday before the Court
of Assizes, at Evreux, for two articles in that paper, pub-
lished on the 14th and 16th of September, and which
were incriminated as attacking the principle of the King's
administrative irresponsibility and the form of the Go-
vernment. The, Advocate. General made a long and la-
boured requisitory, in which ho dwelt on the danger of
the doctrines contained in the articles in question. M.
Jules Fevre pleaded in defence, and observed that, for
ten years, this Journal had never been subjected to a
political prosecution. The Jury, after an hour's deli-
beration, brought in a verdict of acquittal for both the
accused ; and the President had some difficulty in re-
pressing the exclamations of approbation which arose
among the auditory.
A few nights since a man entered the guard-house at
the Barriere des Martyrs, and asked permission to warm
himself, pretending to be a police-officer, but on being
questioned could produce no proofs of his quality. Sus-
picions being thus created, he wasistisse, a smallarched,apnadekfoetunodf
to have about him two loaded pistols,
gunpowder, thirteen buckshots, a bullet cut into quarters,
,
rthoiis whom
and
tig
two chcvalieres made of hair, a small pocket-book con-
;tn2sh, etthdheneai
taining three letters, a knife, and a small piece of black
ribbon. Ile was detained till
Montmartre, to n
taken before the Mayor of
m
dared that, his name was Monnoyeur,
he lived with his uncle, a boot-maker, in the Rue de
Richelieu. Being transferred to the Prefecture, he was
committed to take his trial for carrying prohibited arms,
and made his appearance yesterday before the Correc-
tional Tribunal upon this charge. On being interrogated
he replied that he carried the pistols with the intent of
shooting himself, and entered the guard- house because
he wished to defer the attempt till the morning. As to
his motives, he affirmed that he was unhappy in his
family, weary of being a burthen upon his uncle, and
wished to die. He was sentenced to imprisonment for
six days.
The King has promoted to be Officers of the Legion
of Honour Messrs. Ditfrenoy and Elie de Beaumont, on
their terminating the General Geological Map of France,
a work of the highest interest and value to the scientific
The Steck states that the Military School of Saint-
Cyr has been much disturbed lately by the violent mani-
festations of displeasure expressed by the great body of
the pupils at some favours bestowed upon a pupil who is
the son of one of the superior officers. A pupil, who had
the rank of corpora', has been broken, and four others
have been expelled.
We find the following in the Toulonnais :—" The
Widow of General Allard, the favourite of the King of
Lahore, was the daughter of a nabob vanquished by the
General, and at the death of her father was only ten
years old. The General took charge of her education,
and when of suitable age married her, and had several
cl-il,lren by her. She and her family came with the
Geaeral t'aranee, and settled at St. Tropez, where he
i-dted the children to be educated, leaving them all be-
hind him ,‘ hen he returned to Lahore and died. The
children hare all been brought up in the Roman Ca-
tholic re g ton,into ithich, however, their mother has
never been admitted. ' She has lately been very desirous
of being' baptised, and 'made every preparation of her
mind under due instruction. Having expressed a wish
that the King and Queen should be her sponsors, their
Majesties readily consented, and nominated the Prefect
of the Var and Mme. Tessiere to be their proxies. The
ceremony is to take place shortly, preparatory to which
the august godfather and godmother sent a handsome
snuff-box, with the King's cypher in diamonds, for M.
„Tessiere, and a necklace of the same valuable materials
for his lady. With these was another box sealed to be
delivered to Mme. Allard when the ceremony was .com-
pleted, and :stisich was believed to contain a cross
richly set in. brilliants, to. be worn by her as an emblem
of the faiths ate had adopted. The King, in acknow-
ledgment of ;lie services rendered to France by the
late General`when in India, promised to be the protector
of his children, and has thus given a proof of his bene-
volence towards them and their mother. General Ven-

-tura, the intimate friend of the brave Allard, and M.
Ventura, his brother, who has been to India to settle the
'affairs of the deceased, will both be present at the bap-
tism of his widow."
Count A. de Brignole, with the approbation of Go-
vernment, and under the patronage of Admiral Verbuel,
the Duke de Luynes, the Bishops of Rennes and Nantes,
and other distinguished personages, has founded four
schools for boys of indigent parents, intended for the
navy and merchant service, who will be boarded and
properly educated, until they are qualified to go to sea,
and are appointed to ships. The Directors have an office
for Paris, at No. 28, Rue Besse du Rempart. For 200 f.,
paid by a subscriber, a boy may be admitted into this
school, boarded, and educated, till he is fit fur sea.
The price of bread for the remainder of the month is
fixed at 34 centimes the kilogramme.

UNITED SERVICE CLUB.
THE HORSE GUARDS.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

SIR,—If it be true that " coming events cast
their shadows before," the late articles and letters
in the Times would lead us to suppose that the
present Government had in contemplation to
make some inquiry into the patronage of that
nest of ultra-Toryism, the Horse Guards. Why
the present system has endured so long can
only be accounted for on the supposition that
civilians take no interest about military matters,
whilst the unfortunate officers of the line, pos-
sessing no Parliamentary influence, and passing
the best part of their lives in the Colonies, are
obliged to " grin and bear it," since "suffering
is the badge of all their tribe." For this reason
it is that the officers of the three regiments of
Foot Guards are still allowed to.retain their un-
just privilege in jumping to the rank of Captain
and Lieutenant-Colonel after ten years' service
in St. James's-street, whilst an officer of the line
may be twenty years before he attains even the
rank of Major, then frequently at the expense
of his constitution. I can answer for it, that no
soldier envies their position as Guards, but why
maintain this unnecessary and unjust distinction?
Why not place the officers on the same footing in
rank with their younger brethren of the line ?
There are also sundry abuses committed under
the head of " Staff appointments," by which
young men of interest and family (by the bye
these are synonymous terms) are permitted to
absent themselves from their regiments, whilst
the "Smiths" and "Thempsons" are obliged to
do the duty of the absentees, and are, moreover,
deprived of their own leaves of absence ; exempli
gratia—the present Lord Lieutenant of Ireland
has twelve officers on full pay on his Staff and ,
Household, whose sole duty consists in wearing
a heterogeneous uniform, between a General
Officer's and the late Mr. Widdicombe's, of Ast-
ley's amphitheatre, in which they are called
upon to carve at the Viceroy's table, whilst
their less' fortunate companions are mounting
guard in the Colonies or elsewhere • indeed it
has always appeared to me that the office of Lord
Lieutenant was continued for the convenience of
certain officers ; any one who knows Ireland
must feel that the Viceroyship is nothing but a
vehicle for patronage. With regard to the bare-
faced system of trafficking in commissions, can
anything be more derogatory to the high feeling
which should belong to an officer? The Regu-
lation Price for a troop in Dragoons is 3,2251.
No officer can buy a troop under 5,0001., or gui-
neas ! The consequence is, this branch of the
service belongs exclusively to the monied men,
who are placed in it to play at soldiers. If any
Military M.P., not having the fear of the Horse
Guards before his eyes, would lay the whole
system before Parliament, the public would be
the gainers. EMERITAS.