The Sun.
London, England, 1840-06-08 00:00:00

NAPOLEON'S ARMS.

(From the Afoniteur Parisien. of Thursday last.)
This morning the King, attended by the Duke de Ne-
mours, and surrounded by all the Ministers and his Aides-
de-camp, received in the throne-room the former Grand
Marshal of the Imperial Palace, General Count Bertrand,
who thus addressed his Majesty in placing in the hands of
the King Napoleon's arms:—
" sire—The last wishes of the Emperor will at last be
realised. It, addressing to you my congratulations upon a
result which will be not the less honourable to your Ma-
jesty at a future period than it is at the present time, a re-
sult so in unison with the national honour and popular
feelings, I sin but an echo of the public gratitude.
" Beir,g ready to start to fulfil a sacred duty, I thank
your Miijesty for having associated me in the noble voyage
to St. Helena.

These arms of the great Napoleon, which I have of-
fered to my country, in asking her to reclaim the mortal
rcmains of the Emperor—these arms now belong to France.
" It is to your Majesty, to your solemn and patriotic pro-
ceedings, that we are indebted for the realization of the
Emperor': last wishes—wishes which he had particularly
expressed to me on his death-bed, under circumstances
which can never be enced from my memory.
" Sire, in returning thanks for the memorable act of
national justice which you have so generouOy undertaken,
animated with feelings of gratitude and confidence, I come
to deposit in your Majesty's hands these glorious arms,
which I have been obliged for such a length to conceal
from the light of day, and which I hope to place very soon
upon the coffin of the Great Captain, upon the illustrious
tomb, which is destined to engage universal sympathy.
Let the sword of the hero become the palladium of our
country."
To which the King replied— _ _

" I receive in the name of Frarce the arms of the Em-
peror Napoleon, whose last wishes confided to you this
precious store ; they will be faithfully preserved until the
moment when I shall be able to place the mausoleum
which is being prepared for him by the national munificence
of France.
I consider myself fortunate in having been reserved
to restore to the land of France the mortal remains of him
who added so much glory to our military exploits, and to
acquit the debt of our country by encircling his coffin with
all the honours that were due to him.
" I ant much affected by the sentiments which ycu have
just expres,.cd."
These arms are the sword which the Emperor wore at
Austeilitz,' and the only one which he was in the habit
of wearing ever since : two pairs of horse pistols, richly
mounted; the sword in the shape of a glaive, which he
wore at the May encampment ; a sabre which belonged to
John :3obietki, and a poiguard which was given by tht

Pope to the Grand Master of the Maltese Orth r of Lava-
lette. The arms have been deposited in the treasury of
the Crown, pending the erection of Napoleon's tomb.

SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS.

FROM THE MORNING PAPERS OF THIS DAY.
(From the Morning Chronicle.)
The mis-statements of the Times, with reference to this
refusal to give up a victim to the Chinese, arc little less
monstrous than the doctrine which it attempts to enforce.
" A British sailor," we are told, " kills a Chinese citi-
zen ; and Captain Elliot, by force, withdraws the alleged
offender from the jurisdiction of the imperial magistracy."
Who, to read this, would doubt that a murder had been
committed by a British sailor, that the offender had been
clearly ascertained, and that the Chinese had criminal
courts, before which he might have been brought to a fair
and impartial trial? How stands the fact? In the first
place, the evidence goes all to prove that no murder at
all had been committed, and that the case was merely
one of accidental homicide. In the second place, it
was never ascertained that the murder, if murder it
was, was committed by a British sailor at all, the
Chinese having been killed in a casual affray, begun by
American sailors, and in which American sailors were en-
gaged as actively as British. In the third place, not a
shadow of suspicion was ever attached to one person more
than another, of those engaged in the atia-ay, notwithstand-
ing Captain Elliot's unwearied efforts to discover the of-
fender, and the offer of a large reward for his apprehen-
sion. And,la-:tly, so far from the Chinese having criminal
courts, before which a suspected party could:have had a
fair trial for his life, it is notorious thatthe maxim of their
legislature—a maxim acted upon, as we hare already seen
in the cases of the gunner and the Italian sailor—is, that
in cases of accidental homicide a foreigner mutt be given
up, not for trial, but for execution. From these specimens
the public will know what to think of the conscientious-
ness of the writer, who dares to accuse the Duke of Wel.
lington of disregarding the dictates of bis conscience in
pronouncing the war with China a just and necessary war.
( From the Morning Advertiser.)
But it is not insurrection that is urged as the chief
crime of the Catholics of Ireland ; it is their number and
influence. Because, if admitted to equality of rights, their
numbers and property would give those of that persuasion
a natural and just preponderance in civic affairs it is ar-
gued that the Corporation Bill aims not at an equalization
but a transfer of power, not only at the abolition of a Pro-
testant but the establishment of a Catholic ascendancy,
and is, therefore, not a reform, but a revolution. On
pretence of its being a religious ascendancy objections are
taken to the just ascendancy of property and turnbers.
Mr. Butt, on the evidence of Mr. Hamilton, late Member
for Dublin, accuses 9,000 Roman Catholics in Dublin of
holding houses rated at 101., whereas but 4,000 Protestants
are guilty of the same offence. Hence he argues Unit,
because the Catholics have a paramount influence in num-
bers ai.d property, they should be held in a state of &-
graded exclusion from municipal rights—held, in fact, the
slaves of a miserable and bigoted minority. This is the
argument which produced such an effect in the House of
Lords. At one time their poverty and ignorance, as in
the case of Lord Stanley's Bill of " Pains and Penalties,"
are alleged as disqualifications against Catholics, and, at
another, their property and numbers are adduced as rea-
sons for their exclusion.

(From the Morning Post.)
It will be seen, from what passed in the House of Com-
mons during the short sitting of Saturday, that Members
at length begin to be aware of the opinion generally en
tertained by the public in respect to their proceedings.
Two gentlemen spoke on the subject. Sir George
Sinclair attributed the slow progress of the busi-
ness of the country to the number of holidays, the
frequent difficulty in " making a House," the practice ut
adjourning debates, and the habit of sitting to very late
hours ; and Mr. Ewart expressed his belief that a change
must be mado in the hour at which the House met. We
will not say a word about the disgraceful delay that takes
place in transacting the real business of legislation : no
reasonable man can doubt the fact for a moment. But we
must venture to differ from Sir George Sinclair as to
the causes he assigns for it, and from Mr. Ewart in the
remedy he proposes. The frequency of holidays we con-
sider to have no bearing on the question. The House of
Lords meet on fewer days during the session than the Com-
mons, and yet they get through their business easily to
themselves, and with entire satisfaction to the country.
And why is this? We much wonder that the acuteness of
Sir George Sinclair did not lead him at once to discover
the reason, for to our view it lies on the surface. It
equally applies, too, to all the other points he put for-
ward; to the difficulty of making a House; to the prac-
tice of adjourned debates; and to the lateness of the sit-
tings. Simply then, the Lords waste no time in making
unnecessary speeches—with the occasional exception of
Lord Brougham, in whom one is inclined to overlook the
failing, as being in some sort natural to one who is " cun-
ning of fence" and anxious to display his rhetorical dexte-
rity. In the Commons the reverse is the case.
(From the Morning Herald.)
All deaths occasioned by gross negligence are the sub-
ject of indictment for manslaughter ; but though a great
proportion of the frightful fatalities on railroads have
arisen from that cause, we are not aware that any person
culpably connected with acts of homicide, which, by a little
care, might be easily avoided, has ever been brought to the
bar of criminal justice. Then the engine, or boiler, or
other machine or object causing death, is liable to a death-
fine, called a deodand, which, though originally connected
with superstitious Lotions, might be rendered a great pro-
tection to human life. A cupidity, reckless of human
life, is brought to reason when its acts recoil upon itself in
the shape of a drain upon its pelf. It is in that part that
one must look for the feelings and conscience of the mere
Mammonite. It is among his gold that the law must
grope for his morals and his sensibility. If he loses
more than he gains by a sordid endangering of the lives
and limbs of his fellow men, he will begin to think that
that there may be some virtue in keeping the " triumphs
of science" bloodless by humane precautions. Let the
most heartless speculator that exists only find out that he
seriously compromises his own Interest by contemptuous
indifference to the lives of others, and he will instantly be-
come a men endowed with some apparent sensibilities. Ile
will no longer think it the readiest road to drive over hu-
man skulls (he must leave that to the quack doctors) to a
sumptuous palace and a marble monument. Coroners'
juries should keep this in mind. If they did, railway and
steam-boat " science" would not be so much marked as it
now is with calamitous occurrences, The safety of pas-
sengers would became a no less anxious subject of consi-
deration than the profits of the speculators.

BRITISH AND FOREIGN ANTI-

SLAVERY SOCIETY.

A LETTER FROM DR. MADDEN TO A GEN-
TLEMAN IN LONDON.
Rattimeny Terrace, Dublin, June 4, 1840.
I received yours of the 28th ult., on my arrival in Dub-
lin on Monday night, after a long absence from the city.
I will to my utmost endeavour to comply with your wishes,
and give tne information you require to the meeting, De,)
voleute, any day after the 12th instant, provided that such
meeting be not directed by those persons who formed the
Committee who managed the business of the recent meeting
at Exeter Hall. In case such persons as those who be-
stowed their fulsome plaudits and unmerited approbwion
on the old enemies of the cause of liberty and humanity—
and reserved all their contumely and animosity for the
tried friend and able and consistent advocate of the slave—
I say, my dear friend, in case such persons are those who
are to preside over, or have the direction of, the ineetiiis
that are to take place of the great Anti-slavery Conference,
I will beg you to bold me excused, as I feel it would be
utterly impossible for me, and even would be unworthy of
one whose heart is in this good cause, to associate with
persons whose conduct on this occasion causes their mo-
tives and sincerity to be called in question; for it is im-
possible to conceive the insult offered to so strenuous, so
able, arid so consistent an advocate of the cause as Mr.
O'Connell is by all allowed to be, could be devised and
carried into execution, without an intention of promoting
other views besides those of the intererst of humanity.
I am, my dear friend, yours most truly,
R. R. MADDEN.

The preliminaries of a marriage between the
Hon. Emily St. John, daughter of Viscount Bolingbroke, and
Corbet Smith, Esq., of Bittcswell Hall, near Melton Mowbray,
having been definitively arranged, the ceremony is expected to
take place at the close of the present month. The bridegroom
elect is said to be one of the wealthiest commoners in Leices-
tershire.
OPENING OF THE SOUTHWARK BRIDGE-
t two o'clock on Saturday the silence which for many
a day hung over Southwark-bridge was disturbed by the dis-
charge of several small pieces of ordnance, announcing the
opening of a new pier in the centre of the bridge. The cere-
mony was performed in the presence of the Chairman and the
Board of Directors of the Bridge Company, Mr. Alderman
Magnay, several of the Common Council of London, and a
lame assemblage of merchants. The structure of the pier is
highly creditable to the Bridge Company, and to Mr. Vig-
nolles, the engineer, under whose superintendence it has been
raised. The pier, or more properly speaking, the wharf, is
.ituated at the north-west pier, and north stream side of
the bridge. The passage to it has been effected by an open-
ing of about fifteen feet, made through the ribs of the
bridge, through which a covered passage, with staircase and
landings, has been formed to the platform, on the level of
the spring of the aril, in front of the north pier. Opposite
this pier a barge has been moored, from which there is a
bridge or gangway connecting it with the platform, fixed at
the spring of the arch. The barge has been so moored or
fastened to piles, that it will rise or fall with the tide, and
move on the top guided by wheels turning on iron rails. The
top part of the barge is secured to the platform by cast-iron
pins, leaving a sufficient play far any lateral motion caused by
the rising of the river. The declivity to the wharf is so gentle,
that the weakest invalid may approach it without danger. This
will make it extremely desirable for coaches and vehicles, as
the general complaint against other landing places is the.ob
struction given to the removal of carriages, an obstacle com-
pletely obviated in this instance. The boats plying to this pier
will either burn coke or consume their own smoke, and the
passengers will pass the bridge toll free. Shortly after the
Opening of the pier one of the finest boats of the Iron Steam-
boat Company made an experimental trip up the river ; she left,
the pier at three o'clock, amidst a salute of ten small pieces of
cannon, and many hearty cheers. The Board of Directors of
the Bridge Company hospitably entertained their guests. A
splendid dejeune was prepared by Mr. Chaplin.
WISE IGNORANCE.—As there is a foolish wis-
dom, so there is a wise ignorance, in not prying into God's ark
—our inquiring into things not revealed. I would fain know
all that I need, and all that I may; I leave God's secrets to
himself. It is happy for me that God makes me of his court,
though not of his council.—Bishop
MR. O'CONNOR.--I.t is right we should mention
—as there still appears to be, in certam quarters, a disposition
chargettohe‘,g
risithupon the Whig Government whatever hardships that
individual has been subjected to—not only that they have had
nothing to do with the matter, but that even the Act of Par-
liament, under winch his treatment was at first prescribed by
Magistratos, was not a Whig measure. It is the
General Gaol Act of the 4th Geo. IV. (1824), and was con-
sequently passed in the good old Tory times ; and the Visiting
Magistrates of York, by whom it is executed, it is positively
stated, are, with one excepticn, thernieiv::s Tories also.
Mancactier Guardian.