The Sun.
London, England, 1840-07-29 00:00:00

EVENING EDITION.

subject. He had formerly opposed the measure, but
after hearing the statement of Counsel on the subject he
felt he had never had to deal in Committee
with a more serious matter.—(Hear.) The evidence
given before the Committee set their minds thinking
whether some remedy might not be devised
for the melancholy state of things which it proved to
exist. It was proved there were upwards of 1,000- em-
ployed in working the flats on the river. The trustees
having with great discretion thought proper to. prohibit
Sunday navigation, there were boats lying for enilea
along the river, and the population drinking or smoking,
wandering idly about the country. The Acts r egu-
lating the navigation imposed a toll upon the .;n.
habitants of Cheshire, and they further provided.
that all the surplus funds arising from the.
tolls should be applicable to the county rates ; and he
admitted that the Court of Chancery would not have
allowed the trustees to do anything with the funds until
all the purposes of the trust had been accomplished..
But the trustees said to Parliament we have so much of
surplus funds—we have paid over 300,000/. to the
county rates—we have brought together a large popu-
lation which is destitute of religious instruction, allow
us to apply some of our funds to provide that Instruc-
tion for them," and he trusted they would not have•
made such an appeal in vain.
Lord STAN LEY, of Alderley.—Every one would
egree in the proposition that where a large popula
fun was destitute of spiritual instruction it ought to
be afforded. But then came the quevion, ho.,v ought
those funds to be provided ? The question was, w'ne-
titer they would make a new law, setting aside an Act of
Parliament settling a trust,.a law which would lay
down one of the most pernicious principles co far as
trust property was concerned ? Many of their Lord-
ships held what had been Church property ; suppose
the Church were now to say that there was a great
want of Church accommodation, it was a very bad Act
of Parliament which alienated the property of the
Church, and what Parliament has done it can undo,
we must have the property back--yet that was the
very principle which was laid down by the Bill. The
object of the Bill might be a very good one, but was it
right, and would their Lordships give their sanction to
carry out those objects by an act of spoliation ? They
were establishing a principle which, if carried out,
might strip them of all their property.
The Bill was then read a third time.

Lord PORTMAN proposed to strike out the
wards in the 4th clause, which prohibited the ministers
of the churches to be built, under the provisions of the
Bill, from publishing banns, and celebrating marrialres
therein.

The Bishop of LONDON agreed in the general
principle laid down by the Noble Lord, but if the utt-
nisters of these churches were allowed to celebrate mar-
rial,,,es and perform burials, it would materially interfere
with the fees paid to the clergymen of the parishes in
which they were to be built.

Lord PORTMAN explained. He merely wished
to prevent these ministers being prohibited by Act of
Pariiament from publishing banns, or celebrating mar-

nagcs.

The amendment was then agreed to.
The Bill was then passed.
Adjourned.

HOUSE OF COMMONS, JULY 28

The SPEAKER. took the Chair at Four o'Clock, when
there being only 26 Members present, the House Ad.
ourned.

PARLIAIVIENTA,I :DIVISION.

(From the Totes and Proceedings of the House of Common...)
MONDAY, JULY 27.
SUPPLY.

Twentieth Resolution, " That a sum, not exceeding £3,000,
be granted to her M:lesty, towards defraying, in the year 1840,
the expense of erecting a Hall at Edinburgh for the use of the
General Assembly of the Chnrch of Scotland," read a second
time :—Motion made, and Question put:—The House divided.

41Y ENING _EDITION.

3.OMANCE IN REAL LIFE.

SUICIDE.

(From the Bristol Mirror.)

An inquest was held last week, at the Hotwell
T,- .ern, Hotwells, on the body of Alfred Dryden,
aged fOrty-five years. A female of the house de-
posed that the deceased came there on the preceding
evening about six o'clock. He dined between six and
aevan. About half-past seven he went to his bed-
rocni, having ordered hag a pint of port wine and a
jog of cold water to be brought there. At ten o'clock
h rang his bell and ordered a cup of coffee and a
small glass of brandy ; at seven the next morning he
r.log his bell and ordered a little of th• wine from the
Louie on his table ; he was sitting on the side of the
bed, undressed, and seemed well. The servant gave
bim the wins and retired. At twelve o'clock, in zon-
sequence of his not coming down, the servant knocked
at his door several times, but, receiving no answer, she
opened the door and went into the room. Not seeing
him is bed she retired, but in a minute afterwards she
went in again, and on going towards the window saw
him hanging by the neck from the tester of the bedstead;
she saw nothing extraordinary in his manner during
the time he was in tee house.
MT. J. Marks, of Alfred-place, Kingsdown, deposed
as follows have seen the dead body it is that of
Alfred Dryden ; he was an officer in the French army
he lived with me about three mouths up to about seven
o,eelta ago, when I got him into thej infirmary for an in-
y in the leg, the result of three shot-wounds. I last
hi:n this day week ; he was as well as usual, and
was quite rational, but suffered much from pain. He
often said he should kill himself on account of his pain
nut for the dread of self-murder. He lived on his wear-
ing-apparel, naving no means of earning a livelihood.
He last lodged at Waterloo-place, Stapleton-road. The
ju:y returned a veil-diet of " Lunacy," and the body
was yesterday interred in Clifton lower churchyard.

The following narrative has been put into our hands
since the death of Mr. Dryden. It was written by him
itt the request of the person to whom it is addressed,
and who became acquainted with him by his having
eecasionally called to make trifling purchases :
" Bristol, April 27, 1840.
" Dear Madam,—.As you expressed a wish to know
the events of my life, I shall comply with your request,
and give you a succinct account of them.
" father, Alirede Dryden, was Lieutenant of
Artillery in the Republican army of Italy, under Buo-
neparte. He married my mother in 1795, and on the
1.2i-1, of June, 1796, I was born in Paris, where I was
brought up under the care of my mother and grand-
mother, who were both on terms of intimacy with
Madame de Beauharnois, afterwards Madame Bona-
parte, and subsequently Empress Josephine, and, owing
to this circumstance I was a constant visitor at the
Palace, where the First Consul and his wife were very
kind to me. Buonaparte becoming Emperor in 1804,
zna,le my father (who was then Lieut.-Colonel) Colonel
and Baron of the empire ; and I was not forgotten by
their Majesties. for I was sent as a pupil to a military
college with a full purse (that is to say, free of expense).
ely father followed the Emperor to the battle of Aus-
terlitz, and being severely wounded, be was sent back
to Paris, and appointed Vice-Governor of the Imperial
stables, an office corresponding with that of Deputy-
Grand Master of the Horse in England. Every pros-
pect was then bright for my family—a lucrative situa-
tion for my father, the private friendship of the Empress
For my mother, and the favour of the Emperor for all
of us.
" When Napoleon established the military school of
eevalsy at St. Germain I was 10 years of age, and was
sent to it as a free pupil ; I had the good fortune of
making some progress in my education, and was duly
noticed by the Emperor, who frequently visited the esta-
blishment. There I remained till I was near 15 years of
age, and after seeing the second marriage of the Emperor
with Marie Louise of Austria. and the christening of
the King of Rome, on the Ist of May, 1811, I left
the school, losiag all the advantages I should have reaped
from it had ll•emained till I was 18, and entered a
regiment of light cavalry as a private, on the sth of
1811 ; I joined the depot three days afterwards,
remained there six months, and joined the regiment,
then in winter quarters at Stralsund, in Sweden. I was
made a corporal on my arrival, and when the Emperor
reviewed us, previous to our going to Russia, I was
made a sergeant, and at the battle of Borodino I rose
to the rank of lieutenant ; we then entered Moscow,
where I was mounting guard at the Kremlin on that
disastrous night when the Governor Rostopchin let
'otiose all the convicts, who, infuriated by vengeance and
strong liquors, ton strictly followed the instructions of
the Governor, and set fire to every part of the city.
Then began our retreat under a frost of 19 degrees of
Reaumur under zero. Deprived of food and
shelter, our soldiers threw down their arms
and perished upon the road ; there was no
longer any discipline observed in the army, and
we resembled more a flock of sheep without a shepherd
than that brilliant army crossing the frontiers of Poland
to invade Russia. 'We came to Borizoff, where we
met with our corps of reserve, commanded by Oudinot,
Duke of Reggio, and we effected the crossing of the
Berezina, in spite of 40,000 Russians who were on the
opposite side, and had blown up the bridge. I was
wounded in the action, and Napoleon made me a Knight
of the Legion of Honour. I effected my retreat to-
wards Prussia iu the best way I could. I had procured
a sledge with three Russian ponies, and was, so far,
comfortable, but for 53 days rdid not see a bit of bread,
and had it not been for some sugar I procured by
chance, I should, like many thousands, have perished on
tLe road. We reached Wilna, on the frontiers of Po-
lend, where the treasury of the army was abandoned,
and plundered by both French and Russian soldiers.
My man got two bags of gold, with which we bought a
lot of provisions, which lasted till we came to Konigs-
berg, in Old Prussia ; there we expected to meet with a
friendly reception, but General Yorck, who commanded
the corps of Prussians, and formed part of our last
reserve, passed over to the Russians, and the whole
of Prussia rose in a mass against us. I narrowly
escaped several times being murdered at the houses
-where I was billited, so at last I was obliged to
travel day and night, stopping only at some mise-
rable public-house on the road to get refreshment for
ourselves and horses ; but either myself or my man
kept watch whilst the other was asleep, so as to be pre-
pared against treachery. At last we arrived in Saxony,
Tehere the inhabitants received us with the greatest
kindness, and paid us every attention our distressed
state required ; then some order was restored, a place
of rendezvous was named for each regiment, and the
men as they arrived joined their respective corps. Of
Sur regiment only 11 officers and 117 men escaped out
of 1,450 who went to Russia. With a detachment
coming from France, and some horses we received from
Hanover, we mustered 140, and entered the next cam-
peign of Lutzen and Botzen. I was raised to the
rank of captain, and although still suffering from my
wounds, I took the field, and was present at all the
engagements which took place up to the armistice of July
1813. On the 15th of August following the armistice
saded, and we fought the battle of Leignitz on the Oder,
7,Td began again to retreat until we fought the batele of
Lcipsic, on the 18th of October, when our regiment
which had been reinforced to the number of 6,30 C,
was reduced after the battle to 5 officers and 160 men.
Young as I was, I now found myself the oldest officer
remaining, and consequently took the command. On
19th Nepoleon saw the fragments of our regiment corn-
man led by his young friend, and I was raised to the
reek of Major. At the battle of Hatrau, on the 2d of
Deevinber following, 1 was created officer of the Legion
of Honour, and on the 4th we crossed the Rhine at
We then retreated towards France, and I
wa. engaged ire ail the battles fought by Napoleon in
nersen, being then attached to his INlajesty as Aide-de-

;r. T,

:amp.
" 1 rose to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel at the
battle of tirienne, were Napoleon had been educated,
and where we fought with such courage and constancy,
that after the castle had been taken and retaken nine
tirrfs.the course of the day, it remained in our pos-
sessinairlind the Emperor was able to sleep in it. At
the battle of Monteroau Napoleon was kind enough to
express his satisfaction of my conduct, telling I
regret much that you are not old enough, according to
my own regulations, to have the rank of colonel con-
ferred upon you, but I shall not forget you: The
list event of that campaign was the Emperor taking
leave of the army, and abdicating in favour
of his son at Fontainebleau. Your Government
then brought us the Bourbons, and it was the
tloaakll of nay family, who, from a state of affluence
,:ndrd"mfort, passed suddenly to a state of poverty ; my
lather was deprived of his situation, 1 was put on the
half-pay, and we retired into the country to live upon
our scanty means. In the course of a few months the
Government of Louis XV HI. offered a sum of money
as a compensation for their half pay to all the officers
who would accept it. I availed myself of the opportu-
nity, and by so tieing was not obliged to take the oath
of allegiance to the Bourbons.
We were firing
quietly in the neighbourhood of
L-ons when, on the 12th of March, 1815, I heard of
Napoleon having, landed in France, after his escape
from Elba. I hastened to join him,
with as many
friends as I could assemble, and we arrived in Grenoble
gates to him.
on the same day Labedoycre opened the
then re-assumed my duty as Aide-de-Camp to the
Emperor, and never left him until the 20th, when we
arrived at night in Paris. The next morning, at 6
o'clock, Napoleon reviewed the army, and I wamade a
colonel. and the command of a regiment was given to
me, with orders to march on that very day towards
the frontiers of Belgium, and the Emperor addressed
me thus :—' Baron Dryden, I conEr upon you
you the rank of Colonel, as a reward for your past
services; and I shall not forget the new proof you
given me of your devotion. Farewell, we shall
•cm;4\again.' I need not say one word about the I
battler. Waterloo ; suffice it to say, that after the
returnf the Bourbons I was obliged to leave my natii e
arid take refuge in America, to escape being shot.
as was:"-the case with Marshal Nay and Colonel Labe-
doyereri who were foolish enough to think that the
Snub= did possess one single generous feeling. I

landed at New Orleans, and after endeavouring for five I
months to procure employment, my resources being I
exhausted, I applied through a brother-officer, w'ao was
Aid-dc-Camp to Bolivar, for a commission in his army.
I was successful, and served for six years, until, being
severely wounded, I was obliged to relinquish
the military life, having earned many blows, but not one
dollar. 1 then went to Boston, where I obtained the
situation of French teacher in an academy. I re-
mained there a few years, and left for Baltimore,
where I was employed, first as an attorney's clerk,
and afterwards with a corn merchant. I was then
happy enough ; I had then a comfortable house, and a
little cash in hand. At that time (1835) a will was de-
posited in my hands for security ; a young woman, to
whom I was to have been married in the course of three
months, got acquainted with a young man who thought
himself deprived of his right by that will ; a criminal
connexion took place between them, and he persuaded
her to try to get possession of the will, 'out it was rather
a difficult undertaking, for I kept it in a strong box lined
with iron, and the keys of it never left me. However,
they took advantage of my being ill, and on the 27th of
March they administered to me, in some coffee, eight
ounces of opium ; and, thinking it would have killed
me, they took the will, and robbed me of all the
property they could lay their hands upon ; however,
the excessive quantity of poison saved my life, and after
keening it for eighteen hours my stomach rejected
it, but it made a fatal impression on my constitu-
tion, and I hive not since enjoyed good health. To
add to my misfortune, one of my countrymen, who had
been implicated in the conspiracy of Fieschi, and sen-
tenced to 15 years' imprisonment, made his escape to
America ; and, coming to Baltimore, in the greatest dis-
tress, he applied to me for assistance, which 1 readily
gave him. Subsequently, an amnesty was granted by
Louis Philippe, but he could not avail himself of it,
not having the means of paying for his passage to
France. In August last I took the resolution of re-
turning to my native country, and ending my days
quietly, at Lyons ; my false friend then bagged of me,
upon Ills knees, to take him with me, promising that on
our arrival in France he would repay me all the money
I should advance for him. I yielded, and we landed
at Liverpool in October last. We left for London, visit-
ing Manchester and Birmingham ; and on our way to
Oxford I was taken so seriously ill at Cheltenham that
I was obliged to stop in that town ; and while I was in
bed, in a state of insensibility, the miserable wretch
robbed me of 401. in gold, several valuable trinkets,
and two trunks, containing a bag of 750 dollars, and
other property to a large amount. I was left so desti-
tute that I was obliged to leave part of my clothes for
the payment of my rent. (Jetting a little better I
came Bristol on the 16th 41 January last, since which
time nave been constantly ill, and living on the con-
tents of my portmanteau. Now all my resources are
exhastabed ; 1 am lying 011 a bed of sickness in the
Bristol Infirmary ; and, to arown all my past misfor-
tunes, a 101. note of the Bank of England, which was
sent to me in two halves, has been stolen by some per-
son applying in my name at the Post•office, and I am
deprived of this last resource.
" God, in his mercy, sent me to your house, where I
have friends ; and, whatever may be my future fate, I
shall say God's will be done ; and may He pour His
blessing on yourself and your family.
" I should have told you that my father died of a
broken heart in 1817, and my dear mother in 1821,
without my receiving their blessing.
" Now allow me to express my gratitude for your
kindness ; and, in the hope that you will excuse my
English style of writing, I remain with respect,
" Your most devoted and obedient servant,
" Baron A. DRYDEN.

" To IVlrs.
" High-street, Bristol."

SLAVERY AND THE CORN-LAW.

The iniquity of landlord-legislation stares us in the
face at every turning. There is an old proverb, that
" speak of the devil he will appear ;" but lie required
an invocation. The landlord-made law requires no such
conjuration. Its operations are everywhere present and
everywhere active. It affects, only in a lesser degree
than in the manufacturing districts of these islands, the
fertile banks of the Don, the Wolga, and the Danube,
the prairies of Missouri, the swamps of Louisiana, and
the plains of Hindostan. Nor does it affect commerce '
alone, nor aro its influences confined to the demoraliza-
tion arising from the poverty it occasions. It offers a
direct encouragement to slavery. We beg leave to call
the attention of abolitionists, and of the religious public
generally, to the following letter in the Pairiot of Mon-
day last. The editor says—" It is from an esteemed
American Correspondent, whose name, if we felt at
liberty to give it, would command the affectionate re-
spect of our readers."
" At present your country prevents the introduction
of corn from the United States, which is raised almost
entirely by free labour. At the same time you admit
our cotton, and turpentine, and rice, the products
entirely of slave labour. Thus, in order to pay for
the goods needed for the United States, your present
laws compel our merchants to purchase cotton, &c.,
and to remit them to England, where slave produce
brings a better price than the produce of free labour.
So long as the merchants can obtain the prices they do
for cotton, they will purchase it of the South, and
send it to England. And so long as the merchants
will pay the prices, so long the slave-holders will make
money out of slaveAabour, and will, in spite of all ap-
peals to consistency or conscience, continue to hold men
in slavery. But if, on the other hand, your Govern-
ment should permit our corn to come in, either free or
on low duty, the result would be :
" First, that your bread-consumers would be furnished
much cheaper than they now are.
" Secondly, the free states would plant more, much
more than they now do, and would calculate upon send-
ing it to your country ; whiell would keep the price low.
" Thirdly, this being an article in which merchants
could invest a remittance, they would send corn rather
than cotton.
" Fourthly, cotton would fall much in price ; and then
it would cost the planter more to support his slaves,
than he could realize for his crop.
" Now why should not Abolition England—England
which has done so much in talent and treasure to free
her own slaves—encourage the introduction of our corn
rather than our cotton ? Why not allow us to pay her
for her manufactures in the free man's labour, rather
than in the sweat and blood of the slave ?

" So long as your prohibitory duties shut out our
corn, and an open door is presented for the reception
of our cotton, so long will slavery continue in the
United States. Practically, with the great mass of
merchants and slave-holders, it is a question of profit,
and not of conscience. It is always hard to get at the
conscience through the thick scales of profit. This
you know to be true in the great Church establishment
qt:estion, and others of great moment now agitating
England. If England desires America to be freed
from slavery, England must receive the products of our
free labour, instead of the products of our slaves. Be-
lieve me, my dear brother, the price of cotton in Eng-
land regulates the price of the slave in all the planta-
tions. I write with great freedom to you, and not with
the least desire of either accusing England or excusing
America. I state the common-sense view of the sub-
ject—the plain matter-of•tact statement, which the
slightest reflection must commend as in strict keeping
with the acknowledged principles on which human na-
ture acts.

•`Let, then, every Abolitionist in England consider
that view, and strive in every lawful way to open
your ports for the corn of our country which grows
upon free soil, and is cultivated by free men !
" When our merchants and enterprising worldly
men at the North have the same motive to grow corn
for the English market that the slave-holder at the
South has to grow cotton, you will see a rapid and
vast change of sentiment oil the present vexed question
of slavery. It is in the power of England, by one
single act, to destroy the whole system of slavery in
America, and to give freedom to three millions of
slaves. Open. oh, open wide your ports ; invite the
labosr of the free, and take away the present virtual
premium for slave•labour, and you will work a certain
and blessed revolution in this land. As your
country was deeply concerned in the introduction
of slavery to this land when we were colonies, so she
will, with noble disinterestedness, do all in her power to
wipe out this dark blot upon our national character."
We wish this earnest appeal, says the Patriot. could
obtain a wider circulation than we are able to com-
mand for is, so as to sink deeply into the minds and
hearts of all right-thinking Englishmen. How striking
and instructive is the fact, that in the circle of a vicious
system of selfish yet short-sighted monopoly, evils are
so concatenated, that our bread-tax in England is con-
nected with the support of slavery in America, while
our supv.bountics in favour of West India slave-owners
have retarded the prosperity of India with a population
more than a hundred and twenty times as large as all
the blacks and whites in the West Indies put together.
Tlnr,•-,srrng•

Since Oxford's trial a marked difference is cob-
scrothle in the prisoner's aearance and manners. He ap-
pears much more cheerful pp
, and seems as if a considerable
weight had been retrieved from his mind. His manner towards
the turnkey who was in atteadance on him was also somewhat
different to what it had Leen before the trial; and lie ceased
to continue that reserve which had previously marked his con-
duct. He had been visited by his mother, sister, and both his
uncles, and entered into a long history of the occurrence, and
detailed the whole particulars relating to his exploits. On Sa-
turday week an order was received by Mr. Cope, the Governor
of .Neivgate, from the Home-office, for his immediate removal
to Bethlehem Hospital. On receipt of it, Mr. Cope proceeded
to the ceq of Oxford, and told him to prepare for his removal,
telling him at the same time where he was going to take him.
The prisoner did not betray the slightest emotion on receiving
the intimation, and in a short time after, he was taken by Mr.
Cope, in a hackney-coach, to St. George's-fields, and handed
over to the proper authorities of Bethlehem Hospital.
THE WE AT H ER.—KELsO.---For some time
past the weather has been very unsettled, and with the excep-
tion of Saturday last rain has fallen more or less every day this
week. Th. etl'ect of so much moisture is beginning to be felt
upon the crops of wheat, barley, and oats, which for the last
fortnight have -made little or no progress to maturity. Under
.theHhaayrvceustttiwnigl/
hbeasmbuccet later than was at
one
este umimeiercantisetai
pnaee
ranch retaated by the rains.—Kelso Chronicle.
et

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

SIR,--I beg you will do me the personal favour to
relieve the public mind from the erroneous impression
now abroad that the plague continues its virulence in Egypt.
To correct such impression I herewith do myself the
plea.ure of informing you that the 24th of June last
was kept as a day of rejoicing and gladness in Egypt on
account of the almost total disappearance of the plague,
since which time it may be expected to be extinct.
Noblemen, travellers to Egypt, passengers bound over-
land to India, &c., will be happy to read the information
of the cessation of plague in Egypt in general with
your readers. I remain, Sir, your humble servant.
THOS. WAGHORN.
Egyptian Offices, 34, Gambill, London, July 27,1840