The Sun.
London, England, 1841-01-07 00:00:00

CIRCULA!-?..

WIND6OL, WEDNESIjAY.
panied his Rlyal Egimeis Prince Albert to the lake
at Frogn:ore this morning at twelve o'clock, and en-
joyed there the amusement the ice and season affords,
for some time. Her Majesty was attended by the
same party as yesterday, with the addition of Sir Ro-
bert Otway ; and Prince Albert was also attended by
the same gentlemen as yesterday.
The Rev. Lord Wriothesley Russell and the R, v:
Mr. Canning will have the honour of joining the Royal
dinner party at the Castle this evening.

A Cabinet Council is summoned to meet on the 16:h
inst., and in the evening Viscount Melbourne will give a
dinner to the Cabinet Ministers.

The Belgian Minister and Madame Van de Weyer
returned to their residence in Portland-place on Tues-
day, from a visit to her Majesty at Windsor Castle.
Sir Henry Mildmay, Bart., and Mr. Edmond Mild-
may, have arrived et Farrance's Hotel from Carne
House, the sea' of Colonel Dawson Darner.
The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council sat
yesterday. The Lords present were Lord Brouuliam,
the Vice-Chancellor, Mr. Justice Erskine, anu the
Judge of the Admiralty. The appeal " Edward ht,•lley
v. William Carson," Speaker of the House of Assembly
of the Island of New!'oundfand, was resumed and con-
cluded. Rrectly after Mr. Pemberton,Queen s Coun-
sel, had finished his reply for the appellant, their
Lordship's adjourned iiithout giving judgment.

PORTS OF FRANCE.

IS,
11- ST. SERVANT, JAN. 2.—Besides the great military
ports of Toulon, Brest, L'Orien:, Rochefort, end Cher-
rn Bourg, the French navy has establishments at Dunkirk,
er Havre, St. Servan, Nantes, Bordeaux, and Bayonne.
1 The establishments at Dunkirk are on an exten•
site scale. They consist of a sluice dock, a slip for
building ships, houees wherein the workmen are lodged,
and workshops sufficiently extensive for the building nod
armies of ships of war. Formerly Dunkirk was the chef
lieu of a maritime prefecture, and frigates were
built there neatly as well -as at L'Orient or Roche-
fort, but the difficulty of the navigation of the
channel which commueicates with the sea tots
induced the French Government to confine the
le building operations to corvettes, brigs, and smaller
craft. These are now in a good state, and, so long as
the pair armee continues, they will probably be kept
in perfect repair. The merchants and marines are also
talking of taking immediate measures to render the
commercial port eaiier of am-se as well as deeper ;
and, judging from the present temper of mens' minds,
this work will soon be set about in right earnest. From
either of the wooden j. tties there is on excelient view of
Cite roadstead, Beyond it is a sand-bank, in the middle
of which a canal has been perfected. This canal is in
reality the port, which is filled at high tide, but becomes
considerably more shallow at ebb. It would easily con-
tain 30 ships of war. Both the jetties are defended by
batteries—the one called Fort Risbau, and the other
Le Rivers. They are advantageously placed. and have
cently• undergone the inspection of a celebrated en-
gineer.
During the continuance of peace, the military marine
(as the French navy is called) has made but little use
. of the port of Dunkirk, but it war should break out, it
,e would become a fotinidable station of steamboats and
, privateers. During the Ministry of Thiers, several ap-
' Ocations were made to the Minister of the Marine for
letters of marque, and all these applicationent is said,
met with prompt attention.
Gravelines is about equidistant from Calais and
Dunkirk. In two short hours you reach it from either
the one or the other town. Since the peace of the
Pyrenees, Gravelines has always been under the do-
minion of France. The town has been successively
visited by Philip Augustus, by Louis XVI., Louis
XV., and Napoleon Bonaparte. The latter, like
Vauban (who here conducted his fist siege), laid
much stress on the fort of Gravelines, for they both
alike saw it might be formed into a harbour of refuge,
either in a period of war, or when vessels could not
make Calais, Dunkirk, or Boulogne. For some years
back public attention has been directed very much to
this point, and the military and commercial importance
of the place is now more than ever felt. From 1831
to 183 G, 122,0001. have been expended on the harbour
of Gravelines, and the inhabitants of the vicinage still
call aloud for a fresh outlay. Heretof6re they have
been ably supported in the Chamber by M. de Lamar-
tine, menaced as they were by continual inundations.
Whether he will support them now, when their voices
are almost unanimously raised for war and conquest, is
another question. The bourgeoisie in general talk in
the stilted style of Louis XIV., and dream of making
Gravelines one of the great keys of the kingdom. Vau-
ban, say they, was directed 180 years ago to render
our town inaccessible on the side of the sea, and im-
pregnable by land. By means of sluices we could in-
undate, as was then proposed, the surrounding country,
and defend the place against the English with a garri-
son of 3,000 men.
I have so recently written to you from Havre that
I shall merely say that in the event of war precautions
have been taken for the defence of the embouchure of
the Seine. The sensible, the intelligent, and the
wealthy portion of the population view the present tem-
per of the public mind with equal apprehension and
regret, but they are overborne by the giddy, gabbling,
feather-brained fools who have the word glory in their
mouths, but the thirst of gold and plunder in their hearts.
I mean to close this letter with a few words on Ser-
van, where the naval establishments are very consider.
able. During the war a number of good frigates were
constructed here, and the flotilla of Boulogne was hence
rehnerrced with canodnieres and peniches.
The dock-yard of Solidor contains five slips, three
of which are appropriated to the construction of frigates.
A very considerable expenditure has lately been incurred
to group around this establishment all the means and
appliances necessary for the construction and armament
of ships of war. A large depot of timber has been es-
tablished in the creek of Troquetin, and precautions
have been recently taken to place the vessels in slip out
of the reach of the spring tides, from the influence of
which they had been hitherto unsheltered. Three fri-
gates and a corvette have been on the stocks for some
time. A vote of the Chambers in June, 1836, sanctioned
the project of establishing a floating dock between S'.
Melo and St. Servan, by means of a sluice dike, wl ich
will henceforth unite the towns, giving to them a
common port of greater extent than either heretofore
pesseseed. This work is now in progress of comple-
tine, and may be finished before the end of next year.
I need not sey that in time of war the navy of France
and the Government steamers would, by means of
this basin, he enabled to afford to the coasting trade a
protection which they could not always give during
the late war. Nor would its use be simply defensive,
tor it might be made offensive too, all the auxiliary
marititne resources of the old establishment of Talent
being incorporated with those of Solidor.

The Baron Tupinier, Councillor of State, Member
of the Council of the Admiralty, Director of the Ports
of France, and Deputy of the Charente Inferieure, has
exerted all his influence to infuse fresh activity into
these operations. In his report to the Minister of the
Marine he recommends, during peace, the practice of a
strict economy in all the smaller ports, in order that in
the event of a war the navy of France may be enabled
to avail itself of resources augmented by a wise and
prudent frugality.

The Malouins still drive a profitable trade with New-
foundland, still stand in the first rank of French sea-
men, and hunger and thirst for the opportunity of rival-
ling those exploits which are carefully handed down
from father to sin. They one and all tell you that the
rc c )rds of the Admiralty of their town prove that from
1688 to 1697 they captured 162 vaisseaux (remark
from the English and Dutch, and 3,384 merchant
veracls.

" And," say they, " why should not we, who pro-
duced a Labourdonnaye capable of making head against
the military power of England in India, and a Duguay
Trouin capable of meeting Englishmen on their own
peculiar element, fear Great Britain now, when her
navy is neglected, and when a long peace has unaccus-
tomed her to wield the trident of Neptune ?"
These are the sentiments which pervade every breast,
which are fostered and encouraged by the local autho-
rities, and which would have wed in a fierce and ir-
repressible ilime under the Ministry of "M. Tillers. The
flame is not now certainly so violent as it was six weeks
ago, but it still burns steadily, and a breath will fan it
into a far-extending fire. Under such circumstances it
behoves England to be vigilant, awake, and prepared.

ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S (EXCHANGE) CHURCH.
_On Monday the remains of this venerable church were
sold by auction. The outer walls, which arc about to be
removed to make way for the alterations and improvements
conlieeted with the rebuilding of the Royal Exchange,
were then dispoced of by public sale, according to the
announcements to that effect that have been made for
some days back. The event, as might naturally be ex-
pected, attracted much attention, and during the entire
morning, great crowds were assembled within the dilapi-
dated building—some, doubtlessly, from mere curiosity,
and others to take a farewell peep at the ancient structure.
Considerable 0).o-tiering aAs thereby created to the
tli,roughfare, which was by no moans amended by the pave-
ment Irtving been removed from the front of the chinch,
and the prevention of vehicles passing down that
much used road. The auctioneer was stationed in the re.
cess that formerly constituted the vestry-room, and the
robing-room for the Minister, which had the screen re.
moved from it, and formed a safe spot for the purpose to
which it was now turned. Unlike the rest of the edifice,
that was the portion which was not to be disposed of,
which fact was announced by chalkings on the walls, so
that there was the notification " not for sale" close upon
the auctioneer's rostrum, and had a curkus effect on the
spc et. t.ir. The church has been still more dismantled
a
since Saturday, and nom little remains of the ancient build-
ing beyond the mere bare walls. The organ loft has been
entirely cleared, except the steps and seats at the aide, on
which the charity children used to sit. In all other re-
spects
the church was a mere shell.