The Sun.
London, England, 1840-09-08 00:00:00

LIBERAT.

,E SLAV

TO LIEUTENANT•COLONEL CAMPBELL, LATE LIEUTT-

NANT•GOVERNOR OF SIERRA LEONE.

Her Majesty's ship Rhadamanthus,
off Malta, 13th July, 1840.
SIR—I have this day see❑ the copy of a correspon-
dence between Lord John Russell and yourself in the
United Service Gazette of the 4th instant, arising from
a report in The Sun newspaper, of a public meeting of
the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Convention, re-
flecting so much discredit upon the public officers of
the colony of Sierra Leone as to attract the atten-
tion of her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State
for the Colonies. It appears, by Lord John Russell's
letter (for I have not seen the report in The Sun news-
paper), that you are reported to have stated that the
women brought into Sierra Leone in slave ships were
give❑ to any one who chose to come and take them, the
officers of the Government having the first choice.
This is so outrageous an implication of the public
officers of the colony, and so contrary to my expe-
rience as chief clerk in the office of the Liberated
African Department, that I feel confident you will
admit you must have been incorrectly reported in
the newspaper, more especially as such a practice
could not have prevailed without my knowledge.
With reference to the extract from your despatch,
wl,ich you have quoted in your letter to Lord
John Russell, I beg to remind you of the circular (I
write from memory or would quote the date) of the late
Governor Octavius Temple, your predecessor, by which
you will find that lists of respectable married women,
desirous of receiving newly-arrived African females to
reside with them, were transmitted to the Lieutenant-
Governor by the Superintendents of districts. These
lists bore the signature of the resident clergyman, attest.
ing the moral and religious conduct of such married
women ; in confirmation of which I beg to refer to the
Rev. Schoon, resident minister for the mountain dis-
trict, in the years 1834 and 1835, and of which dis-
trict I was then superintendent.

It was with great regret that I perused the assumed
report reflecting so seriously upon the public officers
of Sierra Leone, more especially as I am i❑ the habit
of reflecting upon my services in that colony with feel-
ings of more pride and self-gratulation than upon any
other period of my career i❑ the public service, nearly
twenty-five years ; the recollection of which, and of my
humble efforts to improve the condition of the unfortu
nate Africans who were the objects of my superinten-
dence, will always be a source of consolation to, Sir,
your very respectful and obedient servant,

Vl/4. HAMILTON, Purser, R.N.,
Late of the Liberated African Department,
Sierra Leone.

WIT IN CHOOSING TEXTS. A young
preacher, in the time of James 1., being appointed to hold
forth before the Vice-Chancellor and heads of colleges of
Oxford, chose for his text, " What, cannot ye watch one
hour ?" which carried a personal allusion, as the Vies:-
Chancellor hapirened to be one of those heavy-headed
persons who cannot attend church without falling asleep.
The preacher repeating his text in an emphatic man-
ner, at the end of every division of his discourse, the
unfortunate Vice_ Chancellor as often awoke, and this
happened so often, thi.t at fast all present could very well
Fee the joke. The Vice-Chancellor was so nettled at
the disturbance he had met with, and the talk it had wee-
slotted, that he complained to the Archbishop of Can-
Urbury, who immediately sent for the young man to
reprove him fur what he lad done. In the course of
the conference which ensued between the Arch-
bishop and the preacher, the latter gave so many
proofs a his wit and good sense, that his Grace pro-
cured him the honour of preaching before the King
Here also he had his joke; he gave out his text in these
words—James Ist and Gth, " \\aver not," which of course
every body present saw to be a stroke at the indecisive
character of the monarch. James, equally quick-sighted,
exclaimed, " He is at me already ;" but lie was upon the
whole so well pleased with his clerical wag, at to make
him one of his chaplains in ordinary. He afterwards went
to Oxford, and preached a farewell sermon on the text,
" Sleep on now, and take your rest."
THE LATE JAMES SMITII.--" It was diffi-
cult," writes one who was intimately acquainted with him
in his latter years, " to pass an evening in his company
without feeling in better humour with the world ; such
was the influence of his inexhaustible fund of amusement
and information, his lightness, liveliness, and good sense.
No man ever excelled him in starting a pleasant topic at
conversation, and sustaining it; nor was it well possible
for a party of moderate dimensions, when he was of it, to
be dull. The droll anecdote, the apt illustrati,A, the
shrewd remark, a trait of humour from Fielding, a scrap
of a song from the Beggar's Opera, a knock-down retort
of Johnson's, a couplet from Pope or Dryden—all seemed
to come as they were w anted; and as lie woe always just
as ready to listen as to talk, they acted each in turn as a
sort of challenge to the company to bring forth their
budgbts, and contribute towards the feast.—James Smith's
illernoits,

HUMAN HAPPINESS.—Jt really gladdens the
heart of him who can see universal happiness anti good
h imour depicted in the countenances of every one. As a
sunny lanthcapc cheers the sight and exhilarates the spirits,
so nothing can more conduce to render itn ami,hlc being
happy than to witness the happiness of the fellow-crea-
tures by whom he is surrounded. Brief, albs !is the mor-
tal career of man, and yet what jealousies, what ill nature,
and spite, and malice, is he not doomed to experience in
his chequered and transitory career upon carth.—A Sum.
mer's Day at Greenwich.

LA IIENTABLE•—Otte of our Contemporaries
announces as a bit of mere common-place gossip that
" the lakes of Cumberland and West.noreland are full to
overflowing with tourists and students from the Universi-
ties." If this be true, it is a most deplorable c vent, fo r
thousands must have been prematurely consigned to a wa-
tery tomb, and the Universities will have to mourn over
the loss of some of their moat promising pupils.

THE ROYAL NrUIisERY.-Upwards of a hun-
dred workmen are actively employed in the left wing of
Buckingham Palace, preparing a suite of rooms for the
Royal nursery. The splendid drawing-room, breakfast-
room, luncheon-room, and wardrobe of Prince Albert, are
appropriated to this all-Important purpose. The suite of
apartments, of which the above form a part, were fitted up
but a short time ago in a mast costly and beautiful style
f r the reception of the Prince ; but the ruthless imple-
ments of the artizan, " who weighs not matters such as
Cese," are crashing away through ornamental ceiling,
gilded festoons, and papers of the most varied beauty and
richness, for the accommodation of the expected little
wranger. His Royal Highness personally inspected the
alterations on Thursday last, and expressed himself to be
highly gratified with the rapid progress already made in
tic furtherance of this desiri.ble object. Similar altera-
tions are beleg carried on at Claremont.
William Hurditen, private marine of the Victory,
who jumped overboard and saved the life of a child that
had fallen out of a port, has been ordered by the Lords of
1 the Admiralty to be made a non-commissioned officer.
The Gazette the Midi says, that. an arinourer of
Marseilles, who had been trying in vain to get the Govern-
ment to purchase some new inventions of his for various
kinds of arms, has gone off with fourteen workmen to en.,
deavour to join Abd-el-Nader.
SANDWICH BAY.—By the arrival from the
coast of Labrador, her Majesty's sloop Crocodile was left
at Sandwich Bay there. She had instructions to survey
the state of the fisheries on the coast, where the Americans
are stated to have made great encroachments. And also.
the captain had instructions to make inquiries into the re-
ligious condition of the inhabitants, for which end a series
of queries had been drawn up by the Bishop of Newfound-
land. On the voyage he had hauled down a French tag
which was found flying on the shore of one of the fishing
stations, where by treaty the French were entitled to fish
on the coast of Newfoundland.
FEES TO COUNSEL —The law-suit respecting
the will of the late Charles Blundell, Esq. ended in the
triumphant establishment of its validity, the heirs-at-law
not venturing to grapple with a body of unimpeachable
testimony, not only in favour of the sanity, bet of the
extraordinary talents and attainments of the testator, such
as has rarely, if ever, been produced in a Court of Justice,
on a similar occasion. Every person who was acquainted
with the deceased must have anticipated this result,
and most of them will agree that if the wills of the
heirs-at-law should ever be disputed on the same ground,
the mere institution of these proceedings will afford a strong
fact against them. Several thousand pounds have, no doubt,
been expended in the attempt to convert eccentricity into
insanity, and the lawyers, perhaps, are the only persons
who have no reason to complain. They have had rare
pickings. The following fees were paid to the counsel.
engaged in support of the will :—The Attorney General.
500 guineas; Mr. Alexander 150 guineas; Mr. Watson,
100 guineas; and Mr. Crompton, 100 guineas. Besides
these there were consultation and other fees, amounting,
perhaps, to thirty guineas more for the Attorney-General,
and twenty guineas each for the other gentlemen engaged.
The counsel retained on the other side would be treated,
no doubt, with corresponding liberality, but we have not
been able to ascertain the precise amount which they re-
acived.—Liverptiol Mercury.
MARRIAGE SEPARATION.-111 OUT last num-
b(r was recorded the marriage of an eminent divine ( D. D.,
a Fellow of some standing in one of the smaller colleges of
this University, and formerly connected with a large edu-
cational establishment in the metropolis) with a lady of a
highly respectable family in this county. We hear, with
great concern, that an almost immediate separation took
plzee, under circumstances of a most painful and peculiar
nature. The mysterious and unaccour.tahle conduct of
the Rev. Dr. has given rise to great speculation, and it is
confidently rumoured that the affair will give employment
to the learned civilians in Doctors' Commons.—Cambridge
A(i(tt hardert Newtonis(r.—[ThAe
Adams Ds.
. Dref,ervriecdar
otfo
Raerme
pstohoen.
_Rneearv.
izi
Nmtingham, and Miss Martindale, of Sawston.l L
eeds
Mercury.
anticipated matchT E R M;
EiNt..V.7ll
,nhowever, daat a topper
vial' ended
raipypeer;ir2eadotom.l 2001.,hopee
E
and when we were at Liverpool there
..
b\ \e
T err
recollected '°C heardl'i
CLYDE
thatoE ill
ANDo
Cree o omfibt el LONDON
sNaapt", Odt i cNih
is party
othrethCelmydaetctho
breoiwngthrnemadeo.n\t‘h.aeirbeoawr
fur-oared boat is being built for theClyd:ngmeagn,ed to
show
there
is some talk of a London Waterman
being
to-daylife' was re-opened from
T
Clem how the Thames men manage to " pull through" a
race triumphantly. This looks like business, and it is not
ttoeonitaillt,lee :(I,3o:rri,atain:nbd t
at ez‘ilitre. —urseßeatilinng-room from sine till four.t's
The Steward, or Judge, of the Sheffield Court of
Requests. receives 1,0001. a•year for doing nothing, and
he Deputy Steward receives 1,0001. a-year more for
elping him ; and these sums are paid by an increase of
barges upon the poor suitors,—Sheffield Patriot.

'_e ,'r

SECOND EDITIWN
SUN OFF] CE, Seven- o Clock. 11

EXPRESS FROM INDIA.

NEWS FBOM CHINA, INDIA, AND
EGYPT.
(From a Second Edition of the Times.)
By an extraordinary express we have received intelli-
eence from China, India, and Egypt, in anticipation of
the overland mail, which left Bombay on the 23d of July
by the Prometheus, which left Malta on Tuesday at fifty
minutes past three o'clock, Ist of September, and arrived
at TO11:01 on Friday afterneen at tea minutes pen four
o'clock, 4th in=t. The Prometheus put into T,:ulen, at
urger to land Mr. M.:_iore. ff Oa im-
portant desr,:atehe, not being able to make Marseilles, it
blqa ing a tremendous gale from the r0rt1,..-aest.
The french authorities at Toulon wished to take the
344 i-seines mail, thus putting themselves in possession of
all. the 'eastern intelligcnce. Commander Spark very
vvirely resisted, and forbad any of his people to tell any
news.
The first part of the expedition against China sailed on
tlad 30th of May, and the remainder on the 21 June,
conveyed by the Wellesley, Cruiser, Algerine, Conway,
and Atalanta and Queen steamers. The Melville, Blond,
and two: sloops of war passed the Straits of Anjeer on the
10th of June, for China. Admiral Elliott must have ar-
rived there. Additional transports had been taken up at
Calcutta, and fresh troops were to be embarked at Madras
for China.
The English merchants still remain at Macao. The
Americans were preparing to quit Canton. Mr. Snow,
the American Consul, had arrived thence at Singapore.
A report prevailed that the Emperor had at length been
convinced of Governor Lin's mismanagement, and
had degraded him by three degrees.
The Russians had nct reached Khiva.

The Gbilzers were still in revolt, and it was feared
that a new rebellion would take place in Nepaul. Sehah
Sooja was so unpopular that it had become necessary to
reinforce our army in Cabul.
Five companies of infantry and some artillery had loft
Bon bay for Aden.
The Dutch were at war with the Achines.

By this expre3s we have Alexandria letters of the
27th ult., and Maita correspondence of the Ist inst.
The P. fiia remained inflexible in his determination to
resist.

We have alio received letters from Beyrout, which,
with Commodore Napier's proclamation, will be found
below. _ _

The tone of the Paris Ministerial Papers of yesterday is
warlike, and caused much apprehension.
The revolt of th.! workmen was assuming an alarming
appearance. The drums were beating "to arms" all the
it!tcrnoon. Attempts to raise barricades had been made,
and deLatcd. Great fears were entertained for the night.