The Sun.
London, England, 1840-12-26 00:00:00

TU E SUN, LONDON, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 26, 18401

rental system of gendarmerie—the fit accompa-
niment of the union bastiles." Here is a curious
instance of a train of imagination springing from
mere words—a mental phenomenon common enough
we believe, but first pointed out by Hobbes,
who observes how the mind, beginning with Saint
Andrew, may get on to tumult, " and almost
from any thing to any thing." Of the Bastile we have
only read, but having actually penetrated within the
walls of a union workhouse, and come out again
not only alive, but uninjured, we can say that
nothing therein struck us as being conducted after
the manner of that ancient French prison. We
have also read the report of the Constabulary Force
commission without finding any continental model
pointed out as fit to be followed here. But the word
" police" belonging to both languages, our Contemporay
supposes that the thing must be the same, and that
our three Commissioners are but a paraphrase of Fouche,
whose system, " with its despotic spirit, its torrorism,
and its espionage," is to be introduced into the rural
districts. To show the evils of the police, we have
examined the Metropolitan Police Act, and do not
find any serious encroachment on our freedom
either in that of the Tories which established the
force, or that of last year, which extended it to
fifteen miles round London. The republican
Doctor in " Peregrine Pickle" rejoices at the recol-
lection of having seen a Nobleman's carriage broken
to pieces by a brewer's dray, and cites it as a proof of
liberty. Perhaps our Contemporary feels aggrieved at
not being allowed to trundle a hoop or make slides upon
the pavement ; but as these playful freedoms have pro-
duced several fractures, and we believe some loss of
limb, if not of life, we willingly consent to the checking
of such exuberances. It would be desirable to know
what aggressions on " our liberties, personal and politi-
cal," have been enacted by law or encouraged in prac-
tice ; and if the charge of despotism, terrorism, and es-
pionage cannot be established, we are entitled to ask,
what further encroachment has been proposed for the
country than that which has already been made in
London ?

(From the Standard.)
In our position, as the conductors of a journal
generally opposed to the principles and policy of
the Administration, and therefore biassed by party to
find faults, it may be allowed to us to advert without
suspicion to the proud station which our country
holds at this moment among the nations of the earth.
For, be the secondary praise due to whom it may
—(this is a question which we shall not raise at
present)—our first praise and boundless gratitude
are surely owing to Him who gives all good gilts.
And this is a day when our national blessings (never
to be forgotten at any time) ought to be spe-
cially remembered. For the triumphs of England
in arms and arts we ought to be thankful ;
but how much more thankful for the advance which
she has obtained of the world in that to which, pro-
perly, arts and arms are subordinate and ancillary—the
godlike services of humanity. England has, in the
emancipation of her West Indian subjects, set an ex-
ample which no other nation has yet, at the end of eight
years, found courage or generosity to follow. And just
now we read in the discussions in the French Chamber
of Deputies the arguments of the late admirable Mi-
chael Thomas Sadler and of Lord Ashley for the in-
fant labourers in factories. Be it enough to say, that
England is carrying commerce, civilization, and the
Word of Life, to every tribe and people upon earth,
while too many of her neighbours are obstructing instead
of aiding her.

EXECUTION AT LISBON.

On Friday week two of the accomplices in the hor-
rid murders which took place at Lisbon last year, suf-
fered the last penalty of the laws at the Cars do Tojo.
They were both soldiers in the 7th regiment, had both
been brave men, and were rewarded with the order of
the Tower and Sword ; but since their return from
serving in Spain with the Portuguese auxiliaries, they
became connected with the horrid gang of Diego Alves,
with whom they were taken up, as parties in the rob-
bery and murder of Dr. Andre's family, in the Rue de
Aleerim. Diego Alves, the principal, and two other
accomplices, were still left behind in prison, when the
others were led to execution, against which one of them
loudly and publicly complained, saying that " the feet
were cut off, and the head left behind ; " referring to
Diego Alves as the head of the gang, and whose crimi-
nal process cannot be completed so as to allow of his
execution before February or March ; whilst the case
of the men executed was completed a little earlier, from
their having been tried by the military courts. The
men walked barefoot with priests, and a steal! guard
of soldiers, from the Limociro prison to the place of
execution, about two miles. One of them was very
penitent, but the other only confessed, as it is said, at
the last moment.

An accident took place towards the close of the me-
lancholy procession by the falling of a wall with a num-
ber of people, who were upon it to witness the execu-
tion, and as a great a crowd was passing, some thirty
persons were more or less injured, including some very
serious cases, of which four have since died, and ethers
are not expected to recover. A curious circumstance
took place about the same time, in respect to another
accomplice in the murder of Dr. Andre, and which
caused his apprehension. It appears that two out of
the seven known to have entered the house could not
be traced by the police ; but that now, upon the eve of
the execution, one of them was in the Loreto-square,
asking a person to give him a light to his cigar, which
the party was about to do, but let his cigar fall into
the mud, which was taken as intentional, and punished
as an insult by a blow in the face. This caused a dis-
turbance, and the Municipal Guard took both parties
to the guardhouse, in order to sift the matter, which
led to the identification of one of the murderers in the
party so prone to recent insult.

DEVELOPMENT OF ELECTRI-
CITY FROM HIGH PRESSURE STEAM.

On Saturday, the 19th instant, Mr. Condie, manager
of Blair Iron Works, Ayrshire, performed this new and
interesting phenomenon at the above works, in the pre-
sence of Ludwick Houstcn, Esq., of Johnstone ; --
Cunningham, Esq., of Carnbrae Iron Works ; Thomas
Wingate, Esq., Engineer, Springfield, and a number of
others, who were all highly saisfiad with the accuracy
of the accounts given by the public press of similar ex-
periments having been made in the neighbourhood of
Newcastle, upon locomotive engine boilers. The expe-
riment made by Mr. Condie was upon the steam issuing
from the safety valve of two of the high pressure boilers
of the blowing engine, and was simply performed as fol-
lows :

The experimenter placed himself upon an insulated
stool (a board resting upon three quart bottles in ab-
scene of better), and having in one hand a long small
rod of iron, with four sharpened points, similar to a
lightning conductor ; this he held in the steam issuing
from the safety valve. When the points were held about
one foot from the valve, electric sparks were drawn by
the bystanders' knuckles from those of the experimenter
about half an inch long ; but as the pointed rod was
raised to about six or eight feet above the valve into the
cloud of steam, vivid and pungent sparks were then
drawn one and a half inch long, which in fact wore
nearly as stunning upon the arm as the shocks of a
small Leyden phial, producing a great deal of merriment
to the astonished workme❑ who were present, to sec
fire and feel shocks from steam—an article they all sup-
posed themselves perfectly familiar with.
In the evening the experiment was resumed, to see
the effects in the dark, when they proved the experi-
menter to be highly charged with electricity. The
board on which he stood, not being rounded, each cor-
ner had a brush of light two or tbree inches long, like
as many tassels, while every point of his dress and hair
became highly luminous upon the persons standing near
him. On this trial, sparks were drawn fully two inches
long, which required some little courage to engage
with, from their shocking propensities.
These experiments were made upon the steam of two
boilers, each thirty-two feet long by six diameter, first
with steam equal to 12.1b5. upon the inch, and latterly
at 2.slbs,—the increase of pressure adding to the effect,
'However, the experiment was perfectly satisfactorily
performed with the surplus steam issuing front the
safety valve while the engine was going upo❑ trial.
Mr. Condie is of opinion that, from such boilers, with a
properly constructed prime conductor, of large surface,
sparks may be drawn from six to eight inches long, and
large jars charged i❑ a few seconds. The wonder was
that the experiments succeeded at all, as the appara-
tus was alto;ether rude. The floor where the tempo-
I stool stood was covered with dust, shavings, &c.,
j which acted as conductors in stealing away the electri-
city front the experimenter.—Ayr Observer.

STEAM COMMUNICATION WITH

INDIA.

Up to the Ist September last, when the Peninsular
and Oriental Steam Navigation Company's steamer
Oriental started on her first trip to Alexandria, the

means of transit by steam navigation between England

and that port was as follows :

The passenger had to take his passage, in the first
instance, in one of the Peninsular mail contract steamers,

proceeding to Vigo, Oporto, Lisbon, Cadiz, and
Gibraltar. The passage to Gibraltar by these vessels,
in consequence of the number of places they touch at,
and the stoppages, generally occupies about eleven days
from London, or eight days from Falmouth. At Gib-
raltar, the passenger had to transfer himself and baggage
to a Government steamer, for Malta, where, under fa-
vourable circumstances, he would arrive in five to six
days. At Malta, after a rather uncertain term of de-
tention for the arrival of that part of the Indian mail
forwarded via Marseilles, he had again to embark on
board another Government steamer, for Alexandria,
which place he would probably reach in five or six
days steaming. The whole passage, say from London
to Alexandria, including the detention at the Peninsular
ports, Gibraltar and Malta, generally occupying rom
25 to 35 days. But this was not the worst of it. The
steamer with the outward mails seldom arrived at
Alexandria before the East India Company's steamer
from Bombay had also arrived at Suez, and the latter is
obliged to start immediately the mail arrives : unless
therefore, the passenger could make his way through
Egypt with the same rapidity as the mails, and thus
catch the steamer at Suez (which none but those of the
most robust constitutions and active habits could do),
be had no remedy but to tarry in the " land of Egypt"
for a whole month, to wait the sailing of the next
steamer for Bombay.
To avoid these inconveniences, and more particularly

the last, most passengers for India were in the habit of
travelling overland,. through France to Marseilles, and
thence embarking in a French steamer for Alexandria,

in order to get there some days in advance of the mails,
and thus be able to reach in time the Bombay steamer
at Suez. In this, however, they not unfrequently
as the break down of the French steamers was by no
means an unusual occurrence ; and the poor outward
bound " Indian," efter enduring a three weeks' purga-
tory of the slovenliness, discomfort, and incivility of a
French steam-packet, found himself, after all, too late
for the steamer for India.

The uncertainty and tediousness of the route through
Egypt, while there is no better conveyance on the Nile
than what the Arab boats afford, is sufficiently noto-
rious.

By the East India Company's steamers from Suez to
Bombay, the fare is 801. for a first-cabin passenger, the
passenger having besides, according to the Honourable
Company's regulations, to provide himself with bedding
and other necessaries. When this scale of fare and
treatment is compared with that of the Peninsular and
Oriental Company, who only charge 451. for a first-
cabin passenger for about an equal distance, say from
England to Alexandria, providing the passenger with

. _
bedding and every necessary, and conveying him in a
much more costly and superior vessel, the advantage to
the publio of a communication conducted by private en-
erprise, as contrasted with aGovernment establishment,
s strongly apparent.

The tediousness and privations of a journey by Dak
from Bombay to the Eastern Presidencies of India, and

particularly to the most important one, Bengal, are
such that very few attempt it, preferring instead the
long and monotonous passage by the sailing vessels, via
the Cape of Good Hope. Bengal, Madras, and Ceylon,
therefore, can scarcely be said to derive anv benefit from
the present steam communication beyond that of getting
a somewhat quicker transit for letters. And, as re-
gards India generally, the East India Company's
steamers not being trading vessels, the means of transit
for numerous articles, of which a quick and certain
conveyance would minister greatly to the comfort and
gratification of European residents in that country, is
altogether excluded.
And now for the homeward route from India via the
Red Sea and Mediterranean, as it lately existed,
Although the difficulty of reaching Alexandria from
Suez in time to embark in the English mail-steamer for
Malta, was not quite so great as that of getting from
Alexandria to Suez, the boats on the Nile having the
stream in their favour ; yet the choice of the passage
home afterwards, as between the English or French
steamers, being, by reason of the quarantine, only a
choice of evils, passengers seldom gave themselves any
trouble to embark in the English steamer with the mails,
knowing that at Malta, several weeks' imprisonment in
the Lazaretto awaited them, before they could proceed
further. They therefore generally chose to avail them-
selves of thelew days' extra sojourn in Egypt, which
the time of sailing of the French steamers allowed them,
proceeding by these vessels either to Malta or Marseilles,
to undergo their quarantine incarceration ; and, under
this system of communication, if they reached England
in from forty to fifty days after leaving Egypt, they had
no reason to complain.
By the improved communication already established
by this Company, a passenger may, under. ordinary cir-
cumstances, be ashore in England in the midst of his
friends within fifteen or sixteen days from his leaving
Egypt ; and by the extension of that communication
which is on the point of being effected, he will be able
to quit the shores of Bengal and be among his friends
in England io less time than it required, under the
former mode of communication, to reach England from
Alexandria.
The " Oriental" and " Great Liverpooi" start from
England on the 2d of every month, and the port of
Southampton is about to be fixed on as their future
point of departure. It is now ascertained, from actual
experience, that these vessels can effect the passage to
Alexandria in thirteen days steaming, or in about four-
teen days. including the stoppages at Gibraltar and
Malta. The homeward passage is made in about the
same time. Each vessel makes the whole voyage out
and home. There is no changing of vessels nor quaran-
tine impediments on the homeward route. The vessels
return direct to England in quarantine ; and under thi.
precautions adopted, and the other arrangements made
by the Company, the time occupied in the homeward
voyage is allowed in the quarantine, and the vessels
hare been hitherto released within one or two days
after their arrival in England.—Anderson's Letter to
the Directors, 4.e.

WOOLWICH-FRIDAY.

ROYAL ARTILLERY.

GENERAL ORDER.
Woolwich, Dec. 23, 1840

The Master-General has directed the following letter
from Lord Hill to Major-General Sir George Thomas
Id spier, K.C.8., Commander of the Forces at the Cape
of Good Hope, conveying her Majesty'e pleasure on the
proceedings of a general Court-martial, held at Gre-

ham's Town, for the trial of Lieutenant W. J. P.
Wade, Royal Artillery, to be promulgated in General
Orders to the regiment.
(Signed)
H. D. ROSS, Colonel, Deputy-Adjutant•General.

" Horse Guards, Dec. 9, 1840.

" Sir,—Having had the honour to lay before the
Queen the proceedings of a general Coart-martial, held
at Graham's Town, Cape of Good Hope, on the 12th
July, 1840, continued by adjournment to the 24th of
the same month, and re-assembled for revision on the
18th of August following, for the trial of Lieutenan
W. J. P. Wade, Royal Artillery, who was arraigne
upon the under-mentioned charges ;
First Charge—For conduct highly disgraceful and
unbecoming en officer and a gentleman, in stating to
Major Armstrong, and subsequently writing the same,
on or about the 6th May, 1839, that he, on coming of
age, was entitled to 3001. per annum by the will of his
grandfather, Sir Walter Wade, Dublin, who, he as-
serted, had left him this property—all of which he
(Lieut. Wade) knew to be false.
" Second Charge—Also in producing, on or about
the 14th July, 1839, a letter, purporting to havo been
written by his mother, in which was a paragraph stating
him to be entitled to a legacy of 6,0001., with interest
amounting to 3601., left him by Dr. Walter Wade, and
directing him to cause a power of attorney to be drawn
up to remove such sum or supposed sum from the hands
of Mr. Phelps, of Jervis-street, Dublin, to that of
Messrs. Cox and Co., London ; the said paragraph
being a fabrication of his own and an imitation of his
mother's handwriting, inserted by him in the body of
the said letter above alluded to from his mother, and so
done for the purpose of misleading Major Armstrong
and others ; and which, in the presence of Major Arm-
strong, he acknowledged to have said he had done.

Third Charge.-For practising gross deceit, by
causing a power of attorney to be drawn out, dated
16th July, 1839, according to the aforesaid fictitious
paragraph,' as stated in the second charge, and pretend-
ing that he had forwarded the same to England, but
which it appeared he never did, as well from his own
avowal as to its never having been acknowledged by
Messrs. Cox and Co., as also no letter with enclosures
of such size having been put in the Graham's Town
Post-office on the day he affected to have sent it—viz.,
on or about the 19th July, 1839.
" Fourth Charge.—For disgraceful and dishonourable
conduct in having, at Graham's Town, between the
months of July and December, 1839, fraudulently ob-
tained several sums of moneys, by drawing bills on
Messrs. Cox and Co., army agents, London, he Lieu-
tenant Wade, well knowing at the time he had no funds
in their hands to meet such bills, which accordingly
camp back dishonoured.

" All such conduct, as set forth in the foregoing
charges, being scandalous, infamous, unbecoming an
officer and a gentleman, and prejudicial to the honour
and character of her Majesty's service.
" Upon which charges the Court come to the follow-
ing decision.

The Court having duly and maturely weighed and
considered the evidence in support of the prosecution,
as well as what the prisoner has offered in his defence,
is of opinion as follows
" As relative to the first charge, that the prisoner is
guilty of the whole of this charge.
" As relative to the second charge, that the prisoner
is guilty of the whole of this charge.
" As relative to the third charge, that the prisoner is
guilty of the whole of this charge.
" As relative to the fourth charge, that the prisoner
is guilty of the whole of this charge.
" The Court having found the prisoner guilty of the
whole of the charges preferred against him, which being
in breach of the Articles of War, do by virtue thereof'
sentence him, the prisoner, Lieut. W. J. P. Wade, of
the Royal Artillery, to be dismissed her Majesty's service.
" The Court is revised to reconsider its sentence for
the following reason :—The Court having found the
prisoner guilty of the crimes alleged against him, as set
forth in the charges, have sentenced him to be dismissed
the service.
" This sentence is at variance with the Articles of
War, which expressly declare, that an officer convicted
of any scandalous, infamous conduct, unbecoming the
character of an officer and a gentleman, Article 31,
shall be cashiered,' leaving the Court no discretionary
power after such conviction to mitigate its sentence to
dismissal, &c.
" It was clearly the duty of the Judge-Advocate to
have pointed out the precise bearing of the penalty so
distinctly implied by the Articles of War for a parti-
cular offence, and to have guarded the Court from in-
advertently falling into the error it has committed by
deviating from the precise letter of the law.
(Signed) "GEORGE NAPIER,
Major-General, Commanding-in-Chief.
" Government House, Cape Town, Aug. 18, 1840."

" Graham's Town, Aug. 18, 1840.

" The Court having re-assembled by order of Major-
General Sir George Napier, K.C.8., and Commanding-
M-Chief, for the purpose of revising its former sentence,
having heard read the remarks of the Commander-in-
Chief thereon, and the Court now finding that its former
sentence of dismissal of the prisoner, Lieut. W. J. P.
Wade, of the Royal Artillery, from the service, was not
in accordance with the Articles of War, do now, after
having re-considered its former sentence, adjudge him,
the prisoner, Lieut. W. J. P. Wade, of the Royal Ar-
tillery, to be cashiered.

" I have to acquaint you, that her Majesty has
pleased to approve and confirm the finding, and re-
vised sentence of the Court.

" You will be pleased to acquaint the Master-Gene-
ral of the Ordnance with the day on which her Majesty's
pleasure is made known to the prisoner, as, from the
date thereof, he will cease to receive pay in her Ma-
jesty's service.—l am, &c.
(Signed) " HILL,
" General Commanding-in-Chief."