The Sun.
London, England, 1841-07-27 00:00:00

BRITISH ASSOCIATION FOR T HE
ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE.
PLYMOUTH, JULY 24.—The extensive preparations ne-
cessary for holding this (the eleventh) meeting of the
British Association are now nearly complete, judging
from what have been already made known. A visit to
the town upon this occasion cannot fail to interest the
curious or scientific inquirer. Plymouth and Devonport
have for some years solicited a visit from the Associa-
tion, and it was decided at the last meeting at Glasgow,
in opposition to the solicitations from Manchester, Hull,
and other places, that the request of the former towns
should be agreed. Independent of the extensive local
resources of the towns in their naval, military, and ord-
nance establishments, which, by the permission of the
Commissioners of the Admiralty and other authorities,
have been thrown open for the inspection of members
during the week of meeting, the large and valuable min-
ing and manufacturing stores in the neighbouring vi-
cinities of the place of meeting, in Devonshire and Corn-
wall, afford vast opportunities for gratification. All
these advantages have been liberally offered to members.
Hitherto the expenses attendant upon providing ac-
commodations for the meetings in the various towns has
begin enormous, whilst many of the fetes have given
them the charactei of a raree show, scarcely consistent
with the dignity of science. At Liverpool and New-
castle the sums expended were more than 3,000/. each,
whilst last year, at Glasgow, the sum of 3,400/. was
charged " for entertaining the British Association," of
which no less than 8141. was for rent and fitting up the
theatre for dinner, &c. The whole of the expenses at
this meeting are under 6001.; nearly the whole of which
has been subscribed for ; and as the prices of lodgings
have not advanced, as on other occasions, on the antici-
pated influx of visitors, the cost to each member will not
exceed that of an incidental visit to the town. The local
officers appointed for the town, and under whose autho-
rity the arrangements are being made, are, Vice Presi-
dents, the Earl of Morley. the Earl of Mount Edgecumbe,
Lord Eliot, Sir Thomas Dyke Acland, Bart., and Sir
Charles Lemon, Bart. ; Treasurer, Harvey Woolcombe,
Esq., Plymouth Institution ; and Secretaries, W. Snow
Harris, Esq., F.It.S., Col. Hamilton Smith, F.R.S., R.
Were Fox, Esq., F. 1t..5., and Richard Taylor, Esq.,
jun., F.G.S.
The first general meeting will be held on Thursday
next, when the meetings of the different sections will
commence. The General Committee holds its first meet-
ing on Wednesday, at one o'clock, at the Royal Hotel,
Plymouth, when the officers for the various sections will
be appointed. The sections will assemble for the read-
ing and discussion of reports, and other communications,
oil Thursday, at eleven o'clock ; and afterwards, at the
same hour, daily during the week of the meeting, ex-
cepting Wednesday, 4th of August.
The general model room will be opened every day at
the Naval Accountant's Office, in Ker-street. The Lords
Commissioners of the Admiralty have, at the suggestion
of Admiral 'Warren, permitted an exhibition of models,
relative to naval science, &c., in her Majesty's Dockyard
at Devonport, and members, on producing their tickets,
will be admitted to the model room, and allowed to in-
spect the various constructions and operations in the
Dockyard, the subjects of which will be explained by
the master shipwright. Captain Taylor, RN., com-
manding her Majesty's ship San Josef, 112 guns; in Ha-
moaze, will also have an exhibition of models relative to
naval science, on board the ship, which may be inspected
by members. The evening meetings will also form a pro-
minent part of the days' proceedings, and will all take
place at the Town-hall, Devonport, being the most suit-
able building in the two towns. The first general meet-
ing will be held on Thursday evening, the 29th instant,
when Professor Whewell, the President, will take the
chair and deliver an address. On Friday and Tuesday a
soiree and promenade will be held at the same place, at
the former of which Mr. Chatfield, of her Majesty's
Dock-yard, will explain the constructing and launching
of ships, and at the latter there will be an exhibition oef
electro-magnetic and other clocks. On Wednesday, the
4th of August, the concluding general meeting will be
held, when .the proceedings of the general committee,
and the proceeds of the several grants of money sanc-
tioned by it' having been explained, the Association will
adjourn till the next year, at such other destination as
may have been resolved upon.
To add to the interest of the occasion, the launch of
her Majesty's ship Hindostan, of 80 guns, which has been
deferred to the period of meeting, will take place on
Monday 2d August, at five, P.M., preparatory to which
she will be lifted by wedges, to which operation mem-
bers will be admitted. At least three hundred tickets of
admission have been provided for members who desire to
see the launch, on board her Majesty's ships San Josef
and the Caledonia ; and on the same evening, her Ma-
jesty's ship Caledonia, in Hamoaze, opposite Mount
Wise, will, by permission of the Lords of the Admiralty,
be illuminated with port-fires.

IMPORTANT TRIAL AT PER-

PIGNAN.

The trial of Picola, the contrabandist, and Rose, his
wife, for breach of trust and robbery, by the non-deli-
very of 50,000 f., which Cabrera, the Spanish, Carlist Ge-
neral, entrusted to them, to be conveyed into France, and
delivered to his sisters, Mme. Polo and Mme. Arnaud,
came on before the Correctional Tribunal of Perpignan,
on the Bth instant, in pursuance of an adjournment from
May last, as our readers will recollect, in consequence of
the non-appearance of Cabrera and several members of
the Carlist jzinta nf-Berga, who had been summoned as
witnesses in behalf of the prisoners. Picola is about forty
years of age, born in French Cerdagna, but of Spanish
parentage. His countenance expressed all the animation
and acuteness of the mountaineer; his language was good,
and at times forcible. Rose, his wife, whOse maiden
name was Terrades, was born in France, of French pa-
rents, and was married to Picola twenty years ago. She
has been very handsome, but her beauties are faded from
time and care. The Court was crowded, as in May, in
expectation of seeing Cabrera and the members of the
Junta, but neither of them appeared. The agitated
state of Catalonia had deterred the Government from
granting him and the other notable Carlists permission
to come so near the frontier. The trial occupied the
Bth, 9th, and 10th, and, at its close, the Judges took time
till the 15th-to deliberate upon their judgment. Several
facts, previously unknown to the public, were elicited.
The money entrusted by Cabrera to Picola, and by him
transferred to his wife, to carry with the ladies into
France, amounted to 50,000 f., in three bags, two contain-
ing 20,000 f. each, and the third 10,000 f. in gold. There
were also confided to Picola several chests of plate, some
trunks, and other baggage, containing clothes and papers,
which it appears he retained in Spain, promising to con-
vey them at a future day to I3ourges, whither the ladies
were bound. The parties were escorted to the French
frontier by Carlist troops, and this becoming known to
the authorities at Osseja, on their arrival the travellers
were taken before the Commissary of Police, where it
was found, on search, that they then had in their pos-
session all the money abovementioned. From Osseja
the ladies were sent into the interior, leaving the money
in the hands of Rose Picola, lest it should be taken from
them. From the evidence given in Court, this money
had been left by Cabrera's mother to her daughters. As
to the plate it had belonged to Queen Christina, and was
captured by Cabrera while on its way to France under
an escort. Picola had brought it into this country,
where it was seized, but the Government had ordered it
to be given up to Cabrera, who has, it is said, presented
it to Don Carlos, to whom it will ultimately be sent, that
Prince having• accepted the offer. Disputes arose at
Court as to the quantity of the plate. Picola, in his
examir.ation, admitted no more than twelve dozen covers ;
but the witnesses for the prosecution affirmed that there
were forty, or at the least thirty dozen. A chest was pro-
duced, and was found to have compartments for only
seventy-two forks and table-spoons, twelve tea-spoons,
and two dessert-spoons. Picola asserted that large sums
were due to him from the army, and that he had a lien
upon the property in question for the amount. This was
contradicted by a person who had been a clerk in the
employ of the Junta of Berga, and who declared that
all Picola's demands had been settled and paid. On the
other side, two gendarmes deposed that General
Cabrera, when under their keeping at Cabanese, near
Montlouis, complained of his having been robbed by
Picola, of 50,000 E, but at the same time admitted that he
owed Picola between 10,000 f. and 12,000 f. for sup-
plies. It was lastly proved, on the part of the prosecu-
tion, that Picola, since his return in France, had paid
debts to the amount of between 6,000 f. and 7,000 E, and
had also entered into commercial speculations to a con-
siderable extent. The judgment of the Tribunal pro-
flounced Ticola guilty of breach of confidence, in con-
verting to his own use 10,000 f. intrusted to him by
Cabrera, at Berga, and also in not delivering the chest of
plate ; also declared his wife guilty of the same offence
with regard to the 50,000 f. intrusted to her, condemned
them both to two years' imprisonment and a fine of 25f.,
to pay 50,000 f. to Cabrera, and 2,500 f. as the value of
the plate which had been abstracted from the chest, and
to Polo y Munos 60f., the value of a cloak which belonged
to him, and was in one of the trunks ; ordered them
jointly to pay all the costs of the prosecution, and limited
the period of their imprisonment, in case of non-payment
of the above sums, to ten years.

NEWSVENDERS' BENEVOLENT AND PRO-
VIDENT INSTITUTION.—The Committee of this laudable
society have made arrangements for an aquatic trip on
Wednesday next. The Royal Sovereign steamer is en-
gaged for the occasion, and every arrangement that can
conduce to the comfort and accommodation of those who
may patronize the excursion, has been made, not with
a niggardly or parsimonious hand, but in a spirit of
perfect old English hospitality. James Harmer, Esq.,
the patron of the Institution, has granted permission for
the company to land and spend the day on the beautiful
grounds attached to his mansion at Greenhithe, and a
cowmodipus mkquee has been erected in the Park, to
shelter the visitors from the fervour of a summer's sun.
In this tent a cold collation will be served, and those who
feel disposed may devote their time to the shrine of Terp-
sichore, an excellent band having been provided for that
purpose. Herr Von Joel, the sifleur, and a celebrated
comic singer will be present. In fact, the Committee
have not omitted any thing calculated to enhance the
pleasures of the day, and we heartily hope the 'weather
may prove propitious.
ORIGIN OF THE MALT AND BEER TAXES.
The following memoranda may not be uninteresting to
many of our readers :—Ale-houses were established in
this country as early as 721, and are mentioned in the
laws of Ina, King of Wessex. Public-houses were first
licensed in 1621, authority being granted for that pur-
pose to Sir Giles Montpessan and Sir Francis Michel, for
their own emolument. In 1553, the number of taverns
in London was limited to forty. The malt tax was esta-
blished in 1697, increased in 1760, and new modelled in
1766. An excise duty on beer and ale was first legally
imposed in 1660.
Died, at Crieff, on the 15th inst., Flora Macdo-
nald, in her 100th year. She was a native of Kintail, in
Ross-shire, but has resided in Crieff district for nearly
the last half century. She possessed not a word of the
English language, and her Gaelic was almost obsolete--
t those even of her own country not well understanding her