The Sun.
London, England, 1841-11-30 00:00:00

GENERAL COURT-MARTIAL.

CHATHAM, SATURDAY, Nov. 27.—A court-martial
assembled on Friday morning, at eleven o'clock, in the
general Court-martial Room, Chatham Barracks, to try
John ITGuin, a private of the 16th Regiment of Foot,
for having fired a pistol loaded with ball at a non-com-
missioned officer of the same corps.
President, Colonel Weare, K.H.P.B.

Major Pipon, K. 11., Deputy Judge-Advocate, then
read the following charge against the prisoner :—" For
having, on or about the night of Tuesday, the 2d of
November, 1841, in a public-house, near the town of
Dover, assaulted acting-corporal William Kain, of the
same regiment, by then and there wilfully and maliciously
presenting a pistol, loaded with powder and ball, at the
said corporal, saying at the time, Do you see this !
have a care,' or words to that effect, and thereupon
pulling a trigger of the said pistol so presented and
pointed at the said corporal, with intent to murder him,
or to do him some bodily harm, and the said pistol snap-
ping in the pan and failing to go off, the said private John
M'G uin did thereupon deliberately re-cock the said pis-
tol, and wilfully and maliciously discharge the same at
the said corporal, by then and there firing the same
under a table at which the said corporal was sitting, and
thereby wounding the said corporal in the foot.
The prisoner pleaded Not Guilty.
Several witnesses were examined in support of the
charge, when

The DEPUTY JUDGE-ADVOCATE intimated to the
Court that he expected several civilians who saw the
transaction at the public-house; they, however, had not
arrived from Dover.

The Court adjourned at three o'clock, and assembled
again on Saturday morning at eleven o'clock, when, the
Court finding the witnesses had not arrived, they called
Sergeant Cannon who, being sworn, said he had served
certain summonses; one on Elizabeth Spratt, Sarah
Featherby, and William Richards. The summonses
were by order of the Court to attend a court-martial.
These summonses were under the authority of the Judge-
Advocate. I served them personally on the parties on
the 23d inst.

Major PIPEN said he believed the grounds of excuse
the parties made were, that they had not the means to
bring them.

The COURT asked the prisoner if he had anything to
say in his defence. He answered " No." The prisoner
left the Court under a military escort. It appears the
prisoner has been twig years in the service, and has borne
a good character.

It is the intention of Major Pipen to write to Lon]
on the subject of those witnesses who would not attend.

CURIOUS TRIAL IN HOLLAND.
A letter of the 19th instant from the Hague notices
a prosecution then pending before the Provisional Court
of that city, which m e mentioned some time ago, and
which at the present moment excites public curiosity in
Holland in the highest degree. It arises out of an im-
putation of fraudulent bank; uptcy against a late manu-
facturer of Leyden, named Adrian, who in times past
had received pecuniary assistance from the present King
of the Netherlands when Prince of Orange. Adrian has
previously been accused of forging the name of the Prince
to bills of exchange, and sending them into circulation,
having antecedently discounted ether bills actually signed
by the same personage. In the first prosecution
Adrian was said to have escaped because he threatened
to inculpate the Prince. This rumour coming to the
knowledge of the King, his Majesty was extremely
anxious that the new process should be carried on, so
that his real share in the transactions of Adrian might
be made apparent. Adrian, among other witnesses,
demanded that the King should be cited, and even
sent him a formal summons. It was, however, the
general opinion that his Majesty could not possibly be
allowed to appear in Court. From the Handelsblad
of Amsterdam we learn that the trial commenced on
Friday, when, after the indictment was read, a list of
twenty-three witnesses was given in, with several
important documents, among which was a letter from
M. Van den Bosch, ex-Minister of the Colonies.
The Counsel for the defendant intimated that.he,had
also cited three other witnesses, ono of whom4as a
valet-de-chambre, and another a footman of the King.
He further stated that he had written to the Pro-
cureur-General to say that he wished to have the evi-
dence of the King himself, but this having been con-
sidered as inconsistent, he was obliged to renounce
the idea, whereby Adrian was placed in a difficult
position. He was accused of not accounting for a
sum of 4.5,000 florins, which he received in the be-
ginning of 1840 from M. Van den Bosch, which sum,
however, Adrian affirmed he had returned to the
King. On Saturday the hearing was resumed, and
lasted from ten in the morning till four in the after-
noon, but was entirely occupied with the examina-
tion of one witness, Mr. J. Montague of Leyden,
one of the curators of the bankruptcy, whose evidence
confirmed in most part the statements in the in-
dictment. The proceedings of Monday established the
fact of the King having drawn upon a respectable firm
of Amsterdam for a most enormous sum, and in the
name of Adrian, who had received in cash the whole of
these sums, and remitted them to the King, who will
not admit this position, which would save the accused.
It is now a question, in the event even of it being
proved that the said Adrian did not remit these sums
to the King, what could have induced the latter to lend
such an enormous sum of money to a man of bad re-
pute, and whose existence in the city wherein he re-
sided was, according to the energetical declaration of
one of the witnesses, exceedingly enigmatical.

The Phare de la Manche gives the following
account of the loss of the Ville du Havre, of the New.
foundland fishery, which sailed from France on May
13th, with a complement of 63 men. She made a good
voyage until June 17, when, about three in the morn-
ing, the men of the watch found that she had struck
violently against some ice. All hands were immedi-
ately turned up and set to work at the pumps, but the
leak she had made gained upon them so fast that their
labour was in vain. They had only two boats on board,
and these together would not hold more than twenty
people, with a small supply of provisions. The Captain,
with all the courage, judgment, and promptitude the
case required, maintained order, until, by successive
trips, he placed his men on two of the floating
masses of ice. This was accomplished within thirty-
five minutes of the first shock, at the expiration of which
time the ship went down. At daybreak land was
discovered in the distance. Some of the men were
allowed to take the largest boat for the purpose of seeking
a more firm part of the ice, where they might remain in
greater security, hut this part of the crew were no sooner
in the boat than they rowed off with all their strength,
leaving their messmates to their fate. At first these were
thrown into the deepest despair, but after a while hope
was revived, by perceiving that the ice was drifting to-
wards the land. In the afternoon they found themselves
within three leagues of the shore, when some more of the
men got into the small boat which had been left and
reached it in safety. About twenty were forced to remain
on the ice all next night, but in the morning of the 18th
they, too, were saved, having been out 37 hours.
A Correspondent at Vienna informs the Presse
that during the late visit of Prince Metternich to Johan-
nisberg, negotiations were set on foot between him and
Count Von Maltzalin, the Prussian Ambassador, rela-
tive to the adhesion of Austria to the German Customs'
Union. These negotiations, the Correspondent says, are
now sufficiently advanced to allow of a favourable re-
sult being anticipated. The Presse attributes this ap-
proach to a more intimate alliance between Austria and
the other States of the Confederation to the necessity of
union among all the Germanic States, which was so
much felt while the rumours of war were prevalent dur-
ing the latter half of last year.
DEATH OF GENERAL SIR THOMAS MOLy.
NEAux._Died, this morning, after a short illness, Gene-
ral Sir Thomas Molyneaux. He is succeeded in his title
and estates by his son George, now Sir George Moly-
neaux,e t.
containing T he
tSupplement to
which the Londonreacii Gazetteed
town
this morning, announced the
lie Brevet,
Tuesday,
ofßaron
promotion of the late Baro-
net to the rank of General in the A Army.--Dublin Mail
of Friday.