The Sun.
London, England, 1841-12-24 00:00:00

MEETING OF BRITISH RESI-
DENTS AT HAMBURGH.
HAMBURGH, Dec.l7.—On Monday last, about a
hundred of the most distinguished Eaglish residents of
this city met at the- Old City of London Tavern, to
celebrate, by a public dinner, the late auspicious event of
the birth of an heir-apparent to the British throne.
The dinner was decided upon at a public meeting of
the British residents, held immediately after the arrival
in Hamburgh of the intelligence that a Prince had been
born. At the same meeting addresses of congratulation
to her Majesty and to Prince Albert were adopted, and
these were subsequently transmitted by the Chairmani
(Cob-nel Hodges) to England. It was determined at
the same time that the dinner should be got up with a
degree of splendour hitherto unknown in Hamburgb,
and that invitations should be sent to a deputation of
the Senate, to the whole of the diplomatic body, to
Count Blucher-Altona, the President of the sister
city, and to Colonels Stephani and Stockfleth, the two
commanding officers of the regular troops and of the
burgher guard of Hamburgb.
No pains were spared by the Committee of Manage-
remit. The room was handsomely decorated with 11 igs
and fine exotic plants, the place of honour being assigned
to a bust of the Queen. Colonel Hodges, the British
Charge d'Affaires, presided, in full uniform, supported
on the right and left by Syndic Sieveking, Syndic B inks,
Senators Dammert and Jenisch, and the remainder of
the guests who had been invited. Of the diplomatic
body there were present the Prussian and Austrian
Envoys, and the Ministers and Charges d'Affaires of
Hanover, Denmark, Sweden, France, Russia, and Meck-
lenburg-Schwerin. Those of Belgium and Holland
would no doubt have also been present, had they not
been absent from Hamburgh. All these distinguished
guests appeared either in uniform or in full Court costume.
EMIGRATION.—The subject of emigration is exciting
great interest throughout Germany at present. I wrote
to you some time ago to say that an indirect application
had been made to Lord J. Russell, with a view to obtain
some advantages for German emigrants in our Australian
colonies, and that it was likely that the application
would be renewed in a more formal manner iu the name
of the German Diet sitting at Frankfort. In my opi-
nion, the acquisition annually of some thousands of
German colonists, well acquainted with the cultiva-
tion of the vine and the tending of sheep, would be
of inestimable value to Australia, nor do I think there
would be the most remote danger of the formation of
an impertuna in insperio, a genuine British character,
such as no partial immigration of Germans could now
effect, having already been stamped upon those colonies.
The public men in Germany who have taken the matter
into their hands are sanguine in their expectations that
the. British Government will come into their views, and
have already made a beginning, having entered
into- a contract with the New Zealand Company for
the purchase of a large tract of land and the concession
of some important advantages. The Diet will not lose
sight of the matter. It will form a subject of discus-
sion at their next meetings, and will soon be put into a
tangible sbape. Indeed something they must do. It
is heartrending to read the accounts that reach us,
mostly through private channels, of the treatment
experienced by the unfortunate German emigrants that
fall into the bands of unprincipled crimps in the
Dutch, French, and Belgian ports. The poor people
are generally stripped of every thing they possess,
half starved, and otherwise ill treated during the voyage,
and landed in a state of utter destitution in America.
Yet emigration goes on, and will continue to go on, from
the more densely peopled parts of Germany, and it be-
comes the duty of the Governments of Germany, as
they cannot prevent emigration, to organise some plan
by which provision may be made for the protection of a
class of men who are not in a condition to protect
themselves.
[With reference to the above statement that a
purchase has been made by a German agent from the
New Zealand Company, we find an article of some length
in the Allgetneine Zeitung of the 10th inst., where it is
said that. M. Sieveking, of Hamburg, has bought the Cha-
tham Islands, containing an area of about 750,000 acres.
The purchase money is to be 10,0001., and 50,000 acres
are to be reserved for the natives. The contract is to
be ratified on the 12th of March, 1842, and the first in-
stalment of 1,0001. is to be paid within two months of that
diite. The purchasers are then to have two years to send
agents to examine the land; and at the expiration of that
time they are to be at liberty to complete the purchase,
by paying the remainder of the money; or, if not sa-
tisfied with their bargain, they may rescind it, by
abandoning the deposit of 1,000/. Mr. Sieveking, it
seems, proposes to establish the colony according
to the Wakefield system. The land is to be sold at 'a
minimum Price of 2/ per acre ; one:.half to form an emi-
gration fund, for the conveyance of poor German la-
bourers to Chatham Island .; and the other half to be
applied to the liquidation of the purchase-money, and to
the expenses that must necessarily be incurred in the
first establishment of the colony. The New Zealand
Company, it appears, have pledged themselves to use
their interest with the British Government to obtain the
necessary sanction to the arrangementi

REMINISCENCES OF THE EM-
PEROR NAPOLEON.
(Extracted from the French of Timon.)
Napoleon devoted a great deal of personal attention
to the celebrated code which bears his name. Several
clauses of it emanated from his pen.
He made some speeches in reference to the punish-
meet of transportation which were full of sensibility.
" If," said he, " you prevent the wife of a transported
convict from following him you had much better kill
the condemned man at once. His wife would then be
able at least to raise a tomb to him in her garden, and
there go and weep."
It was he who fixed the age of marrying, and who
made the wife swear obedience to her husband in the
nuptial ceremony. He added jokingly—" This oath of
obedience is very necessary in Paris, where the women
imagine they have a right to do whatever they wish."
Napoleon desired that none of his subjects should be
at liberty to open a school just as thy might an old
clothes shop : he desired that the despotic unity of the
Government should be introduced into the lyceums ;.
that a body of lay Jesuits should be intrusted with the
moral and political education of the people, and should
report all their proceedings to the Emperor ; that the
fact of this great body should rest on the benches of
the College and its head in the Senate ; that the teach-
ing of the " Napoleon religion" should commence at
the cradle ; that the history of ancient Gaul should be
universally studied, and that the professors should " take
up their vows'by espousing the university in the same
manner as the monks were formerly accustomed to es-
pouse the cause of the Church.
He only looked upon the annual deaths, from 15,000
to 20,000 persons in Paris alone, as " a splendid battle."
He only esteemed military fanaticism. "It is ne-
cessary to possess it," he used to say, " in order to get
one's-self killed."
He never liked, unless when seized by a temporary
caprice, to interfere in religious matters.

- -
He was very indignant against the clergy, who wished
to reserve all mor.il influence to themselves, and to
leave him merely a physical influence, and exclaimed,
" They keep the soul to themselves and leave me
nothing but the carcase."

He looked upon religion, as upon everything else, in
a political light. " Religion," said he, "connects with
Heaven an idea of equality which prevents the poor
from assassinating the rich." He converted missionaries
into so many diplomatic agents for the accomplishment
of his distant designs.

He used to remark, " Everything in religion ought
to lac gratuitous, and for the people. The obligation
of paying at the doors of churche, or of paying for
seats, is revolting I It is not right to deprive the poor,
merely because they are poor, of that. which consoles
them in their poverty."
He sacrificed, without the least remorse, private in•
terests to those of the State ; but he, nevertheless, ma-
nifested on several occasions a lively sympathy for pri-
vate rights.

I-le used to complain that he had nothing to do but
to sign decrees, and he organized, of his own accord, the
tine institution called the Commission du Contenticux.
Can you believe," he once said, " that my uphol-
sterer has dared to charge me 100,000 f. for a badly-
made throne and six arm-chairs ?" This was the only
cause of the jurisdiction over the provisions of the civil
list with which the Council of State was invested.
The following are some of his maxims relative to tax-
ation

a T. IS .
" better to let money remain in the hands of the
eiti:emnse must know how
to".keep it locked up in a cellar.
We
6. A revenue of 600 w to
give in order to receive.
,000,000 f. ought to be sufficient
One ought to have
forl,''frahnecaeuialltliuq:tcsnootf
bpeealalcdecn on every side.
.
and water for nc thing
.. 8
it is quite enough to have
PaY for salt."
The following is another
of his tnaxirni, immoral
even in its morality :
" Monied taco must be managed by means of money."
He always entertained a warn o
t.syloiiph„hy for the emi-
grants. He restored them
had not been sold, end his policy inclineietir property
that
nu to giant
them an indemnity.
He wished, for the sake of the people, to reduce the
prices of admission to the theatre.

He used to observe—
" There is seldom any government more tyrannical
than that which professes to be a paternal one,"
The above were his opinions and axioms when Con-
sul. When, however, Napoleon became Emperor he
was much more reserved and guarded in his conversa•
tam, and more anxious regarding his destiny, of the close
of which be seemed to entertain a presentiment.
But in the bosom of his Council of State the thoughts
of Napoleon often escaped through his lips, and his
ideas then sought to find an echo in the minds of those
who surrounded him.

On the return of Napoleon from his great victories,
he had scarcely time to take off his spurs before a
noise of arms was heard at the door of the Council-

. ...
chamber, and the drums were sounded three times.

The folding-doors were then thrown wide open, and
the usher cried out, " Gentlemen, make way for the
Emperor !" Napoleon walked at a quick pace to his
arm-chair, and, haring saluted the members, he sat down