The Sun.
London, England, 1841-10-08 00:00:00

TO RICHARD COBDEN, M.P.

MY DEAR COBDEN—In The Sun of yesterday, I ob-
serve a letter from thyself, also one from our mutual
friend Sydney Smith, both addressed to me. in which
you plead " not guilty," on behalf of the Anti-Corn-law
League, to the charge of having relaxed from their ef-
fortd in pressing the total and immediate abolition of the
Corn and Provision Laws. I asked for this explicit and
public declaration, as much for the satisfaction of others
as myself, and if, by going into court, before an upright
Judge, and an impartial jury, I could convict a majority
of the League of a dereliction of principle in what has
passed, even from their own organ, 1 have no disposition
to do so, as I can make great allowance for the strong
temptation to which many of them were latterly ex-
posed ; and lam willing to accept your explanation,
especially with a guarantee for the faithfulness of the
League in future, from two such able and leading mem-
bers of it.

The money which I conditionally promised shall,
therefore, be paid on application. Although " some
Association, whose object is, by peaceable and Christian
to a.‘oh a representation of the people, as
the golden rule of Doing to others as we would they
should do unto us,' entitles thorn to claim," should
afterwards prove a case in equity against me for asimi-
lar amount. If the conclusion of my letter conveyed
the impression that I despaired of the people obtaining
justice, it was not so intended ; fur I believe that, with
the blessing of Providence on their united and peaceful
efforts there is a greater probability of it than there
ever was, and there are no doubtful indications that the
conduct pursued by the supporters of monopoly is rapidly
ac, elerating the period; but whether the abolition of the
Corn-laws, and the redress of their other heavy griev-
ances, will be effected through the representatives of the
present constituency, remains a problem yet to be solved,
and upon this point I am not prepared to retract the opi-
nion I gave in my last letter.—Very respectfully,
JOS. STURGE.

Birmingham, 10th month, 6th, 1841.
NoTE.---Perhaps I ought to have addressed both this
and my former letters to our friend J. B. Smith, as
Chairman of the League, but I understand he is now on
the Continent.

Lord Howard dc Walden is coming home in con-
sequence of the sudden demise of his brother, the Hon.
Mr. Ellis, who lately died of the yellow fever at Jamaica.
The Lyons journals give a lamentable report of
the effects of a violent storm which visited that city in
the night of Saturday last. The day had been threaten-
ing, and, at 10 at night, the tempest burst, and continued
to rage till one, when it abated for about an hour ; after
which it seemed to have gained additional strength, and
the thunder, lightning, hail, and rain continued till the
morning. Considerable damage was done on the river,
and several barges were driven against the Pont de
Tilsit ; one was struck by lightning. The Rhone and
Saone were much swollen, and fears of a new inundation
were entertained. A woman, who imprudently went out
during the storm, was carried down by the torrent,
formed by the rain in the streets, to the Quai Saint Vin-
cent, and would have been drowned but for prompt as-
sistance.

The Journal du Havre notices that some pas-
sengers, who arrived at Liverpool in the last steam-
packet from Halifax, left Liverpool on Friday morning,
at three o'clock, by railroad for London, whence they
proceeded by the same conveyance to Southampton, where
they embarked in the steam-packet, and arrived at Havre
b' 8 o'clock on Saturday morning, having thus travelled a
distance,of 140 leagues, or about 350 miles, in 29 hours,
including their stoppages at London and Southampton.
The same journal remarks that persons leaving New
York on the 15th of the month, have found themselves
in the morning of the 29th at Paris, having within 14
days traversed 1,100 leagues by sea, and 190 leagues, or
475 miles by land. _ _

A setter- from Odessa, in the Frankfurter Jour-
nal, in announcing the celebration of the anniversary
of the first foundation of the town, says, "It was first
created in 1793 by Souvaroff, who then merely esta-
blished a line of fortifications along the bank of the
Dneister, little thinking that within fifty years a pros-
perous Russian city would ("TOW upon the spot. Ad-
miral Ribas, who in 1814 built the first houses at Odessa,
had no other object than to afford an asylum to the
Greeks, and a harbour for vessels. Odessa has at length
surpassed all the hopes of the Duke de Richelieu."

A few days ago," says a Belgian paper, " died
at Brussels, in the prime of life, M. Vandevyre, an en-
graver, who has obtained eminence in his profession. A
short time before his death he was subjected to a physi-
cal phenomenon, of which there are few, if any, previous
instances in the annals of the medical science. In con-
sequence of a frightful dream, the whole of the hair of
his head and body fell off, and disappeared almost in-
stantaneously."
The Augsburgh Gazette says, We learn
from Alexandria, of the 7th ult., that since Mehemet
Ali has resolved on making considerable reductions
among the officers of his army, not only a large number
of officers have resigned, but 300 officers have been dis-
banded, and sent into the provinces to fill civil situations.
Achmed Pacha Menikly, one of the most devoted
.gene-
rals of the Viceroy, has suddenly resolved to quit the
service. The Russian Consul- General has been now a
month in Alexandria, without having been received by
the Pacha This delay has created many surmises. It
appears that the Prussian Government, in order to save
the cost of a Consul-General in Egypt, will leave the
post vacant."
MADAME LAFARGE AND THE LADIES OF
ENGLAND.—Madame Lafarge's account of her own life,
which is just published in English, is singularly enough
addressed to " the Ladies of England ;" and so far as
reading the appeal goes, it will certainly not be made in
vain. Modern times have never witnessed a more
strange and terrible romance than the life of this
extraordinary woman ; and whether we believe her
guilty or innocent of the fearful crime for which she
is suffering a penalty worse than death, her own account
of the scenes and events in question must be read with
a degree of painfully intense interest that no mere
fiction ever had the power to create. Of all the " causes
Cekbres," even of France, hers is at once the most
mysterious and the most exciting ; and it will certainly
command as much attention and curiosity among our
children's children as it has done among ourselves.
There can be little doubt, too, that her own detail of the
transactions which have made her the most conspicuous
person in Europe during the last two years, will greatly ,
increase the already large number of persons who believe
in her innocence.