The Sun.
London, England, 1840-12-30 00:00:00

THE SUN, LON DON, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 30, 1840.

SUMMARY OF MARRIAGES 1N

HIGH LIFE, 1840.

JANUARY.

The Earl of A shburnham to Miss Catherine Baillie,
fourth daughter of Mr. George Baillie, and sister of the
Marchioness of Breadalbane.
16. —By the Lord Bishop of Carlisle, the Hon. Capt.
Maynard, Royal Horse Guards (Blue), only son of Vis-
count Maynard, to the Hon. Frances Murray, youngest
daughter of the Dowager Lady Glenlyon, and niece of
the Dukes of Northumberland and Athol.

FEBRUARY.
3.—The Lord Bishop of Carlisle, to the Hon. Mist
Hope Johnstone, one of the Maids of Honour to her Ma-
jesty the Queen Dowager.
10.—Her Majesty was married at the Chapel Royal,
St. James's, to Field-Marshal his Royal Highness Francis
Albert Augustus Charles Emanuel Duke of Saxe, Prince
of Saxe Coburg and Gotha, K.G., G.C. B. The Cere
mony was performed by his Grace the Lord Archbishop
of Canterbury.
11.—Lord Dinorben, Aide.de-Camp to the Qneen, to
Miss Gertrude Smyth, sister of her Royal Highness the
Princess of Capua. His Royal Highness the Duke of
Sussex gave away the bride ; and it is to be remarked
that, within twenty•four hours, the Duke gave away the
Queen of England at St. James's Palace, and the sister of
the Princess of Capua at Kensington Palace.
27.—John Fleming, Esq., Grenadier Guards, to the
Lady Catherine Elizabeth Cochrane, only daughter of the
Earl and Countess of Dundonald.

Thorogood's case occasioned among a certain simple
and credulous portion of the public. The thing is worn
threadbare, and can no 'onger draw an audience.
The Church grievance-mongers have now looked
about for tithe martyrs, and have found one in the gaol
of Monmouth. If, as we said before, she be illegally
imprisoned there, why do not those generous pro-
tectors of suffering innocence apply to a Judge of the
Queen's Bench for a ssrit of habeas corpus to have the
illegality of her imprisonment legally ascertained, and
her liberty restored ? We know that many a person
has been sued wrongfully for debt, aye, and imp i-
coned too, in the common law courts ; and if such a
thing has taken place in the Ecclesiastical Courts, it is
only what is incidental to every tribunal, for, except
within the pale of the llomish Church, of which the
anti-tithe agitators are great admirers, there is no
infallible authority on earth. If Dr. Lyle has know-
ingly transgressed the law in order to oppress any sub-
ject of the realm, and above all a woman sad a widow,
let him answer it to the law, which will not fail to make
him pay severely for the wrong done. We have no wish
to screen injustice or extenuate oppression. We only
say that it every word asserted by the anti-Church
journals be true, it is no more a ground for attack upon
the clergy of the Establishment in general, than a wrong-
ful suing for an alleged debt, and illegal imprisonment of
a defendant by a London merchant or shopkeeper,
would constitute a ground of attack upon the whole
body of merchants or shopkeepers of London.
Occasional acts of individual injustice and oppression
are wrought in the common law courts, but nobody
thinks, therefore, that the common law courts are nui-
sances, and should be abolished ; but nothing stronger
than this is alleged as a sufficient reason for the abo-
lition of the ecclesiastical courts.

EXECUTION IN SWITZERLAND

In the summer of 1834 the rumour spread in St. Gall
of a horrid crime having just been perpetrated in the
canton. An old man, seventy years of age, was accused
of hawing murdered a young woman. He was stated
to have had a criminal intercourse with her, and, dread-
ing the opprobrium which the discovery of its con-
sequences would cast upon him and his family, to
have enticed her into the depth of a forest, and to have
put her to death. Public indignation was at its
height. Some woodeleavers had found the body mud-
hated and stabbed in ten places. The Pezirksammann
(a sort of officer of justice), accompanied by the Land-
jiugers (foot gendarmes) and the Peziksartz (the district
doctor), had been on the spot to remove the body and
draw up the proces verbal. All suspicions fell upon
Sigismund B . His intrigue with the victim was
generally known. Some words uttered by him a fel.,
days before the crime, coupled with his woful reputa-
tion, seemed to fix the charge upon him. Sigismund,
though advanced in years, had lost nothing of his bodily
strength and mental energy. Tall, robust, with hercu-
lean limbs, he superadded to his powerful frame a savage
and irritable temper. A prey to all the worst passions,
a drunkard, quarrelsome, and vindictive, he was the
terror of his neighbours and of his own children. Se-
veral murders were even imputed to him ; but he in-
spired so much fear that nobody had ventured to de.
nounce him.

Sigismund was arrested, but adopted a system of ab-
solute denial. He could not prove an alibi, but, on the
other hand, there was no decisive evidence, and no
witness of the crime. The investigation was, therefore,
protracted with little chance of making any further dis-
covery ; but the Judge was a man of sagacity and per-
severance. His searches were at length crowned with
success, for he got at a witness of the crime. It was a
little girl, who, having been in the forest in quest of
strawberries, had seen the woman struggle and her
blood flow. Frightened and dreading the same fate
the child had first concealed herself in a copse, and
next hurried home, trembling and breathless, to the cot-
tage of her parents, where she had told.thern all ; but
the latter, dreading Sigismend's revenge, had prohibited
her uttering one word about it. The naive evidence
of the little girl was overwhelming, and the culprit con-
fessed all. Yet the trial lasted several months inure.
At length the criminal tribunal and tribunal of appeal
both condemned him to death, and the Council General
of the Canton confirmed the sentence which was to be
executed in three days.
On the 15th of July, 1834, at nine in the morning,
the condemned was removed front the prison of Saint
Gall, and conducted in front of the town-house, es-
corted by the Landjmgers, and accompanied by two
priests, the Pezirksammann, his secretary, and, lastly,
the Pranger (executioner) wearing a red cloak, and his
assistant. He was in irons, and wore a shirt of a
coarse kind of cloth. He was exposed on the bench of
infamy adjoining the old building. Soon after the se-
cretary read aloud the sentence of urtbeil. One of the
priests next delivered the stand predigt, or place ser-
mon. It was a simple and touching exhortation, which the
assembled crowd listened to with deep emotion. The
Pezirksammann then delivered the prisoner over to the
Pranger, uttering the words :—" Executioner, I hand
you the criminal in order that justice be done ,and that
your sword avenge society." The condemned was then
removed from the pillory, and conducted to the place of
execution. The Pezirksammann and his secretary,
both wearing scarfs, opened the procession. Then came
Sigismund between the two priests, and surrounded by
A party of Landiners ; the march was closed by the
Pranger and his assistant, wno kept at a respectful dis-
tance. A crowd of men and women surrounded the
cortege, anxious, no doubt, to behold the sanguinary
sight, but uttering no cries nor abuse.
From the town-house to the fatal spot the distance
may he half a league ; we were above an hour on the
way. From time to time the clergymen gave wine to
the condemned, whose head, whitened by age, soared
above all other huads, though he bent it upon a crucifix
stuck into his fastened hands. We reached a pretty
little valley lined with wooded hills. Upon a green emi-
nence rose the scaffold, Sigismund, supported by his
confessor, ascended the fatal ladder, but did not ad-
dress the people. He was already half dead. After
kissing, for the last time, the image of our Saviour he
sat down on the block. The eminence was sur-
rounded by a detachment of Landjasgers. The
crowd bustled all about them, Upon the scaffold
the assistant-executioner was preparing the pa-
tient for his doom, fastening him, and drawing
the cowl over his face. Further on the executioner
himself had drawn the schwertt, or two-handed sabre,
from its scabbard, and was taking off his red cloak, and
turning up his shirt sleeves, to have his arms freer, and
give a surer blow. All was ready : a mournful silence
prevailed in the vast crowd, all eyes being fixed upon
the same awful object. The condemned's head was
raised and kept straight by his savage attendant ; the
Praeger seized his sword with both hands, and brought
it slowly but firmly towards the wretched man's neck.
A noise was heard similar to that of a saw severing a
bone, and Sigismund was no more ; not a minute had
elapsed between life and death.

If there was nothing peculiarly horrible in the exe-
cution the ensuing moment was awful. The head, from
which the blood gushed, was exhibited to the people.
The executioner cried out—" Justice is done." 'filen,
addressing the Pezirksammann, stationed at the foot. of
the scaffold, he said—" Have I done my duty to your
satisfaction ?" " Yes," replied the officer of justice.
The crowd then retired slowly, and as if ashamed of
having attended a human sacrifice upon the altar of
avenging society. Two days after I was informed of a
circumstance any thing but romantic. The Prangvr's
assistant was betrothed to his master's daughter. The
office of executioner was his sole ambition ; the him(' of
his beloved depended on his obtaining it. He wished
to win it by beheading Sigismund, and had most ear-
nestly solicited the favour. But the Pranger s reply
had been—" Wait, friend, for a younger head ; he is
too arduous a stroke for a beginner. To acquit one-
self of it with honour all my old experience is neces,
sary." The assistant had checked his amorous sighs.
He required the blood of a man killed by himself to
cement his marriage.

WOOLWICH-TUESDAY,

ROYAL ARTILLERY.
" General Order, Dee.

" Second Lieutenant Burrell is transferred from Cap-
tain Rowland's company, the 9th battalion, to Major
Wood's company, the Bth battalion. By (rider of the
Master-General.
H, D. ROSS, Colonel, Deputy Adj.-General."
Captai❑ Kendall's company, the 4th bat:Aalion, com-
menced a course of laboratory instructions .on Monday,
the 28th inst. _ _

" General Order, Dec. 2)6.

Th. Master-General has been pleased to a auction
an exchange of companies between Captako. J. It.
Hornsby, the lst battalion, and Captain H.. *Stanway,
the 3d battalion."
ROYAL ARSENAL.
The Marlborough boy arrived on ti Londay from
Chatham with a cargo of 18-pounder guns, and re-
loaded the same day with two 68„ and six 3.2-pounder
guns, fur the Iri,h frigate of 26 guns, rvcently commis-
sioned at Chatham.
The Little Ben ,arrived yestc rda',. from Chatham
with twelve 18-pounder guns, and., cases and stores for
the Tower. She will b© employed to-morrow in con-
veying the detachment of the Rs iyal Artillery, whose
turn it is to relieve the detne;:tnerft at Putfleet.
The Mary Ann conveyed yesueri. 'ay 1,200 24-pounder
shot to a vessel in the East India Docks loading for
Bengal.
An inquest was held this lorenoot before Mr. C. J.
Carttar and a respectable jury,
at the k Salutation Tavern,
Beresford-square, on the bodies of soya.
n convicts,n-imed
James Smith, Joseph Edwards, James Bachelor., John
Beach, John Hollingworth, Thomas j 'alln@r, wad Jo-
seph Branch. The jury, after being s-w.orn, proceeded
to the deadhouse in the Royal Aracna And c xamitied
the bodies, and on their return agreed ; `.O a ',verdict of
"Died by the visitation of God, of fever."

Last week a servant girl in this for pri went to a
fortune-teller, who predicted that she w(
,uid bt hanged
The prediction took such an effect upon F that went
raving mad, and was taken to the Li. natic Asyh'un.—
Cheltenham Free Press.

FRANCE.

(From the Paris Papers of Monday.)
The King held a Council of Ministers yesterday nf•
:ernoon at the Tuileries.

There will be grand receptions at the Tuileries of
ladies and gentlemen on the evenings of the 3d and sth
of January, on occasion of the new year.
" A despatch from M. de Nesselrode to M. de Pah-
len," says the Courricr Francais, " has been communi-
cated as a matter of private favour (oilicicuscmcnt) to
M. Guizot. It is said to be very friendly to France ;
but what is more significative than the tone of the de-
spatch is the communication which has been made of
this document to the French Cabinet. It is now more
than twelve years since the two Governments havo ex-
changed such evident. preliminaries of conciliation. M.
Guizot considers this as a success, and is very proud of
it. These advances make a diversion from the unpica-
sant feelings which are caused him by the increasing
pretensions of Lord Palmerston. We recommend him,
however, not to trust too much to the deceitful exte-
rior of Moscovite diplomacy. It has taken in Ministers
more adroit titan himself."
rho Council. General of the Bank of Franca has de-
clared a dividend of 69f. a share for the second half-
year of 1840, which will come into payment on the 2d
of January.
The Gratuitous Medical Lying-in Society, under the
patronage of the Queen, held its annual meeting at
the Hotel de Ville a few days since. A Report for the
year was read, from which it appeared that the number
of accouchements effected by the medical men of the
society during the year ending December 15 had been
371, and that not a single death of a mother had oc-
curred in any of these cases. The number of still-born
children was only 2 per cent., and the pecuniary assist-
ance, independent of medicines, clothing, &c., to the
value of 10f. to each woman, was only 23f. on the
general average.
The amount of the general list of subscription for
the sufferers by the inundations, published up to this
time, is 60.2,1981.

The number of persons who ',jolted the Church of
the Invalides yesterday was 115,000. During the nino
preceding days the number of visitors amounted to
more than 870,000 ; so that, during the time the church
has remained open, nearly a million of people have
been to sec the catafalque over Napoleon's remains.
We find the following in a Marseilles paper :
" Some days ago an inhabitant of Aix left his house,
taking care that a notice should be subsequently deli-
vered to his wife that she would never see him again.
His family, supposing that he intended to commit sui-
cide, had minute searches made in every probable place,
and, as they had relations at Puyrieard, extended their
inquiries so far. A farming man, working in the fields
near that place, informed them that he had seen a per-
son go down into the well be pointed out. There they
immediately hastened, and, calling down, were an-
swered by a voice perfectly unknown to them, declaring
a determined resolution on the part of the person to
drown himself, and, in fact, when ropes and ladders
were procured, they drew out the lifeless body of a
stranger. In his pockets were found two bills of ex-
change for considerable sums, with his name upon them,
without any address, and '2oof. in silver. Accounts
were next day received from Nismes, that'the Aix fugi-
tive was there safe and well, and bad no idea of making
away with himself."

The Governor of Guadeloupe, by decrees dated the
3d August and 7th September of this year, has libe-
rated 118 slaves; and the Governor of. French Guiana,
by decrees of the 25th May and 20th July, has libe-
rated 25 slaves ; men, women, and children being in-
cluded in each case.

The Debals says—" The Bill respecting literary pro-
perty, which was passed last year by the Chamber of
I'cers, after a discussion in which M. Villemain de-
fended the cause of literature with so much talent, will
he immediately presented to the Chamber of Deputies.
The Members of the Dramatic Committee have just
had an interview with the Minister of Public Instruc-
tion, who listened to their observations with the interest
which they had a right to expect from his enlightened
zeal in behalf of literature."

Extract of a letter from Naples, 17th inst. :—" The
King came from Caserta last week to review the troops,
and, at the same time, gave directions for the summer
palace of Chiatamone to be prepared for his sister, the
Queen Dowager of Spain. Don Sebastian, on hearing
of her Majesty's intended visit, told the King that,
under such circumstances, he should retire to Rome.
His Majesty replied, with his usual kindness, There
can be no necessity for that, 1 should think, as it appears
to ire that Queen Christina is much in the same cate-
gory as yourself on account of the recent changes in
Spain.' The anger of the Carlists has been raised here
at the very idea of a son of the King of the French be-
coming. a rival of Don Carlos' son for the hand of Isa-
bella 11. We are crowded with visitors, and there seems
every appearance of a brilliant carnival."
The Frankfort Post Gazette publishes a decree of
the Germanic Diet, against workmen who form parts
of unlawful coalitions and pri•ate associations in any
of the States of the Germanic Confederation. Accord-
ing to the provisions of this decree, any workman con-
victed of such an offence is, after having undergone the

punishment to which he may be sentenced, to be ex-
pelled from the State in which the offence has been
committed, if not a subject of it, and shall be forbidden
to rc•enter that State without special permission. He
is also to be subjected to strict surveillance of the
police in his own State ; and lists of the workmen con-
demned in any State are to be communicated to all
the others, in order that due precautions against them
may be adopted.
The Frankfort papers mention that in the sitting of
the States of Hesse Cassel, on the 18th inst., a bill for
granting 782,478 florins of extra-credits for the war-
budget was rejected. and that all the financial measures
proposed by the Minister of the Interior were also
thrown out. Several other measures, brought forward
by the Government, had been so much modified that
the Commissioners withdrew them. On the 22il the
Commissioner from the Germanic Diet read to the
States a rescript from the Prince Co-Regent, from
which it resulted that his Royal Highness, in consc-
queace of the refusal of the States to vote the bills
above-mentioned, had determined on making good the
difference out of the revenues of the domain, and the
excess of the receipts in the finance department, in order
that he might meet the extra expenses imposed on him
as a member of the Germanic Diet.

CHAMBER OF DEPUTIES.--SITTING OF Dttc. 26.
The President took the Chair at two o'clock.
M. Tcste, Minister of Public Works, presented a
bill for a credit of 1,978,000 f., for buildings for normal
schools, and authorising the University to alienate a capi-
tal representing a rente of 60,7081„ for the same object,
also a bill for a credit of 60,0001., for the library of the
Arsenal.

The order of Om day was the adjourned discussion
on the Factory Bill.
Art. 3. All labour between nine in the evening and
five in the morning is to be considered night-labour.
All night-labour is forbidden for children under 13
years of age.
If the nature of the occupation, the non-working of
the steam-engine, or urgent repairs, should render it
necessary to employ children above 13 years of age in
night-labour, the duration of it shall be calculated that
two hours of night-labour shall count as three during
the day.
This article was put to the vote, and adopted.
Art 4. Children above sixteen years of age shall not
be employed on Sundays, and legal fete days.
M. Luneau proposed an amendment, authorising the
children of Jews to abstain from work on Saturdays, and
to work on Sundays.
The Minister of Justice strenuously opposed the
amendment. He said the number of Jews in France was
only 300,000, and the Chamber could not for such a
minority, consent to the desecration of the Christian
Sabbath.

M. Portalis supported the amendment in the name of
religious liberty.
M. Pooh!, as an Israelite, would say that it would be
unjust to attack the conscientious scruples of 33,000,000
of persons in favour of 300,000. His co-religionists,
as it was, generally abstained from work on the Chris-
tian Sabbath.
The amendment was put to the vote, and rejected.
Art.:. No child under twelve years of age can be
admitted, unless its parents or guardians can prove
that it has gone to school up to the time when appli-
cation is made for employment.
Children above twelve years of age arc not required
to bring a certificate of attendance at school, if it can be
shown by a certificate from the Mayor that they have
received primary instruction. This article was adopted.
Art. 6, binding the authorities to deliver the neces-
sary certificates when applied for, was also adopted.
Art. 7, relative to the power of modifyin,g or explain-
ing the application of the law by local authorities, was
next proposed, but as several amendments were moved,
it was decided by the Chamber to send the article back
to the Committee with the proposed amendments for its
consideration.

The Chamber adjourned at Five o'Clock to Monday.

The will of the late Mr. Benjamin Blyth, sen.,
of the firm of Benjamin Blyth and Son, the celebrated
organ-builders to his late Majesty George 111., was proved
on Monday, the 21st inst., when his personal property was
sworn under 6,000 t, independent of his landed estates in
the Windsor and Sion manors. Mr. Blyth was an espe-
cial favourite of George 111., and his firm was not only
honoured by the distinguished patronage of the Royal
fondly during the three succeeding reigns, but several of
our first-rate cathedral organs have been furnished by them;
anal amongst them the celebrated organ destroyed by fire
in York Minster. His two sons, Dr. Blyth, Richmond,
Surrey, and Mr. James Blvth, of Idcworth, Middlesex,
residuary legatee, proved as executors.
The " time ball" on the Observatory at Green-
wich, which hitherto has marked a particular hour in the
day by its fall, is well known as an important regulator of
time, A Correspondent cons lairs that it has not been in
operation
since the 1-lth of November, and is anxious to
know the cause, since the frost or any mere accident aloes
net seem sufficient to-explain the cessation of an operation
of 110 much naval and mercantile importance.