The Sun.
London, England, 1840-05-11 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY, MAY 11, 1 MO.

LAMBETH MUTUAL INSTRUC

TION SOCIETY.

On Friday evening, the Ist of May, the first gene-
ral 9,uarterly meeting of the members of this Society
(intended as preliminary to the establishment of a
Mechanics' Institution) was held at their Rooms,
North-street, near the: Stags. The meeting was con-
vened for the purptso of laying before the members a
report of the first quarter's operation:, and of electing
a committee and officers for the ensuing quarter.
The report, which was read by the Secretary, en-
tered into a detail of the difficulties attending the esta-
blishment of the institution—difficulties which happily
were in a fair way of disappearing before the zeal and
perseverance which characterised the proceedings of its
most prominent supporters. A main obstacle arose
from pursuing the primary wish of the Society to be, as
far as possible, an independent one—one, the manage-
ment of whose affairs should in conducted on the
broadest principle of self-government.
Another special desire of the Society was to keep
the subscription at the lowest possible amount, so as to
admit, in reality, not in name only, the mechanic and
artizan, who wore actually excluded from membership
at the principal institutions of the metropolis, from the
amount of subscriptions required. Thus 2s. had been
determined on as the quarterly sum for enjoying the ad-
vantages of a weekly lecture of acknowledged talent ;
a weekly meeting for the discussion of important ques-
tions connected with the study of the " Ph)sical
Sciences" and " Man ;" ❑nd a liberal supply of literary
and scientific works, for the use of the members at home.
The Committee, while thus distinctly avowing their
intention to act independently of sinister influence, and
in accordance with the wishes of the body by whom
they were elected, were proud to acknowledge the un-
conlitional assistance, in donations, loans, lectures, and
other valuable services of many well-wishers ; and now
call on all friends to moral and mental culture to come
forward with their assistance, either personal or pe-
cuniary.

The thanks of the Society could not be too warmly
expressed for the spontaneous services renlered by the
" public press."

'The late Committee were for the most part re-
elected, and an addition made to their numbers. New
msmbers were enrolled, and a syllabus of the next
quarter's lectures announced.

Arrangements were also announced, as in progress,
for the formation of Grammar and Mechanical Draw-
ing Classes, for the superintendence of which gentlemen
of known talent have offered their valuable services.

31. THIERS AND THE PROSPECTS

OF FRANCE.

(From the Morning Advertiser.)
History, whether ancient or modern, offers few emi-
nent men who transformed themselves so completely as
M. Thiers has done. The Thiers of 1840 bears no re-
semblance at all to the profligate, spiteful, and fiendish
foe to liberty, virtue, and honesty who appeared on the
political scene from 1880 to 1837. The Thiers of to-
(ley is a highly-accomplished gentleman, distinguished
for the decorum and unassuming gravity of his manners
no less than for his uncommon sagacity and superior
abilities. Yet the extraordinary change that has taken
place in M. Thiers has hardly been remarked, and not
at all appreciated ; for, newspapers, instead of applaud-
ing his debut in the Chamber of Deputies, as President
of the Council of Ministers, have rather ridiculed it as
bordering on humility,and being an attempt of conscious
weakness to conciliate ail parties. As for me, I saw
quite the contrary ; I saw in that pretended humility
the dignified forbearance of a subject who had vanquished
his King ; who had humbled the descendant of the
oldest and noblest family in Europe ; who had placed
his plebeian foot on the royal neck of the heir of 67
Sovereigns. M. Thiers aims at greater importance
than political writers are at present aware of.
M. Thiers is about forty-two years old ; he wears
spectacles, and his voice is weak and disagreeably shrill.
His frame is rather slender ; and, as he is very short and
adorned with an aldermanic paunch, he looks as funny
as the little merry Chinese figures who are exhibited at
grocer's shops. He was born in Provence, of very poor
and obscure parents ; he nevertheless received a good
classical education. When lie was at school he was re-
markable for his quickness and diligence, so that the
little ill-looking ragamuffin was always the best of his
class. At the age of 24 he went to try his foi tune at
Paris ; it was in 1822, At that time the celebrated
Manuel had been 'expelled from the Chamber of Depu-
ties, for having said that France disliked the Bourbons,
and had seen their return with repugnancy. M. Thiers
applied to that gentleman for his protection. As he
was already possessed of great information and dis-
played an uncommon wit in abusing the Bourbons and
kingly power, M. Manuel introduced him to his inti-
mate friend Lafitte. M. Lafitte did not confine
his generosity to the mere circumstance of giving good
dinners to the young men whom he protected ; his
purse was also at their service. Therefore, M. Thiers's
fortune began to be in a fair way from that time. In
fact, through the powerful influence of Manuel and
Lafitte he was admitted as a writer in the Constitution-
nel. Not long after he became acquainted with a ra-
ther singular German bookseller, called Schubert.
That M. Schubert, whose information was so exten-
sive, that he knew the title of almost all the books in
existence, was so captivated by M. Thicrs's wit and
Radicalism, that he made himself his secretary, and
collected all the materials for the " History of the
French Revolution." That was not all ; as a share in the
Constilutionnel was to be sold, the excellent Schubert
hurried to Stuttgard to solicit Baron Cotta, the eminent
bookseller there, to supply M. Tillers with the necessary
funds to hay that share. The beneficent Baron Cotta
granted the favour ; and M. Thiers became one of the
proprietors of the Constitutionnel. But as that news-
paper was the best in Europe, since its circulation was
no less than 25,000 copies a day, and the editors were
anxious not to displease their numerous readers, the
virulent attacks of M. 'Thiers against the Bourbons and
monarchy, were sometimes rejected. The good M.
Schubert thinking that the rejected articles of M.
Thiers were a great loss for the world, conceived the
bold design of establishing a newspaper for M. Thiers
alone ; and for that purpose he again proceeded to
Stuttgard, and obtained from Baron Cotta the money
requisite for establishing the National, at the head of
which M. Thiers was placed.

The readers of the Morning Advertiser must be
anxious to know what became of the excellent M. Schu-
hart. Alas ! in 1834, when M. 'Tiers was on the
summit of power, and was so reckless of the money of
the French nation, the poor German bookseller fell into
such appaling distress that he lost his reason, and died
in the most cruel agony. EIDON.

A. CURIOUS CASE FOR DOCTORS

OF THE CIVIL LAW,

Nothing can be more obvious than the propriety of
an immediate passage by the Legislature of the Bill
for the relief of the Frosts. The case is one that admits
of no doubt, for whatever may be the guilt of one of the
parties, that party has been already sufficiently.
punished. Common humanity demands legislative in-
terposition, and without further delay.
To state the story is brief. A Mr. Shawl had be-
come so far committed in his attentions to Miss Willis,
that he found it difficult to withdraw with honour. To
cover his retreat, he brought up one Mr. Frost, whom
Miss IS tilts inveigled in her toils, with no better in-
ducemrnt originally thin the indulgence of a vanity
and love of admiration quite uncommon in her sex,
or, to say the least, seldom carried to such desperate
extremities. She accepted his hand in marriage, on
the promise of Shawl to appear at the time and place
appointed for the ceremony, and, like another Lechic-
var, carry her off from before the eyes of her affianced.
The time came, hut without Mr. Shawl, and in the
confusion and alarm of the moment, Miss Willis was
married before she knew it. 8., fiection speedily brought
remorse. The infatuated, guilty girl was horror-stricken,
and from that time to this has refused to recognize in
Mr. Frost the authority of a husband. Under these
circumstances, an application is made to the Legislature
for the severing of bonds which the law has tied, and
which common sense, commoh humanity, and common
morality require should forthwith be disunited. The
refinement of cruelty, that bound the living to the body
of the dead, was benevolence compared with that which
tics poor Mr. Frost to a spouse who is, to all intents
and purposes, to him at least, deceased.

This i 3 one of the cases that we need not reason and
refine about, or involve in the mists of legal and moral
subticies. It i; a matter st.mding by itself, probably
without a precedent on record, and in little danger of
being converted into a precedent. It is to be decided.
therefore, on its own merits, and every man's instinctive
impression, on its first presentation, would probably be
the correct one. Who is to derive any advantage from
the continuance of this miserable bondage ? Neither of
the parties, certainly. Mr. Frost is innocent in the
premises, being only the dupe of an artful woman—a
fault, we admit, but no hanging matter. It is hard,
surely, that he should be compelled to live as an un-
married husband, because he has been the victim of a
heartless and shameless fraud. With regard to Mrs.
Frost, she enjoys her single blessedness in spite of the
Legislature, and will probably continue to enjoy it, whe-
ther the Bill for her husband's relief should or should
not be passed. We cannot conceive of any benefit that
is to accrue to any one by refusing or delaying the prayer
of the petitioner. It is much more probable that so-
ciety will he outraged by individuals living in the rela-
tions which exist between these parties, than by any
repetition of similar experiments by future Misses Wil-
lis, in the event of Legislative interposition to cure the
consequences of her folly and wickedness....-New York
Paper,

The officers of the 2d Life Guards gave a splen-
did ball and supper at the Cavalry Barracks, Clcwer, on Tues-
day night, which was attended by upwards of six hundred of
the Nobility and Gentry of the neighbourhood, including the
Officers of the 2d Rifle Brigala, and of the 14th Light Dra-
goons from Hounslow, the invitations being confined almost ex-
clusively to the neighbourhood.

PARISIAN SKETCHES.

THE FRENCH NEWSPAPER SUBSCRIBER.
There is portrait which naturally places itself facing
that of the newspaper : it is the portrait of the " sub-
scriber." 'fire newspaper and " subscriber" mutually
complete themselves without newspapers there are no
" subscribers," and without " subscribers" no news-
papers. There exist, no doubt, certain prints to whom
the " subscriber" is an ideal being, a chimera, such as
gold is in the lyric verse of M. Scribe ; hut we do not
include those privileged journals in our sketches. They
live upon mysterious resources, with which the news-
paper, such as we understand it, has, thank God ! never
had anything to do.
Our high and mighty Lord, the " subscriber," is a
real Baron of the most splendid feudal times, exercis-
ing supreme justice, pronouncing in first and last resort.
We have called the press the fourth power of the State.
The " subscriber," who has the right of life and death
over it. is therefore placed above it. Do you know of
a more magnificent station ?
Behold the arrival of the first" subscriber" at the office
of the newspaper which has just come to life, and whose
books are as yet empty, How bright the reception
given to him ! Hors handsome he is, how noble is his
mien ! How sweet is the voice, how gracious the words
of him who comes the first to sympathise with the new
champion of publicity. and interest himself in his fate !
How sonorous and distingue is the fist name inscribed
upon those blank pages, hitherto melancholy and barren
like a field covered with snow! The first " subscriber"
is the foundation-stone whereupon all the rest group
themselves to form the edifice. The pyramids of Egypt
commenced by a first stone.
The " subscriber," such as he exists among us, is un-
known to our old rival beyond the Channel. The English
newspaper offices, with rare exceptions, do not take upon
themselves to forward their daily sheets to their respec-
tive addresses at a certain price monthly or annually
paid. If you wish to receive a newspaper without taking
the daily trouble of going or sending for it you have re-
course to a class of retailers or brokers, who are very
numerous in London, and act as intermediate agents
between the public and the newspaper. They have
a set of customers for whom they daily buy a propor-
tionate number of copies of each newspaper, upon
which they find their profit. It is they who distribute
them at th© various dwellings, and convey them to the
post-office. This vender has often several readers to
supply with one copy only. Each of them is to enjoy it
one or two hours, more or less. The vender, who must,
above all, be gifted with indefatigable activity, is obliged
to run from one to the other, to stimulate the slow
reader who is still bewildered in the immense columns of
the Times or illorning Post, in order to satisfy the im-
patience of the habitue who comes next, and claims his
turn. God knows what reception the unfortunate news-
man meets with when he interrupts the unfinished read-
ing of some interesting report of a public meeting or of
some memorable horse race ! Not less is his woe when,
perspiring and panting, he reaches the unaccommodating
humourist who has waited an hour for him and his journal.
The painters of Britannic manners have oft dwelt upon
the miseries of the newspaper retailers.
To return to the " subscriber," such as he is known
to us, we must first introduce you to the Parisian " sub-
scriber," for two grand divisions are to be noted—the
" subscriber" of Paris and the " subscriber" of the pro-
vinces. Among the varied shapes in which the " sub-
scriber" presents himself, we must select one, to render
him visible and palpable to you.
Be pleased to enter that mansion of the Faubourg St.
Germain, or that elegant dwelling of the Chausse d'Antin.
Ascend to the first floor. The " subscriber" who has
just risen, enjoys the soft elasticity of one of those arm-
chairs, a la Voltaire, which, if invented by or for the
author of Candide, entitle him, far more than his
philosophy, to the gratitude of posterity. Enveloped
in the wadded folds of his robe de chantbre, the
" subscriber" removes, with some satisfaction, the bands
of paper encircling the journal fresh from the press.
Those bands which bear his name and address printed
at full length establish a sort of direct and personal link
between him and the print which he honours with his
confidence. The Paris " subscriber" has the advantage
of not dreading the bad roads which delay the mail's
arrival. The carrier proceeds always at the same pace
in spite of ail weather. Even seizure, the ferocious
seizure, is unable to deprive the Parisian " subscriber"
of his morning treat. The police Commissary, despite
of his natural diligence, and of the stimulants of the
Government law-officers, has not yet found means of
getting the start of the distribution in Paris ; but he
may expect anything from the realization of the pro-
mise of glorious July.
Nevertheless, fancy not that the " subscriber" of the
capital is sheltered from tribulations, in the exercise of
the right of subscription which belongs to all French-
men, without distinction of sex or age, and which is
worth, at the least, the right of mounting guard. These
tribulations derive their source from the lodge of the
Suisse Concierge, or porter, call as you please that do-
mestic despot, gaoler, and almost always scourge of
Parisian life. The Concierge is in general passionately
fond of newspapers ; it is one of his privileges to read
them before any body else ; but as, the oftener, the
Concierge does not read quick, it follows that the news-
paper makes a much longer stay in the lodge than suits
the "subscriber." Fortunate it is when the newspaper,
which has been tortured back into its bands, does not
exhibit in its pages, stained like the livery' of a Carbo-
naro converted into a Court sycophant, evidence of that
unstipulated subscription.
Next are to be recorded the mistakes whereby,
among eight or ten newspapers promiscuou ly dropped
at the lodge, the " subscriber" to the Debate is treated
to a Quotidienne or National, and the Tuileries cour-
tier, who rises panting for the august speeches of a
great personage or the affecting details of a Royal jour-
ney, is sickened with a Number of the Charivari or
Mode. Chance, or its minister the Concierge, often
plays pranks of this sort much better than behoves
them, and certain blunders of this kind have quite the
look of epigrams.
But it is in the provinces, in the country, in the depth
of winter, that the " subscriber" must be observed, in
order to form a complete notion of the inestimable value
of a newspaper to the existence of man. The Paris
" subscriber" has within his reach a multitude of news-
papers besides his own in the Cabinets de Lechere and
the public gardens. The world and the theatre—
saloons, supply him always with abundant newsmongcrs,
and political and literary articles. But his newspaper
alone connects the country " subscriber" with the world,
literature, and politics. The newspaper's arrival is a
quotidian event which divides the day as a meal or any
other habit does. It is the newspaper that supplies the
dinner conversation and animates evening when the
rain beats upon the windows, when the walk and rural
occupations are impossible, when the intrepid country
neighbours—they who will walk six miles for a rubber
of whist—venture not out of doors, the newspaper is a
visitor, a living being, the only one that can be expected.
W hat anxiety, what ennui, what disappointment the "sub-
scriber" feels when the newspaper is not forthcoming ! Is
it the Post-office who is to be accused, or the unfortu-
nate rural postman too much addicted to the village
cabaret ? The "subscriber" looks at the number of the
(lay before, and consults his almanuck. There is no grand
Me, no solemn notification that " our office being
closed to-morrow, the newspaper will not appear the day
after to morrow." Have momentous events convulsed
Paris and France ? In our times of universal suffrage
and mistakeable stability, anything may be apprehended.
'fire " subscriber" is in a fever. He exhausts his wits in
conjectures, sends twenty times to the village. In vain T.
He must wait till to-morrow to learn the prices of stocks,
the conclusion of a telegraph despatch interrupted by an
untoward fog, or the issue of a memorable trial. The day
will be an empty one, and the evening so tedious that the
" subscriber" in despair will betake himself to his bed.
Next day the " subscriber" will learn that Paris and
France are not convulsed, at least not this time. The
newspaper has, however, not fared so well ; it has been
seized for having said, for instance, that bread is dear,
and that bullets suited to a musket barrel are not food
better suited to the human mouth than earth mingled
with pebbles, as so philanthropically recommended by the
official Moniteur Parisien. Two months afterwards,
perhaps, the newspaper will be proclaimed not guilty ;
the " subscriber" will recover his copy two months old ;
but he will have no compensation for ins alarm ; ennui
and fever, and the newspaper will not, be indemnified for
,
his uncharitable wishes to it, when in the first moment of
his disappointment he may
have imputed forgetfulness or
negligence to the unhappy victim of the touchiness of a
magistrate.
The" subscriber,"especially he of tire provinces, insulated
as we just represented him, reads his newspaper with
extreme seriousness from the first to the last line. In
general, before he enters upon the grand political arti-
cles or feud/clan, he goes right to the Paris facts, which
are soon read and easily digested. The telegraphic
despatches have alone the precedence over tire Paris
facts. The "subscriber" first lays on his stomach three in-
undations, four robberies, a murder, two fires, and seve-
ral accidents and phenomena. Certain newspapers,
aware of the decided penchant of their " subscriber" for
this sort of facts, will take strange liberties. They know,
likewise, that the public is gifted with a credulous good
nature, which in
politics go so far as to believe in
the virtues of citizen kings, universal prosperity, and
the austerity of the modern successors of Brutus.
Fe: this public bed of fossile oysters arise, aerobate
frogs dance the gavotte, monster cabbages supply with
one leaf food for a fleck of sheep. the old wrecks of
the Imperial Guard return from Siberia to shake hands
with M. Beranger, and the great sea serpent under-
takes those grand Voyages round the globe which are re•
"wed every five or six
is only in the interval between tire sessions that the good
" subscriber" is treated to these instructive occurrences. !
As beg as the national representatives occupy the
scene and
paper, the dancing
and singing frogs are
motionless and silent, and the fossil oysters and sea-
snakes betake themselves to tine bottom of the ocean till
wanted again. Through a remarkable attention of good
dame Nature, the Close of the parliamentary drama, acrd
eclipse of M. Dupin, is the signal for the re-appear-
ance of all these wonders.
The whole press has not, however, the good luck of

trusting to this degree in the good-nature of its " sub-
scribers." We arc acquainted with newspapers whose
readers require more substantial food. Those journals,
on the other hand, di not traffic in opinions and words
wherein all is absorbed by, or disappears under an abject
speculation. The real " subscriber" is to his news•
paper, when that newspaper is itself, what it should
he, a connection whom neither years nor revolu-
tions estrange. The " subscriber" is accustomed
to find joy in his newspaper in prosperous days,
and common hopes or mourning in evil times. The
newspaper, on the other hand, is sure, in all circum-
stances, to see his well-known name re-appear at the
first appeal. Neither the " subscriber" nor the news-
paper has ever changed since the) have crossed events
together. They have ever been faithful to one another,
because they have ever been faithful to the convictions
of their whole lives. To a newspaper, such as we hers
understand it, the "subscriber" is not a marketable article;
he is an adviser, a brother in faith, and a friend--By
31. T. filuret.