The Sun.
London, England, 1840-10-09 00:00:00

boast of the Times during the contest that the law
had ruined Mr. CARLILE. In fact, it bears pecu-

liarly heavy on those offences which were charged
against the Dispatch ; but that did not satisfy the
vindictive Churchmen, and they also invoked a
heavy blow from public prejudice. Instead of appeal-
ing to the law, and being satisfied with its decision,
they set it aside, though they call themselves Con-
servatives, and inflicted a punishment which it
neither ordains nor warrants.

Under what pretext was this done ? " We have,"
said the Times, " ruined Mr. CARLILE ; shall we
not runish Mr. HARMER ? TOM PAINE was
forced to flee his country for an honest, even if a
mistaken expression of his opinion ; shall Mr.
HARMER, for the similar conduct of his Editor; be
allowed to fill the Civic Chair ?" Two blacker
spots in our modern history are hardly to be found
than the delibet le persecution of PAINE and CAR-
LILE for matters of opinion, at the command of
the priest party, and we saw them quoted, in
an intelligent journal, with sorrow and disgust,
to justify a similar though lesser persecution
of Mr. HARMER. His opponents, however,
inflicted on him all the injury that the humane
spirit of the age would allow them. They only ex-
cluded him from the civic chair. He may be
thankful that he did not aspire to the office of
Lord Mayor fifty years ago, or they would have
driven him into exile ; and still more thankful that
it was not two hundred years ago, or they would
have burned him alive.

In another part of The Sun appears an advertise-
meat of " a subscription for a public monument to
record the eminent services rendered to this country
by the late JOHN GEORGE LAMBTON, Earl of
Durham." We need not recommend the object of
that subscription to public attention. No politi-
cian in our day, for undeviating consistency and
inflexible integrity, has deserved better of the people
than the late Earl of DURHAM. Honour, it has
been remarked, is a cheap mode of rewarding ser-
vice. Kings well understand this maxim, and by a
few ribands, crosses, and stars, by garters and
titles, have gained over to their side the most emi-
nent of men. If the people then would be honestly
and well served, they Imust imitate this policy, and
allow no patriot to depart from amongst us
without commemorating his worth. It is
less indeed for Lord DURHAM, or his
friends and relations, who may nevertheless be
highly and honourably gratified by the respect paid
to his memory, than for the public advantage, and
the advantage of all future generations, that we
earnestly recommend all Reformers to subscribe to
this fund, and raise a noble monument to the late
Earl of DURHAM. Money so laid out will yield
an ample interest to our posterity. As yet we be-
lieve no public monument has been erected to
LocKE, the great teacher amongst us of toleration
and rational liberty, and had there been, we persuade
ourselves that the City of London would not now
have been disgraced by excluding a gentleman from
the Mayoralty on account of the religious opinions
of his journal.

The Correspondent of the Times, who writes
(apparently from London) letters descriptive of the
Ports of France, informed the readers of that
Journal yesterday that a naval officer, named
BLAVETTE, had invented a most destructive shot
Here is the account

" Port Louis, Morbihan, Sept. .29.
" You are aware that this place is about a league from
the port milit6ire of L'Orient, on the other side of the
river called the Blavet. On Saturday last I minutely
inspected the dockyard, an account of which I have
already sent you, but on arriving here to-day I learned
from an indubitable source—it is not necessary to say
that I saw with my own eyes, for that would compro-
mise people whom I do not wish to injure—that
for the las t two months the naval artillery
here have been practising on an immense construc-
tion of timber, which resembles in conformation
and shape a 74 line-of-battle ship, with a newly-
invented bullet, discovered by an old naval officer
cn retraite, named Blavette. The property of this
bullet or ball, fOr it may be made of all sizes, is,
when it meets with an opposing force, such as the
hull of a 74, to explode with terrific effect, shivering
vessels into pieces, and thus destroying at one " fell
swoop" lives and property to an immense amount.
At first the Minister of the Marine was doubtful of
the effect of this devastating and destructive projectile,
and accordingly ordered essays to be made of the force
and effect of this vaunted discovery. These trials have
been made by competent authority, and it is found to
succeed admirably, inflicting " cureless ruin" wherever it
lodges. The account of these essays was sent to Paris
pretty much about the epoch when the inventor, Ba-
vette, was on his way to Bordeaux on private business.
He was recalled instantly by telegraph, ordered to return
to the port of L'Orient, and workmen are now engaged
under his superintendence, or at all events by his direc-
tion, fabricating this deadly scourge."
Perhaps the effects of the shot resemble those
of SHRAPNELL'S shell more than our Content-

porary is aware of ; but he has become rather no-
torious of late for making mistakes about missiles

of war, and for endeavouring to terrify her MA-
JESTY'S subjects from devoting themselves to the
service of the country. I\l. BLAVETTE will, no
doubt be rendered illustrious hereafter by giving his
name to an instrument of destruction which, like
SII R A PNELL's shells, may, we trust, never be re-
quired. That civilized nations should by such
machines be able to protect themselves against the
aggressions of barbarians is most desirable, but they
can obtain no advantage, one over another, by any
such contrivances. England has SIIRAPNELL,
France BLAVETTE ; France has PAIXILANS,
England has CONGREVE ; and we have every rea-
son to believe, should the question be brought to a
practical issue, which we hope will not be the case,
that the English will be found at least as skilful in
using means of destruction as the French. These
two nations ought to stand in awe of each other,
for both possess the power to cause an immense
deal of mischief.

England, we suppose, yet possesses exclusively
that wonderful machine, or machines, which the
Times was at such pains to puff into notice a few
weeks ago, and which, we have been assured by two
Tory jouinals, the patriotic inventor has not sold to
France. It is not Captain BLAVETTE'S ball. With
that in reserve, we may defy the world. Why our
Contemporary has ceased to interest the public on
this subject requires some explanation. He is not
a man to give up a favourite object, as witness
his continued hostility to the New Poor-law, and
it is therefore desirable to know why he has left off
exalting the new contrivance for annihilating fleets
and armies. It is whispered that the Times is
now convinced that it has been deceived. It has
found out that the man who was to control
the lightning is akin to the philosopher
in " Rassellas," though he was merely disturbed
for the fate of the world, while the protege
of the Times seems dreadfully alarmed for
himself. As the Times has left off calling
for the impeachment of Lord MELBOURNE, on ac-
count of neglecting the person for whom a veteran
of 40 years' standing vouched, and does not im-
peach the persons by whom it appears to have been
deceived, the public begins to impeach the Times.
We hear it said in many quarters that the Times
has been for weeks convinced that it had been hum-
bugged, but though it imposed on the public it has
never had the manliness to retract its error. We
have been requested by several parties to inquire of
the Times why it does not either carry out the work
of impeaching Lord MELBOURNE, of which it talked,
or admit that it had unknowingly been made the
means of deceiving the public. A powerful Journal,
which has excluded HARMER from the Mayoralty,