The Sun.
London, England, 1841-11-23 00:00:00

( r ( -reel •
THE SVNTUESDAY~
~ LONDON, TUESDAY~, NOIrEIV:i.BER 23, 1841.

THE FRENCH NAVY.

The Constitutionneloo an article on what it calls the
dislocation of the French navy and the discharge of a
portion of the crews, gives some details of the way in
which seamen are raised, which may be new to some of
our readers. It informs us that in the year 1681, when
tile number of seamen employed in the commerce of all
countries was 20,000, of whom only five to six hundred
haled under the French flag, an ordonnance was issued,
declaring every man, who should have embraced the
profession of a seaman, and been enrolled as such,
should, up to the age of fifty, be liable to be called upon
for the service of the State, and that this ordonnance,
sanctioned by subsequent legislation, is now in force,
and is applicable to all seamen whether engaged in the
merchant service, or the coasting or fishing trade, al-
though it has been so far modified in practice, that the
men, when taken for the Royal navy, are kept only for
a limited time ; and then dismissed with an understand-
ing that they will not be called up again, unless on an
emergency. It appears also that, when a seaman has
reached the age of forty years, he is no longer liable
to be called on to serve the State. The Constitutionel
considers that this law was absolutely necessary, and
that it must be in principle still enforced, and observes
that the English impress system is but another and
more brutal mode of manning the navy. But ou-
Contemporary suggests the propriety of further modifir
cations and ameliorations, with a view of rendering the
service less repugnant than it now is, and which ap-
pears to be so great that although the registers of the
seamen liable to serve in in France show a force 0f107,000,
the desire to evade, and the means of evading, the service
are such, that, according to the statement of Baron
Tupinier, the Director of the Ports, there are only
.53,000 really available to the State, and the Constitu-
tionnel tells us that iu order to avoid this maritime con-
scription, not less than 12,000 of the best sailors of
France arc at this moment engaged in the merchant
service of other States. In addition to the regular supply
of seamen, there is in France a force called equipages
de ligne, which is composed of men taken out of the
conscriptions for the laud. The men thus raised and sent
to sea become, says the Constitzitionnel, good sailors,
and it recommends that this source of supply should be
carried out to a greater extent. The system of volun.
tary enrolment is not one which our Contemporary sets
much value on, for it informs us that M. Lange, a
naval commissioner who was sent to England by
Admiral Duperre, to study the system of maritime
recruiting, has returned with a conviction that it begins
to appear insufficient even in time of peace ; but it
may here be observed, that it is precisely in time of
peace that the difficulty of obtaining recruits for the
royal navy must be greatest, for it is then that seamen
are able to find employment in the mercantile navy,
frequently at a higher rate of wages, and always with a
degree of liberty which they cannot have on board the
ships of the State. A time of peace, when a sailor can
obtain employment in the merchant service, with liberty
to change from master to master until he finds a berth
to his mind, instead of entering on board a Government
ship, where he Must serve for a certain length of time,
and without the faculty of change, is not the most fa.
vourable for voluntary enrolment. In time of war,
when an immense number of merchant seamen must
necessarily be thrown out of bread, they must enter
into the royal navy or starve.

REGULATIGNS OF THE COLLEGE

OF SURGEONS.

(From the Medical Gazette.)
The Ccuncil of the Royal College of Surgeons has
shown some judgment in the new regulations which
have recently been put forth. They appear to us to
be part of a system which is not yet fully developed, but
which we incline to think will be very advantageous to
the profession and the public, if fait ly carried out.
The amended regulations hare added six months to
the study of the practice of physic in a recognised hos-
pital, making it in all twelve months, but the practice of
physic and that of surgery may new be followed at the
same time, instead of separately, as formerly ; so that
two objects are gained—aa augmentation of study,
and a diminution of the time of attendance. The first
year, it may be presumed, will be occupied by most
students in the laboratory of an hospital or dispensary,
or in that of a private practitioner, and the three re-
maining years at a public hospital and school which has
been recognised by the Council as competent for the
purposes of instruction. A vacation of three months
is allowed in each year, and as the period for the lec-
tures on anatomy is fixed to be from October to May,
the principal part of each annual session must of course
be during that season. The time allotted for positive
study is twenty-seven months, but by the regulations
they cannot be consecutive. We have reason to believe
that the diminution of the term preseribei by the re-
gulations of the 20th of August, 1839. has taken
place to meet the wishes of the Edinburgh College of
Surgeons, and with the view of equalizing the code
of regulations for the three Royal Colleges. A slight
increase of hospital study in Edinburgh will now ef-
fi‘ct this object between, the London and Edinburgh
Colleges.

The increase of the study of the practice of physic
has taken place, we understand, in consequence of the
conferences which were held between the Colleges of
Physicians and Surgeons, and the Society of Apotheca-
rie, in the spring of this year; and, we apprehend,
with the view of so arranging ,the system of education,
that a member of the College of Surgeons wish-
ing to praAise as an apothecary, 'May- undergo
his examination in pharmacy, and ;stick' points as
relate to general practice, by the Society of Apothe-
caries, without reference to the course of study pre-
scribed by them, and without having been an ap-
prentice. The two examinations form one whole ; the
one faculty system being divided into two or more parts
between the existing constituted bodies, neither inter-
fering with the other. We do not precisely know
whether this was the real object of the parties, but it
is quite evident thst the Apothecaries' Act would pre-
vent its consummation, unless repealed, or its offensive
clauses were removed ; and we hope, for the character
and honour of all the parties concerned, that one or
other will be done.

The stringent enforcement which is announced, of
the registration of students in London at the College,
and by their respective teachers in other places, three
times a year, will go far to prevent those false and
forged certificates under which many have attempted,
and some have obtained, the diploma of the College.
Interlineations, erasures, or alterations, now render a
certificate inadmissible ; and we hope the Court of Ex-
aminers and their Secretary will strictly adhere to this
resolution. Nothing will, however, fully prevent the
evil, but a regular register of attendance kept at each
hospital and school ; and we trust the time is not far dis-
tant when this will be insisted upon every where. The
laxity which has taken place amongst teachers of late
has been, and is, very extraordinary with respect to the
accuracy of these certificates ; and the manner in
which some students have falsified them, and then de-
clared in the most solemn manner that they were true,
is more extraordinary still. We hear that the College
is instituting inquiries into several acts of this kind, and
we trust that the guilty will be punished in such a way
as will deter others from committing a like offence.
The list of the members for the current year (the
College year begins in August), contains, for the first
time, the date of each diploma, some of them so far
back as 1770, the owners of which, we suppose, are long
since dead ; but the Council, it appears, have no means
of ascertaining this fact, except by calling on the mem-
bers to register themselves annually at the College
during the months of May and June. No great num-
ber, it seems, have done this, as most of the old ad-
dresses have been omitted in the present list, and
those -which have found admission are few and far
between..r. Asti the Council have, however, an-
nounced ; atheir idtention to omit the names of
all Inember's,Wlth 'shall not have registered in 1842
and 1843, the list will, we have no doubt, soon be-
come sufficiently perfect. The professed object of the
Council is, to furnish the public judges, magistrates,
clerks of the peace, boards of guardians, &c., with a
correct list of qualified surgeons ; and it is so desirable
for the bulk of the profession that such a list should
exist, that we hope the wishes of the Council will be
aided by all the members to the best of their ability.
Mr. Warburton proposed in his bill to tax each mem-
ber by Act of Parliament, and to make places for a re-
gistrar, clerks, &c. ; the Council of the College of Sur-
geons offers to do it for nothing. Independently of
the present list, containing the names of several hun-
dreds, perhaps thousands, who are dead, the
new list will do away with a great evil which prevails in
many places, and in Ireland in particular—viz., the
practice of erasing the name and date from the diploma
of a man who is dead, and inserting that of the person
who wishes to appear to be a member of the College.
Tae Council, it is true, by its late announcement de-
claring all diplomas to be spurious or forged in which
alterations or erasures exist, have struck forcibly at
this evil ; but nothing can be so effectual a protection to
the public and the profession as a correct list published
annually of all qualified surgeons—a list which any-
one may purchase for Is.

When we compare the present regulations for the
Museum and Library with those which formerly ex-
isted, we perceive a great change to the better. The
Museum may be said to be open to the public on four
days of the week, instead of three, as formerly ; it is no
longer a private, but a great public institution. The
disabilities under which the members laboured with
regard to it and to the Library, have been removed,
and a member of the Council possesses no privilege be-
yond the members of the College generally, except that
of electing into the Council.

The efforts which the Council have made with the
Poor-law Commissioners and the Government, to secure
the employment in all public situations of qualified per-
sons, do them great credit ; and they may rely upon it,
that as long as they continue to act for the advantage
of the public and of the profession only, they will meet
with the support of both.

The Manchester Courier, in noticing a fire at
Runcorn, states that there is not a single lire-engine in
the town or neighbourhood, although there the popula-
tion is 8,000, and the place contains a vast amount of
ship-building property.

LEGALISED MURDER:
" Can such things be?"
Aye ! can such things be? and in 'the nineteenth
century, too, that the enlightened people of this country
should not only sanction a law which dooms a fellow-
creature to death, but congregate in thousands to wit-
ness his execution on the scaffold ? It is true that such
is the fact—it is true that a miserable wretch who had
been guilty, in a moment of maddened fury, of an enor-
mous crime, was doomed, according to law, to die the
death—it is true, that he was " hanged by the neck
until he was dead"—it is true, that there were thou-
sands present, men and women, to witness the clenched
hand, the convulsed limb, the blackened face, and the
heaving chest of the dying victim of an unwise, and
worse than an Ashantee barbarian law—nay, it is true,
that the last words that reached the ears of the " con-
demned," were either yells of execration, or sounds of
delight at the human butchery about to take place ;
last, and worst of all, a portion of the press of the
United Kingdom, has been found to defend the practice
of extinguishing a life, which God had given, and which
no man has a right to take away. .
The crime for which Blakesley has suffered thelast
extremity of a barbarous law -is indefensible, so far as
punishment is concerned, both in -law and-ire
,equity,
towards every member of sdelety ;1 but that any man
or any body of men have a right to deprive a human
being of existence, we utterly
,deny. We take up a
new position upon this subject, and we urge as an
argument that the very fact of the miserable wretch
having fallen a victim to the barbarous law of his coun-
try, is a proof that murder is the greatest of crimes.
He committed an unintentional murder, so far as the
murdered person was concerned, and both law and re-
Haien say " Theis Ali& do no murder ;" and yet by a
judicial process—a mere form of unnecessary proof—the
murder is legalised by the deprivation if the victim of
The,privateiadividual---the' subject of accusation
—stabs one of_his fellow creatures to death ; the act is
proved; the doom of death is pronounced; but in
order that the right of taking away life may not be with-
out its areniplar, the law by its practice must commit
another murder, and thereby -sanction that for which the
original murderer is doomed to death !
Horror of horrors ! Only think of a human being,
possessing many of the feelings of our common na-
ture, imprisoned, tortured by the presence of others,
and strung up, like a mad dog, for the amusenvnt of
ruffians, while his father, and mother, and relatives were
sitting in sackcloth and ashes—mourning his fate,
broken-hearted, thrilling with terror—the hopes of the
family blasted, and doomed to an unacquired
But we can go no further ; for the more we think of the
matter, the stronger is our disgust, anckhe greater our
abhorrecee of thepunishinent of death.
It is years ago since,in a journal which we trust will
be conducted in a manner toeommand the respect of
its readers, we advocated the abolition of punishment
by death ; and it is with insuppressible pleasure that we
find it maintain an honourable consistency upon the
subject. We allude to the Morning Advertiser, from
which we make the following extract :
" Our hostility to the infliction of the extreme penalty
is grounded on a firm persuasion that such punishments
arc at once barbarous, unjust, and inexpedient. Their
barbarity and injustice we have proved on repeated pre-
vious occasions—though their barbarity and inhumanity
stand not in need of any proof. Who can reflect on the
circumstance of a fellow-creature being hung up in the
public streets, and in the presence of thousands of the
mosi, depraved of mankind—for the bulk of the spec-
tators consist of persons of this character—and not
shudder at the thought. And anything at which
the mind of the better class of society thus instinc-
tively revolts, must be of an essentially barbarous
nature. But public executions are not only bar-
kirous, and the offspring and relicts of barbarous
ages, they outrage every feeling of decency ; for what
can be more indecent than ushering a rational and im-
mortal being into the presence of his Judge, from a pub-
lic scaffold, in the very centre of the city ? The law
does not allow an ox, or sheep, or pig, or any other ani-
mal, though without intelligence, and without a soul, to
be killed in the public streets, and yet it dooms human
beings to be slaughtered by the hands of a person spe-
cially appointed for the purpose, in the most centrical
locality in London, in the presence of tens of thousands
of individuals. On the abstract injustice of capital
punishments we do not now touch. We have, we
trust, made that sufficiently cle it on previous occasions.
When the advocates of these punishments undertake to
show us by what right, revealed or natural, legislatures
or governments arrogate to themselves the right of•tak-
ing, away the life which the great Creator alone could
and did confer:---vie shall be prepared to meet them,
and to demonstrate that no legislature or government,
either has or can have any such right. We shall then
find it no difficult task tp provethat they who claim for
themselves the right to deprive a fellow-creature of life,
do in effect seek to
Snatch from Heaven's hand the balance and the rod,
Usurp his rights, and be the God of God.'"
In these sentiments we cordially concur ; they breathe
the spirit of wisdom and humanity ; and although, for
the present, there is no hope of carrying them into
practical effect, we doubt not that the time is not far
distant when barbarism will give place to civilisation, and
legalised murder shall no longer be known in the land.
—British Queen.

ENGLAND BY A FRENCH ARTIST.
'The following representation of English manners is
made by a writer in the Quotidienne :
" Two things are much talked of concerning London,
the comeliness of the peop:e, and the cleanliness of the
streets. For my part I was struck with the ugliness of
the inhabitants, and the filth of the thoroughfares.
" I was told, again, of the beauty of the banks of the
Thames ; I found them very inferior to those of other
great European rivers ; scenery or landscape they have
none. It is only as a maritime and commercial river
that it can be looked upon indeed as marvellous.
" We are told, again, that the soil of England is
better cultivated than ours. This we may allow, but,
on the other hand, France possesses a deal more of pic-
turesque and graceful landscape and woodland scenery.
" The appearance of London is immense, rich, sump-
tuous ; be it so. But the aspect of Paris is elegant.
London is, in a commercial point of view, prodigious ;
but it is a mere bodge-podge of things that annoy one.
Paris is more complete, more finished. If the London
streets are wide, and of interminable length, the streets
of Paris have an air of majesty not to be found in those
of London. If London, from its wealth, is the first
city itt the world, Paris is the first from its intellectual
qualities. All that money can give or can procure you
will find in England ; not so in intellectual researches.
In London people not only wish to be rich, but to ap-
pear so ; in Paris we are less anxious for public admi-
ration; we are more modest, and our instincts are far
more refined. In London the mansion of a nobleman
or of a wealthy man is right upon the street, staring
you in the face, courting admiration ; in Paris it is hid-
den with care in a court and garden, and thus sheltered
from the prying eye of the public.
"If we acknowledge that the English are a busy
people, more stirring than the French, who are so fond
of lounging, we must add, that the English appear in
the walk as a heavy, calculating species. The French.
man, on the contrary, has a vivacious and inquisitive
look, animated by a cheerful heart. If an Englishman
meets a relation or an intimate friend, be assured that
he will not lose a moment, if he is on business, in ex-
changing a few words with him. The Frenchman, on
the contrary, will forget his most important affairs to
give himself up to the pleasures of chit-chat with his
friend. The two nations put me in mind of the fable of
the ' Hare and the Tortoise.
" The man who first compared England to a magni-
ficent steamboat, regular in its march, going and com-
ing, about its affairs, should coMpare France to a beau-
tiful sailing iesSel, often impeded in its coarse by con-
trary winds, but always noble, grand, and picturesque.
" It is said that the parks in London are superior to
our promenades. I do not absolutely deny that, but
the London parks haVe not the appearance that be-
longs to a 'great city—they are too rural. The little
river that flows in St. James's Park displeases me, for
it intercepts circulation; and the tame ducks that are on
its waters remind me of a farm, and lam inclined to
inquire for Clarissa Harlowe to feed them. Some will say
that Hyde Park is preferable to the Bois de Boulogne.
It is not so—or, if it is, place it to the account of the
Serpentine River, which flows through it to Kensing-
ton. And mark, that the English people, who pretend
to be so chaste and so modest, allow little blackguards of
all classes to bathe in the waters of this river, so that
a noble lady, or a delicate miss, may be sure of finding,
when she goes out to take a morning's walk, a naked
male population swimming in the river or running upon
its banks.
" Of a Sunday, you find in the parks itinerant
preachers, who gather round them groups, like Punch
in our Champs Elysees—sometimes a Wesleyan, some-
times a Lutheran, mount a chair or a tub, and very
often these sermons end in a general fight. All these
sacred orators are mere spouters without talent—they
will talk and talk for ever. Indeed, I have remarked
that there exists in England an intellectual malady,
which I should call a mania of being a speaker.
" The immorality of Paris is much talked of, parti-
cularly by the English ; but it is nothing compared to
that of London. Would you believe that in a country
where religious feeling is carried to austerity, where
the Sunday is so sanctified that the most innocent re-
creations are forbidden on that day, that debauchery
reigns triumphant, without restraint—wild, disgusting,
hideous. In Paris, vice seems to be accompanied by
remorse and shame—there, it is the result of misery, of
hunger, or of neglect ; in London, vice is vice for vice
sake, from a delectation that is felt in its enjoyment, and
may be looked upon as a sort of business among the
English. What odds to the disgusting features of de-
bauchery in London, is drunkenness.
" The English are not aware that the focus of in-
tellect is in Paris, and they fancy themselves original
when they are mere copyists. The English are too
proud, however, to lay hold of customs actually in
fashion with us, but they go and look for types and
figures in our former history. The British aristocracy
of the 19th century are a proof of my observation.
Like the aristocracy of Louis XIV. it is magnificent,
luxurious, and hypocritically religious ; and be assured
that it is because Louis XIV. danced in the ballets of
Fontainbleau that Queen Victoria sings at this day at
the concerts at Windsor. The English, therefore, have
no originality ; they have only manias."
This very amusing, and well-informed ! Frenchman,
promises on some future day a sketch of the domestic
manners, the ladies, the politics, and on the state of the
tender passion in England.
, A FEMALE IMPOSTOR.

Some. few years ago, a young and beautiful woman
made her appearance in the Iles d'Hyeres, and became
the attraction of all the gallants of the place, but con-
fined her favours to the veterinary-surgeon of a regi-
ment of horse-chasseurs, recently arrived from Africa,
and with whom she came to Paris, he being in charge
of Arabian horses sent by Abd-el-Kader as a present to
the King. She was then known by no other appella-
five than "La Belle Laure." Yesterday the same
being made her appearance before the Correctional Tri-
bunal, still young and handsome, but meagre, pale, and
exhibiting all the traces of long distress or devouring
passions. She was brought there on the complaint of
a woman, named Dallichamp, and a journeyman boot-
maker, named Mahuret, who related the following story.
In March, 1839, the prisoner arrived at the Hotel des
Etats-Unis, by the diligence, under the name of Mme.
Dubost de Ligny, acd immediately wrote to Madame
Dallichamp, requesting a visit from her, and, on her re-
fusal to come, went to her apartment, and by talking
familiarly of several persons of Lyons known to Madame
Dallichamp, gained her confidence, and prevailed upon
her to receive her as an inmate, to furnish her with food
and clothing, and even money, though the poor woman
had no more than what she earned by making umbrellas
and parasols, a work she offered to teach her guest. Her
first story was that she had formed a too close intimacy
with a person at Lyons, named Dubost, an acquaintance
of her hostess, who was to come to Paris to marry her.
In course of time she changed her tone, and declared
that she was the daughter of the Count de Ligny, who
had from mercenary motives forced her to marry the
Count de Weracqui', who was 70 years of age : that
having committed herself with Dubost, she had fled
from Lyons, to avoid the vengeance of her husband and
father. This new tale only increased ber interest with
her dupe, and drew also into the snare the complainant
Mahuret. In the course of time the soli-disant Coun-
ters was delivered of a boy, who was sent to Montargis,
the two deluded people paying all expenses. This,
however, was not without hope of profit, for by way of
recompense the Countess gave them a written engage-
ment for ,10,000 f. She still kept up the cheat by re-
ceiving and writing almost daily letters, as from persons
of the highest distinction, the postages of which, to an
amount of 600 f., were paid by her victims. At length,
urged by their well-meaning instances, and probably
finding this source beginning to fail her, she went to
Aignan•le-Due, near Chatillon, under pretence of im-
ploring pardon of her offended relatives, but in truth
only to explore a new mine. Here, however, she failed,
and was taken up as a vagabond. At first, Madame
Dallichamp and Mahuret claimed her, and obtained her
discharge, paying all the costs. Soon afterwards, how-
ever, they became enlightened as to the real character
of their protegee, and placed her in the hands of justice
as a swindler, who hall defrauded them of more than
7,000 f. The enterprising lady, at the bearing, confi-
dently asserted her being the daughter of Count de
Ligny and the wife of the Count de. Weracque, and
that she had a right to assume the title of Countess
d'Aidemont—that all these branches of her family were
rich and powerful, but refused to tell where they or
their property were, from fear of the anger of her father.
The facts of the complaint, however, being' proved, the
triple Countess was condemned to imprisonmer4 for 13
months.—Galignani's Messenger.

UGHT