The Sun.
London, England, 1841-04-13 00:00:00

ARREST OF A SWINDLER IN

PARIS.

A person who is charged with having succeeded in
obtaining in London rather more than 2,0001. upon
forged bills, has been arrested. He is a Spaniard, a
handsome, gentlemanly man, between 30 and 40 years
of age. He went to London about six weeks ago, in
company with a highly respectable Englishman, to ne-
gociate the sale of a patent for a new steam-paddle, of
which a French nobleman is the inventor, and for the
experiments respecting which he is said to have ad-
vanced all the requisite funds, the patent in England
being :taken out in his own name. Not having
succeeded in the object for which the parties went
to London, the English gentleman left the Spaniar.i.
in London, and went into the icountry. It ap-
pears, that immediately after the departure of this
gent'e:nan the other party discounted these fore-ed
bills by means of a forged letter of introduc-
tion, and started immediately for France with his
plunder. He had not been hue long, however, before
bills announcing the fraud, and giving the numbers of
the notes which had been paid to him, were ,distri-
buted among the bankers and mcinii,tbangers. fev •
days ago be called upon a money changer in the Pa-
lais Royal,, and presented six hundred-pound Bank
of England notes for change into French money.
The bill announcing the robbery was banging in the-
shop, but Wore the mbiey changer could compare
the numbers tue other caught sight of it, and keine-
disltely grasping the notes, which he had laid on the
counter, ran out of the shop, and was out of sight
before the money changer could procure the means
of arresting him. He was afterwards taken at his
lodgings in the Rue Lepelletier. He denied being
the party charged with the fraud ; but it appears
that no doubt is entertained of his identity. Whe-
ther he can 'be prosecuted here for the forgery
in London, or whether the Government will con-
stnit to his extradition, is a question. In a recent
case the Government refused to give up an offender to
the police officer who came from London to apprehend
him, and there is in this affair the additional difficulty
of the effeeder being the subject of another State. If
the French would not give up an Englishman to his
own Government, how can they give up a Spaniard ?
The best thing the parties can do is to terrify the cri-
minal out of the money which he has obtained, and the
great .r port'on of which is probably still in his posses-
sion, tor only a few notes have been traced, and they
are of small amount. I understand that he moved in
a very respectable sphere here, and the gentleman
whose name he forgel to the letter of introduction
states that he had so good an opinion of him that if he
had applied to him for an introduction as for himself,
he would have given it. It would seem, however, that
by taking a false name the offender hoped to escape de-
teetion.—Lettcrfronz Paris.

DEATH OF DR. JAMES BROWNE.

Many of our readers will be grieved to hear that Dr.
James Browne, of this city, died on Thursday. For
about two years, Dr. Browne's health had been much
shaken, and none of his friends expected that he could
long survive. His name is well known in the lite-
rafrure of his country, for the extent of his learning
and research, and the rhetorical and argumentative
energy with which be brought his acquirements
to bear on the many subjects which, during a life
of almost ceaseless literary exertion, he discussed.
He was for several years Editor of the Mercury;
but he is perhaps more widely, and will be more
permanently, known for the many valuable arti-
cles he communicated to the " Encyclopaidia Bri-
tannica," particularly on the more abstruse branches
of early history, grammar and etymology, the arts of
war, and biography. His acquirements as an investi-
gator of Egyptian history and hieroglyphics are also
widely known. He possessed a powerful
eloquence, which he was always ready d fund of
ewe to
the cause of humanity and liberal opinions—often
with more regard to his feelings as a public man,
than to his interests as an individual. He carried
like qualifications into social life, where his con-
versation was distinguished by much eloquence of
sentiment, and brilliancy of wit. It is unusual
on occasions like the present, to talk of failings ;
but those of Dr. Browne were not unfrequently the
subject of rallying remarks with his best friends, be-
cause they were not of a character for which they had
occasion to blush. They were those of a warm heart,
and, perhaps, somewhat excitable temperament, and in
all quarters they were admitted to have no leaven of
selfishness or malignity. For about a year Dr. Browne
enjoyed a small pension from Government. It is ear-
nestly to be desired that in this case the Royal bounty
may be continued to those for whose sake it aunt have
had its chief value in his eyes.—Scotsman.

His constituents entertain Mr. Brotherton,
M. P., to a public dinner at Salford on Wednesday next.
CHRISTIANITY IN CHINA. --A Dative of
Chitin, now at Rome, furnishes the following statistical
details to the Franconian Courier :—" There are at
present about 300,000 Christians in China. The greater
part of them are indebted for pastoral care to the Laza-
iits, but some likewise to the Dominicans and Fran-
ciscans, and to a small Lumber of Italian priests. The
whole number of priests, European and Chinese, does
not exceed 300. Of seminaries there are but few, anti
those few are little mere than common schools. The
Christians are not allowed to practise their religion
publicly, but with their private
assemblies no inter-
ference takes place. The churches are but few in
number, and those not capacious enough for their seve-
ral congregations, and the faithful are obliged to
meet privately. Singularly enough, a church erected
at Pekin by the Emperor Hang Hi, who was very
friendly to the Christiana, has remained intact. A
ncti9n bas long prevailed among the Pagans of China,
that as long as the cross remains standing on the steeple
of this church no serious calamity can befal the empire.
In Canton there are Letween 8,000 and 9,000 Christians,
' who in that city enjoy greater liberty than in any other
part of the country. In Macao there are upwards of a
thousand Catholics.