The Sun.
London, England, 1841-10-15 00:00:00

MEDAL OF HONOUR.

This has been conferred upon M. Antonio Petela
Itathato, of the island of Ithaca, by the Senate, on the
recommendation of the Lord High Commissioner. The
reasons are given in the Corfu Gazette as follows :

"It appearing that the increasing improvement of the
school, under the management of Signor Petala, is to be
attributed to his vigilance and intelligence.
" Also, that he has devoted himself for a length of
time, in the most praiseworthy manner, to the advance-
ment of public education, and has been particularly sue•
cessful, owing chiefly to his unwearied attention."
His Excellency the Lord High Commissioner returned
from his tour of visiting the islands, to Corfu on the 4th
instant.

RA ILWAY TRAFFIC.—The following facts will,
we think, fully satisfy the public that a frequent and ex-
tensive railway traffic can be accomplished without dan-
ger, and that where proper vigilance is used, safety to
passengers may always be insured. During the Croydon
fair (four days) upwards of 700 trains passed either in
or out of the London-bridge station of the Brighton,
Croydon, and Greenwich railways, conveying 40,322
passengers, without danger or inconvenience of any
kind. Upon ordinary occasions 14 Brighton, 24 Croy-
don, and 112 Greenwich trains pass in or out of the
London terminus daily.—Railway Times.

On Sunday evening, between seven and eight
o'clock, the house of Mr. 11. Johnston (formerly of
Drury-lane and Covent-garden Theatres), in Gillingham-
street, Pimlico, was entered by some dextrous thieves
and plundered of jewellery, watches, plate, &c., to a se-
rious amount. Mr. and Mrs. Johnston were from home,
and the servant girl returning after a short absence,
found three men, rather genteely dressed, in possession
of the house, she resolutely seized one of them, and called
loudly for assistance, but before the neighbours or police
arrived to succour her, she was overpowered, and the
villains escaped with their booty. They had gained ad-
mittance by means of skeleton keys, and such was their
proficiency in the rifling art, that every drawer, dosk, or
closet, on the premises, was thoroughly ransacked in the
course, it is supplied, of about half-au-hour.

THE GRENOBLE CONSPIRACY.

Letter to the Editor of the Gazette du Dauphine,
containing some documents unpublished and little known,
by F. Gros, Avocet of the Cour Royale of Paris :
" Paris, Sept. 15, 1841.
" Sir—ln the two-fold quality of actor in and witness
to the events connected with the affair at Grenoble in
1816, and to render homage to truth, I address the fol-
lowing statement to you, authorising you to make what
use you think proper of it
" The conspiracy of Didier has been almost always re-
presented as an affair complete and isolated, without
precedent, and without consequences. It is this error
which I principally propose to combat ; the simple nar-
ration of the attempts will suffice for this purpose.
"I am about to communicate all I know relative to
this idea of Didier, which survived him, and which was
not put in action until August 1830. Proper names
will come under my pen ; some personages who have
since then occupied, and still occupy, elevated positions
in society, will be named according to the necessities of
the events which I am about to relate.
" I was studying law at Grenoble when the conspi-
racy of Didier broke out. Being acquainted with several
of the parties concerned, I was for some days previous
to the execution of the plot, strenuously urged to join it.
Joannini, an old officer of the gendarmerie, and who was
killed at the attack of the Porte de Bonne, more parti-
cularly urged me to take an active part therein.
" Before engaging in it, however, I was desirous to
know the chief of the undertaking, and the object of the
enterprise. I interrogated Joannini on the subject, in
order that I might he removed from the state of vague
uncertainty in which I was involved. He then avowed
to me that the object of the conspiracy was to place the
Duke of Orleans on the throne ; and taking the cold-
ness I evinced towards the affair for incredulity, he
showed me a letter, in which that Prince certainly was
not directly named, but was alluded to in a manner too
plain to be mistaken, Joannini attributed this letter to
Didier, and I think I could still recognise the writing
if it were shown me.

" Being then only 22 years of age, devoted to the
Emperor, to whom I owed my education and my rank
as officer ; at liberty as far as regards the Bourbons,
of whom in 1814 I was ignorant of their existence ; at-
tributing their presence in France to the disasters of
our armies, and confounding them all without excep-
tion in my sentiments of hatred for the foreigners who
had brought them, I flatly refused to take a part in
a plot in which one of the members of that family might
be interested.

" After the 6th of May I was with several others
who had been fntimate with the conspirators, compelled
to elude the researches of the police, who at Grenoble
and at Lyons, at my father's, made every attempt to
take me into custody. Being informed of their inten-
tions in time I went to Marseilles and remained there
until the death of Didier.

" My studies kept me for more than two years
longer at Grenoble, and I frequently heard it remarked
that the conspiracy of Didier was got up in the interest
of the Duke of Orleans, that in case of success that
Prince would have been proclaimed King at Lyons,
with the adherence of a number of Peers and Deputies,
and amongst the latter were mentioned Messrs La-
fayette, Dupont (de l'Eure), and D'Argenson.
" The conspiracy of Didier had, however, awakened
the Government ; it was on its guard, and when any
other attempt was afterwards got up at Grenoble, the
conspirators were attacked and put to the rout.
" These two successive checks caused reflection as to
the causes which had led to them. At Grenoble and at
Lyons the active co-operation of the interior of those
towns had principally failed to the insurgents of the
exterior. There was a bond required to unite all those
malcontents, who, being ignorant of the numerical
strength of their party, hesitated to come forward at the
decisive moment. A secret association was decided on
to organise the Liberal forces. M. Rey, of Grenoble,
now a counsellor at the Cour Royale of that town, first
fixed on the bases of that association, and united to it
several of his friends, both at Grenoble and at Lyons.
" This society took the name of " The Union." At
first they proceeded with the greatest circumspection,
and tried men, and men possessed of independent for-
tunes, only were admitted. Bonapartism above all was
a ground of exclusion, and it was owing to this I was
not one of the first among the initiated. I was not
admitted into it until the end of 1818, and I knew that
at that time The Union reckoned a great number of
adherents in all parts of France, and particularly in
Paris. Messrs. Lafayette, Dupont (de l'Eure), D'Ar-
poser), Merilhon, Cousin, Beranger (de la Drome),
Betide, Courrier, De Corcelles, Lahez de Pompietes,
Lameth, Conte, Dunoyer, &c., had already formed part
of it.

" On returning to Lyons after the termination of
my studies, I found the Association there very flourish-
ing, by the adherence of several notable persons be-
longing to Commerce, the Army, the Magistracy, and
the Administration. Amongst the members of the bar
who had joined it I would mention M. Duplan, then
an avocat, but become by the revolution of July Ist
Procureur-General at Lyons, and now Counsellor at
the Cour de Cassation ; M. Bandier, an avocat, since
dead, when President of the Tribunal Civil ; M. Ber-
nard, avocat, now Procurenr-General ; M. Varenard,
Councillor at the Court of Lyons since dead; M. Mor-
nand, avoue, now Receiver of the Finances at Dinau, &c.
" On my arrival, the meetings of the Association
were held, first at the house of one member of the
order, and then at another's ; but it was soon decided
that the meetings should take place at my house, from
the greater facilities of accommodation of the members
assembling, who had become very numerous.
"It was by the exertions of our Society-that all the
pamphlets against the restoration were published and
distributed in the interior of France and to the secret
associations abroad, with whom we were is constant
correspondence, that the subscriptions were raised for
the relief of political poisoners and authors under pro..
secution, &c.

The Union of Lyons, who already felt its strength
both numerically and in the influence which it could
exercise in a decisive moment, and calling to mind the
promises which it had received from The Union of
Paris of striking a decisive blow, complained of re-
ceiving neither news nor instructions from the capital,
and I was charged to repair to the Committee of Paris
to apprise it of the state of things at Lyons, and of the
facility with which advantage might be drawn from it
for the interest of the liberal cause.

" On my arrival in Paris I went immediately to the
house of M. Beranger (de la Drome), with whom I had
a previous acquaintance when he was at Lyons ; he in-
troduced me on the same evening to the unionists of
Paris, who assembled, as usual, in great numbers at the
house of General Lafayette. I stated to them the ob-
ject of my mission, and pointed out to them the advan-
tages which might be derived by an attempt on Lyons,
where there was great discontent prevailing amongst the
military composing the garrison.
" Several members of this meeting were of opinion
that circumstances were most favourable for a movement.
" The meeting, however, broke up, without coming to
any decision.

" A week passed over in inaction, and the enteute in
Paris was put down by some charges of cavalry. It
was then that M. Beranger informed me that an import-
ant attempt was about to be made at Grenoble, and
that it might be eventually assisted by the causes of
irritation which existed at Lyons.
" According to M. Beranger General Ledru des
Essarts had been for some time a member of our
Association. It was he who had joined it a short time
before the comFnaud of the military division, of which
the head-quarters were at Grenoble, had been confided
to him. This General had promised N. Beranger that
he would deliver up the departments which he com-
manded to three members of the Chamber of Deputies,
who would be very popular. Let Messrs. Lafayette,
Dupont (de l'Eure), and D'Argenson come to Greno-
noble,' said the General, and the revolution will be
consummated.'

" The means of execution having been once decided
on, they were easily carried into effect. The General
was to place under arrest those officers of the garrison
whom he knew devoted to the cause of the Bourbons.
The national guard of Grenoble were to be assembled
under a pretext which is always readily to be found on
a frontier town, and ammunition distributed to them.
General Ledru des Essarts, Messrs. Lafayette, Dupont
(de l'Eure), and D'Argenson were then to present them-
selves with the tri-colour flag. The national guard
were to be harangued amidst the acclamations of the
population, whose feelings were known. When the re-
volution was thus fairly raised at Grenoble, the party
would advance rapidly on Lyons, leading all the inhabi-
tants of the country with them.
Everything in this plan appeared easy of execution,
and it was, I believe, the greatest danger which threat-
ened the restoration until 1830. There was, neverthe-
less, a great difficulty to overcome. The Session had not
closed. How could personages of such note as those
alluded to quit the Chamber and Paris without attract-
ing the notice of the police, who watched their motions
very closely? And it was to have some understanding
on these different difficulties that M. Beranger con-
ducted me to General Lafayette.
" We were received by the General and his son,
Georges Lafayette. I learnt that this grand design
had only been deliberated on by those who were to per-
form the principal parts in it—not a word had been said
of it to any member of our Society, and the reason was
then explained to me why I was made an exception to
this plan of concealment. M. D'Argenson would leave
Paris for his forges in Alsace, would cross Switzerland,
and arrive at Grenoble by Charnbery. M. Dupont
some
of
(de l'Eure) would go on a botanical excursion to m
his friends in the Jura, and would, by degrees, enter on
the same route as M. D'Argenson.
whose
es
description it was
known throughout France, andw
" As to General Lafayette, whh
eosoe of his estates in
so easy to give, he was to go
dperson was so well
destination.ro The task of
he reached the place
Auvergne, and then procefe f
of
his route was confided to
arranging the latter part tom
point to point until
upon, and all the details
plisbrnent were agreed
me, and the propositions I suggested fors ton accorn-
arranged.
ijaviDg fulfilled the different missions entrusted to