The Sun.
London, England, 1870-02-12 00:00:00

THE ROCHEFORT RIOTS.

The Mforme has published an article in which (.
Flourens gives an explanation of the proceedings on
Monday. He says that M. Rochefort and himself were to
attend a reunion at the Salle de la Marseillaise, and that
112 went there at eight o'clock. The first sOaker
had scarcely commenced his address when the noise
outside made them aware of the attempt of the police to
arrest their deputy. He therefore declared to the assembly
that it was their duty to resist the authorities and prevent
the execution of their project. He seized the commissary
•f police, and enjoined him to make no resistance and on
no account to call for the aid of the police agents. He
then marched out with his friends, and for three hours
they kept possession of a faubourg of Paris. They formed
barricades, and M. Flo irens then begged one of his friends
to conduct the commissary of police to a safe spot.
Unfortunately, their other friends were not informed of
their intention, and did not join them in sufficient numbers;
they remained,therefore, without arms. In order to procure
them they went to the Theatre de Belleville and demanded
the concierge to deliver up the arms that were in the
place. In this place M. Flourens and his friends were
*early caught, and with some difficulty escaped. In
returning to the faubourg they had quitted they found
the police agents with sword in hand pursuing their
friends who were unarmed ; three police agents rushed at
Flourens. He was unarmed, but contrived to defend him-
self with some difficulty, when all at once some police-
officers appeared on the scene in pursuit of a band of

fugitives, and those who were attacking. Flourens
joined in the 'aide, by which means he escaped
observation. In a short time he found an asylum
in the house of a friendly workman, and was
hardly within doors when the street was in possession of
the municipal guard, on foot and on horseback. After a
while Flourens passed on to the house of another friend,
and, finding that there was no more work to be done for
that night, he relinquished the idea of joining his friends.
At six o'clock the next morning the police went to
his house, where they did not find him. He was accused
•f inciting others to revolt, of seizing a commissary of
police, of uttering seditious cries, and of inducing the
people to commit crimes and offences against the law.
They took possession of his papers and all his correspon-
dence,in which DI. Flourens declares they can find nothing
of a nature to compromise him.

CEYLON LEARNING.—An official report oy the
Government Inspector of Schools in Ceylon contains some
amusing examples of the learning (or ignorance) of the
rising generation; for instance, one young man gravely
says that " Milton was a poet who lived in the present

. ..
century, and who has been very much esteemed by many
people for being an excellent poet ;" another, in answer to
a question about Lord Bacon, says, " Before Bacon the
people of England were not so well acquainted with the

subject (what subject he does not tell us), because this was

the first person who taught people how to do it (what,
again, he does not tell us) ;" a third shews a specimen of
ignoratio clenchi and bad grammer, too, by gravely
asserting that " the changes of monsoons and weather has
(sic) recently taken place in the territorial extent of the
Austrian Empire." But perhaps the most amusing blunder
of all is to be found in the following explanation of the

-- ---- -- -- -
historical allusion in a well-known poem of Tennyson,

where the " oak" is spoken of :
"Wherein the younger Charles abode,
. Till all the paths were dim,
And far below the Roundhead rode
• And hummed a surly hymn."
This allusion refers to Milton. He was honoured by Eng-
land and was dear to England as an oak tree was. He is

said to have lived in the reign of young Charles, in an age
when literature had not flourished much. He is said to
have sung hymns in the Road to Roundhead!"
THE DISCOVERY IN PALESTINE.—A. discovery
like that of the Moabite Stone has not been made for
many a long day. Mr. E. Deutsch, in a letter to Mr.
Grove, Secretary of the Palestine Exploration Fund, gives
the following account of the inscriptioh The document
starts with the words, I, Mesha, son of Ch . .
Whether this be the Mesha, who, driven at bay by the
three allied armies of Judah, Israel, and Edom, sacri-
ficed his son to save his country, or not, I cannot yet
determine ; but there is no special reason against the
assumption. A king of Mesha's prowess might have
spoken of his doings as prominently as is done on this
monument. And, what is of much greater weight, the
character of the writing, which, in default of a better
word, we must atill call 'Phoenician,' looks even
older than that of many of the Assyrian (Meso-
potamian) bilingual cylinders in the British Museum,
the date of which is, at the very least, as old
as the ninth century 8.C., the time of this Biblical
Mesha. It is, indeed, the palaeographical part of the
document which at present seems paramount. Apart from
the very primitive character of the whole alphabet as it
hero occurs, there is one letter, (the Kaph) which, to my
knowledge, is found on no other Semitic remnant in this
peculiar Moabite' shape. Next to this point ranks always
for the present the Geographical importance of this record.
There start up with absolute clearness such names as Beth-
Bamoth, Beth-Baal-Meon, Horonaim, Dibon, well-known
Biblical cities, either situate in Moab (` the names whereof
were changed by the Israelites,' whence their variations),
or temporarily held by Moab. These places among
others, King Mesha on this stele boasts of having
`built.' Indeed, the words I built' occur so
frequently that they form welcome landmarks to
the decipherer. Besides, these places which occur
in the Bible, I find Karkha' which I venture
to identify with Kerek, the later name of the whole
country, also the name of a hamlet still in existence. But
apart from this, mention is also made repeatedly of
" Israel," the rival, often hostile power, and " Chemosh,"
the nstional God of Moab. Let this suffice now. The
historical as well as the linguistic purport of this find are
both so startlingly obvious that nothing need be added at
present. I would only bog to urge on your committee the
expediency of leaving no means untried to get possession
of as much of this unique Moabite relic as may survive."
In spite of the very reticent tone of his letter in Thurs-
day's Times, Mr. Deutsch allows it to appear that we have
here thg very oldest Semitic, monumeme .4 moment ever
,und.

The very extensive Distillery now being erected
at Belfast, with all recent improvements for the manufact wined
of
Irish whisky, by Messis. DUNVILLE & Co., who have g
a world-wide celebrity for their fine old Irish whisky, is to be
called " The Royal Irish Distillery."

HIGH WATER AT LONDON BI IDG
nines
Morning. Ev
SATURDAY 50 min past 10 ...... 35 min past 11
SUNDAY 0 min past 12 ...... 6 min past 12
MONDAY 40 min past 12 ...... 8 min past 1.
TUESDAY.
WEDNESDAY 20 min past 2 ...... 1 Ihniu past 2
THURSDAY... .......... 0 min past 3...... 21 mill past 3
FRIDAY.,••••se• ......... •, 42 min past 3...,. :4 min past 4

0 YAL STRAND THEATRE.
It. Sole Lessee and Manageress, Mrs Swanborough.
TEES EVENING, at 7, THE IIEIIt AT LAW : Messrs J
S. Clarke, D. James, crouch; 111 esdames Button and Claire.
Followed by THE TOOD LES : Mr Clarke.
Atter which, INO; Messrs Thorne, James, Fenton, Turner ;
Mesdames Sheridan, Newton, Maitland, &c.

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