The Sun.
London, England, 1833-09-26 00:00:00

REMARKABLE TIGER HUNT,

We have just been favoured with the following
extract of a letter from Java, of the 19th of Dt•
cember, 1832. The letter was written, as its con
tents evidently prove, by a " true son of the ocean,"
,Ind is addressed to his brother, a distinguished
Member of the Royal Academy. It is dated from
Wono Langen Mill, Piobolinga district.
" At 7 a.m., on the 2d of October last, I set out
with my two sons, a Berzoekie man in my ser-
vice, and about fifty natives, armed with pikes
and hogspears; I was armed with a gun anti
spear. The tiger for which we were on the leok-
out was in a valley about two miles and a halt
distant from our port. The moment we arrived
near him we commenced operations. About nine
t.m, we effectually drove him out of his den of
underwood, and, while he was doubling the brow
of a bill, I had a rap at him, which took effect
about six inches astern of his talerail. Had 1
taken his tafferail, it would have disabled his tiller
ropes, arid he would have been forced to heave-to,
and we should have had some sport with him whilst
in that situation. He now made over to the west
side of the valley, and into a thorny bush. In half
an hour we started him again; he then ran along the
western side of the valley into another bush; several
spears were now thrown at him, but without effect.
We followed, and soon roused him again; he n 0%%
made a start for his old station on the east side or
the valley; he seemed to be very much fagged on
account of the heat and a want of water, and
became difficult to arouse him ; several spears flea
after him, but they fell short. All this time,
although pretty close, I could cot get a shot ar
him, sometimes on account of my people, arid
at others not wishing to throw a shot away,
not knowing how soon I might require it in
self defence. Close to his heels we followed
him across the valley. He now took shelter in a
bush on the side of a hill, where he remained growl-
ing for some time. He now saw that he was it,
danger, so he made a start from that bush to another
just at my feet, and lay for at least ten minutes, not
ten yards from where I was with one of my sons,
who was making an opening into a bush, so that at
length I got a clear sight of him ; but before we
could finish our task, he made a spring, with an in-
tention to clear the heads of three men who were
to my right, at about a fathom distance ; but they
received and put three pikes and a hogspear into
him; the former entered his belly, the latter entered
his starboard shoulder; this he took with him, but
the pike-staves all broke. This shock to his delicate
frame brought him down on one of the mea, on whom
he left the marks of three of his paws, but he got
into a bush before I could turn round to have a rap
at him. This was his last move. It now just
12 at noon. We gathered up our broken pike-staves,
bound up the wounds of our man, and sent him off
to the mill, to await our arrival; but, determined
not to give up our prize, we remained quiet for
about an hour, to rest ourselves. During this
time he growled once, but faintly; he was at
that time drawing the hog spear out of his lar-
board shoulder. This gave him much pain, and
made him growl. We now saw the bush shake
very much, so we again began operations by cutting
down the small bushes to get a sight of him ; this
was soon done, and I put a shot into his head. Our
work was now done, so we went up to him; but
I think that he was closing his book more from the
pikes than from the shot. I had him carried home.
His weight was 3331b5., stood three feet three inches
high ; length of body six feet, tail two feet four
inches. I then dressed the wounded hunter. He

was fourteen days under my hands. He had ten
wounds on his body, left arm, and head. This, you
will say is no children's play."

VENDEAN WARFARE.

The peculiar nature of Vendean warfare is thus
graphically described by General Dermoncourt, in
his publication entitled The Duchess de Berri in
La Vendee:—" A Vendean, as I have already
stated, confounds every strategic calculation of the
military art, especially those made for open plains,
As for the army, which you expect every moment
to encounter, it vanishes like smoke; fur, in truth,
it has no existence. When a day is fixed to strike a
blow, at day-break, or even during the night, the
tocsin is sounded in the village fixed on as the point
of union. The neighbouring villages reply in the
same manner; the villagers quit their cottages if it
be in the night, or their ploughs if in the day,
throwing upon their shoulder the gun, which
they scarcely ever quit, stuff cartridges into
their belt, tie their handkerchief round a
broad-brimmed hat, which shades their sun-
burnt countenance, stop at their church to utter
a short prayer, then wend their way from all parts
of the country to the common centre, inspired with
a twofold faith in God, and in the justice of their
cause. Then come their Chiefs, who acquaint
them with the cause of their being assembled;
and if it is to attack some patriot column they
state the road which the column vi ill pursue, and
the hour it will pass. Then, when this information
is well understood by all, the Chief in command
gives them the plan of the battle in the followin,
words :—" Scatter yourselves, my flue fellows !"
Then each breaks, not from the ranks but from the
group, marches off his o n way, proceeds onward
with precaution and in silence, and in a short
time every tree, every bush, every tuft of furze
bordering either side of the high road, conceals a
peasant with a gun in one hand, and supporting
himself with the other, crouched like a wild beast,
without motion, and scarcely breathing. Meanwhile
the patriot column, uneasy at the thought of some
unknown danger, advances towards the defile, pre-
ceded by scouts, who pass without seeing, touch
without feeling, and are allowed to go by scathless;
but the moment the detachment is in the midst of
the pass, jammed in between two sloping banks, as
if it were in an immense rut, and unable to deploy
either to the right or to the left, a signal is given at
one extremity, and is repeated along the whole line
of ambuscade, to signify that each is at his post;
then a human cry succeeds—one of war and of'
death. In an instant each bush, each tuft of furze,
glares with a sudden flash, and a shower of balls
strikes whole files of soldiers to the earth, with•
out their being able to perceive the enemies
who slaughter them. The dead and wounded
lay piled upon each other on the road ; and if the
column is not thrown into disorder, and the
voices of the officers are heard above the firing
—if, in short, the troops attempt to grapple body
to body with their assailants, who strike without
showing themselves--if they climb the slope, like a
glacis, and scale the hedge, like a wall, the peasants
have already had time to retire behind a second en•
closure, whence the invisible firing recommences as
murderous as before. Should this second hedge be
stormed, in the same manner, ten, twenty, a hun-
dred similar intrenchments offer successive shelter
to this destructive retreat; for the country is thus
divided for the security of the children of the soil,
which seems to show a maternal solicitude for their
preservation, by offering them a shelter everywhere,
and their enemies everywhere a grave."

The Duke of Richmond is on his return to
Goodwood, where his Grace has invited Sir James Gra-
ham and a few other distinguished friends for the pheasant
shooting season. The Admiralty yacht will convey the
Right Hon. Baronet from Cowes to Shoreham or Chi-
(+e, er.

CHESTERFIELD IN THE COUNTRY.--The
new code of fashionable rules and maxims, which, aided
by its rich accompaniment of " modern instances" has
been so favourably received in the Court Journal under
the designation of " Chesterfield in London," is to be suc-
ceeded by a similar series applicable to all the various
wants and positions of country residents and visitants, and
distinguished by the title of " Chesterfield in the Country."
The first portion of this new " system of government"
will be developed (for the benefit of all the subjects of the
empire of fashion) in the forthcoming number of the above
Journal, to be published on Saturday nest, the 28th
instant, and the orders should be sent to the newsmen
forthwith.

By the important Bill of last session for trai
ferring to the body of the inhabitants with a 1
household qualification, the election of their Tom
Councils in the Scotch burghs, the system
self-election, which had existed for more th
three
so coie to) teuhr ice, and
osrropti
corruption
which
oandhad
li been the
s manag
e ole
of it, sourr,,
for ever destroyed. But this Bill alone cou
not correct all the evils which the previous it
oolicy had produced, or render unnecessary t 1
investigations of the municipal corporation con
missioners. The information which these Con
nissioners must collect, and the suggestioi
which they may make, cannot fail to he of ei
trenie utility towards a more efficient reform, I
enabling the Crown or the Government to recon
mend declaratory acts where the law was former]
obscure or obsolete, and to introduce new enact
tnents where the law has been hitherto defectiv
or unwise. A great body of evidence had bee
formerly amassed and printed by order of Par
liament, on the rnalversation oldie Scotch burgiv
in the excellent reports of the Committees o
1793, 1819, 1820, and 1821. .A
comple!
bill of indictment, or articles of impeachment
,night have been drawn up ag linst the whol,
body of corporators out of these materials
Submitted to a proper tribunal, this indict lice
must have been followed by an immediate
condemnation ; but before the reform of Patlia-
ment such a tribunal could not be found. Afte,
;ill, however, the evidence formerly collected re-
lated chiefly to the financial mistnanagement °Hu
burgh concerns—to the embezzlement of their
revenues—to the alienation of their property—
to the contraction of unnecessary debts, and time
imposition of illegal burdens. The investigation
now set on foot happily embraces a wider sphere,
and is likely, even in matters of administration,
to be conducted on a more searching and rigo-
rous plan of scrutiny. The Commissioners very
properly classify the objects of their inquiry
under several heads, namely-1, The property,
revenue, debts, administration, and management
of the burghs ; 2, Their taxation ; 3, Their
jurisdiction ; 4, Their patronage ; 5, The ex-
clusive privileges of corporations; 6, Their setts
or constitutions ; and 7, Their police. The
information to be collected under these different
heads of inquiry can at present be obtained from
no single source, and probably cannot be gleaned
with any accuracy from all the documents put
together, to which a legislator or a state,man
can apply. We need only refer to the contents
of former reports, which detail the examination of
only a few cities and burghs, to show, from the
sample, what a rich harvest of exposure awaits
the labours of the Commissioners. Under the
first, or administrative head, they will not proba-
bly find a single burgh in Scotland free from
the charge of gross pecuniary mismanagement,
nor a single set of councillors and magistrates
with clean hands, up to the year 1821, or
ev
as first
seriously
tit
threatened.
t time
pnewecdhu.enin theary Th
relelsecofi out
)rr, mc
oe
sf
eaActEetdd o which
c greedy r'
mightN
satisfiedm acwitlneds i
,asat titichdaela
with
most
sd ta
academic,
ambitious
extent
of patronage,t,h7yaiiN,
ecclesiastical,
tit
corpo-
rators, without exceeding their corporate income
or encroaching on their trust property, has been
run into debt to the amount of nearly 500,0001.;
and cannot now, from the want of funds, fulfil
many of the obligations which it had solemnly
contracted. Churches which it had enga,,ed to
build, for the necessary religious accommodation the inhabitants, have not ye; lad their foun-
dation stone laid ; and in the midst of its em-
barrassments, the liberal legacy of 10,0001., left
for the purposes of education by the late Dr.
an theirs deedbt a debts arel 58651. estimated
Since
at
nee 4
Bell, is not forthcoming to fulfil the objects of
the trust. By the report of the Committee of
1819,
1011.,
and their only property to meet such an incum-
-1„. ce is tat
time
the evil has been immensely aggravated by im-
prudent engagements and unprofitable under-
takings. We formerly alluded to the case of
Aberdeen, which had been in a state of declared
insolvency for two years, from 1817 to 1819,
its municipal funds being delivered up to its
creditors, and respectable burgesses declining to
accept of municipal offices. The property of
this burgh had been dishonestly alienated
by its self-elected councils ; and even the
charitable funds, with which the magistrates
had been intrusted, had been embezzled,
or perverted from the objects of the trust.
The amount for which it became bankrupt was
230,0001. The debt of Dundee in 1819
amounted to 16,0001., and its whole income
only to 2,0001. ; but since that burgh obtained a
new sett, its affairs have been differently ma-
naged. We might pass in review the whole of
the Scotch burghs, and show that their debt is
in proportion to their magnitude. To what a
frightful extent this peculation and mismanage-
ment must have been carried in periods when
public opinion imposed no restraint on the most
flagrant abuses, and what a mass of public pro-
perty has been alienated for private advantage,
may be easily imagined from time small portion
now remaining for common good out of the li-
beral endowments conferred by sovereigns and
citizens on burgh institutions, or from the
length of time in which the dilapidation has
been in active progress. The evil was, 50 years
ago, avowed by a Parliamentary Committee,
though nothing was done to check it. " That
the magistrates and council," says tile report of
1793, " possessed the power of selling and
alienating the common land of the burgh, granted
to the burgesses by their charters, or purchased
with their common moneys, property, or revenue,
and that this power might be exercised in any
manner they chose, is not denied. That of the
prices which had been received scarcely any
part remained with the burghs, and that the
power exercised before time union by the
Town Councils of contracting debts, dis-
posing of the common revenues, and alienating
the common lands of the burghs at their plea-
sure, remained unaltered and undiminished, is
admitted." In the case of large cities, where
the transactions of the Town Councils and
magistrates, however corrupt, were obliged to
be recorded, for the information of their suc-
cessors, and at least to be invested with the
ordinary forms of business, embezzlement and
dishonesty are traced with more difficulty ; but in
the smaller municipal corporations corruption
reigned without shame or restraint. The cor-
porators looked to the " common good" as the
authorised source of emoluments for
themselves'
and either squandered the
wlwisincome, or
suited their
alienated the town property, as best uown interests. On a former occasion we men-
tioned the case of a burgh in Aberdeenshire,
where the Town Council consisted of nine self-
elected persons. The Provost, who had accepted
the post merely for electioneering purposes, had
continued in office fifteen years, but had never
resided in the burgh ; Four of the other members