The Sun.
London, England, 1848-09-07 00:00:00

FRAN CE.

At the close of the sitting of the National Assem-
bly !yesterday, the proposition of M. FRESNEAU for
the suppression of the preamble to the Constitution
was negatived by a majority of 491 to 225. In the
course of the discussion the objections to the preamble
were most eloquently answered by M. LAMARTINE,
who vindicated the right of the Assembly to place a
declaration of principles in front of the Constitution.
He admitted the difficulty of fixing the limit of
equality and the real interpretation of fraternity
amidst the different systems advanced of late by the
different social sects, several of them with no other
view than the subversion of society itself. He then
attacked the agrarian system preached by M. PROUD-
HON, which, he maintained, would be the sterilization
of the land, and denounced in indignant terms the
insane doctrines of that individual, who declared
property to be a robbery and denied the existence of
GOD. M. LAMARTINE then justified the revolution
of February, which had overturned an oligarchy
and extended the political rights hitherto enjoyed
by 250,000 persons to the universality of citizens,
and the day after the revolution had abolished the
penalty of death. This was an act of sublime fra-
ternity, which gave it a right to inscribe that
principle in front of its Constitution. He had been,
he said, accused of Communism, and yet no man was
penetrated with a greater respect for property, which
he considered the remuneration of all labour. He had
travelled much, and found everywhere property to be
the exact scale of civilization and degradation of na-
tions. He was a partizan of the right to labour, but
he understood it in a manner widely different from
certain visionaries, whose doctrines amounted to the
annihilation of all capital, and consequently of all
labour. He and his colleagues, assembled at the
Hotel de Ville, thought that the proletarians placed
in exceptionable circumstances, in times of calamity,
incapable to provide for a numerous family, from
want of labour, illness, or any other justified cause,
had a right to be relieved by the Republic, in the
name of the divine principle of fraternity, and they
thought so, both for the sake of the proletarians and
property itself, which was defended by laws, but was
still better protected by benefits. This was what they
understood by the right of labour, which the people
had moreover conquered by the blood it had shed for
the establishment of the Republic.

A SHOAL or WHOLES.—On Monday last (says
he Rossshire Advert;ser) the peaceful village of Saltburn,
near Invergordon, was thrown into considerable excite-
ment by the sudden appearance of a large shoal of bottle-
nosed whales peperforming their gambols at a shost dis-
tance from the shore. One of the villagers who was
fortunate enough to have all his wits about him in this
unlooked-for visitation, having hastily mustered a strong
force well armed with muskets, hatchets, and pitchforks,
boldly rowed into the heart of the assemblage, and in a
few hours succeeded in bringing 29 of them to land. A
few of the multitude of spectators, stimulated by this
hero's example, and encouraged by his success, wisely
judging the occasion no time for idly looking on, eagerly
joined in the sport, and after many "hair breadth
%capes" and a world of trouble, contrived to secure as
mach of the spoil as made the entire number captured
45. Some of them measured 18 feet in length. On
Tuesday morning, what with the tossing and heaving of
the dying monsters, the bustling activity of the blubber
cutters, and the crowds of visitors from the surrounding
country, the shore presented an unusual scene of ani-
mation. Being divested of all their fat, the carcases
were carted off by the farmers in the neighbourhood for
manure. About 60 large casks containing the blubber
are to be shipped for the south, and it is hoped the pro-
ceeds will be such as to remunerate the owners for their
labour and risk. These whales do not contain much oil,
but still the capture on this occasion is of considerable
value. 'We understand that seven of them were left
ashore on the Sands of Nigg, but none on the Cromarty
side of the firth. On the succeeding evening several of
these monsters passed up the firth, and were stranded on
the bank of the south channel at Fowlis Point, when a
number of persons set to work and seven were brought
to land. On Wednesday evening another shoal came up
to Ardullie Point, and 12 were secured in the small
haven to the westward, measuring from 11 to 16 feet in
length. These, the last of the shoal, occasioned a regular
turn out of the people of Dingwall and the neighbour-
hood, who hied in all modes of conveyance to see those
wonders of the deep—a similar sight never having been
witnessed in this quarter. The bottle-nose whale is fre-
quently seen at Cromarty, but never further up, or in
such numbers as on the present occasion. I'he shoal
must have consisted of hundreds, for while about 70 were
taken in all, large numbers escaped.
THE COAST PRECAUTIONS.—The Barbary, Mackey,
from this port to New York, with emigrants, had to put
into Valencia harbour from stress of weather. She was
at once boarded by the coastguards and the police, who
made close search, lest any of the insurgents flying from
justice should have been on board. Immediately after
the Dragon steam-frigate made her appearance, and fired
a gun; in a few minutes she was alongside the emigrant
ship. The first Lieutenant, accompanied by a party of
marines, went on board the Barbara, called over the
ship's list, and then made a searching examination
through the vessel without finding anything suspicious.
—Galway Vindicator.
ORIGIN OF TRUE BLUE.—Everybody has heard
and made use of the phrase " true blue;" but everybody
does not know that its first assumption was by the Cove-
nanters, in opposition to the scarlet badge of Charles I.;
and hence it was taken by the troops of Lesley and Mo-
trose, in 1639. The adoption of the colour was one of those
religious pedantries in which the Covenanters affected a
pharisaical observance of the Scriptural letter, and the
usages of the Hebrews; and thus, as they named their
children Habakkuk and Zerubbabel, and their chapels Zion
and Ebenezer, they decorated their persons with blue rib-
bons, because the following sumptuary precept was given
in the law of Moses :—" Speak to the children of Israel,
and tell them to make to themselies fringes on the bor-
ders of their garments, putting in them ribbons of blue."
Numb. xv., 38.—Scotch Reformers' Gazttle.
TIIE LAw or BANKRUPTCY.—The new Act of
Parliament, to empower the Commissioners of the Court
of Bankrutcy to order the release of batikrapts from
prison in certain cases, which took effect on the 31st
ult, has just been printed, 11 and 12 Vice, cap. 86. By
this Act it is provided, that where any person has been
adjudged bankrupt, and has surrendered to the fiat and
obtained his protection from arrest pursuant to the
practice in Bankruptcy, if such person shall be in prison
at the time of his obtaining such protection, any Com-
missioner acting under such fiat may order his imme-
diate release, either absolutely or upon such condition as
such Commissioner shall think fit, which release is not
lati se is
if a n
nv) e. r
bankrupt,
to affect the rights of creditors detaining him in prison.
importantvvhoosnee
lasstix.''And
The
iet enacted,second e
that
examina-
tion shall have been adjourned sine die, or whose certifi-
cate shall have been suspended or refused, shall be in
execution or be taken in execution under a capias ad sa-
tisfaciendum, at the suit of any creditor who might have
proved under the fiat, and detained in prison, any Com-
missioner acting under his fiat may order his release
after he shall have undergone such term of imprisonment
not exceeding two years as to such Commissioner may
seem a sufficient punishment for such offence as he may
appear to such Commissioner to have been guilty of."
THE SANITARY CONDITION OF WHITECHATEL.—
Yesterday an inquest was held before Mr. Baker, at the
London Hospital, on view of the body of James Barter,
aged thirteen years, who died from the effects of fever
produced by impure atmosphere, in the neighbourhood
of Whitechapel. Mr. James Brown, inspector of nui-
sances to Whitechapel, stated that on the 24th of July
last the mother of the deceased called his attention to
her back kitchen, No. 17, Princess-street. The room
was overflowed with filthy water, and the effluvia was
STEAM ON COMMON ROADS. most dreadful. Witness- was directed to call the atten-
TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN. tion of Mr. Liddle, surgeon for the district, by the
_
Sin,—lt would not have been necessary for me to churchwardens; and after examining tre premises, he
say more on this subject, if Mr. Motley (in his certified that the water flowed throutehlotngin%g.
to No. 8,
communication appearing in The Sun of the 23d ult.) kitchen, from an offensiveuousto drain,
rPrlinncess-street. Several
had not placed a construction on my first letter it Moss-bunildi g
then ssa'naceontst'gieet were also in a bad condition,
does not bear. If my meaning was not then sufficiently darnadmtshal air was very impure. The jury returned the
precise, I may amend it now, by stating that the following verdict—•' That the deceased died from fever
details desired were not the mere details of the con- caused by noxious effluvia from a privy draining intothe
struction of the engine (for this can concern the public back part of the house in which he resided; and the
at large but little), but of its performance; for pre- jurors strongly recommended that prompt and speedy
suming the engine perfect as a pice of mechanism, it measures be adopted by the parochial authorities for the
does not follow it should be successful in a commercial ahatemerat or t e nuisance so caused, to prevent further
mischief." The coroner said he would write to the
point of view. son churchwardens of theparish, and acquaint them with
The improvements proposed by Sir James Ander .
the sentiments of the jury.
were known to me ; it was, there-
ifnrehisconnelwectaenrrtiafogre
me to form a judgment how far BROMPTON HOSPITAL iron CONSUMPTION--Flogs
it was likelyp to fulfill those conditions, which I con- the
treport j Isetrpe
au
sbel i sohfe dtt alpla:i. ears that tv,hltictitiaetTisiscahamrlatsyt
sidereal and stated as essential to the practical a t
seeks to arrest. The number of out-door patients
introduction of steam on common road=, and
already exceeds a hundred daily; the in-door upwards
Mr. Motley has not yet shown those difficulties to be of seventy. Indeed, there are eighty-six at present on
overcome ; the first and chief one, which is the fric- the books, but whose admission is necessarily deferred.
tion from the road surface, still remains in full force, The medical staff has been increased proportionably.
and it is impossible that Sir James Anderson's, or and the recent appointment of assistant physicians (John
•
any other invention (where the driving wheels are in J. Bowie, Esq., It. Quain, Esq., and R. B, Cotton, Esq.)
efforts of the institution. It
contact with the level surface), can, within itself, has greatly facilitateeedt
with the building of the chapel
modify this friction. An effort to overcome the is intended to
.proasc
speedily as possible, and when the
second and third difficulty has been made by Sir ardeasitserneewmapn
completed, accommodation will be afforded
James, in proposing to drive by belts, which enables whole
within the walls to upwards of two hundred patients,
the cranks, &c., to be independent of the driving
from every part of the kingdom.
wheels, and consequently free from those severe His Excellency Chevalier Bunsen gave an elegant
strains which they would other,vise be subject to from entertainment last evening at the Prussian Legation, on
the inequalities of the road surface; so far these essen- Carlton-house-terrace, in compliment of his Excellency
tial conditions are accomplished, provided the gutta Baron Andrian, the AmbawsseardooT
the
Extraordinaryhdukeßteo an-
percha belts do not slip or become elongated, where the nounce the accreessseinotn
t 0
00
power
his Excellency his Segreennt.
resistance to motion is materially increased, eiththeer
iTherehnewsserre present
rince Lowenstein, Viscount Palmerston, hie
from ascending steep inclines, or overcoming
Excellency Count Kielmansegge, Baron Koller, Count
friction arising from an imperfect road suerrtaacinet—
y Sumnski, Mr. Syndicus Banks, M. Sieveking, AL Dumm-
y result which may be looked for almost wzt c
reicker, Dr. Meyer, Professor Samwer, Archdeacon
Si JatriZes.
My assertion, then, is strictly true, that
the
diffi-
Hare, Mr. C. Bunsen, &c.
Anderson's invention does not overcome
THE WEATHER.—The weather since our last has
sullies which I considered were in the way.
in direct been unusually fine; and the temperature has been much
Mr. Motley reads my last communication higher and more seasonable than for some time past,
for he makes
opposition to that which I clearly mean,.is
im.
though it has net, even for the last few days, been at
me to say that the friction of the engine morethroad,
all high, considering the time of the year. Saturday,
portant to decrease than that arising from e Sunday, and Monday were entirely without rain,
whereas the latter is what I state inventors should and although some rain fell about noon yesterday, the
endeavour to decrease, and not to create a power to afternoon and evening were clear and bright. The
it. It is on this point I consider the excel- temperature, which on Friday last was only 61 d
overcome deg., rose
ny of Mr. Wrigg's invention consists, as it accom- on Saturday to 69 due. a
; an was on Sunday and Mon-
ipelisclies, within itself, that which at a great outlay Mr. day, respectively, 65 6de-.
g and 68 deg. It will be seen
Motley proposes by wood pavement—the preparation by the following return, by electric telegraph, from the
of a road. While on this subject I should state my places undermentioned, at seven o'clock yesterday morn-
observations on the difficulties overcome by Mr. ing, that the fine weather has been general throughout
the
Wrigg's patent were the results of prsonal examina- fine;
country :—Glasgow, S. fine; Edinburgh, S.S.E.
times ;I do not, therefore, think Mr. Motley has been Newcastle, N.E. very fine; York, S.E. by E. fine;
Hull, E.S.E. very fine; Normanton, S.W. fine; Leeds,
consistent, without assigning any reason, to pronounce \
upon the efficacy of an invention of which he cannot s
s•wile ryvefine ;
fine Manchester,
Liii c
ol n S.S.W.s.V. fifinnee
.; Liverpool,Norwich,
possibly have had any opportunity of framing
an , Silk. fine ;ryPeterb;orough, g.S.W. fine ; Brandon,
opinion; so that he appears to have fallen into the S.E. fine; Yarmouth, S. fine; Lowestoffe, S. fine; Not-
very same error of which he improperly accuses 1113. \ tingham, N. fine; Derby, N.W. very fine; Leicester, S.
The plan proposed of laying a timber way very fine; Birmingham, S. by E. moderately fine; Rugby,
did not escape my attention, but as I am not aware S.E. very fine; London, S.W. very fine; Chelmsford, S.
of this forming any part of Sir James Anderson's i fine; Gosport, S. fine; Poole, E. very ,
fine• Southampton.
Cambridge, S.W. fine;
plans (to which my observations were confined), I ' s•E• fine; Gloucester, S. fin.? W. very fine; New-
did not notice it, for that would, in fact, be dealing i hesterfield, W. fiNS7steSale3heteNT very fine• Dereham,
, with a road for a carriage, and not a carriage for artiarkt,vS. fine;ito .
St. Ives, S. fine ;Ely, S.W. very fine;
road, which is the subject under consideration. S.S.W.werys E
ati Ae ter Guardian ofyeaterday.
ne.— anc s
Dorchester, . .