The Sun.
London, England, 1851-07-28 00:00:00

TRE SUN,

PASSENGERS' BAGGAGE FROM THE
CONTINENT.

The foflowirg petitiln to the _House of Commons is
bigned by the most hdiiential banking aed commercial
houses in London, and there is every r,ft3on to helitve
that the adoption of its suggestions wuuid materially
facilitate, and consequently increase, the traffic Letween
this country and the contin.nt:—

TO THE HONOURABLE THE COMMONS OF THE UNITED

KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND, IN

PARLIAMENT ASSEMBLED.
The humble Petition of the undersigned Merchants,
Bankers, and others of the city of London,

Showeth,—
That passengers arriving from the continent are in-
conveniently delayed at Dover and Folkestone, and un-
able to proceed to London until their baggage is exa-
mined at those places.
That such inconvenience would be removed if the
examination were to take place in London.
That like facility is afforded by the French Govern-
ment to persons going from this country to Paris.
whose baggage is not examined until their arrival in
Paris. _ _ _

_
That your petitioners are informed that tho South-
Eastern Railway Company are willing to provide at the
London terminus of that railway better accommodation
for the purpose of such examination of beggago there
than now exists either at Dover or Folkestone.

Your petitioners, therefore, most humbly pray your
most Honourable House that your HonouraQe Huuse will
he pleased to pass such resolution as will warrant the
Lords Commissioners of her Majesty's Treasury to au-
thorise the necessary arrangements for examing in Lon-
don the baggage of persona travelling there instead of
detaining them for the purpose at Dover or Folkestone,
whereby your petitioners believe that a saving of one to
two hours of time will be insured to passengers from
Marseilles and Paris and the Continent generally to
Lc ndon.
And your petitioners will ever pray, &c.

BANK OF FRANCE.
The following is a return of the situation of the Bank
of France on July 24:

ASSETS.

f. 457,994,435 85
133,301,961 0
... 105,972 88

Cash in hand
Ditto in branch banks
Bills past due •••
Bills discounted, but not yet due, of
which 14,237,288 f. were received
from the Branch Banks ...
Bills in the branch banks
Advances on coins and ingots... ...
Ditto by the branch banks ...
Ditto on French public securities ...
Ditto by branch banks... ...
Ditto to the State on Bons du Tresor...
Ditto on the loan of 75 millions ...
Rentes of the reserve fund ...
Rentes, disposable funds ...
Investments of the new branch banks in

41,123,449 80
68,363,492 0
1,317,100 0
1,957,110 0
8,408,246 10
2,489,606 0
50,000,000 0
50,000,000 0
10,000,000 0
42,678,118 53

the public funds ...
Hotel and furniture of the Bank ...
Real property of the branch banks ...
Interest in National Discount Bank ...
Ditto branch banks ...
Expenses of administration of the Bank
Ditto at the branches ...
Iliscellaueous

12,952,725 74
4,000,000 0
3,528,108 0
200,000 0
168,000 0

45,225 0
688,140 5

E 859,321,690 95

LIABILITIES.

Capital ... . .
Ditto of the Branch Banks

... f. 67,900,000 0
... 23,350,000 0

Reserve fund ... ...
Ditto of the branch banks

... 10,000,000 0
... 2,980,750 14

Reserve-immobiliere

4,000,000 0

Notes to bearer, in circulation ...
Ditto of the branch banks ...

... 421,978,800 0
113,614,675 0

Ditto to order (post-bills) ... ... 6,416,666 50
Account-current with Treasury creditor 113,102,300 71
Various accounts current ... ... 82,252,451 69
Ditto in branche5.........29,262,270 0
Bills payable at sight ... ... ... 8,182,500 0
Ditto at branches 3,166,457 0
Dividends payable ... . . ... 1,262,258 25
Liquidation of the Algiers Bank ... 7,760 0
Expenses anticipated ... ... ... 269,939 83
Discounts, interest, and expenses ••• 182,798 74
Ditto of branch banks ... ~, ... 356,514 0
Re-discounts of the last six months ... 96,733 70

Ditto in branch banks •
Interest on protested bills
Miscellaneous ...

227,245 0
398,539 1
313,0:-i5 3S

f. 889,321,690 95
Certified by the Deputy-Governor of the Bank of
France, J. E. GAUTIER.
It appears from the preceding account that the cash in
hand has increased by 4,000,000 f. The commercial bills
discounted have decreased by 500,000 f. The Bank
notes in circulation have increased by 2,000,0001.
The balance to the credit of the Treasury has in-
creased by 3,000,000 f. Sundry credits have decreased by
1,500,000 f.

THE SANDWICH ISLANDS.—By the Chegres
steamers to New York we have advises from the Sandwich

Islands to the 3d of May. The British store•ship I)asdalus,
Captain George Wellesley, with stores for her Majesty's ships
in the Arctic Seas, arrived at Honolulu on the 16th of

April, and was to sail in a few days in search of Sir John

Franklin.

Sir Robert Peel, Bart, M.P., bas lEft town, on a
continental tour, and, according to present arrangements,
will not return to this country until the month of November

next.

OFFICIAL APPOINTMENTS.—Mr. S. C. Denison is
appointed Deputy Judge-Advocate to the Queen, in place of
Mr. F. Newman Rogers, Q.C., deceased. Mr. Sergeant
Kinglake is appointed Recorder of Exeter. Messrs. Bour-
geois, J. Pollock, and Beausoleil are appointed members of
the Legislative Council of St. Lucia.
PUBLIC DINNER TO MR. PAXTON.,—The Commit-
tee appointed to superintend the arrangements for the dinner
to be given to Mr. t'axton at Derby on the sth of August
have issued circulars altering the day, in order that Mr.
Paxton might be enabled to accept an invitation to the Pa-
risian fides. We are, however, requested to state that, in
order to suit the convenience of Mr. Paxton and other gen-
tlemen, the dinner will take place on the sth of August, the
day originally appointed.
COMMERCIAL TRAVELLERS' BENEVOLENT INSTITU-
TION.—A special general meeting of the friends and sub-
scribers to this institution was held on Saturday last, at the
London Tavern, Bishopsgate-street, for the purpose of taking
into consideration such portion of the rules of the society
as bear upon the election of annuitants. Mr. Jenkin Jones
in the chair. The chairman said, in his opinion, there
should be an election of one or more annuitants before Christ-
mas. He was sure that if an election was to take place it
would tend more than anything else to the success of that in-
stitution, which he was certain they all had at heart. Mr.
J. Aden moved a resolution to the efiect that as soon as the
state of the funds of the society shall enable the board of
management to grant two or more annuities, they have
power granted them so to act. Mr. J. Peill seconded the
resolution, which, on being put from the chair, was carried
unanimously. Mr. W. G. B. Gunton, in referring to the im-
proved prospects of the institution, stated that he believed
there were very few instances on record of an institution like
this meeting with so much success in so short a period, and
from that circumstance he.augured a gratifying and prosper-
ous result. A vote of thanks was then moved and carried,
thanking the chairman for his urbanity in taking the chair,
which having been acknowledged, the meeting separated.
On Saturday morning, between twelve and one
o'clock, a policeman on duty near London-bridge discovered
smoke issuing through the fan-light over the shop-door of
one of the large houses in Duke-street. immediately at the
rear of Tooley-street, belonging to Mr. Alderman Hum-
phery, but occupied by Messrs. J. Wynn and Ca., boot and
shoemakers. The policeman immediately sent for the en•
gines. Several quickly arrived on the spot, and in a very
short time the fire was extinguished, before any material
damage was done. The origin of the outbreak is unknown.
EXTRAORDINARY AFFAIR —We hear from a private
source that a rather extraordinary case is likely shortly to
occupy the attention of the Bristol District Court of Bank-
ruptcy. So long ago as 1769, a person, named Constable,
became bankrupt, and his affairs were wound up. It so
happened that some time before his failure he had made a
deposit of 5001. in one of the Bristol banks, but, through
some inadvertence, the deposit note was overlooked, among
the rest of the papers, and no mention was made of it either
in the balance-sheet or any of the proceedings under the fiat.
Constable shortly afterwards died; and, in the course of
years, a change took place in the banking firm, and in the
arrangement of the private affairs of the partners at this
time (1820) the 5001. deposited by old Constable was paid
away to one of the retiring partners. Through a series of
almostbankru romantic circumstances, the papers in Constable's
bafell,nkruptcy
solicitor mi t with somef
this on
it thye, r s
w, intohn tinhe e
respectablepy
other documents, alighted sha
ra hdi sti of
f a o
or sgohml)(3'
for 5001., Which
hadsun upon the deposit note of Constable
thus been lying at compound in-
terest, at 2 per cent., during nearly a century, and which
has accumulated to the large
sum of 1,7081. The gentle-
man who made this discovery at once communicated the fact
to the official assignees. All the creditors and the other
persons interested in the bankruptcy have long since died ;
but it was resolved to try to obtain this
money for their re-
presentatives. With this view it is intended to reopen the
fiat, under the power given by the Bankrupt Law Consolida-
tion Act, and for that purpose an application will shortly be
made to one of the Learned Commissioners for this district.—
Bristol Gazette.
ATTORNEYS AND SOLICITORS REGULATION ACT.
The Bill which originated in the_ House. of Lords, for amend-
ing the several Acts for the regulation of attorneys and
soli-
citors was brought before Commons, 17th of
July. The object of the Bill is to extend to the degree of
bachelor of arts and laws in Queen's
toUniversity in Ireland
the provisions of former Acts relatingthe admission and
enrolment as attorneys of bachelors of arts or laws at Oxford,
Cambridge, and Dublin. Also to extend to students of
Queen's colleges attending lectures and passing examinations
in the faculty of law during the collegiate years, the provi-
sions of former Acts as to persons bound for five years, and
one year, with a
serving part of that time, not exceeding
barrister or special pleader.
A CHILD KILLED WITH DR. COFFIN'S MEDICINE.
—VERDICT OF MANSLAUGHTER AGAINST AN AGENT.—
On Friday afternoon Mr. W. Baker, the coroner, and
a jury. resumed an adjourned inquiry at the Bell Tavern,
Ratcliff-highway, which lasted until a late hour last
hirtee night,
concerning the death of Henry Stewart Davis, aged n
years, an idiot, who died from the effects of medicine admi-
nistered by Mr. John Stevens, an agent for the sale of Dr.
Coffin's various compounds. Lengthened evidence having
been produced, the jury announced that they had unani-
mously agreed to a verdict of " Manslaughter against John
Stevens ;" and the Coroner then made out his warrant for
the committal of Mr. Stevens, who was conveyed in a cab
to Newgate, to await his trial.
AWFULLY SUDDEN DEATIL—A terrible instance
of the uncertainty of human life occurred on Friday last at
Plymouth. A poor woman named Ann Martin, who had
previously enjoyed excellent health, was standing by her
fireside, talking in a lively strain to the members of her fa-
mily, when she suddenly fell to the ground a corpse. Dr.
Fuge, of Plymouth, was immediately cared in, but he de-
clared that death must have ensued instantaneously.
HARROW, JULY 26.—This day Mr. H. M. Butler,
son of the Dean of Peterborough, was elected scholar on the
Gregory foundation.

THE SCALP-BUNTERS. 3 Vols. By Cap-
tain Mayne Reid., C. .1. Skeet.
Captain Mayne Reid has genius. He is not a mere
book-maker for the circulating libraries. Whatever he
may call his literary productions, they are entitled to
more commendation than is usually awarded to the
three-volume novelist. His "Rifle Rangers" have
already gained him popularity. His " Scalp -Hunters"
may confirm that popularity by establishing for its
author a certain reputation. In a very modest bat
manly "Preface," Captain Reid forewarns his reader
that he is "a coarse, crude, and careless writer," la-
menting at the same time that he lacks " those classic
sympathies" which enable many of his brethren of
the pen to give such " elegant expression to their
thoughts"—all of which deprecatory and apologetic
remarks, graceful though they be when contrasted
with the self-sufficient arrogance of irredeemable
mediocrity, cannot but be regarded on the present oc-
casion as altogether inapplicable, and consequently al-
together superfluous. if our author is devoid in several
instances of the customary adroitness of the craft,
he possesses that which compensates for
every such deficiency, the divine afflatus
which we have in our opening sentence ex-
plicitly mentioned as his most noticeable character-
istic. Reviewers, unfortunately, have to wade through
a vast deal of rubbish in their researches after the
true and the beautiful. Considering the grievous
amount of twaddle we have to encounter, it really
appears to us at times that there is some excuse for
us poor critics, if we occasionally evince a little petu-
lance of temperament. Hours sometimes wasted in
poring over a work of the most tedious and unmeri-
torious description constitute assuredly not the most
exhilarating preparative for the inditing of commen-
taries. Precisely, however, in proportion to the an-
noyance experienced in turning over volumes thus
blameworthy, is the delight felt at others whose
excellences enthral our attention and wake up our
blunted sympathies to a certain enthusiasm of ad-
miration. An effusion of this nature is the one here
under consideration. Having perused, or rather de-
voured, as the phrase is, these romantic adven-
tures from their commencement to their
conclusion, with a curiosity which became only
.enhanced with the opening of each successive
chapter, having found our regard rivetted to the nar-
rative with more and more eagerness at the disclo-
sure of its numerous and extraordinary incidents, we
must, if only in gratitude to the writer who has thus
powerfully appealed to our imagination, commend
his work as a production of remarkable and enthral-
ling attractions. Captain Mayne Reid insists at the
outset, as he did, if we remember rightly, in reference
to the " Rifle Rangers," that many of the events
recounted are realities, and that the book possesses
therefore the merit of being something more than
altogether fictitious. Now, according to our opinion
the beauties of Ossian are in no degree dependent
upon the amount of credit yielded to the assertions
of Macpherson, and those of Homer are as illustrious
whether they be traceable to one bard or a thousand.
We accept the traveller's record, coming to us as
it does most acceptably, with a benison
and a gramercie. It helps to amuse us, to
wile away an hour that might otherwise bang
heavily, and, while affecting us thus agreeably, it
brings to our minds very vividly the landscapes,
the manners, and the population of Northern IViexico,
the country in which these occurrences, imaginary
or not, are said to have transpired. Therefore we
receive the work with thankfulness, and with a
credence in our author which adds very wonderfully
to the force of his descriptions. The " Scalp-
Hunters" may be viewed as strictly autobiographical
in their character, M. Henry Haller speaking to us
in the first person throughout. At St. Louis he joins
a M. St. Vrain with other Prairie merchants
trading to Santa F 6 and Chihuahua, being himself
an idle young blade in aearch of the picturesque.
Having proceeded as far as the capital of Northern
Mexico, the hero is wounded in a fracas arising out
of the Fandango, and is detained in the city, while
his comrades proceed on their expedition. Recovered
soon afterwards from his wound, Haller endeavours
to overtake the merchants, but in so doing
is prostrated by the accumulated horrors of the
Jornada. Here it is that in the midst of his
calamities he is saved from destruction by Seguin, the
scalp-hunter. The last-mentioned character is finely
delineated, and is the central figure round which all
the others may be said to revolve, and upon which all
their interest may be said to be dependent. Saved
by Seguin, and falling afterwards in love with his
daughter Zoe, Haller is induced to join the former in
one of his great scalp-hunting expeditions. It must
be premised, however, that the leader of this blood-
thirsty enterprise proves, on inquiry, to be by no
means the monster he is generally reputed, but,
on the contrary, his ferocity is resolved into an evi-
dence of paternal tenderness. Adele, his other
daughter, has been stolen in her infancy by the Na-
vajoes, and all his efforts against them are made with
a view to her recovery. This, immediately before
the close of the narrative, is effected, and the heart of
the scalp-hunter gladdened by the prospective nup-
tials of Adele with St. Vrain, as well as of Zoe with
Haller. It is in the fluctuating fortunes of the scalp-
hunters, however, in the course of this expedition that
the chief and engrossing attraction of the work
is discoverable. The narrative of their vicissi-
tudes is one of resistless fascination. Several
of the personages introduced into the princi-
pal group are characters which might have reflected
honour upon some of our most successful novelists.
El Sol, for example, might have been painted by Fen-
nimore Cooper, and have added yet another brilliant
figure to his memorable gallery of Redskins. ,Old
Rube, again, would have reflected credit on the author
of " Saar Slick," and the paternity would not,
we are satisfied, have been disdained by Judge Hall-

Burton. The vividness with which our author con-
trives to describe to the comprehension of readers un-
acquainted with those localities the aspect of Mexican
scenery may be mentioned as among not the least ad-
mirable of his peculiarities. Accordingly, as he wishes
it, we are with him in the winter forests at midnight,
listening—not to the tree-frog or the cicada—but to
the crackling knots in the bivouac fire, to the coo-
whoo- a of the white owl, to the bark of the racoon, or
to the howling of the wolves ; we are there again in
autumn, watching among the withered foliage the
plumage of the western birds, "the golden green of the
paroquet, the blue of the jay, and the orange wing of the
oriole," observing " the red bird flutter lower down in
the coppice of green pawpaws, or amidst the amber
leaflets of the beechen thicket;" we hearken to the
rattle-snake " gliding under the scanty shade," and
watch with furtive eyes the coyote as it " skulks
through the silent glades" of an impassable under-
wood. With a single epithet sometimes the writer
impresses the appearances of that astonishing land
upon our imaginations, as where he calls the Rocky
Mountains, the American Andes, " the colossal ver-
tebrver-
tebraeof the continent." Equally graphic are his de-
scriptions of the frivolity and effeminacy of Mexican
society, ex. gr. where we are made to listen in the
ball-room at Santa Fe to this significant little dia-
logue—" Have you heard of the electric telegraph ?"
" No, Senor." " Can you tell us what a railroad
is ?" " Quien Sabe ?" "La Polka?" "Ah ! Senor,
la polka, la polka, cosa buenita, tan graciosa! vaya !"
Humorous as some of the passages in the " Scalp-
Hunters" are, as may be perceived by reference to
Rube's account of the turkey-buzzard, or again
the same old trapper's dodge to secret him-
self in the cave when hunted by the Navajoes, other
passages are marked by a grace and
a tenderness equally conspicuous. Witness this, that
first portraiture of Zoe, where it is, said so beautifully
—" it was not a woman that held my gaze captive,
but a child, a girl, a maid, standing upon the threshold
of womanhood, ready to cross it at the first summons
of Love !" Witness it again, that lovely portion of
the episode in which, by a novel device, eminently
bewitching, Haller reveals his love to Zoe, and—is
answered. Occasionally, it must be remarked, that
a certain habit of ungrammatical expression in the
potential mood (instanced in Vol. 1., pp. 46, 237, in
Vol. 11., pp. 21, 158, and in Vol. 111., p. 170, in
short, passim) blurs the charm of the style, and in-
duces one for the moment almost to mistake the work
for the effusion either of an Irishman or a foreigner.
This, nevertheless, is but a minute blemish, indeed,
when balanced against the numerous and brilliant
merits with which the production otherwise abounds
throughout. Better immeasurably, however, than
the most earnest eulogium, will be a few illustrative
quotations. Take, therefore, the subjoined passage,
descriptive of

;THE WEED PRAIRIE.
" I stand in an open plain. I turn my face to the
north, to the south, to the east, and to the west ; and,
on all sides, behold the blue circle of the heavens gird-
ling around me. Nor rock, nor tree breaks the ring of
the horizon. What covers the broad expanse between?
Wood ? water ? grass? No—flowers I As far as my
eye can range, it rests only on flowers—on beautiful
flowers II am looking as on a painted map—an ena-
melled picture brilliant with every hue of the prism.
"",
louder is golden yellow, where the helianthus
thesil silver leaf.
Yonder mor
turns her dial-like face to the sun. Yonder scarlet, where
the malva erects its red banner. Here is a parterre of
adat—h et here
orange
reendpehmoibeiaate;es h ei
nd s
the
showy flowers of the asclepia ; and beyond, the eye
roams over the pink blossoms of the cleome.
The breeze stirs them. Millions of carollas are
waving their gaudy standards. The tall stalks of the
helianthus band and rise in long undulations, like
billows on a golden sea
They are at rest again. The air is filled with
odours, sweet as the perfumes of Araby or Ind. My-
riads of insects flay their gay wings—flowers of them-
selves. The bee-birds skirr around, glancing like stray
d
or poise on whirring
sunbeams ; wings, drink from
the nectared cups ; and the wild bee, with laden limbs,
clings among the honeyed pistils, or leaves for his far
hive with a song of joy.
" Who planted these flowers? Who hath woven them
into these picture parterres? Nature. It is her richest
mantle—richer in its hues than the scarfs of Cashmere.