The Sun.
London, England, 1856-09-11 00:00:00

was

I the Basque country is by Marrac and Aistarits.
The chateau of Marrac is now a ruin, but it hrs
lost nothing of its historic interest. It was under
its roof that Napoleon I. began to execute his pro-
jects against Spain. It was there that the great
political drama was performed in which the princi-
pal actors, after himself; were Charles IV.; his
Queen Maria Lanisa, her raraanour Manual Godoy,
and their unworthy son, the Prince of the Astu-
rias, afterwards Ferdinand VII. It was there
that Joseph Bonaparte received the fatal gift of
the Clown of Spain and the• Indies ; and it was
from those gates that the " Royal Wittol" and his
depraved Queen departed for Compiegne, with such
consolation as a yearly allowance of 30,000,000 of
mats could afford, and their unnatural eon was
sent to Valencay with 1,000,000 f., as the price of
his dishonour. And, finally, it was there that
Napoleon himself prepared the invasion of Spain
by his armies, and which before long he had reason
to regret bitterly. The present occupant of the Im-
perial throne of France must, as he passed before
it, have regarded with -curiosity a monument so
suggestive of instruction and of warning ; 'and the
sight of those decayed walls and that deserted do-
main may have confirmed him in the resolaion he
has more than once expressed of not repeating the

Wilts committed by hi icicle, whatore'r errors he

himself' may fan into.`.Clio clhateau of \larrac was
a suburban residence, in all agiTecallie situation, and

with !,:rounds well wooded and down to the
ufthe 1•11ve. 1 t 11:11 11,) tlia4

ki II roNid,-rocy, iL; I; gave it.

But it did not long survive that honour. Its de-
struction by fire soon after Napoleon quitted it
seemed like the prelude of the conflagration which
broke out in Spain when the unconquerable spirit
of her people was stirred up against the invader ;
and it foreshadowfd the desolation in which his
wonderful career was doomed to close. Should the
demon of conquest ever tempt the Sovereign of
France, a glance at the blackened ruins of Marrac
might nerve as a lesson and a warning.
(Jambe is the Biarritz of the mountain. It affords
during the spring and autumn seasons the plea-
sure and the benefit which aro to be found at Biar-
ritz during the summer months. Its mineral waters,
ferruginous and sulphurous, issue from beneath

wooded rocks ; and the numerous Totivo Offerings
suspended to the roof of its church area pious tes-

timony to their salutary power. The air Of its val-
ley is soft and genial, and it attracts the Visitor the
moment the first rays of the sun have tempered the
rigour of winter. Upper Cambo stands on a lofty
terrace, at the foot of which spreads out the valley
in a circular form, bounded on the opposite side by
an amphitheatre of verdant heights rising in grace-
ful lines behind each
,other ; while the surface of

the ground itself, level as a bowling-green, is
covered with meadows and fields of Indian corn,

through which the' silvery waters of the Nile wind
along. The old village of Lower Cambo lies at the
opposite extremity, but is almost concealed from
view in the shadow of a wooded eminence. A tew

detached houses appear here and there on the mea-
dows close to the bank of the stream, half con-
cealed by a curtain of willows and poplars, or rising
ou the summit and declivities of the hills, amid.

thick foliage. The small church stands outside the
village, in the centre of what seems, at a distance,
to be a garden covered with flowers, but which is
the public cemetery, called in the dialect of the
country leherri, or the region of the dead. it is
customary with the Basque population to visit
Catnbo, as well as Biarritz, once in the year, and
with a certain degree of solemnity. It is on the eve
of St. John that the incursion takes place, and

crowds of pilgrims flock fromvalley and Mountain to
its waters. The pilgrimage lasts 24 hours ; it is ac-
companied by dancing, and those shrill cries which
so often before awoke the echoes of those hills are
incessant. The Basquo mountaineer deems it an

obligation to drink the mineral waters of Cambo
ouce a year, as wall as to bathe in the sea at Biar-
ritz : and their great ablution takes place on the
Sunday following the Assumption. Fortified with
copiouS draughts of the mineral within, and the
salt water oy Biarritz externally, the Basque fears
uo evil that flesh is heir to, except it may be the
blow of a cudgel from a rival, or a bullet from the
musket of the Custom-house officer.

Friday was not wholly favourable to- the nape-
rial visitors. As they were on the way to the
gorge of the Pas d 6 Roland, where the redoubtable
Paladin opened-with his battle-axe a passage in the
.mountain for the knights who followed his banner,
the party was overtaken by a shower of rain—such
a shower as falls in those mountains. They had
time, however, to adiniro the picturesque scenery,
and oven to enjoy a reptst in the open air. They
returned in the evening to Biarritz.
The grounds of the Imperial villa at Biarritz
offer no shelter nor recreation. The house stands
on a low barren spot, so close to the sea that When
the wind is high the spray dashes against the win-
dows. An attempt at planting has been made, but
the plants do not appear to prosper, and. the scant
herbage hardly conceals the sandy soil on which it
was sown. The palace is convenient for bathing,
but it presents few advantages otherwise. For
some days after the Emperor's arrival workmen
were employed in stopping up the apertures
through which the Water oozed into his private
room.
The Emperor's stay at this place will depend on
the weather, which, until the last day or two, was
very fine. A change, however, has occurred. High
winds, a cloudy sky, and heavy and constant
rain, do not allow any place to appear to advan-
tage, and Biarritz is not an exception. Many
persons have 'already left, and others are leav-
ing daily, but their places are more than filled by
new corners. The importance of this place has so
Much increased in consequence of the railroad which
now extends in an uninterrupted line from Paris to
Bayonne, the establishment of pleasure trains from
Bordeaux, and the presence of the Court during
the summer months, that it is contemplated to con-
struct a tramway from Bayonne to Biarritz. The
present uncomfortable conveyances and the extor-
tion attempted by some of the ordinary omnibus
proprietors render such an improvement desirable.
It will probably be carried out before the next sea-
son commences. The crowd of visitors has increased
so much that the local paper has ceased publishing
the lists. No previous season has been so success-
ful or so profitable to the town and neighbourhood
as the present.
From Spain there is no political news deserving
of notice. With slight exceptions, the country is
tranquil ; but the same uncertainty prevails as to
the future policy and fate of the O'Donnell Minis-
try. The name of Narvaez is more frequently men-
tioned, and. the probability of his superseding the
present Government is more generally discussed.
A person who has been himself one of the principal
victims of the last revolution admits that the Pro-
gresista party is for the present crushed, and it is
difficult to assign a term for its resuscitation. The
want of decision or rather of foresight on the part
of Espartero is admitted by his best friends,
though some assert that he is not so much to blame
As is generally supposed. He appearsAlattever, to
have lost all prestige even among the classes with
whom he was most popular, and in the districts
where his name was idolised he has completely fallen
into discredit. General Gurrea and some others
who figured in the late events, and who recently
entered France as refugees, have, at the request of
the Spanish Government, been sent to the interior.
Their present destination is Bordeaux and Tours.
Others who quitted Spaia on the overthrow of the
Polaco Government may be Been still hovering near
I the frontiek.

It is stated that a petition 'lse been presented to the
Lord Chancellor for winding up the affairs of the Royal
British Rank.
SUDDEN DEATH.—One, of the passengers by the
Tamar, which arrived at Southampton on Saturday last,
put up at Murray's boarding-house in that town. On
Sunday night he called the landlord, and mentioned that
he was unwell, and desired him to get a nurse to sit up
with him. Mr. Murray left for a few minutes to give
the necessary instructions, and when ho returned the
stranger fell into his arms and expired. It was with
some difficulty that it could he ascertained where hie
friends resided. From his papers it was ascertained that
he was a Mr. Delany, and that he was connected with
the Pernambuco Railway. He had left Rio, where he
had been stationed for the last six months, on account
of ill health, but he evidently had no idea that death for
him was so near until a few moments before he died, and
then he was unable to state who he was or where his
friends resided.
CAPTURE OF Two MONSTER SHARKS.-0/1 Saturday
morning the crew of a Portkneekie boat, fishing at
Brcadtaven, towed on shore what they and many others
imagined to be the body of a respectably-sized whale .
When first found it was alive, and entangled amongst
their nets ; but its efforts to relieve itself were so feeble
that
f ble
that it was evidently in the struggles of death. It was
sold for 2/. In the afternoon, however, some gentlemen
who knew a little more of natural history than the first
sight-seers who inspected the animal, declared that it
was a basking shark, known by naturalists as the squalus
maximus. Further investigation and examination of th
animal confirmed this assertion, and. it is now believe d
to be correct. The animal is about 30 feet long, an d
was a very fine specimen. On Monday niet another
crew caught another of the like species, and of much
the Same size,-40e8M(40.