The Sun.
London, England, 1869-05-11 00:00:00

1)0N, TUESDN EVENING, MAY 11, 1869.

the law in order to detain a Birkenhead rams. A t
all events, it is clear that rims like that which Mr.
SUININER has advised, id which, it is under-
stood, Mr. MOTLEY Wi: make, are not to be
only from one side. The anadian bill is certainly
of more modest proporths ; but it is not at all
likely that the United Stes would agree to allow
it, even in the impossible apposition of our allowing
their bill, for such admiion on the part of the
Washington statesmen ould be a confession of
wrongdoing that wouldbe a greater sacrifice of
American pride than wdd be compensated for by
British cash.

Mr. GALT'S speech sould not only make the
United States more cautiis in putting forward these
extravagant demands, it hould warn the politicians
of the Republic that ther is not the smallest wish
on the part of our Caadian fellow - subjects to
transfer their allegiance rom QUEEN VICTORIA to
President GRANT. Areng Mr. CHANDLER'S wild
suggestions was one to th4effect that British North
America should be given p, by way of settling the
little bill which is to )e sent in. But Mr.
CHANDLER, for a statesnan, is strangely forget-
ful of the fact that in a transfer of this
kind there are three paties to be consulted, the
transferer, the transferee.and the transferred. It
would have been of small a'ail though the first and the
second had agreed if the turd had not also consented.
Nations are not cargoes No one has power to
change their owners witlout their permission. Even
NAPOLEON is compelled b go through the form of a
plebiscite in Savoy. Such an appeal to our
subjects between Newfcundland and Vancouver's
Island would be likely 4c) produce a result by no
means tending to the glory of the stars and
..v.. v• v. h 6110 -nnminimi a-
to assent to the " manifest destiny " in store for
it, the terms under which Mr. CHANDLER proposes
to carry out the change are particularly uninviting.
If Canada does not join the United States, England
is to pay half of the States' national debt ; if Canada
does join, no such payment is to be made. In other
words, Canada is offered by way of inducement to
partnership her share of a debt of £300,000,000,
which will become " bad" by the very fact of her
entering the firm. This may be statesmanship ; it is
certainly not business.

4,141114
,
41
t IIT t

HER MAJESTY.

WINDSOR CASTLE, May 10.

The Queen, attended by the Marchioness of
Ely, walked and drove iu the grounds this morn-
ing.

The other members of the Royal Family also
went out.

DEATH OF SIR CHAS• DILKE, BART.

We exceedingly regret to announce—on the au-
thority of a telegram, just received from St. Peterz-
burg—the death, occurring at last rather suddenly,
after an illness of several months duration, of Sir
C, Wentworth Dilke, Bart.late member for Wal-
lingford. His successor in the baronetcy, his son,
now the second Sir Charles Dilke, M.P. for Chelsea,
will not arrive in the Russian Capital until some few
days after his father's demise. The following memoir
of thelatebaronetis taken from "Men of the Times'' :
—lie was son of the late Mr. C. W. Dilke, who was
principal proprietor and many years editor of the
A then xum, was born in London 1810, and was edu-
cated at Trinity Hall, Cambridge. lie was one of
the earliest promoters of the Great Exhibition of
1851, and entered as the leading member of the Exe-
cutive Committee. When rewards were conferred
on various members of that body for their services,
Mr. Dilke was offered the honour of knighthood,
which he declined. He also refused all pecuniary
reward for his assistance, wishing his public services
to be purely honorary. The resuscitation of the
Horticultural Society of London is understood to be
in great part clue to his exertions, as one of the vice-
presiden ts. Among other public movements with
which he is associated, we may mention the Second
Gl\ at Exhibition of 1862, of which he was appointed
by her Majesty one of the five Royal Commissioners.
In January, 1862, her Majesty Was pleased to confer
a baronetcy on him.
The late Sir Ch rles Wentworth D:lke was out,
there, at St. Fetei sbargh, as the represantative of
England at the gr,at Itusian llorticnitural Exhi-
bition.

CORRESPONDENCE FROM PARIS.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

PARIS, MONDAY, May 10.

M. de Lesseps has proved himself one of the greatest of
living engineers, but as a politician he is evidently a
failure. He was confident of being returned for Marseilles,
as he had three Opposition candidates opposed to him,
but he has already greatly impaired his chances of success.
A numerous delegation of workmen, not fewer than 1,200,
have waited upon him to protest against threats of dis-
missal by their employers if they did not vote
for the hero of the Suez Canal. This demonstra-
tion produced an effect very unfavourable to M. de
Lesseps. He attended an electoral meeting the same evening,
but was very coldly received—even hissed. He got
excited, and fiercely renounced all official patronage in
language by no means of the drawing-room order. He has
thus thrown away official support without getting that of
the Opposition in return.
The approach of the balloting-day has had the effect of
rapidly thinning the list of candidates. Men who had no
chance have retired, and left the field to their superiors.
This is particularly noticeable in Paris. M. Allow,
who intended to contest the seat of Mr. Jules
Favre, though of the same shade of politics, has at length
convinced himself that he cannot turn out the great
orator, and has retired. Similarly M. Ulysse Parent has
thrown up the sponge to M. Ernest Picard, who is now
the only candidate in Paris who has no competitor. He is
the most popular of the Opposition deputies, and his elec-
tion was always certain.
Marshal Niel is much struck with the injury to the
morale of the army wrought by the wine-shops on
Sundays. The French soldiers are, indeed, much given
to imbibing yin ordiniare whenever they ran get
it ; but Sunday, as in England, is the great day of
intoxication. Frenchmen are by no means so intemperate,
as a body, as the English, and the stuff they drink is far
less injurious than the fiery, adulterated potions con-
sumed in England ; but then the Frenchman is not
SO nitypnj ,„.4.4„4.0A fha foriiitV
for taking large quantities of alcohol without
mental collapse, and, moreover, he is a far more
excitable being. Hence the fights and disturbances in the
vast army of France on Sundays are very numerous.
Marshal Niel has devised a remedy for this evil. He has
issued a circular to all the generals and chiefs of corps, enjoin.
ing that reviews should be held as frequently as possible
on Sundays, in order to keep the soldiers from the wine-
shops. As Sunday is the day when the Frenchman most
enjoys a review, the Marshal thinks he will improve the
morals of the troops and gratify the military instincts
of the people at the same time. Sunday indeed
is the day selected in France for every
possible occupation, except those immediately bearing on
business. It is the day par excellence for every species of
amusement, and likewise for politics. No fewer than
fourteen public meetings were yesterday held in the eight
circumscriptions of Paris.

The confidence and eagerness with which the humbler
grades of France entrust their savings to the public funds is
remarkable. The new Paris loan, which is to be raised to
pay off the illegal extravagance of Baron Haussmann,
will probably be subscribed two or three times over. Yes-
terday and on Saturday morning a large number of per-
sons, anxious to be enrolled as subscribers, collected at
the gates of all the Mairies in Paris. Some of them had
passed the entire night in the open air waiting to get the
first chance.

A case of interest to English readers has just come
before the. Civil Tribunal of Lyons. It relates to a
demand made by the heirs of a Major Martin on
the municipality of that town. The details are very
curious. Major Martin in the last century entered the
service of the East India Company in Bengal as a private
soldier, rose rapidly to the grade of major, and died
at Lucknow in September 1800, aged 65, leaving
a fortune estimated at £480,000. In a long will, dated
January 1, 1800, he distributed a portion of his
property amongst his relatives, but devoted the greater
part to works of charity; notably for the profit of the
cities of Lucknow, Calcutta, and Lyons. By one of the
numerous clauses of this document, the city of Lyons was
bound to dedicate annually a sum of 4,000 sicca rupees
(about £480) to the liberation of prisoners for debt.
But in July 1867 a law was passed suppressing personal
imprisonment in civil and commercial cases, and the heirs
of the Major maintain that the capital which was en-
trusted to the city for the purpose of liberating persons
from imprisonment for debt ought to be returned to
them. Major Martin, they urge, left money to provide
a remedy for a grievance which is no longer felt. People
cannot be released from imprisonment for debt when that
punishment is no longer inflicted. The heirs argue,
therefore, that the money ought to pass to them. The
city resists this claim. The trial, which raises some very
important questions, will last some time.
The police of the Loir-et-Cher department have for
some months past been occupied in unravelling the
mystery of a murder which was committed in the begin-
ning of January near VendOme. A rich farmer was found
murdered in his bedroom, with the marks of two gunshot
wounds and several bruises on the head. He was a
widower, and had one son to whom he was much attached.
The son wished to marry a young girl of sixteen without
fortune, but the father refused his consent, and even
threatened to take a second wife if the young people
persisted in their project. The girl has been proved
to have purchased powder and ball ; and a musket, broken
on the head of the victim, as also the wadding, appear to
have belonged to the young man. Both have been arrested,
but they deny energetically the charges brought against
them. The case, however, is well-nigh complete, and the
trial will commence at the next assizes.
Last September M. Lecocq, secretary to M. Jules i
Favre, disappeared mysteriously whilst travelling n
Piedmont. The remains of a traveller were found a day
or two ago near a forest at Compiglia, in Piedmont, and
these are believed to be all that is left of the unfortunate
secretary.