The Sun.
London, England, 1867-08-24 00:00:00

THE SUN, LON DOY. SATURPA Y E V ENING A UGUST 24, 1867.

for the murder of the widow Martens, and even
afterwards, persisted in her innocence, now confesses
her guilt. This woman, so imperturbable and so
insolent, who related such marvellous stories about
the Englishman Williams and a certain Count Les,
an alleged lover of the deceased, persists now in her
irony and satirical remarks. After the expiration
of the time allowed for appeal against the sentence
of which she said she would not avail herself, she
requested the Procurenr Imperial of Melina to pay
her a visit in person. When the magistrate came,
prisoner remarked thlt the jury had declared her
guilty of causing the death of Madame Martens,
by violent pressure upon her neck and chest. She
said the jury had been led into error by the doctors.
" I did not," she added, " use any violence either
on the neck or chest of Madame Mertens." Then
assuming that ironical expression of countenance
which had been remarked by everybody, she said,
" What you don't know, and what the doctors
could not discover, is the fact that I poisoned the
woman with prussic acid." It would be difficult to
describe the astonishment of the Magistrate at this
declaration. It appeas that at the commencement
of the preliminary investigation a point was ne-
glected which might lave led to the trace of poison.
Near the dead body 2, small white empty phial was
found. This phial vas taken to an apothecary at
Fontainebleau, who, tfter inspecting it, said there
was nothing suspiciots about it. This declaration
appeared sufficient to the persons who conducted the
inquiry, and the phial was thrown away. It will
be recollected that die surgeons who made the
post 7nortenz examinadon said that they did not
discover any evidence of poison. The prisoner has
declared that she is fair months advanced in preg-
nancy, and this statenent is found to be correct.
An excellent idea of the progress made in naval
constructions and acmssories in France may be
formed from an inspection of the models of ships
and machines sent from the iron foundries and ship-
yards of the Mediterranean. There are three curious
models of gunboats built for the Turkish Govern-
ment. They are about 31 metres long by about 10
metres in breadth, and are destined for river navi-
gation. Their artillery is composed of two rifle-
bored guns of 30. The sides are iron and the upper
deck is protected from balls by a peculiar system of
iron-casing. The guns are marked by iron. These
boats have a speed of from 7 to 8 knots an hour.
A screw packet boat, the Masr, constructed for the
Viceroy of Egypt, is 107 metres long, 12 metres
wide, and has a speed of 14 knots and a half an
hour. This boat, the largest of all the screw boats
constructed in France, is fitted up very luxu-
riously. The cabins can accommodate 126 first
class passengers and fifty-four second class.
There is a distilling apparatus, which produces
abundance of fresh water. The engine has two
cylinders, of 600 nominal hole power. There are
nine iron screw transports, cbstined to convey iron
and minerals from Algeria o France. There are
several vessels to be employed on the Suez Canal.
A model of a screw gunboat is furnished with a
machine adapted to 60 gunboats of the Imperial
navy. The Viceroy of Egypt has also purchased a
peculiar steamer for the navigation of the Nile. It
only draws three feet of water. but may yet be laden
with a sufficient quantity of cod for five or six days.
This vessel, which is 70 metre. long, made the pas-
sage from Marseilles to Ale:andria without being
towed, and realised all that was expected. The
engine has a nominal power d 120 horses.
On Tuesday, which is consilered an off-day, as it
is called, there were nearly 44,000 persons at the
Exhibition. To-day the Lumber of visitors was
more numerous.

There has been a meetin; of exhibitors at the
International Club, who adopted a petition to the
Government, having for obje,..:t to induce it to allow
the Exhibition to remain cpen beyond the time
fixed by the Imperial Commission for its close (the
31st of October). I have reason to believe that this
arrangement will be persisted in ; so I will hint to
your readers who think of coming that " delays are
dangerous."
The Emperor and Enipms will, I believe, return
to Paris from Salzburg to-morrow afternoon.
The weather bas been like that of yesterday, not
disagreeably hot, but exhibiting indications of more
storms.