The Sun.
London, England, 1866-09-26 00:00:00

ter of Agriculture and Commerce, will be distri-
buted. A splendid plant, nevly introduced into
cultivation in France, will be ethibited.
A literary paper, in its account of the inaugura-
tion of a statue at Argentan to the memory of the
great historian of France, De Mezeray, mentions a
curious instance of the eccentricity of his character.
Merzeray was born in the year 1610 at Thy, in
Lower Normandy, and commenced his great work,
" The History of France in 1643," when he was
only 32. The last volume was published in 1651.
He died on July 10, 1683, at the age of 73.
Mezeray was of a very chills disposition. One
cold winter day a friend met him in the street, and
in answer to the question, he said he was hurrying
home to his fireside. "I am a-, L.," said Mezeray.
This answer seemed apocryphal, but it is thus ex-
plained. When winter began Mezeray prepared
12 'Airs of shoes, which he marked IN ith the letters
of the alphabet. Before getting out of bed he con-
sulted his thermometer. When the cold commenced
he began with his A shoes. At the time in question
the cold had increased, and on that day, as the
thermometer had gone down 12 degrees, he put
on the L shoes, the twelfth letter. When Cardinal
Mazarin found that Mezeray in his History described
Louis XI. as a bad son, a bad father, a bad friend,
and a bad husband, the pension he received from
the King was stopped. In Mezeray's desk was
found the following memorandum :—" This is the
last money I have received from the King. He has
ceased to pay me, and I have ceased to speak of
him, whether for good or evil."
Proceedings have long been pending in France
between the Duke of Hamilton and the Marquis of
Abercorn, both of whoni claim the right to the title
of Duke de Chatelherault. The Council of State
has just decided in favour of the Duke of Hamil-
ton.

General Baron Rohalt de Fleury has just died at
the age of 84 at his seat of Forgot near Montoire.
Au honest tradesman, who. had been enjoying
himself at St. Cloud, was passing over the pont de
Grenelle, about 1 o'clock on Sunday morning, when
a ferocious-looking fellow, wearing a long, dark
bushy beard, dashed upon him, and holding a pistol
to his throat, said—" Your money, or your life."
Our tradesman, who was in too joyous a mood to be
frightened, declared that he had been making things
pleasant with some friends, and that he had spent
all the money he had in his pocket. The robber
said he would believe him, and not search his pockets,
for he liked to have confidence in his " customers,"
but he must swear by the remains of his grand-
father that he would do exactly as he ordered. The
robber then told the grocer that he must go the next
morning, at 5 o'clock, and fish in the Seine until he
had caught five gudgeon. He must then put them
under a stone, which he would point out, accom-
panied by 500 f. and two sous. The grocer pro-
mised to do all this, but as he proceeded homewards
he met a patrol, to whom he related the occurrence.
They soon met with the supposed robber, who was
still on the bridge. On searching him it was dis-
covered that the supposed pistol was only a black
wooden pipe. Further investigation led to the dis-
covery that the formidable-looking mustachios and
beard were false, and that the wearer of them was
a lady ! In short it turns out that she is only 25,
and is well kncwn at La Chapelle as "La Belle
Ecaillere." She has long followed the occupation
of an oyster girl, but a disappointment in love has
turned her brain. With some difficulty she was
compelled to resume her proper dress, and she has
been taken to a mad-house.
Yesterday the trial commenced before the Count
of Assize of the Seine, of Berthome, foimerlyl
cashier of the sub-treasury of the railways, and
Dupray de la Maherie, a printer, who are charged
with frauds and forgeries to the amount of more
three molions of francs. Count C. Chanel is in-
cluded in the accusation, but that gentleman is ab-
sent without leave ; and indeed a report has been
spread that he is dead. The simple process
adopted by the prisoners was to forgo bills of ex-
change and appropi 'late the money of the company
to the supposed purpose of discount ; but the money
obtlined was used by the prisoners themselves.
Among the forged bills is one for no less than
400,000 francs. When examined by the President
at the commencement of the proceedings Berthome
seemed to confess the trtath of the charge.

The Manchester Meeting—Ho w Many
Were Present ?

The extreme difficulty of estimating the numbers
in a large crowd is remarkably exemplified by the
following statements of the Loudon and Manchester
papers yesterday
STAR.—Upon the most moderato caculation there
could not have been less than 120,000 to 130,000
upon Campfield.

POST AND ADVERTISER.—There were probably,
including spectators, 100,000 persons present on the
ground.

DAILY NEWS AND TlMES.—Perhaps at no period
of the meeting were there more than 80,000 to
100,000 in the square at once, but Liverpool-road,
Deansgate, Gartside-street, and other approaches,
were constantly filled with people for upwards of
two hours, going and returning, and it would be no
exaggeration to say that the total number present
at various times did not fall much short of
200,000.

TELEGRAPH.—In the spacious and well-paved
square, called Campfield, extending from St. Mat-
thew's Church as a centre over a space of ten acres,
there were not fewer than 40,000 persons present
—a number that would without doubt have been
doubled had the weather been dry.
A more imposing dis-
plal‘ylAcNocuinciEnSToEtßwEellXAbMeliNmEaßgi.--
imagined than was presented
on Campfield after the arrival of the last procession.
There could not have been fewer than from 80,000
to 100,000 persons present. The ground was lite-
rally covered with human beings.
MANCHESTER COURIER.--The result, as far as de-
monstration is concerned, was incommensurate and
unsatisfactory. Various estimates have been formed
of the number congregated at the point of rendez-
vous, but at no time did the number exceed2o,ooo.
MANCHESTER GUARDIAN.—About 15,000, and
" it was not the impressivegathering that the leaders
of the League hoped to bring together."
The Manchester Guardian adds :—" The meeting
was very inferior to the Birmingham demonstration
in respect to numbers. From a window overlooking
the area, we were able carefully to estimate the
numbers. In front of No. 1 platform the crowd
was dense, tapering to a point towards the lamp-
post in the middle of the square. Round other
three platforms there were much smaller gather-
ings. If all these gatherings had been collected
into one, and the walking marginal crowd with
umbrellas had been united with them into a solid
mass, they would have occupied about one-fourth
of the entire area, including the streets. By mea-
surement we have ascertained that the ground

(including the streets), at the rate of seven men
to a square yard, will accommodate 61,404 indi-
viduals, and a quarter of that number is a little
above 15,000. Precisely the same result was ar-
rived at in another way. Where the crowd was
dense there were no umbrellas, and by counting
the number of umbrellas in a line surrounding each
compact mass we were able to estimate the area
enclosed, and in this way the number obtained was
12,000, and 3,000 is a fair estimate for stragglers.
The meetings on the Haymarket, at the east end
of St. ➢Zatthew's Church, where were two platforms,
were too small to deserve consideration."

DREADFUL RXPLOSION.—NORWICH, Tuesday
Night.—This afternoon a boiler explosion, attended with
death to three men named Taylor, Breeze, and Clarke, oc-
curred at Messrs. Starks' dyoworks, Norwich. Five other
persons were injured.
DEATH OF THE INFANT DAUGHTER OF GENERAL
Tom THUMB.—Yesterday Minnie Stratton, or as
the child used to call herself Minnie Tom Thumb, the in-
fant daughter of General and Mrs. Tom Thumb, died at
the Norfolk Hotel, Norwich. The child was left some days
since at the hotel in charge of her nurse while her parents
were on a professional visit to Yarmouth and Lowestoft.
About a week since it was taken ill and two medical men
were called in ; they failed, however, to allay her suffer-
ings, and yesterday it died from inflammation of the brain.
Mrs. Tom Thumb was sent for; she arrived in Norwich on
Thursday, and remained in attendance on the little suf-
ferer till cloth t99k